HUMANS OF SECS: CALEB BRANDMEYER

Hello everyone! Get excited - it's time for another Humans of SECS! Today let's meet Caleb Brandmeyer, one of our Beyond Coal co-chairs for this year. Caleb is a junior in Biochemistry, and when he is not working hard on coal-related problems, he is also an Undergraduate Researcher in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. This is Caleb's third year in SECS, and second serving as a Beyond Coal co-chair.

Photograph by Abbi Pstrzoch

"The area in which I grew up is one that has been impacted heavily by mining and industry. Knowing how we’ve ravaged our land and poisoned our air for so long, causing houses to sink into the ground from mine subsidence and residents of communities near to mine to have cancer rates at ten times the national average, is nothing short of demoralizing. But this is exactly why I believe we must take action. It is not some vague moral cause for which environmentalists are working, it’s for the betterment of the lives of real people and for the preservation of our shared experience on this earth."

Photograph by Sofiya Bobrovska