Hi there.

My name is Miss Marks, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

And today, we're going to be learning about Dr.

Vandana Shiva, who's a Hindu activist, protecting the environment.

And we'll think a lot today about different environmental problems there are in the world and how she is fighting to protect it.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how and why Vandana Shiva rebelled against the authorities of her time.

But first, let's start with the key words.

Activist, a person who works to bring about political or social changes through different means.

Biodiversity, a range of different organisms, species, that live in a place.

Ecofeminism, the idea that caring for the environment and equality between men and women are connected issues.

Genetic engineering, changing the genetic structure of something using biotechnology.

And interconnected, many different parts connected to each other to form a whole.

So in today's lesson, we're going to have three different sections, looking at Vandana Shiva protecting the earth.

First of all, who is Vandana Shiva? Secondly, Vandana Shiva's beliefs.

And thirdly, Vandana Shiva's rebellion.

So our first section, who is Vandana Shiva? I would like you to imagine a farmer in your mind.

What do they look like? Now you're either going to write down a description or you could draw them and save it for later.

So I'm going to give you a few seconds to do that.

You can pause the video as you draw your farmer, and then we'll have a think about what you've done in a moment.

Did you imagine that that farmer was male? Why might someone imagine the farmer is male? Have a think about that.

Did you draw someone who looked male or could be a male? And I wonder why you might have done that.

Have a think.

Talk to the person next to you or you can talk to me.

Perhaps that's our understanding of what a farmer is because of what we've experienced in our life.

Actually, if you think about it, most of the farmers in the world today are women.

How could this relate to us caring for the planet? Could both those things be connected that we assume that farmers are more likely to be male and actually the majority of the world's farmers are women? This is something that's really important to Vandana Shiva in her work in protecting the earth.

So here she is in an image, and she was born in India.

And here's some images of the area where she was born and raised in India.

Vandana Shiva's home is in Dehradun, and it's in the foothills of the Himalayas in India.

So you can see here from the relief that the Himalayas run across the top of India like this.

And she's from this northern part here.

Vandana Shiva was born in 1952 and raised in the northwest of India in Dehradun.

Dehradun is in the foothills of the great Himalayan mountains.

And Vandana Shiva grew up spending time in the forest and streams there.

When she spent time in the forest, she would think about how alive this was with the trees, plants, animals, and running water all interconnected together as if the whole world with all of its species as one family.

She felt the forest was alive with biodiversity, and that sacred mother earth was sustaining all of life there different parts or forming a whole.

Her mother was a farmer who had great respect for nature and she was a role model for her.

Vandana Shiva did well in school, and at university she studied science, philosophy, and mathematics.

She studied in Canada for her PhD.

And once when she was visiting her home, she noticed that many trees had been cut down in the forest.

And this shocked her.

The streams that were once full of life were no longer flowing and humans were damaging sacred mother earth.

She noticed there were women protesting to protect the trees that remained.

She became involved in this struggle.

And ever since then she's been very interested in the relationship between science, philosophy and protecting the earth.

Now, Vandana Shiva is a Hindu, and an important Hindu teaching is that all of life on earth is interconnected.

A bit like we saw there with her feeling that everything in the forest was interconnected, all the different parts were together as part of a whole.

What connections can you see in the photograph? Take a moment to think about this.

You can talk to the person next to you or you can talk to me.

Well, in the photo we can see that the bee relies on the flower to live, but in turn, the bees pollinate flowers which they need to reproduce.

So the two are connected to each other, and we know the important role that bees have in pollinating our flowers in the world today, don't we? And nature is full of these examples of things being reliant upon each other and working together in an interconnected way.

For Hindus, interconnection means that all animals, plants, and human life have value and impact and influence each other.

So this idea of biodiversity and many different species being together in the same area is a really important one of interconnection for many Hindus.

This interconnection is seen in different Hindu texts through the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

This is a Sanskrit phrase which can be translated as "The entire world is one family".

