Decolonial Futures & Environmental Justice: Panel Talk w/ Ecofeminist Dr. Vandana Shiva
Join City Lights Books for a panel discussion about people, the planet and how we can build a regenerative future for all living beings, with ecofeminist Dr. Vandana Shiva in conversation with Bayo Akomolafe, Executive Director of Emergence Network, Sonali Kolhatkar activist & journalist, and moderated by Synergetic Press’s Jasmine Virdi.
Wednesday, June 29, 2022 @ 7:00 pm PST
Celebrating the publication of “Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change,” by Vandana Shiva w/ Foreword
by Hans R. Herren (Synergetic Press 2022)
How do we become better kin to the living Earth?
Join author, ecofeminist and author Dr. Vandana Shiva, Bayo Akomolafe, and Sonali Kolhatkar for an intimate discussion about people, the planet and how we can build a regenerative future for all living beings.
Mapping out visions of decolonial and environmental justice, we will explore some of the grassroots actions going on across the globe to defend the planet against the perpetual onslaught of late-stage capitalism as well as examine evidence-based solutions that can lead us to a more verdant and just world.
By drawing time-tested traditional and Indigenous wisdom, alongside the intentional practices of slowing down and living in the present, we can inform visionary approaches toward a more sustainable future for all.
ABOUT: Dr. Vandana Shiva
Dr. Vandana Shiva is an author, physicist, ecologist, and advocate of biodiversity conservation and farmer’s rights. Her pioneering work around food sovereignty, traditional agriculture, and women’s rights created fundamental cultural shifts in how the world views these issues.
Along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, and Jeremy Rifkin, Dr. Shiva is a leader and board member of the International Forum on Globalization and a prominent figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement.
Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, an organization that promotes agroecology, seed freedom, and a vision of Earth Democracy, seeking justice for the Earth and all living beings. She has authored more than 20 books including Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth (Synergetic Press, 2020), Philanthrocapitalism & The Erosion of Democracy: A Global Citizens’ Report on the Corporate Control of Technology, Health, and Agriculture (Synergetic Press, 2022) and Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change (Synergetic Press, 2022).
Dr. Shiva is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain’s Socialist Party’s think tank and the International Organization for a Participatory Society. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, an honor known as an “Alternative Nobel Prize”. She has received numerous other awards and honors for her work including the “Save the World” award in 2009 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2010. Dr. Shiva’s life and work is the subject of the award-winning 2021 documentary, “Seeds of Vandana Shiva
OTHER PANELISTS:
Bayo Akomolafe is a philosopher, writer, activist, professor of psychology, and executive director of the Emergence Network. In 2014, Professor Akomolafe was invited to be the Special Envoy of the International Alliance for Localization, a project of Ancient Futures (USA). He left his lecturing position in Covenant University, Nigeria to help build this Alliance. He has been Visiting Professor at Middlebury College, has taught at Sonoma State University (CA, USA), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada), and Schumacher College (Totnes, England) – among other universities around the world. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. He sits on the Board of numerous organizations including Science and Non-Duality, Unashay Sanctuary, and more.
Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning Journalist, activist, and artist. She is the founder, host, and executive producer of Pacifica’s popular drive time program Rising Up With Sonali which airs on KPFK and KPFA and also as a TV show on Free Speech TV. A Writing Fellow with Independent Media Institute and formerly a weekly columnist at Truthdig. Sonali is also the founding Co-Director of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a US-based non-profit solidarity organization that funds the work of RAWA. In addition to her journalistic and political work, Sonali is also an accomplished artist and has won awards for her work and displayed her pieces at many exhibits. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2006, Seven Stories). She makes her home in California with her husband and co-author James Ingalls and two sons.
Jasmine Virdi is a freelance writer and editor. She works for Synergetic Press as an independent contractor building community, organizing events, and managing social media. Jasmine is also a writer for Psychedelics Today, Chacruna Institute, Lucid News, and Cosmic Sister. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Spirituality, Consciousness, and Transpersonal Psychology at the Alef Trust with the future aim of working in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Jasmine’s goal as an advocate for psychoactive substances is to raise awareness of the socio-historical context in which these substances emerged in order to help integrate them into our modern-day lives in a safe, grounded, and meaningful way.
This event has been made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation
