Class News

Class of '64 Summer Fellowships for 2004

The Class of 1964 Summer Fellowship supports summer travel and fieldwork by Yale juniors and seniors who have an interest in the environment. The Class of 1964 Summer Fellowship Committee is co-chaired by Frank Basler and Mike Price.

Two articles have appeared in Yale publications about our Class of 1964's Summer Fellowships, one article in the Yale Environmental News and another article in Yale: Environment.

The 2004 recipients of the Class of 1964 Summer Fellowships made presentations to the Class Council on January 31, 2005. Madeleine Meek, who went to Madagascar and Somabha Mohanty, who interned at the Jersey Zoo on the Isle of Jersey, gave excellent reports with slides and photo albums. Their written reports are posted below. In addition, Gus Speth shared the following note with the Class Council:

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Here are some reports from our Summer Fellows:

• Madeleine's project description
• Madeleine's report in June 2004
• Madeleine's final report in October 2004
• Sobhi's report in June 2004
• Sobhi's report in October 2004

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Madeleine's Project Description: Healthcare Initiatives in Andohahela Integrated Conservation-Development Project

Introduction

This summer I will conduct field research for my senior essay which will examine the experience of local communities in Madagascar with integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs). During eight weeks, I will participate in healthcare activities with Action Sante Organisation Secours (ASOS), a local public health non-governmental organization (NGO) that delivers healthcare to villagers in the periphery of Andohahela National Park (ANP). ANP is an ICDP founded in 2000 in southeastern Madagascar at the interface of the rainforest and the spiny desert. It is home to many endemic and endangered species and is thus the focus of many international conservation organizations.

Along with my participation with the ASOS healthcare team, I will collect data in the peripheral villages regarding how well health programs are integrated with conservation programs and whether they provide 1) positive benefits for the peripheral villagers and 2) the sorts of economic payoffs (or development) necessary for ICDPs to work. I chose to research the healthcare development initiative of the Andohahela ICDP because the perceived effectiveness of initiatives to improve access to health-care facilities and overall health is a question of pressing concern to these peripheral communities.

Background of ICDPs & ANP

The recognition that environment and development are linked led to the creation of ICDPs like ANP with two goals: conserving the biodiversity within protected areas and creating economic alternatives for people that live in or on the periphery of these areas. The goal of ICDPs is thus to improve villagers' lives without compromising their natural resources. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has been the main participant in the Andohahela ICDP, in partnership with ASOS. The following programs are being supported by WWF: forest and water management, eco-tourism, beekeeping, training in improved rice production methods, and environmental education, along with health services provided by ASOS. ASOS provides the following: community-based health clinics, mobile health service units, and family planning education and services.

Research

The following three questions will guide my research: 1) What were the healthcare initiatives promised to villagers at the inception of ANP? 2) What are the healthcare outcomes of the ICDP? 3) What is the satisfaction or disappointment that villagers find in the presence or lack of promised healthcare initiatives? My research method consists of 1) participant observation with ASOS and 2) semi-structured interviews with villagers, management staff of ANP, and ASOS staff.

This research will expand on a project I carried out 2 years ago in another ICDP, Ranomafana National Park (RNP), on the health effects of a 6-month national political-economic crisis on 8 villages in the periphery of RNP. My research determined that the crisis exacerbated problems that already exist with the healthcare structure that is in place. I was struck by the ICDP's failed attempts at improving healthcare. After further second-hand research that I conducted this year, it became evident from many different sources that the healthcare initiatives promised to villagers in the periphery of RNP were not delivered. This has led to mistrust and lack of acceptance of the Ranomafana ICDP; evidence for the fact that if development promises are not kept, villagers will be hesitant to participate in conservation activities.

I chose to go to ANP this summer because, according to Yale Professor Richard Marcus (who has spent considerable time at Ranomafana and at Andohahela with ASOS), there are measurable healthcare outputs delivered to villagers by ASOS. Marcus accounts for this success because ASOS is a local organization whose presence is known to the peripheral villages of ANP. By participating with ASOS this summer I will thus gain a comparative perspective on the way that ICDPs use health activities to achieve conservation outcomes and their subsequent success in doing so. Through interviews with villagers, I will also understand villager's views of the interdependence between their own health priorities and conservation. By researching one development initiative of the ICDP in-depth, I can draw some conclusions about the present success of this ICDP. I chose this project because it is important to figure out what makes ICDPs successful or not, and subsequently how to improve or reinvent them, so that there will better development in the future and in turn, a healthier environment.

