Peter Buck a noted teacher, communicator, connector, and catalyst for climate action and sustainability in educational organizations and public policy. He is the co-director of Penn State’s Local Climate Action Program (LCAP), an immersive capacity-building and workforce development partnership between Penn State’s John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, SustainPSU, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability. In 2024, the LCAP won the Ryan Moser Reilly Institutional Leadership Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium and was recognized for its service on the floor of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.
He has published in peer-reviewed and popular press. He has forthcoming chapters on climate policy education and sustainability learning outcomes in Springer’s upcoming Curriculum Development for Sustainable Development: Theory and Practice. Recently, he was lead author of both “The Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium: A State-Wide Collaborative Network for Sustainable Outreach, Education, and Action,” which won the Best Chapter Award from the World Symposium on Sustainable Development in 2023, and “Science Alone Will Not Save Us. Engaged Civic Life Might” with Brandi Robinson and Michael E. Mann, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize and winner of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. His work has also appeared in Clinics of North America, The Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, The International Journal of Ethics Education, as well as Universities and Sustainable Communities: Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030. He has been featured on Citizens Climate Radio, Planet Philadelphia, Democracy Works, in The Washington Post, and on the TEDx stage.
Buck has also held elected and appointed office at the municipal, regional, school district, and state level, including as the Chair and Vice Chair of two working groups on climate planning and solar power aggregation. This climate policy work has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Solar Center, the World Resources Institute, and Rocky Mountain Institute. His service earned him Penn State’s Barash Award for Human Service in 2024. Additionally, Buck has testified before the Pennsylvania Local Government Commission, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ Climate Caucus, and led the Penn State team that conducted the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources first greenhouse gas inventory.
He lives in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Hilary and son Sacha.