Allan Savory Kicks Off 23rd Annual Wallace Stegner Lectures

Exploring Conservation, Food and Farming

January 28, 2015

(Palo Alto, Calif.)—Zimbabwean rancher and biologist Allan Savory will launch this year’s Wallace Stegner Lectures presented by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). Savory, whose work has been praised by many and questioned by others, will describe his method of livestock ranching and how it can help combat climate change and restore damaged ecosystems along the way.

Allan Savory began his career in the 1950’s as a game warden in the former government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He participated in the decision to kill 40,000 elephants with goal of stopping land degradation. He later called this the “biggest blunder” of his life when he realized that this actually made the problem worse. Over the past 40 years, he has worked tirelessly to develop a revolutionary new system of land stewardship called Holistic Management, widely regarded as a means to curb soil and carbon loss on billions of acres of rangeland across the world.

POST’s Wallace Stegner Lectures, now in their 22nd year, celebrate the conservation legacy of the late writer and conservationist Wallace Stegner—Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Stanford University professor and ardent spokesman for the West’s wild places. This year’s lectures focus on the theme of “Conservation, Food and Farming” with additional talks by Dan Barber, Daphne Miller and Ursula K. Le Guin. Award-winning Chef Dan Barber will speak on March 9, and medical ecologist and physician Daphne Miller will speak on May 11. Barber is the author of The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of the Food, about how local producers and farm-to-table restaurants can shape consumer demand for sustainably raised food. Daphne Miller’s recent book Farmacology explores her research into how farming methods used to grow our food have a significant impact on our health. Each year the series includes a special “bonus lecture” that is free to Patron and Stegner level subscribers. This year’s bonus lecture will feature Ursula K. Le Guin, author of The Left Hand of Darkness and many other novels, in conversation with KQED Forum host Michael Krasny.

Beginning in 1993, Ambassador Bill Lane and his wife, Jean have generously underwritten the Wallace Stegner Lectures. Jean continues this tradition of sponsorship in memory of Bill, who passed away in 2010. Media sponsorship is provided by Embarcadero Media, publishers of Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, The Almanac and Palo Alto Online. Additional media sponsorship is provided by Edible Silicon Valley and Metro Silicon Valley.

Series subscriptions are available for at the Wallace Stegner Lectures page or call POST at (650) 854-7696, x 315. Single tickets are available at http://www.mvcpa.com. All proceeds benefit POST’s land conservation work.

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POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust that protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. Since its founding in 1977, POST has been responsible for saving more than 70,000 acres as permanently protected land in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.