I read a book in the late 1990s called The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, by Erich Fromm, and it had a profound impact on me. Fromm takes Descartes' statement, "I think, therefore I am" and changes it to "I effect, therefore I am." Frances Moore Lappé More Quotes by Frances Moore Lappé More Quotes From Frances Moore Lappé What an extraordinary time to be alive. We're the first people on our planet to have real choice: we can continue killing each other, wiping out other species, spoiling our nest. Yet on every continent a revolution in human dignity is emerging. It is re-knitting community and our ties to the earth. So we do have a choice. We can choose death; or we can choose life. Frances Moore Lappé ties real time The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth. Frances Moore Lappé health food science Every aspect of our lives is, in a sense, a vote for the kind of world we want to live in. Frances Moore Lappé want motivational world Old models of farming with chemicals and credit mostly favored privileged men. Frances Moore Lappé farming credit men The real cause of hunger is the powerlessness of the poor to gain access to the resources they need to feed themselves. Frances Moore Lappé causes real needs Hunger is a people-made phenomenon, so the central issue is power: the power of those who make the decisions about what is grown and who, or what, it's grown for. Frances Moore Lappé issues decision people Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy. Frances Moore Lappé hunger scarcity democracy Humans need to feel effective - to feel that we can "make a dent," as he puts it. So the art of living is to find expressions appropriate to our own uniqueness in which we can experience effectiveness. Frances Moore Lappé effectiveness expression art Every choice we make can be a celebration of the world we want. Frances Moore Lappé choices want world Our heavily meat-centered culture is at the very heart of our waste of the earth's productivity. Frances Moore Lappé meat heart food Hope is a stance, not an assessment. Frances Moore Lappé stance assessment faith Recent breakthroughs in science show we have just the capacities we need to face our planet's challenges. We're "soft-wired" for cooperation, empathy, fairness, along with a deep need to "make a dent," as social philosopher Erich Fromm put it. My hunch is that one reason depression is a global pandemic is that the dominant mental map denies so many of us expression of these deep needs and capacities. Frances Moore Lappé empathy compassion expression Hope is not what we find in evidence, it's what we become in action. Frances Moore Lappé evidence action [O]ur greatest contributions to the cause of freedom and development overseas is not what we do over there, but what we do right here at home. Frances Moore Lappé freedom home integrity A life-long mission has been to counter the notion that political engagement is the spinach we must eat in order to have the dessert of freedom. Frances Moore Lappé political order long This is the first generation to know that the choices we're making have ultimate consequences. It's a time when you either choose life or you choose death ... Going along with the current order means that you're choosing death. Frances Moore Lappé health order mean I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. Frances Moore Lappé who-we-are deny roots The spirit that I am advocating is reframing how we view the world, and shifting from the negativity of lack and "not enough" to the positive frame of aligning with Nature. Frances Moore Lappé negativity views world The good life for me always meant connecting with those big, important issues that grown-ups get so excited about. Frances Moore Lappé good-life issues important For me hope isn't wishful thinking or blind faith about the future. It's a stance toward life - one of curiosity and humility. Frances Moore Lappé curiosity humility thinking
