Small Planet Institute

Small Planet Institute

"Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé founded the Small Planet Institute in 2001 to further an historic transition: a worldwide shift from the dominant, failing notion of democracy — as something done to us or for us — toward democracy as a rewarding way of life: a culture in which citizens infuse the values of inclusion, fairness and mutual accountability into all dimensions of public life. We call this Living Democracy.

"Chronicled in the Institute’s first book Hope’s Edge, people on every continent are creating living democracies as they discover their power to remake societal rules and norms to serve their widely shared values. We support this historic awakening through collaborative public education efforts with colleagues worldwide and through our own books, articles, websites, speeches, and other media...

"To expand our reach, we have established a new publishing arm, Small Planet Media. Frances’ 2007 book, Getting a Grip, was its inaugural release. Printed on recycled paper with soy ink in a union shop, Getting a Grip quickly became a national bestseller and received the 2008 “Best in Small Press” Nautilus Award. Concurrently, we made available our first two films, short-format documentaries on clean elections called Getting a Grip on Money & Politics, Parts I and II. Produced jointly with Guerilla News Network and directed by Anthony Lappé, these have proven to be useful tools for those who wish to explore what it means to remove power of money from governance so that Living Democracy can take root."

"In 2002, Frances and Anna started the Small Planet Fund to support the grassroots democracy movements worldwide addressing the causes of hunger and poverty. The Fund is a project of RSF (formerly the Rudolf Steiner Foundation) and is overseen by Anna, who volunteers her time to manage the fund.

"Since the Fund’s founding, two of its grantees have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Dr. Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

"Since 2002, the Fund has raised more than $500,000, through our annual New York City fundraiser and through the support of a generous anonymous donor.

"At the 2008 Gala the Small Planet Fund, held on the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, honored the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Here Anna Lappé celebrates the Coalition’s Julia Perkins and Gerardo Reyes."

Team
Accessed October 2009:


 * Frances Moore Lappé
 * Anna Blythe Lappé
 * Richard Rowe, Ph.D., is a fellow of the Small Planet Institute and the publisher of Small Planet Media
 * Anthony Lappeis media advisor and producer of web documentaries for the Small Planet Institute
 * Deepa Philips is Small Planet Institute’s Program Assistant
 * Julie Jensen is the Outreach and Operations Manager
 * Andrea Diehl is a Senior Writer

Contact

 * Web: http://www.smallplanetinstitute.org

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