Climate change got personal for my family in 2013, when a refugee bear fleeing a nearby wildfire scaled my goat-corral fence and killed most of the herd in front of our eyes. Milk providers, yoga partners and friends Natalie Merchant, Bette Midler and Stevie Nicks were lost that day (we name our goats after singers we like). Baby Taylor Swift survived and slept inside with my human kids for a while.
Since that day, I’ve been consciously sequestering carbon — trying to reduce carbon miles by eating and buying locally, avoiding petroleum-based plastics in favor of compostable materials and furthering both of these goals by planting hemp and milking goats. It’s my day job: farming so my grandkids have a habitable planet.