The Intern Intel Report #1: Summer 2017 Edition

Hello, my name is Yaelle Sarid-Segal and I’m a new Conservation Policy Intern at Mass Audubon. I study Biology with a specialization in Ecology and Conservation with a minor in Sociology and Marine Science at Boston University. I’m particularly interested in the intersection between conservation and human rights along with poverty-driven poaching, so I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to learn more about the process of advocacy work and governmental affairs.

Prior to starting school, I interned at MASSPIRG while they advocated for the Bottle Bill, which unfortunately failed due to industry pressure. At university, I worked as a volunteer in a lab that studied carbon cycling and climate change’s effect on Eastern forests. I have volunteered in West Virginia in building affordable housing that aims to be sustainable while controlling costs. Trying to gain a greater understanding of human rights, I’ve worked for the past four years at AIDS Action Committee in Cambridge. This experience has exposed me to the inequities in healthcare experience by those living in poverty, particularly with a chronic illness; I’ve also learned about the complexities of the system related to affordable housing — the lack of availability, the high costs, and the resistance of legislators and communities in assuring that all people have a roof over their head. Seeing the work Mass Audubon does with the Community Preservation Coalition to utilize spaces to create affordable houses and parks that benefit the community is an important reminder that environmental preservation is directly related to poverty and health.

Yaelle Sarid-Segal

I look forward to the fall, where I will be part of a Marine Program through BU; not only will I be engaged in Coral Reef Restoration in Belize, but I will also take part in field studies that measure population statistics of threatened species off the Gulf of Maine, the physical evolution of the shoreline at Plum Island (part of the national Long Term Ecological Network), how nutrient loading from human activity impacts the biogeochemistry of the marine environment, and how urban development effects marine ecology.

After graduation, I hope to begin working on the relationship between modern slavery and environmental degradation, combining what I’ve learned to advocate for human rights in biodiversity hot spots. Over the course of this internship, I will write several blogs to document Mass Audubon’s work to strengthen environmental laws. I look forward to this experience, and I hope you too will learn about conservation legislation.

Yaelle Sarid-Segal is Mass Audubon’s Summer 2017 Conservation Policy intern.