Soil, Not Oil: Climate Change, Peak Oil and Food Insecurity

by Vandana Shiva

With "Soil Not Oil," Vandana Shiva connects the dots between industrial agriculture and climate change. Shiva shows that a world beyond dependence on fossil fuels and globalization is both possible and necessary. Condemning industrial agriculture as a recipe for ecological and economic disaster, Shiva's champion is the small, independent their greater productivity, their greater potential for social justice as they put more resources into the hands of the poor, and the biodiversity that is inherent to the traditional farming practiced in small-scale agriculture. What we need most in a time of changing climates and millions hungry, she argues, is sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood. In her trademark style, she draws solutions to our world's most pressing problems on the head of a "The solution to climate change," she observes, "and the solution to poverty are the same." Using Shiva's organization Navdanya--praised by Barbara Kingsolver as "a small, green Eden framed against the startling blue backdrop of the Himalayas"--as a model, "Soil Not Oil" lays out principles for feeding the planet that are socially just and environmentally sound. Shiva then expands her analysis to broader issues of globalization and climate change, arguing that a healthy environment and a just world go hand in hand. Unwavering and truly visionary, "Soil Not Oil" proposes a solution based on self-organization, sustainability, and community rather than corporate power and profits. A world-renowned environmental leader and thinker, Vandana Shiva is the author of many books, including "Earth Democracy," "Water Wars," and "Staying Alive." She is the editor of "Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed."

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Politics, Ecology, Climate Change, Food, Science

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

A major figurehead of the alter-globalization movement as well as a major role player in global Ecofeminism, Dr. Vandana Shiva is recipient to several awards for her services in human rights, ecology and conservation. Receiving her Ph.D in physics at the University of Western Ontario in 1978, Dr. Vandana Shivas attentions were quickly drawn towards ecological concerns.

Reviews

[Guilu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but nothing I wasn’t really already conscious of. Yes, soil is better than oil; yes, regenerative economies and systems are better then extractive, exploitative, wasteful, and harmful systems. Yes, biodiversity and locally controlled use of land is better than mono cropping with seeds controlled by Monsanto. However, Vandana Shiva did not go into how this (massive) transfer of power might take place. While that couldn’t have fit into a short 110 page book, what I’m looking for is now that we know better alternatives, how does the global majority take the POWER that big corporations (and sometimes big government) back into their/our own hands? How do we get from oil to soil?

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A serious must read for anyone who loves being alive. We are in fact in a crisis and the knowledge is out there and can be accessed. Shiva's writting is both unique and heartfelt.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a bit slow for me to get into this book, but it's really a good one, especially if you already know some basic facts about Monsanto, the WTO, the World Bank, etc. Shiva is a former nuclear physicist from India who has turned into an activist for agrarian reform, an outspoken critic of globalization and carbon trading, and the founder of Navdanya (http://www.navdanya.org/), a project that helps farmers in India achieve Earth Democracy. Awesomeness!

If you have trouble getting into the book or are more interested in the "soil" parts, start with the last few chapters.

p. 7: "the transition from oil to soil is a political transition. It is a transition from undemocratic political structures - which impsoe globalization dn a fossil fuel infrastructure on society and force the large-scale uprooting of peasants and indigenous peoples - to a decentralized democracy in which local communities have a say in what happens to their land and their lives."

p.13-14: In biology, the term development refers to self-directed, self-regulated, and self-organized evolution from within. In the terms of Chilean scientists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, systems that self-organize and self-renew are autopoetic systems. And in the language of David Pimentel of Cornell, autopoetic systems are based on endosomatic or metabolic energy. If the economic domain were to think of development in the same way, it woudl lead to a flourishing of biodiversity and cultural diversity. Development would conserve resources and energy while improving human well-being and human welfare.
Unfortunately, development in economics has the opposite meaning. In economics, development is an externally driven process. It refers to self-organizing, self-regulating systems as "un-developed" and "underdeveloped" and suggests that they should be made dependent on external inputs - external resoures, energy, adn money....

p.36 instead of a carbon tax on countries, we need a carbon tax on corporations. Quotas reward polluters and don't work; they reward long-distance shipping of goods, etc.

p.37: the speculative economy of global finance is hundreds of times larger than the value of real goods and services produced in the world.
(criticized commodification of everything on the planet, corporate land grabs) "the global economy based on limitless consumerism has a rapacious appetite for natural resources."

