Broadcaster Press 03 April 29, 2014 www.broadcasteronline.com Lappé offers Earth Day message of hope By David Lias david.lias@plaintalk.net VERMILLION – There are plenty of problems facing the world today in terms of combatting hunger, sustaining resources, and protecting the climate. World-renowned environmental author Frances Moore Lappé didn’t hedge while pointing out those challenges. But in her Earth Day lecture entitled “The World We Want,” Lappé offered a message of hope for the planet’s future. “What I find most exciting about being alive today is what we are learning about the human brain’s capacity for change,” she said. “We can actually change the way we see, change our expectations about what is possible, and therefore see a different world emerging and therefore participate in it.” Lappé spoke before a capacity crowd in the ballroom of the Muenster University Center on the USD campus on Tuesday, April 22. Her appearance here was part of a weeklong collaboration between USD’s Sustainability Program and members of the Vermillion community known as “Earth (Every) Day.” Earlier last Tuesday, the Sustainability Program and its community partners featured a Sustainability Fair for USD students in the MUC. Other events held last week included a sustainability festival in downtown Vermillion from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 24; a tour of local food options at the Heikes Family Farm from 1 to 6 p.m. on April 25; a hike at North Alabama Bend from 10 a.m. to noon on April 26; and a herb walk from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 26. A community potluck was held at the Washington Street Arts Center beginning at 6 p.m. Monday, April 28. The Earth Day Committee, representing over a dozen organizations in the community, will discuss their efforts to conserve natural resources, clean up Vermillion, and make the community and Clay County more sustainable. Lappé is a pioneer of the sustainable food movement and the author of more than 18 books, including the classic “Diet for a Small Planet.” Her newest work is entitled “EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want.” The co-founder of Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, the Small Planet Institute, and the Small Planet Fund, Lappé is an advocate for food democracy, including equal access to nutritious food, and equitable farm labor practices. Lappé believes mankind will soon be on the same page when it experiences what she describes as a moment of “dissonance” that will shake many of the what she sees as wrongly perceived notions about the world and its resources. “I think the common experience of climate change, of climate chaos – a common thread like this – is one of those historic moments of dissonance that is shaking up so many people to see differently, to think differently,” she said. The climate change challenge facing mankind, Lappé said, isn’t solely based on carbon from the burning of fossil fuels. In fact, the source of approximately 40 percent of the ecological challenges facing the planet comes from nature itself. For example, methane and nitrous oxide together account for about 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Man can learn from nature, she contends, to begin approaching the future with what she calls an “ecomind” that concentrates not on separateness, statis, and scarcity, but rather focuses on connection, continuous change, and co-creation. “We are not all separate and powerlessness, but we are all actually co-creating moment to moment to moment,” Lappé said. Thinking with an ecomind, she said, means moving away from the idea of scarcity of resources and hitting the limits of a finite planet. “We can instead realize that the sun supplies us with 15,000 times the daily dose of energy compared to what we’re currently using in fossil fuels,” Lappé said. “This notion that we’ve hit the limits is a false, false frame. “If we can absorb an ecomind, and think in terms of connection and alignment with all of the laws of nature that are nourishing us, then there’s more than enough for all,” she said. “The key shift from scarcity mind to ecomind is one from limits to alignment. “If we can look more objectively at the richness and complexity of human nature and recognize that there are indeed powerful qualities in us that are exactly what we need right Announcements Events BERGEN LUTHERAN Church: “The little white church on Timber Road.” Worship 9:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:15 a.m. Pastor Ralph Egbert Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church, 995 N. Sioux Point Road, Dakota Dunes, SD. Weekend Masses: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. BRULE Creek Lutheran Church, Elk Point, SD: Worship Service 11:00am, Sunday School 9:45am to 10:45am. CHRIST OUR SAVIOR Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod: Worship Sunday 6:00 p.m., Bible Study Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., Neuharth Center, 624-5398 or 1-800-998-1234 CHURCH OF CHRIST, 102 Prosp: Sunday Worship 10:00 a.m.; Bible Study 9:00 a.m.; Bible Study 12:00 noon; Wednesday Night Classes, 7:00 p.m. Concordia Lutheran Church (LC-MS) 7 South University Street, Vermillion. Divine Service – Sunday, 10:30 a.m.; Sunday School – Sunday, 9:00 a.m. Pastor Samuel Needham. Contact us at (605) 624-3459 or at lcmsvermillion.org Environmental author Frances Moore Lappé addresses a capacity audience Tuesday evening, April 22, at the Muenster University Center on the USD campus. (Photo by David Lias) now to make this turn to create a world that is alive with nature and nurture,” she said. Adopting an “ecomind,” Lappé said, brings out the human capacities for empathy, cooperation, sense of fairness, need for power and effectiveness, need for meaning, and imagination and curiosity “We can imagine removing the power of private wealth over our political system, we can imagine creating rules so that wealth continues to be circulated rather than just rising to the top, we can create ecological rules that encourages us to align with nature rather than destroying the topsoil and creating a greenhouse effect,” she said. Let Our Family Business keep yours in the go with: • Farm Filters • Hydraulic Hoses • Bearings & Seals Cox Auto 1101 Lappé said steps must be taken to create what she calls a living democracy. “What my life purpose is right now … is to try to make real something that certainly is not communism, and certainly is not this privately held government where wealth controls so much of our political decision making,” she said, “but is actually democracy that brings forth and meets our need for meaning, power and connection.” CORNERSTONE CHURCH: A Place To Grow: Located at the corner of Crawford & Cherry St. Celebration Service: Sunday during the School year 9:00am and 10:30am (subject to change during holidays) in the summer Sunday 10 AM. Check us out at cornerstonesd.org or call (624-8809) for further information. DALESBURG BAPTIST Church 30503 466th Ave., Beresford, Pastor Darren Regehr. 9:45am, Sunday School; 11:00am, Morning Worship; Mid-week Services Wednesdays, 7:00pm. (605)253-2622. Dalesburg Lutheran Church: 12 miles North of Vermillion on University Road. Worship Services 9:15 a.m. Sunday School 10:45 a.m. Website: www.dalesburglutheran.org Elk Point Baptist Church. Sunday worship at 11:00am, Tuesday evening Bible study at 7:00pm. 101 North Green St., Elk Point, SD 57069. (605)222-1981 Need dirt work, tree removal, excavating? rent the equipment to get the job done or hire us to do the work for you! 605-638-0897 1405 East Highway 50 • Vermillion 1007 Broadway Ave. • Yankton • 665-4494 Secure Your Child's Future Carseats and Seatbelts Save Lives Romsdahls’ Repair & Remodel Carpentry, Interior & Exterior, Painting, Re?nishing, Drywall, & Ceramic Tile Free Estimates 605-670-2161 HEINE Electric and Irrigation Hartington, NE (402) 254-2568 Vermillion, SD (605) 670-9567 ALL TYPES OF DIRT WORK. FREE ESTIMATES. Irrigation sales and service Irrigation PVC, Wire Installed Well Drilling – Domestic and Irrigation Pump Installation Waterline & Electric Trenching Tree & Concrete Removal Site Clearing Ditch Cleaning Grain Hauling Manure Hauling Crushed Concrete The Vermillion Police Department and the Vermillion Fire Department are partnering for a seatbelt and child safety seat awareness campaign. Both departments will be handing out information and prizes at the Vermillion schools May 5th - 16th. This educational outreach will be followed by the police department's participation in the Click It or Ticket campaign May 19th - June 1st. Please remember to buckle up – everyone, every time.