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For me, it’s the tropics
It was edging near 2pm and the sun was bright and strong overhead. We were all tired and hungry from not having had lunch yet. Because our original plans were destroyed by an impassable road, our new...
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Lions and tigers and bears (and monkeys)! Oh my!
As I’ve traveled the world, one thing has been glaringly obvious to me: deforestation is threatening our biodiversity. In the US, we are so used to seeing parking lots rather than forest; we no longer...
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All Aboard! The Indian Railway
Novels and films set in India, travel guides, documentaries and Bollywood music videos often have one scene in common: the majestic Indian railroad. The Indian Railway is one the world’s largest and...
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Finally, tocónes!
The motor taxi vibrated violently beneath the road, the constant shaking the only thing keeping me awake this morning at 5:30am. But, through the dimly breaking dawn I could still see it in the...
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Entrepreneurial Ego: Does it Inhibit or Accelerate Success?
The same attitude that gets a business off the ground can sometimes be the cause of its failure. I’m back in the United States (Durham, NC) after a 6-week consulting stint in México and I’ve started my...
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Gender Mainstreaming in ENGOS
In previous posts, I described how rural women interact with the environment in different ways than men and that women are often absent or underrepresented in decision-making at both the local and...
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In the Footsteps of Giants
“The laid made plans of mice and men often go astray” -John Steinbeck You would think given the title of the blog, or any other fieldwork I’ve done over the past ten years or so, that I would know...
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The Zen of Fieldwork
Have you ever sat and meditated in a cloud of stingless bees? Listened to the humming of their tiny wings slicing through the air as they throng around you? Felt the tickle of their tiny feet as they...
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Mahals & Maternal Mortality
“The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs and makes the sun and moon shed tears from their eyes.” – Emperor Shah Jahan Photo by author And Shan Jahan was right—the Taj Mahal is quite simply...
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Do Borders Matter? Lessons in Entrepreneurship
Do business practices differ across regions, longitudes, or languages? In El Centro Historico de Santiago de Querétaro Well my summer experience with a young, but growing, organization says that...
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Where do trees grow in the tropics?
The relatively high diversity of tropical forests has enamored tropical ecologists for a couple of decades now. Slowly and steadily, tropical ecologists have also been trying to compare the diversities...
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From the Andes to the Alps
Many of you understand the benefits of a great hike: the excitement when you first jet off with your water bottle filled to the brim, the determination that kicks in when you know you’re halfway there,...
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The Human Side of Efficient Buildings
It’s been a little more than four weeks now that I’ve worked on the RMI buildings team. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my primary responsibility is writing case studies of buildings that have...
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Adventure Science
Adventure Science. This became our motto as my first 14 day stream sampling hitch progressed. After all, we were backpacking up to 14 miles to get to our sampling sites. What’s more, we never had a...
View ArticleTrade is a tool; wield it carefully
The time I’ve spent at ICTSD has taught me a lot about the relationship between trade and the environment, and in this blog I’ve taken a moment to reflect on what I’ve learned. Enjoy! Many people think...
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A Cheat Sheet for Tropical Trees in Ivindo
Well, if you are ever surrounded by an afrotropical jungle and are wondering about all the beautiful trees around you, here are some common, beautiful and amazing wonders of nature that you should stop...
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Crazy, Candid, Calculated Course Week
Last week the Duke Program on Global Policy and Governance hosted its sixteenth annual course week in Geneva to complement our summer internships. This year there were four tracks: Humanitarian action;...
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Celebrating the Fourth at 13,000 feet (and other adventures)
It’s funny when you hike and spend all your time outside for work, you’d think I’d want some time off just relaxing indoors. Well that lasted exactly three quarters of a day, and then I was restless...
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Ready, set, jump! When will you go canyoning?
I heard about canyoning for the first time this past semester during the wildlife film festival hosted by the Nicholas School. I thought those people were crazy. Why would you voluntarily jump into...
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What is Behavioral Energy Efficiency? (Part 1 of 2)
One of the biggest questions I had entering grad school – and it’s a question that I think anyone who’s ever dedicated a bit of time or energy to environmental issues wonders about – was what medium...
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