This academic year, we’re working with three Climate Action Interns from across the country to tell stories about people in our region working toward a carbon-free future. The interns include Yaiza Kinney of Connecticut (pictured top left); Manzili Kokayi of North Carolina (center); and Julia Dempsey of Washington D.C. (right).
More About Yaiza
Yaiza is a senior at Wesleyan University majoring in Earth and Environmental Science. She cites her international upbringing, including periods of her childhood spent in Italy, as the impetus for her interest in environmental communications and education. Living at the base of Mount Etna and consistently needing to prepare for the possibility of a natural disaster heightened her awareness of the relationship between humans and the Earth. Yaiza sees a focus on the common good and tethering environmental education to local contexts as key to solving the challenge of climate change. Her vision of a sustainable future includes communities with access to many communal food sources, reducing fossil fuel dependency, and considering the impact of present-day actions on future generations.
More About Manzili
Manzili’s life’s work has been centered around her love of the planet. She is completing her degree in chemistry at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. As a scientist, Manzili researches ways to make alternative energy more reliable. As a writer, she raises awareness on climate change and those working to mitigate its effects. Manzili is also a poet, guitar player in training, and crafter.
More about Julia
Julia is a graduate student in public health at George Washington University, focusing on environmental science and health policy. She initially became interested in sustainability during a guest lecture on the nutritional science of plants during her sophomore year of college. Subsequently, she changed her major from nutritional science to environmental science. She sees human health and environmental well-being as inextricably linked and protecting our delicate ecosystem as vital to a sustainable future. Julia sees local civic engagement as a way to build “movement and momentum” for policies that support a healthy environment. After completing her MPH, she intends to work in policy implementation with OSHA or the EPA. In her role with West Central Initiative, Julia is excited to work on projects with a purpose involving local community sustainability and to build connections to leaders across the fields of environmental science and public health.
