Penn State students help local communities tackle climate change - Statecollege.com

Penn State students help local communities tackle climate change | Centre County Gazette | StateCollege.com

Sarabeth Vaquez attends an Earth Day celebration at the State College Municipal Building on Saturday, April 20. | Courtesy of Peter Buck

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State students are making an impact on climate change at the local level by helping officials across Pennsylvania track the carbon footprint in their communities and recommending ways to reduce it.

On Monday, April 22, Earth Day 2024, Penn State recognized more than 30 undergraduate and graduate students from the University Park campus and Penn State World Campus who have participated in the Local Climate Action Program. The students have worked with almost 20 government agencies in Pennsylvania over the past two academic years, including in State College.

The students say the experience has given them the chance to use their Penn State education in environmental studies, renewable energy and sustainability to make significant contributions to solutions to local climate change in cities and towns in Pennsylvania.

Through the Local Climate Action Program, students are paired each fall semester with a municipal government or state agency to create an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions using publicly available data.

In the spring semester, using the inventories, the students work with government officials to identify the next steps in reducing the area’s emissions and assist with projects, such as drafting climate action plans, creating community surveys or updating rooftop solar ordinances. The documentation the students put together can also be used when the governments apply for federal funding for energy projects.

The Local Climate Action Program is led by Penn State Sustainability. The university’s chief sustainability officer, Lara Fowler, applauded the work of the Local Climate Action Program “for providing much-needed assistance to local and state governments.”

She said students help set the stage for further action by communities and state agencies, which helps set them up for potential state and federal funding opportunities.

“You need a plan to apply for funding. By working closely with communities, the students’ work can help deliver significant benefits now and in the future for these communities,” Fowler said.

The students are in environmental and sustainability related degree programs offered in residence at University Park or online through Penn State World Campus. They work closely with co-directors Peter Buck, a program manager with Penn State Sustainability, and Brandi Robinson, an associate teaching professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences who teaches online through World Campus. The students receive course credit and complete their projects remotely.

“The Local Climate Action Program creates an engaging, sustained experience for students to create a positive impact in local communities by helping local governments advance their climate initiatives,” Robinson said. “Most academic (curricula don’t) yet prepare students to inventory greenhouse gas emissions or engage in climate action planning, despite this need growing in all sectors of society. We’re proud to support local climate efforts in our Pennsylvania communities while training our students for exciting careers in government, the private sector and more.”

The 2022–23 academic year was the first year Penn State led the program after taking over its management from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. State College, Reading, Erie and Doylestown were among the partners.

This academic year, municipal partners included Solebury Township in Bucks County, Mechanicsburg in Cumberland County, Conshohocken in Montgomery County and Palmer Township in Northampton County. Students were also paired with Centre County government and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Max Theuer, a Bellefonte native and graduate student in public policy at University Park, worked with Penn State World Campus student Hayden Reboulet to update State College Borough’s greenhouse gas inventory in 2022–23. They analyzed emissions for the State College community, such as the sources of residential and commercial energy consumption, and the borough’s operations, such as its buildings and vehicle fleet.

The two presented their findings to the borough’s council in February, and Theuer continues working with the borough as it develops its own local climate action plan.

Theuer will make a presentation on Tuesday, April 30, to state lawmakers. He will present findings from the nearly 20 government participants in the Local Climate Action Program to the Climate Caucus of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Theuer has been assisted by state Rep. Paul Takac, of College Township, in arranging the event.

Theuer hopes to convey to lawmakers the importance of local climate action so they can take the ideas back to their districts across the state.

“Climate change is now,” said Theuer, who will graduate in May and hopes to work on Capitol Hill. “Taking action in any way we can helps, and I’m proud to be a part of something like the Local Climate Action Program that engages real communities across Pennsylvania to better address climate change as it impacts them.”

Another University Park graduate student from the Local Climate Action Program, Vijay Chiluveru, will give a separate presentation to state officials the same day in Harrisburg.

Chiluveru, a master’s student in energy and mineral engineering, is one of three students paired with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources this year. They have been scoping sources of emissions from the operations of the state agency that maintains state parks and state forests.

Chiluveru said once the team completes the inventory, they will write a comprehensive report with recommendations to optimize DCNR’s operations with sustainability in mind.

“It is deeply satisfying to see my talent and skills put to effective use in addressing the DCNR’s need to benchmark their operational greenhouse gas emissions,” Chiluveru said. “DCNR is a large governmental organization whose active participation in the LCAP program is a glowing testimony that our collective efforts here are considerable and noticeable.”

The presentation on Tuesday, April 30, will be at the department’s offices in Harrisburg in front of high-level managers.

“Penn State has a rich history and deep expertise in sustainability and climate change, so partnering with the Local Climate Action Program was a natural fit,” said Greg Czarnecki, a director of applied science at DCNR. “Each of DCNR’s 124 state parks and 2.2. million acres of state forests are much like small communities. Our parks and forests contain more than 4,000 buildings, 173 water treatment plants, hundreds of roads and bridges, and each has its own fleet of light- and heavy-duty vehicles, so this project is much like the others LCAP does but on a much bigger scale.

“This analysis will help us identify areas where we can reduce emissions and eventually achieve carbon neutrality in our day-to-day operations.”

This year, Centre County Commissioner Amber Concepcion is working with three students who completed a greenhouse gas inventory in the fall of the entire county and the county government’s operations, such as its buildings and vehicle fleet.

“The great thing about having a greenhouse gas inventory is it’s the first step toward setting goals,” she said. “First you need to know where your emissions are coming from.”

The team consists of University Park students Octavia Szkutnik and Sarabeth Vasquez and World Campus student Garth Moffatt.

Concepcion said they identified transportation as a significant source of emissions countywide. The inventory showed industrial sources were another significant contributor, and she said she was surprised by the volume.

“The Local Climate Action Program gives us a snapshot of our energy use, and it’ll help us identify ways we can not only reduce carbon but potentially save money by understanding where we’re using energy now and where the major centers of energy use are,” she said.