Howdy everyone,
My name is David J. Solomon, a second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) candidate specializing in Business and the Environment at F&ES and a new Admissions Ambassador for the F&ES Admissions Office. My interests exist at the intersection of entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability, with a longstanding and deep passion for China and the role Chinese investments can improve environmentally development strategies for projects in China, as well as overseas through the country’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).
For three years I worked at the American Forest & Paper Association in Washington, DC. During my time there, I learned a lot about the US Forest Products Industry and the unique role that companies play in influencing and engaging in federal policies related to forestry. As I transitioned to FES, I wanted to keep my connection to forestry and requested to have Professor Ben Cashore serve as my MEM faculty advisor. During my work, I had seen numerous articles by him on forest certification issues and was excited to maintain my forestry connection. When I got to school, I started working as a research assistant (RA) in his Governance, Environment and Markets lab. Working as an RA I learned about coffee certification practices in Brazil, Indonesian government
Namaste!
My name is Bipul Mayank and I am a first-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student from India. I am specializing in Business and Environment along with Environmental Policy Analysis. It has been an incredible experience as an international student – navigating through the rich and versatile opportunities – at Yale F&ES over the last three months. I feel extremely honored and grateful to be appointed as the Admissions Student Ambassador. I look forward to providing support to prospective students by sharing my experiences with our beloved community.
Before Yale F&ES
I was born in the Eastern Indian province of Jharkhand (The Land of Forests), which is abundant in natural resources. Growing up close to forest landscapes, I formed a strong connection with nature and…
The Career Development Office (CDO) at F&ES has been fortunate to have a long-standing collaboration and professional relationship with staff from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. In 1996, CDO and Career Services at the Nicholas School collaborated to create the Duke-Yale Environmental Recruiting Fair in Washington, D.C., which brought together hundreds of students from both schools for a day-long event of interviews, information sessions, and a career fair, followed by alumni/student networking receptions.
The venture was started by Karen Kirchof, former assistant dean and director of the Nicholas School’s Career and Professional Development Center, and Peter Otis, former director of CDO at F&ES. Many of our alumni will remember the fair, and may remember Karen, who was very lively and outspoken as a co-leader of…
Written by Kylee Chang (MEM’19)
I am Kylee Chang, a second-year MEM candidate expecting to graduate in May. At F&ES, I am studying industrial ecology and business and the environment. This year, I have learned immensely from my collaboration with both F&ES and SOM students on participating in the Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge.
Since 2010, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing have been inviting graduate students from around the world to create innovative financial instruments that address critical social and environmental issues. This year’s competition received the most applicants yet: from 109 teams across 80 graduate schools in 50 countries. My team was chosen as one of the top 12 teams to fly to Hong
During the Alumni TGIF (“Thank Goodness I’m a Forester” event at F&ES) last October, I shared with Gao, a Ph.D. candidate from China, my interest in learning about the environmental footprint of Chinese investments overseas. Despite my passion, I had little experience in the topic at the time and had no idea where to start looking for resources. Gao immediately introduced me to Dr. Helen Gichohi, the McCluskey Fellow at F&ES, at the Alumni Event. Helen is a renowned scholar from Kenya and wildlife conservation field practitioner – also former President of African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). I expressed my interest to Helen and made quick connections with her along with two other classmates, American and Ugandan students who shared a similar passion for the subject. As our interest overlapped with…
On January 25th, a unique set of festive ornaments was put on at the Kroon Hall – red lanterns, door couplets, delicate paper cut, and Lucky Upside-down Fu Character. Guess what was going on? Yes, it was the celebration of the Lunar New Year at F&ES.
In November of 2017, I had the incredible experience of participating in a week-long renowned forest management course in the northeastern Brazilian Amazon. The intensive field course is offered by the Tropical Forest Institute (IFT – Instituto Floresta Tropical), whose reduced-impact forest management system is widely held to be Brazil’s gold standard. IFT trains participants in all stages of its system, with an emphasis on practical, on-site experience. Over the course of the week I developed a comprehensive understanding of tropical forest management, and was challenged to face a conflict that arose within me regarding the use of pristine forests for timber production in the name of conservation.
On November 18, I arrived in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, where I met the 25 forestry…
As Brazil struggles to balance environmental leadership and economic growth, São Paulo State took an important step towards shifting the burden of post-consumer waste management from taxpayers to manufacturers. This could be a watershed moment for expanding infrastructure for post-consumer recycling in Brazil.
Starting this week, manufacturers located in São Paulo that don’t incorporate post-consumer recycling through “take-back” policies could be punished with heavy fines and even have their operation suspended. For example, if LG produces smartphones in São Paulo and the company fails to create a system to collect part of the discarded smartphones from consumers — and then recycle or dispose of them — the whole LG plant could be shut down in São Paulo State. This becomes relevant as not only is the state the biggest…
At a time when global climate change negotiations are aiming to determine the world’s priorities, 2018 and 2019 have become landmark years to decide on the future of finance, adaptation, technology transfer, capacity-building, nationally determined contributions, and the future of the Paris Agreement as a whole.