p.43: "the solution to climate chaos is not an energy shift - from fossil fuels to nuclear, biofuel, and big hydro. The solution is a paradigm shift: - from a reductionist to a holistic worldview based on interconnections, - from a mechanistic, industrial paradigm to an ecological one, - from a consumerist definition of being human to one that recognizes us as conservers of the earth's finite resources and cocreators of wealth with nature." live by laws other than economic ones: physics, energy/entropy, evolution, justice.

p.60: "The highway and the automobile are symbols of totalitarian cultures: they deny people sustainable and equitable alternatives for mobility and transport."

p.73: Animals: a living energy alternative for mobility (rickshaws, elephants, donkeys, mules, etc).... "Speed is rewarded, even though speed is killing cultures, people, livelihoods, and the planet itself."

p.99: "energy use per kilo of rice is 80 times more in the US than in the Phillipines." "A 450-gram box of breakfast cereal provides only 1,100 kilocalories of food energy but uses 7,000 kilocalories of energy for processing."

p.119: about her Navdanya project:
"The dominant food economy is based on monopolies and monocultures, on industrialization of production adn globalization of distribution of a handful of crops - corn, soy, rice, adn wheat. This economy has pushed 1 billion people into hunger; another 2 billion into obesity. It is killing species and farmers. One hundred fifty thousand small farmers of India have committed suicide because they were forced to buy costly, unreliable seed every year from corporations like Monsanto, which collect exorbitant royalties."
"After the 2004 tsunami, our salf-resistant rice varieties rebuilt the devastated agriculture of Tamil Nadu. Our seeds of Dehradun basmati gave us the strength to fight RiceTec of Texas, which had patented basmati rice. Our seeds of native wheat varieties inspired us to fight Monsanto when it patented low-gluten wheat.

[Elif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soil Not Oil by Vandana Shiva will change your life and our future. A must-read!

English: https://elifthereader.com/books/soil-...
Türkçe: http://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/pe...

[Sarah B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite author and leading ecofeminist thinker, activist, and speaker, Shiva's recent move from general ecofeminist organizing to specific intersections of the military-industrial complex and food security & preservation issues utilizes her usual concise, clear, and demanding tone for a more just vision of the future.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, this book corrected my misconception that chemical fertilizers contained oil, in some form. I now understand that the production and transport of chemical fertilizers rely on oil. An important difference.

Vandana Shiva writes very clearly about the costs being accrued with relying on reductionist solutions, ignoring the systems involved. The most distressing (for me) being the Intellectual Property Rights, and the associated reduction in biodiversity.

I am convinced that the issues of social justice and food justice are closely connected. And that the burdens of climate change are going to be (are being) felt most by people who live in the developing countries. As they struggle under trade agreements that leave local populations and economies broken.

This book challenges me in the choices I make, politically, socially, economically. It inspired me to think about how I can create and sustain biodiversity in my life, and reduce my reliance on fossil fuels. While supporting local, sustainable initiatives.

[South End Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone who takes the future of the planet seriously, Soil Not Oil dare us to imagine a world where people matter more than profits.

With Soil Not Oil, Vandana Shiva brilliantly reveals what connects humanity's most urgent food crises--food insecurity, peak oil, and climate change--and why any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will get us nowhere.

Condemning industrial biofuels and agriculture as recipes for ecological and economic disaster, Shiva champions the small independent farm instead. With millions hungry and the earth's future at peril, only sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood can both feed and safeguard the world for generations to come. Bold and visionary, Soil Not Oil calls for a return to sound agricultural principles--and a world based on self-organization, community, and environmental justice.

[Raahul Khadaliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just started reading will post soon

[Judi Poulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wake up call. Good book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vadana Shiva has a knowing voice throughout the book. If you're completely clueless about global climate issues, this is easy to pick up to begin educating yourself.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ACTIVIST LOOKS AT THREE GLOBAL CRISES, AND PROPOSES ALTERNATIVES

Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalization author and activist; she won the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (the Right Livelihood Award) in 1993.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 2008 book, “Two hundred years into the fossil fuel era, CO2 emissions have created a greenhouse effect that is responsible for global warming and is leading to a climate crisis… [which may] result in the melting of the polar ice caps and glaciers, and the intensification of floods, droughts, and cyclones… If we do not halt the temperature increase the climate crisis will dramatically change how we live. And it will decide if we live or perish… We need to move beyond oil. We need to reinvent society, technology, and economy. We need to do it fast and creatively. We can. Climate chaos and peak oil are converging with a third crisis---the food crisis … [which] results from the combined impacts of the industrialization and globalization of agriculture… The food crisis reflects a deeper crisis---the creation of ‘redundant’ or disposable people and, alongside them, the potential for violence and political instability… We can and must respond creatively to the triple crisis and simultaneously overcome dehumanization, economic inequality, and ecological catastrophe.” (Pg. 1-3)

