Masters of Business Administration/Masters of Environmental Management
School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Yale University
neda.arabshahi@yale.edu
Climate Science and Policy Project, Clean Air-Cool Planet, Washington D.C.
I analyzed the economic impacts that U.S. and international climate change policy will have on U.S. economy. As part of this process, I focused on the provisions for carbon offset projects in American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 that recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. I have synthesized my analyses into several papers and presentations on climate policy cost containment mechanisms for corporate partners and for U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
Neda is working toward an MBA and Masters of environmental science at Yale University. For her Masters research project, she traveled throughout Mexico last summer, tracing the value chain of carbon offset project sites and assessing their ability to promote technology transfer and sustainable development. For the past year she has been on a research team that quantifies and analyzes progress made on energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction goals set by hundreds of corporations that have signed the United Nations Global Compact's Caring for Climate Initiative. Prior to graduate school, she spent four years working on the development team at the Rainforest Alliance.
BS 2009, Yale University
michal.benedykcinski@yale.edu
The CHEFS (Charting Emissions from Food Services) Project,
Yale Office of Sustainability, New Haven, CT
I have collected a year's worth of invoice data from the Yale Dining Services; this information will allow us to perform the environmental impact assessment of the dining operations at Yale. I have gathered data through a series of interviews with Yale Dining Services officials, phone interviews with major food suppliers and the Yale Procurement representatives. From this information, I have developed recommendations for our institutional dining operations. I have also created a system that will allow Yale Dining to collect data more effectively and improve dining data collections for other institutions participating in the CHEFS project.
Michal Benedykcinski graduated from Yale University with distinction in History and International Studies. At Yale, Michal spent his time promoting international awareness on the Yale campusas Chair of the Speakers Committee and Vice-President of the Yale International Relations Association. During his summers in college, Michal has developed a genuine interest in energy security, environmental markets and climate change mitigation strategies. As a student he held internships at an innovative alternative energy start-up in Houston, global law firmdoing gas & oil litigation in Central Asia and at the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.Next year, Michal will be representing Yale University as the Fox International Fellow at the Free University Berlin and Moscow State University studying European energy security. In his free time, Michal can be found cooking his favorite Europeanspecialties or trying to keep up with his book purchases. As an avid traveler he is always on the look-out for new adventures.
MS 2009, International Environmental Policy Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Natalie.Berland@miis.edu
Climate and Energy Action in CT, Clean Air-Cool Planet, New Canaan, CT
At the beginning of the fellowship, I explored which Connecticut communities have established Energy committees, what projects they are working on, and what challenges they have encountered. These local level groups were formed to address local energy issues but have become a voice in broader issues of climate change and energy policy. The product of the fellowship will be a Handbook specific to the needs of Connecticut communities and will be distributed across Connecticut.
Natalie Berland will receive her Masters degree in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in May of 2009. She has been working as a campus sustainability work study for the past year and a half and has completed the campus GHG audit, launched a sustainability website, and started a community garden on campus. She is originally from the Midwest and loves being outside including camping and hiking. She speaks French fluently and has lived in France.
Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise Dual MBA/MS Program
University of Michigan
cbosch@umich.edu
Carbon Reduction Analysis for Poland Springs,
NWNA/Poland Springs, Hollis, ME
I have worked on three projects that address climate change at Poland Springs this summer. The first consisted of pilot product life cycle assessments at each of the company's three Maine plants. The second two projects addressed the water tankering truck fleet. For these, I drafted an environmental and safety management system that assesses and documents risks to inform improvements and that can be audited; and I wrote case studies of fuel efficiency projects that to date have saved the company thousands of dollars, thousands of gallons of fuel and avoided tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Christina joins the CA-CP climate fellow program after her first year in the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise dual MBA/MS program at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment. There she is studying corporate environmental strategy, with an emphasis on water and carbon management. Prior to attending the University of Michigan, Christina advised Federal agencies for three years as a consultant at Industrial Economics Inc. in Cambridge, MA where she developed economic analyses of Endangered Species Act proposed rulemakings, and contributed to the EPA's Climate Change Science Program report on potential ecological impacts of sea-level rise on mid-Atlantic coastlines. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental studies from Oberlin College, and is an aspiring vegetable gardener, potter, and bike commuter.
