MESM 2021
Bio
Janelle Christensen, a Master’s student with a focus in Conservation Planning, graduated from University of California, Davis in 2010 with Bachelor of Science in Animal Science. After graduating, she spent time developing her interests and love for nature through work with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Research and Conservation Program, the Watershed Stewards Program as an AmeriCorps member in Yreka, and with the Peace Corps as a Sustainable Agriculture Volunteer in Senegal. Through these experiences, she saw the harmful impacts humans have caused to once pristine ecosystems, and became driven to find a way to mitigate and repair those damages. She refined her skills as a project manager and protected and improved natural spaces around the world. She is increasingly aware of the lack of access that low income communities have to the education and resources needed to understand and protect their environment and plans to work to lessen this problem. Additionally, she has become intrigued with waste reduction and the various solutions hemp may provide in that field. To that end, she is pursuing a career in ecological restoration that incorporates education and environmental justice.