Cardamom-scented dry-hopped Insurrection IPA
International Women’s Day 2012
In honour of IWD, we dedicate this beer to Vandana Shiva, India’s leading teacher of sustainable agriculture and anti-GMO activist. Our Insurrection took a trip to the heart of IPA, and came back infused with one of Rebecca’s favourite spices: cardamom. The sweet warmth of cardamom complements the citrus aroma of our own farm-grown Cascade hops. There’s plenty of caramel malts to keep our feet on the ground, in the soil which nourishes us. All organic ingredients, of course!
Dr Vandana Shiva
“The primary threat to nature and people today comes from centralising and monopolising power and control. Not until diversity is made the logic of production will there be a chance for sustainability, justice and peace. Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative.”
It all started with a river.
Decades ago, a young Indian woman living near the Himalayas was on her way to one of her favorite rivers as a child. She wanted to visit it before she left to pursue her Ph.D. in Canada. When she reached the site, however, she was stunned: the river was gone.
“That made me realize that I couldn’t take for granted that our beautiful world will continue to stay that way, and there are very powerful interests out to destroy it. I’ve been sort of an ecological activist ever since.”
Her organisation promotes biodiversity, conservation and small farmers’ rights. She is an authority on globalisation and biodiversity, lobbying governments and challenging agriculture giants such as Monsanto.
“When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming.”
Vandana advocates for the use of traditional farming practices and against the use of biotechnology, such as genetically modified seeds. Vandana’s main theme is biodiversity – the power of agribusiness, she says, will lead to a domination of homogenous genetically-engineered seeds, that will eventually require farmers to use vast quantities of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and water. Farmers in developing countries will not reap the economic benefits of their harvests, she argues; instead, that will go to a handful of global companies who will also hold the future power of food security.
Dr. Shiva also co-founded Diverse Women for Diversity, an international organization combining women’s rights and nature’s rights, celebrating our cultural diversity and biological diversity.
“Women who produce for their families and communities are treated as ‘non-productive’ and economically inactive. The devaluation of women’s work, and of work done in sustainable economies, is the natural outcome of a system constructed by capitalist patriarchy. This is how globalisation destroys local economies and destruction itself is counted as growth.”
Find out more:
Ecofeminism. M Mies, V Shiva. Halifax/London: Fernwood/Zed Books, 1993.
Monocultures of the mind: perspectives on biodiversity and biotechnology. Penang: Zed Books and Third World Network, 1993.
Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace.Cambridge: South End Press, 2005



