Annual Awards Banquet and Fund Raiser Date: September 20 Time: 11:00 social time, silent auction 12:00 lunch, followed by speaker and awards ceremony Place: Story County Conservation Center McFarland Park, north of Ames Speaker: Frederick L. Kirschenmann Distinguished Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, “Why our Modern Food System is not Sustainable” Food: Lucallan’s Restaurant featuring local foods Cost: $35 per person RSVP: by September 17 to Neila Seaman, Director Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club 3839 Merle Hay Rd, Suite 280 Des Moines, 50310 [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) Or 515-277-8868 Join us on Saturday, September 20, as we celebrate together the efforts and achievements of fellow Iowa Sierrans and conservation activists. Hear Fred’s unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities we face in balancing an agricultural economy with the protection of our natural heritage. Hike the many trails in the park. The event will be catered by renowned Lucallan’s Restaurant, featuring local foods. NEEDED: Silent auction items of a unique, novel, or personalized nature. Please send them to Neila at the address above, ASAP. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! * * * * * Directions to the Conservation Center in McFarland Park: The Story County Conservation Center is located in McFarland Park, north of Ames. From I-35, take exit 116 (County Road E-29). Travel west 1/2 mile to Dayton Avenue. Turn north on Dayton Avenue to 180th Street. Then turn east on 180th and drive 1/2 mile to the Conservation Center. * * * * * Frederick L. Kirschenmann To Speak at Annual Awards Banquet and Fundraiser Dr. Frederick L. Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow for Sustainable Agric ulture will be speaking on “Why our Modern Food System is not Sustainable” at the Annual Awards Banquet and Fundraiser on September 20. Dr. Kirschenamann states “It is my belief that we will see major changes take place in our food and agriculture systems in the next few decades that will likely give the comparative advantage to ecologically sound, smaller farms and a lot more people engaged in producing our food.” Today's modern food system has been designed as an industrial enterprise. Such enterprises subscribe to the same industrial principles as any industrial operation -- specialization, simplification, concentration, maximum production, and short-term return. While these principles have proven themselves to be very effective in efficiently producing the short term products they are designed to produce, they are dependent on the unlimited natural resources which fuel all industrial systems and they ignore all ecological and social costs. In other words the resilience of the system is essentially ignored. We are now about to reach a series of thresholds which will make our industrial food system dysfunctional and we need to begin redesigning new food systems that are resilient and self-renewing. **************Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com. (http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp