Prosser, Washington, United States
Always been passionate about the environment, healthy food, and rural economies . . . Now I'm building a business to support all three, can't wait to tell y'all about it :)
The Climatebase fellowship has so far been an amazing opportunity to develop my professional skills and network in the climate community. The experience includes learning, networking, and soon a Capstone project.
Working for the Yale Carbon Containment Lab was a unique and fulfilling role. Casually, we'd describe the firm as one-third research services, one third think-tank, and one-third investment office. My role was to evaluate biochar production as a method for connecting forest thinning for wildfire mitigation to the sustainable intensification of agriculture. I conducted market research, which spanned from scientific literary reviews and meeting with biochar company founders and product users. Overall I honed a lot of skills including risk and financial assessment.
Over the course of the last two projects I've conducted interdisciplinary research on US food systems, focusing on regenerative agriculture, from production method to consumer psychology. I have gotten meet and work with a lot of leaders in the agriculture community. It has fostered an appreciation for dealing with the complex dynamics of sustainable operations, especially tracking and conveying complex benefits.
From this role, I now believe there is no better way of understanding a topic than teaching it. Not only did I witness of variety of different ways of using SQL to solve the same problem, but the best-practices crystalized in my mind as I broke them down step-by-step for the students in the class who needed help.
Working at the ranch meant spending half of my time as a cowboy and the other half as an intern for the organics department. This diverse experiment was a great learning experience, not only for hands-on experience, but also for understanding the financial pressures of weed and nutrient management. Balancing the realities of intensive cropping systems with the intentions of a young regenerative cattle operation taught me more than either experience could have alone.