And it's a really important phrase within many Hindu teachings and ideas that everything is connected in part of this one family together.

Why might a belief that all of life on earth is interconnected influence a Hindu to care about biodiversity and the environment? Have a think about that.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Yeah, so that is the idea that everything is connected.

So biodiversity in the environment shows us that there's many different species that are all connected and part of that one part of life together.

And they all kind of rely on each other and are connected rather than separate things that we can treat sort of differently to one another.

Let's do a quick check.

Which of these statements best describes the Hindu teaching that the "entire world is one family"? A, all human life is interconnected on earth.

B, all plant, animal, and human life is interconnected on earth.

Or C, all Hindus are like one family.

Which one best describes that Hindu teaching? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll check what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Yeah, it's B, it's plant, animal and human life being interconnected on earth, the entire world.

So all those different types of life which are found on earth.

So now we come to an important part of the story of Vandana Shiva and her rebellion in protecting the earth.

And this is the story of the Carbon pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, where there was a tragic accident.

In 1984, there was a great disaster at a chemical factory in Bhopal in central India.

And this tragic event caused the death of at least 5,000 people immediately and caused health problems for over 550,000 people afterwards.

Many of this is continuing today.

And it's considered to be the world's worst industrial accident.

And a highly toxic gas was accidentally released from the chemical plant into the local areas.

The factory had been making chemical pesticides.

Pesticides are used in many forms of farming to control pests that eat crops.

And the farming industry continues to rely on products like pesticides despite this event which for Vandana Shiva showed the danger of their production and use.

And this is one of the key events which turns Vandana Shiva into an activist in wanting to change the ways that farming was done to better protect the earth.

And so this has continued to harm the kind of the earth and the water and the plants as well as the human life of the people who live in that area where this tragic accident happened.

So Sam, Andeep, Sofia, and Alex are discussing what might have shaped Vandana Shiva's worldview, these different events that have happened that might have shaped how she sees the world in her role in protecting it.

Sam says, "I think the Hindu teaching that all of life is interconnected has influenced her." This idea of the whole world being one family, this idea of supporting biodiversity in many different forms of life.

Andeep says, "I think enjoying the forest as a child influenced her worldview." So she grew up knowing what the forest could be like, how much life it could be teaming with and is possible.

Sofia says, "I think the Bhopal industrial disaster influenced her worldview." To see the damage that could be done if these artificial and chemical methods were used to control pests and control life.

And finally, Alex says, "I think the women she had as role models influenced her worldview." If you remember that most farmers are women around the world today and also her mom was a farmer and as a role model for her too, that may have influenced the way that Vandana Shiva looks at the best way to protect the earth.

Let's do another quick check.

Is this true or false? The Bhopal industrial disaster happened in Vandana Shiva's hometown.

Very influential for her.

Did it happen in her hometown? Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think, and then we'll check what you've done.

That is false, but why? Because Vandana Shiva was born in Dehradun in the northwest of India while the industrial disaster happened in Bhopal, which is in central India.

So time for a practise task to see what we've learned.

Explain who Vandana Shiva is in three sentences using a keyword in each.

And you must include the following words, activist, biodiversity, and interconnected.

And you might like to use the sentence term Vandana Shiva is.

So pause the video and have a go, and we'll check what you've written in a moment.

Well done.

Some great thinking there.

So I asked you to explain who Vandana Shiva is in three sentences using a key word in each.

And your answer may look something like this.

Vandana Shiva is an activist who is protecting the environment.

Vandana Shiva is passionate about protecting biodiversity as it's a part of sacred mother earth.

And Vandana Shiva is influenced by the Hindu teaching that all of life on earth is interconnected as one family.

Well done.

So onto our second section of our lesson then, Vandana Shiva's beliefs.

Vandana Shiva believes that earth is sacred and living things on earth are interconnected.

So if you remember, all the different types of life on earth are connected as one family, and so therefore, it's all sacred in the way that it's connected and sort of lives together.

