Laurel Bellante '12

Laurel Bellante is a human-environment geographer specializing in food justice, global environmental change, sustainable food systems, and agrarian questions in both the United States and Mexico. Bellante uses a political ecology approach to connect what is happening in people’s kitchens, farms, and communities to larger political economic and environmental changes occurring regionally, nationally, and globally. She has researched alternative food networks in Mexico, poverty and climate change in the Southwestern U.S., carbon forestry programs in Latin America, and food security and food justice in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

"My master's degree in Latin American Studies laid the groundwork for all that has followed in my career. An internship with Sabores Sin Fronteras during my degree program got me in the door to working in food systems advocacy in the US-Mexico Borderlands. Training in social science research methods gave me the skills to conduct field research on agrarian change and local food systems in Mexico and the Borderlands. In all, the fieldwork experience and coursework in LAS helped me to refine my career aspirations and provided me with the in-depth understanding of the issues affecting food systems in both the US and Mexico. It prepared me to go on to complete a PhD in Geography and Development and inspired me to carve out a career in food systems transformation, research, and education"