Strengthening our Team to Support Advocates Around the World

We are pleased to welcome two scientists and a lawyer to the team at the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide! Their skills are helping us ramp up our work to challenge fossil fuels, rein in plastic pollution, protect marine ecosystems, and build a strong corps of community advocates around the world.

Dr. Riley “Rye” Howard
Staff Scientist

Rye helps ELAW partners around the world understand the impacts of toxic substances, especially plastic pollution, on public health. They earned a doctorate in Environmental Health from the Boston University School of Public Health, and have held many teaching positions. Rye has consulted with NGOs and European government agencies to better regulate toxic substances, including polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), flame retardants, and other ubiquitous toxic chemicals. In 2019-20, Rye was based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, helping NGOs address environmental health problems, conducting environmental monitoring of PFAS in Bangladesh’s waterways, and traveling thousands of kilometers across India by bicycle.

Dr. Melissa Garren
Scientist on contract

Melissa brings diverse experience in public interest science to our team. She provides research and strategy support to our work with partners around the world to protect coastal and marine ecosystems. Melissa earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Yale, and a master’s and a doctorate in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography focusing on environmental threats to the integrity of coral reefs. Melissa is the principal at Working Ocean Strategies LLC, and has worked at the intersection of ocean and coastal environmental issues with an array of scientific disciplines, including engineering, water quality, microbiology and biotechnology, disease, aquaculture and fisheries, and social issues.

Dr. Carlos Soria
Attorney on contract

Carlos has worked since 1988 to protect the environment and Indigenous peoples in Latin America and around the world. Based in Peru, he has served as consultant for the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, FAO, Helvetas, CONDESAN, USAID, the International Center for Forest Research (CIFOR), among others. He worked with the REDD MOZFIP project in Mozambique from 2018 to 2020. He earned a law degree at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú PUCP, a Master in Social Sciences with a focus on Amazonian Studies from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), and a Doctor of Philosophy from Flinders University of South Australia.

Welcome Rye, Melissa and Carlos!