From The Cazenovia Forum comes word about their upcoming event at the Catherine Cummings Theatre in Cazenovia.
CAZENOVIA, NY – The founder of a Washington, DC-based public interest research and advocacy organization will discuss the impact of the U.S. farm bill on our food supply, our environment and family farms at the next Cazenovia Forum lecture, to be held Friday, March 14, at 7:00pm at the Catherine Cummings Theatre on Lincklaen Street in Cazenovia. The event is free and no reservations or tickets are required. A reception will follow.
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Ken Cook, president of the Washington, DC-based Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), has been touted by national media as being one of the nation’s most influential experts on agricultural and environmental policy. The EWG, which seeks to use the power of information to protect human health and the environment, is perhaps best known in agricultural policy circles for its Farm Subsidy Database, which lists all the nation’s farm subsidy recipients and their share of the $165 billion taxpayers have spent on subsidies since 1995.
The New York Times has credited EWG’s web site and farm subsidy database with helping “transform the farm bill into a question about equity.”
“This is someone who can enlighten us about how our government gives billions in taxpayer-funded agricultural subsidy payments to corporations and wealthy individuals while struggling family farmers in places like Madison County get very little or nothing at all,” said Henry Rutz, co-President of the Cazenovia Forum. “Ken Cook believes U.S. agricultural policy is broken, and you might be surprised to hear whom he thinks is to blame. We’re delighted that he is coming to speak in Cazenovia.”
In addition to EWG’s activities on farm policy, the organization’s research and analysis are major forces in national debates over toxic chemicals, pesticides, and air and water pollution.
Cook is a frequent source of environmental perspective and commentary in national print and broadcast media. In the past year alone, he has appeared on the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, the Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX Business News, HD Net’s Dan Rather Reports, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. In addition, he has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Market Place in 2007. The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle regularly seek his commentary and perspective on issues.
This is the sixth event in the Cazenovia Forum lecture series, which was founded in 2006 to promote discussion and understanding of critical issues facing our nation and the world today. The Forum has previously hosted Jim Angle, Washington correspondent for Fox News Channel, Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, Rebecca Lipkin, London-based producer for the Al Jazeera English television network, Tom Ricks, military correspondent for the Washington Post, and renowned genetic ethicist Harvey Bender from the University of Notre Dame.
The Forum’s events are made possible by large and small donations from local residents and foundations.
Further information can be found on the organization’s website at www.cazenoviaforum.com.