Field Notes

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Leadership for Sustainability In India , article
“Capital Turns Gas Chamber” read the headline: “As a toxic smog hung over Delhi for the third day and air quality worsened by the hour, the capital has declared a pollution emergency and banned the entry of trucks and construction activity … There are growing calls for bigger government action to tackle what doctors have declared a public health crisis … Residents are complaining of headaches, coughs and smarting eyes. All 6,000 schools in Delhi are closed until the end of the week. A Delhi government advisory has urged anyone with breathing difficulties to remain indoors and said everyone should avoid strenuous activity.” [Millennium Post]
Date: Nov 20, 2017
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From Fear to Understanding , article
On October 11, three years of planning, research, and collaboration came to a head for Virginia Tech Master of Natural Resources (MNR) alumni Ryan Hathaway and Ana-Elisa (Isa) Bryant, as well as MNR faculty member Dr. Megan Draheim. Their paper “From fear to understanding: Changes in media representation of leopard incidences after media awareness workshops in Mumbai, India,” has been published in the Journal of Urban Ecology [3(1), October 11, 2017].
Date: Nov 13, 2017
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Technology & Environmental Justice , article
The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Enrionment, Energy, and Resources’ Special Committee on Environmental Justice (SCEJ), which I co-chair, is spearheading a series of programs to connect the tech sector with environmental lawyers and introduce environmental justice concepts. This is an important connection to make now because technologies developed today will impact everyone’s lives and livelihoods.
Date: Oct 30, 2017
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Act Locally , article
Our class had just finished watching a video about plastics and their impact on the environment. The students enthusiastically debated the best ways to influence public behavior – how could we get people to decrease their purchases of single-use plastic bottles and disposable plastic bags? The answer that the students came up with is the same one they come up with every semester – education! If people just understand the impact of their actions, they will change their behavior. Unfortunately...
Date: Oct 02, 2017
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Biopolitical Disaster , article
It was as if God had decided to put to the test every capacity for surprise and was keeping the inhabitants of Macondo in a permanent alteration between excitement and disappointment, doubt and revelation, to such an extreme that no one knew for certain where the limits of reality lay. ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes an ill-fated town named Macondo. Ironically, the oil prospect where Deepwater…
Date: Sep 25, 2017
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Climate and National Security , article
It is hard to put the threats posed by a changing climate into context when the news is filled with terrorist attacks, nuclear threats and a war that just seems to have no end. Climate change seems to be almost frivolous, but unfortunately, it’s not. So, what does that mean? You can’t fight climate change with a gun or a missile or a submarine, so how is it a threat to national security? First let’s look at some definitions.
Date: Aug 28, 2017
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What Qualifies as Urban Habitat? , article
Most of the world’s human citizens now live in cities, and the percentage of people who do (as well as the percentage of urbanized land) is only going to grow. An awareness of urban biodiversity helps to dispel the myth that “nature” only happens away from the human-built environment. By that telling, humans are not part of nature, and this perspective has led to some of the most damaging environmental issues we’re currently facing. Understanding that humans are a part…
Date: Aug 16, 2017
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My Glimpse at Different Conservation Solutions in India , article
As I arrived at the airport and prepared to meet my classmates from the Online Master of Natural Resources program in person for the very first time, I began to feel a bit apprehensive at the task before us. Our goal: an analysis of the sustainable livelihood programs in the Western Terai-Arc Tiger Conservation landscape, State of Uttarakhand, India. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this ten-day International Field Experience but several questions crossed my mind right off the…
Date: Mar 04, 2015
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Having Tea in a Casablanca Slum , article
"Casablanca is a city of glaring social inequalities, where the rich live alongside the poor. It is a city of both high-rise towers and slums. It is a financial and business center as well as a center of misery, unemployment and so on." (King Mohammed VI, Oct. 11, 2013)
Date: Feb 17, 2015
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How the XMNR is Preparing Me to be a Global Leader , article
On January 7th, two Muslim extremists attacked Charlie Hebdo, a satiric newspaper in Paris, carrying out an act that shocked the world and raised grave fears of more terrorist attacks. While a tense situation was developing in Europe with an increase of sentiments against Islam, I was, in contrast, experiencing the tremendous amount of beauty that the Islamic culture had to offer. I was visiting two Muslim countries - Morocco and Turkey - as part of my international residency (IR)…
Date: Feb 09, 2015