Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
What if economic growth – as we know it – was never meant to sustain life, but to fuel extraction and war?
In this intimate talk at the Youth Initiative Program (YIP) in Järna, Sweden, environmental thinker Vandana Shiva connects food, climate change, and the global economy in a way that challenges some of our most basic assumptions.
Drawing from decades of work in agroecology, food sovereignty, and ecological economics, she explores how regenerative agriculture, biodiversity, and local self-sufficiency could not only restore ecosystems – but reshape how we understand progress, purpose, and human potential.
Filmed with a small group of young people engaged in a year-long program focused on inner development and societal change, this conversation moves between systems thinking and personal responsibility.
Topics touched on include:
– the origins of economic growth and GDP
– regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and climate solutions
– why food systems are central to the climate crisis
– Gross National Happiness and alternative economic models
– the hidden costs of convenience and digital systems
– creativity, agency, and finding your path in a changing world
Recorded at the Youth Initiative Program (YIP), Järna, Sweden
Filmed & edited by Mattias Olsson for Campfire Stories
Full conversation / podcast: campfire-stories.org/vandana-shiva-on-cultivating-fearlessness
Support the work: patreon.com/mattiasolsson
#VandanaShiva #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateChange #FoodSystems #Permaculture #Sustainability #Degrowth #GrossNationalHappiness #YIP #Ecology
What if economic growth – as we know it – was never meant to sustain life, but to fuel extraction and war?
In this intimate talk at the Youth Initiative Program (YIP) in Järna, Sweden, environmental thinker Vandana Shiva connects food, climate change, and the global economy in a way that challenges some of our most basic assumptions.
Drawing from decades of work in agroecology, food sovereignty, and ecological economics, she explores how regenerative agriculture, biodiversity, and local self-sufficiency could not only restore ecosystems – but reshape how we understand progress, purpose, and human potential.
Filmed with a small group of young people engaged in a year-long program focused on inner development and societal change, this conversation moves between systems thinking and personal responsibility.
Topics touched on include:
– the origins of economic growth and GDP
– regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and climate solutions
– why food systems are central to the climate crisis
– Gross National Happiness and alternative economic models
– the hidden costs of convenience and digital systems
– creativity, agency, and finding your path in a changing world
Recorded at the Youth Initiative Program (YIP), Järna, Sweden
Filmed & edited by Mattias Olsson for Campfire Stories
Full conversation / podcast: campfire-stories.org/vandana-shiva-on-cultivating-fearlessness
Support the work: patreon.com/mattiasolsson
#VandanaShiva #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateChange #FoodSystems #Permaculture #Sustainability #Degrowth #GrossNationalHappiness #YIP #Ecology
