Nature in Humanity’s - Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies · 2012-02-27 · effort...

Nature in Humanity’s Habitat

environmentTHE JOURNAL OF THE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY & ENV I RONMENTAL S TUD I ES FA L L 2006

YALE

WhenPollution and

Profits Collidepage 49

lettersTo the Editor:

I was encouraged to read John Mitchell’s

description of the Chang Tang Wildlife

Reserve in the Tibetan Autonomous Region

of China (“Conservationists Thinking Big to

Save the Last Great Places,” Spring 2006)

as one of the world’s largest

protected areas. It’s worth

adding, however, that the

Chang Tang plateau itself

extends west from Tibet across

a disputed boundary between

India and China and into the

Indian Jammu-Kashmir region

called Ladakh (known as

“Little Tibet” for its strong

Buddhist influence). I had the

opportunity to trek through

Ladakh after graduation from F&ES, and

Mitchell’s piece transported me back to a

world of kyang, blue sheep and nomads

moving through and around broad desert

plains, jagged snow-capped peaks and deep

blue lakes. To my knowledge, however, this

exotic high-altitude plateau has not received

the same level of protection in India as it has

in Tibet, which suggests that preserving the

entire Chang Tang across sensitive borders

may further test the capacity of conserva-

tionists to think big.

SETH DUNN ’05SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I read with interest the

account of the F&ES green

building (“New F&ES Home

to Redefine the Green-

Building Concept,” Spring

2006), and I have a few

comments based on my

experience living in an

environmentally friendly

building of my own design

for over 35 years. The alignment [of the

Kroon building] will make the southern

side pleasant and friendly during the winter,

but the northern side will be cold and icy.

Ample window space in the east end is

desirable to promote early warming by the

morning sun. The use of native lumber is

desirable, but I hope it will be used struc-

turally and not just ornamentally. There is

no mention of the possibility of using wood

fuel for heat, steam and electricity. Tying into

the university’s fossil fuel system is certainly

not environmentally friendly. A number of

institutions in New England have found

that wood fuel is desirable and economical.HOWARD MASON ’48

RUSSELL, MASS.

The editor responds: In order to reduce energyrequirements through thermal mass in thestructure of the building, the main structuralelements of the Kroon building will be concrete.However, the roof structure will be constructedof wood and will be visible from inside thebuilding. Through the design of the buildingand the use of geothermal energy, the Kroonbuilding will eliminate the need for steam andchilled water for heating and cooling and theneed for fossil fuels used to generate them oncampus. While photovoltaics on the roof willsupply a portion of the building’s electricityrequirements, a certain amount of electricitywill need to be supplied through other means.At the moment, we are exploring the potentialof wind power at the Yale-Myers Forest andphotovoltaics on other buildings to meet thisneed. To be efficient, using wood or other bio-mass fuels to generate electricity would requirea much larger facility than we have space forwithin our building site.

Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary

of the Interior and now board chair of

the World Wildlife Fund, hailed new

efforts to take dams down during his

keynote speech at the three-day Global

Perspectives on Large Dams conference

in November. Though dams have been

built historically for flood control, irri-

gation, hydropower and transportation,

Babbitt said that in most cases the

long-term loss of species and land, the

dispossession of native peoples and the

financial costs have far outweighed the

short-term benefits.

Har

old

Shap

iro

2Dean’s MessageAn excerpt from Dean Speth’s latest book, Global EnvironmentalGovernance, which examines 10global environmental threats andhow they can be addressed throughtreaties and new forms of gover-nance and international cooperation.

4Nature in Humanity’s HabitatChances are you’ve never heard ofthe concept of biophilia, but it’sbeginning to have a big impact onbuilding design.

15Sidwell Friends SchoolRenovation IntegratesLearning and NatureKnown more for academic rigor andits high-profile alums, Sidwell FriendsSchool didn’t set out to become aposter child for green design.

17Bookshelf

19Renewable NaturalResources FoundationHonors EducatorHeidi McAllister ’88 received theSustained Achievement Award for a career dedicated to teachingconservation and natural resourcemanagement to young people indeveloping countries.

21At the School

Special InsertHonor Roll of Donors

27Course Taps Into PublicDemand for River ScienceTwenty local decision-makers andactivists recently waded through theburbling headwaters of the TenmileRiver to learn how rivers functionand how they are modified byhuman activity.

29More Scholarship AidNeeded to LurePromising Students In a recent fund-raising letter, DeanSpeth wrote, “Better scholarshipaid is the most critical challengewe face at the school.”

31Class Notes

46Obituaries

49Commentary: When Pollution andProfits CollideRobert Repetto, professor in thepractice of economics and sustain-able development, has developed afinancial measure that comparescompanies' operating profits withthe environmental damages theycause.

CONTENTS

2 4 21 27

environment:YALEThe Journal of the School of

Forestry & Environmental StudiesFall 2006 • Vol. 5, No. 2

EditorDavid DeFusco

Director of Communications

Copy EditorAnne Sommer

Alumni/ae Liaison to EditorKathleen Schomaker

Director of Alumni/ae Affairs

DesignNancy J. DobosDobosDesign

Editorial Advisory BoardAlan Brewster, Jane Coppock,

Gordon Geballe, EugenieGentry, Emly McDiarmid,

Peter Otis

DeanJames Gustave Speth

environment:Yale is published twice a year (Spring and Fall) bythe Yale School of Forestry &

Environmental Studies. Editorialoffices are located at 205 ProspectStreet, New Haven, CT 06511.

203-436-4842email: [email protected]

http://environment.yale.edu

Fall 2006 environment:YALE 1

printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks

Cover illustration by Einat Peled.

One F&ES project of which I am quite proud is theeffort our faculty is making to produce a new series ofshort introductory texts, Foundations of ContemporaryEnvironmental Studies, published by Island Press. Wehope to contribute significantly to both undergraduateeducation and public understanding, and the seriescomplements our school’s growing engagement withundergraduate education at Yale through the environ-mental studies program and major. Collectively, theseries should fill the bill for what every informed personshould know about environmental studies, though wemay have to add two or three more volumes to makethat claim.

My volume, Global Environmental Governance, is thefirst to be published (2006). I wrote it jointly with PeterHaas, a distinguished political scientist at the Universityof Massachusetts Amherst.

Global Environmental Governance was fun to write,as I hope you can see in the following edited excerptfrom Chapter 1:

Let us begin with a very global perspective. Can youimagine Earth without people – not today’s Earth, but anEarth that evolved to the present without us? If you cancontemplate such a world with satisfaction rather thansadness – a world with forests of majestic old-growth trees,with oceans brimming over with fish, with clear skies literally darkened by passing flocks of birds, thriving withan awe-inspiring diversity of life and landscape but with-out people – then you not only have a vivid environmentalimagination but, more to the point, you are ready for yourfirst assignment as an environmental steward.

Imagine further that you live on a different planetthat also circles Earth’s sun. Though your world hasbecome depleted and polluted, you and your people havedecided to leave Earth alone – to protect it and all itsbeauty and let it evolve in its own uninterrupted way. Itis enough to know that it is there in all its richness, protected for all time, wild, whole and beautiful.

Your assignment of protecting the pristine Earth isalmost entirely far-fetched, but not completely. Considerthat on Sunday, September 21, 2003, the space probeGalileo, having provided scientists with extraordinaryamounts of new information about Jupiter’s moons, wasintentionally incinerated in a fiery crash into Jupiteritself. The National Aeronautics and Space Administrationscientists took this unusual step out of concern that

organisms from our planet – stowaways on Galileo –might still be alive and therefore might contaminate oneof Jupiter’s moons [Europa], where life might alreadyexist waiting to be discovered. A decision had beenmade to leave Jupiter’s moons intact and unpolluted.And in the United States today, an area the size ofCalifornia has been set aside as forever wild in a mag-nificent system of national wilderness areas.

But now imagine that another decision has beenmade. Your world has just learned that it is going to bedemolished to make room for an intergalactic hyperspatialexpress route. When your people complained to theHyperspace Planning Council about this planned destruc-tion, you were told that the proposed expressway plan hadbeen duly posted in the local planning department inAlpha Centauri, and that the time for public comment hadlong since expired! (With apologies to The Hitchhiker’sGuide to the Galaxy.)

As a result of these unfortunate developments, yourpeople – all 6.5 billion of you – have now decided tocolonize the pristine Earth. Your new assignment as envi-ronmental steward is to settle Earth in a way that allowsall of you to enjoy a decent standard of living while havingthe smallest possible impact on Earth’s environment.

In contemplating this difficult assignment, two thingsoccur to you right away. First, if you are going to sustainEarth’s environment, you had better understand howEarth works: how Earth’s abundant species interactamong themselves and with the landscape; how Earth’sgreat natural cycles of water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen andothers work together to sustain life; where the areas ofgreatest species richness and diversity and also the zonesof greatest fragility are located. If you hope to disturbEarth minimally, then you have first to understand it. Sothere is, first and foremost, a huge project in science to beundertaken – the science of environmental sustainability.

Second, you see right away that all the nation-statesfleeing your planet together must agree at the outset ona set of principles to guide your settlement of Earth, todo so in such a way that the planet will provide a lastinghome for you and your people. You’re not going to wantto undertake such a task more than once! Where do youbegin?

One recent effort on the part of international lawyersto elaborate sustainable development principles fornation-states to consider was the New Delhi Declaration

2 environment:YALE The School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

dean

’s message Dean James Gustave Speth

Fall 2006 3

of Principles of International Law Relating to SustainableDevelopment, developed in 2002 by the InternationalLaw Association. It provides the following:

States are under a duty to manage natural resources,including natural resources within their own territory orjurisdiction, in a rational, sustainable and safe way so asto contribute to the development of their peoples … andto the conservation and sustainable use of natural resourcesand the protection of the environment, including ecosystems.States must take into account the needs of future generationsin determining the rate of use of natural resources. All relevant actors (including states, industrial concerns andother components of civil society) are under a duty toavoid wasteful use of natural resources and promotewaste-minimization policies.

The protection, preservation and enhancement of thenatural environment, particularly the proper managementof the climate system, biological diversity and fauna andflora of the Earth, are the common concern of humankind.The resources of outer space and celestial bodies and ofthe sea-bed, ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond thelimits of national jurisdiction are the common heritage ofhumankind.

But are these proposed principles of internationallaw sufficiently ambitious and unambiguous to guide thecontemplated settlement of Earth? Perhaps, but you maywant to consider more demanding requirements. And inany event, such broad principles must be supplementedwith specific policies and programs that address suchfundamental issues as the growth of human populations,the choice of technologies to be used on Earth, the pat-tern of human settlements to be allowed, the permittedmeans of transportation and communication, and so on.Moreover, to deal with the problem of the sovereignnations of your planet cooperating in the settlement ofEarth, you may wish to consider far-reaching provisionssuch as these:• The Earth shall be used by all states … exclusively

for peaceful purposes. • In exploring and using the Earth, states … shall take

measures to prevent the disruption of the existing balance of its environment, whether by introducing adverse changes in that environment, by its harmful contamination through the introduction of extra-environmental matter or otherwise.

• The Earth and its natural resources are the common heritage of humankind. …

• The Earth is not subject to national appropriation by any claim of sover-eignty, by means of use or occupation or by any other means.

• Neither the surface nor the subsurface of the Earth, nor any part thereof of natural resources in place, shall become property of any state, interna-tional intergovernmental or nongovernmental organization, national organization or nongovern-mental entity or of any natural person. These are, in fact, actual provisions of the Moon

Treaty, the 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities ofStates on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, withEarth substituted for moon in the text. As of 2005, only11 countries had signed the 1979 Moon Treaty. No coun-try with a significant space program, including theUnited States, had ratified it.

In the end, there is the question whether it will bepossible for 6.5 billion of you to settle Earth, build aworld economy that can provide everyone a prosperousstandard of living, all the while protecting the treasurednatural beauty and bounty of the planet. Whatever theodds of achieving this truly sustainable development onEarth, they are improved if the people and nationsundertaking the colonization are at peace; if they are

continued on page 48

“Can you imagine

Earth without people

– not today’s Earth,

but an Earth that

evolved to the

present without us?”

This Frank Lloyd Wright-designedhome, called Fallingwater, fits into itssurrounding hillside in Mill Run, Pa.,and sits astride a stream nearly on topof a waterfall. In his book Building forLife: Designing and Understanding theHuman-Nature Connection, StephenKellert writes that the house achieves“an overall satisfying confluence of limit-less possibilities within the protectivenest of a sheltered environment.”

Nature in

Fall 2006 environment:YALE 5

emember that neighborhood fort you built with

your friends? Remember exploring in the woods,

mucking about in the local creek? Remember

collecting potato bugs or frogs or snakes? Chances

are your kids won’t. Children between the ages of

8 and 18 spend an average of 44.5 hours plugged into electronics

each week, according to a March 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation

study. In just a single generation, the typical 8-year-old’s “home

habitat” – the area in which they can

roam around outside on their own –

has shrunk by more than 90 percent,

the Children’s Play Council in the

United Kingdom found in 2004.

Humanity’s HabitatBy Heather Millar

Illustrations by Einat Peled

R

Then there’s this troubling quote: “I like toplay inside ’cause that’s where all the elec-trical outlets are,” a San Diego fourth gradertold Richard Louv, author of the bestselling2005 book Last Child in the Woods: SavingOur Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder.

While that fourth grader might developgood eye-hand coordination playing videogames, neither he nor any other youngperson his age are likely to fully developintellectually, socially and physically,according to many recent studies. “Greenspace supports healthy child development,”according to a review of the literature by the Human-Environment ResearchLaboratory at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign. In Sweden, childrenwho attended preschool outdoors – in allweather – developed longer attention spansand a greater ability to concentrate. Otherresearchers in Sweden, Australia, Canadaand the United States found that childrenplayed more creatively in green spaces thanin more traditional, built playgrounds.

So I take my kid outside. A foghornblows mournfully as I watch my 5-year-old dart in and out of a wryly undulatingplayhouse woven from willows. Then she’soff, up a steep hill to build a fort from reedsand grasses, then back down the hill to digfor broken Chinese pottery in a sandboxthat looks like a wrecked miniature clippership, then up again to a crow’s nest to lookthrough a telescope at the first finger ofmist reaching slowly through the GoldenGate Bridge. She’s sometimes bored by thepredictability of many play areas, but notthis one. I marvel at how she just dartsaround, exploring. “Look at this!,” sheyells, as she discovers some frog-shapedstepping stones. “Look at that!,” she says,

as she finds a group of oversized birds’nests. “It must look really big to a babybird!,” she chirps, trying to climb in.

I sit on a knoll with other momswatching kids, mine among them, rivetmetal pieces onto a miniature GoldenGate. A half a mile away, near the realbridge, the foghorn moans again. “Thisplace is so beautiful, so integrated into thelandscape,” I think. My kid loves it, andfights kicking and screaming when it’stime to leave. Even the promise of a TVshow does not soften the blow.

What’s going on here? We could all intuit the answer: It’s that

reaction most of us experience watchingthe sun rise over a lake or standing on aridge looking down over a serrated Westerncanyon or simply helping a child blow thefluff off a dandelion. It’s that deep connec-tion with landscape that sometimes over-whelms us during a long hike or a leisurelypicnic on a spring day. But the success ofthat afternoon outing was more than just afuzzy, feel-good moment, say pioneers atYale, Harvard and several other universities,architecture firms and design companies.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum inSausalito, Calif., with its Lookout Coveplay area that so engaged and delightedmy daughter, was designed to incorporate

the concept of biophilia, which means“love of nature.”

Biophilia inspired the stick-fort buildingarea, the willow house, the statues of nativespecies slightly hidden so that childrenhad to explore and search for them, andthe crank that powers a giant stainless steelfish skeleton sculpture, making it movelike one of the salmon in the bay just afew hundred yards away. Designers con-ceived the whole place to reflect the sur-rounding natural landscape and to helpkids interact with it.

The work of bringing nature into builtenvironments like this one pushes beyondsimple nature appreciation and conserva-tion, beyond the “do-no-harm” ethos ofsustainability and most green building. It’snot just that it would be nice to preservenature where we live, or even that it’s theright thing to do. Nature, proponents ofbiophilia say, is more than an amenity – it’sa basic human need, perhaps embedded inour genetic code.

Skeptics might argue: What’s so newabout all this? Isn’t that why we startedthe National Park System and set asideplaces like Central Park in Manhattan?Isn’t that why the rich have always builttheir mansions in parks or on hills or bythe sea or lakeside? Why research some-thing that seems rather obvious – thathumans enjoy and are part of nature? And,do we all have to love nature; isn’t separatingfrom wilderness what we call “civilization”?Woody Allen famously said, “I am at twowith nature,” and he seems to be having apretty good run. Then there’s the word –biophilia. Doesn’t it sound a bit like some-thing contagious? And how do you quan-tify something as subjective as “love ofnature,” let alone prove that there’s agenetic antecedent for it? Might mydaughter have cried about leaving anyplayground that day, not just the carefullyplanned Lookout Cove?

Maybe. Maybe not.Juxtapose this nature-love concept

with the fact that, sometime in this decade,we will become an urban species. For thefirst time in human history, more people


“It’s about creating

spaces that meet people’s

innate needs.”

Stephen Kellert

Fall 2006 7

will live in cities than in the countryside.Americans spend 95 percent of their timeindoors, writes Peter Wilson in TheDomestication of the Human Species. AnUrban Land Institute study estimates thatthe number of constructed square feet inthis country will double by 2030. Clearly,there’s a growing need to figure out hownature can be reintroduced into humanity’shabitat. Yale is leading the effort to do so.

We need a fundamental re-evaluationof how we design and construct buildingsand towns, argues Stephen Kellert, Ph.D.’71, Tweedy Ordway Professor of SocialEcology at F&ES, in his book Building forLife: Designing and Understanding theHuman-Nature Connection. In recognitionthat for too long nature has been left outof most dialogue on design, Yale inFebruary announced a new joint master’s-degree program offered by the School ofArchitecture and F&ES (Environment:Yale, Spring 2006, page 21). The programwill emphasize “restorative design” thatbrings nature into the places that humansbuild.

In May, Kellert and an assistant,Martin Mador ’02, organized a symposium,“Bringing Buildings to Life: The Theory,Science and Practice of Biophilic BuildingDesign,” which brought 40 thinkers to aRhode Island conference center to hammerout exactly what biophilia means for design.This one-of-a-kind, brainstorming meetingbrought together a highly unusual groupof people who are leaders in their fields:not just in architecture and real estatedevelopment and sociology, but also inmedicine, mathematics, art, interiordesign, regional government and journalism.

“One of the really extraordinary aspectsof this symposium was Steve Kellert’s abilityto bring together so many high-poweredpeople from different disciplines,” saysJudith Heerwagen, a consultant and anenvironmental psychologist. “His reputationas a leader in the field was a huge benefitin attracting this group and keeping themthere for three days. This was the mostfocused symposium I have ever attended.We all worked together from morning

until late at night, and this was a hugefactor in the symposium’s success.”

These experts discussed how we mightweave natural elements back into urbanlife. Symposium participants are currentlyworking on a book to address this question.Greenbuild, ecobuilding’s largest annualconference, held in November, featured a special session on biophilia. The U.S.Green Building Council, which administersLeadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign (LEED) certification, the point system for rating green architecture, hasincorporated some points for biophilicmeasures and is considering more.

“The enormous breach between usand the natural world is at the root of anenvironmental, social and spiritual crisis,”Kellert says. “Conventional design demandsmassive consumption of energy and mate-rials. Sustainable design was a reaction tothis. Sustainability is important, but it’s notenough. We’re talking about restorativedesign, design that brings places alive. It’sabout human experience. It’s not just aboutavoiding bad things. It’s about creatingspaces that meet people’s innate needs.”

Jen Seal Cramer championed andresearched the concept of biophilic designwhen she was at the Rocky MountainInstitute. “When you explain biophilia,people say, ’Duh!’ But our normal buildingsare like rabbit warrens. We get it, but wedon’t get it,” says Cramer, who is nowstarting an environmental real estateinvestment fund. “Even with LEED, greenstrategies can just be appendages tackedon for points. Buildings can be energy effi-cient and still ugly. We’re not after that.We’re after life-enriching places. It’s aboutrestorative design, healing what we’vemessed up.”

In other words, biophilic design isabout more than a koi pond in a marblelobby or ficus trees next to a reception desk,though health research seems to suggestthat every little bit helps. What’s new isthe growing momentum for the idea thatit’s not enough to preserve nature in thewilderness or even in pocket urban habi-tats. Humans need nature where they live

and work, in their buildings and cities.The science to support this is admit-

tedly in its infancy, biophiles concede.Only a few dozen studies of any rigor havebeen published. Part of the problem is thatfunding is hard to secure. Also, it’s tougherto engineer pleasurable experiences tomeasure than it is to create unpleasant situa-tions. Hundreds of studies on variousaspects of biophilia’s mirror image, bio-phobia, have been published. Meanwhile,a lot of the biophilia data rely on surveys,though at least 30 health-related studieshave pinpointed physiological benefits ofnature.

Yet the biophilia research results areconsistent and break new ground by seek-ing to explain why we love nature andwhat that may mean for the way we designthe places where we live and work. Theresearch suggests that even a minimal con-nection with natural things – a tree in acourtyard, fresh air or just a view out awindow – seems to have a profound impacton human health, productivity and learning.

Consider these findings from a selectionof the biophilia canon:

• Surgery patients who have a view of nature heal faster and need fewer painmedications than those who look out on a brick wall.

• Children in low-income, subsidized housing showed a better ability to concentrate when they moved to houses with more outdoor vegetation.

• Looking at tropical fish swimming in a tank lowers blood pressure.

• Students who strolled through a park for 40 minutes did better on tests afterward than students who walked through an urban setting.“People need nature, even though they

may not know it,” says Stephen Kaplan, aprofessor of psychology and of electricalengineering and computer science at theUniversity of Michigan whose work withhis wife and colleague, Rachel Kaplan, a professor of psychology and SamuelTrask Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior, has focused on how peoplereact to natural environments. “The most

exciting research on biophilia deals withproblems hard to solve under any circum-stance in our health care system, prisons,education, public housing and workerproductivity. Nature can provide solutionsinexpensively and can have a hugeimpact.”

We ignore this simple solution at ourperil, says Frances Kuo, director of theLandscape and Human Health Laboratoryat the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has studied the positiveeffects that even small bits of nature canhave on the residents of Chicago housingprojects. “Not only has 25 years of researchshown that people like and prefer nature;finally, studies have shown that animalshoused in unfit habitats undergo psycho-logical and physical breakdown,” Kuo says.“A nature-deprived habitat is an unfit one.”

While much work remains to be doneto conclusively prove this, the notion shouldnot be so surprising. After all, humanitydidn’t evolve in midtown Manhattan.Rather, homo sapiens came to be in a bio-logical world, one in which we interactedeach moment with the ebb and flow ofseasons, light and life cycles. We don’tneed to do exhaustive studies to see thatthese natural elements remain vastly atodds with the cube-land-, megamall-,superhighway-constructed world in whichmost of us live.

The Right PlaceThe new, evolving design agenda that

seeks to remedy this has its roots in a1984 book, Biophilia, by Edward O.Wilson, the world-renowned Harvard pro-fessor and Pulitzer Prize-winning scholarof social insects. Wilson pioneered thecontroversial field of sociobiology, suggest-ing that morality, religion and the artsmight, in part, have their roots in the brain’sevolution. In Biophilia, Wilson tried toextend this argument to biodiversity –another concept he originated – and conser-vation, writing a deeply personal narrativeabout how he came to believe that humansand the natural world are deeply inter-twined and how the human perception of


Symposium Explores Biophilic Building Design

In May a distinguished group of scientists, designers and developers convened at theWhispering Pines Conference Center in West Greenwich, R.I., to explore the theory, scienceand practice of biophilia building design during a three-day symposium titled “BringingBuildings to Life.”

Stephen Kieran, Yale College Classof 1973, of the Philadelphia-basedfirm KieranTimberlake Associates.

Bob Pyle, Ph.D. ’76, a conservation biologist; StephenKellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology atF&ES; and E.O. Wilson, Harvard professor and PulitzerPrize-winning scholar of social insects.

Bob Berkebile, principal of BNIM Architects of Kansas City. Frances Kuo, a professor at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gordon Orians, professor emeritus at the Universityof Washington; Richard Forman, a professor in theDepartment of Landscape Architecture at theHarvard Graduate School of Design; and VivianLoftness, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child inthe Woods: Saving Our Children FromNature-Deficit Disorder.

Photos by Adrienne Swiatocha

that deep connection might be innate. As he traveled all over the world

studying ants, Wilson noticed that againand again his attention turned almostinvoluntarily to certain common featuresin widely different habitats. Wilson sug-gested that since most species evolve tosurvive under very specific conditions – a“right place” – humans might also bedrawn to particular environments, even ifthey could survive in varied locales.

