Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Samuel Hanson ’24
MUSIC
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECT TITLE
Religion and
Environmental Justice in
Panama and the Peruvian
Amazon
ORGANIZATION(S)
High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Princeton University;
Paz y Esperanza Perú
LOCATION(S)
Princeton, New Jersey;
San Martin, Perú
MENTOR(S)
Rob Nixon,
Thomas A. and Currie C.
Barron Family Professor
in Humanities and the
Environment, Professor of
English and the High
Meadows Environmental
Institute; Ryan Juskus,
Postdoctoral Research
Associate, High Meadows
Environmental Institute
Our project aimed to explore the link between
religion — both colonial and indigenous—
and the environment in Panama and the
Peruvian Amazon. During our two-week stay
in Moyobamba, Perú, we interviewed members
of Paz y Esperanza, a faith-based organization,
and other members of the community, asking
questions about why they are motivated to fight
for environmental justice. The work we did
opened my eyes to the reality of modernity and
the forces driving the extraction of resources
from the Amazon rainforest. It also gave me
perspective on the types of lifestyles that are
causing suffering. For instance, visiting a nearby
rainforest preserve gave me a very different
taste of life compared to the busy town I stayed
in. I also gained insight into the knowledge
that Indigenous people have of the cycles of
life and the relationship between humans and
non-humans. I have come to appreciate that
this knowledge is something that we need
to reconnect with in order to reintegrate our
way of being with the natural order. We are all
indigenous someplace on the earth, but at the
same time, we seem to have forgotten our true
connection.
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