Griffith Pugh, a Haverford College junior from Minnesota, chairs a statewide conservation committee, runs a podcast heard across the country and has shared a stage with a former U.S. Forest Service chief.
He is 20 years old.
Haverford College first spotlighted Pugh's environmental work in a profile published Tuesday, Sept. 29. The political science major co-founded the Green Crew, a youth conservation service program, and in early 2025 launched The Young Ike, a podcast and community-dialogue project exploring environmental policy through long-form interviews and in-person discussions.
Pugh's activism traces to Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a 1,700-square-mile expanse along the Canadian border. His family began visiting during the COVID pandemic, when his father's autoimmune disease made outdoor activity safer than staying inside. Pugh kept returning. He spent three summers as an overnight camp counselor and led wilderness trips as a Superior National Forest guide.
"Being out there for 10 to 15 days is like giving your nervous system a hard reset," Pugh said in the college's profile.
That connection to wild places led him to co-found the Green Crew through the Minnesota Valley Chapter of the Izaak Walton League. The program puts young people to work monitoring water quality, restoring native habitat and planting disease-resistant trees. The New York Times profiled the Green Crew on May 20, 2025.
Pugh also chairs the Conservation Issues Committee for the Izaak Walton League's Minnesota division, shaping public-policy positions for the state's 16 chapters. He sits on the league's Minnesota Division Board of Directors, according to the organization.
The Young Ike, which Pugh founded after the 2024 election cycle, produces two podcast series: a quarterly deep dive into major environmental questions and a monthly spotlight on people building climate solutions. Each quarterly series feeds into "Podclubs," in-person gatherings modeled on book clubs where participants discuss the issues raised in episodes using a facilitation guide. Pugh piloted the first Podclub in early 2025 at the Minnesota Valley Chapter house, focusing on tensions between conserving natural lands and scaling green technology near the Boundary Waters.
The project put Pugh on a national stage in July. He moderated a Public Lands Leadership Forum on Saturday, July 18, at the Izaak Walton League's annual convention in Bloomington, Minnesota. The panel featured former U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck and Boundary Waters advocate Becky Rom.
For The Young Ike, Pugh has also interviewed Minnesota State Sen. Nick Frentz on the environmental and economic tradeoffs of data centers. Pugh said the conversation challenged his own assumptions about the issue.
His next quarterly series, "The Future of Environmental Politics," is timed to the 2026 midterm elections. Episodes and facilitation guides are available at theyoungike.org.