“I’m not suggesting the existence of aninstinct. …We learn most of what weknow, but some things are learned muchmore quickly and easily than others,”Wilson wrote. “The hypothesis of biasedlearning is at least worth examining. …What was the prevailing original habitat inwhich the brain evolved? Where wouldpeople go if given a completely free choice?”

Like so much of his other work,Wilson’s question gave rise to a robust aca-demic dialogue. Some scholars suggestedthat perhaps this tendency to need andnotice nature could have helped hunter-gatherers recover from the stress of a narrowescape or of being lost. This fascination withthe landscape may also have conferredadvantage while hunting. The concept ofbiophilia inspired discussions of ethics,art, culture, politics and religion, and was surveyed in The Biophilia Hypothesis, co-edited with Kellert.

The Savanna, Prospect and RefugeOver time, this intellectual exchange

would resonate particularly in the fields ofdesign and architecture: In Biophilia, Wilsoncited the suggestion of Gordon Orians, nowa professor emeritus at the University ofWashington, that people seemed to preferlandscapes reminiscent of the Africansavanna, where archeological evidencesuggests humanity evolved for at least 2million years. Other investigators foundthat savanna-like parks were preferred bycity dwellers, even long-term residents of adesert city like Tucson. A few studies haveshown that young children are drawn tosavanna-like scenes.

Not long after Wilson’s book came out,

Orians teamed up with Judith Heerwagento survey people around the world. Theyfound that whatever their culture, peopletend to prefer the same savanna-like ele-ments.

People responding to these surveysliked the things you can imagine wantingif you were a hunter-gatherer in a previousage: wide-open landscapes dotted withlarge mammals, flowers and bodies ofwater – all indications of ample food;

changes in elevation; places to defend andto survey the horizon for enemies andprey; and trees with horizontal canopieslike the African acacia – easy to climb in apinch and good for shelter. The researchseemed to support Wilson’s hypothesis thathumans are primed to prefer such settings.

Then, in 1999, Grant Hildebrand, thenan adjunct professor of architectural historyat the University of Washington, publishedOrigins of Architectural Pleasure. Hildebranddrew upon the ideas of geographer JayAppleton, who had suggested that humansseemed to prefer dwellings that gave themboth “prospect,” views over a wide land-scape, and “refuge,” a protected space likea hearth or a cave. Hildebrand added thatpeople seemed to prefer enticement andmystery, such as paths that curve around abend or rooms just out of sight. Hildebrandwas one of the first to suggest that biophilicproperties be extended to the built environ-ment – our homes and offices, our cities.

Restorative DesignThis does not mean that we all need to

return to the woods. There are plenty ofless-than-positive things in nature that ledus to construct buildings in the first place:

predators, severe weather and biting insects,to name just a few. The key, Kellert andothers say, seems to be to avoid biophobicelements – like seats that leave people’sbacks exposed, making them feel vulnera-ble – while at the same time learning toopen ourselves and our buildings back tonature, to restore a threshold between thewild and the civilized.

“We want to convince people that ifwe don’t move in this direction, we won’thave sustainability and we won’t havearchitecture,” Kellert says. “The built andthe natural have been treated as two sepa-rate places, instead of elements that needto be fused in some fashion.”

In 2005, Kellert sought to bring all theelements together in his book Building forLife: Designing and Understanding theHuman-Nature Connection,suggesting that conventionalarchitecture builds a wallbetween us and nature thatmakes not only for mediocredesign but also for a lowerquality of life. Kellert pro-poses that green designshould not just be aboutconserving things; it shouldalso be about rebuilding andrestoring what we’ve lost.

However necessary andcommendable, sustainableand energy-efficient designoften says “Don’t.” Don’tuse too much energy. Don’twaste water. Don’t useunsustainable materials. Incontrast, biophilic designsays “Do.” Do the obviousthings, like allowing largewindows and introducingtrees, flowers and animalsinto the built environment.Do connect to the dynamicsof daylight, weather andseason. Do reflect the localenvironment and history.Do let in outside air. Do use120-degree angles – theendlessly repeating angle of

“People need nature,

even though they may

not know it.”

Stephen Kaplan

Fall 2006 9


a honeycomb, the most common angle atwhich branches arc from a tree trunk –which are more common in nature thanthe 90-degree angles of most buildings. Dooffer a variety of things at a variety of dis-tances – depths of field – for people to lookat. Where appropriate, do move beyondthe literal: pebbled glass can suggest water,undulating wrought iron can suggest vines.

What Makes It Biophilic?So what combination of these measures

makes a building or development biophilic?• The Atwater Dining Hall at Middlebury

College, a green-roofed pavilion in the woods with huge glass walls designed by Stephen Kieran’s (Yale College Class of 1973) Philadelphia-based firm, KieranTimberlake Associates, looks out onto the trees.

• The emergency room waiting area of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., features a calming garden and a waterfall.

• The Commerzbank office tower in Frankfurt, Germany, a 53-story building,has five indoor winter gardens, one every 13 floors.

• The new stadium in Guadalajara will bebuilt in a hill, with a park on its exteriorgrassy slopes.

• When it opens in 2007, the remodeled California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco will feature a glass pavilion open to surrounding Golden Gate Park, topped with an undulating roof simu-lating sand dunes and planted with species native to the Pacific beaches justa mile away.

• The suburban Village Homes in Davis, Calif., features passive solar heating andcommon green space, but remains in car-dependent suburbia.

• The Greenwich Millennium Village, an ambitious, mixed-use urban develop-ment in southeast London, includes nature paths and a restored wetland.

Depending on whom you ask, each ofthese projects might be an excellent exampleof biophilia, or it might not. Part of what

makes biophilic design so slippery is thatit depends on what E.O. Wilson called“the right place” – that is, a sense of whereyou are. That might mean bringing thedesign forms of California canyons intosurrounding neighborhoods, as San Diegoarchitect Mike Stepner, who helped developthat city’s gaslight district, hopes to do. Orit might mean blending an upscale vacationhouse into a coastal Maryland pine forestwith a green roof, pier foundation and ver-tical wood cladding, as KieranTimberlake

Associates did. What works in La Jolla,Calif., might be totally wrong on Taylor’sIsland, Md.

What may also make biophilia hard tograsp is that a design that’s biophilic doesn’tnecessarily mean more light, more animalsor more plants inside. Even a suggestionof nature – a representation in decorationor art – can make a difference, experts say.For instance, the Ronald Reagan WashingtonNational Airport in Washington, D.C.,might not leap to mind as a nature-friendlyplace. Yet Kent Bloomer, a sculptor andartist who attended the Yale symposium,designed a beautiful metal “FoliatedTrellis” that hangs in the ticketing level ofTerminal B. Bloomer’s sculpture remindsharried travelers that nature does surroundus, even in an airport concourse.

The other challenge is that the theorythat underpins biophilia is still beingdeveloped. That puzzle is what drewscholars and designers to Yale’s “BringingBuildings to Life” conference in May.“Biophilia doesn’t have a two-sentence elevator speech yet,” explains Heerwagen.“What biophilia needs is a business plan

that says, ’This is what it is. This is why it’simportant. This is how to do it.’ We’re hop-ing that our new book will help to do that.”

A Biophilia Movement?The book, inspired by the symposium,

may also provide a manifesto that couldcreate momentum for a broader biophiliamovement. Today, buildings or projectsthat might be called biophilic are going upall over the place: Noisette, a 3,000-acreredevelopment in Charleston, S.C., seeksto reconnect the community by borderingbusiness, residential and arts districtsalong a three-quarter-mile CooperRiverfront Park and vistas of restored 200-acre Noisette Creek marshland. PrairieCrossing, a suburban development north-west of Chicago, set aside 60 percent of its677 acres for farm fields, native prairiesand wetlands. Biotech leader Genzyme’sheadquarters in Cambridge, Mass., so suc-cessfully integrated nature – using atriums,skylights and gardens – into its offices thatthe company plans to build a more nature-centered research lab complex. TheAudubon Society in 2003 broadened a100-year-old tradition of saving remotewild areas by beginning a campaign to savepatches of wildness in urban areas. Yet thedevelopers and organizers of these en-deavors may not use the words biophilia andbiophilic to describe what they are doing.

Even though LEED has incorporatedpoints for a few biophilic elements and isconsidering more, the concept is probablynew to most readers of EnvironmentalBuilding News, says Alex Wilson, editor ofthat publication and a former board memberof the U.S. Green Building Council, whichadministers LEED certification. Wilsonwrote an introductory article about bio-philia last summer in EnvironmentalBuilding News.

Tim Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professorof Sustainable Communities at theUniversity of Virginia, says he often endsup pushing the idea. “I attended the [2006]World Urban Forum, a United Nationsmeeting. The theme was sustainable cities,

“Biophilia doesn’t have

a two-sentence elevator

speech yet.”

Judith Heerwagen

and I didn’t hear biophilia mentionedonce,” Beatley says. “So I bring it up a lot.”

“I always use the word biophilia whenI lecture,” says Bob Fox, principal ofCook+Fox Architects in Manhattan. “But Ialways have to define it.”

“I’m not sure the word biophilia is asfamiliar as the idea behind the word,” saysLance Hosey, a 1990 graduate of the YaleSchool of Architecture and a senior designerand project manager with WilliamMcDonough+Partners, the pioneeringgreen architecture firm in Charlottesville,Va. “If you look at the idea of connectingthe indoor environment to the outdoors,that’s becoming familiar.”

A Healthy Building, A Healthy BodySo far, hospitals and other health care

institutions have perhaps taken biophilicdesign the furthest. In the last two or threedecades, health researchers have producedthe most quantitative data to support thenotion that more-natural settings benefithuman well-being.

In an oft-quoted 1984 study, RogerUlrich, a behavioral scientist and professorin the departments of architecture andlandscape architecture at Texas A&MUniversity, studied surgery patients wholooked out on a brick wall and those whohad a view of trees outside. The patientswith the better sight lines got well morequickly, needed fewer painkillers and hadfewer complications.

Ulrich’s study inspired many others.Surveys and case studies around the worldhave found that clinics, hospitals, nursinghomes and even prisons that incorporateelements of nature show higher rehabilita-tion rates, according to Howie Frumkin,director of the National Center forEnvironmental Health at the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention in Atlanta,who compiled the data for a 2001 paper inthe American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“Maybe we don’t know everythingabout the benefits of human-nature con-tact,” Frumkin said at the F&ES-sponsoredconference in May. “But we do know a lot,

and there’s a pressing need to implementwhat we do know.”

Most hospitals remain sublimely un-biophilic. Yet some are heeding Frumkin’scall. At Johns Hopkins University, naturescenes are projected on the ceiling of thecancer radiation therapy room. At Prince ofWales Hospital in Hong Kong, colonoscopypatients can use virtual reality goggles toview nature scenes. Some have found theeffect so calming that they fall asleep with-out drugs during the colonoscopy proce-dure, which usually requires sedation. AtBeth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan,patients surrounded by a privacy curtainprinted with a nature scene needed lessanxiety medicine while waiting for proce-dures like angiograms or angioplasty.Science-based standards for selecting

“Foliated Trellis,” a sculpture by KentBloomer, in the waiting room atWashington National Airport. Renderingsof nature in buildings often appear in disguised, or metaphorical, form.


hospital art – nature scenes seem to bemore calming than jarring abstract works– have been adopted by major institutionssuch as the M.D. Anderson Cancer Centerin Houston, Northwestern MemorialHospital in Chicago and Duke UniversityMedical Center. Hospitals around the worldhave begun to install gardens, guided bybooks such as Healing Gardens: TherapeuticBenefits and Design Recommendations co-edited by Clare Cooper Marcus, professoremerita of architecture and landscapearchitecture at the University of Californiaat Berkeley. Today in southwest Sweden,doctors even write “nature prescriptions”for patients, directing them to spend several mornings a week at the AlnarpRehabilitation Garden near Lund.

Books like Healing Gardens and WithPeople in Mind: Design and Management ofEveryday Nature, by Rachel and StephenKaplan and Robert Ryan, inspired LegacyHealth System, a network of six hospitalsin the Portland/Vancouver metropolitanarea, to weave nature and gardens intomedical settings usually known for theirsterility. Intensive-care patients at Legacycan look out of floor-to-ceiling windowsonto a garden. Burn patients, usually con-fined inside due to fears of infection orsunburn, can sit under a shady pergola orpick blueberries in a 10,000-square-footoasis at the Oregon Burn Center. Patientsstruggling through physical therapy don’thave to lift weights in a basement gym;

they do so in a garden designed for thatpurpose.

“The Legacy gardens are amazing; theyset an international benchmark,” saysUlrich, who has done some consulting forLegacy.

In the middle of downtown Portland,the hospital group has filled 38,000 squarefeet with gardens in its pediatric hospital,its neonatal intensive-care unit, cancer unitand acute-care facilities. Fund-raising hasbegun for gardens to be installed in pedi-atric intensive care, pediatric and adultpsychiatric services and cancer outpatientservices. A rehabilitation rose garden hasbeen designed and is just waiting for admin-istrative approval. Legacy has developeddetailed “Therapeutic Garden Protocols,”and in September hosted a “Gardens inHealthcare Symposium” for the AmericanHorticultural Therapy Association.

“We’ve probably got the most exten-sive garden offerings in the world,” saysTeresia Hazen, the horticultural coordinatorfor all of Legacy’s hospitals. “It all startedwith a small garden at our nursing homeabout 11 years ago. When we moved thenursing home to Good Samaritan Hospitalin 1996, there was just a dried-up lawn inthe courtyard. We decided to make thatlawn into a terrific garden. Now ouradministrators talk about the idea of thewhole campus being a healing garden.”

“These are all retrofits, and it’s almostunending the way that people find uses for

these spaces,” Hazen says of the gardens.“We know that people have a positiveresponse to nature. It’s an inexpensive wayfor people to feel comfort. Our gardenscost between $150,000 and $250,000 each.In a $150 million hospital, that’s still cheap.”

Nature 9 to 5Luckily, most of us go to hospitals only

rarely. So what about the places where wedo spend a good portion of our wakinghours, like the office? Dilbert cartoonswouldn’t have become a cultural touch-stone if our workspaces were biophilic.Partially, this is because chief financial offi-cers demand empirical evidence showingthe benefits of biophilic investmentsbefore they’ll spring for line items like bigwindows and indoor gardens. It’s alsobecause many management schools stillteach what is known as the “Hawthorneeffect.” In the 1920s, Harvard BusinessSchool professor Elton Mayo and his teamstudied factory workers at the WesternElectric Company in Cicero, Ill. Whenbosses raised the lighting on the work floor,productivity went up. When they loweredthe lighting, productivity still went up.Even though later studies disputed, somesay disproved, the Hawthorne effect, theidea evolved that it doesn’t matter muchwhat you do for employees, as long asthey know that you’re doing something,that you’re paying attention.

“I get calls all the time from corpora-tions. They ask, ‘Can you prove that healthybuildings increase productivity?’” saysVivian Loftness, a professor at CarnegieMellon University and a crusader for bio-philic design. “Most decision-makers don’tbelieve in that equation.”

Ever so slowly, studies to support bio-philic office design have begun to accrue.In one much-cited 1993 study, Universityof Michigan professor Rachel Kaplanfound that office workers with a view out-side their window enjoyed their job moreand reported better health and greater lifesatisfaction than those who had no view.In 1994, Joe Romm and Bill Browning,

Fall 2006 13

then of the Rocky Mountain Institute,published a paper detailing eight anecdotalexamples that seemed to suggest that gainsin worker productivity far exceeded thevalue of energy or water savings in greenbuildings. Then the California EnergyCommission in 1999 funded studies todetermine whether day lighting – lettingmore natural light into buildings – reallyhelped people. With much larger data sets,those studies concluded that natural lightleads to increased business sales, as muchas 40 percent higher. Those data led tofunding for a detailed study of HermanMiller’s GreenHouse, which had beencompleted a few years earlier. Employees atthe furniture designer seemed to be moreproductive and enjoy better health in theirbiophilic workplace.

And while the idea of doing spread-sheets on nature is far from widespread,the anecdotal evidence that it might be agood idea continues to come in: TheAnalytica Chemical Lab/Hanford NuclearPlant struggled with employee turnover.When the lab got rid of its jarring geometri-cal decorating and retrofitted with naturalelements, people stopped quitting, saysHeerwagen, who consulted on the project.At the Sacramento, Calif., municipal utilitydistrict, a study found that workers in thecall center were more productive than theyhad been in the old facility. Workers withthe best possible view handled calls 6 per-cent to 12 percent faster than those whohad no view. First Marblehead Corp., abank, moved its call center to a space inMedford, Mass., with panoramic views ofthe Boston skyline. Employees set up shopin work stations laid out in a honeycombpattern by Herman Miller. Absenteeismdropped from 31 percent at the old callcenter to 11 percent at the new.

Theorists have spun out many ideas tochange our 9-to-5 world. Storm drainsmight be turned back into burbling creeks,as Seattle has done with Growing VineStreet, on the outskirts of downtown. Wemight construct “green walls.” (Think sky-scrapers faced in plants, rather than glass,brick or steel.) But much-less-radical things

can make a huge difference, biophilicdesigners say.

“You can look at a building, it’s allsteel, and there seems nothing biophilicabout it,” says Heerwagen, describing therenovation of the Kluczynski FederalBuilding in Chicago. “The thing they diddo is day lighting and views. It’s takingadvantage of what you have in a biophilicway. I think daylight and views are at thetop of the list.”

If they know the word biophilia, fewNew Yorkers will think of it as they rush

east from Times Square on 42nd Street inmidtown Manhattan. It won’t leap to mindas they look up at the corner of 42nd andAvenue of the Americas, watching I-beamsrising to form the new Bank of Americatower. As they continue on across Avenueof the Americas, toward Bryant Park andthe central branch of the New York PublicLibrary, most harried office workers wouldbe surprised that this new skyscraperincorporates biophilic design.

Sure, the tower incorporates endlesssystems that save energy, water and ma-terials – a green roof covered in plants, acanted exterior designed with prevailingwinds in mind so that less steel could beused in constructing upper floors, partiallyrecycled concrete in the foundation, acogenerating plant for electricity that drawson seeping ground water, and toilets thatuse recycled storm runoff. Most predictthat these kinds of approaches will earn theproject the highest LEED rating, platinum.

But what really makes the new towergroundbreaking is that it was designedwith nature and people, we teemingDilberts of the world, in mind.

“Biophilia was a part of the conversa-tion,” says Fox, a partner in Cook+FoxArchitects. “Every desk will have a ther-mostat; no one will complain that they’retoo hot or too cold. There are low, glasspartitions. When someone stands up, theywill see what’s going on. Fresh air willflow through the building, filtered ofozone and VOCs (volatile organic com-pounds). Eight-foot windows are typical inNew York; this building will have nine-and-a-half-foot windows. We’re convinced thatall this will lead to a lot better productivity,measured by lower absenteeism, fewersick days and things like that.”

“Six stories up, above the trading floors,will be a green roof,” says Browning, ofBrowning + Bannon LLC, in Washington,D.C., who promoted biophilia when hewas at the Rocky Mountain Institute.“Between that and the views of BryantPark, the majority of people in the build-ing will have a view out to nature in oneof the biggest buildings that will ever bebuilt in Manhattan! That’s huge.”

No matter how beneficial, will the ideaof more nature-centered hospitals andoffices really ignite the popular imagina-tion? Probably not, says Richard Louv, theauthor of Last Child in the Woods: SavingOur Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder.

“I don’t think many state legislatorswill pass laws to encourage biophilicdesign. They might, if you talked aboutchildren’s health,” says Louv, who’s also a columnist for the San Diego UnionTribune and is collaborating on a website,www.cnaturenet.org, to centralize informa-tion about child-nature initiatives. “Themore primal way to sell the idea of bio-philia is to talk about children and theirhealth and the next generation.”

Children in classrooms with more daylight may score as much as 26 percentbetter on end-of-year tests, according to1999 and 2001 studies by the HeschongMahone Group in California, though a 2003

“The more primal way to

sell the idea of biophilia

is to talk about children

and their health and the

next generation.”

Richard Louv


study showed that nature views may bemore important than daylight in improvingtest scores. Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed animproved ability to focus after spendingtime outside, according to a 2004 paper byFrances Kuo and Andrea Faber Taylor in

the American Journal of Public Health.Like much biophilia research, these

results are largely anecdotal, but they stillinspired planners at the University ofTexas Health Science Center at theHouston School of Nursing.

“Nurses are all about promoting orrestoring health. So we believe we shouldteach and do research in a healthy building,”says Patricia Starck, dean of the nursingschool.

It’s difficult to remain open to naturein a place like Houston, a city in hurricanecountry, where it rains 105 days a year andtriple-digit temperatures and crushinghumidity in summer are the norm. Toshield the building from the oppressiveheat, the new nursing school building hasa green roof. To guard against hurricaneflood surges, there’s no basement. On thebuilding’s sunny west side, specially glazedwindows let in some light frequencies whilefiltering out others. Vertical, gauze-likeshade sails further damp down the sun’spower. Inside, three atria bring daylightdeep into the building, and each floor fea-tures gathering places where students andfaculty can enjoy prospects through theeast façade, which is almost completelyglass. Through that clear wall, people cansee the oak and pecan trees in Grant Fay

Park from almost anywhere in the build-ing. People rush to lectures and labs pastmyriad sustainable materials: cypress har-vested from the bottom of the Mississippi,where it sunk during log runs as long as acentury ago, and structural steel andbricks reclaimed from a 19th-century SanAntonio warehouse.

“Everything is organized to celebratenature and to maximize resource conser-vation,” explains Bob Berkebile, principalof BNIM Architects of Kansas City, the firmthat designed the building. “But the nursesand students, what they talk about is, ‘thisis the greatest place I’ve ever been in.’ Theyreact to the daylight and organization ofspace, the access to the park, and that’s asit should be.”

Fiona Lack, 29, is beginning her secondyear in the nursing program and says thenursing school building has more lightand air than any other place she’s studied.“Not all the rooms have windows, but thelight is still better. It’s more conducive tostaying awake and listening to lectures,”says Lack, who commutes to school fromBaytown, Texas. “You have the outdoorscoming in, and the indoors kind of mixesin. There’s lots of light. I love the way theyincorporate wood and glass. The buildingis just beautiful.”

Where to Go From Here?A building here and a development

there won’t bridge the disconnect betweenhumanity and nature, nor will it achieve thepotential that the proponents of biophilicdesign envision. But it’s a start, saysJonathan Rose, Yale College Class of 1974,scion of New York’s prominent real estatefamily and a specialist in sustainabledevelopment. Rose, whose company hasprojects worth several billion dollars in theworks, says his efforts are becomingincreasingly biophilic, like Highlands’Garden Village in Denver, a project mod-eled on an English garden village, whereevery home looks out onto green space ofsome kind. “What I see today is the emer-gence of a field,” Rose says. “I think it’semerging because it strikes at a core of

human need and human desire.”For instance, Rose points out that only

26 percent of people who buy homes ongolf courses actually play golf; most justwant to live near open green space. At the“Bringing Buildings to Life” conference,presenters mentioned again and again thatat least 30 percent of most cities’ area lieswithin the public domain – parks, side-walks, highway landscaping and so on. Soperhaps our public lands are a good placeto start, says Berkebile, the UT NursingSchool building architect. Kuo got a $10million grant to plant trees in Chicago as aresult of her research on the benefits ofgreen environments on public housing res-idents and kids with attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder.

Terrain.org, an online “journal of thebuilt & natural environments,” does“UnSprawl” case studies of developmentslike Coffee Creek in Indiana and Civanoin Tucson. “None of them are exactly bio-philic yet,” admits the journal’s editor,Simmons Buntin.

Everyone who researches biophilicdesign, or promotes it, clamors for moremoney for more research. Numbers are thecoin of the realm, as any grant committeeor chief financial officer considering a bio-philic design proposal will explain. “There’sa huge need for additional research,” saysWilson, of Environmental Building News.“We need to make the case that this stuffis good to do.”

“Right now, there’s no funding stream,”says Loftness. “The time is now. The wayto secure more funding is through theNational Science Foundation and theNational Institutes of Health, by linkingthe physical environment with the healthand productivity of the citizenry.”

Kellert believes that the momentumfostered by the conference will continue toincrease. “We have bits and pieces of thephenomenon that are important and com-pelling, but we need studies that systemat-ically demonstrate that this is not just anaesthetic. It’s a necessity,” he explains. “Wedesigned ourselves into this situation. Wecan design ourselves out of it.”

“We designed ourselves

into this situation.

We can design

ourselves out of it.”

Stephen Kellert

Fall 2006 15

Sidwell Friends School Renovation Integrates Learning and Nature

hen middle school students

returned this fall to Sidwell

Friends School in Washington,

D.C., they began classes in a

new building that tries to demonstrate how

learning and nature might be reintegrated.

Gone is a boxy brick building with an ugly

blue mansard roof, windowless halls and the

patched and repatched asphalt parking lot.

