FOOD, HUNGER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Building on Frances Moore Lappé’s path-breaking Diet for a Small Planet, the Institute continues to combat the myth of scarcity in a world of plenty. Frances and Anna Lappé’s Hope’s Edge chronicles their journey on five continents exploring people-powered movements aligning farming with ecological and human well-being.

Frances' powerful book EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want navigates from "thought traps" to "thought leaps," as challenges morph into opportunities which motivate action. Then, drawing on their earlier classic study, Frances and Joseph Collins released the fully rewritten World Hunger: 10 Myths. Senior Researcher Timothy A. Wise extends the institute’s work with Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food .

FEATURED IN THE MEDIA

Bon Appetit

This Book Started a Food Revolution in 1971—And It’s Never Felt More Relevant

Diet For a Small Planet argued that plant-centered eating is better for ourselves and our planet. Fifty years later, that idea is still shaping how we eat.

"Go back in time with us to 1971, the year that changed the way we eat forever. When Frances Moore Lappé called cattle “a protein factory in reverse” in her 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet, she wasn’t just arguing that meat was an inefficient way to feed humans, though it is. Nor did she set out to turn millions of Americans vegetarian and help the natural foods movement find its political voice, though she did. For the 26-year-old researcher, Diet was an act of radical hope..."

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By Jonathan Kauffman

March 23, 2021

New Release... It's Not Too Late!

Crisis, Opportunity, and the Power of Hope

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More About the Book

Make a donation to support our writing and research.

I am thrilled to announce my latest work, It’s Not Too Late!, is ready for your review!

Despair is humanity’s worst enemy, I believe, so we—the whole Small Planet team—have created an easy-to-digest tour of inspiring ways US cities, states, and farms are stepping up to meet the climate crisis. Plus we explore key lessons from abroad. Knowing that hope has power—as it organizes our minds toward solutions—we focus on surprising, motivating actions already underway in both Red and Blue states, and often in bipartisan collaboration .

We prepared this initial, on-line-only edition of It’s Not Too Late!—for your review—during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our goal has been to make it easy for readers to weigh in to make it stronger. In the next few months, we will then incorporate all your feedback and choose how best to publish the result.

Our goal is to inspire determination to take these solutions, and more, to scale. Very simply, learning that so much more is happening than we’d known has fired us up, and we sure hope it will motivate you!

Plus, the moment is right. With a new administration in Washington committed to climate action, we hope all our readers will use these stories to push forward the most effective Green New Deal possible. It is not too late to prevent the worst, but every day we delay makes it harder.

So, download your book. Then dive in, knowing we are eager for your input to make it stronger as well as your advice for sharing this edition ever-more widely.

—Frances Moore Lappé and the Small Planet Team

LAND AND FOOD RIGHTS

From 2016-2020 current SPI Advisor Timothy A. Wise directed this program to provide research and analysis on global, national, and local efforts to promote climate-resilient sustainable agricultural development in some of the world’s poorest countries. That research led to his book, Eating Tomorrow, and an extensive series of articles, presentations, and interviews which are collected on these pages. His ongoing research and writing can be found on his Author Page and his program page on the Future of Food at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Sign up for updates to follow Tim's ongoing work.

It’s not too late to make a difference on the climate crisis.

You have pesticides in your body. But an organic diet can reduce them by 70%

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EcoMind Workshop

To help us examine our core assumptions about community, democracy, hope, fear, and courage in the

context of today’s global challenges, as well as within ourselves and our communities, the workshop uses a range of media tools and participatory activities including videos, power points, facilitators scripts, handouts and more! Check out more info HERE.

Check out the EcoMind Workshop Guide!