So practises which cause divisions between types of life on earth are therefore going to be damaging.

If there's these artificial divisions between people, between people and plants, between animals, this is going to be damaging because that's not how it's supposed to be.

It's all supposed to be interconnected and part of one sort of living family.

So traditional farming methods can support that interconnection through biodiversity.

For example, methods which encourage natural rather than chemical pest control so ways that we can naturally manage these different pests rather than artificially with chemicals that we might use, which cause more and more divisions.

So there can be ways that farming can support this interconnection rather than causing the divisions.

So let's look at example here.

We've got two images of two different types of farming.

Can you spot any differences, and think about some of the methods that might be used? Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So you may have noticed on the left hand image here, it's got one type of crop that seems to be planted, a very large area.

We might think about there being sort of industrial things being used, big machinery being used to farm this land.

And on the right, we've got different things planted together in the same area, perhaps on a much smaller scale.

So on the left, we could describe this as intensive farming methods.

We could use the word monoculture, which is where there's one crop planted on a very large area, and that might be some of the farms that you've seen.

So the idea that one crop would be planted in a very, very large area, and we can then use like big machines to plant it and to put pesticides on it and different ways of and encouraging that one crop to grow in that very large area.

But on the right hand side, it could be an example of more traditional farming methods, and one word that could be used as agroforestry.

So it means that different plants and crops and trees are planted together.

So you've got trees there which are going to obviously give shade to the plants, and then the plants will bring nutrients back into the ground again.

So it's a quite a different way of farming that you can see that also happens.

Which of these two types of farming could encourage more biodiversity? So that word we have about different species living together in one place, it could be plants, but also think of the insects and the animals that might live somewhere too.

So have a think about that.

Pause the video.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So we could say that the image on the right, the traditional farming methods could encourage more biodiversity because there's different species living there anyway, the different plants and the trees that are planted together.

But also if you think about the insects and the animals and the birds and the all the different creatures that could live together in that one place, it could encourage much more biodiversity than the image on the left which has got that kind of monocultural, one thing being planted over a large area.

So which type of farming do you think Vandana Shiva would encourage? Which type for her would fit more with her beliefs? Again, pause the video and have a think, and then you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So yeah, Vandana Shiva would support the more traditional farming methods, something like agroforestry where you're planted different crops together in different trees other with the crops at the same time.

It's going to encourage greater biodiversity and a bigger sort of variety of different species there living together, which can also therefore help with natural forms of pest control rather than using chemical pesticides.

So time for a quick check.

Vandana Shiva rejects all types of farming.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've come up with in a second.

So that's false.

Vandana Shiva does not reject all types of farming.

But why? Vandana Shiva accepts forms of farming which work in harmony with nature and do not reduce biodiversity.

So Vandana Shiva is not someone who says we shouldn't farm, but just that the types of farming that we should do should respect biodiversity and that kind of interconnectedness of life.

Vandana Shiva is an ecofeminist.

And the term ecofeminism is an example of a portmanteau.

Now this blends different words together to make a new term.

So let's have a look at it.

We've got eco and feminism.

An eco is like a shortened version of ecology, which is the study of the environment.

And ecology is often about how we can support the environment and what can we do to better treat the environment around us and protect the environment that we have.

And feminism is from the idea that women should be equal to men, and men and women should be equal.

And there are times in history and in different societies they haven't been treated as equal, and that we should be encouraging and helping women to be treated equally to men.

So therefore, ecofeminism is the idea that caring for the environment from ecology and equality for men and women from feminism are connected and that in some way, the two things need to go hand in hand.

For Vandana Shiva, the divisions and imbalance between men and women are not part of the natural order of life because all of life is interconnected.

If you remember we said that earlier, she believes that all of life is interconnected, all life is part of one family and we shouldn't be causing divisions and treating one as more important than another.

So for her, that's not just about biodiversity of plants and species and animals, it's also about how we treat other humans, particularly men and women.

