About Us

Kaley Casenhiser is a third-year joint degree candidate at Yale School of the Environment (MEM) and Yale Divinity School (M.Div.). A scholar-activist, she specializes in ethics, political ecology, and the arts. Their work and activism counter-maps body-land relations and traces the interstices of environmental racism, sacred ecologies, and land sovereignty. Kaley practices critical participatory action research (CPAR) so their work originates with the lived experiences of communities most impacted by land loss and the climate crisis. She views the repertoire and archival materiality of the lives of those dispossessed by colonialism and racism as critical sources for environmental ethics, participatory action, climate resiliency.

Kaley also works as a performance artist where she explores how bodies and lands are shaped by memory and place in motion. Across each of these mediums, Kaley excavates gendered and raced geographies and epistemologies believing this multi-media work will deepen the capacity of all persons to witness one another and advocate for environmental, economic, and cultural justice in their home-places. 

Lily is a second-year Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment. They are conducting their thesis research on urban agriculture and carbon sequestration potential of soil on green roofs in New York City. Fillwalk also works with their advisor, Dr. Dorceta Taylor, in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initative Laboratory. Prior to YSE, Fillwalk worked with the Robert Redford Conservancy of Southern California Sustainability on issues relating to sustainable agricultture, environmental justice, and food security. In their free time, Fillwalk knits, reads, hikes, and loves to cook.

Abby Thomas (she/her) is a first-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Environment (YSE). Hailing from Ethiopia and Nigeria and having lived in over five countries, she has been exposed to the disproportionate impacts of climate change in various countries from a young age. She has worked as an African Union advisor on climate change initiatives and was a council member for the resource hub, Intersectional Environmentalist. She served as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Youth Hub for #GenerationRestoration and worked on Environmental Employee Engagement at the outdoor gear and apparel company, Patagonia, before starting at YSE. Currently, she is working as an Environmental Justice Community fellow for the Yale Center for Environmental Justice. Her experiences working across global environmental issues has led her to develop a relentless passion to advocate for environmental and climate justice globally.

Rose Hansen (she/her) is a junior at Yale College. After working in the renewable energy nonprofit sector, she became passionate about tailored community systems that balance social justice with climate justice. In her sophomore year, she founded Project EnCOR, which works to unite art with environmentalism to catalyze change. Additionally, she has been involved with the Center for Business and the Environment, where she studied innovation and entrepreneurship. After starting an environmental column in her high school newspaper, Rose hasn’t stopped using language to communicate environmental topics. At Yale, she has explored the intersection of environmentalism and the humanities; her pieces explore how Rousseau might have advocated for climate legislation and how Titania's monologues in A Midsummer Night's Dream can be read as a directive for environmental action. With the team at YER, she is excited for the challenge of translating original scientific research into engaging pieces. Rose is also a proud member of the jazz a cappella group Redhot and Blue, and can be found onstage in musicals and plays. If she could power the world on one thing, she would choose the vibrations of vocal chords.

Joshua Kesling is a first-year Master of Environmental Management candidate, emphasizing ecosystem conservation throughout coastal and freshwater environments. Joshua’s undergraduate career afforded him the opportunity to investigate nearshore marine ecosystem management along the coastlines of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. He explored the most effective protected area models for marine species habitat connectivity while accounting for ocean sprawl (i.e., the proliferation of structures) and industrial impacts impeding movement. He completed this research with Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences.   

Writing about coastal resource extraction, the fate of imperiled wildlife in multiple-use environments, and those complex human-nature interactions captures his curiosity. This dynamic interface also allows for deeper exploration into socio-ecological systems undergoing rapid global change. Outside of academia, Joshua enjoys writing ecopoetry, hiking ancient forests, and exploring new villages throughout New England’s luxuriant hills.      

Environmental Engineer from Universidad El Bosque, Specialist in Environmental Management in Global Environments from Universidad Externado de Colombia. She is currently a student of the Master's Degree in Environmental Management at Yale University, with a focus on business and conservation. With eight (8) years of experience in national and local governments, she was manager of the National Strategy for Natural Conservation Contracts, advisor to the Vice Minister of Environmental Land Management and Private Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia. She has also been part of international training and leadership communities, such as the United States International Visitor Leadership Program on Women, Peace and Security, and the Climate Policy Lab (CPL) of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Dominik Juling is currently completing a research-oriented Master's Degree in Environmental Science at the Yale School of the Environment. Here, he focuses on the interaction of environmental and climatic changes and their effect on society, culture, conflict and cooperation. Before coming to Yale, he pursued another Master´s Degree in Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, served as a soldier in the German army and worked for NATO and other international security organizations, as well as a freelance journalist. Growing up near the German Alps, he grew up loving the outdoors, hiking, swimming and traveling. He also developed a passion for photography during his various travels.

Natalia is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, where her work focuses on the connection between environmental justice and environmental communication. She previously worked in environmental digital communication, outreach, and graphic design. Throughout her studies, she has worked closely with GreenLatinos, a Latino environmental justice nonprofit that seeks to convene the Latino EJ community to pursue collective action for environmental liberation. Her family is from the Andes mountains in Ecuador, she is from Miami, and she holds both homes close to her heart. Outside of academia, Natalia loves crafting and is currently experimenting with representing red mangroves through beading, block printing, and sketching!