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Emme Christie, BSc., MPhil.

I am a queer, trans, Fulbright and transdisciplinary environmental activist-scholar who works along the contours of queerness and environmental identity. As a critical environmental sociologist, my work addresses injustice and power relations in environmental research, policy, data management, and decision-making.

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My current research as a Ph.D. candidate at SUNY-ESF involves an inquiry into the formation of a national environmental identity through a mixed-methods survey of environmental history and present practices of environmental discourse and governance. Through this work, I hope to make an impact as a justice, equity, diversity, access, and inclusion (JEDAI) scholar by centering the voices of historically marginalized groups in environmental decision-making.

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I am also an environmental, climate change, and human rights activist with the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council. I host two podcasts, Environmentally Speaking, which looks at various environmental issues in Jamaica, and Fish Tea which looks at various aspects of being LGBTQ+ in the Caribbean.

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"The only way to win is to be great and unaffected."

- Glenroy Murray

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Education

2012-2022

Master of Philosophy (Chemistry)
University of the West Indies, Mona

My master's thesis presented a multiple pathways analysis of water quality data. I analyzed sixteen (16) years of climate and water quality data (2001 - 2017) for the Hope River Basin in Jamaica and showed how the analytical protocol and thus, findings are constrained by the quality of available data. This work demonstrates the criticality of statistical treatment design to the interpretation of water quality data and thus how we communicate the same and develop policies for integrated water resources management.

2008-2011

Bachelor of Science (Pure Chemistry & Food Chemistry)
University of the West Indies, Mona

My BSc included a study of core principles of chemistry and food chemistry including, biochemistry, sanitation food processing, and food safety. The core focus of my bachelor's degree was analytical chemistry and chemometrics.

Current Projects

1. Queering Human Rights Advocacy, SUNY-ESF Career Fellowship, 2023

This project entails working with LGBTQ+ rights organizations in Jamaica to develop a framework for the inclusion of climate justice frames in LGBTQ+ advocacy.

2. A Stadial Analysis of Maroon-State Relations in Jamaica: A 200-year media content analysis, Ph.D. Dissertation Research, 

    SUNY-ESF

This study looks at the representation of the relationship between the Jamaican government as well as the non-Maroon Jamaican public and the Maroons from 1834 - 2022.

3. The Jamaican Environmental Identity: Opportunities for the inclusion of local ecological knowledge into Jamaica’s

     environmental governance framework, Ph.D. Dissertation Research, SUNY-ESF

We are using interviews and quantitative survey methods to assess the Jamaican environmental identity. The results of the research will be used to develop an environmental identity index, applicable to Jamaica that can potentially guide policy development and implementation approaches by establishing linkages between socioeconomic and other demographic characteristics with pro-environmental behaviors, attitudes, and values within the Jamaican population.

4. A Political Economic Analysis of Maroon Resistance in Jamaica, Ph.D. Dissertation Research, SUNY-ESF

This study locates Maroon resistance in Jamaica within capitalist power relations. It focuses on treaty lands held in  commune by the Jamaican Maroons in one of western Jamaica’s most prominent Maroon settlements, The Sovereign State of Accompong.

5. Legal recognition, protection, and health: how the legal framework influences social determinants of health in the Jamaican

    Trans Community,  Ph.D. Dissertation Research, SUNY-ESF

This study assesses the impact of the Jamaican socio-cultural and legal context on the health determinants of trans people in Jamaica.

6. An Energy Centrality Theorem: The case for the reorganization of economic theory to address human ecological impact, Ph.D.      Dissertation Research, SUNY-ESF

By centering the reorganization of energy as a key outcome of economic activities, this research paper highlights the linkages between current globalized systems of fossil fuel energy production/use and climate change as manifested in ‘biospheric equilibrium distortions’. The study adds to critiques of the fossil fuel foundations of our economy by challenging notions of value expressed in economic theory as being inadequate due to their exclusion of waste as a critical component of industrial capitalist economic processes that should be addressed intra-economically.

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Teaching Experience

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, USA

  • Fall 2022 - FCH150 General Chemistry 1 Laboratory

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University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

  • Spring 2019 - CHEM1902 Introductory Chemistry B Laboratory; CHEM 0902 Preliminary Chemistry B (Instructor) Laboratory

  • Fall 2018 - CHEM 2402 Water Treatment Laboratory (Instructor)

  • Spring 2018 - CHEM1902 Introductory Chemistry B Laboratory

  • Fall 2017 - CHEM 2402 Water Treatment Laboratory(Instructor)

  • Spring 2017 - CHEM 3011 Analytical Chemistry II Laboratory

  • Fall 2016 - CHEM2011 Analytical Chemistry I Laboratory

  • Spring 2015 - CHEM 3011 Analytical Chemistry II Laboratory

  • Fall 2015 - CHEM2011 Analytical Chemistry I Laboratory

  • Summer 2014 - Preliminary Chemistry A Summer Course Instructor

  • Spring 2014 - CHEM 3511 Food Chemistry Laboratory

  • Fall 2014 - CHEM1902 Introductory Chemistry A Laboratory

  • Summer 2013 - Preliminary Chemistry B Summer Course Instructor

  • Spring 2013 - CHEM1902 Introductory Chemistry B Laboratory

  • Fall 2013 - CHEM 2511 Food Processing Laboratory

  • Spring 2012 - CHEM 3011 Analytical Chemistry II Laboratory

  • Fall 2012 - CHEM2511 Food Processing Laboratory

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Charlemont High School, Jamaica