So this link between ecology and feminism for Vandana Shiva can be understood like this.

The majority of farmers in the world are women.

And we saw that at the start of the lesson when we thought about what a farmer was to us.

And for Vandana Shiva, this is really important that we understand that actually the majority of people who are working the land are women.

If you remember, her mother was a farmer as well who was working the land.

So she saw this herself growing up.

And traditional knowledge about farming and natural methods for plants to thrive are held mainly by women.

And again, this is important for Vandana Shiva that it is women who often know how to work with the land in a way that respects biodiversity and enables life to thrive.

Now women's bodies have been exploited as commodities according to feminists such as Vandana Shiva.

And we can see this throughout history and in different societies that are around today.

And this idea is that it's women's bodies rather than men's bodies that have been treated like this because you remember feminism's about that discussion of equality between men and women.

An example of this could be the free labour or work that women often give in the home, and this is called domestic labour often.

And so if you can think of the cooking, the cleaning, childcare, all these different activities that women often do and have done historically for free in the home where they haven't had money for that, whereas the man of the family may have been going out to earn money.

This is what has traditionally happened.

And feminists would argue that was, it can be seen as a form of exploitation if the woman doesn't choose to do that, if she'd rather be doing something else.

And so in that sense, they've been kind of used as a commodity.

The same thing could be said around childbirth or where women don't have access to birth control and they're expected to have children, which many women choose to do.

But feminists would argue, often there's this expectation that women will want to do this rather than anything else for their own career or things they want to do in their life.

And so this expectation that a woman's body will be used for certain things, for Vandana Shiva and other ecofeminists is similar to how people have treated the environment, using the environment almost like a factory or a commodity or a product.

How can I get something outta the environment rather than working with it and respecting it for what it is? A one example of this is in how seeds are being treated, which we'll see in a moment.

So therefore, as interconnected beings.

If you remember, that's a really important belief for Vandana Shiva as well.

Equality for men and women must be part of our efforts for protecting the environment, not only in terms of respecting all life on earth, including men and women and how they're interconnected, but also respecting the kind of knowledge and experience that many of these women have for how to treat the earth and how to farm in ways that respect that interconnection to.

So Vandana Shiva, these two things are absolutely connected to each other with ecofeminism.

Let's do another check.

What's the name given to the belief that care of the environment and equality between men and women are connected issues? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what we've written in a moment.

Well done.

Ecofeminism or you may have written ecofeminist, the idea that care of the environment and equality between men and women are connected issues.

So time for a task to see what we've learned then.

Sam and Andeep have started explaining how some part of Vandana Shiva's story might have influenced her worldview and beliefs.

They've given a part of the story and a belief, and you are going to write an explanation for how that part of the story could have influenced that belief.

So we've got parts from the beginning of the lesson about Vandana Shiva's story, things that have happened in her life.

Then we've got parts to do with her beliefs, and you are going to say how the story might have influenced that belief.

Let's have a look at the examples.

So Sam has said, "Growing up as a Hindu and enjoying time in the forest might have influenced her to believe that biodiversity is important because.

." And Andeep says, "Seeing the Bhopal chemical plant disaster may have influenced her to believe that farming should be done without chemical pesticides because.

." And you are going to write an explanation for each of those as to why that part of the story could have influenced that belief.

So pause the video, and have a go, and we'll see what you've written in a moment.

Well done.

That was some fantastic thinking there.

So I asked you to write an explanation for how a part of the story could have influenced the belief from Vandana Shiva.

And your answer may look something like this.

So Sam said, "Growing up as a Hindu and enjoying time in the forest might have influenced her to believe that biodiversity is important because.

." And you may have written, "It showed her that all of life is interconnected and part of sacred mother earth." And Andeep said, "Seeing the Bhopal chemical plant disaster may have influenced her to believe farming should be done without pesticides because.

." And you may have written, "That it showed the magnitude of the possible destruction of these artificial chemical methods have." So well done.