Masters of Business Administration/Masters of Environmental Management
Yale University’s School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
jessamine.fitzpatrick@yale.edu
Greening the Science Center, Northeast Science Center Collaborative, New Canaan, CT
This summer, I worked with the Northeast Science Center Collaborative to increase the success rate of sustainability projects undertaken by the Collaborative’s more than 90 member organizations. As some of the most active and trusted climate change educators, it is essential that science centers “walk the talk” and undertake efforts to reduce their own carbon footprints. Through interviews with more than 15 zoos,aquariums, planetariums and nature centers, I collected information about what makes the implementation of sustainability plans successful, and the common road blocks organizations face when trying to “go green.” I then used this information to develop a set of best practices for science center greening, and made recommendations to ensure that Clean Air-Cool Planet provides member organizations with effective technical and managerial resources moving forward. During my 10 week internship, I also performed a greenhouse gas inventory and made strategic recommendations for reduction in emissions and energy use for the Maritime Aquarium, a Collaborative member organization in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Jessamine Fitzpatrick is a joint Masters of Business Administration/Masters of Environmental Management student at Yale University’s School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Prior to coming to Yale, she spent four years working on public policy issues for The Nature Conservancy in California. Jessamine’s work with The Nature Conservancy focused on increasing state and local public funding sources for conservation projects in northern and central California. In 2006 she simultaneously managed ballot measure campaigns to create a new conservation agency in Napa County and renew a $360 million conservation funding source in Sonoma County. Jessamine was also an integral member of the conservation program team that protected more than 50,000 acres of forests and rangeland in northern and central California. Jessamine graduated from Georgetown University in 2002 with a degree in biology and a concentration in ecology, evolution and animal behavior.
Masters of Environmental Management
Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
meg35@duke.edu
Historic Districts: Leading the Local Energy Movement, Clean Air-Cool Planet, Portsmouth, NH
The New England region is home to a significant proportion of the nation's historic building stock, which is regulated by local-level historic district commissions (HDCs), state historic preservation offices, and federal laws. As fuel prices become more volatile and concern about climate change grows, residents are taking steps to increase the energy efficiency of their homes, and those in the historic district face certain obstacles -- both regulatory and physical -- that their non-historic neighbors do not. This summer, I created a written guide for HDCs and historic homeowners, entitled Historic Districts: Leading the Local Energy Movement. The guide describes the synergies between the sustainability and preservation movements, helps homeowners to better understand building science issues that arise during historic house weatherization projects, and highlights ways for HDCs to encourage energy efficiency within the historic district, by working directly with the local energy committee in their town.
Meg Giuliano is a Masters of Environmental Management student at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. She completed her BA in Biology at Williams College in 2005, and has since worked as a bench scientist and environmental educator. Meg is interested in global climate change and energy policy, and hopes to work in the sustainability management field in the future. In her spare time, Meg enjoys reading, singing, playing guitar, and cooking, and she also likes to be outside as much as possible (preferably in a coastal environment).
BA 2009, Hamilton College
jennifer.kleindienst@gmail.com
GHG Reduction Planning and Education for York Hospital,
York Hospital, York, ME
I worked on several projects at York Hospital this summer. Using the Clean Air-Cool Planet calculator, I inventoried the Hospital's greenhouse gas emissions and brainstormed carbon-cutting solutions with Hospital staff. Some of the short-term solutions the Hospital plans to implement are vacancy sensors for lights, composting, and recycling program improvements. I hope that the work I’ve done will serve as good groundwork for a long-term commitment to sustainable hospital policies.
