AMES, Iowa -- Frances Moore Lappé, who authored the 1971 classic, "Diet for a Small Planet," -- the first best-selling book to brand grain-fed meat production as detrimental -- will speak at Iowa State University on Thursday, Nov. 3. She will talk about her new book, "EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want," at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Her lecture is part of the university's World Affairs Series, and is free and open to the public.
Lappé is the author of 18 books and the co-founder of Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy and the Small Planet Institute. She received the Right Livelihood Award (considered an "Alternative Nobel") in 1987 for revealing the political and economic causes of world hunger and how they can be remedied. In 2008, "Diet for a Small Plant" -- considered by some to be the first guide for eating with a small carbon footprint -- was selected by the Women's National Book Association as one of 75 books by women whose words have changed the world. Gourmet Magazine named Lappé one of the 25 people whose work has changed the way America eats. Her books have been translated into 15 languages and are used widely in university courses.
In "EcoMind," Lappé argues that the way we look at today's environmental issues robs us of power and prevents us from positive action. From global hunger to environmental challenges, we have the resources, she says. But we must first "free ourselves from self-defeating thought traps" to bring about solutions.
Lappé has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan and 17 other institutions. She was a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000-01. Lappé received the 2008 James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award for her lifelong impact on the way people worldwide think about food, nutrition and agriculture. And she was chosen to be a founding member of the World Futures Council, based in Hamburg, Germany.
Cosponsors for Lappé 's lecture are ActivUs, the Bioethics Program, Live Green! Sustainability Series, World Affairs Committee and the Committee on Lectures (funded by the Government of the Student Body). More information on ISU lectures is available at http://www.lectures.iastate.edu, or by calling 515-294-9935.