So onto our third section of this lesson then.

Vandana Shiva's rebellion.

In 1974, in a small village in the Himalayas in India, 3,000 trees were due to be cut down, and the women in that village vowed to protect the trees with their bare arms in the face of loggers who had axes and guns.

Do you think they succeeded? Pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So what do we think? Did they actually succeed in protecting these trees? And if so, how did they do it? They did succeed by hugging the trees.

So they put their bodies around the trees and said, "You'd have to cut through us first if you then want to get to the trees." And they started an environmental movement called Chipko, which is Sanskrit for hugging, so to hug.

And this movement started by protecting these 3,000 trees and then spread.

There was a tradition of this happening before in the history in India are people protecting sacred trees with their bare arms. Vandana Shiva met these women.

If you remember, she was from a similar area in the Himalayas in India and she met them very early on and decided to help them and became an activist for the earth with them because she was appalled at seeing the trees being cut down and what was happening to her local forests and area.

So she wanted to join and support this group of women who were also doing the same thing, protecting the trees and protecting the earth.

Now Vandana Shiva was appalled at the destruction of the forest where she grew up.

So she joined the organisation Chipko, which meant to hug, and she became more aware of the threats to the environment over time and as campaigned as an activist to protect the earth since then.

More recently, her efforts have been focused on the threat as she sees it to the earth, caused by the genetic engineering and patenting of seeds.

We can understand a little more what Vandana Shiva is speaking about with biopiracy through looking at a case study of Basmati rice, where there was a case where a patent was made and she took legal action against this.

So you might have heard of or eaten or seen Basmati rice, and it's a very famous species of rice that is grown in India and exported all over the world.

But in 1997, a company in the United States had a patent given to them or legal ownership of an invention for their own brand of genetically engineered Basmati rice.

So this meant that they declared that they had sort of invented Basmati rice and this was their invention, it belonged to them.

So they would have ownership of it being sold, exported, and all these kind of things.

And Vandana Shiva and others campaigned together to have this patent removed, by saying that just because they had genetically engineered their own version of Basmati rice, didn't mean that they owned Basmati rice.

And in 2002, it was removed.

And what could be called Basmati rice was if it was grown in those geographical areas in India where it had been traditionally in the past.

That's what made it Basmati, not something that was genetically engineered by a company in a different part of the world.

So Vandana Shiva has also encouraged a movement to create seed libraries of natural seed varieties.

And there's over 450 in the world today.

There's many that are found in India that Vandana Shiva has helped to create, but also around the whole world, we have lots of these seed libraries.

So these are natural seeds, meaning they haven't been genetically modified in any way and they are being preserved in these libraries to be able to be planted in different situations and different times of need.

Some of them may be more naturally able to cope with hotter climates, for example, or times of drought or where there's a great amount of salt in the land as well.

And this is naturally rather than in a way that's been genetically modified.

And these seeds can therefore be used to plant in different times of need in different parts of the world, and also they're preserved for the future.

So this has helped to protect and preserve biodiversity.

It's protecting against disease and supporting farmers naturally in times of need.

So some of them may be able to withstand certain pests and certain diseases naturally rather than having to rely on those chemical pesticides that we spoke about earlier in the lesson.

So for example, seeds of varieties of plants that can endure different circumstances have been sent to help after natural disasters in India.

So for example, after there had been a great flooding in one part of India and the soil became much saltier than it should have been, seed varieties of rice which could withstand that salt, naturally was taken over to that part of India and given to the farmers there to enable them to grow naturally rather than having to rely upon genetically modified seeds which may not have helped them further in the future.

And for this work, Vandana Shiva has often been given the title, The Gandhi of Grain because of how much she has worked to support seeds and natural protection of grain across the planet today.

So time for a quick check.

Which two statements are correct about Vandana Shiva's rebellion? Vandana Shiva has created seed libraries with copies of seeds created through genetic engineering.