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Madeleine's report in June 2004

While my experience this time around is proving to be quite different than 2002, there are some things about a country you can never forget. Of course the first is being called "vasa" (white foreigner) by hundreds of beautiful, smiling, dirty faces every day and being asked for "argent," " bonbons," and "stylos," along with other little trinkets. Then there's the linked and ever-disappointing feeling of being very separate from the people around me; a different conception of time and thus mode of operating in both the personal and professional life; laughs galore when they see this vasa running; unpaved, bumpy, twisty roads; intensely red soil; being caught in a glorious afternoon rainstorm and the gorgeous sunsets that follow; the scents of the rain and the rainforest, of fires burning inside little huts without chimneys, and of 'promiscuous' defecation; garbage dumps established "n'importe ou" and the associated odors; wars with mosquitoes; freezing showers; and, of course, rice, beans, sakay (hot pepper sauce), bananas, rum, and my sinful pleasure ― sweetened condensed milk!

Instead of living in my tent in the forest like last time (that is yet to come), [my brother] Clif and I have established ourselves in a sweet little old "bungalow" on the top of a gorgeous hill in Fort Dauphin, the southeast tip of Madagascar.

The town of Fort Dauphin is charming. It takes one hour to walk to the other side ― down the hill to Libanona Beach, up the other side, through the streets, past various vendors, houses, banks, souvenir shops, NGO offices, hotels, restaurants, and finally to the market (quarter-mile strip of vendors selling clothing, shoes, vegetables, fruit, rice, beans, peanuts, and grotesque meat) and the office of ASOS (the public health NGO with whom we are working) just beyond.

So, why am I here? For my senior essay I am comparing Ranomafana National Park and Andohahela National Park, parks which both began as integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs) in the past decade.

I am specifically studying the successes and failures of one aspect of the development side: healthcare initiatives. This became my passion because I was disappointed with the failures on the part of Ranomafana National Park to keep their promises in this realm (and other ones as well), though all the while reports and articles praising the park imply that these initiatives are happening! My research is thus to determine whether or not healthcare promises are being kept in the periphery of Andohahela, through working with ASOS, the regional NGO that has established a partnership with the ANGAP (the National Park Service) here, and is in charge (so to speak) of implementing this aspect. So, taking a step back in conclusion ― in a general sense, I am assessing whether or not this ICDP is a success. Looking in-depth at one of the development initiatives allows me to do that. Because, as earlier stated, if the development side doesn't work, neither will the conservation.

The conservation-development dilemma (in specifically the "developing" world) is essentially how to reconcile conservation of natural resources with improvement of livelihoods (or what is termed "development") in terms of health, economy, or whatever factor is important to whomever at the moment. This is that crazy expression "sustainable development," though I prefer "sustainable livelihoods." Conservation, however, is a tricky topic in Madagascar (as in most "developing" countries), as it is one of the poorest countries in the world and 80% of its people are agriculturalists. Making this even more of a dilemma is the concern that began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with biological diversity. In Madagascar this is an essential part of the debate, as approximately 80% of flora and fauna species are endemic (only found on this island). The emphasis is on lemurs, a very rare species only found here and our earliest ancestors. Many foreigners became concerned with protecting these creatures, along with thousands of other endemic species, over the past couple of decades. But telling people not to burn the forests for agriculture in order to save the lemurs is a bit ridiculous if you look at the realities of the lives of the majority of Malagasy. The conceptual and experiential link between conservation and development is not always easy to understand.

As conservation and development are however essentially linked, the answer to this dilemma became what is called "integrated conservation-development projects" (ICDPs), a form of development project (like those initiated by USAID, the World Bank, CARE, and other development agencies) hoping to jointly conserve the biodiversity of rare environments and improve the lives of target populations. What usually occurs (at least in the Madagascar case) is that multinational or foreign agencies/governments donate the money and, along with foreign researchers, make the plans for the protected areas all with the consent of the Malagasy government of course. Protected areas have been established in Madagascar, where one finds the most biodiversity, usually with buffer zones where villagers who live in the periphery of the protected area can use the land after being told what land is off-limits for use of resources.