In its stead is an expanded U-shaped build-

ing filled with light, faced with cladding

made of recycled wine casks and centered

around a constructed wetland that both

recycles the building’s wastewater and serves

as a laboratory for science classes.

Inspired by the new facility’s design, a

group of students has launched an environ-

mental club, and the school’s food service

has started to buy more organic and locally

grown produce and looks forward to using

herbs grown on the new building’s green

roof. The school has redoubled its recycling

efforts. Instructors have woven elements of

ecology and sustainability into the curriculum,

not just in science and math classes, but

also in arts and literature offerings. Students

and teachers are also participating in an

ambitious Yale study that seeks to determine

what effect the new middle school will have

on their health and mental acuity.

“It’s been fascinating to watch how this

building has been transformative for the

entire institution,” says Steve Kieran, Yale

College Class of 1973, a partner in

Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake

Associates, which designed the new middle

school. “This is a case where decisions about

a building have fired up a whole faculty.”

Sidwell Friends didn’t set out to become

a poster child for biophilia, a concept that

asserts that nature is not an amenity, but a

basic human need. The elite, PreK-12 school

– with more than 1,000 students, the largest

Quaker school in the country – has been

known more for its academic rigor and liberal,

well-connected alums like Chelsea Clinton and

Al Gore III than for its “green” credentials.

The idea for the new building germinated, as

these things often do, from the passion of

one trustee inspired by a documentary about

William McDonough, a pioneer of environ-

mental architecture.

“This trustee met resistance initially,”

remembers Michael Saxenian, Sidwell’s assis-

tant head of school and chief financial officer.

“I knew a lot about green design. Earlier in

my career, I worked for Conservation

International and in international develop-

ment. But I was not out front with this issue.

As CFO, I was supposed to be the fiscally

conservative guy, and Quaker institutions are

notoriously tightfisted when it comes to

spending on facilities.”

After a year of discussions, though, the

school administration decided that a green

renovation fit the school’s values of steward-

ship and simplicity. The board decided that,

even if it cost more, the project should try

to achieve the highest rating – platinum –

By Heather Millar

W

The renovated Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., is faced with cladding madeof recycled wine casks and centered around a constructed wetland that both recyclesthe building’s wastewater and serves as a laboratory for science classes.

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from LEED (Leadership in Energy and

Environmental Design), the most widely used

American sustainable-design standard.

Most green school projects focus on

energy efficiency and sustainability. Sidwell’s

new middle school also incorporated these

kinds of measures: siting, to take advantage

of passive solar heat; photovoltaic panels;

extremely high-efficiency pulse boilers;

linoleum made from 10 different natural

materials; bamboo casework and so on.

But Sidwell’s middle school took these

low-impact strategies a step further, in an

attempt to achieve a design that is restora-

tive. Large windows – open on the north,

screened on the south – bring diffuse sunlight

into the classroom. Solar chimneys feature

glazing that heats the air within, creating a

convection current that draws cooler air in

through north-facing open windows, resulting

in passive, natural ventilation. Rather than

being windowless tunnels, new exterior

hallways look out onto a series of terraced

spillways, a constructed wetland planted

with native species like broad-leaved cattail

and softstem bulrush and a “biology pond”

that echo the nearby Rock Creek watershed

flowing into the Potomac. A bas-relief of

native species – dragonflies and grasses –

decorates a concrete bridge abutment bor-

dering the pathway beyond the wetland.

“We reference academic quadrangles and

courtyards, but make this one a working

natural environment. It’s a 21st-century way

to look at nature,” explains Kieran, the

architect. “This is the most successful and

generative part of the whole project. It’s the

organizational core of the building. All day

long, everybody will walk through this

ecosystem. You cannot escape nature.”

This feels like a good thing, especially in

an era where few children play outside every

day, compared to their parents’ generation.

But will it make a measurable difference to

the teachers and students who spend their

days in the new middle school?

Studies seeking to quantify the benefits

of biophilic elements in schools have often

been dismissed as being too anecdotal.

Heschong Mahone Group of California, the

firm that has done some of the largest studies

tracking the benefits of daylight and nature

views on students, has been criticized for

having a vested interest in their study

results. They design green buildings.

A Yale team led by Stephen Kellert

Ph.D. ’71, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social

Ecology, and environmental psychologist

Judith Heerwagen will seek to remedy those

academic quibbles with an ambitious longi-

tudinal study of the Sidwell Friends School

community. The team hopes to learn how

the new design affects health, emotional

well-being, intellectual performance, motiva-

tion and social interaction.

In February and March 2006, before the

move out of the old building, the research

team gathered statistics on academic grades

and asked students and faculty to fill out

surveys. The seventh graders did a “mapping

exercise,” drawing their favorite places in

the school.

“We will probably test them again at the

same time in 2007. We will also repeat the

drawing exercise,” says Nicole Ardoin, a

Ph.D. candidate in Kellert’s research group.

“We have numbered the students, so we will

not only be able to compare groups, we will

be able to compare Johnny’s responses in

2006 with his responses in 2007. We will

look at data from the surveys, the drawings,

the teachers. Using the best practices in

social science research, this study is trying

to track how a biophilic environment affects

students and teachers over a period of years.”

Says Sidwell CFO Saxenian: “The Yale

study is really important. As a lab for learning,

we’re contributing to primary research. I

don’t think we used the term biophilia

before meeting Steve [Kellert]. It’s just one

more intriguing angle on what green buildings

have to offer. It has become a guide for us.

It is part of our vocabulary now.”

Sidwell students will not only provide

data on regenerative design, they will study

it themselves. “Restorative environmental

design will be part of the school’s curricu-

lum,” says Kellert. “The wetlands will be

used to encourage project-based, experien-

tial learning, especially in the sciences.”

The school is also designing displays to

explain the biophilic and sustainable elements

of the remodeled building. Budget considera-

tions and the integration of an existing

building limited how radical the new design

could be, but the Sidwell administration

hopes that its effort will become a model for

other schools to try to go even further. Even

as contractor crews were working double

shifts to remake the school in time for its

September opening, half a dozen other

schools had already inquired about Sidwell’s

renovated middle school.

“If the news from the Yale study is

good, we hope to encourage others to do

the same thing,” Saxenian says.


“Restorative environmental

design will be part of

the school’s curriculum.”

Stephen Kellert

bookshelfGreen to Gold

Leading companies arediscovering that thinking“green” can generate greatvalue for their brands anddo wonders for the bottomline, according to Green toGold: How Smart CompaniesUse Environmental Strategyto Innovate, Create Value,and Build CompetitiveAdvantage.

Authors Daniel Esty, director of the YaleCenter for Environmental Law and Policy, and AndrewWinston ’03, director of the Corporate EnvironmentalStrategy Project at Yale, use examples of “WaveRiders,”or companies that have employed environmentallyfriendly strategies to their advantage, including 3M, BP,IKEA, Toyota, Ford, McDonald’s and GE.

In the case of Toyota, the authors lay out in detailthat company’s development of the hybrid Prius auto-mobile and its positive effect on the brand. They explainhow 3M made a pact to cut pollution, a decision thatsometimes resulted in short-run costs but has generatedhundreds of millions in profit. And they recount howMcDonald’s successfully changed its packaging to limitenvironmental impact. To purchase a copy of Green toGold, published by Yale University Press, visitwww.yale.edu/yup/books.

Punctuated Equilibrium and the Dynamics of U.S. Environmental Policy

Although many environmental policy issues remaindeadlocked for decades with little movement, sometimesbreakthroughs occur abruptly. Why do deadlocks persist?Why do major policy shifts occur infrequently? Is itpossible to determine when policies are ripe for change?

Punctuated Equilibrium and the Dynamics of U.S.Environmental Policy, edited by Robert Repetto, professorin the practice of economics and sustainable development,presents new empirical evidence that the punctuatedequilibrium theory of policy dynamics fits the facts ofenvironmental policy change and can explain how stable policies can suddenly unravel in discontinuouschange. The book’s contributors apply the theory to a wide range of important environ-mental and resource issues, andassess case histories in water,forestry, fisheries, public lands,energy and climate, some of whichresulted in breakthroughs, othersin stalemate. They also offerinsights into the political condi-tions and tactics that are likely to produce these disparate out-comes. The book is publishedby Yale University Press. To purchase a copy, visitwww.yale.edu/yup/books.

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird For thousands of years, the majestic Ivory-billed Woodpecker reigned over the dark

emerald forests that once carpeted the bottomlands of America’s broad southernrivers, as well as over the red, rugged mountains of eastern Cuba, where it wascalled Carpintero real. In the early 1800s, however, the species was beginning todisappear. A century later, it was presumed extinct. What happened?

In The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, Phillip Hoose ’77 explores the Ivory-bill’s extinction, and probes ourevolving attitudes toward understanding species and protecting habitat. The book is published by Farrar, Straus andGiroux. To purchase a copy, visit www.amazon.com.

Fall 2006 17


book

shelfEnvironmental Services of Agroforestry Systems

Deforestation and the rampant use of fossil fuels are major contributors to increases in atmos-

pheric carbon dioxide and, therefore, global warming. Environmental Services of Agroforestry

Systems addresses these global concerns with a collection of presentations on biodiversity and

climate change from the First World Congress of Agroforestry that took place in Orlando, Fla.,

in 2004. Experts discuss the latest research and data on how agroforestry systems can help

solve environmental problems through carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.

Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems goes beyond regional considerations

to focus on the challenges of today’s most pressing global environmental concerns. The

contributors describe the latest research and concepts in agroforestry systems, reforestation

efforts, soils, vegetation and agriculture and review their economic aspects. Incentives for reforestation

and agroforestry are explored in detail. The book is edited by Florencia Montagnini, professor in the practice

of tropical forestry, and published by Haworth Press. To purchase a copy, visit www.haworthpress.com.

Fall 2006 19

eidi Margrit McAllister ’88 says

it all started with Smokey Bear.

“I can still remember the

rangers handing out Smokey

stickers at the campground where my family

was staying,” said McAllister, who has so

far dedicated 25 years to designing and

promoting childhood environmental-

education programs worldwide.

“I got a thrill when the Smithsonian

Folklife Festival here in Washington fea-

tured the U.S. Forest Service in 2005, and

I could go down to the Mall and see the

guy who started Smokey the Bear. [The

Forest Service started the Smokey Bear fire

prevention campaign in 1944. When a real

bear cub was rescued from a New Mexico

wildfire in 1950, he became the campaign’s

ambassador, living out his days at the

National Zoo in Washington, D.C.]

McAllister mentioned her mascot

inspiration during her acceptance speech

in November, when the Renewable Natural

Resources Foundation (RNRF) honored

her with a Sustained Achievement Award

for her career of teaching conservation and

sustainable resource management to

young people in developing countries.

“We were impressed with her interna-

tional look at what can be done to solve

resource problems,” said Ryan Colker,

director of programs for the RNRF, an

organization of more than a dozen natural

resource groups such as the American

Fisheries Society and the Society for Range

Management. “The biggest thing is to pro-

vide a foundation for future leaders, for

future generations.”

Growing up with parents who were

both academic scientists in Evergreen,

Colo., McAllister spent as much time as

she could outside. Just out of high school,

she heard about a job at an environmental-

education summer camp, which was called

the “Owl’s Roost,” part of the Jefferson

County Schools summer curriculum. “The

first paycheck I earned was from environ-

mental education,” McAllister said. “I

knew right away that was what I wanted

to do. The sciences, the environment,

teaching – it would be the perfect career.”

In the late 1970s, Hampshire College

in Amherst, Mass., didn’t offer a nature

studies degree, so McAllister designed her

own program called “environmental edu-

cation and outdoor leadership” and gradu-

ated in 1982 with a bachelor of arts degree

in it. (At Hampshire, undergraduates are

able to design their own degree program

with input from faculty.) After graduation,

she joined the Peace Corps, which sent

her to Paraguay, a nation then struggling

with developing-world woes like defor-

estation, overpopulation and unsustain-

able hunting practices.

McAllister stayed for four years in

Paraguay, creating an environmental-

education program for elementary schools,

incorporating exercises such as nature

scavenger hunts and games to illustrate

the web of life. During her last two years

By Heather Millar

H

“The first paycheck

I earned was from

environmental education.

I knew right away that

was what I wanted to do.”

Heidi Margrit McAllister ’88M

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Renewable Natural Resources Foundation Honors Educator

there, she trained incoming Peace Corps

volunteers to be educators and taught

university courses. She also co-authored

the two-volume Paraguayan National

Elementary Environmental Education

Curriculum, based on the country’s

natural history.

“I learned that environmental education

in the developing world is really different,”

said McAllister. “In the United States, you

start by teaching about different species

and what each one does. In the developing

world, kids can identify everything with

their eyes closed. So you start by talking

about ecological concepts, how things are

related, the link between deforestation

and erosion, for example, or between agri-

cultural chemicals and health problems.”

McAllister returned to the United

States to get her master’s degree at F&ES,

where she also met her husband, Carlos

Rodriguez-Franco, D.F. ’88. The couple

went to live in Carlos’ home country of

Mexico.

McAllister had done a lot of work on

the Monarch butterfly while at Yale, and she

built on this foundation during her years in

Mexico, writing books about the butterfly,

including a teaching booklet for children.

“Deforestation was the big issue,” said

McAllister. “As the forests get thinned, the

air there gets colder. The butterflies don’t

eat during the winter. If it gets colder and

colder, they die.”

During more than a decade in Mexico,

McAllister worked with the National

Heritage Institute, a San Francisco-based

nonprofit working to combat desertification.

She helped Mexico’s department of agri-

culture design education and recreation

activities for an experimental station. She

developed teacher training for the secretariat

of education, as well as science education

and environmental-education curricula. Just

before she left Mexico, the secretariat

asked her to write a textbook on natural

resources. More than 35,000 Mexican high

school students use the book each year.

“Mexico is a lot more developed than

Paraguay, but they had the same issues

you find everywhere. You can’t tell some-

one not to use agricultural chemicals if

that is their livelihood,” said McAllister.

“In Mexico, you’re working with producers,

while in the United States you’re working

with consumers. In Mexico, the producers

don’t have as many options. You have to

help them find alternatives.”

McAllister returned to the United

States in 1999 to oversee the Peace Corps’

environmental-education efforts in Europe,

the Mediterranean and Asia. This work

took her around the world, overseeing

projects such as designing a program so

that Romanian schoolchildren could begin

to understand the effects of things like

deforestation and erosion, helping kids in

places like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

understand why water conservation is

important, and trying to communicate to

children in rapidly industrializing China

why environmental controls may benefit

society. McAllister also oversaw staff

training, and wrote a Peace Corps environ-

mental-education manual that is used

worldwide.

“The more I traveled, the more I real-

ized that the issues are all the same,” she

said. “It could be water in central Asia

or forests in Eastern Europe – it’s too

many people using too few resources.

Environmental education is about teaching

people to plan for the future, and to do

that you have to use a two-pronged

approach: First, you have to help people

look at the consequences of their actions.

Then, you have to offer alternatives. If you

say, ‘Don’t dump sludge in the river,’ noth-

ing will happen if everyone in that town

works in that factory. You have to come up

with a different way for them to do what

they’re doing, like a treatment plant to

process the sludge.

“That’s where Peace Corps volunteers

can really make a difference. They’re there

on the ground. They can see the options.”

McAllister left the Peace Corps in 2004

to spend time with her newborn son,

Benjamin, now a toddler. As she contem-

plates the next step in her career, she’s

hopeful.

“In 1978, when I started doing this, I

was the lunatic fringe,” she said. “Nobody

knew anything then. Now, everybody has

the K-12 program. Everybody has the

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environ-

mental subjects. Now everybody does the

environment. Worldwide, it is now an

issue. Is it enough? Will we change fast

enough? I don’t know. But I have seen

enormous change during my career.”


“The more I traveled,

the more I realized that the

issues are all the same –

too many people using too

few resources.”

SocialEcologyProf WinsResearchAward Stephen Kellert,Ph.D. ’71, Tweedy

Ordway Professor ofSocial Ecology at

F&ES, has won the OutstandingContributions to Research Awardfrom the North American Associationfor Environmental Education.

Kellert received the award at theassociation’s annual conference inOctober in St. Paul, Minn. Theaward is given to an individual whohas made outstanding theoreticaland scientific contributions.

“Professor Kellert is a prolificwriter, a superb teacher and a leaderin his field,” said Dean Gus Speth.

Much of Kellert’s work focuseson understanding the connectionbetween human and natural systems,with a particular interest in the valueand conservation of nature and indesigning ways to harmonize the natu-ral and human built environments.

Kellert has authored more than100 publications, including severalbooks that explore people’s relation-ship to nature. In 1993, he co-editedThe Biophilia Hypothesis with EdwardO. Wilson, an entomologist atHarvard. The book brought together20 scientists from various disciplinesto refine and examine biophilia,which asserts that humans possess adeep and biologically based urge toconnect with the natural world.

He went on to publish TheValue of Life: Biological Diversity andHuman Society (1996); Kinship toMastery: Biophilia in Human Evolutionand Development (1997); The Goodin Nature and Humanity: ConnectingScience, Religion, and Spiritualitywith the Natural World (2002);Children and Nature: Psychological,Sociocultural, and Evolutionary

Investigations (2002); and Buildingfor Life: Designing and Understandingthe Human-Nature Connection (2005).

Kellert’s other recent awardsinclude the National ConservationAchievement Award from theNational Wildlife Federation andthe Distinguished IndividualAchievement Award from theSociety for Conservation Biology.He is one of 300 individuals listedin “American EnvironmentalLeaders: From Colonial Times tothe Present.” He also has served oncommittees of the National Academyof Sciences, and is a member of theIUCN Species Survival Commission.

Program to TrainCorporate Directors onRisks, Opportunitiesof Climate Change

Yale University, along with twoother leading U.S. organizations, hasannounced a unique collaborativeeffort to educate hundreds of inde-pendent corporate board membersabout the potential liabilities andstrategic business opportunities thatglobal climate change can create forcompanies.

“Climate change is no longer thepurview of scientists only,” said DeanGus Speth. “The widespread ramifi-cations of unchecked climate changerequire that more leaders in our soci-ety understand its implications.” Theannouncement was made at a plenarysession of the 2006 annual meetingof the Clinton Global Initiativehosted in New York in Septemberby former President Bill Clinton.

The collaboration draws togetherinstitutions with complementaryexpertise in the area of climatechange: Marsh, the world’s leadingrisk and insurance services firm;Yale University, one of the nation’sleading academic institutions; andCeres, the nation’s largest coalitionof investors and environmental

groups working with companies onenvironmental and social issues.

“Corporate directors are goingto need a strategic and analyticalunderpinning to navigate the trans-formations that climate change willrequire in their businesses in thecoming years,” said Speth. “Thesechanges offer great economicopportunity to those directors whoact in a timely way. As a result of itscombined academic, nongovernmen-tal and corporate leadership, our newinitiative will be well-positioned todeliver needed training and supportto participating corporations.”

Brian Storms, chair and chiefexecutive officer of Marsh, said,“Increasingly, corporate leaders areasking us to help them better under-stand their total spectrum of risk, andhow it affects their overall businessstrategies. Aligning with Yale andCeres to educate top corporate leadersabout one of the most critical busi-ness risks of our time demonstratesour strong commitment to address-ing this important issue.”

Initial training of more than 200independent U.S. board membersof Fortune 1000 companies willbegin this winter through a newly

Fall 2006 21

at theschool

Left to right: Brian Storms, chairand chief executive officer ofMarsh; former President BillClinton; Ceres President MindyLubber; and F&ES Dean Gus Speth.

Stephen Kellert

created curriculum – the SustainableGovernance Forum. The trainingsessions will be offered across thecountry through September 2008.Marsh, Yale and Ceres are combiningtheir intellectual capital and researchto develop the training program, anda $250,000 contribution by Marshwill be used to produce the materials.Courses and materials are beingdesigned to provide insights into thepractical financial, legal, business andinvestment implications of climatechange for corporations. An earlierseed grant of $50,000 from theBetsy and Jesse Fink Foundationhelped to launch the new initiative.

Many companies focus onavoiding the liabilities related to climate change. However, Stormsbelieves that there are as manyopportunities as risks associatedwith climate change. “Those compa-nies that understand true enterpriserisk will be the ones to seize uponthe growth prospects that threatslike climate change create,” he said.“As more companies have begun tounderstand this and seek advice,we’re seeing increased business.”

Ceres President Mindy Lubber,who also directs the $3 trillionInvestor Network on Climate Risk,said, “This training program willprepare corporate directors for whatis perhaps the biggest challengecompanies will face in the 21st cen-tury. Major investors are increasinglydemanding that companies sharpentheir focus on the impacts of climatechange, whether from new regula-tions, physical changes or growingglobal demand for low-carbon tech-nologies. This program will helpensure that independent directorsask the tough, smart questions ofthe companies they oversee.”

The concept for the new collabo-ration took shape at a high-levelconference on climate change hostedlate in 2005 by F&ES, which has

long been committed to advancingrigorous science on climate changeand has recently undertaken newinitiatives to disseminate this scienceto major decision-makers, includingthe corporate directors addressed bythis new collaboration.

The full program is described ina recently published book Americansand Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action(http://environment.yale.edu/climate/).

Tropical Resources Prof Wins MacArthur“Genius” Grant

Lisa Curran, professor of tropicalresources and director of the TropicalResources Institute at F&ES, hasbeen awarded a five-year John D.and Catherine T. MacArthurFoundation Fellowship. She willreceive $500,000 in unconditionalsupport over the next five years.

Like all MacArthur Fellows, theaward came as a total surprise toCurran. “It’s like winning the lotteryafter 20 years of Survivor in Borneo.Actually, this has been a tremendousteam effort. I’ve worked with someof my Indonesian colleagues for 18years. I’m part of all the people I’vemet: the villagers, the loggers, thescientists and the students – fromboth the U.S. and Indonesia.”

In announcing the award, theMacArthur Foundation said,“Through diplomatic skill, culturalsensitivity, and rigorous scientificacumen, Lisa Curran synthe-sizes concepts from the naturaland social sciences to forgenew, practical solutions forsustainable natural resourceextraction and development.By developing consensus andfostering communicationbetween diverse stakeholders,she is substantially increasing

protection efforts in endangeredregions.”

Curran has focused her researchon the forests of Borneo and theecology of its most economicallyimportant family of tropical timber,Philippine mahogany. She has workedto devise new strategies to addressdeforestation and its devastatingenvironmental consequences. Curranand her research team study thestructure and dynamics of tropicalforests using satellite remote sensing,field ecology and ground-based sur-veys and analysis to learn how theenvironment is altered by humanactivities and to improve the manage-ment of these forests by integratingscientific knowledge with sociologi-cal, political and economic realities.She has been instrumental in theestablishment of national parks inIndonesia, and has worked to counterillegal logging and the corruptionthat allows it to take place.

“I’ve had an unusual career tra-jectory,” Curran says. “I tend to be aproblem solver, which requires meto think outside the box. I’ve had touse creative ways to acquire theinformation I’ve needed to addressthe issues in this emerging new field,sustainability science. I understandthe needs of the activist seekingchange, but fundamentally I am ascientist seeking knowledge. Myresearch is collaborative and inter-disciplinary. I provide sound scienceso Indonesians can address thesecomplicated issues. I provide trainingand information for them.”

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After graduating from HarvardUniversity with an A.B. in anthro-pology in 1984, Curran went toIndonesian Borneo. She remainedthere for most of the next eightyears, living in logging camps andseeing firsthand how the tropicalforests were being used and abused.Borneo, the third-largest island inthe world, is divided into fourpolitical regions: Kalimantanbelongs to Indonesia, while theremaining regions are part ofMalaysia and Brunei.

Curran received her Ph.D. fromPrinceton in 1994, after which shewas a postdoctoral fellow atHarvard and an assistant professor atthe University of Michigan. Shejoined the Yale faculty as an associateprofessor in 2001 and was promotedto professor with tenure in 2006.

Until recently, Curran has spentthree to six months of the year inthe field, hiking for miles throughpeat marshes and leech-infestedswamps, drinking from springs andcamping under a tarp in order tostudy the tropical ecosystem andthe impact of illegal logging andagrobusiness. There were times herteam was threatened and, she says,“I had a price on my head. It’s acowboy culture out there.” For acouple of years, the situation was sodangerous in Indonesia that sheshifted her studies to the Amazonrainforest. After Indonesia got itsfirst democratically elected presidentin October 2004, she was able toresume work in the Kalimantanforest. She still travels to the fieldcamp, training teams that stay onsite year-round, but now she goesprimarily during academic breaks.

The Tropical Resources Institute(TRI), which Curran heads, is aninterdisciplinary, non-degree-granting program within F&ES. TRIsupports student research projectsaimed at practical solutions to con-servation and management ofresources in the tropics.

Environmental HealthProfessor ReceivesONES Award

An F&ES professor is one ofeight scientists to receive anOutstanding New EnvironmentalScientist (ONES) award from theNational Institutes of Health.

