We all have a role to play in addressing today’s sustainability challenges. As a Penn Stater, it’s in “our nature” to work collaboratively towards these much-needed solutions. Nittany Lions have a long history of positive climate impact and “Our Nature” chronicles trustworthy environmental news, stories, and perspectives from throughout the Penn State community.
Hear firsthand how faculty, staff, alumni, and students are making an impact each day, what their successes and challenges have been, and what’s fueling their passion for progress. By following these stories or submitting your own, we hope you’ll find inspiration and hope for our shared sustainable future.
Both our choices and our voices are powerful tools that can be leveraged to improve conditions for our planet, wildlife, and selves.
Hannah Kline, Sustainability Scholar
The Penn State Global Sustainability Scholars program is a competitive scholarship program managed by Penn State Global in partnership with Penn State Sustainability. Each fall, a cohort of 10-15 students is selected who are eager to use their education abroad experience in the coming year to develop the skills and knowledge they need to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). These students commit to meaningful engagement with the sustainability community at Penn State before departure, building global sustainability [...]
Penn State Behrend alum empowers new beekeepers in Nepal with the Peace Corps
By Pearl Patterson ('21) with Tomoe Matsumoto-Hervol I am Pearl Patterson, a Penn State Behrend alum ('21) working as an agriculture-based Peace Corps volunteer in rural Nepal for two years (June 2023 through August 2025). While at Behrend, I interned with the Sustainable Food Systems Program and Sustainable Behrend, and following graduation, I served for two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA member working to build the capacity of Erie’s Food Policy Advisory Council. In my current position as a Peace [...]
Becoming an Educated Climate Warrior
By Ava Blansfield A Note from Dr. Lucy R. McClain, Associate Teaching Professor of Sust 200: Foundations of Leadership in Sustainability: When I first began teaching SUST 200 at Penn State in the fall of 2018, the weight of the climate crisis was something I truthfully hadn’t acknowledged or felt on a personal level–or maybe I did. Still, because it feels so amplified in my current state, I could be minimizing how I felt six years ago. Regardless, as I [...]
Becoming a Creative Climate Warrior
By Ava Blansfield A Note from Dr. Lucy R. McClain, Associate Teaching Professor of Sust 200: Foundations of Leadership in Sustainability: When I first began teaching SUST 200 at Penn State in the fall of 2018, the weight of the climate crisis was something I truthfully hadn’t acknowledged or felt on a personal level–or maybe I did. Still, because it feels so amplified in my current state, I could be minimizing how I felt six years ago. Regardless, as I [...]
Research Spotlight: Arbor Day, Penn State Research in Tree Molecular Genetics
By Halina Dingo Arbor Day is a holiday dedicated to the planting, upkeep, and appreciation of trees. The holiday originated in 1872 in Nebraska City, when the citizens banded together to change their shadeless landscape and planted over 1 million trees across the state. Trees play an integral part in ecosystem health and the sequestration of carbon. Even as sources of food, life, and homes for many people and organisms, deforestation continues to threaten tree populations. Arbor Day is a [...]
Intersectionalism and the SDGs
By Tara McCafferty A major component of sustainability that is often overlooked is the power of intersectionality. The creator of this idea, Kimberlé Crenshaw, defines the term intersectionality as “a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking.” While intersectionality is often thought of strictly in regard to social issues such as gender and race equity, in reality, it is [...]
