Lake Placid educator Sam Baker discusses his experience at climate training ahead of November’s COP29
By Chloe Bennett
Sam Baker was drying off after swimming in Mirror Lake in Lake Placid when he saw a text message that would significantly change his summer plans. It was the middle of July and Baker, an earth science teacher at Lake Placid High School, was training for a triathlon.
An inaugural climate training program would take place in August, wrote Jen Kretser, director of climate initiatives for the Wild Center, and she thought he was suited to attend. The week of lectures and workshops would be in Baku, Azerbaijan, a nation bordering Russia to the north and Iran to the south.
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“I’ve heard of it but didn’t really know where it was, and said ‘Sure, yeah, I’m totally interested to go,’” Baker, 27, said. He applied to the program shortly after and was accepted within two weeks.
The COP29 Climate Change Summer Camp selected 75 teachers across disciplines from 35 countries to receive training in science, mitigation strategies and climate justice. Baker was one of two from the U.S. and among just a few science teachers. The first-of-its-kind 4-day camp was organized by the Conference of Parties (COP) ahead of its November meeting.
On the last day of the training, the teachers organized a model COP to better understand how the event unfolds. As an adult, Baker distanced himself from politics after growing up in a political household. His father, David Baker, is on the Ontario County Board of Supervisors in Canandaigua, New York. But after attending the workshop he came away with a deeper appreciation of government and negotiations, he said.
“I’ve certainly tried to familiarize myself with COP over the past few years and learn and read about it but until you’re there and doing it, that really helps reinforce what it is they’re actually doing,” Baker said.
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Representatives attend the United Nations’ COP each year to review climate targets and learn about action from other countries. Now in year 29, the event will be held this November in Baku, where its education camp took place. As of Sept. 11, Baker did not have plans to attend the international meeting.
Adirondack organizations sent members to the conference in previous years. In 2023, Aaron Mair represented the Adirondack Council and Adirondack Wild while networking with others at the event. The Wild Center has one pass available this year, Kretser said and, as of early September, had no set plans on who would use it.
A global perspective in Lake Placid
The Adirondacks are warming steadily each year, according to research in the New York State Climate Assessment, leading to shorter winters, more frequent storms and other effects. But hearing how other countries are impacted changed Baker’s perspective.
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A friend Baker made from Zimbabwe described shortened growing seasons and food insecurity while another pointed to frequent landslides in India and Malaysia. Baker said learning of the catastrophes abroad helped him appreciate the North Country’s relative safety.
“It’s really easy to shield yourself when you live in the United States,” he said. “We’re such a privileged country and we have all the amenities that we can need.”
Tammy Morgan, a biology and environmental science teacher at Lake Placid High School, said the training will benefit the school and community.
“Climate change is something we are all universally experiencing around the globe and having a teacher like Sam sharing his experiences abroad provides an opening in our small corner of the world to other perspectives and realities,” Morgan wrote in an email.
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To help students understand climate impacts in other countries, Baker plans to coordinate with a teacher in Delhi, India to communicate between the classes.
Overall, he said the training taught him that climate change education belongs in every subject. Although he still considers himself new to the Lake Placid High School faculty after five years, he hopes to share his experience with other teachers.
“It reinvigorated me,” Baker said. “Yes, climate change is as important as I thought it was. Here are all these inspiring people and what they’re doing. It’s time for me to also step it up and do my part.”
Photo at top: Sam Baker, Earth science teacher at Lake Placid High School, presents at a climate summer camp organized by COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo provided
What an inspiring and well written article. It is so interesting for young people when changing weather patterns caused by climate change becomes understandable and relevant when they are taught across the curriculum and not only in Science classes. Mr. Baker was a very lucky teacher to be able to visit a country as exotic as Azerbaijan.