Growing Environmental Literacy: On Small-Scale Farms, in the Urban Agroecosystem, and in School Garden Classrooms (PhD ’20)

Alana Siegner graduated from Tufts University in 2012 with a double major in Environmental Studies and International Relations. She was the Local Outreach Chair of the Tufts-Engineers Without Borders chapter, and spent 3 summers traveling to Uganda to work on an EWB clean water storage project. Before coming to ERG, Alana served for 2 years as an AmeriCorps National Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools, working with 8th graders in Boston Public Schools. At ERG, she is interested in uniting her environmental and educational interests. She researches sustainable, agroecological food systems and farm to school programs as mechanisms for developing student environmental and climate literacy. Her Master’s project focused on the San Juan Islands specifically as a case study of high-functioning school food programs and environmental education. As part of her participatory research project, she served as a Sustainable Agriculture Intern for two summers, working alongside small scale diversified farmers on Lopez Island. She developed, implemented and evaluated and Food and Climate Change curriculum following completion her Master’s degree, and continues to engage in farm-based climate education work. Currently, Alana is a Graduate Student Researcher with the Berkeley Food Institute working on a study of East Bay Urban Agroecology, with a focus on food distribution, access and justice questions. Alana also served as the Agriculture and Plumbing Systems Engineer for the THIMBY tiny house project, a collaboration of ERG students, faculty, and graduate students from other departments. She is interested in uniting her passions for farming, teaching, and research in a future career opportunity.

Curriculum Vitae

Publications:

• “Producing Urban Agroecology: From Soil Health to Community Empowerment” in Journal of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
• “Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review” in Sustainability
• “Climate Change Education in the Humanities Classroom: a case study of the Lowell School curriculum pilot” in Environmental Education Research
• Experiential Climate Change Education: Challenges of conducting mixed-methods interdisciplinary research in the San Juan Islands, WA and Oakland, CA” in Energy Research and Social Science
• Impact Assessment Study of Environmental Science Journal for Kids
• Experiential climate change education: Challenges of conducting mixed-methods, interdisciplinary research in San Juan Islands, WA and Oakland, CA
• Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review

Links:

• www.laneysiegner.com
• Planet Forward National Geographic blog
• THIMBY blog
• Life@ERG blog: Coffee, Chocolate, & Passion Fruit: A Food-Focused Journey In The Galapagos
• Life@ERG blog: Stepping Up to the Plate: Attending the First-Ever California Farm to School Conference
• Life@ERG blog: The Lopez ‘Land Ethic’: What it’s Like Growing Your Own Food

Education:

• Ph.D., Energy and Resources, U.C. Berkeley, December 2019

Honors/Awards:

• Graduate Certificate in Food Systems
• Soroptimist Founder Region Fellowship for Women Ph.D. Candidates
• NSF “Innovations in the Food, Energy and Water Nexus” Fellow
• U.C. Global Food Initiative Fellow
• NSF GRFP Honorable Mention

Teaching:

• Transforming the Food System: From Agroecology to Population Health
• ESPM 163AC – Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity and the Environment
• ESPM 50AC – Introduction to American Culture and Natural Resource Management
• Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning, UC Berkeley GSI Center

References:

• Alastair Iles
  UC Berkeley Email: iles@berkeley.edu
• Charisma Acey
  UC Berkeley Email: charisma.acey@berkeley.edu
• Daniel Kammen
  UC Berkeley Email: kammen@berkeley.edu
• Isha Ray
  UC Berkeley Email: isharay@berkeley.edu

Contact
asiegner@berkeley.edu