In turn, the development agents usually ask the villagers what their needs are and then make promises to deliver these needs in exchange for their protection of the resources. Common responses are interpreted by development agencies as: alternative sources of income, improved education, and healthcare services. Technical experts and agriculture extension agents are then sent to villages to teach people to farm sustainably, usually by converting to wet-rice agriculture instead of "swidden" (commonly referred to as "slash and burn"), to start fish-farms and beehives. Villagers are then usually trained as "animators" so that they can train other villagers, and then go on to other villages and educate people about these sustainable ways of farming. Since the other main needs expressed are improvement in healthcare and education, the development agencies implementing ICDPs claim to build schools and supply resources for them. Healthcare is usually promised in the form of traveling medical teams, access to western medicines at lower costs, and training sessions to teach villagers about improved sanitation and hygiene (through latrines, washing hands, boiling water, wearing shoes, and so on) along with training villagers as animators to further spread the word throughout the villages and onward.

While all this sounds lovely, hundreds of researchers have pointed out problems with these ICDPs since their beginnings in the 80s. And I am continuing the critique.

My interest is specifically what villagers in the periphery of the protected area are told at the outset, including their responses to the recent protection and if their thoughts and suggestions are used for management. Most importantly, I am looking at what promises (regarding development initiatives) are made to peripheral villages at the ICDP's outset, expectations that the villagers thus have regarding the ICDP in conjunction with their own future, and subsequent satisfaction and disappointment with the ICDP regarding the respect and delivery of these promises. A lot of my research thus compares what is written in documents with what is going on in reality (as many implementers of development projects skew what is actually going on, whether it be for attaining more funding or just maintaining an image of success, while people who are supposedly being helped are actually quite unhappy with the development project).

This is why the interviews that I am conducting this week are very important, as I have been meeting with the heads of organizations, such as Rejela who is the head of ANGAP (the national park service in charge of Andohahela), who has actually told me that he would like me to speak with villagers about their feelings regarding the park. It is also quite wonderful that Rejela gave me all the documents that I asked for (including the management plans for the park). Now I can read what the plans were (especially what the promises made were) and then compare when I go into the villages, as I will hopefully see what is really going on and get an idea for how peripheral villagers feel about the ICDP. I feel like I can be very transparent about my research with Rejela, though of course I am still being wary because sometimes the work of researchers is shunned or suppressed by ICDP or park management if the results of the studies and suggestions regarding further management do not please them. This happened in Ranomafana to several researchers (including Janice Harper ― see below)! Crazy but true. So we always have to consider whether science is truly objective.

I became interested in healthcare specifically when I was in Ranomafana two years ago because this was the promised benefit that seemed to most interest villagers in the periphery. This is also the aspect that seemed to most upset them ― when the ICDPs failed to deliver, that is. Then I further delved into this topic over this past spring, when I read an amazing book by Janice Harper who conducted her dissertation research in a peripheral village of Ranomafana. She discusses the (mainly negative) effects of the ICDP on villagers ― the realities of the situation! She pointed me to even more research that discusses similar faults ― mainly that many promised services were not delivered and that much more funding and research goes the conservation side of the ICDP and hardly anything to the development side. (Typically to protect those lemurs!) Even though reports and articles regarding the Ranomafana ICDP/park painted it as a perfect success in terms of conservation and development in its periphery.

My overall research purposes concern my interest in two quite-connected realms: (1) how to make development projects work better, and (2) the best way to deliver healthcare to rural communities who do not live near a health center. Traveling health teams seem ideal, as do setting up community pharmacies. I am also interested in how to make communities healthy in a sustainable manner (e.g., changing hygiene habits and treating water). Training community animators seems ideal. Do these mechanisms improve healthcare? This is what I am trying to figure out! Along these lines, I am also interested in the integration of traditional and western medicine.

The best-planned and well-intentioned projects always change the minute you step foot in a "developing" country. Circumstance is a creative force, while challenging and at times frustrating. I'm keeping confident and going with the flow, always trying to make sure that it is in the direction that I find desirable. Even with that little preface, the project has, fortunately, not changed very much, except perhaps the amount I plan to accomplish. Malagasy time often proves to be quite a setback. Four months should really be allowed for a solid two months of research! Especially in a place where most people take three hours for lunch and appointments do not mean very much (and thus people do not always show up for them).