Vandana Shiva joined Chipko, an environmental movement of women activists protecting trees with their bare arms. Vandana Shiva helped in the Basmati rice case, where a patent for a seed created through genetic engineering was removed.

Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's B and C.

Vandana Shiva has not got seeds that have been made through genetic engineering in the different seed libraries.

They're all natural varieties and species.

So is Vandana Shiva right to rebel in this way? We can start to think about how Vandana Shiva's been rebelling and whether we think this is right or not.

So Andeep and Sam are discussing this question here.

Andeep says, "She is right to rebel in this way as her actions have inspired many others to protect the earth too." Sam says, "She's wrong to rebel in this way as plants created through genetic engineering have the potential to feed many more people." So I wonder what might have influenced Andeep and Sam to have this view on Vandana Shiva's rebellion? What is it that might have influenced them to have this perspective on it? Have a think about that.

Pause the video.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Yes, perhaps Andeep has seen many other people who have been inspired by Vandana Shiva, and like for example, the number of seed libraries that we have in the world today.

And he's thinking about how much of an effect her actions have had on a greater number of people caring about the planet.

And perhaps Sam has been looking into genetic engineering and thinking about the potential that there is in genetic engineering to feed many more people.

And this argument is often given about genetically modified plants that they could feed more if they're growing faster and growing larger.

So perhaps that's influenced Sam's view on why genetic engineering could have benefits for people.

Do you agree with Andeep or Sam or have a different view? And what could have influenced your view? Have a think about that.

Pause the video, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So time for a quick check then.

Which of these events in the story of Vandana Shiva's rebellion came first? The Basmati rice patent case, Chipko tree hugging, or the Bhopal disaster? Which of these came first? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

The Chipko tree hugging where the women protected the trees with their bare arms was the first thing that happened in the story that we've looked at of Vandana Shiva's rebellion.

This task to see what we've learned then.

Throughout this lesson, we've looked at the example of Vandana Shiva as someone who's protecting the earth.

We've looked at her story and her beliefs, as well as how she is rebelling.

And what she's been rebelling against is what she believes is an economic system that's using the earth profit.

And we've thought about why some people might say that she's doing this in the right way or not.

And so your task is to answer this question with a view and a reason to support it.

And this doesn't have to be your own personal view, just a view that someone could have on this.

So the question is, is Vandana Shiva right to rebel against what she believes to be an economic system that's using the earth for profit in this way? You're going to give a view on this question and a reason to support it, and you might like to use one of these sentence stems. Vandana Shiva is right.

Vandana Shiva is not right.

Or, it is unclear if Vandana Shiva is right or not.

Remember, it doesn't have to be your personal view.

It's a view that someone could have on this question.

So pause the video and have a go, and we'll see you written in a moment.

Well done.

Some really good thinking there.

So I asked you to answer this question with a view and a reason to support that view.

And the question is, is Vandana Shiva right to rebel against what she believes to be an economic system that's using the earth for profit in this way? Give a view on the question and a reason to support it.

And your answer may look something like this.

"Vandana Shiva is right to challenge the economic system as she sees it because the protection of the interconnected life on earth and biodiversity should be more important than the financial gain of some humans." Or you may have written, "Vandana Shiva is not right to challenge the economic system as she sees it because this will stop advances in research and genetic engineering which could enable us to feed many more people more cheaply." Or you may have written something else.

Well done.

So let's summarise what we've learned today then.

Vandana Shiva protecting the earth.

Vandana Shiva is an Indian, Hindu ecofeminist and activist.

Vandana Shiva is influenced by Hindu beliefs such as "the whole world is one family" to protect biodiversity on earth.

Some actions by humans reduced biodiversity, such as chemical pesticides and the destruction of forests.

Some species of plants have been created through genetic engineering, which can then threaten biodiversity and the earth.

Vandana Shiva has rebelled against this as an activist through protesting, campaigning, and the creation of seed libraries.

So well done for your work today.

And I'll see you soon.

Bye-bye.