Think Out Loud

Low snowpack and high temperatures have jeopardized ski resorts across the region this year. While some resorts have held on, most have been facing closures or abnormally short seasons. Skiers are cancelling trips, and seasonal workers have had to shift their plans for work during this abnormal winter. Mountain towns are facing major economic uncertainty – some offering major sales on gear, or pivoting to warm-weather recreation. Mt. Hood Meadows is the latest ski resort to announce its closure - it will officially wrap up this year’s operations on April 12, as it announced in a recent blog post. 

Greg Pack is the president and general manager at Mt. Hood Meadows. He’ll join us to discuss the weather’s impact on this year’s ski season.

Thornburg says the only way anything will change is if young people and community leaders get energized and motivated. That’s where people like Kelsey Mueller Wendt come in. She is herself a young mother and the coordinator for the Nutrition Oregon Campaign Hub in Klamath Falls. Mueller Wendt and Thornburg join us to share more about larger education campaign and the film, which is both a showcase and an invitation into the larger effort to eliminate chronic disease.

When Greta Jarvis was 16 years old and on her high school’s lacrosse team, her menstrual cycle completely stopped. When she went to an OBGYN to discuss the issue, doctors told her this symptom was completely normal for female athletes.

Nearly ten years later, she learned that her period loss, or amenorrhea, was abnormal and actually dangerous. In fact, it’s the body’s response to too few calories, too much exercise, and extreme stress. It’s also extremely common among young female athletes, and intensified by scarce targeted education on nutrition, body image and hormone health within women and girls'sports.

Now, Jarvis coaches the same team she played on in high school, and she wants to provide the education that she didn’t have when she was growing up. She founded the Center for Active Women, where she organizes workshops for teams, schools and sports organizations to equip women and girls with the skills to develop healthy relationships with body, food, and exercise. She joins us to discuss her work.

 After taking home the title in the statewide civics championship earlier this year, the constitution team from Portland’s Grant High School will represent Oregon in the national "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" finals kicking off in Maryland on April 17. The three-day competition features hundreds of students from around the nation demonstrating their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, government and Supreme Court decisions by arguing historical and contemporary constitutional issues.

Sophie Durocher and Caspian Green are two members of Grant High School’s constitution team, and Angela DiPasquale is the team’s advisor. We’ll speak to them ahead of their travels to the national championship.

The rising cost of oil and and fertilizer due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is affecting farmers all over Oregon. On Monday we spoke with local farmers and a nonprofit representing small and mid-sized farmers. They said gas prices are already starting to affect them and although they have the fertilizer supplies they need for this year, they are very concerned about those prices rising the next time they buy.

Tim Delbridge is an assistant professor of economics in Oregon State University’s Extension Services. He says agricultural operations of all kinds and sizes have limited options for dealing with rising costs. Not every grower can just raise prices on consumers to compensate. Delbridge joins us to tell us more about how the rising price of energy and fertilizer are likely to affect Oregon’s agricultural economy in the near future — and how long farmers can continue to operate if prices don’t drop.

A recent study by the Energy + Environmental Economics, also known as E3, found that by 2030 the Northwest will have a roughly 9 gigawatt energy gap. The study also found that the region will need to rely on natural gas plants and may need to build more infrastructure to support it. But some think this is unnecessary. The think tank Sightline Institute has a new report arguing that the energy shortfall is misleading and says there are other ways to save power, such as asking data centers to temporarily reduce their use during times when the grid is stressed. Laura Feinstein is a fellow at Sightline. She joins us to share more.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of college students across the U.S. began a remote, nationwide project – called Farmlink – with the goal of  distributing surplus food to food banks and those in need. The program grew to support a fellowship, which guides students through learning about reforming food systems, provides them with a full-time position at a farm, food bank, or distributor, and finally facilitates the students’ creation of a project that would help to strengthen the infrastructure of food systems in their communities. 

Riley Bader is a senior at the University of Oregon, and one of Farmlink’s 6 chosen fellows from colleges and universities across the U.S. Stella Delp is the head of community and student programs at Farmlink, and one of the founders of the organization. They both join us to discuss their work.

The U.S. led war in Iran is not just driving oil prices up. It's doing the same for fertilizer. A third of the world's supply of fertiziler passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran still has largely blocked. 

Woodburn farmer Jon Iverson grows grass seed, wheat, grapes and tulips, among other crops. Molalla nursery owner Jim Gilbert grows fruiting plants, among others. They join us to share how these price hikes are affecting them. We also hear from Alice Morrison, the co-executive director of Friends of Family Farms, who tells us what she’s hearing from their small and midsized members.