Leah Missik is the Program Manager of Built Green, a regional green home certification program in Washington State. During the two years Leah has held this position, she has overseen the continued growth of the program, completed groundbreaking post-occupancy studies on green building performance, and collaborated on the expansion of municipal and utility incentives for green building in the region. She has also worked to increase the diversity of the green building community in the area.
Prior to joining Built Green, Leah worked as a Renewable Energy Analyst for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She has also completed a microfinance internship in Cusco, Peru and did community forestry management research in East Africa with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute while she was in graduate school.
Leah is very involved with the Russian environmental activist community and does work translating articles from Russian to English to generate broader attention on both the challenges activists in the former Soviet sphere face and pressing environmental issues in the region. She has also volunteered with Great Baikal Trail, a trail building and environmental education organization in the Lake Baikal area that seeks to promote ecotourism and preserve the Lake’s unique ecosystem. In addition, Leah writes her own blog, Went Looking, on travel, and regularly contributes to other online publications on travel and activism.
Generally, Leah is interested in environmental policy, sustainability, international development, environmental justice, the intersection of human rights and environmental activism, and women's empowerment and tries to combine her interests in a variety of ways to spur meaningful change. She adores Finland and has spent quite a bit of time there, and she is darkly fascinated by the politics of Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Leah holds her Masters of Public Affairs from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, where she concentrated in Environmental Policy and International Affairs. Her Bachelor of Arts is from Kenyon College. There, Leah majored in Modern Languages (Russian and German) and International Studies, with a concentration in Environmental Studies.
Prior to joining Built Green, Leah worked as a Renewable Energy Analyst for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She has also completed a microfinance internship in Cusco, Peru and did community forestry management research in East Africa with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute while she was in graduate school.
Leah is very involved with the Russian environmental activist community and does work translating articles from Russian to English to generate broader attention on both the challenges activists in the former Soviet sphere face and pressing environmental issues in the region. She has also volunteered with Great Baikal Trail, a trail building and environmental education organization in the Lake Baikal area that seeks to promote ecotourism and preserve the Lake’s unique ecosystem. In addition, Leah writes her own blog, Went Looking, on travel, and regularly contributes to other online publications on travel and activism.
Generally, Leah is interested in environmental policy, sustainability, international development, environmental justice, the intersection of human rights and environmental activism, and women's empowerment and tries to combine her interests in a variety of ways to spur meaningful change. She adores Finland and has spent quite a bit of time there, and she is darkly fascinated by the politics of Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Leah holds her Masters of Public Affairs from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, where she concentrated in Environmental Policy and International Affairs. Her Bachelor of Arts is from Kenyon College. There, Leah majored in Modern Languages (Russian and German) and International Studies, with a concentration in Environmental Studies.