Jen is a senior Public Policy major and Environmental Studies minor at Hamilton College who will be graduating in May. She has led Hamilton's Recycling Task Force since 2006, and continually pushed to improve recycling and institute composting on campus. As a member of the Sustainability Committee, Jen has helped to educate the campus about environmental problems and solutions. In her free time, Jen loves going for walks and playing board games.
BS 2009, Hamilton College
m.leonardi@yahoo.com
Regional Energy and Climate Protection Plan,
Wild Center,
Tupper Lake, NY
My project consisted of implementing an energy and climate protection plan for the Adirondack Park in upstate New York. I worked directly with municipalities and businesses to help them understand and reduce their energy use. I also assisted the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, New York to conduct an energy inventory in its goal to gain carbon neutrality. To be sure that the energy efficiency work in the Adirondacks continues, I worked with colleges and universities in the region to develop an independent study program that will continue to build on and expand my work with municipalities and allow the perpetuation of our goal of energy independence for the Adirondacks.
Maria Leonardi is a 2009 graduate of Hamilton College, with a major in Economics and a minor in Government. She is a resident of Long Lake, N.Y., located in the heart of the Adirondack Park. Maria worked as an intern in the corporate anti-trust area at Simpson, Thacher, and Bartlett, LLP in the summer and fall of 2007. Shewas selected as a Clarence Petty Intern for the Adirondack Council and served as the assistant to the Executive Director in the summer of 2008. Maria participated in both the National and Regional Climate Change conferences hosted by The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, N.Y. She is anongoing volunteer for the Common Ground Alliance, a forum for private-public collaboration to promote a successful future for the human and natural communities within the Park.
Junior, Yale University
juliameisel@gmail.com
The CHEFS (Charting Emissions from Food Services) Project, Yale Office of Sustainability:
New Haven, CT
As a Food Fellow at the Yale Office of Sustainability, I examined the challenges and opportunities to make an institutional foodservice more sustainable. This included interviewing staff at Yale Dining and the Yale Sustainable Food Project as well as working with Yale life cycle assessment experts. My product was a report for the Office of Sustainability summarizing these challenges and opportunities and recommended that the best way for Yale to continue to make its dining more sustainable is through a modular, step-wise plan.
Julia Meisel is an Environmental Studies major at Yale University, where she served as chair of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition, Yale’s undergraduate environmental advocacy group. She has also interned at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and contributed to a report on the status of the UN Global Compact’s Caring for Climate platform as a research assistant at the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale. Julia will be writing her senior thesis on the role of food systems in institutional sustainability. She enjoys hiking, especially in Acadia National Park, and afternoons reading on the dock.
George Washington University,
MA Candidate in Museum Studies
katie.miller@rocketmail.com
GHG Reduction and Education for Strawbery Banke Museum,
Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH
My project aimed to improve energy efficiency of the site’s historic buildings and to educate the public about energy use over time. Focusing on the most inefficient building, an on-site building charrette workshop brought building scientists, architects, and historic preservationists to examine current conditions and to propose efficiency solutions. From the charrette, possible energy improvement projects were determined that respect the historical integrity of the building. A list of possible efficiency projects and next steps were presented to the museum administration and board of trustees, establishing an institutional commitment to reducing the museum’s environmental impact. As an education component of this project, I researched and wrote a tour on energy use from the 18th to 21st centuries, comparing heating and cooking methods over time and discussing ways to lessen the modern environmental impact.
Katie is a museum studies graduate student at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is originally from Hudson, New Hampshire and went to collegein Pennsylvania, majoring in history whileworking/playing outdoorswith the environmental club. Sheenjoys traveling, particularly in the Mediterranean.