Michelle Bell, assistant professorof environmental health at F&ES,will receive $500,000 to study therelationship between outdoor con-centrations of ozone, a reactiveform of oxygen that is a primarycomponent of urban smog, and theincidence of respiratory diseaseand death in exposed populations.

Bell is one of two Yale Universityprofessors to receive a ONES award.Sven-Eric Jordt, assistant professorof pharmacology in the School ofMedicine, will study the way inwhich certain airborne pollutantsinteract with sensory nerve cells inorder to produce eye, nose andthroat irritation.

The National Institute ofEnvironmental Health Sciences(NIEHS), part of the NationalInstitutes of Health, awarded grantstotaling $3.6 million, which willsupport the eight scientists, each ofwhom is pursuing a career in envi-ronmental health research, overfive years.

“The ONES program is designedto provide a strong foundation foroutstanding scientists who are inthe early, formative stages of theircareers,” said David Schwartz,director of the NIEHS. “These grantswill assist the scientists in launchinginnovative research programs thatfocus on human disease and theinfluence of the environment.”

Research supported by the ONESgrants will cover a broad range ofenvironmental exposures, as wellas the biological responses theyelicit. Each of the awardees willfocus on a specific human disease orcondition as it relates to a specificenvironmental exposure.

Green Engineer and Chemist to Join Yale Faculty

An author of a treatise on theprinciples of green engineering andthe “father of green chemistry”will join the full-time Yale facultyin January. And F&ES is hostingan environmental practitioner andan expert on world religions and ecology as visiting scholars.

With the appointments of Julie Zimmerman of the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and Paul Anastas of theAmerican Chemical Society, “Yalebuilds on its already world-classstature in industrial ecology andsustainability,” said ThomasGraedel, Clifton R. MusserProfessor of Industrial Ecology.

Zimmerman will hold a jointfaculty appointment with theDepartment of EnvironmentalEngineering and the School ofForestry & Environmental Studies,and is supported in part by theYale Institute for Biospheric Studies.Anastas will be professor in thepractice of green chemistry at F&ES,as well as having appointments inthe Department of Chemistry andthe Department of EnvironmentalEngineering.

Zimmerman, who obtained aPh.D. from the University ofMichigan in 2003, developed novel,environmentally friendly metal-working solvents for optimizing manufacturing machining processes

Fall 2006 23

Julie Zimmerman Paul Anastas

Visit the Yale

School of Forestry

& Environmental

Studies website at

environment.yale.edu

without sacrificing performance.Her results are currently beingimplemented by the auto industry.

In her current position with theOffice of Research and Developmentat the EPA, Zimmerman’s chiefresponsibility is managing grants toacademia and small businesses inthe areas of pollution preventionand sustainability. She is also man-aging several projects that will inte-grate sustainability concepts intoengineering education. She authored

a widely known and highly regardedarticle, “Sustainable DevelopmentThrough the Principles of GreenEngineering,” which was publishedin Environmental Science & Technologyin 2003. She is also a part-time faculty member at the University ofVirginia, where she teaches theseprinciples to engineers in training.

Anastas’ name is synonymouswith green chemistry throughoutmuch of the world. He is directorof the Green Chemistry Institute,which is headquartered at theAmerican Chemical Society inWashington, D.C., and has estab-lished 24 green chemistry chaptersin countries including China,Ethiopia, India, Japan and SouthAfrica. He recently was named the“father of green chemistry” and the2006 winner of the $250,000 HeinzPrize for the Environment by theHeinz Family Philanthropies.

Anastas originated the field ofgreen chemistry at the EPA in the1990s, and has published the booksBenign by Design: Alternative SyntheticDesign for Pollution Prevention(1994); Designing Safer Polymers(2000); Green Engineering:Environmentally Conscious Design of Chemical Processes (2002); andhis seminal work, with co-authorJohn Warner, Green Chemistry:Theory and Practice (2000).

Anastas was assistant directorfor the environment in the WhiteHouse Office of Science andTechnology Policy from 1999 to2004. Prior to joining that office, he was the chief of the IndustrialChemistry Branch of the EPA,where he was responsible for theregulatory review of industrialchemicals under the Toxic SubstancesControl Act and the development ofrules, policy and guidance. He holdsa Ph.D. in organic chemistry fromBrandeis University.

F&ES Hosts Visiting ScholarsMary Evelyn Tucker is the Yale

Bioethicist in Residence for the2006-2007 academic year. She isthe co-founder and co-director ofthe Forum on Religion and Ecology.She is the author of WorldlyWonder: Religions Enter TheirEcological Phase (2003). She co-edited Worldviews and Ecology:Religion, Philosophy, and theEnvironment (1994); Buddhism andEcology (1997); Confucianism andEcology (1998); Hinduism andEcology (2000); and a Daedalusvolume, Religion and Ecology: Canthe Climate Change? (2001).

Tucker received her Ph.D. inEast Asian religions, with a concen-tration in Confucianism in Chinaand Japan, from ColumbiaUniversity. Until 2005, she was aprofessor of religion at Bucknell

University, where she taught coursesin Asian religions and religion andecology. From 1993 to 1996, shewas a National Endowment for theHumanities Chair at Bucknell. Sheis currently a research associate atthe Harvard-Yenching Institute andthe Reischauer Institute of JapaneseStudies at Harvard. While at Yale,she will teach “World Religions and Ecology: Asian Religions” inthe spring, and taught “Seminar on World Religions and Ecology”in the fall.

Jerome Ringo, chair of theboard of the National WildlifeFederation (NWF), will be theDorothy S. McCluskey VisitingFellow for Conservation during thespring 2007 semester. In 2005,Ringo was elected as chair of NWFand became president of the ApolloAlliance, a broad coalition of busi-ness, labor and environmentalorganizations.

As a champion of environmen-tal justice and a vocal advocate ofclean energy, Ringo has firsthandexperience in these issues afterworking for more than 20 years inLouisiana’s petrochemical industry.“He has a clear understanding ofthe impacts of poor environmentalpractices on the low-income com-munities that surround those petro-chemical plants,” said Dean GusSpeth.

While at F&ES, Ringo will notteach but will interact extensivelywith students, introducing them tohis wide array of contacts andundertakings and providing themwith new opportunities andinsights. He will also offer a numberof public and small-group presenta-tions. And Ringo will work closelywith students who are studying therecovery efforts in New Orleans,(His family was evacuated duringHurricanes Katrina and Rita).

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Fall 2006 25

Journal of IndustrialEcology Celebrates10th Anniversary

The Journal of IndustrialEcology (JIE), an internationalquarterly dealing with industry andthe environment, celebrated twomajor achievements in 2006 – its10th anniversary and its inclusionin the Science Citation IndexExpanded (SCIex), an importantbenchmark in scientific publishing.

The peer-reviewed journal ispublished by MIT Press and head-quartered at F&ES. JIE’s editor-in-chief is Reid Lifset, associate directorof the Industrial EnvironmentalManagement Program at F&ES.

JIE marked its 10th anniver-sary in May with a panel discussionat Yale on the past and future ofindustrial ecology. Among the dis-tinguished speakers were JohnEhrenfeld, executive director of theInternational Society for IndustrialEcology and co-editor of JIE; FayeDuchin, professor of economics atRensselaer Polytechnic Instituteand a world leader in input-outputanalysis for environmental assess-ment; Ramesh Ramaswamy, direc-tor and founder of the ResourceOptimization Initiative in Bangalore,India; and Charles Powers, chair ofthe Project on Industrial Ecology,Pollution Prevention, and the NewYork/New Jersey Harbor at theNew York Academy of Sciences.

JIE’s acceptance into SCIex,which is maintained by ThomsonScientific, means that the journal iscarried by Current Contents, anabstracting and indexing serviceused by researchers worldwide.Approximately 2,000 new journalsare reviewed every year by theThomson Scientific staff, and only10 percent to 12 percent areaccepted for inclusion in SCIex.

In addition, a recent article inthe journal Business Strategy and

the Environment ranked JIE as thetop journal dedicated to publishingin the field of organizations andnatural environment.

Three Appointed to EndowedProfessorships

Daniel Esty, J.D. ’86, the newlynamed Hillhouse Professor ofEnvironmental Law and Policy, isrenowned for his research andteaching in those areas, as well asin the areas of world trade and theenvironment and environmentalperformance measurement.

Esty holds a joint appointmentat F&ES and the Yale Law School.He has served since 2001 as directorof the Yale World Fellows Program,an initiative to bring emerging worldleaders to campus for a specialleadership training program, andhas been director of the YaleCenter for Environmental Law andPolicy since 1994.

Esty is co-author of Green toGold: How Smart Companies UseEnvironmental Strategy to Innovate,Create Value, and Build CompetitiveAdvantage (2006), which demon-strates that companies that haveemployed environmentally friendlystrategies to their advantage are moreinnovative and entrepreneurialthan their competitors (seeBookshelf, page 17).

The most recent books that hehas co-edited are Global EnvironmentalGovernance: Options & Opportunities(2002); Greening the Americas:NAFTA’s Lessons for Hemispheric Trade(2002); Environmental PerformanceMeasurement: The Global Report 2001-2002; and Regulatory Competitionand Economic Integration:Comparative Perspectives (2001).

A graduate of Harvard College,Esty studied at Oxford University asa Rhodes Scholar, and earned his J.D.

in 1986 from the Yale Law School,where he was executive editor ofthe Yale Journal on Regulationand project coordinator of theEnvironmental Litigation Program.

Following graduation, he servedas an attorney at the Washington,D.C., firm Arnold & Porter, beforebeing named special assistant toWilliam Reilly, administrator of theU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA), in 1989. He becamedeputy chief of staff in 1990 anddeputy assistant administrator forpolicy a year later. At the EPA, hehad responsibility for coordinatingthe agency’s entry into the interna-tional trade arena, and was the chiefEPA negotiator for the environmen-tal aspects of the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement, amongother duties.

Esty joined the Yale faculty in 1994 after serving for a year as a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics inWashington, D.C. He was an asso-ciate dean at F&ES from 1998 to 2002. He developed a pilotEnvironmental Sustainability Indexin 1999 to measure the ability ofeconomies to achieve environmen-tally sustainable development. Hedeveloped the methodology for theindex, which provided the mostcomprehensive global report on the state of the environment, withsupport from the World EconomicForum.

The American Bar Associationhonored Esty with its Award forDistinguished Achievement inEnvironmental Law in 2002, andin 1998 and 2000 he was namedby Earth Times as one of the world’s“100 most influential environmentalleaders.” He has twice received theF&ES teaching award. His otherhonors include the EPA’s FitzhughGreen Award for contributions to international environmentalprotection.

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Dean Gus Speth has beennamed the Sara ShallenbergerBrown Professor in the Practice ofEnvironmental Policy. “Dean Speth’sdistinguished contributions as ascholar and a leader in the practiceof environmental law, climate changeand energy make him well-deservingof this recognition,” said YalePresident Richard Levin.

Speth’s areas of interest includeU.S. and international environmentalpolicy; climate change and relatedenergy issues; and sustainable devel-opment in developing societies. Hisrole as an advisor, consultant andleader in initiatives to combat envi-ronmental degradation has earnedhim a reputation as one of the world’sleading environmental stewards.

In his many publications,including Red Sky at Morning:America and the Crisis of the GlobalEnvironment (2004) and WorldsApart: Globalization and theEnvironment (2003), Speth hasemphasized a need for internationalaction on global climate change. InGlobal Environmental Governance(2006), he and political scientistPeter Haas examine 10 major globalenvironmental threats and how theycan be addressed through treaties,governance and new forms of inter-national cooperation.

As a member and chair of thePresident’s Council on EnvironmentalQuality, Speth was President Carter’sprincipal White House advisor onenvironmental affairs. In 1979 and1980, he led efforts to call attentionto climate change and other chal-lenges to the global environmentthat are now widely acknowledged.In 2002, he was awarded the BluePlanet Prize for his early efforts.

Prior to joining Yale in 1999,Speth was the administrator of theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme and chair of the U.N.Development Group from 1993 to

1999. He was the founder and presi-dent, from 1982 to 1992, of theWorld Resources Institute, a centerfor policy research and technicalassistance on environmental anddevelopment issues. He also was aco-founder of the Natural ResourcesDefense Council in 1970.

Oswald Schmitz has beenappointed Oastler Professor ofPopulation and Community Ecology.

Schmitz is an expert on thedynamics and structure of terrestrialfood webs. His research focuses onplant-herbivore interactions andhow they are shaped by carnivoresand soil-nutrient levels. He is inves-tigating the role of soil nutrientsand large mammalian herbivores inlimiting forest regeneration afterclear-cutting, herbivore responses to predators, and the dynamics ofecological food chains and foodwebs comprised of grassland plantsand insects.

Schmitz joined the F&ES facultyin 1992 and became a joint professorin the Department of Ecology andEvolutionary Biology in 1997. Hewas granted tenure as a full professorin 2000, and he has served as theassociate dean for academic affairsat F&ES since 2004. He receivedthe school’s teaching award in 1999.

A graduate of the University ofGuelph in Canada, where he earnedhis bachelor’s and master’s degrees inthe Department of Zoology, Schmitzwent on to obtain his Ph.D. fromthe University of Michigan’s Schoolof Natural Resources. He has servedas a member of advisory boards andreview panels for a number oforganizations involved in conserva-tion and policy initiatives, researchand education, including theAmerican Forest Foundation, theU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and the National ScienceFoundation.

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obert Roscow is an architect who sits onthe Planning and Zoning Commission inHamden, a fast-growing suburb borderingNew Haven. A transplanted Southerner, he

also owns a farm in the Tampa, Fla., region, and hasfought many battles over development of wetlandsand watershed property in Connecticut and Florida.On a sparkling fall day, he stood in waders in theburbling headwaters of the Tenmile River, a tributaryof the Quinnipiac River that snakes through theregion. Roscow dipped a flow meter, a black-rubber-sheathed electronic instrument designed to measurethe amount of water racing past, into the cold shallowstream. He called out the reading of 2 feet per secondto others standing with him in the water or clusteredon shore. They would later calculate the flow as 6cubic feet per second (cfs). (A cubic foot of watercontains approximately 7.5 gallons of water. TheConnecticut River has an average flow rate of16,000 cfs, while the Mississippi River at NewOrleans has an average flow rate of 600,000 cfs.)

“It’s difficult when you’re fighting one of thesethings in court,” he said later of his struggles toprotect watershed areas from development. “Theyask you where your figures about the impact on thewatershed are coming from, and when you say, ‘Idon’t know,’ that gets your case thrown out fast. Itcan’t just be our tree-hugging ways. We needexpertise.” Like many citizens fighting environmentalbattles, though, he has little scientific backgroundin the fields that affect the outcome of fights overwaterways and wetlands.

Course TapsInto PublicDemand forRiver ScienceBy Marc Wortman

R

Charles Waskiewicz, foreground, chair of the Inland-Wetlands and Watercourses Commission for the townof Orange and assistant business manager at F&ES,collects samples of organisms using a fine-mesh netas part of the “Yale Short Course in River Processes.”


Attending the “Yale Short Course inRiver Processes” this past October was away to begin to remedy his ignorance. Thethree-day program – two evenings and amorning of classes, followed by the fieldtrip to the Tenmile River-introduced himand 19 others to the science they mightneed to assess the impact of, say, waterpouring off a new parking lot into a near-by stream or new housing drawing on awatershed aquifer.

“I didn’t know the difference betweena 3-cfs stream and a 100,” said Roscow ofhis walk in the river. “I’ll know now.Having some knowledge of what’s goingon has immeasurable worth.”

Reaching Beyond YaleShimon Anisfeld, senior lecturer and

research scientist in water resources andenvironmental chemistry, is an expert onwater quality and watershed management.He created the course through the Centerfor Coastal and Watershed Systems (CCWS)five years ago. Accordingto CCWS DirectorMartha Smith ’00, “TheCCWS and several of its affiliated faculty havehistorically conductedresearch work in the localcommunity and recog-nized the need for thecourse. But the biggestreason the course exists isthat Shimi was personallywilling to develop andteach it.”

The course has beenfilled every year by volun-teer activists interested inriver conservation andwater resource manage-ment. Most come from Connecticut,though some have come from surroundingstates. Said Erin Higbee, who restoresdammed and polluted rivers for theRiverways Program of the MassachusettsDepartment of Fish and Game: “This iscompletely relevant to the work I do. I alsowanted to be able to tap into the environ-ment school. It’s unique for the community

to have access to the great faculty here.”Anisfeld, whose courses on water

resource management, environmentalchemistry and coastal ecology, are amongthe most popular at F&ES, researcheswater-quality issues in Connecticut, whichhave national implications for understandingthe impact of human activities on water-sheds. He has examined the sources ofexcess nitrogen being transported to LongIsland Sound, which is believed to beresponsible for an annual oxygen-depleted“dead zone.” He has calculated the impactsof nitrogen entering rivers emptying intothe Sound from sewage, urban stormwater,agricultural fertilizer and deposition fromatmospheric sources. He has also studiedthe impact of wetland loss along theQuinnipiac River and worked to improvewater-quality data-monitoring methodsusing sites on the river.

“I often deal with local citizens whoselives have been affected by water-qualityand stream-health issues,” Anisfeld said.

Recognizing their role indealing with regionalwater issues, he saw aneed to reach out beyondF&ES to “educate localdecision-makers andactivists about how riversfunction and how they aremodified by human activity.This is for people whodon’t have all the toolsthey need to understandthe science behind riversystems. This way theycan better bridge the gapbetween scientists, whooften have their own jargon, and the widercommunity, which needs

to understand the science.” Although participants pay a modest

$60 for the course (which includes threemeals), most of the cost is covered by a$7,700 grant from the Quinnipiac RiverFund of the Community Foundation forGreater New Haven.

A student in the class, Jeff Yale, worksfor the South Central Connecticut Regional

Water Authority, which is responsible forproviding drinking water to 400,000 people in the New Haven region. His workincludes water sampling, stream-flowmonitoring and community environmentaloutreach. “This gives me a better under-standing of what we need to protect,” hesaid, “and how to continue providing safedrinking water.” Others are more con-cerned about maintaining the scenic qualityof riverways, reducing existing pollutionand preventing future development fromimpinging on watersheds. Cris Schaeferrecently became executive director of thePomperaug River Watershed Coalition inConnecticut after a career as an executivein industry. He said, “I came out of thebusiness world. I didn’t know river science.Studying river technologies with some of the best people in this field will makeme more effective” in overseeing the 90-square-mile scenic watershed region inrural Litchfield County that is also animportant source of drinking water forneighboring towns.

A River SamplerThe course is broken into four sections

that focus on different scientific aspects ofriver processes. Anisfeld covers two ofthese – hydrology (the study of water systems) and water quality. He co-teachesthe course with James MacBroom, F&ESlecturer in river processes and restoration,author of The River Book, and co-founderand senior vice president of Milone &MacBroom, a civil engineering, landscapearchitecture and environmental sciencesconsulting firm whose corporate office isin Cheshire, Conn. MacBroom leads thesection on geomorphology, the study ofhow rivers form and shape their channelsand how geological forces in turn affectwatersheds and rivers. His colleague fromthe firm’s Vermont office, Roy Schiff, Ph.D.’05, teaches river ecology. “Each sciencehas its own jargon, tools and concepts,”said Anisfeld. “We give the highlights andbasics of the most important concepts ineach field.”

During the field trip, the students

“We give the

highlights and

basics of the

most important

concepts in

each field.”

Shimon Anisfeld


hen F&ES students graduateeach year, they are – quite literally – dispersed to the four corners of the globe. Often they

return to their homeland or to other partsof the world where environmental problemsare acute, if not critical. Some move intobusiness and governmental circles, whileothers dive deeper into academia. Whereverthey land, these young leaders put the skillsacquired at Yale to work on environmentalchallenges.

They are, in a word, committed.Upon graduating in 2006, for example,

Anil Pokhrel returned to his native Nepalto resume the work he’d begun eight yearsearlier – bringing clean water and sanitationto rural communities. Baruani Mshale ’08plans to return to his native Tanzania or tosub-Saharan Africa to work on sustainabledevelopment issues. Korinti Recalde ’08had, prior to entering F&ES this year, spentnearly five years as a private-sector con-sultant working on the rehabilitation offederal Superfund and RCRA (ResourceConservation and Recovery Act) brown-field sites. And, prior to joining F&ES lastyear, Rachelle Gould ’07 had already spenttwo years in Chile as a field organizer andliaison for The Nature Conservancy, andhad just completed summer work at theUgyen Wangchuck Environment andForestry Institute in Bhutan, a projectdirected by Dechen Dorji ’01.

Anil, Baruani, Korinti and Rachelle, aswell as Dechen, are success stories. But whatwould have happened had they not beenable, due to financial constraints, to attendF&ES? This is not a hypothetical question,but a burning issue. Indeed, the darkcloud hanging over the otherwise happyscenarios above is the cost of an education.A year’s education at F&ES for incomingstudents costs $41,465, including tuition,room and board, health insurance, books,

supplies and summer modules. (Returningstudents pay $39,600.)

For some students, especially those fromdeveloping countries, the cost is prohibitive.

“Students who take on large loanscan’t pursue the environmental careersthey intended. Their choices are limitedbecause they need to pay back their loans,”said Bethany Zemba, director of financialaid. “This is especially true for internationaland U.S. students who wish to completeenvironmental work abroad, where theaverage salaries are much lower than U.S.salaries.”

Eugenie Gentry, director of develop-ment, said, “It’s not just the cost of an edu-cation that’s prohibitive; it’s the loss of twoyears’ worth of earnings while they’re inschool. They must be fully funded.”

Foreign or not – and F&ES internationalenrollment has now increased to more than30 percent – the majority of all students inthe Classes of 2007 and 2008 have receivedscholarships or financial aid packages. Byany measure, the financial aid program atF&ES has improved under Dean Speth,increasing to $2.8 million from $786,400since 2000, when he arrived.

“In six years, we’ve more than tripledthe amount of financial aid, which soundsimpressive, but we are nowhere near wherewe need to be,” said Zemba.

Of the top 115 applicants to F&ESthis year, in fact, the available aid coveredonly one-third of these prospective students’expenses. This, to Speth and the FinancialAid Office, is unacceptable. In a recentfund-raising letter, the Dean wrote, “Betterscholarship aid is the most critical chal-lenge we face at the school. …What ishappening now is a true tragedy, given theenvironmental challenges that lie ahead.”

“We have a ‘needs-blind’ tuition policy,”said Zemba. “We don’t look at the abilityto pay while considering an applicant, but

how many students had to decline theiradmissions offer due to lack of funding?”

Anil Pokhrel, who earned an M.E.M.at the Yale School of Management andF&ES, never gave up on his Yale dream.As he wrote in a student essay, “I dreamedof furthering my knowledge by studyingin the best U.S. university, but I was poorand the only path to get there was throughscholarship.” He began applying for schol-arships in 2003 and was rewarded the fol-lowing year. “My work, previous academicachievements and my determination helpedme win the coveted 2004 Fulbright Fellow-ship from Nepal. I then applied to the YaleSchool of Forestry & EnvironmentalStudies and was very happy to find mydreams come closer when I got admitted.”

He faced one last hurdle: the Fulbrightscholarship didn’t cover all of his fees andtuition. “The F&ES scholarship helped mebridge my final difficulty,” he wrote. “Iwould not have been able to attend F&ESwithout that generous support.” Soon after

Fall 2006 29

More Scholarship Aid Needed to Lure Promising Students

By Alan Bisbort

WAnil Pokhrel ’06 Baruani Mshale ’08

Korinti Recalde ’08 Rachelle Gould ’07

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being accepted, Anil celebrated by seekingout four other Yale graduates who were thenliving in Nepal. “We met for dinner, andthe ‘Yale Club of Kathmandu’ was born.”

Baruani Mshale received a B.Sc. inwildlife science and conservation from theUniversity of Dar Es Salaam in June 2006.He wanted to continue schooling but wasundecided where to turn. He consideredworking for one year with SavannasForever, a University of Minnesota-ledproject on game-controlled areas inTanzania and Botswana. But, in February2006, an F&ES delegation visited universi-ties in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania.Baruani met Emly McDiarmid ’78, directorof admissions, who told him about the fullmaster’s-degree program at F&ES andencouraged him to apply.

“For me, it was more of a dream – youknow, ‘wow, the Ivy League,’” he said. Heapplied in February, was accepted by Marchand arrived in New Haven in August, hisfirst time in the United States. He hopes topursue a joint degree with the School ofManagement, focusing on internationaldevelopment economics.

“I don’t worry about the expensesright now,” he said. “The scholarship cov-ers $27,000, I do work study five hours aweek and I have taken out a loan for the

rest ($14,465).”Baruani wants to study how policy is

made in international organizations andthen how that policy is put into action –one of the conundrums facing environ-mentalism worldwide, but particularly insub-Saharan Africa. He envisions workingin natural resources management for anorganization such as the World Bank or theWorld Wildlife Fund. He is precise in hisambitions.

