A spotlight on Adirondackers working toward a better planet.
The Adirondacks’ environment is changing, with warming temperatures, declining animal species, milder winters and more. The Explorer works each week to keep you informed on how global climate change is impacting the park at a local level.
But there’s good news, too.
Your neighbors are working on research, education, solutions and more in the climate space. That’s why we launched Climate Voices of the Adirondacks.
For the next several weeks, we’re spotlighting the people working toward a more resilient and sustainable future. Check out their stories below.
Watch this introduction video to learn more about the series:
Alex Caskey
Better farming with trees
Alex Caskey is the owner of Barred Brook Farm in Essex, where he practices silvopasture, a form of agroforestry that integrates trees, forage and grazing livestock into a single system. He raises Katahdin sheep and is developing a tree nursery and tree farm. Caskey chose this style of agriculture because of its climate mitigation and resiliency abilities. Adding trees to pastureland allows the landscape to sequester significantly more carbon through the vegetation and in the soil. They also provide shade and prevent soil erosion in the face of a warming climate and an increase in severe rainstorms.
Watch: Alex talks about his operation and the benefits of using trees in agriculture.
John Culpepper
Spreading a love of compost
John Culpepper is a former facilities director at North Country School in Lake Placid and co-founder of Compost for Good. In 2015, John created a low-cost drum composter while working at North Country School in Lake Placid, and it’s still in use today. He’s also shared the plans online and his design has been used in places around the world. John has been featured in articles about composting efforts in the northern Adirondacks and another about his project to use diverted urine for composting.
WATCH: John talks about the value of composting and the unit he created.
Evan Beech
A young activist
Evan Beech is a 15-year-old Westport resident who has been an advocate for addressing climate change since the age of 7, when he led a rally in his family’s driveway. Today, Evan is a member of the youth-run North Country Climate Club. He regularly attends climate meetings for the public and lobbies on behalf of climate education in Albany.
Garrett Marino
From canoe trips to climate education
Garrett Marino is the youth climate leadership coordinator for the Wild Center in Tupper Lake. With a love for literature and the outdoors, Marino uses communication and science to teach others about climate change.
“It’s not that we need to be afraid of this, so we should be inspired to action. It’s that we love our planet and we love nature and we love the critters and the bugs and everything on it. And it’s worth protecting.”
Keeley Jock
Rethinking wetlands through an Indigenous lens
Traditional ecological knowledge has existed in the Northeast for thousands of years, though mainstream scientists may have been slow in recognizing it. Yet studies show shifting from the colonial view of science and conservation to traditional practices can lead to improved outcomes.
Keeley Jock knew from a young age she wanted to work in the climate and environment space. As a senior at Paul Smith’s College, Jock created a wetland project that tied Indigenous knowledge to a federal assessment system. She presented her findings to a room of researchers and educators at the Adirondack Research Consortium.
Almy Bartis
Climate activism through art
Almy Bartis’ home in Saranac Lake is also her painting studio. As a climate and anti-war activist, Bartis expresses her thoughts through large-scale paintings and protest art.
By day, she’s a science and solutions associate for The Climate Reality Project, which trains people to become grassroots climate activists. The nonprofit was founded in 2006 by former Vice President Al Gore.
“A lot of people really come together and they try their best to make change at any level imaginable and I think that’s something that everybody should be really proud of.”
LJ Mills
Prioritizing long-term climate data
LJ Mills has spent seven years collecting data on ecosystems in Huntington Wildlife Forest, owned by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The biogeochemical research support specialist is just one of many people who have contributed to the decades-long project.
“Long-term monitoring is probably the best body of evidence that we have to detect climate change in the future,” he said. “Without all this baseline data, it’s going to be basically impossible to tell what’s changing and how much it’s changing.”
Sunita Halasz
Guiding future environmentalists
Sunita Halasz, an ecologist, has followed climate science for years. Now she’s guiding future climate activists as a mentor to the North Country Climate Club.
“It’s a heavy message, but it’s a message that has tons and tons of hope and action in it,” said Halasz. “And if we as adults understand that, we can be mentors, we can be followers of the youth who are already such leaders in the climate movement, and we can just support each other.”
Read more about Sunita and her work.
WATCH: Sunita shares how she got involved in the climate space and what actions the club is taking.
Charlie Reinertsen
Sharing a passion for peatlands
Charlie Reinertsen developed the Wild Center’s climate solutions exhibit in 2022. Most recently Reinertsen launched a project exploring peatlands with photos and writing. The Northern Peatlands Project presents the ecosystems in stunning photo galleries and an email newsletter.
Read more about Charlie and his work.
WATCH: Charlie explains why peatlands are important for climate solutions.
Saikat Chakraborty
Saikat Chakraborty, a professor at Paul Smith’s College with his dog during an Adirondack winter. Photo provided
Forming climate education beyond science
Saikat Chakraborty is a professor at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks. After visiting the park while living in Rochester for several years, Chakraborty decided to call Saranac Lake home.
In graduate school, he found himself in the climate space by chance after taking a research position in a lab focused on renewable energy.
Now he educates college students through a mix of science and humanities. He also runs a blog with writing and photography anchored in the Adirondack environment.
Jennifer Perry
Uniting under compost
Meet Jennifer Perry, an Adirondacker who helps run two composting programs in the area. Climate change is here, she said, and this is one way to make a difference.
“Everybody wants to garden. Everybody composts or wants to compost. It doesn’t trigger any of the divisions that we see anymore.”
Composting diverts food waste from landfills where it lacks oxygen and emits significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The material Perry makes is used for gardening and increased carbon storage.
Perry has worked as an environmental educator with local colleges and in renewable energy with the Adirondack North Country Association.
Now, she’s spreading the word about turning food waste into better soil for the park.
WATCH: Jennifer Perry on compost as a climate solution and how it unifies everyone.
Connie Perry
Connecting recreation and climate change
Connie Perry has always loved the outdoors. Growing up in western New York, she explored the environment with her sister and found appreciation among trees and water.
The Adirondack Park deepened that respect in 1998 after a friend took her paddling in the region.
Perry has lived in Inlet for decades and is involved in several climate-focused projects.
“To me, nature is very healing, so that connection is super important. If we can preserve that and introduce other people to that, then I think we’re doing a very positive thing and we’re preserving the environment.
“We’re preserving what is the best of us.”
Connie Perry also started Inlet’s One Square Mile of Hope, an event that raises money for cancer awareness and research.
YOUR SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!
Want to nominate someone for our series? Send a brief email with details to: [email protected]