Washington Post Climate Journalist Enthralls PVCC’s Geology Club

On Sept. 26, the campus’ Geology Club received a visit from climate change journalist Sarah Kaplan. Kaplan, who has been working at The Washington Post for eight years, shared her experiences covering various stories around the globe via Zoom with the group. 

The journalist’s main focus of the event was discussing one of her latest stories involving a crisis near the Andes Mountains in Peru. A town of about 100,000 people in Peru are being threatened by an impending flood that could be a result of climate change. One of the town’s citizens, Saul, a farmer and mountain guide, decided to take matters into his own hands by filing a lawsuit against one of Europe’s largest companies that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Kaplan flew to Peru to document Saul’s story. 

PVCC students were encouraged to ask questions about the situation to learn in more detail. Associate Professor of Geology Callan Bentley, who organized the event, finished what he wanted to ask the writer and opened up the floor to students who had questions. Many students asked about developments on foreign policy. In addition to speaking about the stories she’s covered, Kaplan found time to discuss her career trajectory. Kaplan attended Georgetown University in D.C., majoring in Geology and Foreign Policy, and began working on the student paper there. Following her graduation, she wrote in Washington D.C. for an outlet, covering overnight stories. She noted it was bad for health, but necessary for the career that she wanted to have.

Kaplan took a keen interest in the students that attended and made sure they knew she was in their shoes too, and even provided her email address to those that were interested in speaking with her more. Overall, with the meeting lasting over an hour, it seemed to be a successful event for the Geology Club.