Frances Moore Lappé
Frances Moore Lappé is the author of nineteen books, beginning with the acclaimed Diet for a Small Planet. Most recently she is the co-author, with Adam Eichen, of the new book, Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want. Among her numerous previous books are EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want (Nation Books). She is co-founder of the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute. Follow her on Twitter: @fmlappe
Articles by this author
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Views Monday, October 22, 2018 Are Humans Actually Capable of Democracy? Elsewhere I’ve made the case that democracy isn’t a choice. It’s our only pathway forward, but my claim can provoke some pretty charged challenges. I can hear the fears of the discouraged asking, “Is democracy even possible? Do we humans actually come equipped for it?” With democratic norms of... Read more |
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Views Thursday, October 18, 2018 What Is Democracy, Anyway? Let’s Talk With our democracy in free fall, many are terrified, but I’m convinced that there is one thing with the power to turn the tide. And what is that? At the risk of sounding corny, or even ridiculous, I believe the one force with the power we need now is “falling in love with democracy.” I know love... Read more |
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Views Thursday, October 11, 2018 Why We Can’t Give Up on Democracy Trust in democracy is tumbling. In 1995, one in fifteen Americans said they’d approve of military rule. By 2014, the share had swollen to one in six. Note this frightening crash of confidence preceded the compromised 2016 election and a president who seems particularly fond of autocrats. Whoa. It... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 27, 2018 Hope’s 3 Essentials, and All Are Present In earlier reflections on hope, I’ve declared that hope isn’t an assessment, it’s a stance toward life. Now I want to convince you that in this stance I’m on really solid ground. I start with an observation about our species. We humans have been around long enough to know one thing for sure about... Read more |
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Views Monday, September 17, 2018 Amid Our Nation’s Mounting Democracy Crisis, Hope Is Power Yeah, I know. “Hope” gets shoved into a corner called “nice” where weaklings huddle who can’t face hard realities. In fact, hope and power don’t often show up in the same sentence. Truth is, though, hope is a tap root of power. First, note that the word power derives from the Latin, posse, “to be... Read more |
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Views Monday, September 10, 2018 What is Hope? I’ve been called a hope fiend, and I cop to it. More than ever, hope isn’t just a “nice” feeling we’re lucky to experience from time to time. No, hope has become a requirement, as despair is our worst enemy. So, let me share a few things this fiend has learned about hope. First, it’s work. Yes, I... Read more |
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Views Thursday, July 12, 2018 What’s the Biggest Threat to American Democracy? We sure hear a lot today about external threats to our democracy, whether it’s Russia’s election “meddling” or North Korea’s nuclear expansion. But a home-bred threat might run deeper still. More than a third of Americans polled by the finance company LendEdu say they’d forfeit the right to vote in... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, May 09, 2018 Hope Hides in the Cracks of Our Faltering Democracy American democracy faces huge problems, most of us agree. Still, as recently as last summer, Pew Research found that 85 percent of us embraced the idea that America “stands above all other countries” or that it’s “one of the greatest, along with some others.” Understandably, it’s tough for many to... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, February 13, 2018 We Have What It Takes To Meet The Crisis Of Our Democracy In 1999, Dee Hock, founder of Visa, quipped , “It’s far too late and things are far too bad for pessimism.” But 18 years later, pessimism can feel like the new realism. After all, just three Americans control more wealth than the bottom half of us. In last year’s election, less than 1 percent of... Read more |
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Views Friday, January 12, 2018 Farming for a Small Planet People yearn for alternatives to industrial agriculture, but they are worried. They see large-scale operations relying on corporate-supplied chemical inputs as the only high-productivity farming model. Another approach might be kinder to the environment and less risky for consumers, but, they... Read more |