Glossary
| Word / Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ecology | the study of the relationships of organisms with each other and their surroundings |
| biodiversity | the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat |
| monoculture | the cultivation of a single crop on a farm, area or country |
| logging | cutting down trees for timber |
| fodder | food for cattle |
| hearth | fireplace, the cooking fire of a home |
| pad yatra | a walking pilgrimage |
| Earth Democracy | the freedom for all species to evolve within the web of life |
| anthropocentrism | regarding humans as the central element of the universe |
| ecocentrism | regarding nature and all living things as the centre |
| organic farming | farming without artificial chemicals |
| apartheid | separateness; the old South African system of separating people by colour |
| Terra Nullius / Terra Madre | empty land / Mother Earth |
| entrails | internal organs |
| pluralism | a system in which many groups, beliefs or principles coexist |
| equity | fairness, impartiality |
| renunciation | giving up; formal rejection of a claim or desire |
| consumerism | the promotion of buying and consuming goods |
Detailed Explanation, Part 1: What the Women of Chipko Knew
The essay opens by tracing the writer's love of ecology to her childhood - a forest-officer father, a farmer mother, and songs about trees.
The women of Garhwal understood what officials did not. For the government and loggers, a forest was timber and profit. For the women, who fetched water, fodder and fuel, a forest was life itself - springs, streams, cattle food and firewood. Deforestation made every daily task harder and caused landslides and floods.
Two moments show the women's wisdom:
- The folk song: "These beautiful oaks and rhododendrons, / They give us cool water / Don't cut these trees / We have to keep them alive."
- The lanterns at Adwani: holding lighted lanterns in broad daylight was a symbolic act - the officials were "in the dark" about forestry, and the women had come to show them the light. When the forester said forests produce "profit and resin and timber", the women answered that forests bear "soil, water, and pure air".
Bachni Devi's stand against her own husband shows how deeply the women valued the forest above personal gain.
Detailed Explanation, Part 2: From Forest to Farm
Chipko taught Vandana Shiva the importance of biodiversity. She applied the forest's lesson to agriculture:
| Monoculture farming | Biodiversity-intensive farming |
|---|---|
| a single crop | many crops and varieties |
| depends on fossil fuel and chemicals | nourished by sun and soil |
| impoverishes nature and culture | produces more food and nutrition per acre |
Navdanya's achievements:
- Farm started 1994, Doon Valley - 630 rice varieties, 150 wheat varieties.
- Movement started 1987 - 100+ community seed banks, 3,000+ rice varieties saved.
Her claim: conserving biodiversity is the answer to the food and nutrition crisis. Biodiversity has taught her "abundance and freedom, co-operation and mutual giving".
Detailed Explanation, Part 3: Separateness and the Dead-Earth View
Rights of nature. When we see nature as a teacher, we recognise that she has agency and rights. Ecuador's constitution, Bolivia's declaration and the 2011 UN conference on "Harmony with Nature" are steps in this direction. The UN report says destructive behaviour comes from failing to see that humans are an inseparable part of nature.
Eco-apartheid. Just as racial apartheid separated people by colour, eco-apartheid separates humans from nature in our minds and lives. It must end because separateness is the root of violence against nature and people.
How the separation began. The industrial revolution turned the living Earth into dead matter and raw material. Two thinkers are contrasted:
| Francis Bacon | Carolyn Merchant |
|---|---|
| "father of modern science" | philosopher and historian |
| science can conquer and subdue nature and "shake her to her foundations" | criticises the shift from nature as a nurturing mother to dead, manipulable matter |
| images of domination | shows this shift removed a cultural check on exploitation and suited capitalism |
Merchant's line makes the point vividly: nobody readily kills a mother or digs into her body for gold - but once nature is "dead matter", exploitation becomes easy.
Detailed Explanation, Part 4: The Earth University and Tagore's Forest
Earth Democracy means:
- the freedom of all species to evolve within the web of life;
- the freedom and responsibility of humans, as members of the Earth family, to protect other species;
- a shift from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism;
- for humans, the right to food and water and freedom from hunger and thirst.
Unlike ordinary universities that teach in classrooms, the Earth University teaches through living seeds, living soil and the web of life. Its students include farmers, school children and people from across the world.
Tagore's ideas that inspired it:
- Indian civilization found its renewal in the forest, not the city.
- The forest gave India the principle of unity in diversity and democratic pluralism.
- The forest is a source of knowledge, freedom, beauty, joy, art and harmony; it teaches union and compassion.
- The forest teaches enoughness and enjoyment through renunciation, "not through greed of possession".
Unity and diversity. Both are needed together. Diversity without unity becomes conflict; unity without diversity becomes external control. The forest is a unity in diversity.
The essay ends with hope: the end of consumerism and accumulation is the beginning of the joy of living, and the forest can show us the way beyond greed, conquest and violence.
Vocabulary: Affixes (textbook exercise)
A. Negative prefixes (dis-, im-, non-, in-, de-, anti-, ir-, un-). Examples from the essay: disharmony, nonviolent, inseparable, deforestation, anti-apartheid.
| Word | With prefix | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| responsible | irresponsible | Wasting water is irresponsible. |
| human | inhuman | Cutting a living forest for profit seemed inhuman to the villagers. |
| practical | impractical | Growing a single crop everywhere is impractical in the long run. |
| natural | unnatural | Chemical farming puts unnatural stress on the soil. |
| active | inactive | The villagers refused to stay inactive. |
| material | immaterial | For the women, the profit from timber was immaterial. |
| civilized | uncivilized | Destroying Mother Earth is uncivilized. |
| perfect | imperfect | Human knowledge of nature is imperfect. |
B. Suffixes (-al, -ism, -ion, -ment, -ship, -ity). More words from the essay: ecological, cultural, capitalism, consumerism, anthropocentrism, deforestation, conservation, civilization, globalization, renunciation, involvement, partnership, diversity, equity.
C. Compound words from the essay
- eco-system: a community of living things and their surroundings
- eco-centrism: putting nature, not humans, at the centre
- eco-apartheid: the false separation of humans from nature
- bio-diversity: the variety of life
- biodiversity-intensive: using many kinds of crops and species together
- mono-culture: growing a single crop
- fossil-fuel: coal, oil and gas formed from ancient remains