About Us

The Yale Environment Review brings environmental research to life by making it compelling, accessible, and relevant to a wide audience. Our work empowers people with a deeper understanding of peer-reviewed research and the most pressing issues facing our planet. 

The Yale Environment Review is a student-run publication that aims to increase access to the latest developments in environmental studies. We aim to shed light on cutting-edge environmental research through summaries, analysis, and interviews. We do this through three types of content:
 
  • Focus articles explore one recent peer-reviewed article and connect its findings to our everyday lives. 
  • Feature pieces build a story around a central theme using multiple recent peer-reviewed articles.
  • Spotlights profile the people behind the latest research in the environmental field.
The Yale Environment Review helps students sharpen their writing skills, familiarize themselves with science communication, and provides a platform to showcase their expertise.
 

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Staff

Kaley Casenhiser

editor-in-chief

 

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 Fillwalk (they/she)

COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH DIRECTOR, WRITER

 

 

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 Ttaylor, 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.

 

Yi Ming Wu (she/her)

writer

 

Yi Ming is a third-year candidate for the Master of Architecture degree at Yale School of Architecture, with a focus on sustainable development, renewable energy transition, building decarbonization, housing and is more broadly interested in the role of governance in policymaking and policy implementation for environmental protection and climate change. She is currently working at the Yale Urban Design Workshop as well as the Regional Plan Association – developing and designing affordable housing, conducting research, and policymaking. Before Yale, she studied at the University of Waterloo in Canada and obtained her Bachelor of Architecture. Outside of work and studies, Yi Ming enjoys running, painting, relaxing with her cat, and catching up with friends and family.

 

Claire Nichols (she/they)

writer

 

 

Claire is a Master of Environmental Management Candidate interested in the connection between urban sustainability and environmental justice. She seeks to contribute to the discourse on housing and the environment through spatial analysis, urban planning and policy, and environmental justice frameworks. Claire earned her B.S. in Environmental Resource Management from Arizona State University and worked at the Arizona State Legislature prior to attending Yale. In their free time, Claire enjoys knitting, biking, and baking.

 

Josie Watson (she/her)

writer

Josie is a long time lover of the mycelium, healthy soils and the pursuit of re-integrating the intelligence of ecosystems into human systems. She founded the Northeast Healthy Soil Network, then went to law school to explore paths of shifting governance of farm ecosystems in the United States. Now a barred attorney in Vermont, she is a second year MEM candidate at Yale, continuing to explore how governments invest taxpayer dollars into U.S. farms - particularly through natural solutions programming - and the manner in which regions integrate agriculture into climate change adaptation plans. She also supports growing recognition of indigenous ecological interdependence ontologies, was paralegal on the Manoomin rights of nature case, and advocates for pathways of harmonizing western law with the kinship worldview during the climate transition.

 

Michael Culbertson (he/him)

writer

Michael Culbertson is a Master of Forest Science candidate in The Forest School at Yale. His research investigates epistemological questions around scientific inference in ecology and natural resource policy issues. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Central Florida and a graduate certificate in Sustainable Environmental Planning and Management from the University of Connecticut. He also studied briefly at Sorbonne IV in Paris, France, and La Universidad de Antonio Nebrija in Madrid, Spain. He worked as a paralegal for 15 years, conducting research and developing arguments for cases in the U.S. Federal Courts. Michael was raised in Winter Park, Florida.

PwintPhyu Nandar (she/her)

writer

PwintPhyu Nandar is a second-year Master of Environmental Science (MESc) candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, focusing on access to cultural food in urban areas. This area of focus is important to Pwint, as a Burmese immigrant/settler in the United States who is always thinking about where to get the ingredients necessary to make home-cooked Burmese meals. Although food has always been the way to her heart, her introduction to food systems comes from an environmental science background and a passion for understanding human-environment interactions. After learning about environmental injustice as an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she realized that her community in Richmond, California was experiencing environmental racism at the hands of the Chevron Refinery. That moment led her to major in Environmental Science, concentrating on environmental justice issues. She pivoted into studying food systems to better understand how food sits at the intersection of culture, urbanizaition, and sustainability. Currently, she is researching how Greater New Haven residents access their cultural foods by collecting surveys and cooking with residents. Pwint enjoys recreating Burmese dishes with ingredients available around her. In her free time, she likes to play relaxing games on her Switch.

Enar Kornelius Leferink (he/him)

writer

 

Enar is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of Environment. Using his economics background, he researches sustainability issues through the lens of environmental economics, industrial symbiosis, and further methods of industrial ecology. In his research, Enar leverages interdisciplinary knowledge in teams to investigate strategies for companies to share resources for increased competitiveness and sustainability or how consumption patterns change for levels of wealth and pro-climate attitudes.

Rose Nagele (she/her)

writer

 

Rose is a first-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE). She is interested in the intersection of science, social science, and humanities in climate change solutions. She loves exploring these connections through nonfiction and fiction writing. Rose is part of the social media team for the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and a research intern for Environment 360. As an undergraduate, Rose studied biology, creative writing, and the environmental humanities.

Mimi Martinez Okhuysen (she/her/ella)

writer

 

Mimi is a first-year Master of Environmental Management student at the Yale School of the Environment . She is interested in helping with the implementation of a circular economy, climate resilience, and environmental impacts on human health while in her free time, Mimi also enjoys paddle boarding, painting, and watching movies. At Yale, she hopes to pursue these interests further and will be working with the Yale Center for Environmental Justice as a Development Fellow. As an undergraduate, Mimi studied geography, government, and sustainability.

Joshua Kesling (he/him)

writer

 

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.

Sofía Montalvo Yanez (she/her)

writer

 

Sofía is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at Yale School of the Environment (YSE). She has conducted research in Ecuador's Yasuní tropical forest, studying resource allocation patterns and herbivory in Duroia hirsuta trees. Before joining YSE she worked at the Botanical Garden of Quito in a project focused on the evaluation and restoration of the heritage trees of the city. She is fascinated by ecological interactions and sustainability and is passionate about communicating scientific knowledge through photography and writing. When not in the wild, Sofía loves dancing and painting.

Anjuri Kakkar (she/her)

writer

 

Anjuri is a first-year Master of Forestry candidate at Yale School of the Environment (YSE). Anjuri grew up in a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas, where she fell in love with trees. She graduated with degrees in Economics and Psychology and is interested in sustainable biomass and forest restoration as well as the connection between wellness and the environment.