“I will work for five years in the policyfield and then do research on areas that areoften neglected, like sustainable develop-ment,” he said. “Economic development isinevitable, but the natural resources aredepleted. How do you have the former whilepreserving and protecting the latter? I wantto be influential in answering that question.”

Korinti Recalde has found the atmos-phere at F&ES refreshing after nearly fiveyears in the private sector with a job ininformation management.

“The students genuinely care and wantto make an impact,” she said. “They’reintelligent, well-traveled and informed oninternational issues. They are not goinginto this for the money, which is goodbecause getting into environmental policyis not the pathway to wealth.”

Though she was born in Quito, Ecuador,Korinti moved to the United States as achild and was raised in New Haven. Herfather is Ecuadorian, her mother Polishand her husband Israeli. “We have everyrace in the family,” she said, laughing. Shereceived a B.A. from Boston University ineconomics and environmental policy andanalysis in 2001, and took a job with BoozAllen Hamilton upon graduation.

“I am fortunate that my tuition is covered by scholarship through the F&ESprogram,” she said.

Ultimately, Korinti wants to return tothe private sector, having realized that anysolutions to environmental problems mustinclude the business community. “I workedon Superfund sites and regularly saw theaftereffects of pollution, the negative impactsof industry. Now I want to work withinindustry to prevent these sorts of thingsfrom happening in the first place.”

Rachelle Gould is working toward an M.E.Sc. that focuses on social ecology

conservation and development. While anundergraduate at Harvard, she had a “con-version” experience during an intern projectin Costa Rica. Upon her return to school,she switched her major from Hispanicstudies to environmental science and publicpolicy, receiving her A.B. in 2003.

“I flipped my major after I visited thetropics,” she said. “I noticed the ecosystemsweren’t being taken care of and thought, ’ifthis was going on in Costa Rica, which is

considered a model of enlightened stew-ardship, what’s going on elsewhere?’”

After Harvard, she worked in Chile fortwo years, first as an unpaid intern, thenon a fellowship in public service from theAnn and Elliot Richardson Foundation. Shewas a liaison within the country and a fieldorganizer for a 1.4-million-acre biologicalcorridor, 78 percent of which is privateland. By the second year, she was a paidemployee of The Nature Conservancy.

“The experience in Chile taught me aholistic approach to land conservation,seeing the larger picture,” said Gould.“What I did covered the whole spectrumof provincial government, herders andlandowners, creating a network.”

When it came time to consider goingto graduate school, she looked not toHarvard, but to Yale. “They don’t have aprogram like Yale’s, and nothing like itsvibrant community. F&ES really has a repu-tation across all of Yale’s schools for beingmore community-oriented, united and fun.Students may have many reasons forenrolling in other Yale schools, but atF&ES one of the major ones is emotional.I feel very lucky.”

Rachelle received a scholarship to F&ESthat covers tuition but not living expenses.


Bob and Sharon Buchanan

Alphonse Fletcher Jr. Josie Merck


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classnotes1942Richard West writes: “I have movedfrom New Jersey to Florida. I will con-tinue to be our class agent for ’42, butregret that there are only a few of usleft. I think we were the largest class tograduate just before World War II. Asa professor at Rutgers, I encouraged anumber of our students to attend Yale;for example, Bill Smith ’63 and AnnCamp ’90, who is doing fine work andexcellent informative writing.”

1946Class Secretaries:Paul Burns [email protected] Smith [email protected]

Cliff Bryden’s wife, Burna Dean Bryden,writes that Cliff will be 90 in December.He retired after 26 years as woodsmanager for Roseburg Forest Products.His first wife of 42 years died in 1982.They had three children. In 1986, hemarried Burna Dean Friedrichs, whohad two children, so together theyhave seven grandchildren and threegreat-grandchildren. Cliff’s hobby hasbeen travel, and his favorite places arethe out-of-the way corners of theworld. Since he has Alzheimer’s, hisand his wife’s traveling days are limited.He told Burna Dean to relate that everyplace in the world holds its own spe-cial beauty, culture, history and land-scape. Paul Burns, now 86, retiredfrom Louisiana State University’s Schoolof Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries 20years ago. He has kept an office at theschool and helps in various ways,including review of faculty manuscriptsand providing historical informationabout the school. As an example, herecently helped a retired forester inGeorgia, who was trying to get a copyof a poem about a forester written byCalvin Stott ’25. Stott worked for theU.S. Forest Service in its State andPrivate Forestry section, headquarteredin Wisconsin. Stott is long deceased,but Burns was able to track down hisgrandson, who helped find the poem.Titled “Hundeshagen’s Lament,” it wasa parody of The Night Before Christmas.Those who remember forest manage-ment instruction under H.H. Chapmanor Walter H. Meyer will perhapsremember that Hundeshagen was a

German forester in the 1800s whodeveloped a formula for determiningthe yield obtainable in a forest, basedon the forest’s growing stock.

1947Class Secretary:Evert [email protected]

1948Class Secretary:Francis Clifton [email protected]

Francis Clifton writes: “Last April, Iflew a Navy patrol PBY aircraft that Ihad flown in Hawaii in 1944 duringWorld War II. Remembering how anddoing it again 62 years later exposedthat time gap.” (See related photo onthe F&ES website.) Walt Hensonand his family had a respite fromWinnipeg winters and celebrated his80th birthday in February with a longCaribbean cruise.

1950Class Secretary:Kenneth Carvell [email protected]

1951Class Secretary:Peter Arnold [email protected]

1952Class Secretary:Milton Hartley [email protected]

1953Class Secretary:Stanley Goodrich [email protected]

Tom Norton writes: “Sold our home of33 years prior to going into an inde-pendent living cottage at CoburgVillage in Rexford, N.Y. I never didactively follow a career in forestry. Ispent two years in the Air Force, twoyears teaching at a private school anda year and two summers on either sideattending Albany State University,which prepared me for a successfuland rewarding career teaching physicsin public high school. I had manysummers with NSF grants and 10 yearswith the Atmospheric Sciences ResearchCenter (part of SUNY, Albany), whichincluded sabbatical research on naturalair pollutants such as alpha and beta

pinenes. In 1984, I was one of fivefinalists in New York state for NASA’sTeacher in Space Program.”

1954Class Secretary:Richard Chase [email protected]

1955Frank Carlson writes: “In my time asa student in the Yale ConservationProgram (YCP), it was refreshing to beable to take courses in other depart-ments without the usual prerequisites.The day that I arrived at the front of thebrownstone on the corner of Prospect& Trumbull Streets, I met GeorgeLamb. Shortly thereafter, the door ofthe building opened and out walkedMrs. Aldo Leopold and her daughter,Stella. George, a student of wildlifemanagement at Ohio State University,about fell over. I was at the bottom of avery steep learning curve in the conser-vation movement. Now, over 50 yearslater, I’ve come to realize that my careerwas influenced largely by two botanists:Dr. Paul Sears and Prof. Warren, thenchair of the Biology Department atTufts College. It was Prof. Warren, awonderful teacher in his own right,who suggested that I might considerapplying to the YCP. I would neverhave known of it otherwise.”

1956Class Secretary:Jack Rose [email protected]

1958Class Secretary:Ernest Kurmes [email protected]

Doogie Darling writes: “A friend and Iare trying to complete a paper on theearly logging history of Crossett LumberCompany. It will be published in theArkansas Historical Quarterly.”

1959Class Secretary:Hans Bergey [email protected]

1960Class Secretary:John Hamner [email protected]

Bob Donnelly writes: “Eighteen yearsago, I transferred into the Southern

Hemisphere with Christchurch, NewZealand, as my principal residence anda connection with Brazil. The transitingbetween these two locations continues.Part of the year involves lecturing atthe School of Forestry (University ofCanterbury) in Christchurch, and thebalance of the year I spend doing con-sulting project work, which has beenlargely in Brazil. Plantation forestry inBrazil is achieving international promi-nence with both southern pine andeucalyptus forests. Some industry sectors are taking off. There are newdevelopments in eucalyptus marketpulp that lead the international industryin operational excellence, in both scaleand performance, including environ-mental and social objectives. For those interested in Brazil, there is aforest industry tour offered annually in April, which I co-sponsor (visitwww.worldforestinvestment.com).” John Hamner writes: “Annette and Iretired from Union Camp Corporationin 1994, following a little more than37 years employment, and returned toa home we owned in Bellville, Ga. Iretired as a regional land manager,Alabama Woodlands Region. My careeras a forester was most rewarding andenjoyable. We are both in reasonablygood health and able to enjoy life. Weparticipate in local activities and travelto some extent to see family, friends orjust to be tourists. The best part ofretirement is being able to do what Iwant to do when I want to do it!” Pete Huberth writes: “I am in businessas a forestry consultant and work abouthalf-time. I am pretty much down toone client with small ‘handshake’ dealsalong the way. Over the last eight yearsor so I have done quite a bit of probono work assisting the State of Alaskawith formulating a hydrogeomorphicsystem for classifying and measuringrain-fed anadromous (salmon) streamsin Southeast Alaska and in formulatingHGM for slope wetlands immediate tothose streams. When not fooling aroundin forestry, I travel, bicycle, alpine skiand survive orthopedic operations. Ihave had both of my hips, shouldersand knees (November 2005) totallyreplaced due to osteoarthritis. Skiing isthe easiest thing I do, with emphasison light snow hiking to stay off the

groomed runs, because I prefer powderand junk. Later this month I expect toski on the south island of New Zealand,where I have skied before. Besides myskiing in various areas, Jan and I travelto Europe every October, where wedrive to see some of my family, visitfriends, visit art museums and stop tolook at stand management techniquesfrom Finland to Portugal and points inbetween. Some sites I have visited forclose to 20 years, including watchingthem recover from acid rain. I haveone son who lives in Seattle, so I seehim and his family several times ayear. Unfortunately for him, his placebecomes my convalescent center untilI can go home after operations.” Jon Liles writes: “I am tentativelyscheduling total knee replacement forthis fall after hurricane season. I amsure you all have heard the saying,‘Old foresters never die; they just pineaway.’ That is going to be me. I willkeep on ’til I wear out. Hope all of myclassmates are doing the same. If anyof you are ever down this way to EdistoIsland, S.C., give me a call. Anyoneinterested in house-sitting on thecreek?” Art Sundt writes: “Wedecided to pull out of Costa Rica, wherewe had wintered for over 20 years. Wesold our beach house and were left withour 33-acre ranch about a mile fromtidewater (Gulf of Nicoya). Nice placewith pastures, high rocky hills, a creekmeandering through huge timber treesand all kinds of fruit trees. Prospectivebuyers were plentiful enough, but eitherthey had no money or were developersplanning on making their fortune byturning our little paradise into a ruralslum. Sorry! We contacted the SUNYForestry School in Syracuse, N.Y., myalma mater. They were interested andsent a faculty member to check us out.The property committee in Syracusewent into a huddle and agreed unani-mously to ‘go for it.’ We’re in the paperstage right now, but it looks like a surething. We don’t know yet what thefacility will become, but it may be agood start for those interested in tropicalecology. This is my hope. (Students orfaculty interested in knowing more,contact Bob Quinn at SUNY College onEnvironmental Science and Forestry.)We are secure in our Alaska home. We

hope to do some traveling this fall orwinter.” Seijuro Uraki continuesto work in the hotel business in Japan,with Hotel Urashima, Manseiro,Urashima Harbor Hotel, KawayuMidoriya and Matsuya. The regionwhere they operate the hotels has anancient mountain trail that is on theWorld Heritage List. There are alsomany ancient shrines and temples,beautiful sea and shore area, forests,mountains and rivers and falls and hotsprings. Travel there is about sevenhours from Tokyo and four hours fromOsaka by train.

1961Class Secretary:Roger Graham

Lee Miller writes: “After eight years asa member and chair of the board ofthe local public library, I retired lastfall and took up volunteer tutoring ofEnglish as a Second Language. The difficulty of learning a second languageas an adult is well known to me, afterstruggling with French at age 55 andItalian at age 70, so I have great empa-thy for my students. Sylvia and I haveenjoyed vacations abroad almost everyyear since 1987, when we spent a sabbatical year in southern France. Wefell in love with Italy in 1992, andhave enjoyed several trips there. Whenwe took the year-long freshman Italiancourse at Cornell in 2000-2001, wesubstituted a month on a farm nearLucca for the final exam. Recent travelsincluded trips to China, India, Romania,Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia.In 2003, we returned to France to cel-ebrate our 50th wedding anniversarywith our two kids, their spouses andour four grandchildren, and then spenta week with friends from Ithaca. I stillenjoy bicycling, just as I did at Yale,when I biked to the Forestry Schoolevery day from our Quonset hut onthe polo field across from the YaleBowl.” Scott Wallinger writes: “Icontinue to be busy in retirement onseveral forestry fronts, including partici-pation on the National Commission onScience for Sustainable Forestry, aswell as serving as vice chair of theForest History Society. In June, I helpedthe Joseph W. Jones Ecological ResearchCenter to convene a meeting of

clas

s notes


diverse interests in actions to sustainpublic and media support for the useof prescribed fire to maintain criticalforest ecosystems. Several states nowhave RxFire Councils that deal withpending changes in EPA regulationson particulate emissions that couldaffect prescribed fires, as well as thelegal liability, urban interface and otherchallenges. But I’ve worked the forestryactivities down to a level where theydon’t interfere too much with golf,boating, fishing, hunting, grandchildren,travel and such!”

1962Class Secretary:Larry Safford [email protected]

1963Class Secretary:James Boyle [email protected]

1965Class Secretary:James Howard [email protected]

1966Class Secretary:Howard C. Dickinson Jr.

1967Class Secretary:Robert Hintze [email protected]

1968Class Secretary:Gerald Gagne [email protected]

1969Class Secretary:Davis Cherington [email protected]

1970Class Secretary:Whitney Beals [email protected]

1971Class Secretary:Harold Nygren [email protected]

1972Class Secretary:Ruth Hamilton [email protected]

Phil Nemir continues to work and live

on the pine-covered slopes of thenortheastern Sierra Nevada on theedge of the Great Basin. He lives withhis British companion of 17 years,Lynda Jackson, and his 5-year-oldcorgi, Lewie. He manages over 7,000acres of forestland for small privatelandowners, is active in local conserva-tion projects and is recognized as agroup resource manager by the ForestStewardship Council. He had the goodfortune of meeting Piet Blanksma ’71in France and Bill Burch in our neckof the woods in the past year.

1973Class Secretary: [Open]

Lauren Brown would like to hand thereins to a new secretary. Thanks toLauren for many years of service!Contact [email protected] if you areinterested in serving the Class of 1973in this role.

1974Len Lankford told us about some of theinnovative technologies he’s workingon with Greenleaf Forestry and WoodProducts (www.greenleafforestry.com).He writes: “We were awarded a WoodyBiomass Utilization Grant for $243,500by the U.S. Forest Products Lab. It willbe used for equipment to process small-diameter fire hazard mitigation woodinto fencing and railing systems. Ournext building has been started, andwill be 10,000 square feet for a super-size showroom. I hope this will becomea center of sustainable stewardshipforestry for the region. I have beenappointed as the coordinator of ourcounty-wide Community WildfireProtection Plan, and this process is thecatalyst for instilling an interest inlong-term forest health and relatedforestry practices here. My daughter,Angela (a Williams College economicsgraduate), continues to practice sus-tainable economic development inTibet and China. She secured grantassistance for this work from WinRockInternational. See her website,www.definitelynomadic.com. My otherdaughter, Claire Harper (a DukeUniversity M.E.M. graduate), works inthe Forest Legacy Program at head-quarters, Cooperative Forestry, USFS,in Washington, D.C. Her husband,

Craig Harper, works at NRDC inWashington, D.C., and their first childis named Wilson Leopold Harper.” Judith Stockdale writes: “I continue asexecutive director of the Gaylord andDorothy Donnelley Foundation inChicago. The foundation’s mission island conservation and arts vitality in theChicago region and the low country ofSouth Carolina. It’s rewarding work,and preservation of some substantiallands has been possible. I am married toJonathan Boyer, who obtained a master’sdegree in architecture from Yale in 1974and is now with Farr Associates,building sustainable buildings (twoLEED Platinum buildings in Chicago).I have two daughters: Sarah, an assistantdesigner at True Religion (graduatedfrom Scripps College in 2003), andJulia, a senior at Kenyon College.”

1975Steve Levy writes: “I made my firsttrip to explore Alaska with classmateJaynee Levy in 1974, while still at Yale.I just completed my sixth wildernesstrip there, hiking for 10 days in theAlaska Range east of Denali. I enjoy itas much as ever and have been blessedwith good health. Retirement and myongoing work with other people’s chil-dren continue to be rewarding.” Jacqueline Russell writes: “I’m in my sixth year as an assistant attorneygeneral for the State of Maryland,Department of Environment, primarilyhandling enforcement cases in theareas of wetlands, water pollution and solid waste. I’m also a member of the advisory board of BEADs(www.beadsforeducation.org), a non-profit organization devoted to enhanc-ing the status of young girls and womenin Kenya and to promoting environ-mental awareness. The latter gets meto Africa every year and, in addition tobeing awed by the wildlife and the nat-ural beauty of the place, brings homethe troubling reality of the status ofwomen in the developing world.”

1976Thomas Barounis writes: “I am stillwith the U.S. EPA, Region 5 (Chicago),and I still work in the Superfund pro-gram as a remedial project manager.Our strategies for cleaning up contam-

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inated soil and ground water, and othermedia, continue to evolve. I have nowbeen married to Diane, whom I met atYale, for 31 years. Our son, Timothy,has completed his medical studies andis now a resident at the University ofIllinois Hospital in Chicago. Ourdaughter, Cynthia, is well on her wayto a Ph.D. in English, also at theUniversity of Illinois. I regret that,despite my best intentions, I was unableto be at the class reunion, especiallysince one of my classmates, PhilConkling, was honored for his workwith the Island Institute.”

1977Class Secretary:James Guldin [email protected]

Jim Guldin is project leader for theUSFS Arkansas Forestry Sciences Labof the Southern Research Station, anddeals with studies of the ecology andmanagement of upland forests in themid-South. Phil Hoose, author andconservation planner, has won the 2005Boston Globe-Horn Book award fornonfiction writing for his book on theivory-billed woodpecker, The Race toSave the Lord God Bird, published in2004 (see Bookshelf, page 17). He hasalso been on the road with his multi-media presentations for audiences ofall ages of this and other titles.

1978Class Secretaries:Susan Curnan [email protected] Marie Magleby [email protected] Regina [email protected]

Peter Falco writes: “I am withRockwood Capital LLC in Greenwich,Conn. Rockwood is a private equityreal estate investment firm, doinginvestments in all types of commercialproperty – office, retail, residential andhotel, plus R&D, throughout the UnitedStates. I’m responsible for raising thedebt and equity for all of our invest-ments, as well as a bit of portfoliomanagement. We do a lot of land plan-ning, entitlement and developmentprojects. I went to the first Yale RealEstate Alumni gathering.” GinaRochefort writes: “Carol Aubry and Ihave been working together on an

interagency whitebark pine workinggroup for the last several years. InAugust, we were invited to give a jointpresentation at the Pacific CoastWhitebark Pine Conference in Ashland,Ore. Our topic was ‘Whitebark PineRestoration: Where Do We Go FromHere?’ We are also completing a genetic survey of whitebark pine innational forests and national parks inWashington. Carol is the area geneticistfor the Olympic, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Okanagon and Wenatcheenational forests. I am a science advisorat North Cascades National Park.”

1979Class Secretary:John Carey [email protected]

Chris Brown is director for wildernessand wild and scenic rivers for theNational Park Service. The new job is“really interesting, fast-paced and chal-lenging,” he writes. Dorie Faulknerwrites: “I retired from the environmentalconsulting business close to 10 yearsago and became a caregiver for myparents. One thing led to another, andI found myself in a second careerworking with the elderly. I have fivegrandchildren ages 8 to 1, two boysand three girls, and they all live withina couple hundred miles of us. My hus-band, Gerry, and I downsized a fewyears ago and moved to the Gainesvillearea (University of Florida). Our littlecabin in the woods is surrounded bythree different habitat types.” BobPerschel writes: “I’m regional directorfor the Forest Guild, working part-time for the organization to develop aNortheast regional program. I just finished writing a publication called‘Ensuring Sustainable Forestry ThroughWorking Forest ConservationEasements in the Northeast: A ForestGuild Perspective.’ Over 120 forestersattended our guild’s Northeast regionalmeeting on sustainable forestry, anindication that there is tremendoussupport for a more ecological approachto forestry. I continue to explore anexpanded model of environmentalleadership that integrates ethics, emo-tions, our connections to the naturalworld and our spiritual lives. In June, Ifinished a two-year appointment at Yaleas an associate research scholar, and

last summer I began writing a book,currently titled The Heart and Mind ofEnvironmental Leadership.” PierreLaFond stepped down as director of aforest research institute in Quebec City10 years ago to run an orchard andcider mill on the banks of the St.Lawrence River. His wife, Patricia,writes: “We bought an abandonedorchard in 1977, and we’ve been livingoff of it since 1996.” The Lafondsmake hard cider, jams, jellies and evenbread with apples. They have threechildren. One of their most interestingproducts is ice cider, made from frozenapples. So far, the Lafonds are sellingthe ice cider (which goes for $20 to$25 for a half-bottle) only in Quebec,but are looking to export it to theUnited States. Robert McKinstrywrites: “I’m starting my last year of myfinal term as the Goddard Professor atPenn State. My book, BiodiversityConservation Handbook: State, Local,and Private Protection of BiologicalDiversity (with co-editors Coreen M.Ripp and Emily Lisy), has been pub-lished by the Environmental LawInstitute. I’ve also been representing agroup of the leading climate-changescientists, who are participating asamici curiae to the Supreme Court inthe case Massachusetts v. EPA. I’m con-tinuing to teach courses on climatechange and on biodiversity and landconservation law. I’ve been doing quitea bit of speaking and writing on climatechange and biodiversity conservation.I’m working on a research projectinvolving use of habitat banking andhabitat conservation plans for the pro-tection of the bog turtle in theNortheast, where fractured local gov-ernment control over land use makesthe model employed by USFWS moredifficult. Jim Thorne ’80 is anotherprincipal in that project.” Robert andBetsy Rich were divorced lastDecember. Their son, Andrew, is in histhird year of medical school atColumbia University’s College ofPhysicians and Surgeons; their otherson, Spencer, worked on the campaignto elect Bob Casey to the U.S. Senatefrom Pennsylvania; and their daughter,Erin, is a freshman at Penn StateUniversity. Betsy is living inPhiladelphia, and continues to teach

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undergraduate ecology and relatedcourses at Drexel University.

1980Class Secretary:Sara [email protected]

1981Class Secretaries:Fred Hadley [email protected] Youell [email protected]

Femi Olaleye writes: “Extend myregards to the Dean, professors, staffand students of F&ES. I missed seeingmembers of the Class of 1981; I sendmy special greeting to all of them. Itwill be my delight to welcome any ofthem to Nigeria.”

1982Class Secretaries:Barbara Hanson [email protected] Kenneth Osborn [email protected]

Miguel Musalem, Ph.D. ’84, has beendesignated Distinguished Silviculturistby the National Academy of ForestScience of Mexico. Ken Osborn isstill residing in Mt. Vernon, Wash., butplans to spend a couple of months eachnorthern winter at a second home onthe North Island of New Zealand,where he manages some forestlandheld by German owners, for whom healso manages forest holdings inWashington State.

1983Class Secretary:Stephen Broker [email protected]

1984Class Secretaries:Therese Feng [email protected] Tabell Jordan [email protected]

1985Class Secretary:Alex Brash [email protected]

1986Class Secretary:Caroline Norden [email protected]

1987Class Secretaries:Christie Coon [email protected] Paly [email protected]

Heidi Albers, associate professor offorest resources in the Oregon StateUniversity’s College of Forestry, isfocused on the huge growth in theconservation of land by private trustsin America. Her research is supportedby a three-year, $320,000 grant fromthe National Science Foundation, andis a collaborative undertaking with theUniversity of Illinois. From 1998 to2003, about 1,500 private trusts morethan doubled the amount of U.S. landthat such groups have been able toprotect for conservation purposes –species protection, flood control andrecreation. Findings indicate that evenmore conservation benefits could begained by coordination among differentgroups or government land-protectionprograms with similar goals. Heidiwrites: “In the 1990s, there was a sig-nificant increase by private groups toobtain or protect land for conservationpurposes. A question was whetherthose uncoordinated efforts could pro-duce the patterns of conservation thatsociety prefers. We found that thereare a number of ways that private andpublic agencies could generate moreconservation value.”

