Endangered tiger and rainforest habitat decline. Image credit: Jill Pelto

In the years since Raxa Collective has been operational in India, we have welcomed several dozen interns to Kerala from a dozen or more countries around the world, most but not all from university programs that have some attention to sustainable development. The majority of those interns have been graduate students preparing for a career in international business. Most of our interns will not work full time in sustainable development after graduating. But they want this experience to ensure that their work has a kind of “double major” effect so their exposure to sustainability programming is embedded in their more mainstream functional business activities.

Those interns not from university programs are typically taking a sabbatical from their regular work life. They also are typically looking to add the equivalent of a second major to their regular professional life.  Thanks to Clara Chaisson at EcoWatch for this pointer over to an scientist/artist who is doing the same, in her own way:

Scientists are notorious for struggling to communicate the importance of their work in compelling ways. But as both a researcher and an artist, Jill Pelto is in a unique position to reach a broad audience. While double majoring in earth science and studio art at the University of Maine, she honed her “environmental art,” which combines stunning imagery of the natural world with actual data points measuring the effects of climate change.

See the full sampling here.