She suggests, “We have two choices: We can make a nature-centered, people-centered transition to a fossil fuel-free future, with meaningful work and dignified living for all; or we can continue on our current path toward a market-centered future , which will make the crisis deeper for the poor and the marginalized and provide a TEMPORARY escape for the privileged. The first part of this book deals with the pseudo-solutions; the second part offers equitable and lasting solutions from a people’s perspective…” (Pg. 4) She adds, “In the short term, we can continue to expand the profits and consumerism of the privileged by further dispossessing the poor. But tomorrow even the rich and the powerful will not be immune from Gaia’s revenge and the revenge of the billions of dispossessed. We will either have justice, sustainability and peace together or we will descend into economic catastrophe, social chaos and conflict. Soil, not oil, offers a framework for converting the ecological catastrophe and human brutalization we face into an opportunity to reclaim our humanity and our future.” (Pg. 7-8)

She states, “Eco-imperialism is a complex dynamic. It includes the control over the economies of the world through corporate globalization and transforms the resources and ecosystems of the world into feedstock for an industrialized globalized economy… Eco-imperialism also characterizes the control over the foreign policy and strategic security policy of countries like India through the recent US-India nuclear agreement. And it refers to the attempts to engineer the planet. Eco-imperialism if a mechanistic paradigm, based on industrial technologies and economies that assume limitless growth. It is the poor and other species who, in a world of limited resources, lose their share of the earth’s resources.” (Pg. 15-16)

She asserts, “The eco-imperialist response to the climate crisis is to grab the remaining resources of the planet, close the remaining spaces of freedom, and use the worst form of militarized violence to exterminate people’s rights and people themselves when they get in the way of an insatiable economy’s resource appropriation, driven by the insatiable greed of corporations. There is another response---that of Earth Democracy. Earth Democracy recognizes that if the survival of our species if threatened, maintaining our ability to live on the planet is the only intelligent response. Chasing economic growth while ecosystems collapse is a sign of stupidity, not wisdom… In Earth Democracy, solutions will not come from the corporations and governments that have raped the planet… Solutions are coming from those who know how to live lightly… who ... define the good life … as looking after the living earth and their living community… Earth Democracy begins and ends with Gaia’s laws---the law of renewability, the law of conservation, the law of entropy, the law of diversity, In Earth Democracy, all beings and all peoples are equal… In Earth Democracy, the solution to the climate crisis begins with the cultures and communities who have not contributed to it.” (Pg. 45-46)

She laments, “Cows and trees used to be inviolable in India… Today the car has become inviolable… Sacred species are being killed to expand the ecological space for the car. If ‘timeless India’ rested on the gifts of the sacred cow… India’s short-term economic miracle rests on the sacred car. Nothing else is sacred anymore, nothing else is worthy of protection.” (Pg. 49-50)

She points out, “We [in India] are today 1 billion. And we are being asked to adopt the lifestyles and economies of the 20 percent of humanity who have bene using 80 percent of the world’s resources. If 100 million rich Indians want to live like their Western counterparts it would take more resources than the world has to offer and the attempt would force their brothers and sisters to give up their water, their land, their homes, and their livelihoods.” (Pg. 62)

She explains, “Sustainable agriculture is based on the sustainable use of natural resources---land, water, and agricultural biodiversity, including plants and animals. The sustainable use of these resources in turn requires that they are owned and controlled by decentralized agricultural communities, to generate their livelihoods and provide food. These three dimensions---ecological security, livelihood security, and food security---are essential elements of sustainable and equitable agricultural policy. The current process of globalization… [is] encouraging non-sustainable resource exploitation for short-term profits… agriculture has been made a state monopoly and run on massive debts and subsidies while all ecological imperatives of sustainability have been ignored.” (Pg. 105-106)

She observes, “Farmers are being destroyed because prices of farm products are driven down through a combination of monopolistic buying by global corporations and dumping of subsidized products… No one is gaining from globalized trade in food except the corporations. Localization of food systems to reduce food-miles if a climate-change imperative. It is also a food-sovereignty and human-rights imperative. Small farmers will only survive in the context of vibrant and robust local food economies.” (Pg. 123)

She concludes, “The paths out from this crisis are not being blazed in the boardrooms of the global corporations who dominate our world today and are largely responsible for crimes against nature and humanity… The movement for biodiverse, ecological, and local food systems simultaneously addresses the crises of climate, energy, and food… New ways of thinking and acting … are evolving from the creative alternatives being employed in small communities, on farms, in cities. It is this renewable energy of ecology and sharing, of solidarity and compassion, that we need to generate and multiply to counter the destructive energy of greed that is creating scarcity at every level… Climate chaos, brutal economic inequality, and social disintegration are jointly pushing human communities to the brink… We can either keep sleepwalking to extinction or wake up to the potential of the planet and ourselves.” (Pg. 143-144)

Shiva’s books are of tremendous interest to those studying the economic, political, and spiritual ramifications of environmental issues.

