The Nature of Nature: The Metabolic Disorder of Climate Change

In an age of climate catastrophes and extinction, world-renowned environmentalist Vandana Shiva shows why we must turn back to nature and learn, once again, how to live sustainably on planet Earth, beginning with our relationship to food. Four billion years ago, Earth was a hot, lifeless planet. Through the process of evolution, the Earth and its diversity of living organisms gradually reduced the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. About 200,000 years ago, the conditions aligned for our own species – Homo sapiens – to emerge and thrive. But what will it take to continue to survive? In The Nature of Nature, legendary activist and scientist Vandana Shiva argues that food is the currency of life, a thread woven throughout the web of all life, indivisible from Earth and its natural systems. When this interdependence is ruptured, the conditions for the ‘metabolic disorder’ of climate change and countless other ecological imbalances come into being. Proposals put forward by Big Ag and Big Tech to solve the intertwined climate and food crises will only exacerbate both. With clarity and a detailed analysis, Vandana unpacks the false promises made by technology-oriented, lab-intensive digital agriculture, revealing the threats posed by fake and ultra-processed foods – including dangers to the environment, to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, to the health of animals and to our health and food security. In The Nature of Nature, Vandana takes a powerful stand, arguing with urgency and passion for a food and climate future based not on techno-optimism and corporate delusions, but on the natural regeneration of biodiversity in partnership with the planet. Praise for Vandana Shiva: ‘She’s been called the ‘Gandhi of grain,’ the ‘rock star’ of the anti-GMO movement and an ‘eco-warrior goddess.’ . . . Above all, [she] is a staunch believer that the food we eat matters. It makes us who we are, physically, culturally and spiritually.’ BBC ‘All of us who care about the future of Planet Earth must be grateful to Vandana Shiva.’ Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace