Diet for a Small Planet author: From terrorism's shock comes possibilities

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

Like everyone else in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 horror, author Frances Moore Lappé sought her bearings.

"In the beginning, after the attack, it was hard to think at all," said Lappé, author of the 1972 classic Diet for a Small Planet, giving a keynote address for "Global Developments in the 21st Century," the inaugural symposium for Cornell's new Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Institute for Global Development.

Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet, gives a keynote address at the inaugural symposium for Cornell's new Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Institute for Global Development, in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall, Sept. 21. Robert Barker/University Photography

She spoke in a packed Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall Sept. 21. "We were in shock, we were trying to watch our own reactions. We feel powerless and disoriented, but in that shock I see possibilities," she said.

Describing the twin towers devastation as "a staggering shock," Lappé suggested that from out of this shock, a new discovery about ourselves could emerge. "From a moment of dissonance comes a new view of the world," she said, and then asked, "Do we back into a cycle of fear or into a cycle of hope? Do we acknowledge our own dissonance?"

In this new world, Lappé suggested, terrorism could be quelled globally with better distribution of food. "Food and hunger is not a question of charity, but a right of citizenship," she said. Lappé provided a few examples of how poor people in places like Brazil and India overcame their hardships when they were given a chance to build their lives. "What surprises me is how easy it is; we know how to end hunger," Lappé said. "As we face the post-Sept. 11 world, we need to break free of fear -- not to be better -- but to be more fully ourselves."

Preceding Lappé, Peter Evans, a professor of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, spoke on "Dealing with Globalization: Counter-Movements for Care and Community in a Market-Driven World."

Also on Sept. 21, David L. Brown, Cornell professor of rural sociology, was inaugurated as the Polson Institute's first director.

The Polson Institute was established this year as a research-outreach facility within the Department of Rural Sociology. The institute will promote theoretical and applied research activities related to worldwide development. The institute was named for Robert Polson, the late Cornell professor of rural sociology, and his wife, the late Ruth Polson, Cornell B.S. '42, Ph.D. '51.