Because of these new car models there is suddenly on the streets of Delhi a new intolerance by the motorists for both the cows and the cyclists. So for the first time the sacred cow in India, which used to be such a wonderful speed-breaker, is now seen as a nuisance. For the first time, Iยve seen cows being hit and hurt. These guys just go right past, and if the cow is sitting on the road, they donยt care. We canยt afford to have a sacred car rather than a sacred cow.
Vandana ShivaThe director of the institute where I was working apologized about these young, enthusiastic researchers when the World Bank visited because he was afraid the institute would lose the World Bank consultancies.I went back home and started the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecologyยan extremely elaborate name for the tiny institute that I started in my motherยs cow shed. My parents handed over family resources and said, ยPut them to public purpose.ย Thatยs how I survived.
Vandana ShivaDiversity creates harmony, and harmony creates beauty, balance, bounty and peace in nature and society, in agriculture and culture, in science and in politics.
Vandana ShivaMy personal background is actually very unusual for the kind of career I chose. I didnยt meet anyone who had ever done physics in my life. I grew up in the Himalayan forests. My father was a forest conservator, which meant that if I wasnยt in school I was in the forests with him. That has been very largely responsible for my ecological inclinations.
Vandana ShivaIt's worse than slave trade because what is being traded is the very knowledge that makes survival possible for 80 percent of the people of this world. These 80 percent live on the biodiversity and the knowledge they have evolved as part of a rich collective heritage involving the use of seeds for growing crops and medicinal plants for healing.
Vandana Shiva