Julia Norman

Age: 25

Home Town: San Pedro, California

Education: B.A. in Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley; M.A. in Global Environmental Policy, School of International Service, American University

Specific Field Interests: Climate Resilience, Sustainable Agriculture, Landscape Restoration, Community-Based Development, Livelihoods and the Environment

Placement: Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Area of Focus: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Livelihoods

Fellowship Project: Assist in the development, qualitative and quantitative assessment, and writing for a project aimed at helping climate-vulnerable villages adapt to and address issues related to water quality and scarcity, soil salinity, land degradation, access to clean energy, and gaps in income, as well as social and economic inequities.

Highlights: Julia Norman is serving as an American India Foundation (AIF) Banyan Impact Fellow with the Center for Environment Education (CEE) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She will be supporting the implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and documentation of CEE's climate resilience intervention program serving villages in resource-vulnerable regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Julia holds a degree in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University’s School of International Service. She has received training in applied agroecology, permaculture practices and principles, and whole-systems landscape design, and brings with her a spirit of reciprocity and restoration to the sustainable development sector. Julia has previous experiences working in the nonprofit, private, and public sectors, having served in roles such as Associate Director of Environmental Sustainability for an eco-resort, a Project Developer and Grant Specialist for Strategies for International Development, and a Food Education Teacher for elementary-age students in Washington, DC. She approaches systems-change-oriented work through this cross-sectoral lens. For her academic achievements and commitment to sustainable food and agricultural policy, she was named a James Beard Award National Scholar for 2023-2024 and was awarded the Critical Language Scholarship to study Urdu in Lucknow, India, in the Summer of 2023. She is grateful for the opportunity to return to India to contribute to an agriculturally-based, community-centered climate adaptation and mitigation project. In her free time, Julia enjoys all things food-related (growing, harvesting, cooking, consuming, and composting), reading, writing, hiking, practicing yoga, and meeting new people in new places.