Of course, this is all part of the culturally stimulating FUN.

Finally, Clif and I had a breakthrough with the project. This was all thanks (quite ironically) to this very different conception of time. At 3pm last Thursday we showed up at the ASOS office, and luckily the man with whom we wanted to speak walked in a few minutes later. Without previously knowing that we would stop by, he spoke with us the entire afternoon (2.5 hours) and gave us an immensely helpful background to the ASOS projects surrounding Andohahela (about 50 km from town) where we are focusing our research. 'Twas amazing.

Clif and I will be stationed in Fort Dauphin for another week, doing background research (interviews and reading documents galore) as ASOS is based here, along with ANGAP and several development NGOs that are affiliated with Andohahela. Come July, we will be spending a few weeks in a couple of villages in the periphery of Andohahela where ASOS is running some public health/conservation/sustainable development projects. In order to get a full view of the situation at Andohahela, we also plan on visiting a few villages somewhat nearby (when walking in difficult terrain the definition of "nearby" changes) that are not part of the ASOS projects.

Our plans for visiting the villages are now set, thanks to some great long chats with Rejela, the director of ANGAP for this region (specifically Andohahela) both today and yesterday morning. He has been extremely helpful, giving us copies of all the documents we need and helping us organize the field research. He is very excited for our project and says that he would love for me to come back and conduct further studies (doctoral dissertation in view?) as we all know that a few weeks in the villages is not enough time to assess the real impact and success of the ICDP.

I am continually amazed and comforted by the number of people one can touch along the way. Even if those moments are forgotten a couple days later, the simple chitchat or sharing of smiles can mean so much. What you leave with them, what you take of them ... so many nights I go to bed with a smile on my face because of all the people I have encountered throughout the day, all showing me a different facet of life.

I am very much content here in a new land with a dear brother by my side, though I miss friends and family immensely and wish that they could share
in this incredibly enlightening (and plain-old fun) experience.

Tsara, ny fiainana! (life is beautiful)

Much love,
Madeleine

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Sobhi's report in June 2004:

I've completed a little over a month at the Jersey zoo now, so I thought it was update time! This past time I've been working in the lemurs department of the zoo. It was absolutely fantastic. I got to work with red-ruffed lemurs, black and white lemurs, ringtails, gentle lemurs (or the 'honey-coloured teddy bears' as Gerald Durrell famously referred to them), and most importantly, the aye-ayes. Basically this work-experience programme does exactly what its name suggests ― give me a taste of what it's like to be a keeper of endangered species being bred in captivity. That is, such a person must not only carry out the regular feeding and cleaning routines, but must constantly monitor the stress levels, behaviours, breeding programmes and just overall success in managing these species. It sounds grander than it is ... or maybe it is grander than it sounds. Either way, I must admit I wasn't prepared for the itsy bitsy pieces of work that we have to do every day, like clean the enclosures nearly every day. It takes a long time to scrape every bit of excreta from the floor! Or mow and shear the grass that overhangs the yards and yards of electric fencing, then go around raking up all that sheared vegetation and walk with heavy bins to the waste dump. Nor is it easy waking up by 6:30am five days a week and getting ready to cycle 30 minutes to the zoo. Work starts daily at 8am and ends at 5:30 or 5:45pm. I used to be exhausted for the first couple of weeks, but now I'm getting used to it, and even have energy to come back in the evening and take a bus into town to catch a movie instead of straightaway collapsing onto my bed!!

On days that I feel irritable and find myself wondering quite honestly why I didn't get a job in New York like the rest of my friends back at Yale, I sometimes go look at the flamingoes who live just next to the lemur kitchen (where we prepare meals for our lemurs). These Chilean flamingoes are some of the most gorgeous birds I've ever seen. Then I hear the gibbons 'singing' in the distance, and then I know why I'm here.

Yesterday was my last day with the lemurs. Tomorrow I start work with the bird department with which I continue for the next two months. Yesterday as I was feeding the red-ruffed lemurs in their outside enclosure, one of them conveniently jumped onto my head from an overhead branch and started nosing into the food bucket. No amount of grapes would satisfy him. I wonder how many people have been jumped at by endangered lemurs and snorted at by the fascinating nocturnal aye-ayes?!!

