France, February 2019 – In continuation with the work started in Paris at COP21 in 2015 and the Pact for the Earth, a series of events were organised in France, in collaboration with the association SOL Association to promote the transition towards poison-free, climate resilient and organic food systems.
Conference today with @drvandanashiva and @SOL_association for @ENSAT_INP students in Tolouse, France https://t.co/fP6813rLox @NavdanyaBija pic.twitter.com/gZsCmhWFlG
— Navdanya International (@NavdanyaInt) February 20, 2019
On 20 February 2019 in Auzeville-Tolosane, France, the Ecole nationale supérieure agronomique de France (ENSAT) welcomed Dr Vandana Shiva, President of Navdanya International, for a conference on agriculture and nature. She declared: “Agronomy students are a big part of the change. It is thanks to them that things will change. We need to work on new ways of thinking about agriculture. Human beings have the illusion of being outside of nature, of being above it. We will not be able to act until we become aware of the place we have in this world”. Learn more [French]: A Toulouse, Vandana Shiva lance un appel : “C’est le moment de mettre en place une transition écologique !”
industrialized farming is too costly for the Earth, farmers, our health. Farmers can no longer carry the burden of debt,displacement of the farmers is also the refugee crises, disappearing bees. @drvandanashiva @SOL_association @regionOccitaine @NavdanyaInt @occupytheseed pic.twitter.com/Um78yjiTk0
— Navdanya (@NavdanyaBija) February 20, 2019
On the same day a panel debate was held at the Regional Council of Occitania.
On 21st February, in Paris, Dr Vandana Shiva gave a keynote at the annual Women4Climate Conference.
She stated: “If we are staring in the face of climate catastrophe, we are staring in the face of the 6th mass extinction. Scientists are telling us that within a decade we could lose all the bees and the butterflies, all the insects that weave the web of life. Everything that is making the planet sick is making us sick. You could be eating well, while protecting the earth. We have 10 years to make a transition, which will decide wether humanity will have a future or not. We are at this very vital moment of choosing between collapse and regeneration”.
On 22 February, Dr Vandana Shiva joined the young climate activists campaign Fridays for Future, led by the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, whose continued effort and perseverance has brought her to inspire a generation and to help climate change gain more prominence. Dr Shiva spoke with the group of students sitting in circle in Place de l’Opéra in Paris: “We must become one voice in our rich diversity, and mobilize to defend the earth and future generations. This is why we have started our Poison Free Food and Farming Campaign, to create poison free organic zones and local ecological food systems, that rejuvenate biodiversity, the soil and water, that create climate resilience and climate stability”.
La conférence touche à sa fin. Merci à tous les participant.e.s et à toutes les intervenantes ! @SOL_association #VandanaShiva #semonslesgrainesdelatransition #alternativesagricoles pic.twitter.com/phqNSYD3fb
— Fondation RAJA – Danièle Marcovici (@FondationRaja) February 22, 2019
The tour ended on the same day with the Conference “Sowing the seeds of a transition in agriculture and food“, co-organised by SOL and the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation, in partnership with the Yves Rocher Foundation.