Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020 refer to the School's name at that time.
Regina Harlig, fifth from left
While a student at F&ES, Regina Harlig ’20 M.E.M. focused her research on the influence of wealth on the field of conservation, barriers to equitable distribution of trees in urban areas, and the environmental impacts of housing segregation.
Being an environmental professional, she believes, means making decisions that benefit everyone.
“I’ve encouraged my classmates and teachers to think more about people: the ways that environmentalism has excluded and even harmed certain groups of people, and the ways that we as environmental professionals can address this.”
Harlig has address issues of environmental justice by planting trees in New Haven with the Urban Resources Initiative, serving as a teaching assistant during Urban MODs, and helping organize a symposium at Yale that taught educators how best to incorporate the environment and social justice into their curriculum.
As an intern with the Sustainable CT certificiation program in Hartford County, Harlig helped municipalities achieve sustainability in areas of environment, economy and equity. She plans to continue this path as a career, fighting for environmental justice while working within city government.
Published
May 15, 2020