Senior, Brown University
helen_mou@brown.edu
Climate Risk, Pax World, Portsmouth, NH
At Pax World Management Corporation, I examined climate risk disclosure for small and mid-cap companies and comparing climate risks and opportunities at the industry and company level. This research will help inform shareholder activism at Pax. I also engaged in conversations with Corporate Social Responsibility and climate change business leaders in New Hampshire.
Helen Mou is an environmental studies and economics concentrator at Brown University, where she became interested in sustainability and social entrepreneurship. After graduation, she hopes to start a sustainability consulting business that will advance the environmental, social, and economic performance of businesses and organizations in the greater Boston area, where she grew up. She is also involved at Brown as a teaching assistant for an international environmental politics course and as the editor of Watershed, Brown & RISD’s journal of environment and culture.
Masters Candidate, Department of Geosciences
University of Massachusetts Amherst
cpetrik@student.umass.edu
Climate Action Plan for Nantucket Island, Sustainable Nantucket, Nantucket, MA
In 2007 the non-profit organization, Sustainable Nantucket, conducted an emissions inventory for the Town of Nantucket effectively completing the second milestone of a
greenhouse gas-reducing framework created by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). The inventory provided the necessary data to complete
the third milestone: creation of a climate protection action plan. The purpose of this plan is to offer the Town and the community a series of programs that will result in CO2 reductions. With the support of the Town and Sustainable Nantucket, I have
collaborated with local entities to draft a climate plan which will reduce Nantucket’s CO2
levels by 21% by 2020.
Carrie Petrik is currently a second Bachelors degree student in the Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with plans to enter a graduate program in paleoclimatology and biogeochemistry in the fall of 2009. Prior to returning to school, she spent eight years in organic agriculture with a focus on community education and sustainable practices. She has a passion for climate change science and policy and is extremely excited to work with Clean Air-Cool Planet and Sustainable Nantucket.
Masters Candidate, Department of Historic Preservation
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
ginnybrownus@yahoo.com
Green Historic District Commission Project, Sustainable Nantucket, Nantucket, MA
Working through the non-profit Sustainable Nantucket, I wrote energy efficiency guidelines for the Island of Nantucket. The process of drafting these guidelines has involved weekly meetings consisting of architects, preservationists, and homeowners. These guidelines, intended to help building professionals and homeowners, work to effectively incorporate energy conservation measures and renewable technologies into the historic setting of Nantucket. It is the hope of the Historic/Green Committee this document is endorsed by the Historic District Commission.
A first-year graduate student pursuing an MS in Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ginny Brown is looking forward to defying expectations and changing the status quo. During her undergraduate and graduate studies, her continued focus has been on the potential to create more sustainable communities through preservation and adaptive re-use. Ginny has two rescued hound dogs, an artist husband, and a serious yoga habit.
Junior, Middlebury College
benkwessel@gmail.com
Policy Communications, Clean Air-Cool Planet, Washington, D.C.
I spent this summer assessing Clean Air-Cool Planet's policy communication needs in this dynamic time for climate and energy policy on Capitol Hill. By partnering with each of CA-CP's program offices (Campus, Corporate, Communities, and Science Centers), I
was been able to take the policy work being done by the Climate Policy Center in DC and translate it into useful toolkits, educational pamphlets, and Q&A documents in order to help achieve the organizations varied goals. I also had the privilege to help craft our organization's policy response to the most complex and comprehensive climate and energy bill ever passed out of a chamber of Congress, the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Ben Wessel is a 20-year-old sophomore at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT. Growing up in Washington, DC he has always been fascinated by politics, and feels that strong legislation and real advocacy efforts from the grassroots, particularly young people, will be a main factor in solving the climate crisis. His passion for activism, policy, and adventure has taken him from a WWF-sponsored "Voyage for the Future" in the Norwegian arctic to the UN Climate Change Negotiations in Poznan, Poland to the halls of Congress and Capitol Hill during both PowerShift 2007 and 2009. He is excited to spend the next nine months of his life taking time off from college to help ensure strong domestic climate policy and a fair, binding international climate treaty.
