Mike Blessing, a first year MES student in the Faculty of Environmental Studies is interested in making communities and regions more self reliant in regards to their necessities of life (ie. food, energy, water, and financing) within a cooperative bioregional context. He is looking forward to contributing to the IPY GAPS Human Security project and to research community options that are more place-based, ecologically sustainable while offering more humane security.
Dominika Czerwinska was an IRIS Graduate Assistant in the 2007-2008 academic year and is now continuing through the 2009-2009 year. She is a second-year Master's of Environmental Studies students in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Dominika graduated with a B.Sc. Hons in Environmental Science, from Biology at York, has taken the lead on organizing three of our IRIS seminars last year and is organizing the Sustainable Built Environment Speaker Series this year:
- The Culture of Flushing: The Social and Legal History of Sewage
- The Social Benefits of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology: Creating a Sustainable Infrastructure in the GTA
- The Social and Environmental Implications of Extractive Industries in the Global South
Dominika is currently working for the World Green Building Council as Coordinator of Council Development. The World Green Building Council believes that "through leadership collaboration, the global construction industry will transform traditional building practices and fully adopt sustainability as the means by which our environments thrive, economies prosper and societies grow to ensure the future health of our planet."
Jennifer Jew is currently completing her MES with a joint Diploma in Business and the Environment at York University. She brings to IRIS a diverse knowledge on issues of sustainability, innovation and environmental politics. Last summer she interned at the Embassy of Canada in Washington D.C. to learn about the political and entrepreneurial mechanisms that shape our shared space. She is also a consultant with the York Sustainable Enterprise Consultants (YSEC). YSEC works with businesses to adopt corporate social responsibility practices that enhance their competitive advantage. Her final major research paper explores the role of renewable energy in reshaping our political-economic systems.
