As a recipient of the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies summer grants, Ellie Wachtel, class of 2017, worked in Portland, Oregon with Ecotrust. Ecotrust was founded by a Williams College alum and works to connect people with the environment around them. At Ecotrust, Ellie worked in a restored old… Continue reading »
Based on her interested in Williamstown’s neighboring town, North Adams, this summer Johanna Wasserman worked with Judy Grinnell at the Hoosic River Revival. Johanna wanted to get involved in the greater community. She shared that here at Williams it is very easy to get trapped in what we call the… Continue reading »
Erica Chang ’17 As a recipient of the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies summer grants, class of 2017 student Erica Chang pursued her interest in marine life and returned to Mystic, Connecticut to continue her research of the impact of rising temperatures on intertidal species. During her school… Continue reading »
As a recipient of the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies summer grants, Jeffrey Rubel, a member of the class of 2017, presented his summer project “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,” at Log Lunch on Friday, October 14. Jeffrey Rubel, ’17 Jeffrey focused his project on… Continue reading »
Professor Richard King of Williams Mystic and former Mystic Students On September 29th, 2016, beloved Williams Mystic Professor, Richard King, spoke to the Williams Community on Moby Dick and the Giant Squid. Specifically, what historical fiction can teach us about the world around us. Professor King reviewed for some and… Continue reading »
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 – ’62 Center, Williams College Is it a coincidence that the United States holds 25% of the world’s prisoner population and also produces 25% of the world’s greenhouse gasses? Mass incarceration accompanied by mass extinction. Speaker and activist, Van Jones, says no. On Wednesday, September 28,… Continue reading »
At Log Lunch on Friday, September 23, we heard from Todd Holland, the Projects and Operations Manager at Hampshire College. Mr. Holland worked at Williams College for four years in the Zilkha Center and Facilities Department, where he oversaw the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency retrofits such as LED lighting… Continue reading »
Stephen Polasky ’79 is an Ecological/Environmental Economics Professor at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors and Science Council of The Nature Conservancy as well as the Director of the Natural Capital Project. Polasky spoke at Log Lunch and had a seminar with the Class… Continue reading »
Environmental Science major, Paul de Konkoly Thege ’14 presented his senior thesis research at log lunch on April 25, 2014. His research was focused on studying ocean circulation to learn more about rapid climate change. De Konkoly Thege first explained the two basic types of ocean circulation: surface ocean circulation… Continue reading »
Matt Silver ’01 is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cambrian Innovation. Cambrian Innovation was founded in 2006, while Silver was attending MIT, as a solution-oriented technology company that works with corporate, government, and agricultural clients. While at Williams, Silver majored in Astrophysics and Art History and continued his… Continue reading »
Jen Lazar ’04 is a co-founder, program consultant, and facilitator of the Field Academy, an educational program that seeks “to connect, engage, empower, and educate young people from across the United States in order to inspire enduring learning and create a just and healthy world.” Lazar along with Annie Moore… Continue reading »
Karen Weinberg owns and operates a sheep farm named 3 Corner Field Farm, with her husband, Paul Borghard, and their two daughtes. Their farm started in 2000 and raises sheep which in turn provide yogurt, cheese products, fiber, and meat. Weinberg spoke about the challenges of meeting the desires of… Continue reading »
Alison Carter is a Senior Program Officer with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s largest conservation organization. The mission of WWF is “to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth” and “to build a future in which people live in harmony… Continue reading »
Gregory Durrell is a Senior Research Scientist and chemical engineer at Battelle where he specializes in sediments found in water. As a research and consulting firm, Battelle is unique in its purely scientific approach. Durrell spoke about his work in the chemistry of sediment offshore Alaska. Durrell began his log… Continue reading »
Joshua Welch ’86 is a Managing Partner at Vicuna Advisors LLC. Additionally, he is the owner of a small grass-fed beef cattle operation that is located by his home in Stonington, CT. In 2002, Welch decided to move to southeastern Connecticut and convert 45 acres of land into pastures to… Continue reading »
Lisa Fernandez is the Assistant Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. She has a background in urban development both nationally and internationally. Fernandez spoke about the work of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and how their research focuses on climate change and the American mind. Continue reading »
Julie Blackwood is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Williams College, and on January 27, 2014, she gave a Log Lunch talk on the ecological aspects of her mathematical research. Blackwood studies models of bats and analyzes them in order to help bat populations and prevent unnecessary human aggravation. Bats… Continue reading »
On January 17, 2013, three graduate students from the Williams College Center for Developmental Economics spoke about natural resources and politics in Malawi and Uganda. Chisomo Chakachadza and Mphatso Banda discussed natural resource extraction and the politics of Malawi. In 2007, a permit was granted to Paladin Africa to extract… Continue reading »
Two current Williams College students presented their CES-funded summer projects at Log Lunch on January 10, 2014. Piper Sallquist ’15 received CES summer funding for a creative project called “Seattle’s Food Culture through Stories and Doodles.” Throughout the summer of 2013, Sallquist created a book about her summer of food… Continue reading »
Ginger Strand is the author of three books: Flight, Inventing Niagara, and most recently, Killer on the Road. Her work has also been published in Harper’s, The Believer, The Iowa Review, The New York Times, This Land, and Orion. Strand came to Log Lunch on December 6, 2013 to discuss… Continue reading »
Rich King is the senior lecturer in Literature of the Sea with the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program as well as an accomplished writer. He is the Series Editor for a forthcoming collection of books about America’s relationship with the sea published by the University Press of New England and writes… Continue reading »
Jeff Goodell is the author of several books including Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind American’s Energy Future and, most recently, How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate as well as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone. This summer, he wrote a piece… Continue reading »
Caroline Meyers is a pastor at Amherst South Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ located in Amherst, Massachusetts. Although a religious institution, The Amherst South Congregational Church has made considerable efforts in the environmental movement as well. Back in 2006, the Board of Trustees voted for a net zero… Continue reading »
John Guerin is the Vice President of Operations and Sales at EOS Ventures. EOS Ventures works to develop and own renewable projects. They work in wind energy, solar energy, cogeneration, and thermal storage. Guerin spoke specifically about the conception of the Pownal Racetrack Solar Field and Renewable Project and the… Continue reading »
Aseem Shrivastava is an environmental economist, activist, and a freelance writer. He is also the co-author of Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India. Shrivastava began his Log Lunch talk by describing the concept of money as a form a debt that is a claim against the Federal Reserve… Continue reading »