Pennsylvania Climate Day Draws Wide Interest
On April 21, 2003 hundreds of high school and college students
and many others across Pennsylvania participated in a host of
projects, weather and climate fairs, and public lectures on the
importance of climate to Pennsylvania’s resources including
its forests, water resources and agriculture. These projects include
observations of weather and climatic occurrences, tracking of
climate trends in Pennsylvania, and design of solar ovens to make
use of the sun’s energy for cooking and house models to enable
students to understand how architects design for the climate.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
where hundreds of Shippensburg University students participated.
David Hess, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, spoke there to a crowd of several hundred
about environmental challenges facing Pennsylvania and John Topping,
President of the Climate Institute, spoke to an Applied Meteorology
and Climatology class on the effort of small island states to
harness renewable energy. The school provided free showings of
Twister and The Perfect Storm.
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Dr. Diane Stanitski
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This is the fifth year that Pennsylvania has celebrated Climate
Day. The brainchild of a Shippensburg University faculty member,
Dr. Diane Stanitski, the authorizing legislation was introduced
by State Representative Jeffrey Coy, a resident of Shippensburg.
Climate Day is normally celebrated on April 20 each year, but
was held a day later in 2003 as April 20 was Easter Sunday.
A climatologist and associate professor of geography and earth
sciences, Dr. Stanitski also serves as Executive Director of the
Pennsylvania Geographical Society. Serving these next two years
on a leave of absence at NOAA where she is Associate Program Manager
for the Climate Observation Program, Diane can be reached at diane.stanitski@noaa.gov
by anyone wanting to set up a Climate Day in their state.
Authorizing legislation
PA Climate
Day History
Impacts of Climate Change
in PA (PDF)
