Amy Ando ’90, professor at the University of Urbana-Champlain, traveled back on Williams on October 2 to give a 1960 Scholars Lecture entitled, “How Should We Make Environmental Investments When the Future Climate is Uncertain?” Ando is a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics, and her research… Continue reading »
Dr. Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Vehicles Program, came from Washington D.C. on September 26 to speak about clean cars at Log Lunch. Dr. Martin is a graduate of Haverford College with a B.A. in Chemistry and English Literature and holds a Ph.D. from… Continue reading »
On Sunday, September 21, 78 Williams students and three professors woke up at 5 a.m., loaded into vans, drove to a station in Westchester, and took a train into New York City. We joined thousands of other people from all around the world who descended on the city for the People’s… Continue reading »
James F. Manwell, professor and director of the Wind Energy Center at UMass Amherst, gave a log lunch presentation on September 19 about wind energy in New England. Having worked in the field for over 30 years, Manwell has published over 200 journal articles and a textbook on the subject,… 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 »
Carbon Emissions Awareness For Earth Week, a group of students made an art display in Paresky to show the volume of carbon emitted by a member of the Williams College community per day. Michael Klare on “The Carbon Curse: Resisting the Addictive Lure of Fossil Fuels”… 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 »
Roopali Phadke, is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Macalester College. She studies political economy, science, and technology through the lens of environmental studies. Some of her work has focused on wind energy development, local place politics and energy production. On March 10, 2014, Phadke spoke about her work… 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 »
Jonathan Labaree ’85 is the Director of Community Initiatives at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). GMRI works from Rhode Island to Northern New Brunswick in Canada with a focus on Maine and Massachusetts. Their work incorporates four major ideas: healthy ecosystems, sustainable industries, vibrant communities and inspired children. 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 »