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Rodale Books To Publish His Royal Highness Prince Charles's Landmark Speech "On the Future of Food"
New York, NY-February 14, 2012: Rodale Books is proud to announce the publication of The Prince's Speech: On the Future of Food by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, with a foreword by Wendell Berry and afterword by Will Allen and Eric Schlosser (ISBN: 978-1-60961-471-3; February 14, 2012; Paperback with flaps; $6.99; 64 pages, also available as an e-book). On May 4th 2011, HRH the Prince of Wales delivered a landmark keynote speech to "The Future of Food" conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. upon which this special commemorative edition of the Princes' speech is based.
Said CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., Maria Rodale, "For over 30 years, Prince Charles has challenged the assumption of industrial agriculture and questioned the behavior of large agribusiness. These are the same tenets upon which my own grandfather founded Rodale Inc., therefore we felt it important that Rodale make The Prince's message accessible to as many people as possible via this publication. The Prince's Speech embodies his genuine passion for the topic of the future of food; it also provides readers with an incredibly smart, powerful, comprehensive, and practical look at the challenges we face and how we can put our concern into action in order to secure a sustainable future for generations to come. All of us at Rodale are honored that HRH Prince Charles chose to partner with us to get this essential message out to the world.”
In the book, HRH Prince Charles underscores the need for a more sustainable approach to agriculture while recognizing the wider and important social and economic parameters-how we can feed a global population approaching 9 billion people and still safeguard public health, keep jobs, and protect our environment. The Prince's Speech brings into focus the perilous state of our current food system and provides a convincing argument to support immediate action.
Advocate, author, award-winning producer, and The Prince's Speech guest editor Laurie David was in the room the day HRH Prince Charles delivered his powerful manifesto. She said "Really, my jaw dropped along with everyone else's because the speech was such a clear and comprehensive explanation of what has gone so wrong with how we produce food in this country and what we need to do to get back on track. It was very clear to me that this speech needed to be read by everyone who eats! And while this book may seem small in size, it seeks to answer a very big question: How do we reclaim the integrity of our food and get back to producing good, clean, fair food for everyone and the planet?"
In The Prince's Speech, HRH Prince Charles lays out a persuasive case to support the fact that sustainable and organic agriculture can, indeed, feed the world and addresses the real reasons why an industrialized system-one deeply dependent on fossil fuels and chemical treatments-is promoted as viable while a much less damaging one is condemned. The Prince's Speech provides a concise and convincing roadmap for how individuals and nations can achieve a situation where food production is at once affordable, available to all, and not overly taxing of the Earth's quickly diminishing natural resources.
The Prince's Speech will include a foreword by noted author and farmer Wendell Berry and an afterword by urban farmer Will Allen and bestselling author Eric Schlosser-available only in this special commemorative edition. Beautifully packaged as a small-format paperback with flaps, the book will retail for $6.99 and will also be available as an e-book. This stirring, thought-provoking, and ultimately hopeful call to action is a must-have for anyone who cares about the survival of our planet and its people.
GRACE Communications Foundation, which helped sponsor “The Future of Food” conference, is also creating a website www.onthefutureoffood.org, to serve as a portal where people can learn more about the issues raised in the book, and what we can individually and collectively do to create positive change.
About Rodale Inc.: Rodale is a global media company with a heritage, mission, and authority dedicated to the health and wellness of the individual, community, and planet. Through a broad portfolio of leading media properties, Rodale reaches more than 70 million people around the world through multiple distribution channels, including magazines, books, online, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, and video. The company publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men's Health, Prevention, Women's Health, Runner's World, Bicycling, Running Times, and Organic Gardening, and is one of the largest independent book publishers in the United States, with a collection of bestselling titles including Al Gore's Our Choice, Howard Schultz's Onward, Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, Flat Belly Diet!, and the Eat This, Not That! series, among others. Rodale is also a leader in direct-response marketing and has more than 25 million active customers in its database. www.rodaleinc.com.
About GRACE Communications Foundation: GRACE builds partnerships and develops innovative media strategies that increase public awareness of the relationships among food, water and energy systems. By mobilizing philanthropic resources and collaborating with like-minded non-profits and academic institutions, GRACE educates consumers and advocates for policies that address the environmental and public health effects of industrial food systems and support the development of sustainable food distribution networks.