Interns

Ben Bokser, a New York City native, is the Sustainability Laboratory's first summer intern. He is a 2009 graduate of Yale University with a degree in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Much of his college work related to the issues of poverty reduction and the environmental from the wide degree of angles provided by his interdisciplinary major, capped off by a thesis researching ethical restaurant certification in Israel.

Following the fall 2008 semester spent volunteering and studying in Nepal, Ben has also developed an interest in sustainable agriculture, the focus of the Sustainability Laboratory's Project Wadi Attir. Ben will be developing this interest in a hands-on way in fall 2009 in an apprenticeship program in an ecological farm in Israel.

Tashi Dorji, a native of Bhutan, has graduated with a Masters degree in International Affairs in December 2009 from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan as a protocol officer before coming to Columbia University with a scholarship from Elysium Foundation in Switzerland. 

Inspired by the philosophy of Gross National Happiness, initiated by His Majesty the fourth king of Bhutan, where happiness of people is made the guiding goal for development in his country, and also by the work of Dr. Michael Ben Eli and the Sustainability Laboratory

with its own sustainability principles and dedication to making our world a more sustainable place, Tashi decided to intern for a few months with the Lab, upon his return to Bhutan.

He will be working on how the five domains of the sustainability framework can be implemented in the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan where sustainability of its environment and culture is given a high priority.