Portland, Ore - According to author Anna Lappé, “If we are serious about addressing climate change we have to talk about food.” Lappé will lead that conversation in Portland on Sunday, April 18 at 2 p.m. in the Portland Building when she participates in a panel discussion, Food and the Climate Challenge: Step Up to the Plate. This free event will also include other area experts discussing how food affects our personal and environmental health and the simple steps we all can take to make a difference.

The panel will follow a celebration of Portland City Hall’s Better Together Garden’s second year and a food gardening information fair. OSU Master Gardeners, Oregon Tilth, Growing Gardens, The Portland Tree Project and the City of Portland Community Garden program will be present to answer questions in the garden at 1221 S.W. Fourth Avenue, Portland.

Lappé’s recently released book, Diet for a Hot Planet, The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, states that our food system is likely responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, Johns Hopkins University reports that of four thousand articles on climate change published in sixteen leading U.S. newspapers, only 1 percent had a “substantial focus” on food and agriculture.

Just as Diet for a Small Planet, written by Anna’s mother, Francis Moore Lappé, revolutionized our food consciousness in 1972, Diet for a Hot Planet will change the way we look at today’s most pressing issue. Anna Lappé provides a clear account of our current condition and a road map of seven principles for a climate-friendly diet that can heal the planet.

Food and Climate Change: Step Up to the Plate
Sunday April 18, 2010

1 P.M. Rededication of the City Hall Better Together Garden
Portland City Hall (1221 S.W. Fourth Avenue)

See the spring plantings and get vegetable gardening advice from OSU Master Gardeners, Oregon Tilth, Growing Gardens, The Portland Fruit Tree Project, and the City of Portland Community Gardens program.

2 P.M. Food and the Climate Challenge: Step Up to the Plate
Portland Building (1120 SW Fifth Avenue)

Anna Lappé, television host and author of Diet for a Hot Planet
Scott Givot, President, International Association of Culinary Professionals
Chris Schreiner, Executive Director, Oregon Tilth
Allison Hensey, Oregon Environmental Council
Kunmar Venkat, President, CleanMetrics
Steve Cohen, Food Policy and Programs, City of Portland

For more details, visit www.portlandonline.com/bps/food or call Steve Cohen, 503-823-4225.

News Release:

PORTLAND, Ore. (Friday, April 2) – The public is invited to an open house at the Cascade Campus of Portland Community College to discuss up-coming campus construction projects stemming from the college’s successful, 2008 bond measure.

The event is free and open to the public.

The open house runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the cafeteria of the Student Center Building, Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth St. Participants are invited to drop by at any time during the event to meet the Cascade architectural and bond project team, discuss opportunities and issues, and help lay the foundation for the campus vision.

Topics include parking, traffic, safety, community spaces, neighborhood character, sustainability and more. Before any work on the campus begins, the college wants to hear from area residents, businesses and community groups.

“We are committed to fully engaging our neighbors and the local business community as we begin the next construction phase at Cascade,” Campus President Algie Gatewood said. “We’re excited about working with everyone to make this next phase of Cascade Campus truly amazing.”