Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminist

Emile Chartier once wrote "There is nothing so dangerous as an idea if it's the only one you have." In modern America we are obsessed with the idea of jobs, growth, development. We don't see that these monocultures of the mind, as Vandana Shiva calls them, limit our thoughts and stifle our possibilities. Vandana Shiva is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and National Resource Policy in Dehra Dun, on organization that puts "research at the service not just of the rich and powerful in society, or of government and the private sector, but also of grassroots movements." (London, 2012) She advocates for ecological sustainability and social justice, which she perceives as one and the same. She believes that the increasingly reductionist perspective of scientific development, paired with the monstrous greed of Western (primarily American) corporations, are responsible for modern ecological and human rights abuses. She is an incredibly intelligent, articulate and passionate woman. A definite hero in my book and one of the reasons why I decided to go to graduate school in Public Policy. Check out this awesome article by Scott London to learn more.