Karin Stein is the Iowa Field Organizer. Working with Moms Clean Air Force is personal for her: “Once you’re a mom, you’re every child’s mom. That feeling became my instinct the minute I held my first-born in my arms.”
Before moving to Kellogg, Iowa, in 1980, Karin, a Colombian citizen, lived in Costa Rica. The granddaughter of German immigrants, she grew up on a remote, off-the-grid cattle and rice farm in the eastern plains of Colombia, where she was homeschooled. She traces her understanding of the earth as an interconnected organism to her first 11 years in the wilderness, complemented later by her degrees in biology and horticulture. She and her siblings direct a watershed conservation foundation in Costa Rica.
Karin has been a nationally and internationally touring musician for more than 20 years and started an initiative to reduce the environmental impact of the performing arts. She has three grown daughters who continuously inspire her and her husband to protect the environment and fight climate change any way they can.
Karin’s work has been highlighted by Billboard, Univision, the Des Moines Register, Inside Climate News, Factchequeado, El Tiempo Latino, Jambalaya News, Yale Climate Connections, KCRG, and Iowa Starting Line, among others.
See how moms are making a difference in Iowa.