Lisa Pearce (CPC Fellow) and Taylor Hargrove (CPC Intern) in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal

नमस्ते। Pearce and Hargrove are currently in Nepal to conduct semi-structured interviews with rural residents who depend heavily on direct use of the natural environment for their survival. The interviews are designed to elicit locals' perceptions of the quality of their physical environment. Pearce and Hargrove are paying special attention to discussions that mention or reflect NGO and goverment influence in how people perceive, talk about, and/or interact with the environment. In addition, they are investigating connections between religious involvement and perceptions of the environment. The summer 2010 research trip and data collection in Nepal is funded by an NSF-PIRE award for which Pearce is a subcontract PI. Pearce and Hargrove's ongoing collaboration is supported by CPC's NSF-IGERT training program.

This is Taylor's first research trip abroad. She is actively taking in every experience possible, including daily Nepali lessons, observations of all facets of the Institute for Social and Environmental Research's data collection and processsing activities, and riding elephants in the Chitwan National Park--home to the endangered one horned rhinoceros and bengal tiger.