Penn State students are playing an instrumental role in helping the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, develop its first climate action plan.
The students, LaKeisha Riley and Baylee Balogh, created an inventory of the sources of emissions in Pennsylvania’s third-largest city, and they are developing resources that Allentown officials will use as outreach to the community as they get closer to drafting the plan to guide the city’s sustainability efforts.
Riley and Balogh are working with Allentown through the Local Climate Action Program, a Penn State initiative that pairs students with municipal governments across Pennsylvania each year to track their carbon footprint and aid in their planning. The program is led by Penn State Sustainability, and the participating students each year are online learners from Penn State World Campus or University Park students.
The students worked remotely with Veronika Vostinak, Allentown’s sustainability coordinator.
Riley, of Detroit, Michigan, is an online learner with Penn State World Campus majoring in energy and sustainability policy. Balogh, of State College, Pennsylvania, is also an online learner, pursuing a master’s in community and economic development through World Campus.
“I was excited to see that the Local Climate Action Plan helps communities develop greenhouse gas inventories and the tools to help with our climate planning,” Vostinak said. “It’s a really rich collaboration. We’re providing learning opportunities to the students, and we are also receiving valuable, tangible tools we can provide to the community.”
Balogh has been spending the spring semester working on a community climate survey. It asks 14 questions to help city officials get more insight from residents about their personal climate beliefs, concerns about climate change in the city, and support for local government climate action.
It is available in English and Spanish.
“This was a really cool opportunity to be directly involved in something I’m very passionate about,” Balogh said. “It’s been very rewarding working with the city’s staff, talking to their environmental advisory council, and connecting all the skills I have learned.”
The Allentown mayor’s office released the survey in mid-April.
Riley has been working on a toolkit about climate change as part of a community outreach effort. The resource contains examples and links on how community partners can engage with youth, city residents, and tourists in climate action. The toolkit will be shared with community leaders so they can use its information to advocate for local climate action.
Riley also created a section of the toolkit for teachers who would like to use it in their classrooms.
“This has been the most enriching experience I have had as a Penn State student,” Riley said. “It’s one thing to say you care about the environment. To put pen to paper, and turn research, brainwork, and collaboration into action, that’s very important to me. To see people operating in a role that I see myself in in the future gives me the confidence that I can do that.”
In January, Riley and Balogh presented to the city’s environmental advisory council the results of their citywide greenhouse gas inventory using data they collected from 2023. The two spent the fall semester collecting publicly available data and requesting data.
In the presentation, they told the environmental advisory council that the emissions in 2023 were equivalent to one gas-powered car driving 2.6 billion miles, or driving around the world more than 105,000 times.
Vostinak said the city will continue its community outreach efforts and in May issue a call for technical proposals for a climate action firm. She said that over the next 12–18 months, the city hopes to have a draft of its first climate action plan to shape its sustainability activities and programs.
Vostinak said the city would not be in the position it is in today to advance its climate action planning if it were not for Riley and Balogh.
“The very first part of the climate action process is that baseline inventory the students did,” Vostinak said. “You have to figure out where those emissions are coming from. If it wasn’t for the students, it would have either taken significantly longer or cost the city significantly. With the outreach, we wouldn’t have had the time or the ability to be as organized or high quality. They are really helpful in getting the process going and out into the community.”
A Penn State education online
The Local Climate Action Program is one of the ways that online learners at Penn State can use their education to make an impact.
The program also serves as a way for Penn State to fulfill its land-grant mission to Pennsylvania, by stewarding the research to provide solutions to challenges in communities in the state.
Penn State World Campus has been offering a Penn State education online for more than 25 years. It now offers a comprehensive selection of more than 200 degree and certificate programs.
Learn more about how Penn State World Campus is an integral part of Penn State.
