*[Enwl-eng] 6-Week Online Course: War & Environment
ENWLine
| |||||||
Ms. Wesch completed her undergraduate degree
in the field of International Relations at Hawai´i
Pacific University. She was able to gain initial work
experience at the Mission of Afghanistan to the United
Nations in New York, where she was active in the First
and Third Committee of the General Assembly, as well as
writing occasional speeches for Ambassador Tanin. Ms.
Wesch managed to further develop her authoring skills
between 2012 and 2013 while working at the Bolivian
think tank Institute of International Studies (IDEI).
Here she wrote about a diverse set of topics, ranging
from the Syrian conflict to the Bolivian-Chilean border
dispute, from an International Law and Human Rights
perspective. Realizing her strong interest in conflict
studies, Ms. Wesch obtained her Master´s Degree in
Conflict Resolution and Governance at the University of
Amsterdam, where she focused on social movements for the
purpose of her Master´s thesis. Putting to use her
regional focus on the MENA region, during both her
graduate and undergraduate studies, at PIK Ms. Wesch is
working on the Climate-Conflict-Migration-Nexus in the
MENA region and the Sahel. She has undertaken
qualitative fieldwork in the regions of Agadez, Niamey
and Tillaberie in Niger in 2018 as well as in
Burkina Faso in 2019. Her research in the region has
focused on farmer-herder conflicts, specifically causes,
prevention and mediation mechanisms and their influence
on recruitment into extremist organizations and
migration decisions in the Sahel. Ms. Wesch is currently
a doctoral researcher and is writing her dissertation on
the interaction of climate change and conflict in
Central Asia plus Afghanistan for the Green Central Asia
Project financed by the German Foreign Ministry.
Dr Michael Chew is a sustainability
educator, community cultural development practitioner,
and photographer/designer with degrees in participatory
design, social ecology, art photography, humanities and
mathematical physics. He has a background in
community-based sustainability programs in NGO and local
government sectors and is passionate about the potential
for creativity to empower and connect communities across
cultural, economic and geographic divides. He co-founded
the Melbourne Environmental Arts Festival in 2004, a
multi-venue community arts festival, and has since
coordinated various social and environmentally focused
creative youth projects. He developed his international
perspectives from involvement in grassroots global
solidarity initiatives: co-founding the NGO Friends of
Kolkata to coordinate international volunteer programs
and teach photovoice; working in Bangladesh on
community-based climate adaptation; and co-founding the
Friends of Bangladesh group to continue climate justice
solidarity activities. He has just finished a design
based action-research PhD exploring how participatory
photography can inspire youth environmental behaviour
change across cities in Bangladesh, China and Australia,
and is now developing a freelance consultancy practice.
Greta Zarro is World BEYOND War
Organizing Director. She has a background in issue-based
community organizing. Her experience includes volunteer
recruitment and engagement, event organizing, coalition
building, legislative and media outreach, and public
speaking. Greta graduated as valedictorian from St.
Michael’s College with a bachelor’s degree in
Sociology/Anthropology. She previously worked as New
York Organizer for leading non-profit Food & Water
Watch. There, she campaigned on issues related to
fracking, genetically engineered foods, climate change,
and the corporate control of our common resources. Greta
and her partner run Unadilla Community Farm, a
non-profit organic farm and permaculture education
center in Upstate New York.
Rachel Small is World BEYOND War Canada
Organizer. She is a community organizer based in
Toronto, Canada, on Dish with One Spoon and Treaty 13
Indigenous territory. She has organized within local and
international social/environmental justice movements for
over a decade, with a special focus on working in
solidarity with communities harmed by Canadian
extractive industry projects in Latin America. She has
also worked on campaigns and mobilizations around
climate justice, decolonization, anti-racism, disability
justice, and food sovereignty. She currently organizes
in Toronto with the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
and has a Masters in Environmental Studies from York
University. She has a background in art-based activism
and has facilitated projects in community mural-making,
independent publishing and media, spoken word, guerilla
theatre, and communal cooking with people of all ages
across Canada. She lives downtown with her partner, kid,
and friend, and can often be found at a protest or
direct action, gardening, spray painting, and playing
softball.
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service
Russian: ENWL (North West), ENWL-inf (FSU), ENWL-misc (any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
Send information to en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
Additionally: http://www.enwl.net.ru/
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------