UCSB has a nearly 40 year history of environmental activism, beginning with the first Earth Day in 1970, but one graduate student’s hands-on approach to deforestation helps her stand out from the crowd of environmentalists. Erin Myers’ experience and research focus has helped her approach difficult international issues and tailor intricate policies, awarding her a Fulbright fellowship to Indonesia, where she will be working to reduce emissions from forest degradation and deforestation (REDD).

Indonesia is the third largest emitter of CO2 behind the US and China and the largest emitter of deforestation emissions. Myers recognizes the multifaceted nature of Indonesia’s deforestation problems, specializing in political economy of the environment at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

Myers’ first became interested in climate change and forestry while participating in a summer internship with Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent research institute focused on analyzing environmental, energy, and natural resources topics. In Indonesia, Myers will study how international mechanisms for REDD have or will impact community development. Her research is focused on helping communities in Indonesia develop sustainably while meeting global goals in REDD.

“Every place you visit is endowed with different marine and environmental resources. How people use and exploit them is different from place to place,” says Myers. “When you visit communities that are not that wealthy, they are much more bound to their natural resources. It is clear what the results and impacts are.”

Myers does not isolate herself in the world of academia, writing papers and formulating theories. She will work directly with people to try to help improve their lives and teach them about the environment and the cultures affected by environment.

After she finished her undergraduate education at Dartmouth College, Myers teamed up with the founder of Reach the World, where she developed educational curriculum and led sea voyages around the world, and taught children about the environment and culture in the 37 countries the crew visited.

“At the foreign ports we visited, we became the scientific eyes and ears for the children in New York City classrooms. We created the curricular content for elementary and junior high classrooms,” Myers said.

Myers said she felt like she greatly impacted the lives of the students who where in a classroom thousands of miles away, while she was onboard the Makulu II. She said student comments included, “I never expected that an adult would do what I asked them to just because I was interested,” and “I never thought that stuff we read about was real.”

While working in Indonesia, Myers hopes to help Indonesia achieve a feasible balance between an environmentally sustainable development and economic development. The Bren School has endowed Myers with the confidence to achieve her goals.

“[The Bren School] has given me the tools I needed to jump with two feet into this world of policy analysis, allowing me to advise policy makers in forest carbon. The faculty have been encouraging with my decision to pursue the Fulbright, and flexible to shuffle around my schedule when I have had opportunities to meet with the World Bank,” said Myers. “I feel so incredibly lucky to have all of the support from the faculty of the Bren School and from my mentors at RFF, they made it possible for me to apply to the Fulbright. This has been a crazy but meaningful undertaking.”