Florence Reed, Sustainable Harvest International founder and president and Woodrow Wilson Fellow, will give the first lecture of Whitworth’s 57th annual Great Decisions Lecture Series Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Robinson Teaching Theatre of Whitworth’s Weyerhaeuser Hall.
Reed’s lecture, “Feeding the Planet and its People: Sustainable Farming as Key,” will take place during a week-long residential program of classes, seminars, workshops, lectures and informal discussions about the work that her organization is doing in Central America, according to a press release.
“A farmer in a remote village in Honduras is providing us with organic coffee, providing winter habitat for our songbirds, stabilizing our global climate, preserving the forests that are the source of most of our medicines, creating oxygen to breathe, and protecting the coral reefs from siltation as a result of deforestation,” Reed said in a news release. “So if a poor farmer in Honduras can do all this for us, what can we do for him?”
Reed founded SHI in 1997 to provide farming families in Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua with training and tools to preserve the Earth’s tropical forests and to overcome poverty.
“She is an inspiring example of a person who has lived out twin commitments to promoting conservation and addressing global poverty,” said Associate Vice President for Faculty Development and Scholarship Kathy Storm. “For all of us who want to find ways to make a difference for good in the world, she offers an impressive and informative example.”
For 35 years, the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows Program has brought prominent artists, diplomats, journalists, business leaders, and other nonacademic professionals to campuses across the United States for substantive dialogue with students and faculty members. Through week-long residential programs, Wilson Fellows create better understanding and new connections between the academic and nonacademic worlds.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (509) 777-3834.
