A Note From the Road!

Wednesday, March 14

Harrisburg, PA

Our adventure began as most good spring break trips do: we headed south, running away from a snowstorm. We spent the better part of Wednesday on layover in Hanover waiting for the plows to clear the roads. The third nor'easter in two weeks dropped well over foot of snow in much of the Northeast Tuesday leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power.

A massive power outage and the disruption it poses to daily life is a humbling reminder of our dependence on energy and the systems that make it so readily available. Such a reminder couldn’t be more timely. It’s an opportunity to pause and ask, “where does our energy come from?”

The sun was low in the sky when we left Baker Tower in the rear view, but our spirits were high. Over the next 10 days, as part of the interim trips program supported by The Sustainability Office and the new Irving Institute for Energy and Society, our team will travel to West Virginia and Kentucky to look at the impacts of different types of energy infrastructure in the region and explore social, cultural, and economic challenges and opportunities. Keep up with all our adventures here!

Next stop: Montgomery, WV!