1988Class Secretaries:Diane Stark [email protected] Voorhees [email protected]

Anne Buckelew Cumming continuesto live with her family in West Virginiaand work for the USDA Forest Servicein the Urban and Community ForestryProgram. When not worried aboutemerald ash borer, Asian Longhornedbeetles or crown dieback, she’s beenracing in local and regional 5K racesand watching her seventh-gradedaughter participate in softball, lacrosseand cross-country. Heidi MargritMcAllister received the 2006Sustained Achievement Award fromthe Renewable Natural ResourcesFoundation (see article, page 19). Cristin Gallup Rich writes: “I amworking part-time as a consultant tothe Hotchkiss School EnvironmentalInitiative on ‘greening campus’ issues.Other news is that I was elected to theplanning and zoning board last fall.We are in a significant planning mode,which draws on many of my interests

and some skills. I primarily continue toreally enjoy the time with my family,especially my twin daughters, who are12 and entering seventh grade this fall.My husband is working on affordablehousing and part-time on clean-watertechnology distribution.” DianeStark (Pierce) and her two daughters,Allyson, 15, and Phoebe, 12, still livein the San Francisco Bay Area. In addi-tion to her day job improving trans-portation in the congested Bay Area, aswell as playing piano and salsa dancing,Diane just successfully completed herfirst triathlon at Pacific Grove,Monterey. She was training as part ofthe Team in Training program for theLeukemia and Lymphoma Society, andwas part of a team that raised $1.2 million for research and patient servicesfor blood cancer patients.

1989Class Secretaries:Susan [email protected] Freeman [email protected]

1990Class Secretaries:Judy Olson HicksCarolyn Anne Pilling [email protected]

Seema Bhatt writes: “I continue towork as an independent consultant onbiodiversity issues in India. My focusin the last year has been more on eco-tourism. I am in the process of finalizinga book, which is an analytical perspec-tive of ecotourism in India. I have co-authored this book with another col-league. I am also working on a man-agement plan for sustainable tourismfor a high-altitude lake in Ladakh, inthe Himalayas.” Phil Liu writes: “Iam now living in Wilmington, Del.,with my spouse, Kate, 5-year-olddaughter, Tully, and 15-year-old cat,Moto. I have been working as a celland molecular biologist for IncyteCorp., a biotech firm engaged in drugdiscovery, for the past four years.” Marco Lowenstein writes: “I am in LaCeiba, Honduras, working with coop-eratives operations in the Rio PlatanoBiosphere Reserve to develop productsfor export to the United States.Otherwise, I am living and working inPortland, Ore., for the past four years

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with my wife, Charla, and two children,Micah, 10, and Kaileah, 6. I work forNorth American Wood Products(NAWPI), a lumber import and exportfirm, where I manage the LatinAmerican purchasing program. NAWPI(www.nawpi.com) is heavily involvedin the purchase and sale of sustainableand FSC-certified forest products, aswell as wood for musical instruments,flooring, doors and distribution. I amworking with community organizationsfrom the Selva Maya Biosphere Reservein Guatemala and the Rio PlatanoBiosphere Reserve Honduras to developsustainable products appropriate totheir unique conditions. In the pastyear, I have been to Guatemala,Honduras, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.”

Susannah Troner writes: “I amworking for the Miami-Dade County’sOffice of Strategic BusinessManagement, trying to find grant rev-enue for the county’s coffers and doingmy best to focus on environmentalissues. My family and I recently trekkedto the Washington, D.C., area for anextended July 4th holiday, and visitedwith Tom and Joan (Becker) Kelsch’91 and kids, and Tara Evans, hubbySteve Shimberg and kids. I sent a pic-ture from Tom and Joan’s wonderfulbackyard in Washington, D.C. [See thephoto at http://environment.yale.edu.]

1991Class Secretaries: [Open]

Dorothy Beardsley and KristinRamstad want to retire. Many thanksto both for their years of service!Please contact [email protected] ifyou are interested in taking up theclass secretary role for the Class of1991 – thank you!

1992Class Secretary:Katherine Kearse [email protected]

1993Class Secretaries:Dean Gibson [email protected] Goodyear [email protected] Merbs [email protected]

1994Class Secretaries:Jane Calvin [email protected] W. [email protected] [email protected]

Jane Calvin writes: “AndrewBeckerman and wife, Sophie, are doingwell in Sheffield, England. Andrew isan assistant professor at the Universityof Sheffield, and Sophie recently retiredfrom chopping trees with chainsaws,because they’ve just had a baby girl,Rosie Eva. We saw Mark Bryer andfamily in London a few months ago,and we should be seeing KristinaRothley in October. Mark and SueBartow announced the birth of theirsecond child, Quinn, on July 4. Markstill works for TNC, with a focus onChesapeake Bay and South Americanfreshwaters.” Cynthia Caron writes:“I remain in Sri Lanka, where the con-flict is intensifying. I have been givenextra duties and am now overseeingrelief in the eastern province for the30,000-plus displaced persons whohave fled aerial bombings sinceAugust.” Anne Downey and herfamily have moved into a newly reno-vated house in a great neighborhood,where the kids can ride bikes and jumprope while she sits on her front porchand hangs out with her friends. Shewrites that Diana Wheeler, SeanMurphy and Lindsey Brace havealready stopped by, and they welcomemore F&ES visitors to [email protected] HollyFerrette writes: “We have been in LaPaz, Bolivia, now for over a year. I amdirector of the USAID/BoliviaEnvironment Office, and Fernando iswith the Wildlife Conservation Society.It has been an incredible time to behere, as major political and socialchanges are in the works and we feelthat (for better or worse) we have afront row seat for history in the making!Fortunately, when things get too intense,we can easily escape to places nearbythat offer incredible beauty and tran-quility. Our older daughter, Dharma, isnow a first grader as well as the proudbig sister of our latest addition to thefamily, Tessa Paz, born on May 15. We

were able to catch up with JoaquinLeguia earlier this year during a visitto Peru, as well as with Jamison Suterwhen our paths crossed in D.C. I canbe reached at [email protected].” Andrea Gaut writes: “My exciting newsis that my husband and I are expectingour first child in mid-November. I willnow be entering the arena so many ofour peers have already entered – tryingto balance it all!” Guido Rahr ispresident and CEO of The Wild SalmonCenter and The Natural Capital Centerin Portland, Ore. He recently returnedfrom Kamchatka, and earlier this sum-mer was on an expedition to the KoppiRiver, which flows from Russia’sSikhote Alin Mountains into the Sea ofJapan. In addition to bears, wolves,Amur tigers and the elusive Blakiston’sfish owl, the Koppi watershed is hometo the Sakhalin taimen. This ancientsea-going “trout” feeds on the adultsalmon that migrate to the Koppi Rivereach year. Sakhalin taimen have becomerare, but specimens over 70 poundsare still caught each year (his goal for2007 is to catch a big one on a fly).On the home front, he and Lee wel-comed a third boy into their family:Henrik Tucker Rahr, now a year [email protected] Nicolas von der Schulenburg has leftCAM Private Equity. Does anybodyhave a current email for him? Donna Stauffer moved back to theUnited States in June after 11 yearsabroad, most recently more than twoyears in Mozambique, where sheserved as deputy director to the U.S.Agency for International Development’s$70 million foreign aid program. She’sbeen in the Foreign Service since 1982and was promoted earlier this year intothe Senior Foreign Service. She’s nowdirector of strategic information, mon-itoring and evaluation in the Office ofthe Director of Foreign Assistance atthe State Department in Washington,D.C. She and her husband, RobertMiller, celebrated their 10th anniver-sary in June. Donna considers theopportunity to travel to some unusualplaces and to experience some fasci-nating cultures a major benefit of herprofession, with climbing to the top ofMt. Kilimanjaro (the highest mountainin Africa) in Tanzania a highlight of

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this year. [email protected] William Stevenson writes that he and Rika have a new baby boy – theirthird – Herrick Wilson Stevenson,who arrived on June 29. “We’re notsleeping, but having a blast.” [email protected] GrahamTrelstad says he’s still a consulting cityplanner with AKRF in White Plains,N.Y., three doors down from Jim Nash.Graham also started teaching site plan-ning and design at Columbia’s GraduateSchool of Architecture, Planning andPreservation. He plans on teachingeverything he learned in Hydrology,TerrEco, Soils and Silviculture in onetwo-hour lecture. Oxygen and para-medics will be on standby. In his sparetime, he works on “being a hip dad toEllie and Lizzy, who are now enteringseventh grade, and a supportive hus-band to Julie, who is launching herown publishing company, Plain WhitePress.” [email protected]

Michael Webber writes that hebegan his fourth year of teaching atTrinity Pawling School in New York.He is teaching chemistry and twoenvironmental science courses, as wellas coaching football and baseball. He andhis wife, Sue, spent this past summerwith their two boys, Larry, 8, and Joe, 6,at their beach house in Old Saybrook,Conn. “Like me, the boys enjoy swim-ming, boating, crabbing and fishing.Too many crabs and fish to count. Allfish were safely released, except one!”[email protected] JaneWhitehill makes sure to go to as manyparties as possible, including the terrificand continuing New York TGIFs organ-ized by Javier Dominguez and MonikaKumar. [email protected] Jessica Bennett Wilkinson, her hus-band, Eric, and sons Josh, 6, andEthan, 3, live in Pennington, N.J.Jessica continues to work from homefor the D.C.-based Environmental LawInstitute, where she directs its wetlandsand state biodiversity programs. Whiletraveling for work last February, Jessicavisited with Macol Stewart Cerda inChicago and Dave Moffat and CarolHall in New Hampshire. In April, ona family visit to D.C., Jessica visitedwith Mark Bryer and his then soon-to-be expanding family (now expandedby a second son). She also had the

pleasure of meeting Stephanie Flack’sson, Alexander, while in Washington. [email protected] Ted Wongand his partner, Michelle Mancini,announced the birth of their daughter,Tilia April Wongcini, on April 24. Tedwrites that Tillie enjoys looking up attrees, including the many lindens onthe sidewalks of Philadelphia. Ted hascreated a new, free Web-based mappingservice, Mapsprout, and invites every-one to try it out (www.mapsprout.net)[email protected]

1995Class Secretaries:Marie Gunning [email protected] Ciara O’Connell [email protected]

Francisco Becerra is stationed atPachuca, Hidalgo, where he conductsforestry and agroforestry research andedits publications in these fields forMexican governmental agencies,including the main national forestryschool at the University of Chapingo.

Marie Gunning and her husband,Michael Murphy, were blessed withthe birth of their son, ChristopherFrancis Murphy, at Maine MedicalCenter in March. Chris joins his bigsister, Mary Kate, who is now a veryactive toddler. Marie is a consultant,supporting sustainable natural resourceuse and socially responsible investment.

Adam Moore writes that he andMelissa had a son, Robert James Moore,on July 22. He weighed 9 lbs. at birth.Robert was born at home in Durham,Conn., and was welcomed by his bigsisters, Madeleine, Isabel and Ingrid.

1996Class Secretaries:Kathryn Pipkin [email protected] Rothrock [email protected]

Gary Barrett is in Sudan serving as theteam leader for the USAID Office ofForeign Disaster Assistance, Darfurfield office. USAID has had a teamresponding to the humanitarian crisisin Darfur since spring 2004. USAIDand its NGO partners are also exploringways to mitigate the environmentalimpacts of the crisis through betterresource management. DeronChang writes: “I’m still teaching atChoate Rosemary Hall, a boardingschool about 20 minutes north of Sage

Boy. The difference is that I am on sab-batical this year, and I hope to spendall this extra time with my offspring,Abigail, 5, and Callum, 1. Penny and Iare struggling to stay sane as wepatiently await the days when Callumwill sleep through the night. It was greatto see Bob Fitzgerald, Kris Phelps,Ted Wickwire, Anne Reynolds, DaveGanz, Bill Martin and all of theirspouses and kids at the reunion.” Sarah Hick writes: “I am at theUniversity of Minnesota working onmy Ph.D. in curriculum and instructionwith a focus on science education. Iplan to finish in August 2007. I amalso working with a team to open anexperiential-education urban charterhigh school with an environmentalfocus. I had a commitment ceremonywith my partner, Suzie Darnell, onOctober 14.” Ali Jalili moved toMoscow in June 2006 with his family.Ali is a Foreign Service officer withthe State Department, and his wife,Courtney, is a Foreign Service officerwith USAID. Ali will study Russianfor a year, and then will be the energyofficer at the Embassy. They and theirtwo boys, Brady, 5, and Aidan, 3, will be in Moscow until the summerof 2010 and welcome any [email protected] AdenaMessinger made a career change ashort while ago. She writes: “I wentback to school for a degree in city andregional planning. I now work for theNorth Carolina State UniversityDepartment of Transportation, and mytitle is transportation planner.” Jennifer Pett-Ridge writes: “I finishedmy Ph.D. in soil microbiology and bio-geochemistry in 2005 and moved ontoa postdoc at Lawrence LivermoreNational Lab. The job is great and isexposing me to lots of new opportuni-ties. Last fall, my husband, Logan, andI bought a house in Berkeley and wentoff on a super six-week honeymoon toNew Zealand. And on August 26, ourdaughter, Elinor Sage, was born!” Shigeo Sakai writes: “I am working inthe Republic of Panamá. Lillian, mywife, is working for the Yale School ofMedicine.” In April, RhondaWilliams writes: “My husband, Tom,who just completed his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Chicago, is joining the

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faculty in the Religion Department atthe University of Vermont. We found ahome in Vermont 30 miles fromBurlington in the country. I am a pub-lic/environmental health consultant.”[email protected]

1997Class Secretary:Paul Calzada [email protected]

Jeff Albert, Ph.D. ’02, is the co-founderand CEO of the Aquaya Institute(www.aquaya.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to research,testing and promotion of water-resource innovations in the developingworld. Jeff also teaches at the AravaInstitute of Environmental Studies inIsrael and has an adjunct faculty posi-tion at Brown University, where hepreviously was jointly appointed in theDepartment of Geological Sciences andthe Center for Environmental Studies.Between 1998 and 2001, Jeff was on thestaff of the Water Commission, theIsraeli government agency with primeresponsibility for water allocation decision-making. Since 1997, he hasbeen involved in a variety of Israeli-Palestinian water and environmentalprojects, and he makes regular trips tothe region. Jeff is a citizen of both Israeland the United States. His doctoralresearch was devoted to exploring thewater deficit faced by the riparians ofthe Jordan River watershed, and exam-ining the risks and benefits associatedwith water supply augmentation meas-ures pursued by Israel. ZanderEvans, Ph.D. ’07, writes: “Twenty-fourhours after I got into Santa Fe, I wasoffered a job as research director at theForest Guild (www.forestguild.org).The Forest Guild is a smaller, moreenvironmentally conscientious versionof the Society of American Foresters.They seem to have tailored the positionto my interests: research into silvicul-ture and forest practices. The office ison the Santa Fe plaza and shouldafford a pretty high quality of life.”[email protected] Geraldine Lee writes: “I am marriedand have a baby! I married FaridHamid in Mariposa, Calif., in a fantastic,quiet ceremony officiated by a druidand a shaman. I am starting a business

to do training and expeditions to vari-ous ASEAN (Association of SoutheastAsian Nations) countries: Bhutan,Timor-Leste, China and India.” David Pinney, first selectman ofSomers, Conn., was recently elected to the board of directors of theConnecticut Conference ofMunicipalities (CCM). Kath Schomaker’96 noticed this news item in the CCMnewsletter, which she receives in hercapacity as an elected member of thelegislative council in Hamden, Conn.(Kath was elected in the fall of 2005).Also serving in elected office inConnecticut is Curtis Rand ’80, thefirst selectman of Salisbury.

1998Class Secretaries:Nadine Block [email protected] Claire [email protected]

Andrea Cristofani Geurts writes: “Iam a deputy director at Save The (SanFrancisco) Bay, leading the communityengagement, development and educa-tion programs.” Vanessa Johnsonwrites: “I taught English in Ecuador forseven months, and now I am gearing upfor a job search in Portland, Ore.” Brad Kahn writes: “After almost sevenyears at Pyramid Communications, Iam moving on to new adventures. Igot married and will travel for a yearwith my new bride, Erin Hemmings.Needless to say, we are both veryexcited. And never fear, after explor-ing the reaches of Africa, Asia andSouth America, we will be back inSeattle in the summer of 2007. Forthose of you interested in hearingabout our adventures from the road,send me an email and I will keep youposted.” [email protected]

1999Class Secretaries:Jocelyn Forbush [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Steve Bosak has a new job with RestoreAmerica’s Estuaries. ElizabethBennett Carroll is excited about afresh start in a brand new home in

Massachusetts. The move was neces-sary because Elizabeth is expecting achild this fall. Jen Heintz writes:“I’m engaged to a Sicilian chef andexpecting on March 18, 2007! HeidiKretser has two kids and is finishingher Ph.D. dissertation at Cornell, butworking for Wildlife ConservationSociety in the Adirondacks. She andAndy bought a natural foods grocery.”

2000Class Secretaries:Erica Schaub [email protected] Yu

Alethea Abuyuan writes: “I successfullydefended my dissertation in March –‘Faith-Based Organizations,International Development Agencies,and Environmental Management’ –and will receive the doctor of planningof development studies degree fromthe University of Southern California’sSchool of Policy, Planning, andDevelopment.” Monica Araya,Ph.D. ’06, who joined the Ph.D. pro-gram at F&ES in September 2001,defended her dissertation in March.She studied corporations in Brazil, Chileand Mexico, and analyzed drivers forcorporate transparency and environ-mental disclosure. She writes: “I hadto do fieldwork, so I did not stay inNew Haven all the time, in case youare wondering. It’s been an interestingjourney, and I will miss a lot of peoplefrom the doctoral program here. Onthe other hand, I am happy to be doneand ready to move on. I plan to goback to Latin America, and I am veryeager to work in Chile. I plan to join aSantiago-based consulting firm byJanuary 2007 and do part-time teachingat a business school. In the meantime,I’ll be part of an OECD (Organisationfor Economic Co-operation andDevelopment) project that analyzescompanies that are investing in envi-ronmental technologies.” ColoradoState University appointed JoyceBerry, Ph.D., vice president for univer-sity development and advancement. Inher new role, Berry will be responsiblefor planning, developing and adminis-tering a coordinated universitywideeffort to establish and strengthen tieswith university constituents; raisingprivate funds to support the strategic

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initiatives of the university; and over-seeing effective recognition and stew-ardship programs for alumni, donorsand friends. Terry Kellogg writes:“The opportunity to run an organiza-tion called One Percent For The Planetsurfaced last spring, and I jumped atit. One Percent is a movement builtaround companies that commit to giv-ing 1 percent of their sales to environ-mental causes. We certify that they doit and license a trademark for theiruse. We’re growing like crazy – morethan 400 members now versus 90 whenI started. Our growth is a testament tothe growth of the market for productsfrom companies that are values-aligned.”

2001Class Secretaries:Leigh Cash [email protected] Adam [email protected] Jennifer [email protected]

Liam Carr writes: “I have been acceptedinto the Texas A&M UniversityGeography Department for a Ph.D. onfish populations. I started in the fall inthe lab of Will Heyman, formerly ofTNC, and most likely will center mydissertation on work in Antigua.” Katina Henderson writes: “Josh and Ihad a beautiful baby boy on April 25.He was 7 lbs., 8.9 ounces and 20 incheslong at birth. Atticus Marcell Hansonis doing very well. His mommy isrecovering well too.” Chris Nyce isworking for the United States StateDepartment as a visa officer in London.

2002Class Secretaries:Catherine Bottrill and Roberto [email protected]

Dimos Anastasiou is a research con-sultant working on forestry and map-ping in Europe. He is based in Lamiaafter living in Athens and Italy. Heenjoys escaping to the mountains asmuch as possible. Mahua Acharya iscontinuing her work with the WorldBank in the carbon finance group and very much enjoys life inAlexandria, Va., with her husband,Muru. Congratulations to ZhannaBeisembaeva-Funaro and Michael

Funaro, who had a baby boy this sum-mer. We wish all the best to Kate Giese,who got married in North Carolinathis October to long-term boyfriend,Jed. Nancy Kong has moved to Oxford(U.K.) to work as legal counsel atEcoSecurities, a consultancy workingon international carbon abatementprojects. Catherine Bottrill, DerikFrederiksen, Sarah Canham, ErikaDiamond, Susanne Sessine, KimThurlow, Marc Stern, David Vexlerand Josh Zaffos got together inSeptember for the celebration of NealEtre and Kendra Kinscherf’s weddingin Cape Cod. Ania Vexler and AidanStern showed that they were up forthe party. Kim and Marc have movedto Blacksburg, Va., where Marc hastaken a lectureship at Virginia Tech,and Kim continues her work withTNC from home. Curtis Robinholdand wife Angela are living in centralLondon, where Curtis has been work-ing for BP with their new energy com-pany that was set up earlier this year.

2003Class Secretaries:Brian [email protected] [email protected]

Daniela Cusack writes: “I’m still plug-ging away at my Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley.I’m working on nitrogen pollutioneffects on soil C cycling. Sadly, I hadan accident in the field in Puerto Ricothis summer, got a bad back injury,and will be laid up for a few months.Drop a line if I haven’t heard fromyou!” Melanie Cutler writes: “Wewelcomed Emilia Rose Cutler, a.k.a.Baby Emmy (7 lbs., 11 ounces), intothe world on February 22, and weloved having the summer off to playwith her. We also moved into a new,slightly roomier apartment on thePhillips Academy campus. I’m stillteaching environmental science andbiology at Andover High School. I lovehaving guest speakers in my classes, soif any of you are in the area and wantto spend the day talking with teenagersabout environmental issues, let meknow.” [email protected] Lydia Dixon writes: “I spent about amonth in Bolivia in the spring, pad-

dling around in a collapsible canoe invarious bodies of water (Lake Titicacaand the Rio Hondo in the Amazon)and backpacking in the Andes. It waspretty spectacular. Other than that, I’mlooking forward to ski season inJackson.” Bill Finnegan writes: “Ispent July in Cairo making a radioprogram on garbage collectors andrecyclers for the BBC. After a completesensory overload, I returned to Vermontand the cramped office of TamarackMedia, which I share with Pete Landand Charleston Clyde Willoughby,Pete’s new puppy. I also developed anew medium of communication –using fruit on waffles to spell outimportant questions.” AlisonForrestel writes: “Kabir (Peay) and Idecided to get engaged. Thank you toAshton for silviculture, where it allstarted.” Brian Goldberg: “I’m get-ting settled in Washington, D.C., aftera year with the United Nations inThailand.” Bishop Grewell writes:“I just started my clerkship in Denverwith the 10th Circuit after graduatingfrom Northwestern Law. I will be inDenver until next August.” KateHammond writes: “After three yearstogether, I got married in September tothe wonderful Geoff Brown, who worksfor a biodiesel manufacturer.” BenHodgdon writes: “Margarita and I arein Portland, Ore., working out thedetails of our work to come in LatinAmerica with an NGO based here. Inthe meantime, we’ll be traveling throughthe West, Midwest and Deep South.”

Orawan “One” (Vorakanonta)Intarakomalyasut writes: “Please kindlynote my newly revised last name. I’mexpecting a baby boy this November.”

Krithi Karanth writes: “I spent thefirst six months of 2006 in India col-lecting data and am back at Duke.” Sunanda Kishore checked in from theWorld Bank: “Our little F&ES com-munity at the Environment Departmentis thriving now, with Sarah KayMatheson ’05, Judith Moore ’89,Nicole Maywah and so many more. It’sjust great to bump into each other, aswell as build synergies professionally.”

