AT
Adrianne Traub
  • Cortland, NY

Cortland, N.Y. Native Adrianne Traub Attends Youth Climate Summit in the Adirondacks

2010 Dec 9

SUNY Potsdam sophomore Adrianne Traub of Cortland, N.Y. recently had the privelege of attending the second annual Adirondack Youth Climate Summit at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake along with three other students and two advisers. The summit hosted 23 high schools and seven colleges from around the Adirondack North Country on Nov. 9 and 10.

Acting as representatives of SUNY Potsdam, students Adrianne Traub, Kyle Rizzo, Krystal White and Zachary Gioia attended the summit, along with Resident Director R.J. Mattimore and Assistant Professor Dr. Stacy Rosenberg.

Over the two-day summit, several workshops and sessions were held to inform students of the impacts of global warming and what their schools could do to become more sustainable in a world facing a global climate crisis. Speakers included United Nations youth climate delegate Dominic Frongillo, well-known author/ecologist Jerry Jenkins, Heureka Finnish Science Center scientist Mikko Myllykoski and Mark Kimball from Essex Farm. In addition, many of the workshops included guest speakers from businesses, organizations and educational institutions in the surrounding area.

The seminars covered a range of green topics, including building school gardens, creating environmental jobs in rural areas, greenhouse gas inventories and effective waste management. The Wild Center provided several meals that were largely donated by local farmers to promote local purchases and consumption.

SUNY Potsdam students collaborated with students from Clarkson University, St. Lawrence University, SUNY Plattsburgh, Paul Smith's College, Colgate University and North Country Community College. Students said that this was an invaluable opportunity to share ideas with students from other colleges about how to work toward sustainability in higher education.

Students were also given the chance to work on goals for moving each campus toward a greener future. The SUNY Potsdam students discussed improving education about the College's zero-sort recycling program, designing an environmental curriculum to include in the first-year success seminars and instituting a campus "green" fee of $1 or $2 to fund sustainable projects.

SUNY Potsdam is proud of its environmental heritage and its location at the gateway to the Adirondack Park. Find out more about the College's sustainability initiatives at www.potsdam.edu/about/sustainability/index.cfm.

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Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, the State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.

-www.potsdam.edu-