Frances and Anna Lappé discuss the need for change in food systems today and give hope that change is happening.
Frances Lappé, co-founder of Small Planet Institute, travels around the world with her daughter, Anna, to advocate for a sustainable food movement for the Earth.
Wednesday, the mother-daughter duo brought their message to Baker Ballroom and presented “The Sustainable Food Movement Rising” to an audience close to a full house.
When Frances arrived in Athens, she said the area surprised her by how many people truly wanted to contribute to the town’s well-being.
“I just felt like people like each other and they wanted to work together,” Frances, author of Diet for a Small Planet, said. “I rarely go to a place and people are like ‘I love my community and I want to be here.’ ”
The two women started off the talk by asking the question, “Why are we in the situation that we are in? Why is there so much hunger and so many diet-related diseases?”
Frances asked how can it be that we are the brightest species and we still find ourselves facing the hunger and health problems we are facing today?
Her conclusion was that we, as humans, are “creatures of the mind.”
“We are locked in a mindset that contradicts what is best for our relationship with nature,” Frances said.
The two recounted a trip to India where it was easier for the villagers to access Pepsi-Cola instead of water that was safe to drink. Anna said she realized the great responsibility she has to educate others about that subject matter, side-by-side with her mother.
They have continued to work with farmers and various communities so the public can be more conscientious of food choice and sustainable food for all as well as the concept of democracy.
“We are not in a fight with farmers and food distributors, we are in partnership with them,” Anna said.
Their talk was one of hope and the progress that is being made compared to the work that still needs to be done.
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The audience stood and applauded for quite some time after Frances wrapped up the night with the poem “Beginners” by Denise Levertov. Frances recited the poem from memory, as she is very fond of it.
Coordinators of the “Common Experience Project” in Athens, Loraine McCosker and Lorraine Wochna, were in the audience and had a lot of takeaways from the Lappé’s message.
“I just feel like she was so clear. She was very democratic with the audience, and anyone could have taken away something from this,” Wochna, performing arts librarian at Alden Library, said.
“The seeds are here (in Athens) for something really wonderful,” Frances said. “Just the sense of people taking risks and trying new things.”
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