Taka Kobayashi writes: “I am atthe University of Michigan teachingstatistics in the ICPSR program, andwill be heading back to Bloomington,

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Ind., to finish my Ph.D. in a year. Iguess I need a job because I will getmarried next summer. Does anyonewant to have a GIS and spatial statis-tics specialist?” Ted Lanzano ismarried to Monica Hurtado from Chile.He works for the EPA on solid wasteprojects in Central America. JamesLucas writes: “Deb and I had our firstchild, a baby boy, on May 27. Hisname is Fletcher Jameson Lucas, andhe is a little angel. I have joinedPricewaterhouseCoopers in its Global Forestry Practice. I will beworking on forestry audits all overNorth America under the SFI, CSAand ISO certification programs. I hopeto work within our sustainable businesssolutions group and branch out intosustainability report auditing.” Florence Miller lives in Vermont andworks for the Center for WholeCommunities. Terry Miller writes:“Kate and I discovered a whole newlevel of love and happiness when wewelcomed Henry Miles Miller into theworld on July 12. Henry is an absolutejoy, and mom is doing great. I continuein my role as green building programcoordinator for the City of Portland,when I’m not changing diapers.” Fuyumi Naito writes: “I am going tobe a mom in January. Plus, I got anopportunity to work in Geneva forthree years.” Curtis Robinholdwrites: “Angela and I are living inLondon, visiting with F&ESers SashaSilver ’01, Ramsay Ravenal ’02, ScottHedges and Catherine Bottrill. I’mworking for BP’s alternative energybusiness as the commercial managerfor our wind business in Europe andAsia. We’re also enjoying the traveland food in Europe and Asia.”[email protected] AbdallahShah writes: “I am still in Dar esSalaam; life goes on as usual. The onlydifference is I have more children.This year Emly McDiarmid ’78 visitedTanzania and we met. I was so happyto see her in this part of the world,and she got to see my family. The onlydownside was that her visit was tooshort.” Jay Shepherd writes: “I amworking as the Washington, D.C.-basedacquisitions and development managerfor Weston Solutions, renovating formerenvironmentally challenged properties

into a wide variety of asset productclasses, including industrial, retail andmultifamily residential. I am responsiblefor equity investment in both cleanand contaminated real estate. Asidefrom managing the acquisition, I man-age all the pre-development (zoningchanges, site plan approval, publicsubsidies entitlement, utility easements,debt participation, etc.) and develop-ment of the improvements. Lately it hasbeen mostly residential construction,but all asset classes are within ourscope.” Jay will have a second master’sdegree in real estate development fromJohns Hopkins in 2007. Jay also writes:“Camille will be 4 years old in March2007.” Scott Threadgill writes:“Marni Rapoport and Nathaniel Carrollwere married in Gearhart, Ore., onSeptember 2 at what became a mini-F&ES reunion. In attendance fromF&ES were Alison Forrestel and KabirPeay, Bill Finnegan and Flo Miller, LizRoberts, Pete Land, Oliver Grantham,John Homan, Terry Miller (and beau-tiful wife and new son), Betony Jones,Karen (Murray) Hardigg, Jesse Barnes,Scott and ‘Sageboy’ Threadgill and, ofcourse, Marni and Nathaniel. Thenumber of Loggerhythms in atten-dance allowed us to sing the ‘MerryForester’ song during the ceremony –a special treat for us, Marni andNathaniel. TGIF, polar bear swims,schoolyard games and Wednesdaynight poker were also recreated for theweekend. Unfortunately, there was nosauna.” Veda Truesdale writes:“Florence Lee (Flo) was born onSeptember 29, 2005. Lots and lots ofpictures of her are available on ourwebsite, www.natandveda.com.” Toru Uemachi writes: “I left Beijingfor Tokyo in late July. Now I work inthe president’s office of JICA (JapanInternational Cooperation Agency) asa secretary to the senior vice president.”

Nicole Vickey writes: “Jesse, Elle andI are living in Mobile, Ala., and I amworking for The Nature Conservancy.We’re finishing an exciting reefrestoration project in the MississippiSound, just purchased 14,000 acresalong the Perdido River and are gettingunder way with our first seagrass pro-tection project. Jesse and I got backfrom an amazing trip to South Africa

for some wildlife viewing. Elle will be2 this fall, so life is full of giggles andtantrums.” Yvette Williams writes:“I am off to the University ofMaryland. I was accepted into the doctoral program with the Marine,Estuarine, and Environmental ScienceDepartment through an IGERT fellow-ship. I am very excited, since I had beenseeking an interdisciplinary program.”

Jason Wilmot and Kate celebratedthe birth of their second child, Luke, inlate spring. Jason is leading a wolverineresearch effort in Yellowstone NationalPark, and is the director of the NorthernRockies Conservation Cooperative inJackson, Wyo. He wonders if trying tojuggle too much makes one a clown.

Andrew Winston writes: “Secondchild (and second boy) on its way(and here by the time this hits thepress); a new house in Connecticut –leaving New York City after 12 years;my first car, believe it or not, a newToyota Prius; and my book, Green toGold.” (See Bookshelf, page 17.)

2004Class Secretaries:Keith Bisson [email protected] [email protected] Vogel [email protected] Laura Wooley

Jessie Barnes writes: “I am enteringthe third year of my Ph.D. program insustainable development at Columbia.I am enjoying life much more nowthat I have finished course work, andam living in a great apartment withSarah Vogel ’03 in Park Slope. I will bestarting my research on farmer waterresources management in Syria nextsummer.” Keith Bisson has returnedto Maine. He lives in Orono at theconfluence of the Stillwater andPenobscot Rivers. Cecilia Blascowrites: “Greetings from Mexico, wherethe copious rains have done nothingto dampen political fervors. We’re allwaiting to see who the next presidentwill be, and what impact this will haveon environmental policies. I’m veryhappy with my job at the MexicanNature Conservation Fund, where Iwork on watershed management proj-ects and was recently given temporarycustody of the portfolio of projects in

clas

s notes


the Gulf of California. It’s an incrediblepart of the world that I highly recom-mend for a visit.” After graduating,Libby Borden spearheaded a mappingproject for the town of Norfolk,Conn., which included the mapping ofnatural resources, protected lands andhistoric and cultural sites, among oth-ers. The map project is ongoing, butshe is also involved with a myriadother town organizations and projects,the latest being Smart Power. George Chih-Kuo Chiang writes: “Stillin Boston and have passed the qualify-ing exam for my Ph.D. program. I amplanning to spend most of next yeardoing research in Cologne, Germany.”

Hahn-Ning Chou writes: “I’ve beentraveling so much, I forget what mybed looks like. Thailand, Taiwan,Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Chinaand India are some of the countriesI’m regularly visiting these couple ofmonths. Hopefully I will be able tostay home for a week soon.” AveryCohn’s doctoral research at U.C. SantaCruz focuses on renewable energy pol-itics in the Americas. AmandaFarris is still getting paid to tromparound the woods and make music inbeautiful Maine. Betony Jones isstill living in the Wild West, “encoun-tering F&ES folk everywhere I go.”She is working on forestry issues andcarbon sequestration in the SierraNevada. For fun, she is busy climbingmountains, kayaking, biking, swim-ming in cold lakes, playing with herdog, seeing lots of live music andgoing to lots of weddings. AmitKapur, Ph.D., writes: “I have completedmy postdoctoral research at theUniversity of Michigan, and have nowjoined Five Winds International as aconsultant in the Boston office.” Christopher “Fox” Kral writes: “Istayed with Robbie, or Zhizhou Zhang,and his wife during my internship withthe UNDP China country office inBeijing from May to July this past sum-mer. Robbie specializes in industrialeconomics/ecology as a consultant forCEB Monitor. He was amazing, warmand so welcoming. Good times eatingBeijing Duck in the Hutongs!”[email protected] [email protected] CindyKushner is working to improve water

and energy in rural areas of Timor-Leste! John Longstreth writes: “I amretiring in mid-August from Audubon. Ihave been here over five years, and Ifeel it’s time to give someone else withfresh imagination and energy a chanceat leading this terrific place. It is morethan a full-time job and fairly exhaust-ing for someone with arthritic knees.We are moving to the Point Reyes areain California, actually to Inverness, thelast little village before entering theNational Park. We have bought anolder house overlooking Tomales Bay.My wife, Carolyn, is a fifth-generationCalifornian. She has wanted to moveback there for quite a while, and I willturn 60 next year, so this seems like agood time. There are a ton of environ-mental organizations in West Marin,and I figure we will start volunteeringonce we get our feet under us. Severalof the groups work on invasives; Idon’t think I will ever escape from thenasty little buggers.” Liz Martinwrites that she is happy to return to theNatural Resources Defense Council inWashington, D.C., to work in their cli-mate center. Liz works on national andstate climate policy in the Mid-AtlanticStates. Liz and her husband, Alex, justbought a little townhouse inTenleytown, right next to Fort RenoPark and the Metro. [email protected]

Garrett Miller writes: “I have beendeveloping a company committed togreening the world’s workplaces, andam now working on broadcasting ourlaunch. TheGreenOffice.com offers amultitude of tools and services that Ithink many F&ES alumni will finduseful and eye-opening. The companyis an online retailer of environmentallyand socially responsible office productsthat are labeled and ranked based onkey sustainability indicators. We carrythe ‘dark’ green products environmen-tally conscious consumers cannot findat big box stores and the ‘light’ greenconventional products with which weare all familiar. With over 40,000products in our catalog, we are truly a viable solution for any office’sresponsible procurement strategy.TheGreenOffice.com also has a varietyof responsible business practices, suchas climate conscious shipping, wherebywe offset the carbon emissions related

to a product’s delivery. Coupled with theretail side of the company are a host ofeducational tools, including the OfficeFootprint CalculatorTM, which allowsusers to gauge their offices’ impact onthe environment.” Liz (Wyman)Mills got married in June to Jarod Mills.She is the public outreach coordinatorat Stonewall Farm, a nonprofit workingfarm and education center in Keene,N.H. Christian Palmer writes thathe and his wife, Damaris, had theirfirst child; Lorenzo Santos Palmer wasborn on March 27, and is doing great.They just moved back to Hawaii, andare excited to be back in the tropics.

Christopher Riely is located on thewest side of the Cascades in WashingtonState, where he is working for a fewmonths at Seattle’s Cedar RiverWatershed, the source of the city’sdrinking water. Most of Christopher’swork is devoted to an innovative thin-ning program in second-growth foreststands intended to accelerate thedevelopment of late-successional/old-growth forest structure and [email protected] Nalin Sahni writes: “I’m back inCanada and studying environmentallaw at the University of Toronto.”[email protected] Neha Samiwrites: “I’m in Ann Arbor, at theUniversity of Michigan. I’m a year intothe Ph.D. program in urban planningand enjoying it very much. My researchfocuses on peripheral city growth inIndian cities in the post-liberalizationperiod. I’ve just returned from a coupleof months in India doing a bit of pre-liminary fieldwork selecting case studysites. I hope to return there in a yearor so to start my fieldwork.” Corinna Steward continues to workfor Grassroots International in Boston.She writes: “I’ve been getting to knowthe farm and conservation issues facingU.S. family farmers, visiting farms inthe Midwest and the Mississippi Delta.I also had a chance to go to Panamathis summer with the UNDP’s SmallGrants Program and help them tomarket biodiversity-based products.Jen Vogel’s wedding was a reunion ofsorts in northern Vermont, and I sawRobin Barr during her brief time inthe United States before heading backto Indonesia.” In April, Brynn

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Taylor left the EPA and her goodF&ES friends in D.C., and movedhome to California. She is working atthe Breast Cancer Fund in SanFrancisco, working on the environ-mental links to breast cancer. Shebought her first home on August 1 inSan Francisco, and is looking forward toconnecting more regularly with Bay AreaF&ESers. [email protected] Vizcaino writes: “Greetingsfrom my homeland. I’m working withConservation International Venezuelain its office in Caracas, and supervisingwork with local partners south of theOrinoco River.” Abby Weinbergwrites that she has passed the two-yearmark at the Open Space Institute inNew York City, and that she continuesto enjoy working on forest conservationeasements in Maine. Ethan Winterwrites: “My wife, Anne, and I had ababy boy on July 29, Owen WoodsWinter. I am the Northeast programcoordinator for the Land Trust Allianceand often bump into conservation leaders from the F&ES ranks. We live in Saratoga Springs, the gateway to the Adirondacks, and are alwayshappy to host F&ES gatherings.”[email protected]

2005Class Secretaries:David Cherney [email protected] Cudjoe [email protected] Lacy [email protected] Urquhart [email protected]

Ines Angulo writes: “I’m a short-termconsultant at the GEF evaluation office,and I’m working on the reviews of ter-minal evaluations of GEF’s biodiversityprojects.” Lauren Baker writes: “Ihave been working with the Center forInternational Environmental Law since last October, where I focus onissues of community rights to naturalresources in Asia and Africa and onhuman rights and the environment inLatin America. I have been enjoyinglife in Washington, D.C., including living with Sarah Matheson, and willstay in the area for at least one moreyear.” Cherelle Blazer writes: “Ihave taken a job as an environmentalconsultant in Dallas, and have a beauti-ful baby boy, Julian Theodore Blazer,born October 25, 2005.” Pat Burtis

42 environment:YALE

She is working on a thesis about non-timber forest products. She eyes a Ph.D. and has ambitionsto be in academia, but only if her role is an active one, “solving real-world problems by usingthe tools of academia.”

While students like these are the proof in the pudding, so to speak, they would not havenot gotten their chances without the help of generous donors. “People who care about the envi-ronment and make the connection to education find giving to Yale compelling,” said Gentry, direc-tor of development. “I deal with donors who are committed to the environment and see their giftsas acts of stewardship. I introduce them to students who’ve received their aid, and they tell me thatthis interaction is the most fulfilling part of supporting Yale.”

Among F&ES’ most generous donors are Bob and Sharon Buchanan.“Sharon and I have continued to develop an awareness of our natural environment through

our common enjoyment of birding and her involvement as a board member of theMaryland/D.C. Chapter of The Nature Conservancy,” said Bob Buchanan, a classmate of DeanSpeth’s, Yale Law School Class of 1964.

The Buchanans are completing a four-year pledge to help fund the scholarship initiative Guscreated to attract the best students worldwide to the F&ES program, and have made another com-mitment to help support the Yale Project on Climate Change (http://environment.yale.edu/climate).

“We hope that such education and outreach will lead to policies and programs that mitigatethe waste and unsustainable practices that are too common today, and even change those policiesthat don’t take into account scientific evidence that global warming is not just cyclical,” he said.

Another generous F&ES donor is Josie Merck, who created the Vervane Foundation in 1993 tosupport sustainable environmental initiatives in Connecticut and nationally. Her first connectionwith F&ES was in 1998 when, as a recent graduate of the Yale School of Art, she designed a parkproject on Block Island. She later collaborated with Stephen Kellert, Ph.D. ’71, Tweedy OrdwayProfessor of Social Ecology at F&ES, on a course that combined biophilia and the built environment.

Merck knew Dean Speth from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which he helped foundand on whose board she sat. “Gus’ passion for urgent action to correct our destructive assaultson our environment is deeply compelling,” she said. “His appeal to us to provide scholarshipmonies was clear and urgent.”

Most convincing were his descriptions of the specific students that F&ES was losing becauseof a lack of scholarship support. Merck became so “jazzed” with F&ES – she refers to it as “anenvironmental United Nations” – that she made a four-year commitment, and the “JazzScholarship” was born. The name derives from the term for the myriad grassroots-level effortsto take on the crisis of climate disruption that are explained in Speth’s recent book, Red Sky atMorning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment.

Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher Jr. ’04 is not only a generous supporter of aid for scholarships,but one of the more remarkable graduates of F&ES, having received a master’s degree in envi-ronmental management after a successful career in investment planning. He was vice presidentfor Bear, Stearns & Co.; senior vice president for Kidder, Peabody & Co.; and in 1991 createdFletcher Asset Management, of which he is chair and chief executive officer.

Fletcher focuses on financial planning in areas of social and environmental sustainability.He has also worked on forest defragmentation projects, the creation of urban parks, wetlandsrestoration, coastal ecology studies and the preservation of historic architecture.

“Simply put, F&ES graduates work to make the world a better place,” said Fletcher.“Unfortunately, many of those noble and rewarding occupations don’t come with salaries thatwould allow repayment of substantial student loans. The availability of financial aid mightallow a prospective student to pursue her dream of studying at F&ES and then perhaps work fora small nonprofit organization.”

Fletcher welcomes the idea of F&ES graduates pursuing careers on Wall Street, where theycould use their environmental and social awareness to influence investment decisions.

“If they do, then they certainly should remember to donate to F&ES to support financial aid!,”said Fletcher.

Scholarship Aid Needed...continued from page 30

writes: “After six months of huntingaround for the right job and followinga long and arduous interview process,I recently received a KauffmanFellowship (Kauffman.org), which willpost me for two years at AmadeusCapital Partners, a London-based ven-ture capital firm specializing in tech-nology investing. Amadeus Capital hastraditionally invested in IT, telecomsand medical technology, but is veryinterested in the clean energy and ‘cleantech’ space.” [email protected] SethDunn writes: “After graduation, I wenttrekking in the Indian Himalayas andvolcano-watching and manta ray-div-ing on the Big Island with residentHawaiians, Alice Bond and VirginiaLacy, before starting my job with GEEnergy’s wind segment in Schenectady,N.Y. I am enjoying work and live inSaratoga Springs, down the street fromEthan Winter ’04 and his family andthe foothills of the Adirondacks.” Trisha Eyler writes: “I am inWoodbridge, Va., working as an aircompliance inspector for the VirginiaDepartment of Environmental Quality.”

Jamie Fergusson writes: “Still livingwith my lovely wife, Sarah, in D.C.,and working for the IFC/World Bank.Only additions to the family are twocats, Taxi and Madison.” LoniGardner writes: “I have successfullystudied for and passed the New Yorkand Connecticut bar exams, and startedworking as an attorney in Connecticutat Murtha Cullina LLP. My practiceareas include environmental litigation.I have had the pleasure to work onland conservation issues, as well asprojects where the end result is thecleanup of contaminated property inConnecticut. I am still living in NewHaven.” [email protected] [email protected] AnnGrodnik writes: “Mike and I bicycledour way from New Haven to Seattlethis summer, and we have been enjoy-ing settling in since late July. I amworking in public finance in the energysector for a regional investment bankcalled Seattle-Northwest Securities. Iam also heading up efforts to recruitnew members to our F&ES cabal inthese parts.” Christopher Hudakwrites: “I am four months into aFulbright Fellowship in Mongolia,

working on establishing a nationalmercury assessment to try and under-stand the extent of gold mining pollu-tion here.” Andrea Johnson writes:“I’ve been conducting research inIndonesia, and spent six gorgeousmonths in Panama working with theYale/Smithsonian joint venture, Programfor Native Species Restoration. I begana job in D.C. as a campaigner with theEnvironmental Investigation Agency, asmall NGO that documents and cam-paigns against international eco-crimes,such as trafficking in illegal timber,poached animals and banned sub-stances.” Monika Kumar writes:“Since graduating last year, I have beenworking on short-term consultingprojects with Kinetix LLC, a smallconsulting firm in New York City. Oneof my responsibilities was to analyzedata, then draft and develop contentfor a sustainability report for the StateStreet Coffee Company in Nicaragua.In addition, I was volunteering myservices with the Women’s Networkfor a Sustainable Future, a forum forwomen executives in business providingsupport to each other in sustainabilityissues. I am interning with HolcimGroup Support Ltd., a Swiss cementcompany. Located in Zurich, I amredrafting their sustainability/corporateresponsibility handbook, which will beutilized by group companies to set upand carry out their sustainability proj-ects. Simultaneously, I am traveling thecountry, hiking mountains, exploringvillages and trying all sorts of choco-lates, chocolates and more chocolates!”

Virginia Lacy traveled for a coupleof months around Asia with two otherF&ES alums, Jim Cronan and DebFillis, before making her final stop inHawaii, where she is working as amember of the Rocky MountainInstitute’s energy and resources groupin the Kona office. Since moving toHawaii, she has made two major pur-chases – a used diesel Scout II, whichruns on waste vegetable oil, and a usedsurfboard. Both have an equal numberof dings. Michelle Lichtenfelswrites: “I’ve been working forEnvironment Northeast in New Havensince September 2005 on forest carbonsequestration policy in the Northeast.”

Alex McIntosh writes: “I’ve been

working at Nestle Waters NorthAmerica, putting together a corporatecitizenship program for its bottled-water operations. Building a sustain-able condominium in Stamford,Conn.; it’s nearly done, and experi-menting has taught me a lot.” MattMuspratt writes: “I am halfwaythrough law school at the Universityof Michigan, and spent the summer inrural Sierra Leone advocating for farm-ers and participating in mediations. Thisfall I’ll be in D.C. for an externship withthe International Labor Rights Fund;the group sues multinational corpora-tions that commit human rights viola-tions abroad.” Angela LopezQuiros writes: “This past year, I’vebeen in Austin, working for the TexasCommission on Environmental Qualityand doing environmental audits in theenforcement division. Because of visaissues, I have to go back to thePhilippines. I don’t yet know what I’mgoing to do except maybe travel a littlewith money I’ve saved, and then lookfor work in the Philippines. I hope toreturn to the United States in the fallof 2007.” Jen Ronk writes: “Thebig news for me is the birth of CorbinJoseph Keichline on November 25,2005. Also, in addition to working forthe Renewable Energy and InternationalLaw Project, I recently became a senior environmental scientist withCape Environmental. What a year!” Roy Schiff, Ph.D., writes: “I do riverrestoration consulting work in Vermontand New Hampshire.” ElenaTraister writes: “After teaching envi-ronmental science for a year at theMassachusetts College of Liberal Arts,I’m now starting my Ph.D. at theUniversity of New Hampshire, lookingat the biogeochemical response ofrivers to disturbance and restoration.”

See Rolando Mendez-Treneman ina photo on the school’s alumni websitewhile he was on a bear cub rescuemission. “Two of us biologists hikedrather far into the mountains, in knee-deep snow and on steep terrain, whenwe met a female bear that was emergingfrom her winter snooze. She had twocubs, born this winter, with her already.Enjoy the photo, as the experience isquite the memorable one indeed.”[email protected] Ben Urquhart

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writes: “Julie and I are now engaged.We are planning a wedding for some-time next summer. I continue to staybusy as a private consulting forester inBoston. I have been writing manage-ment plans for private landowners andsome Olmsted urban parks. SometimesI even get to use a chainsaw and paintgun. I became a licensed forester thisSeptember and will expand my clien-tele throughout eastern Massachusetts.”

Zoe Wang writes: “I am in Taiwandoing the same job. I moved to Berkeley,Calif., in September for a six-monthvisiting scholarship.” Songlin Wangwrites: “I am the marine program officerwith WWF-China in Beijing. Animportant part of my work is to coop-erate with WWF-Japan to support theYellow Sea Large Marine EcosystemProject, which is a transboundary integrated marine management projectfunded primarily by the GlobalEnvironment Facility and led by theUNDP. I met Seth Cook ’98, Ph.D.’04, on the first day I worked at theBeijing office.” [email protected]

2006Class Secretaries:Krista Breen [email protected] Flora Chi [email protected] Renshaw [email protected] Savery [email protected]

Janny Min Choy writes: “I just startedwork in August as a hydrologist withthe Bureau of Land Management inwestern Colorado. This beautifullystark landscape of canyons and desertis certainly different from the lushnessof New England. Before this, I went ona National Outdoor Leadership Schooltrip to Alaska, where I backpacked inthe eastern Chugach and sea kayakedin Prince William Sound from Valdezto Whittier.” KonstantineDrakonakis writes: “I just came backfrom Europe – Ireland and Greece –visiting family and friends. I’m review-ing proposals and managing projectsfor the emergent-technologies arm ofthe CT Clean Energy Fund.” RossGeredien writes: “I am finishing a GISmapping project on mountaintopremoval mining for Appalachian

Voices in Boone, N.C. We are gettingready to launch a new interactive website with a Google Earth interfacethat shows the devastation in the coalmining region. The URL will bewww.ilovemountains.org. I will con-tinue to look for full-time work over thenext few months, but in the meantimeI hope to keep working on conservationand energy issues in the Appalachians.”

Oliver Enuoh writes: “I am explor-ing job opportunities with internationalenvironmental agencies in Nigeria andAfrica.” Wendy Francesconi writes:“I’m doing a doctoral program in theSchool of Forest Resources andConservation at the University ofFlorida. My focus will be on agro-forestry combined with landscapeecology and conservation biology.” Erin Flanagan writes: “I was gettingready for the New York and Connecticutbar exams, before I moved out toCleveland to work as a federal lawclerk for the Honorable James Gwin,U.S. District judge for the NorthernDistrict of Ohio. Having been to theBuckeye State once before relocatinghere, I’m glad to report that it is actu-ally quite groovy. I live in the ultra-hip‘warehouse’ district, where I enjoy aspectacular view of the CuyahogaRiver and Lake Erie.” Dan Bradenwrites: “I got married this summer,drove around the country and am nowstarting the Yale teacher training pro-gram, which means one more year inNew Haven before we hopefully moveto Vermont.” Dan Jones writes:“I’m basically running a nonprofit thatis developing a large park in the sub-urbs of Louisville, Ky. (27 miles long,about 5,000 acres so far) We have goodfunding, both public and private, andmy job is to manage the development ofthe park. We’re trying to move beyondthe problem of sprawl by creatinggreen infrastructure in advance ofdevelopment.” Krista Andersonwrites: “I moved back to the Bostonarea, started work as an analyst for theU.S. Government AccountabilityOffice, and will be getting married inDecember.” Fuphan Chou writes:“This summer I spent an amazingmonth in China, mostly in Yunnan, aprovince that borders both Vietnam

and Tibet and has the highest ethnicdiversity and biodiversity in China. Mymom and I were teaching at a summercamp in Yuanyang for poor rural chil-dren, run by an NGO called The PeachFoundation. I began work at theInternational Finance Corporation inSeptember. I am based in D.C. My firstyear-long rotation will be in theInfrastructure Department, and mytitle is associate investment officer. Myjob is to evaluate and structure projectsfor possible investment by theInternational Finance Corp.” Jessica Darling writes: “I am living inBoston and working at the IpswichRiver Watershed Association withEmily Levin ’05.” Reilly Dibnerwrites: “I am in Ireland for a year ofresearch as a Fulbright Fellow. I’ll bein Galway. I’m training for the DublinCity marathon, applying to Ph.D. pro-grams and preparing for 10 months ofrain.” Catherine Schloegel spenther summer performing Excel magicwith spreadsheets and pivot tables. Shewas a business consultant to PicturedRocks National Lakeshore and lived inthe mythic Upper Peninsula ofMichigan. Larissa Yocom spent thesummer hard at work in Yale-MyersForest doing research, and then stayedon to be a teacher’s assistant at mods.