[Heather]

I'm not going to give this one a starred rating, because my struggles were more with the style of the book, rather than the substance.

The book might succeed in pushing those already on board with looking for solutions to think further outside the box, beyond some of the mainstream strategies on climate change from the earlier part of the 21st century. I don't think it would succeed in converting anyone who wasn't already looking for a new strategy.

Unfortunately, it doesn't successfully deliver on that proposed new strategy. Too much of the material on balance is focused on the problems with the current system and some of the early strategies for climate change. The perfectly justifiable frustration with the status quo and the limited progress that has been made left the book with an oddly ANTI-science feel, which is odd since science is firmly on the side of biodiversity and the need to re-imagine our farming/consumption practices.

Not enough attention is given to what the author is proposing. Ideas of democratizing agriculture and biodiversity are repeated over and over, without enough to tell us the HOW we get there. I understand this book is short, but 3/4 were devoted to repeating well-known dangers of large scale agribusiness, including arguments that had already been made within the text itself. It left very little opportunity to learn about new approaches. I think greater focus on the possibilities and the science behind the alternative solutions the author supports would have been more helpful.

The conclusion read more like an introduction and some of the hopping between philosophies towards the end didn't really advance what the author was hoping to accomplish.

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

while shiva's work was my introduction to ecofeminism, this is actually the first book of hers i've read (or finished, anyway)

vitally important, although it does at times feel lacking in nuance— i would love to know more about what she thinks the transitional stage to earth democracy would be like, for one. i would love to know more about if she thinks existing biotechnology could be used for good during this transitional stage, for another (because i most definitely do)

don't know if i'm giving it four stars, really; it took me so long to finish the damn thing i can't remember. it might be a 3.5

[Harshit Meda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for someone who would like to know about the harm caused by capitalism and the current environmental damage industrial exploitation of resources is causing to the planet directly and humanity indirectly. The book talks about the limitations of the current economic model promoted by world organisations like the WTO which is so resources intensive and market driven that it can not combat environmental changes and secure a future for humanity. The book also touches upon the failure of the models proposed to tackle climate change.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

An empowering book for its time (2008), but unfortunately it’s just that. I don’t believe much of it is relevant at all in the current 2025 global climate crisis.

I do appreciate Shiva’s coining of the term “Earth Democracy”. It is interesting to see a South Asian take on what I understand as more of a reciprocal Indigenous coded relationship in North America. Definitely something to be learned and incorporated further into western scientific and colonial understandings of the climate crisis.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Soil Not Oil is a scholarly but approachable book about climate change. Written in 2008 and (updated?) in 2015, we are probably in deeper than Vandana Shiva illustrates here.

Of special interest is the ridiculous shell game (and sham) that is carbon trading.

This book is pacts with facts. It is a call to act, but Shiva has not given us the how.

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a really long time because it wasn’t what I would call entertaining and was really dense with information. It was really good though in terms of information. There is a lot of important discussion on climate change, corporation, and how we need to focus less on industrializing and more on local bio diverse farming if we want to end food insecurity, starvation, and climate change.

[Talya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an insightful book that definitely made me rethink the way our society functions. The first couple chapters were less useful to me, mostly because this was published 12 years ago, but I really enjoyed the last couple chapters. The way energy is defined and applied is super interesting

[Abhay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Insight

This book showed me a very different side of our development and where is it leading us. Thank you Dr. Shiva for the insights.

[Leon Erkelens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Convincing that the 'old fashioned' way of farming is way more future proof than agrobusiness propagated by companies like Monsanto and Cargill (which actually leads to many suïcides).

[Qicheng Tang · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cannot finish this book. The author lacked the required calm to compose a book that is both scientfically solid and emotionally compelling.

[Ana Guri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense but good

[Annapurna Holtzapple]

Shelving DNF

[orphicella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first ever nonfiction book i really like and obsessed with 👏🏻

[Row Dela Rosa Yoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to read this book when the State Government of Western Australia announced to convert vast tracks of land into sugar cane plantation-- as if the State is not satisfied with the expansive mining operations going on there. The plantation is not intended to produce food, but rather to produce bio-fuels. Agricultural crops are turning into bio-fuels.

