Profile: Rob Buchanan

By Stephany Chung

For half of his life, Rob Buchanan travelled around the world to experience and cover the stories related to his fields: alternative sports, adventure travelling, and environmental issues.

As a former freelance travel writer for an American “active-lifestyle and adventure-travel magazine” called Outside, Buchanan wrote many feature pieces for a magazine he had formed a strong connection to.

His articles range from a snowboarder who chose life by deciding not to fulfill his dream of snowboarding down Mount Everest to the experience of an American skipper who entered a race in one of the fastest wind-driven vessels.

Buchanan, 53 not only reads a couple of boating and sailing magazines but also enjoys participating in such alternative sports.

“I do a lot of mountaineering, camping, kind of adventure travel. I like sailing, rowing. I like all that stuff.”

As an assistant professor at Eugene Lang College since 2006, Buchanan has been teaching subjects which reflect his interests: Environmental Studies and Journalism.

Many of the classes he teaches is oriented around the Hudson River and the New York Harbor. These courses reflect his life as a volunteer and activist.

“I’m very interested in seeing the Harbor and the [New York Harbor] Estuary cleaned up and made green and healthy and functional again.”

After diving into all three of these fields, Buchanan sees himself focusing on his passion.

“I don't want to abandon journalism but I am very interested in environmental studies and so that I think that’s where my career is going.”