On Oct. 12, Dr. Peter Buck of Penn State University addressed State High’s Environmental Club. Buck graduated from State High in 1994 and began serving as a SCASD School Board Director in 2021. He spoke at the club’s first meeting about his family’s history of environmental activism, communicating about climate change, and his career as a climate policy educator at Penn State.
Buck’s talk focused on encouraging student involvement, which is central to the club’s mission to “improve the environmental quality of our lives by educating, encouraging and providing resources for people to practice environmentally conscious habits. In doing so, we are creating a more environmentally friendly school, community, and world”.
Early on in the meeting, Buck made it a priority to connect with Environmental Club members by explaining his family’s roots in advocacy and activism. His father advocated for civil rights in the 1960s and his mom attended the first Earth Day gathering and was even a founding member of an organization called “EcoAction, and was present at the first Earth Day Celebration at Penn State”, according to Buck.
Buck started his environmental career in the early 2010s and was active in fighting for environmental causes.
“I hosted a radio show in the early 2010’s and was very active in fighting for local action on health and a sustainable energy future,” Buck said. “Through those initiatives, I got to know Braden Crooks, the former President of EcoAction at Penn State and Gary Thornbloom, the Chair of the Sierra Club Moshannon Group. They wanted to advance the Community and Environmental Bill of Rights, so I put my mouth, my feet, and my willingness to work for a cause to the test. It passed in State College Borough and Ferguson Township in different years. It was a team effort with many people knocking on doors, gathering signatures and communicating with the public. I was just one person.”
In 2012, Buck helped pass the Community and Environmental Bill of Rights in State College and Ferguson Township and he now serves as the Co-Director of Penn State’s Local Climate Action Program, which aims support municipal and county action on climate change across Pennsylvania.
Buck really enjoyed the meeting, as he “loved the energy and curiosity. It made it fun. We need joy when we confront these difficult issues.”
Joshua Wang, an environmental club member, found the meeting with Buck eye-opening.
“I thought it was pretty interesting how he went over his background. He talked about his family and their involvement in social issues. How his parents were at Berkeley doing things with civil rights,” Wang said.
Wang also enjoyed getting to meet and talk directly with a SCASD School Board member in person. “I think it was pretty insightful to see what a school board member does because we know that they exist, but we don’t really know what they do. So it’s cool to see.”
Buck’s talk emphasized the importance of separating science from partisanship. A particular moment Wang remembered was when Buck said, “Methane is not communist. That was very funny because it was unexpected.”
“But I think his point was, methane’s not politically driven, it’s just an issue that we have that people need to accept,” Wang stated.
The accessibility of Buck’s talk offered a model of science communication for Wang: “A big issue that a lot of scientists have is that they can’t find a way to communicate their findings. They’ll see a lot of groundbreaking information, but they can’t put it in a way that normal people can understand.”
A key takeaway of the meeting was that when science and advocacy overlap, clear and accessible communication is key.
The Environmental Club meets every Thursday from 3:30-5:00 pm in A213. If students can’t make the meetings, club Co-President Odessa Gregor suggests that they “sign up for emails about different opportunities for community service.”
Last year, the group led several initiatives based on partnerships with the Clearwater Conservancy, Treeplenish, Shaver’s Creek, and SCASD Reads. The Environmental Club hopes to double the trees planted this year as well.