Yue Wang is an intern in the WestVirginia field office of The NatureConservancy. She is busy helping withthe decision-making process regardingeco-regional planning in the WestAllegheny Plateau. After the internship,Yue may head to the West Coast tovisit friends in Seattle. ChimiWangmo sends greetings and excitingnews from Bhutan. She writes: “I havebecome the CEO for an NGO calledRENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurtureand Empower Women), under thepresidency of Her Majesty Ashi SangayChoden Wangchuck, the Queen ofBhutan.” Dhyana Quintanar beganworking in Mexico City in August atthe Center of Sustainable Transport ofMexico. She is coordinator of mobilityand urban development, and managesbus rapid transit projects in large citiesin Mexico. She also is involved innational and metropolitan urban trans-port public policy projects.

clas

s notes


Ben “Shep” Shepherd is living inBrooklyn and working for a green designfirm (atelier ten, www.atelierten.com). [email protected] JasonRauch is beginning Ph.D. work withTom Graedel this fall. Kristen Welshis working as the program facilitatorfor the Yale Environmental Leadershipand Training Initiative, funded by anew grant that F&ES just received tooffer short courses for locals in LatinAmerica and Southeast Asia. AliRau is a first-year law student at theUniversity of Connecticut in Hartford.This summer she volunteered on farmsin Ireland and the U.K., where she dida lot of fruit and veggie harvesting,cooking and running around after ani-mals and kids. [email protected]

Perrine Punwani was in Guatemalafor all of July learning Spanish, andthen traveled in Canada. Patti Rubywrites: “I took a job with the UpperRaritan Watershed Association. I workin the land and water conservationprograms and will soon branch intomore advocacy and policy work. I amalso volunteering my time with thePeople & Predators Fund, a nonprofitstarted by Laly Lichtenfeld ’99, Ph.D.’05. I’ve been lucky enough to catchup with other F&ESers, like NicoleRousmaniere and Caren Mintz.” Christina Czarella got married onJune 29 in New Haven and honey-mooned at an eco-resort in Costa Rica.She writes: “This went well until thefifth day when my new husband con-tracted malaria, which we didn’t find outabout until many doctor appointmentslater back in the United States. I havebeen working for the National Councilfor Science and the Environment inWashington, D.C., since May. I amprogram coordinator for the WildlifeHabitat Policy Research Program andthe National Commission for Scienceand Sustainable Forestry.” AlexisRingwald is off to India to study Hindiin the Himalayas for a couple of monthsbefore moving to New Delhi to beginher Fulbright research at the TataEnergy Research Institute. She will befocusing on investment in alternativefuels like biofuels, climate change and corporate governance, agricultureand water issues, and everything else

under the sun. She will continue herphotography; take up the study of Indian classical dance and choreograph a dance fusion with her previous studies of tango and ballet;and make mini-documentaries of thefascinating stories she comes across.

Jill Savery spent three weeks inEurope visiting Barcelona, Paris andmuch of northern Italy. She writes: “Ihave temporarily moved to California.I’ve been busy looking for a positionin the Olympic sport and environmentfield.” Kevin Tidwell is working atthe Global Environment Fund in D.C.on sustainable forestry investments inemerging markets. He has no pets, lotsof work and lots of travel, and loves it.

Xizhou Xizhou is working atIndustrial Economics, and is comfortedto know that that he’s actually usingthings he learned in F&ES classes. Heis on a Justice Department case fightingan extremely bad and cunning polluter.

Rosi Kerr spent the summer inAlaska, leading river trips and turningfish guts into biodiesel. DahviWilson was a river guide out of Utahand Colorado this summer. She had awonderful time and doesn’t know whyshe should ever find a real job. Caley Johnson writes: “I moved toGolden, Colo., and started working inthe technology transfer group of theTransportation Center at the NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory. I likebeing back in my home state andenjoyed the summer activities ofColorado. Kate Hamilton and I wentto Brazil for three weeks in August andloved it.” Gonzalo Griebenowwrites: “I am in Peru and have beentraveling to the Amazon, the Andes andthe coast in Peru, places like Cuzco(Machu Picchu), Puno and the Nazcalines in the coast. After that, I startedto work on a project evaluating a rain-forest (close to the border with Brazil)to create a private conservation area.This is because the new transoceanicroad, which will go from Brazil to Peruand cross the Amazon, will bring lotsof economic benefits, but also lots ofmigration and impacts to this pristinerainforest area that is very close to thePeruvian national park, Bahuaja Sonene.My work is to present a proposal to

potential funders, like the GlobalEnvironment Facility, World Bank andConservation International, to comeup with a plan that can mitigate theimpact of this new road.” MelanieLoftus writes: “This summer I starteda cross-country bike trip known as theHabitat Bicycle Challenge. I say ‘started’because in the first week of the trip, onmy way into Johnstown, Penn., I had acollision with a dog, crashed and brokemy collarbone and my elbow. So, I wenthome to Virginia for a few weeks, gota few pins in the elbow and healed abit. At the end of June, I rejoined theriders in Kansas, and when we got toUtah, I was able to hop back on mybike and ride the last 1,000 miles of thetrip through Nevada and California. Irode into San Francisco on the GoldenGate Bridge on July 30. I moved to SanFrancisco in August.” MaryMcNealy writes: “After traveling inSoutheast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia,Vietnam) for the summer, I have settledin Philadelphia and started workingfor McNeil Consumer (part of Johnson& Johnson).” Alice Bond writes:“I’ve moved from New Haven to SanFrancisco to work for The WildernessSociety. I settled into an apartment inthe Inner Richmond neighborhood for the next few months (betweenGolden Gate Park and The Presidio).”

Lex Hovani writes: “I am living in the Washington, D.C., area andworking for The Nature Conservancy’sGlobal Forest Initiative. I am helpingdevelop country-level pilot projects to test a new market for carbon credits from avoided deforestation.” [email protected] [email protected] Luisa Lema Velezwrites: “I am a program fellow in sus-tainable development in D.C. workingfor the United Nations Foundation.”

Madeleine Meek writes: “In March,I hope to leave for the Peace Corps fortwo years in Morocco, where I will befocusing on agroforestry, environmentaleducation and protected areas manage-ment while learning Arabic (and possi-bly Berber) and immersing myself inthe wonderful culture.”[email protected] [email protected]

Fall 2006 45

Visit the Yale

School of Forestry

& Environmental

Studies website at



R. Keith Arnold ’38 (1913-2006), aneducator, scientist and administrator,passed away on April 22 from com-plications of Parkinson’s disease.Keith was born in Long Beach, Calif.,to H. Park Arnold and Mayme SwanArnold. He received his B.S. degreein forestry from the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley in 1937.Following his studies at Yale, hereceived his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Michigan in 1950. Healso served in the Navy from 1942 to1946. He was an assistant professorof forestry at U.C. Berkeley, and deanof natural resources at the Universityof Michigan (1966-1969). At theUniversity of Texas (1973-1979), he was assistant vice president forresearch, associate dean and directorof the Division of Natural Resourcesand the Environment of the LyndonB. Johnson School of Public Affairs.After retirement, he remained anactive educator by accepting visiting-professor appointments at severaluniversities across the country. He also had an extensive career inforest research with the federal government in the Department ofAgriculture, Forest Service. At thePacific Southwest Forest and RangeExperiment Station in California, hewas director of forest fire researchand, later, the station director(1957-1963). In Washington, D.C.,he was director of forest protectionresearch (1963-1966) and deputychief of research (1969-1973) forthe Forest Service. His personalresearch focus was forest-fire behavior.During the 1950s, he helped coordi-nate Operation Firestop in Californiaand led efforts to determine theeffects of nuclear blasts on forestsfor the military. The aerial applica-tion of fire retardant was inventedand tested in Operation Firestop. Healso directed some of the earlyresearch on prescribed fire and fuelreduction navigation, wrote trainingmanuals and worked on methods tocapture the U505 submarine. Hewas predeceased by his former

wives, Helen Dubose Arnold andLillian DeAngelis Arnold, and hissons Bruce Arnold and RobertDeAngelis. He is survived by histhird wife, Ruth Stroud Arnold; hissons R. Park Arnold, J. Ross Arnold,Michael DeAngelis and Lee Douglas;and his daughter, Anita DeAngelis.

Alice Jean Eichold ’89 (1947-2006),a native of Mobile, Ala., and a long-time resident of California, died onAugust 23, in Mobile, where she wasactive with the Historical MobilePreservation Society. Alice receiveda B.A. from Mary Baldwin College, aB.A. and M.A. in architecture fromTulane University and an M.A. inarchitecture from the University ofCalifornia, in addition to her M.F.S.in land use planning from Yale. Sheworked with NASA on architectureand land use planning for outerspace environments. She is survivedby her sister, Elizabeth EicholdWalmsley, and her brother, Dr.Bernard Herbert Eichold II; sixnephews, Hughes P. Walmsley III,William Madoc Walmsley, ThomasSemmes Walmsley, Samuel EicholdIII, Alfred Delchamps Eichold andBernard Herbert Eichold III; and agreat nephew and several cousins.

Joseph Ely ’35 (1911-2006), whowas credited with giving birth tomodern aerial firefighting, died inChico, Calif., at the age of 94. As aforest control officer working in theMendocino National Forest in the1950s, Joseph was interested inmaking wildfires safer to fight byattacking them from the air. Othershad tried with very limited results.In 1953, he saw 15 firefighters diewhile fighting a Mendocino NationalForest blaze from the ground, whichinspired him to adapt a crop-dustingplane for aerial firefighting. Hismain contribution was conceivingof a coordinated attack on a wildfirefrom air and land, and developingthe equipment and practices neces-sary to allow that to happen. He was

born in Pewaukee, Wis. After hisyears at Yale, he spent his wholecareer with the Forest Service. Hemoved to Chico following retire-ment, and taught forest and rangemanagement courses at Butte Collegeand Chico State University. His wife,Katherine, died in 1997. In 2005, hewas the honored guest at a 50thanniversary celebration of aerialfirefighting.

Richard Haley ’94 (1962-2006) diedon June 3 following a car accidentin Flagstaff, Ariz. Richard was centersand education director for AudubonNew York in 2005, overseeing thefiscal, staff, facility and programmaticaspects of Audubon Centers andSanctuaries, including ButtercupFarm, Constitution Marsh, ProspectPark, Rheinstrom Hill and TheodoreRoosevelt, and leading the effort tostart new centers at Knox State Parkand Montezuma Wetlands Complex.Richard had over 12 years of prior experience directing naturecenters, including the New CanaanNature Center and the GoodwinConservation Center, operated byConnecticut’s Department ofEnvironmental Protection. Hequadrupled the staff at the Goodwincenter while doubling its operationbudget and increasing programattendance from a few hundred toover 10,000 people annually. Heserved on many boards, includingthose of the Association of NatureCenter Administrators and the NewEngland Environmental EducationAlliance. His experience covered abreadth of categories, including citizenscience program development, facilityand exhibit design, government andNGO partnerships, fund-raising,strategic planning and operationaland staff management. He receivedhis B.S. in biology from Cornell andhis master’s degree in environmentalstudies from F&ES. He is survivedby his wife and many beloved familymembers.

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Fall 2006 47

Robert Fisher Metcalf Jr. ’79, a resi-dent of Watertown, Mass., for morethan 60 years, was the son of RobertMetcalf and Jennie (Spofford) Metcalf.Robert graduated from MIT in 1934with a degree in mechanical engi-neering and a commission in theArmy Reserve. He worked inAllentown, Pa., and Plymouth, Mass.,before volunteering for active dutyin late 1940. He was assigned toWatertown Arsenal, and in October1941 he married Eleanor Perley.After leaving active duty in 1945, heremained in the Army Reserve andretired in 1962 as a lieutenant colonel.For most of his professional career,he worked for Stone and WebsterEngineering in Boston, where heworked on the Yankee Rowe andMaine Yankee nuclear power plants,among other projects. In the 1960s,he resumed his formal education,earning an M.S. in mechanical engi-neering from Northeastern Universityin 1967, an M.S. with a specialty inindustrial hygiene from Harvard in1971 and a master’s degree in forestscience at Yale. After retiring fromStone and Webster in 1977, he servedfor several years on the history andheritage committee of the AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers. Heserved as a member of Watertown’sRepresentative Town Meeting for 27years, on the board of Marshall Homeand with the troop committee ofBoy Scout Troop 204. He enjoyedvolunteering with his wife atCharlesgate Manor ConvalescentHome, where they led a twice-monthly sing-along and assisted in avariety of activities. He and his wifewere honored for public service byAttorney General Scott Harshbargerin 1997, by the Watertown RotaryClub in 1999 and by Gov. Jane Swiftin 2001 on the occasion of their60th wedding anniversary. He issurvived by his wife, Eleanor; hissons, Samuel, James and Thomas;and four grandchildren, David,Katherine, T. Mitchell and David.

He leaves a legacy of family love,public service and charitable generosity.

William Porter ’72 (1940-2006)grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, andlived most of his life in the NewHaven area. William became anexpert and consultant on fire controland emergency planning services,active in several volunteer fire com-panies. He was editor of Fire Chiefmagazine, and was a Connecticutstate fire commissioner for one five-year term. He sold commercial realestate, and owned several Curvesfor Women fitness center franchises.He was an enthusiastic motorcyclistand spent many summers at a familycamp on Lake Temagami in Ontario.He resided in Branford at the timeof his death on September 18.Survivors include his wife, Doss;four children; two stepchildren; andnine grandchildren.

Frederick Schuett ’41 (1914-2006)was born in Seattle, Wash., and wasthe elder brother of Theo, Helenand Louise. Fred graduated fromGarfield High, the University ofWashington and Yale. He workedwith early USGS surveys of theOlympic Peninsula, and was aweather officer for the Army inWorld War II and an aerospace engineer for many years. He marriedLolita Casper in 1981. Besides hiswife, he is survived by two childrenfrom a previous marriage, LaurenceSchuett and Joanne Schuett-Hames;and four grandchildren, Robin andJoy Schuett-Hames, and Alan andHeather Casper. Active with theGreat Peninsula Land Conservancy,he had a great love for the naturalbeauty of the Seabeck (Wash.) area.

Christian Skaar, Ph.D. ’57 (1919-2006), of Blacksburg, Va., died onAugust 1, at Montgomery RegionalHospital. Christian was born inBrooklyn, and was a veteran of

World War II, having served in theU.S. Army Air Corps. He receivedhis B.S. and M.S. from SyracuseUniversity and a Ph.D. from Yale.After teaching at Syracuse Universityfor 30 years, he taught at VirginiaTech, retiring in 1989 as the ThomasM. Brooks Professor of ForestProducts. He is survived by his wifeof 62 years, Dorothy Skaar; twosons, Eric and Steven; two daughters,Dee and Janet; seven grandchildren;a sister, Guro Olsen; and two brothers,Martin and Irving.

Frederick “Buck” Stabler Sr. ’38(1913-2006) was born in Portland,Ore., and grew up in Sandy Springs,Md. Buck was an alumnus of theUniversity of Virginia, then studiedat Yale. He was a veteran of WorldWar II, having served in France andGermany. He was a forester formany years at International Paper inCamden and Sheridan, Ark. Heretired in 1978 as the woodlandsmanager at Scott Paper in Mobile,Ala. He died in Spanish Fort, Ala.,in July. He was predeceased by abrother, Willard Stabler, and by hisfirst wife, Martha Trice Stabler. He issurvived by his second wife, EdwinaRyan Stabler; his son, F.E. “Rick”Stabler Jr.; and three grandchildren,Courtney, Trice and Lauren.

Selmer Uhr ’58 (1933-2006), ofAltemonte Springs, Fla., passedaway on July 14. Selmer’s degreefrom Yale was in forestry economics,which he applied in his career as anurban tree consultant and forester.Survivors include his wife, MaryEllen Uhr; a daughter, CindiMcGee; his sons, John and David;and 11 grandchildren.

Visit the Yale

School of Forestry

& Environmental

Studies website at



Dean’s Message...continued from page 3

democracies, not dictatorships; if their peopleare well-informed about science and policychoices; if they share deeply the values ofsocial justice and environmental protectionand care about the future as well as them-selves; if they have a tradition of workingtogether cooperatively to forge commongoals and solve mutual problems; and ifthey enjoy a level of economic developmentthat enables them to spend resources onenvironmental protection. Do the nations ofyour world meet these tests? If they cannotagree on fundamental goals and how torealize them and cooperate successfullyamong themselves, then their experiment inglobal governance on the new planet willlikely fail.

However difficult it might be to plan thesustainable settlement of a pristine planet, itis child’s play compared with the real-worldtask we all now face on Earth. As the 1987World Commission on Environment andDevelopment (the Brundtland Commission)wrote: “The Earth is one but the world isnot.” How do we achieve environmentalsustainability in our world today? The realworld’s 6.5 billion people are already spreadacross six continents and settled in geo-graphic patterns that have been determinedhistorically over thousands of years. Theywork in a $55 trillion world economy (in 2003U.S. dollars) made possible by technologiesdesigned when the environment was not aconcern and in which obeying price and othermarket signals do not take environmental protection into account. They live in nation-states claiming sovereignty within their geographic borders, including the sovereignright to develop the natural resources within those borders as they see fit. Thesenation-states are divided by rich and poor,democratic and nondemocratic. They aredivided by race, religion, ethnicity, language,history and natural resources. The leadingexamples of their cooperation among them-selves are wartime collaborations, and likethe tribes and clans that preceded them, theyare prone to conflict to advance their inter-ests as they see them. Since World War II,there have been 38 significant international

wars (defined as conflicts with over 1,000battle deaths and more than 5 percent ofthe combatant national troops involved);however, the vast majority of armed conflictshave been civil wars, often longstanding,where the principal casualties are civilians.

The willingness and ability of humansocieties to wreak havoc on the environmentis not news. In 1948, Fairfield Osborn wrotein his prescient book, Our Plundered Planet:“Man’s misuse of the land is very old, goingback thousands of years.” He chronicledhow the “cradle of civilization” in the MiddleEast gradually became a desert, how Greeceand Turkey were deforested, and how themore recent destruction of the Americanprairie contributed to the Dust Bowl.Historians speak of numerous other civiliza-tions, once mighty like the Khmer Empire inSoutheast Asia or the small tribes that livedon Easter Island in the far Pacific Ocean,which have collapsed, caused in part bydestruction of their environments.

Despite these serious depredations intimes past, historian J.R. McNeill is correctin asserting that the 20th century broughtsomething new under the sun. The 20thcentury, and particularly the period sinceWorld War II, he writes: “shattered the constraints and rough stability of the oldeconomic, demographic and energy regimes.”McNeill goes on: “In environmental history,the 20th century qualifies as a peculiar century because of the screeching accelera-tion of so many of the processes that bringecological change.”

So extraordinary has been this scalingup of environmental impacts in the 20thcentury that by 1980 it became obviousthat nations would have to collaborate inframing responses to a set of environmentalthreats of global significance. As noted, wecan think of this collective response as thebirth of global environmental governance.Why were societies driven to make thateffort? What have been the principal meansgovernments have chosen for environmentalcooperation? How have they fared? Whatcould be done in a second phase of globalenvironmental governance to correct pastand current deficiencies? These are amongthe key questions taken up in this book.

donned hip waders and tromped into sun-dappled woodlands in Prospect, Conn.,where they gathered in groups beside theTenmile River’s narrow bed. Schiff demon-strated to the students how to select a sitefor sampling aquatic life in the river. In anactual study, he would normally inspectthe river a mile both up- and downstream.“You need to know where you are,” heexplained. “That will influence what you’reseeing.” He pointed out that this site justbelow a dam would have large amounts oforganic debris collected in the lake behindthe dam, and as a result, that they werelikely to find large numbers of insectsknown to be attracted by fine particulateorganic matter.

He showed the group how to establishcollection sites as he waded into a stream.“There’s a bit of an art to where exactly youposition your collection net,” he said. Hedipped his net into a pool, where numerousrocks with leaves and other plant debrisclinging to them offered a likely rich harvestof critters. He brought the dripping net tothe shore and unloaded it into a water-filledtray. He pointed out scores of wrigglingmayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies and otherinsects. The abundance and types of insects“show us that this is a well-oxygenatedcold stream.” The water quality was high,and with its abundance of insect life,would be able to support small trout andother fish, such as the slimy sculpin.

As the river’s water flows out of thewoodlands into the Quinnipiac River,though, increasing pollution, turbidity andsilted-in river beds reduce habitat quality.In any attempt to restore the lower riverenvironment, he explained, biomonitoringcould provide evidence for the river’schanging health.

Many in the river processes coursebecome immersed in the field, and, saidAnisfeld of his students, “whatever theirbackground or ambitions, they’ll have thecontext for the decisions they’ll need tomake. If we can give them those tools, thecourse has succeeded.”

River Science...continued from page 28

Fall 2006 49

comm

entary

By Robert Repetto

Early in the Clinton administra-tion the political guru James Carvillesaid that if he were reincarnated,he’d like to come back as the bondmarket, because then he could intimi-date everybody. Certainly, corporateCEOs are easily spooked by changesin their companies’ credit ratings orstock prices, partly because suchchanges are the measure of a CEO’sperformance. The problem is, thesefinancial market metrics are poormeasures of an increasingly importantdimension of management perform-ance, the management of environ-mental risk.

Financial analysts and investorshave difficulty understanding therisks companies face because oftheir environmental performance,because – unlike sales revenues andoperating costs – environmental risksare mostly off the books. Nonetheless,these risks often turn into financialcrises, whether due to new regula-tions, lawsuits or spills and accidents.If financial markets can’t accuratelyevaluate these risks and price themaccordingly into bond, stock andinsurance prices, then investors aresubject to unexpected losses andCEOs lack a key incentive to manageenvironmental performance prudently.

Though public companies arerequired by law to disclose in theirfinancial reports any financially sig-nificant environmental risks thatmanagement knows about, I haveshown in a series of industry studiesthat, more often than not, they failto do so. This has led to an increas-ingly active movement by institu-tional investors and public interestgroups, through shareholder resolu-tions and petitions to the Securitiesand Exchange Commission, to forcecompanies to improve their disclo-

sure. The Carbon Disclosure Project,for example, a coalition of more than200 institutional investors controllingmore than $2 billion in assets, ispushing companies to disclose thefinancial risks they face from green-house gas emissions and the stepsthey’re taking to manage these risks.

I have recently gone one stepfurther by actually estimating theenvironmental risks companies facein financial terms and comparingthem with the companies’ ability tobear such risks, should they materi-alize. Working with Trucost Plc, anenvironmental research firm forwhich I serve as a technical advisor,I have developed a new financialmeasure, TRUEVA (for TrueEconomic Value Added), whichcompares the operating profits com-panies make with the environmen-tal damages they cause.

The economic damages fromthe pollution and wastes a companygenerates in the course of operationsare a measure of the extent of thecompany’s potential financial risk,should it be forced to assumeresponsibility for those damages.The operating profits the companymakes, after subtracting taxes andthe costs of capital it employs in thebusiness, are a measure of the abilityof the company to finance such risks.Companies whose profits are largecompared to the damages they causeare obviously less risky investments.

TRUEVA was first applied topublicly owned U.S. electric utilities,which have large emissions of car-bon dioxide and other pollutants.Surprisingly, of the 33 companiesstudied, all but four had environmen-tal risks larger in financial terms thantheir operating profits after taxes andcapital costs. Two of the largest com-panies, American Electric Power andSouthern Company, had negative

TRUEVA in 2004 of $4.85 billion and$3.35 billion, respectively, indicatinglarge-scale risks to investors. Notsurprisingly, these two companieswere the only ones in the industrytestifying to the Senate in recenthearings in opposition to mandatorycontrols on greenhouse gases.

Since the first results were pub-lished in the July/August issue of themagazine Environmental Finance,TRUEVA has already gathered a gooddeal of attention among institutionalinvestors, answering a need for metrics that integrate financial andenvironmental performance measures.Interest has been forthcoming notonly from “socially responsible”investors but also from large, main-stream institutional investors that arenow taking climate and other environ-mental issues much more seriously.In response, I and my colleagues atTrucost have been working to extendour research to other industries.

Robert Repetto, professor in the practice ofeconomics and sustainable development,teaches a course, “Financial Markets andthe Environment,” at F&ES and theSchool of Management, and is editor ofthe book Punctuated Equilibrium andthe Dynamics of U.S. EnvironmentalPolicy (Bookshelf, page 17).

Robert Repetto

Har

old

Shap

iro

When Pollution and Profits Collide

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies205 Prospect StreetNew Haven, CT 06511 USAtel: 203-432-5100fax: 203-432-5942

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Yale Legacy Partners is a society of alumni, family and friends who

have made bequests or designated other planned gifts to F&ES.

Safeguard the tradition of excellence at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

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