About the Small Planet Institute

Our Mission

We believe that ideas have enormous power and that humans are capable of changing failing ideas in order to turn our planet toward life. At the Small Planet Institute, we seek to identify the core, often unspoken, assumptions and forces — economic, political, and psychological — now taking our planet in a direction that as individuals none of us would choose. We disseminate this deeper understanding of root causes.

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Small Planet Fund

The Small Planet Fund was conceptualized in 2001 by Frances and Anna to support 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.

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Frances Moore Lappé

Frances Moore Lappé is the author of 18 books including the three-million copy Diet for a Small Planet. She is the cofounder of three organizations, including Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy and, more recently, the Small Planet Institute, a collaborative network for research and popular education seeking to bring democracy to life, which she leads with her daughter Anna Lappé. Frances and her daughter have also cofounded the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide. Frances appears frequently as a public speaker and on radio, and is a regular contributor to Huffington Post and Alternet.

Read Frances' extended biography
View Frances' complete writing collection

Anna Lappé

Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author and sought-after public speaker, respected for her work on sustainability, food politics, globalization, and social change. Named one of Time’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, O: The Oprah Magazine, Domino, Food & Wine, Body + Soul, Natural Health, and Vibe, among many other publications.

Read Anna's extended biography
View Anna's complete writing collection

Small Planet Team

See the team that makes Small Planet possible. Whether our staff is working in New York or Boston their goal of promoting environmental activism and social agency is the same.

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Meet our Fellows at Large

view work from

Frances & Anna Lappé

View Frances’ Books & Articles
View Anna’s Books & Articles

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Small Planet Fund
Take a Bite out of Climate Change

Watch our videos

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Surprising Facts

Ninety percent of Americans make less in real dollars than they did in 1973 – on average $4,000 less. The wealthiest 400 Americans now control more wealth than half the world’s people.

Worldwide, more people are members of cooperatives than own shares in publicly traded companies. Cooperatives provide a fifth more jobs than do global corporations.

More than a third of both the world’s grain and fish catch now go to feed livestock, which return to us only a fraction of the nutrients.

If the whole world adopted sustainable farming practices, production could increase by over 50 percent.

In three decades agricultural output per person has climbed by one fifth worldwide, but in just the last three years over 100 million more people suffer from hunger—reaching a total of nearly a billion.

An MRI study of people competing vs. cooperating found that cooperating stimulates the same parts of our brain as does eating chocolate!

America emits twice the carbon per person that Europe does. But think what’s possible: California emits 20 percent less carbon per dollar GDP than Germany; and it gets a quarter of its electricity from renewables!

In Washington DC, more than two dozen lobbyists push mainly corporate interests for every one representative American citizens have elected to protect our interests.

Read all and find sources…