Local and global – Megan’s drive to learn about and support environmental protection

By Megan Mason Dister

I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, where I loved playing outside and spending many afternoons and summer days running around my tree-lined neighborhood and exploring tiny beaches along Chesapeake Bay. But I also learned quickly about being careful playing near the polluted water of the bay.

I understood from an early age the devastating impacts of flooding — my house turning into an island surrounded by swampy water when there were nor’easters or hurricanes. I watched tons of coal travel through Norfolk’s port and learned in high school of coal’s lasting impacts on human health.

Off to East Africa

Studying elephants in Tanzania, Photo by Megan Mason Dister

While attending college at the University of Virginia I eagerly dove into studying environmental issues and became fascinated by environmental justice on a global scale. During a semester abroad I studied wildlife conservation and political ecology in Tanzania, which fueled my interest in East Africa.

Two years later I returned to the region as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Kenya, where I taught English and helped lead the wildlife and environmental club at an all-girls high school. The most powerful part of this experience was learning from my students.

Megan working in the school staff room in Nairobi, Photo by Zainab Abdali

As I taught climate change, I asked my students whose obligation it is to lessen its effects. They agreed that we were all obligated to fight climate change, but when I asked whether wealthier countries or countries that have released more greenhouse gases should pay more, opinions diverged. One student argued that it does not matter – climate change is already causing famine in their hometowns, so they must be a global leader in this arena.

Another student maintained that their country does not have the same resources and does not produce as much greenhouse gases as wealthy countries, so wealthier countries must carry the burden. Hearing from these students made me think deeply about historical injustices and the voices often missing in most hegemonic attempts to grapple with global environmental challenges.

The Monongahela National Forest

When I returned from Kenya, I engaged with environmental issues domestically through serving as an AmeriCorps on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. I helped create a regional “towns and forest” partnership to develop recreation economies. I learned about the history of the region, the experiences of community members today when interacting with the forest, and the ways the Forest Service can weave knowledge of historical injustices and present-day concerns into their land management decisions.

Law school and beyond

Megan hiking in Alaska, Photo by Joseph Ren

While in West Virginia I decided to go to law school to gain the skills I needed to be effective in the environmental and public service work I wanted to do. Throughout my time at Duke Law School, I focused on environmental protection work. I also became more interested in Alaska and its unique environmental issues. I joined the Alaska Law Review and organized a symposium about environmental law and Alaska. I published writing on resource balancing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This interest in Alaska led to a clerkship on the Alaska Supreme Court and, after only a few months in Alaska, I could not imagine having to leave at the end of the year. I am so excited to work as a legal fellow for Trustees for Alaska where I can do the work that inspired me to go to law school and engage deeply with the important environmental issues that made me want to move to Alaska.