Bennett Olupo, MEM

Year: 
2024

Major:
Master of Environmental Management

Current position:
YSE Liaison

More about Bennett:
Bennett Olupo is a Master of Environmental Management Candidate (MEM) at Yale School of the Environment, focusing on food sovereignty and sustainable development. Summers spent on his grandparents’ farm and visiting Nigeria as a kid laid the foundation for his interest in food and agriculture. After studying Biology and Spanish at the University of Minnesota, Bennett taught Chemistry and Physics at Huntington Park Senior High in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, he gained a deeper understanding of the environmental injustices communities of color face due to air pollution and contaminated soils. Community organizing in Minneapolis after teaching allowed him to promote environmental justice through collaborative events in an effort to undo harm. The experiences gave him a renewed interest in land stewardship practices that can improve the health of the land as well as lead to a more just society. He views changes in Western agricultural practices and our relationship with food as an essential part of the process of creating a viable and just society.
Bennett is currently researching food actor grant access and food sovereignty in Minneapolis.