2011-2012, Chemistry Teacher

  • Teacher in charge of Chemistry

  • ​Prepared Students (grades 11 - 13) for the CXC – CSEC and CAPE examinations

  • Hosted a week of celebrations of Chemistry where students were given the opportunity to compete for prizes in various Chemistry related competitions

  • Introduced the Environmental Club

  • Chemistry Passes, 93% for CAPE Unit I and 83% for CAPE Unit II

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Conference/Workshop Presentations & Invited Talks

  • Christie M., Queering the Transition: Identity & Justice as Pillars of Climate Justice, GirlsCare Jamaica Mentorship Programme, 2023

  • Christie M., An Energy Centrality Theorem: The case for the reorganization of economic theory to address human ecological impact, CNY Conference on Environmental Science & Studies, SUNY-ESF, New York, 2023

  • Christie M., The Value of Self-Identity and Non-Conformity, Keynote address at the Baobab Society Empowerment Brunch, SUNY-ESF, 2022

  • Christie, M., Justice, Equity, Diversity, Access, and Inclusion (JEDAI) in Environmental Science and Studies, Presentation at the Social Justice Informatics Workshop, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 2022

  • Christie M., Caribbean Energy Transition Journalism Programme - Workshop: Caribbean Climate Change and Energy Transition: Human & Social Factors, Climate Tracker, August 2022

  • Christie, M., TRANSdisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Governance in the Caribbean, GirlsCareJa, June 2022

  • Christie, M, The Political economy of Jamaican Marronage: A Stadial Analysis, Presentation at the Association of Environmental Sciences and Studies Annual Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, 2022. https://pheedloop.com/EVEVOXDUGKEFK/site/sessions/?id=SESYHCZAWM9E5NHL4

  • Christie, M., The Political economy of Jamaican Marronage: A Stadial Analysis of five centuries of Maroon resistance, Presentation at the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Workshop in Sustainable Development 2022, Columbia University, New York, 2022

  • Christie M., Trans Identities in Cisnormative Health Systems, Guest Lecture for Culture and Reproductive Health in Medicine, Syracuse University, New York, Spring 2021

  • Christie, M., Navigating Educational Spaces in Jamaica: the LGBTQ+ Experience, NEU LGBT+ Educators’ Conference, Plenary: Fighting against oppression, England, November 2021

  • Christie, M., Assessing Climate [Change] Impacts on Water Quality in an Agricultural Riparian System Using Water Quality Indices, Postgraduate Seminar presentation, Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, 2017

  • Christie, M., Rattray, V., Mandal, A., Communicating Water Quality: An historical assessment of the Hope River, Jamaica, Oral Presentation, Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association Conference, Montego Bay, Jamaica, 2018

  • Christie, M., Rattray, V., Mandal, A., Modeling water quality in a low order river system: A study of the Hope River, Jamaica, Poster Presentation, University of the West Indies, Mona, Faculty of Science and Technology Conference, St. Andrew, Jamaica, 2018

  • Christie, M., Rattray, V., Mandal, A., Assessing the Impact of Weather and Anthropogenic Factors on Water Quality in The Hope River, Jamaica, Oral Presentation, Geological Society of America Conference, Georgia, 2017, DOI: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-298902

  • Christie M., Rubus Pharmacochemistry: Ethnomedicine and Science, Postgraduate Seminar presentation and, Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, Jamaica, 2014

  • Christie M., Bowen-Forbes C., Phytochemistry and Biological Activity of the Ethyl Acetate Extract of Figs (Ficus carica), Undergraduate research project, Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, Jamaica 2011

Academic Publications

  • Christie, M (2022). A Multiple Pathways Approach to Water Quality Analysis: A Study of The Hope River Watershed, Jamaica, MPhil Thesis, University of the West Indies (Mona), St. Andrew, Jamaica

  • Christie, M. (2022). Martín Arboleda. Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction under Late Capitalism. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-022-00765-x

Grey Literature

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Research Experience

  • Christie M., Climate change and the Jamaican LGBTQ+ Population: A pilot study on perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and impact, Equality for All Foundation (JFLAG), 2021

  • Christie, M., Trans Health Needs Assessment, Transwave Jamaica Ltd., 2020

  • Evans D., Williams M., Christie M., Validation of the blank correction procedures for the Hach Phosphate (H-8048) and Sulfate (H-8051) methods, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2019

  • Webb A., Webster J., Christie M., The effect of ammonia on the dichromate oxidation of organics in testing for chemical oxygen demand using H-8000, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2019

  • Webster J., Martin S., Christie M., Standardization of the Biochemical Oxygen Demand Test: Investigating the Applicability for the use of GGA Calibration Curves and Reagent Water Blank Exclusion, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2018

  • Wilson C., Christie M., An investigation into the effect of chloride interference on the recovery of nitrogen using cadmium reduction method (H-8039), Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2017

  • Green R., Christie M., Determination of Nitrogen Content in Wastewater and Seawater Samples via Persulfate Digestion, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2016

  • Brown S., Christie M., Quality Control in the Assay of Biochemical Oxygen Demand: Relationship with Chemical Oxygen Demand, Selection and use of Seed Stock, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2015

  • Dawkins M., Christie M., 5-Day Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2014

  • Steen D., Christie M., The Effect of Weather Changes on Metal Ion Concentration in two Jamaica Rivers, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2012

  • Christie M., Quality Assurance in ESL-QEHL: The determination of the suitability of the use of In-House Reference Materials in Conjunction with Certified Reference Materials and the Identification of Metallic Interferents in Ensuring Data Quality, Internship Research Project, Environmental Solutions Limited, 2010

Contact

1 Forestry Drive, Office: Bray 12C

Syracuse, New York, 13210

mchristie@esf.edu; mchris15@syr.edu

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Looking forward to hearing from you!

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