By Jan Van Boeckel
Indian scholar and environmental activist Vandana Shiva befriended Arne Naess in Oslo in the early 1980s when she worked there for five years as a visiting professor. What has always impressed her very deeply about Arne is, in her own words, the combination that she finds in him of innocence, of “being childlike in his enjoyment of every moment of life,” with extreme brilliance of the mind. Shiva also talks about the influence of Gandhi’s concept of satyāgraha, of non-violent non-cooperation and direct action, on Naess. She states firmly that, in her view, deep ecological solutions are the only viable solutions to ensure that every person on this planet has enough food, enough water, adequate shelter and dignity.