Hope for a hungry planet

In the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, an author and international food activist will visit campus to speak about global poverty, hunger and the food industry.

Raj Patel, the author of "Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System" (2007), will talk about why there are 1 billion people who are obese while there are another 850 million who face daily hunger. The lecture will take place next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Hindle Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Patel is currently a visiting scholar in the Center for African Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and is the author of many scholarly journals about food consumption. He recently returned from a two-year term at the Centre for Civil Society and University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa where he advocated for equal government rights. He earned a doctorate in developmental psychology from Cornell University.

This lecture continues an examination of the industrial food distribution system and its impact on the environment and human beings. In recent years, first year students have read the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, as a summer reading assignment linked to orientation and academic activities.

The lecture serves as a centerpiece for a series of events sponsored under the title "Hope for a Hungry Planet" by the college's First-Year Seminar program (FYS) and the Office of Service, Spirituality, and Social Responsibility (SSSR).

Beyond Patel's address, the program will include a "hunger banquet" that is meant to illustrate global inequalities in the availability of food and a campus-wide food drive. First-year students who matriculated this semester, and members of SSSR, wil coordinate the collection of canned goods in Wheaton residence halls, dining halls and other areas on campus.

On Feb. 13, when the food drive closes, students, faculty, and staff will form a human chain around the Dimple to load food items into vans headed for local food pantries, including Norton's Cupboard of Kindness. SSSR and spring FYS classes will collect canned goods in public areas all over campus from Feb. 3 to 13.  Feb. 13 at 2 p.m.