Belmont to rock climate summit next week

BELMONT — For its first several years, the Outdoor and Environment Club at Belmont High School was primarily organized around trips. That was until a couple of years ago, when a couple of lifelong friends from Canterbury joined and brought a strong activism streak into the fold.

The most recent outcome of that transition is coming up next week, from 3 to 6 p.m. on May 27. That’s when the co-presidents of the Outdoor Environmental Club, Chris Pare and William Riley, will host the inaugural Belmont Climate Summit, a virtual affair including six expert climatologists who will speak about their specific area of research and how climate change is affecting life in New Hampshire.

The Outdoor Environmental Club was created by science teacher Sarah Deuell, who did so to give students the opportunity to explore the outdoors. For example, before plans were ruined by the pandemic, the club was  preparing to visit Zion National Park in Utah.

Trips are still part of the club’s DNA – or, at least, they will be once travel restrictions are lifted – but activities met advocacy when Pare, a junior, and Riley, a sophomore, joined the club.

“The environment side really took off with these two,”  Deuell said.

Pare and Riley, both track athletes who grew up in Canterbury, got their feet wet by establishing a pollinator garden at the high school. For their follow-up, they tried to find a way to connect with the broader community, but were continually frustrated by COVID-related restrictions. That is, until they got the idea to capitalize on the hallmark of the pandemic – a Zoom conference call.

The concept was born in January out of a conversation Riley, Pare, Deuell and Adrien Deshaies, the club’s other advisor, were having about the lack of information many students had about the changing climate and how it is affecting their lives.

“We noticed that there is an understanding that there is this thing called climate change, but they don’t understand why it is happening, and how it is impacting New Hampshire,” Pare said.

The first draft of their plan was to organize a virtual summit for just their own school, and perhaps to invite other local schools. But as the list of speakers began to take shape, they realized that there was no reason to limit who could join.

“Some don’t believe it, some don’t understand it, educating leads to understanding the problem, so that we can all do what we can to help,” Riley said.

Pare and Riley found strong advocates in Dr. Steven Hale, a professor at UNH, and Dr. Lourdes Aviles, a Plymouth State University professor. Those two helped put the Belmont students in touch with expert speakers who will discuss various ways that climate affects life in New England.

The speakers include Dr. Mary Stampone, state climatologist, who will provide an overview of the state’s changing climate; Dr. Serita Frey, a UNH professor who will present on how the climate impacts soils; Dr. Barry Rock, a former NASA research scientist who will discuss how forests respond to climate change; Dr. Elizabeth Burakowski, a research assistant professor at UNH who will explain how the skiing industry is being affected; Dr. Lisa Doner, environmental coordinator at PSU, who will present on the state’s lakes and watersheds; and Dr. Sam Miller, a meteorologist and PSU professor who will explain how communities can adapt to a changing climate.

Pare said he hopes the summit attracts “anyone who’s interested in learning more about climatology in New Hampshire – including people who think they know everything about climatology, and people who don’t know anything about climatology. I think it’s going to be a huge variety of people."

The summit will be structured so that each presenter has 15 minutes to present their research, with a brief question and answer period following each presentation. To watch the presentation, visit https://sites.google.com/sau80.org/outdoor-environmental-club/home. That same site will host an archived recording of each presenter after the summit concludes.

The students aren’t earning a grade or any class credits for their efforts, they’re doing it purely out of passion for the environment. While neither of them could say exactly what they plan to do after high school, they both agreed that they want to live in such a way that leaves a positive mark on the world. It looks like they’re off to a good start.

“We’re hoping lots of people want to do this. I think it will be beneficial and provide lots of useful information,” Riley said.