Vandana Shiva Talks Health, Food and Farming With Cara Delevingne

HOW CAN WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY?

The idea of a ‘natural food system’ was threaded throughout the interview, yet the final section of the talk explored this in greater detail. Vandana claims we have a lot learn from the practises of indigenous people.

Raising the example of Australia’s Aboriginals, the ‘first farmers’ of Australia, the so- called ‘bush people’- part of the flora and fauna in which they inhabit, natural methods of food cultivation have evidently been taking place for over 60,000 years. Respecting food as the currency of all life, the Aboriginals grew food to nourish their people, not to be greedy.

While industrial farmers grow food according to density: maximising the number of crops per acre for the greatest economic return, indigenous people grow food according to biodiversity: maximising the amount of nutrition per acre. 

Vandana argues more biodiversity equates to more food and better food. A high biodiversity of plants precedes a high biodiversity of insects, supporting the food web of life. Whereas a diet rich in biodiversity is mirrored by a healthy gut microbiome within, illustrating the intrinsic link between good food and good health once again.

Vandana also encourages us to grow food at home: from participating in communal gardens, to nurturing basil on your kitchen windowsill, every action you do ‘saves a seed’ and helps save our planet.

Buying organic is another way to support a more sustainable food system looking to the future. Although it may seem expensive, in reality, government subsidies supporting the industrial food system make commercialised products in comparison look cheap.

‘Organic too costly? Organic is the only way’: Vandana states taking care of the Earth is the highest vocation. For those who may deem it primitive, it is here one must stress that only by choosing sustainable agriculture- buying organic, growing your own, attending farmer markets and supporting local businesses- can we shift out of our immanent war-driven, colonialist, extractivist economy, into an economy of love and generosity that takes care of the world. In the words of Vandana Shiva, ‘it is my dream we have a future’, and only by driving change forward can this be achieved.