The mission is simple: To redefine "cool." We The Planet (WTP), a national tour dedicated to sustainability, will cultivate that message with Iowa Staters when the tour appears at Stephens Auditorium at 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28.

Musician Tracy Chapman, activist and author Julia Butterfly Hill and sustainable agriculture activist Howard Lyman will lead a discussion on the most pressing environmental issues facing the planet, the nation and its communities. Following the discussion, Chapman will perform a short acoustic set.

The stage discussions will cover global issues directly related to local communities and emphasize how attendees can improve the world. As an example, the tour group is traveling across the United States in a bus powered entirely by vegetable oil and bio diesel.

Hill is WTP's founder, but perhaps best known for spending more than two years in a California redwood tree in the late 1990s to protest the destruction of the state's redwoods. Since then, she has written books, lectured at universities and lobbied Congress on a variety of environmental issues.

Joining Hill and Chapman will be Lyman, a fourth-generation Montana farmer. He also is founder of Voice for a Viable Future, a nonprofit educational organization promoting organic family farming, biodiversity, vegetarianism, environmentally friendly practices and enlightened trade.

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