The Land Institute's scientists will give a research update and founder Wes Jackson will present his annual inspirational. You'll enjoy the homegrown tunes of Ann Zimmerman. And you'll not be alone in the wilderness: People who celebrate The Land Institute's Prairie Festival share a caring about sustainable living and our land, and they say these warm people are the best thing about attending. A record number, 650, attended in 2006. We invite you to be part of it at The Land Institute during Prairie Festival 29, September 28-30, 2007.

We hope you'll come and bring along friends. We want to make The Land Institute's audience bigger and younger. It's time to add new members to the choir.

Registration

Presenter Bios

	Scott Allegrucci served as Director of Tourism in Kansas. A Kansas native, he attended Pittsburg State, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and Colorado College. He holds a degree in anthropology and has worked as an actor, writer, and director for film, television, and theater. His priorities in climate and energy are to link data, the imperative for action, and current social reality.
	Bruce Babbitt, Former Secretary of the Interior and former Governor of Arizona, is a native of Arizona where his family pioneered a ranching and trading business in the 1880s. Bruce served on the Presidential Commission to investigate the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island and advocated passage of a water quality act during his tenure as governor which was described by the Los Angeles Times as perhaps “the nation's toughest law to protect underground water.”
	Steve Ells is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York and began his career cooking at the famed Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. Since opening the first Chipotle in 1993, the critically acclaimed chain has grown to more than 600 restaurants and gained national recognition for serving Food With Integrity.
	Kamyar Enshayan coordinates University of Northern Iowa's Local Food Project, linking institutional food buyers to nearby farms. He is an agricultural engineer and a city council member in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
	Pete Ferrell has worked all his life at the ranch established by his great-grandfather in 1888. He is the primary landholding member in the development of the Elk River Wind Farm, LLC. Pete facilitates the Executive Link program for Ranching for Profit graduates. He is managing member of Salt of the Earth Management that is creating a supply chain for grass-fed beef.
	Nancy Jackson worked in the corporate world until 1993 when she moved to Kansas to study environmental history. For a decade, she commissioned and edited books for the University Press of Kansas. In 2005 she received a Dole Institute of Politics research fellowship for a national interview project entitled “Common Cause in America.” Today she leads The Land Institute's Climate & Energy Project.
	Wes Jackson, president and founder of The Land Institute, is the author of several books including New Roots for Agriculture and Becoming Native to This Place. He was a 1990 Pew Conservation Scholar, in 1992 became a MacArthur Fellow, and in 2000 received the Right Livelihood Award (called the "alternative Nobel prize").
	Blair Hamilton is policy director for Vermont Energy Investment Corp. Since 2000, VEIC has acted as Efficiency Vermont, the nation's first statewide provider of energy efficiency services. It gives technical help and financial incentives to reduce energy costs with efficient equipment, lighting, construction and renovation. Hamilton has more than 30 years of experience with efficient and renewable energy. In 2002, he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
	Fred Kirschenmann was named a Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow in 2005 after having served as director since 2000. He manages his family's 3,500-acre certified organic farm in North Dakota and helped found Farm Verified Organic, a private certification agency, and the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. Fred is author of numerous articles and book chapters on ethics and agriculture.
	James Howard Kunstler is the author of fourteen books including The Long Emergency, The Geography of Nowhere, and The City in Mind. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and Rolling Stone. His next book is a novel set in the American post-oil future: World Made By Hand will be published March 2008.
	Jin Lee photographs Midwestern landscapes to explore the particularities of a place. Her work is in permanent collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Madison Art Center, and Museum of Contemporary Photography. She received a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship in photography and is Professor of Art at Illinois State University.
	Donna Prizgintas is a chef and spokesperson in the natural products industry. She cooks and writes in support of a tradition of family meals created from seasonally fresh, locally grown, organic ingredients. In her business, Someone's in the Kitchen with Donna, she has been a private chef to many Hollywood celebrities.
	Ann Zimmerman sings the prairie into universal language and carries you away on unforgettable journeys--one woman, one voice, one stage presence. Her Kansas style has taken her across the country, with songs that tell stories and paint portraits, brilliantly colored and unexpected. Her music celebrates life, especially life on the windy plains.

Registration

• Download 2007 Registration Form
• Click here for Visitor Information

Notes for Festival

• Browsing at the bookstore for books, CDs, t-shirts — northeast end of the Red Barn
• Order audio tape recordings of Prairie Festival talks from Perpetual Motion Unlimited — south end of the Red Barn
• All sessions in the "Big Barn" unless otherwise noted.
• Please do not bring pets or camcorders
• Parents are responsible for the safety and behavior of children. We suggest you arrange baby-sitting co-ops.
• Sorry, no refunds on registration payments due to processing time and cost.

Items to bring:

• Invitation/program
• Musical instruments and songs
• All-weather footwear and jackets. Most activities are in open-air facilities and walkways may be muddy. Expect every kind of weather, often in the same day.

Camping:

• You are welcome to camp on our grounds Friday and Saturday nights of Prairie Festival weekend.
• Please arrive before dark (first come, first served).
• Camping area is primitive. No campers, trailers, or RVs.

Food:

• Saturday's catered dinner will be vegetarian optional (but not vegan), available only with your prepaid registration received by September 21, 2007.
• Food and drinks will be available from the Prairieland Market during most of the Festival at the south end of the Red Barn.
• Lunch Saturday will be available for purchase from the Prairieland Market at the south end of the Red Barn.