Andrea D.

Dominican Republic: 2009-2011

As an Environment volunteer I worked with my community in the Dominican Republic to develop environmental awareness and conservation programs. Our first phase was to initiate a youth group dedicated to expanding their environmental education and their training as conservation multipliers. The goal was to strengthen the science education of middle and high school age students, and to encourage volunteerism and community service by sharing their knowledge in their community. In the second phase we implemented a project to bring energy efficient wood-burning stoves, and bio-sand water filters to the community and to 3 other neighborhoods. The stoves require less wood to cook and thus reduce deforestation in the area, as well as significantly decrease the amount of smoke inhaled while cooking. The bio-sand water filters improve the health and hygiene of families who do not have access to potable water.

Why a PC Fellow at SNRE?  As a volunteer I learned the value of cooperation, and that the most significant changes can be achieved through community mobilization. At SNRE I have a unique opportunity to work with underserved communities and to address their environmental and social issues. These communities can protect and restore their environment, as well as gain the strength to organize and prosper. As a Peace Corps Fellow at UM I can take advantage of a multidisciplinary education and the advice of experienced faculty.  Through the capstone project, and acting as a facilitator to the community, I can extend the broad knowledge gained at UM SNRE. 

Master's Project: Domestic Underserved Population: The Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important natural areas in Michigan, and it is a critical wetland zone directly upstream from the Saginaw Bay Estuary and Lake Huron.  Our capstone project will collaborate with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the restoration of 940 acres of river floodplain and wetlands that are presently isolated from the Shiawassee River.  Our contributions to the reconnection efforts will include analysis of the various stakeholders involved with the refuge; concentrating primarily on the underserved populations of Saginaw County that are often excluded from large-scale federal programs such as this one.  Our intent is to reach specific groups whose opinions and interests have historically been disregarded in the planning and management of environmental protection projects.  We expect to provide environmental education and outreach activities to previously overlooked communities, in order to involve those that will be most affected by the restoration.  Through focus groups and interviews we can encourage local Native American Tribes, immigrant communities, and economically disadvantaged residents to become active participants in the management and the future of the restoration project.  Ultimately, these populations will become integrated in the activities conducted by the Refuge and they can be the driving force of conservation efforts in the Shiawassee Flats and the Great Lakes estuaries.

Ryan S.

Dominican Republic: 2007-2009

Initially trained as an Agroforestry volunteer (which later became absorbed into the Community Environmental Development program), I lived on the border of Haiti, working with Haitian-Dominican farmers in establishing a community garden and tree nursery for reforestating the barren border landscape, working mostly in the language of Haitian Kreyol.  I also worked with a local priest to map out a new route for an extension to the community's aqueduct.  But due to external circumstances and funding complications, Peace Corps extracted me from this site and relocated me to another.  Two adventures in one!

My second Peace Corps site was in the Cordillera Central mountain range, where I served as an advisor to a reforestation organization called Plan Sierra, Inc.  This included collaborating with City Hall to implement several zero-waste initiatives in the community, establishing organic gardens with a local women's group, and training landowners in proper forest management.  One the unfortunate byproducts of modernization is the increase in the amount of waste produced per consumer.  Thus, one of the biggest environmental threats facing my community was the mismanagement of solid wastes (AKA trash!).  Concentrating all of the community's trash on top of a hill, which subsequently blows into the community's water source with inclement weather, bred nasty pest vectors like mosquitoes (that carry malaria and dengue fever), rats (which transmit leptospirosis), flies and cockroaches.  As you can imagine, many people in my community were getting sick but didn't have the knowledge to piece together the connection between solid waste and health, nor the technical expertise of how to remedy this.  So, together with Plan Sierra, Inc., we developed a blueprint for City Hall to transition the community to begin separating their trash between organic and inorganic, and then composting the organic to fertilize their gardens.  In a perfect world, we'd introduce a massive recycling system to boost the local economy and further reduce the community's environmental footprint.  I believe youth education to be one of the most effective methods to transform society, so I taught environmental science at my village high school, and coordinated several service-learning projects in river clean-ups and ecological restoration.  And of course, they wanted to learn English, so I taught that on the side!  Perhaps my proudest achievement was the creation of an environmental action committee, El Comite de Gestion Ambiental de El Rubio, that served as watchdogs and whistleblowers for the enforcement of environmental laws in the country.  You'd be surprised at how many farmers would dump pig excrement into the river that people used for drinking water, or burn an entire forest down to use the land for agriculture!  I also had the opportunity to form an environmental youth group, Brigada Verde, that focused mainly on making crafts out of natural substances while teaching them the importance of conservation.  And to top it all off, I helped organize a regional youth conference for these same kids and other environmental youth groups within the Peace Corps community.  Time flies when you're having fun!

Why a PC Fellow at SNRE?  Aside from the fact that President Kennedy launched the Peace Corps initiative here on the steps of the Student Union of the University of Michigan, SNRE has world-reknowned faculty that are leaders in their individual fields.  Within the field of Environmental Justice, U of M is legendary for hosting the 1990 Michigan Conference on Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards, the first conference linking environmental contamination and racial composition.  Several SNRE faculty members were involved in this movement and continue to teach today.  Before Peace Corps, I was heavily involved as an animal rights activist as well as an environmental activist, which is why SNRE interested me.  Also, the university maintains some of the leading experts on Environmental Policy within academia, both domestic and internationally.  To change the world, not only do you have to get active, you have to know the rules.  As a Peace Corps Fellow, not only do I have the opportunity to learn from the best in the field, but I am also given the opportunity to take this knowledge and apply it to a Master's Project which assists an underserved community within the United States.  In true Peace Corps fashion, theory and practice shake hands and part as friends!  Thus, SNRE was the obvious choice.  No other graduate program is calibrated so flawlessly to make the biggest impact.  And you get to do so in the company of many other RPCVs!

Master's Project: Domestic Underserved Population: Our Master's Project is researching climate change adaptation in mid-sized Great Lakes Cities, working closely with mayors and key decision-makers to determine what policies could be implemented and improved upon to ensure an equitable and sustainable transformation.  We are interested in examining specific variables as they relate to adaptation, such as ethnicity and socioeconomic level, type of city infrastructure and energy profile, as well as vulnerable species of the areas that are affected by the flux in climate. I will be working with underserved populations as it relates to climate adaptation. We will produce a report for each city we research, detailing current measures being done to adapt to climate change, along with suggestions for further measures that need be taken.  We will also produce a cumulative report of our research to the U-M Graham Sustainability Institute for their GLACC-C project.  It is our hope that this project is relevant in assisting urban centers that are particularly vulnerable to climate change find tangible solutions.