Climate Emergencies: Using Feedback Loop Films to Inspire and Educate

Lara is an environmental educator and biologist who is passionate about engaging youth with nature in ways which nurture community, literacy, identity, and a fierce sense of place. She has an extensive background in formal and informal environmental education, with over twenty years of experience teaching and designing environmental and sustainability programming in the Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay regions. She also served as a backcountry guide for at-promise youth and was the founding director of K-12 Green Schools and STEM programs in Maryland and Pennsylvania. She is the South Sound FieldSTEM Coordinator for the Pacific Education Institute in Olympia, Washington where she empowers educators to teach real-world science connected to the environment of the Pacific Northwest. Lara holds a BS in biology and an MS in molecular ecology. 

Outside of her work with the Pacific Education Institute, Lara is an avid backpacker, skier, gardener, rockhound, folk artist, mountain lake swimmer, and chicken herder. She lives with her husband and four dogs on a small farm on the Olympic Peninsula.

Jen Fischer is a writer, film producer and teaching artist whose work focuses on highlighting shared human experiences to cultivate empathy and understanding. Her films have screened across the United States and abroad and have been featured by NBCLatino, ABC, Univision, Fusion, NBCBLK, Vice News, etc. with her film “THE wHOLE” premiering at Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary Human Rights Conference. Her educational and/or film writing has been featured by Edutopia, Video Librarian, Ms. Magazine, Parents Magazine and others. She is the Director of Programs and Outreach for Journeys In Film. She has developed curriculum for LA’s BEST, the Metta Center for Nonviolence and in conjunction with the Outreach Center for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, where she received her M.A. She holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and enjoys playing the piano and creating unique educational experiences for her two children