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“The Value of Nothing” Author to Speak During King’s “Going G.R.E.E.N.” Conference

October 21, 2010 - Raj Patel, the author of “The New York Times” best-selling books, “The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy” and “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System,” will be the keynote speaker at the third annual King’s College Global Landscape Conference.

Patel’s presentation will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the Burke Auditorium of the McGowan School of Business, located at the corner of N. River and West Union streets.  The presentation will highlight the two-day Global Landscape Conference, titled “Going G.R.E.E.N. in Changing Times,” will assemble scholars, educators, students, and community members who are interested in the connections among business, ethics, and sustainability.  Participants will examine these connections in the context of G.R.E.E.N. issues—Governance, Responsibility, Ethics, Entrepreneurship, and Nature, at local, regional, and global levels and in various parts of the world including Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Europe.

“This is an excellent opportunity for members of our community – students, educators, business executives and anyone interested in global and social issues – to learn of the impact our local efforts have in the bigger picture,” said Bindu Vyas, Ph.D., conference chair. “Mr. Patel’s presentation is sure to engage all attending in thoughtful consideration of society’s role in the marketplace.”

This year’s conference is supported in part by a U.S. Department of Education Business and International Education Program grant King’s received this summer to partner with local agencies in an effort to enrich the King’s College international business curriculum through ethics and entrepreneurship initiatives.  The conference will highlight presentations from the following partnering agencies: the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce; the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance, a regional export network of seven Northeast Pennsylvania counties; and The Sustainable Energy Fund, based in Allentown.  Patel, a renowned activist, is currently a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a fellow at The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. He has worked for the World Bank and WTO, and protested against them around the world. He has testified about the causes of the global food crisis to the US House Financial Services Committee and is an Advisor to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. 

Patel

King's College is a Catholic College sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross.