During the summer of 2022, Owen Favreau will be joining the Sheriff’s Meadow staff as a Henry Beetle Hough intern, to perform an energy and carbon emissions audit for all Sheriff’s Meadow properties. Owen will focus on the carbon emissions associated with Sheriff’s Meadow vehicle usage, as well as evaluating the electric and gas bills for its Island facilities. Owen will then draw on this research to make strategic recommendations for Sheriff’s Meadow’s long-term sustainable operations—including comparing his project conclusions with the Foundation’s recent LiDAR forestry scans when that information becomes available, to determine how much of its emissions are offset by the land it conserves. This project is a timely one for the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, as it begins drafting long-term strategic goals for the next five years to maintain and expand upon its leadership in environmental conservation, education, and stewardship on Martha’s Vineyard.
Owen is a rising junior at Amherst College, where he majors in environmental studies. At Amherst, Owen is using his major and related career opportunities to explore the ways in which businesses and organizations can adopt environmentally sustainable practices. As a longtime Vineyard resident, Owen is particularly interested in promoting long-term environmental sustainability for the local organizations and community he cherishes. Prior to his time at Amherst, Owen co-led the Protect Your Environment club during his senior year at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, to help advance sustainable initiatives for the school. Owen also devoted part of his time in high school to environmental research, including working with Executive Director Adam Moore on an independent project studying fossilized tree pollen on Sheriff’s Meadow’s public properties.