From Asia to South America to Africa, farms are converted into industrial purposes-- which according to Shiva has been creating food shortages and environmental degredation.

Here's a review from "wildflower boy" at Amazon.com which I strongly agree with:
In her latest book, Vandana Shiva, a leading opponent of water privatization and biotechnology, takes on the energy and transportation sectors, exposing how the oil industry is causing climate chaos and food insecurity. She also condemns industrial biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel, arguing that the mass production of genetically engineered monoculture crops like corn and soy is robbing the poor of land and food. Furthermore, tropical rainforests which are crucial carbon sinks are being bulldozed to plant soy and palm plantations, killing these delicate ecosystems along with the indigenous peoples that inhabit them. While trading in one's automobile for an oxcart, donkey, or bicycle may seem like a bizarre idea to most middle-class white folks in the global north, such sustainable alternatives are the norm for millions of people in Latin America, Asia, and Africa and should be embraced by everyone concerned about climate stability. I, personally, found Vandana Shiva's childhood recollections of riding an elephant to school totally delightful! Given the frightening reality of peak oil, global warming, and the worldwide agrarian crisis, this is an extremely important and thought-provoking book. Please read it and do what you can to support decentralized, small-scale, biodiverse, local, organic food systems and sustainable, carbon-neutral transportation alternatives!
http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Not-Oil-En...

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

My main criticism of this book is stylistic. The earth is referred to as Gaia and feminine pronouns are used for earth/nature/etc., and while I understand this, it may influence some readers to dismiss the book as new-age/hippie-ish, despite its otherwise factual tone, which brings me to the other stylistic issue - this book reads like the author is more used to writing scientific papers (which isn't a surprise when you consider the author's background) and might put off readers who expect more of a pop-science book. However this is what I liked about the book - the heavy citations and real-world examples to back up statements and the author's obvious involvement and experience with how these issues affect her community. The book is mostly illustrated with specific and India-based examples, which I appreciate as at the moment I would rather read more in-depth perspectives about environmental justice from different cultures rather than one of the myriad books that approach it from a general, westernised viewpoint and peppered with casual, 'global' examples.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A food crisis is emerging as a result of the convergence of climate change, peak oil, and the impact of globalization on the rights of the poor to food and livelihood.

Unfortunately, the forces that have given us climate change are using the crisis to further inequality by robbing the poor of their last morsel of food and last inch of land without achieving sustainability.

We can make a nature centered people centered transition to a fossil fuel free future with meaningful work and decent and dignified living for all or we can continue on our current path toward a market centered future, which will make the crisis deeper for the poor and the marginalized and provide a temporary escape for the privileged.

"Cars need highways and overpasses, they need fossil fuel , and they need aluminum, steel and petrochemicals. Cars redesign the countryside and the city."

"Land is the basis of agriculture."

[Valerie]

I haven't read this book yet, but went to see Dr. Vandana Shiva speak at the University of New Mexico last night. Farmers in the state of New Mexico are trying to preserve their natural, heirloom seeds for the state's very unique crop: the New Mexico chile.

Corporations and federal government are trying to include unique crops such as the New Mexico chile in a program for genetic modification to make them climate hardy and pest resistant with petrochemicals and genetic mutations, all the while imperiling biodiversity in our global foodshed.

As a cornerstone of the Slow Food and organics movements in the 80s and 90s (and a doctor of astrophysics), Ms. Shiva is a passionate, convicted, knowledgeable speaker who really lit my fire about contributing to the food security and sovereignty cause. I look forward to reading her work for the first time to keep the fire glowing....

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for everyone. It provides compelling data and profound insight into the damage waged upon our world by non-sustainable farming, trading, energy, and economics. The book covers the negative impacts of globalization in terms of poverty, exploitation, food prices, energy prices, pollution, etc. It is only about 150 pages long, but it is as comprehensive as it is terse. Shiva makes a compelling and passionate argument for adaptation of sustainable, earth-friendly farming, trading, and economic policy. I took it as a manifesto to the world - a warning and a pleading for governments and populations worldwide to adopt sustainable, renewable procedures for global farming, trading, and economics.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only the most amazing feminist scientist in the world could explain why the "Green Revolution" is killing the planet *and* give so many simple alternatives, like seed saving and crop rotation, backed up with evidence. I didn't know how many healthy soil bacterias were in a cubic inch of soil, and that industrial fertilizers are reducing plants abilities to get the right minerals from the soil, which means we may be eating mineral deficient food. I didn't realize how much energy is actually wasted creating food. And I had no idea that 125,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide because of the Green Rev. This is an astonishing and awesome read.