Jordan Blanchard-Lafayette
PhD: Country, calypso or carimbó? The role of cultural value shifts in advancing Amazonian deforestation frontiers
Location – Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University
Email Jordan Blanchard-Lafayette
My PhD will focus on the role cultural value shifts in advancing deforestation frontiers in Amazonia, applying a cultural and social lens to better understand their links with environmental outcomes. I am a University of York and University of Birmingham graduate who has transitioned from my
undergraduate degree in accounting and experience with KPMG into environmental economics. Stumbling across a module looking at social and environmental accounting methods in my time at Birmingham, I had my ‘eureka’ moment and quickly became enthralled with the ethical and epistemological concerns associated with accounting for biodiversity and offsetting. This is what I
researched for my undergraduate dissertation and is a large reason I went on to study for my MSc in Environmental Economics at York. From here, I further cultivated my interest, this time specialising in environmental values, policy and impact assessment. In my time at York, I worked on the IPBES Values Assessment as a contributing author and continue to sit on the Environment department’s Transformative Innovation Board.
I have since worked as a consultant with the Marine Conservation Society on an exciting new Blue Health initiative, and as an advisor for the International Future’s Forum based in Scotland. I’m also an intermittent content creator (blogs, vlogs) with The University of York and Wild Swimming Cornwall.
In my free time I enjoy playing basketball, listening to good music, playing the guitar, and learning languages (anyone with any knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese feel free to start a conversation with me, I’m going to need it). Drop me an email if you’d like to chat or collaborate in some way!