Vandana Shiva says that she learned her first lesson in ecology and eco-system in the Himalayan forests which she later put to practice in her farms. Her ideas about bio-diversity and biodiversity- based living economies prompted her to begin the Navdanya movement for biodiversity conservation and organic farming which she started in 1987. Later, in 1994, she set up the Navdanya farm in the Doon Valley where she claims to have conserved and grown 630 varieties of rice, 150 varieties of wheat and hundreds of other species. Based on these practices she tells the reader that the forests teach us union and compassion, the principle of equity, and how to enjoy the gifts of nature without exploitation and accumulation and mutual co-operation.