About the birds, I shall let you know more of my experiences soon. I do hope you are having a most wonderful summer!

Cheers,
Sobhi

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Sobhi's Report in October 2004

A Summer at Jersey Zoo

If life were a multiple-choice questionnaire, the world would be divided into two groups of people: those who know the correct answers, and the 'eliminators.' I am one of the latter. For the past three years at Yale I have been trying to answer that significant question ―what do I want to do in life? Or rather, do I really want what I think I want?

My summer after freshman year was spent working in a laboratory that was developing research in biotechnology by bringing together metallurgy and microbiology. Admittedly, it was exciting, yet I so disliked working in a technical laboratory with small test tubes and vials that once back at Yale, I promptly changed my biology major track to that of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Deciding to return to my old love ― conservation ―  I spent the following summer working with local people in a national park in the hills of Northern India. To my utter surprise and disappointment, I was unhappy this summer as well, although the people I worked with had been wonderful to me. To finally understand if I was overestimating my love for wildlife conservation, I decided to spend my last Yale summer gaining hands-on experience in working with animals. My then advisor, Professor Leo Buss, and Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, to both of whom I am infinitely grateful, helped me plan a summer at the Jersey Zoo in the Channel Islands. The famous Jersey Zoo had been founded by the renowned naturalist and conservationist, Gerald Durrell, who by a happy coincidence, had been born in my Indian hometown of Jamshedpur. Growing up with a perpetual fascination for the Durrell books, I though it was an unbelievable opportunity for me.

In retrospect, these past months at Jersey have allowed me to reach the conclusion that it is indeed in wildlife conservation that my passion lies and that all my previous experiences have been frustrating, yet informative, aids in understanding that passion. The process of elimination has been circuitous, but has allowed me to know my own mind with certainty, a task that is far more complex than it seems. Perhaps SAT techniques have their uses after all?
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The Jersey Zoo, at Jersey in the Channel Islands of the UK, houses the international headquarters of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. A 'zoo unlike any other,' as it is popularly thought of, the Jersey Zoo has two main aims. One is to bring in endangered animal species from all around the world and set up captive breeding programs within the zoo in order to increase existing populations of the species. The animals might then be re-introduced into the wild, or exported back to the country of their origin. The other aim of the zoo is to serve as a training ground for both budding and practiced conservationists, and to then send them to places that need their expertise.

In keeping with the latter aim, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust runs the Work Experience Placement Program for young students, at the Jersey Zoo. Participants include international students who work together with zookeepers and researchers to gain a practical understanding of the problems of captive breeding and other issues of conservation, often carrying out a short project using the zoo's resources. The most important part of the program, however, deals with actual zoo-keeping duties. Students are expected to work closely with zookeepers and learn the various routines involved in the daily functioning of the zoo. Each student is assigned to one or two particular departments in order to gain deeper knowledge about a few species of animals and problems associated with their care and breeding. For my part, I was assigned to the lemurs section and the birds section, each for about a month and a half.

My day at the zoo would start at exactly 8am. Five days a week I cycled furiously to the zoo, making sure to reach early so as to better observe the Chilean flamingoes in the early morning mist, or the morning yawns and stretches of the larger mammals. Morning routines were similar in both the bird and the lemur kitchens. Someone would turn on the radio, another would sleepily prepare breakfast for the animals, and finally everyone would set off on their respective rounds. What was breakfast? The birds all got crickets or locusts, or perhaps even a few fattening mealworms every morning. In addition, their water bowls had to be cleaned, the water changed, and the enclosures and the birds themselves had to be given a quick look-over to ensure that all was well. The lemurs, on the other hand, got a mixture of luscious fruits. It was interesting to learn the detailed likes and dislikes of each species. As far as I can remember, the black-and-white ruffed lemurs didn't quite enjoy citrus fruits. Bananas and grapes, of course, were wildly popular, and I once had a red-ruffed lemur youngster plunk himself upon my head from an overhead branch in order to grab a grape from my bucket. The aye-ayes got a curious porridge-like mixture of cereal, fruit juice, olive oil, and special pellets that both they and the keepers seemed to find distasteful. However, there was one aye-aye, an old grandmother ― Juliet ― who relished her porridge only when it had been fully congealed twenty-four hours later.

