An Interview With Vandana Shiva and Dougald Hine: Finding Humility at the End of Modernity

VandanaDougald_Foundation

Matthew Derr, Executive Director of The Chelsea Green Foundation, recently sat down with Dougald Hine, Co-Founder of the Dark Mountain Project and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of Navdanya, for an interview in what we’re calling “Conversations on Resilience & Resistance:” a series of discussions, reviews, and articles that supports the Foundation’s mission of exchanging creative thinking and igniting hope for the future.

Cinematography by Visionary Films Stockholm.


 

I first met Dr. Shiva several years ago during her brief summer residency at Sterling College in Vermont where I was then serving as President. I found the clarity of her convictions, her insightful analysis of the complex problems we face, and the continuity of her message and the freshness with which it was articulated inspiring.

Our conversation in Stockholm, like those I’d enjoyed earlier over the dinner table or on walks around the College’s farm, drew upon her lifetime of campaigning. As Vandana celebrates her 70th birthday, her life’s work can now be appreciated through the lens of a new film produced and directed by Camilla and Jim Becket, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, and in the pages of her recent book with Chelsea Green, Terra Viva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements.

Joining me for my conversation with Dr. Shiva was author Dougald Hine, co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project with fellow author Paul Kingsnorth. It was a privilege to serve as Dougald’s editor for his newly published book, At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics and All the Other Emergencies.

As was recently observed by Amitav Ghosh, Dougald’s new book is “one of the most perceptive and thought-provoking books yet written about the multiple intersecting crises that are now upending our once-familiar world.” A more apt or timely title for his book and launching point for our conversation with Vandana about the end of modernity and building our capacity for humility couldn’t be found.

 

In the first and main installment of the series, Vandana and Dougald explore our attachment to modernity and living with humility while addressing the troubles we face.

 

New Books on Resilience & Resistance

This short interview segment explores what Vandana Shiva and Dougald Hine are reading related to ecological and societal resilience. The authors discuss the works of writers Predrag B. SlijepčevićChris Smaje, and Penguin Random House author, Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, and a few of their ideas for books yet to be written.

 

In the third and final installment of the series, Derr talks with Vandana Shiva about the legacy of Navdanya, a farmer-led movement for the protection of biological and cultural diversity. We also hear from Dougald Hine about the new school he and his partner, Anna Björkman, have recently founded: A School Called Home.

 

About  The Chelsea Green Foundation

The Chelsea Green Foundation is a private operating foundation that has a unique place within the mosaic of not-for-profits in the sustainability space. It supports activists, artists, farmers, writers, and other practitioners in challenging orthodoxy by exchanging creative and critical thinking that influences ecological and societal resilience through hands-on knowledge of soil, food, water, health, economics, energy, politics, and local communities. The Foundation’s principal activities and contributions are designed to inspire hope for the future by asking the pertinent questions of the day, supporting resistance in the face of oppression, and engaging broad perspectives in repairing our relationship with one another and the natural world.

Visit our newly launched foundation website and subscribe to the latest news about The Chelsea Green Foundation at Substack.

 


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