workshop highlights bipoc farming in ct

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Photo by Michael Fadugbagbe.

On September 26, the Bailey College of the Environment welcomed farmer and educator Liz Guerra to lead a workshop on BIPOC Farming: Farming with an Intersectional Lens. This was the latest installment in the land justice workshop series “Tending the Soil: Towards Land Justice in CT,” cosponsored by Wesleyan University’s Bailey College of the Environment and the People’s Saturday School. The event aimed to educate and spread awareness about the struggles of BIPOC farmers with land access and systemic racism, while bringing together a mix of Wesleyan students and community members from various organizations across the state. Liz runs SEAmarron Farmstead in Danbury, where she cultivates hemp and many types of vegetables with her partner Hector “Freedom” Gerardo. Hailing from Queens, New York, Liz is a full spectrum doula/birth worker, social justice advocate, and farmer. In addition to her work as an activist and independent farmer, Liz is an Adjunct Faculty in sociology at the University of Connecticut – Stamford. 

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congrats to our envs class of 2024!

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A huge congratulations to our unstoppable class of 2024, formerly the class of 2020, aka, the covid class, for making it through…and finishing with flying colors!! Bella Barocas, Mira Begg, Dylan Campos, Ishani Dave, Ella Doherty, Sloane Dzhitenov, Lia Franklin, Madeline Frew, Danielle Garten, Andie Glanzer, Debbra Goh, Madisyn Gomez, Marangela James, Sachita Jariwala, Joshua Kleiman, Kiran Kling, Paul Kraut, Jasmine Lam, Amara Leazer, Serena Levingston, Alberto Lopez, Jessica Luu, Cam McCrystal, Maggie Monaghan, Nerdvens Moreau, Amanda Morris, Meera Nemali, Advait Prasad, Lea Schaffer, Amy Smith, Cole Torino and Katie Yin. Watch the video below to meet our entire class of 2024 — and click on the links in this paragraph, to read more about so many of those amazing new alums!

villegas ’21 pursues interest in enviro justice

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Jolie Villegas ’21 grew up in San Francisco and majored in environmental studies and biology at Wes. After receiving her master’s degree at Columbia, she became a clean power analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund. Today, she is an analyst at the World Resources Institute.

How did you develop an interest in studying and working in the environment? How did your experience at Wesleyan influence your decision to work in this industry?
I was born and raised in San Francisco, California, which is a very green and environmentally focused city. It’s easy to adapt individual sustainable behavior practices when you’re surrounded by a community of like-minded people.

I initially thought about environmentalism as an individual issue, caused by consumerism and waste. Then, through my classes at Wes, I got a much more holistic picture of climate change and all of the anthropogenic actions that are contributing to inequitable climate impact. I shifted my field of study from the conservation side, into climate and environmental justice.

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planet vs. plastic

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On a significant day for environmental awareness—Earth Day, April 22—I found myself seated in Usdan 108, engrossed in a compelling panel entitled, “Planet vs. Plastic: Breaking Free of a Deadly Convenience?” The event, hosted by the Bailey College of Environment, featured a panel of Wesleyan faculty and community members dedicated to unraveling the complexities of plastic pollution and its ramifications on our planet. As I reflect on the insights shared during the event, I realize the urgency of addressing this global crisis and the imperative need for collective action.

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meet our bailey coe 2024 summer fellows!

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Every year, the Bailey COE awards fellowships to fund summer (and spring and fall) research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Most recently, the Bailey COE awarded almost 40 fellowships to Wes students. Learn a little bit more about each, below! Applications for summer 2025, fall 2025 and spring 2026 Bailey COE fellowships are open now! Apply by February 24!

Ava Guralnick ‘25 plans to use personal storytelling narratives to combine the perspectives of Asian American Studies and Environmental Studies. She will examine the ways in which various spatial and temporal geographies of land can provide new ways to understand and locate the interwoven histories of imperial conflict, connection, and new kinship/family making processes.

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senior spotlight: kiran kling ’24

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How did you first become interested in the environment?
I started thinking and asking and learning about different ways to deal with climate change when I was really young. I used to have a plan to build an electric car company, and I would drag my parents to conferences on renewable energy. I was very concerned that there was this problem, and nobody was paying attention, and felt like somebody had to do something about it. I thought that I would try and play as much of a role as I could. When I finally had the freedom to study climate solutions in college I jumped at the chance.

What led you to choose your majors, environmental studies and government? 
When I got to Wesleyan I decided that I really loved the environmental studies major, and I didn’t want to be boxed into taking the entire earth and environmental science curriculum, particularly online during covid. I liked the variety within the environmental studies major, and I really liked learning about policy, which led me to pursue the government major as well. I chose Wesleyan in large part because of our open curriculum and academic flexibility. I’ve been lucky to take fantastic IDEAS, biology, E&ES, and religion classes alongside my major coursework.

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senior spotlight: lea schaffer ’24

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What majors or minors did you combine with environmental studies?
I’m a biology and environmental studies major.

Why did you decide to become an environmental studies major?
I actually transferred to Wesleyan University for my junior year. Part of what interested me in transferring is that I was coming from a school that was just doing hard sciences and biology. I wanted to get a better understanding of its applications in the world, and I thought the environmental studies program was a very good way for me to see, especially in terms of sustainability, the impacts and the larger picture. 

Can you tell me about your senior project?
I’m doing an essay that has to do with wastewater management and climate change. So, what is wastewater management? How does it function? And what are the problems with it? And how does climate change exacerbate it?

Why did you choose that topic?We have these family friends that my dad has worked with that has this really cool company called Clean Two that does septic tanks that have a process to denitrify the waste. So I learned all about why it was needed. It was placed near Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where they have a huge nitrogen problem in the water and all of it comes from wastewater. It’s kind of a solution to that. That got me interested in wastewater in general, and kind of understanding how climate change makes things more important in that matter.

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