In general, the diet of each species had been carefully designed to meet the caloric needs of each species and to ensure similarity with the animals' natural feeding habits. The aye-ayes for example, use their mesmerizing, long, skeletal finger to bore through substances like nutshells and wood to get food. For behavior 'enrichment,' therefore, the aye-ayes are given mealworms or waxmoth larvae that have been stuffed into long pieces of bamboo. The aye-ayes drill holes into the bamboo and pluck out the insects with their finger, using it exactly as we do chopsticks. The gentle lemurs, on the other hand, are given mainly leafy forage and only a piece or two of vegetables and fruits all day. The gentle lemurs are a highly endangered species from reed marshes in Madagascar. In their natural state, they eat only leaves found in the marshes ― a very low calorie diet. To give them a larger amount of food or high-calorie foods like nuts or potatoes could pose serious health risks. One group of gentle lemurs, however, had turned curiously obese, probably because they were kept in an open enclosure with lots of plants they could forage upon. The fattest of these, Bob, had a funny bobbing gait. Ponderous and glassy-eyed, he bobbed right onto a large perch one day, and broke it with a resounding thwack. It was half-a-day's work to drag another piece of perching and secure it within that enclosure.

While the lemurs were not being bred during my stay at Jersey, many of the birds were. From a layman's point of view, breeding animals is not a very difficult task. After all, a male and a female in the same enclosure will mate and as a result produce offspring, right? Unfortunately, things are not that simple and, as I learnt, minute details have to be kept in mind for a breeding program to be successful. In the wild, for example, a female would be able to pick a suitable male out of numerous potential mates. In captivity, especially in the case of endangered species which have fewer individuals anyway, a male suitor is thrust upon a female, notwithstanding her personal tastes. This sometimes leads to aggression, as happened with a pair of pikas. To avoid this, couples are often switched around, although this is not always possible. Parenting is another aspect of breeding. The artificial conditions of captivity often lead to bad parenting on the part of the animals, caused by stress and multiple other factors. Pink pigeon couples, for example, make terrible parents, with their eggs repeatedly tumbling out of their nests. At Jersey Zoo, the solution for this is fostering. Eggs from pink pigeon nests are replaced with fake eggs. These fake eggs are essential so as not to disrupt the natural behavior of the female incubating the eggs. The real eggs are put in a room with rows of cages containing dove pairs ― the 'foster room.' Any real eggs from the doves' nests have to be replaced with the real pigeon eggs. These doves make better parents and care for the eggs and the hatchlings very tenderly. Of course, they are rather confused and later intimidated by their 'offspring' since even baby pink pigeons are much larger than the doves themselves. A rather unpleasant situation for the doves, but a good idea for the pigeons.

'Enrichment' at the Jersey Zoo, however, does not apply only to the animals. The zoo is equally concerned with educating the human visitors about the animals in particular and the issues of conservation in general. Posters describing Madagascar's environmental plight or regular talks about the biology of various animals are two ways the Zoo employs to achieve this. Zookeepers are always on hand to share more information with visitors and I myself have been cornered by visitors who have then plied me with questions. A general atmosphere of learning and sincere curiosity prevails at Jersey Zoo, in sharp contrast to most other zoos across the world where images of peanut-eating monkeys and trumpeting elephants are still very strong. Nevertheless, as the provided quote shows, even Jersey Zoo has its fair share of a fairly ignorant and hilarious public. Morning after morning I have seen visitors walk right past the Giant Jumping Rats' enclosure because they felt 'rats' were not worth looking at. We at the zoo often thought of changing the common name of this species to 'furry squirrels' or something similar in order to make them sound more appealing. Yet it is the effort to change the outlook and knowledge of these very visitors and endow them with a deeper love for the animals that makes Jersey Zoo so special.

My summer at Jersey was wonderful and reaffirmed my faith in my own ambition of conservation. For this I have to thank the various people I interacted with before embarking on the project, and especially Professor Marta Wells, who has always shown a genuine appreciation for my floundering efforts at self discovery. However, nothing would have been possible without adequate funding and I am glad I have this opportunity to be thankful to the Yale Class of 1964 for setting up this fellowship and for their support in my endeavor. I hope other students wanting to explore environmental issues and their personal goals get to do so through the chance that this wonderful fellowship provides.