Carla writes about food, agriculture, climate change, and other environmental topics from her home in Corvallis, Oregon. She lives with her husband, 8-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old Lab, Daisy. She is a biologist with a Ph.D. in plant conservation genetics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her work experience includes: organic farming, environmental education, high school and college science teaching, natural resource policy analysis, environmental consulting, and rare plant scientific research. In 2004, after weathering the deaths of three loved-ones and being bitterly disappointed by the election results, Carla resolved to work more directly for the change she wants to see in the world. Currently she writes about the environment, and works on local food issues and climate change. She is especially interested in integrating good scientific information into her writing because she believes in the power of knowledge to save the world. When she isn't working, she is busy being a mom, keeping the house together, discovering local foods, and getting outside.
Seems like all the good food stories I find start with an amazingly dedicated person. Someone who decides to work on making things better, often as a volunteer. Someone with unusual passion and skill. The story I want to leave you with today probably started that way too, but I don’t know that for certain. …
For someone who loves information, the internet can be both a wonderful temptation and and a hopeless disappointment. The good, the bad, the well-researched and the total garbage all sit side-by-side out there in cyberspace. Information on food and farming is plentiful, but not all of it is accurate, informative, or useful. One site that …
I know this might sound pompous (my daughter’s favorite word these days), but I have some free advice about eating. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to eat in a more healthful, environmentally friendly, sustainable way. You don’t have to be an amazing cook, or use a carbon calculator …
Thinking About Food Miles and Carbon Footprints with Common Sense. Read More 👉
In my last post, I suggested that school lunches are a reflection of our society’s crazy relationship to food. And there is no doubt that evidence for what Michael Pollan has called our “national eating disorder” can be found in many school cafeterias. I stopped by my daughter’s school yesterday at lunch time to see …
School Lunches 2: The Promise of Feeding Kids Well and Saving the World. Read More 👉
I have to admit that my 3rd grader doesn’t eat school lunches. She has tried what the kids call “hot lunch” exactly 3 times in her entire public school career. She doesn’t like them. At all. Every morning, I fix her lunch, and although I sometimes grumble a little, I am glad to get to …
School Lunches 1: Shedding Some Light on “Hot Lunch.” Read More 👉
Maybe we really have reached our limits. David Korten, author, lecturer, and founder of Yes magazine, believes we have. He believes that climate change, peak oil, and the meltdown of the U.S. dollar are all symptoms of the impending fall of our modern, globalized way of life. And he has a point. The stock market …
Milk is big in our house. We eat ice cream, butter, cheese, and yogurt. I love my morning coffee with just enough half-and-half to turn it a lovely shade of caramel. My daughter drinks milk with lunch and dinner. When you factor in the pizza with mozzarella and the breakfast cereal, hardly a meal goes …
Jack Hedin is a Minnesota organic farmer who grows food for local markets. He wants to expand his operation to help meet the growing demand for his produce. The way he sees it, the federal government is standing directly in his way, and he’s upset about it. So he sent an Op-Ed to the New …
A Minnesota Farmer Takes on Farm Subsidies, and Creates a Stir Read More 👉
I admit that I am not the most rational person in the world. When faced with big choices, weighing the pros and cons is not how I behave. My decisions – whether to have a baby, where to live, who to marry – are not based solely on logic. They are also based on my …
