Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in Ecology from the University of Minnesota where she worked as a research assistant with invasive species in aquatic environments. She also spent a year studying marine systems at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Coos Bay, Oregon. She then served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama from 1999-2001 where she worked with subsistence communities to improve their coffee farms. There, she became intimately familiar with tropical ecology: scorpions, poisonous snakes, barking monkeys and all.

She also had the honor of participating in various works to establish the San Lorenzo Protected Area and World Heritage Site with the Panamanian NGO Centro de Estudios y Acción Social Panameño (CEASPA). After a two-month bus trip through Central America, she returned to the U.S. and pursued a Master’s in Environment & Community at Antioch University Seattle, where she focused on sustainable development and education. She co-founded the non-profit organization Earth Care where she directed K-12 environmental education and Americorps programs in sustainable agriculture for the next decade.

Christina is now working as a freelance writer based in Santa Fe, NM where she lives with her two sons and husband. She continues to travel extensively in Latin America, especially Brazil, and recently took a trip to the Indian Himalayas to participate in field research in pollination and climate change. She is excited for the opportunity to work with mongabay.com and write stories on the fascinating world of biodiversity, conservation, and the adventurous scientists who live it.