We the Planet, described as “a nationwide tour of activism, discussion and music,” will make a stop at the University of St. Thomas later this month as part of its fall tour of U.S. campuses and communities.

The discussion-oriented program, which examines “everyday solutions to global problems,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in O’Shaughnessy Educational Center. Doors to the auditorium will open at 7 p.m.

Tracy Chapman
As it travels throughout the country, the program features a rotating lineup of activists, celebrities and musicians. During its stop at St. Thomas, the program will feature a 20- to 30-minute acoustic performance by Tracy Chapman. Speakers that evening will include Julia Butterfly Hill, the Circle of Life founder who lived for two years in a 1,000-year-old redwood tree named Luna, and Howard Lyman, a fourth-generation Montana cattle rancher who became a vegetarian and food-safety activist.

The program is sponsored by St. Thomas’ University Lectures Committee. It will be free and open to the general public, but only after members of the St. Thomas community have had the first opportunity to receive tickets.

Julia Butterfly Hill
The free tickets will be available to St. Thomas students, staff and faculty from Sept. 18 to 23. They can be picked up at the Box Office located on the first floor of Murray-Herrick Campus Center. You can pick up two tickets per person.

If any tickets remain available after Sept. 23, they can be picked up by the public (or members of the St. Thomas community) at the Box Office on Sept. 24 and 25.

The We the Planet tour has its roots in a We the Planet concert and program that attracted a crowd of 10,000 last April in San Francisco. The event left no waste and was powered by bio-diesel-fuel generators.

Howard Lyman
During its fall tour, the We the Planet speakers and musicians are traveling in a bus powered by vegetable oil and bio diesel fuel. Organizers of the tour have asked St. Thomas to come up with 150 gallons of used cooking oil to dump into the bus’ fuel tank when it comes to St. Paul.

“We all know we live in a world full of problems,” said Butterfly Hill, an organizer of the tour. “We the planet will show that we also live in a world full of solutions. Come participate in a dynamic discussion, hear some great music, meet leading activists and get everyday solutions you can use.”

More information is available at http://www.wetheplanet.org/.

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