MESM 2022
Bio
Carly Norris graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2015 with a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and a minor in International Studies. Carly intends to continue her work at the intersection of human society and the environment. In particular, she is passionate about understanding how environmental initiatives and policy affect minority stakeholders and is committed to ensuring historically disenfranchised communities maintain a voice in decision-making processes. Working as translator and writer for a Chilean Ecotourism company, Carly understands how to leverage Ecotourism to integrate both environmental and social solutions that equitably benefit indigenous communities. She believes effective solutions to social and environmental issues are best addressed at the local level. Carly used her time as a fellow in the Great Lakes National Program Office of the USEPA to understand how and why various programs designed to integrate local, state, and federal interests succeeded or failed and researched how environmental remediation and restoration equitably impacts community health. In the Economics and Politics of the Environment specialization, she plans to build the skills necessary to be a policy maker in a government agency or a community planning organization. As an associate board member of the Delta Institute, Carly supported startups solving socio-environmental problems with local solutions. She is interested in pursuing the eco-e foci because of the unique opportunities local businesses play in solving socio-environmental problems equitably.