On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Frances Moore Lappé from the Small Planet Institute warns that without democracy, the food system allows for more hunger, inequality, and exploitation. “On every level, the food system is headed into such a dangerous direction. But, I’ve seen the solution to world hunger firsthand now: it exists,” says Lappé.
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Lappé met with women in India who overcame abuse and food insecurity—and found the solution to hunger. In one community of women, the women joined together and used agroecology to lift up their communities and economies. “By having trees along with your crops, you’re protecting against low rainfall, you have trees giving you product you can eat or sell, and you have the additional fertilizer from the leaves… there’s a lot of economic benefit,” says Lappé.
But in many parts of the world, says Lappé, agribusiness funds are manipulating the political sphere. “This grip of money in our political system is denying us real democracy,” says Lappé, noting that her activism in the food movement is inspired by her search for more genuine democracy. “I can be in the food movement and I can be in the democracy movement. We don’t have to make a choice—we can’t make a choice. Everything is connected,” says Lappé.
Lappé advises future activists to keep digging for their answer to the problem that concerns them—and communities around the world—most. “Follow your questions and ask the question behind the question. We have to get used to getting deeper and deeper. Don’t stop asking because we know our system is not working,” says Lappé.
