Food is a problem for almost half the planet, author and activist Anne Lappe told approximately 35 Penn students and local community members yesterday.
According to Lappe, the co-founder of the nonprofit Small Planet Fund, there are 1.2 billion underfed and 1.2 billion overfed people on Earth. She said that since students are eating on this campus, they are already involved in the politics of food.
Lappe's talk was entitled New Food Movements: Transforming Food, Farming and Community. The dialogue focused on trends in sustainable agriculture and food safety movements, and suggested ways to work for positive change.
Lappe cited a rise in food-related activism over the past decade, which she attributed to factors including fears over Mad Cow Disease and growth hormone "contamination," new funding opportunities, books such as Fast Food Nation and the Internet.
She said that framing the discussion of food in terms of individual issues creates division among groups such as farmers, city-dwellers and environmentalists.
Lappe advocated an "entry points" strategy to encourage activism and problem-solving. For example, children's health was an entry point for the families who advocated a ban on junk food and soda sales in Los Angeles' Unified School District -- a concern that directly impacted their lives and hooked their interest.
Though most of the audience listened politely to Lappe's 45-minute presentation, one attendee provoked a heated exchange.
During the post-lecture question-and-answer session, an elderly man, who identified himself only as a retired physician, criticized Lappe's style of activism and called for more "fight fire with fire" tactics, such as boycotts.
Lappe countered that "buycotts" -- which focus on what to buy rather than what to avoid buying -- are also powerful tools for change.
That tense moment notwithstanding, many listeners seemed to approve of Lappe's message.
"The people who already agree are the ones who came," Landscape Architecture graduate student Amy Seek said.
Danny Gerber, a University alumnus and director of Penn's Urban Nutrition Initiative, lingered outside the lecture hall to encourage students to attend a dinner discussion with Lappe.
Gerber said that he would like to see Penn become a world leader in the food ecology movement.
"Everyone appreciates good food. ... We could have organic food in dining halls."
Lappe also had specific suggestions for the Penn community. She said that students should work on "building relationships between the campus and farms."
Lappe's talk, which took place in the Anatomy Chemistry Building, was sponsored by the University's Institute for Environmental Studies and the Fox Leadership Program as part of a weekly lecture series.
