Donald Campbell, the Southwest Regional Director for the Vermont Land Trust, pickle-maker enthusiast, and Williams College alum, provided his log lunch audience with his version of “Land Trusts 101” on April 5th. Land Trusts are meant to preserve land for society’s future needs, in terms of community and economy, thereby… Continue reading »
A quarter of the carbon dioxide emissions from human systems enters the ocean. There is no scientific doubt that intakes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have caused a pH increase in the acidity of the Earth’s oceans. On March 6th, Scott Doney, a chemist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic… Continue reading »
On February 27th, as part of the interdepartmental Oceans Symposium, students, faculty and Williamstown residents gathered to view a “A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish,” followed by a question and answer session with Elizabeth Kolbert. Kolbert is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a visiting professor… Continue reading »
On March 2, Aron Chang discussed the fusion and confusion between art and design, one that he believes needs to be “picked at more.” Chang graduated from Williams in 2005, majoring in studio art and German, before going to design school to study architecture. Whereas Chang felt an almost frustrating… Continue reading »
“This will be the worst presentation you’ve ever seen,” began Tod Holland, the Energy Conservation Project Manager from the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives. He was wrong. Holland presented a funny, realistic, and optimistic story of Williams carbon, conservation, and cogeneration past, present, and future. Since he signed on at… Continue reading »
“While he may be a lunatic farmer, he’s one who a lot of people are paying attention to.” This was the introduction for Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenendoah Valley, instigator and figurehead of the local food movement, and feature of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and… Continue reading »
How did a 78-ton boulder travel 17 miles above high water, 130 meters inland? Ronadh Cox, a beloved and energetic professor from the Williams Geosciences department, hit off the second lecture of the Williams Oceans Symposium with a discussion of her “Boulder Ideas.” Since 2008, Cox and her students have… Continue reading »
On the Friday of Winter Carnival, Katherine Robinson Hall filled Wege auditorium with an attentive audience and a passionate performance. Hall, a policy professor for the Williams Mystic Program and an environmental lawyer with a private practice in Rhode Island, opened up the first of a series of lectures for… Continue reading »
At the Log Lunch talk on March 10th, the phrase Gabe Selig wanted his audience to come away with was “energy parks.” Selig founded Southport Power, LLC. in 2005 and has been working to develop energy parks all over the country ever since. The goal of the company is to… Continue reading »
At Log Lunch on January 6th, Edward Brust Professor of Geology, David Dethier, spoke on the Kellogg House/future CES building project. Professor Dethier is the chair of the Kellogg House Building Committee. Kellogg House was originally built in 1794 and served as the home of the first four presidents of… Continue reading »
Log lunch on January 13th continued the series of presentations of student internships this past summer funded by the Williams Center for Environmental Studies. Anthony Raduazo ’12 and Sarah Rosenberg ’14 were both involved with organizations that dealt with environmental issues in their respective regions. Anthony spent the summer working… Continue reading »
On January 20th, State Representaive Gail Cariddi discussed environmental issues and current legislative initiatives in Massachusetts. Gail is a first-term representative to the state legislature and represents eleven communities of Berkshire and Franklin Counties. She is a member of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture. Last… Continue reading »
At log lunch on December 2, Laurie Shoeman laid out an inspiring model for connecting students with agriculture through hands-on learning. Shoeman is the director of NYSunworks, a non-profit that promotes sustainability in schools by building greenhouses that double as classrooms and school cafeteria food suppliers. But these are not… Continue reading »
November 28th’s log lunch began a series of presentations of student internships funded by the Williams Center for Environmental Studies this passed summer. Andrea Lindsay ’13 and Olivia Delia ’12 discussed the opportunities they seized to work at NGOs with missions now close to their hearts. Andrea spent the summer… Continue reading »
Imagine a community in which each family has a raised bed garden built in their front lawn by local teenagers, free of charge. Will Conklin, of Greenagers, a non-profit working to connect teenagers with the environment and their community simultaneously, is working to make that vision a reality in Great… Continue reading »
Is it possible to use profit motive as a social change incentive? Friday November 18th, Leslie King, associate professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at Smith College, came to log lunch to discuss shareholder activism. Shareholder activism is the attempt by holders of stock in a corporation to influence company… Continue reading »
On October 20, Karen Freudenberger discussed looming catastrophe on Madagascar’s doorstep. The talk, entitled “Paradise Lost? Reflections on a Quarter Century of Environmental Programs in Madagascar,” began with a series of outstandingly beautiful photographs of Madagascar’s rainforest intermixed with images of slash and burn agriculture, detailing fire and destruction. 15… Continue reading »
On October 21st, Murray L. Fisher, founder and program director of the New York Harbor public high school on Governor’s Island, discussed the long and exciting process of creating an alternative education system in which he believes deeply. “I’m going to tell you the story of how a person goes… Continue reading »
At log lunch on November 14th, Gregory White, visiting professor in International Environmental Studies and professor of Government at Smith College, discussed the growing agreement among security-minded think tanks in the North Atlantic that climate migration will create large national security issues. The talk was a product of White’s most… Continue reading »
Curious about the dark side of multinational corporations? On September 30th Michael Blanding, a Boston-based investigative journalist and Williams alum, told log lunchers a part of the grim and complicated story of the Coca-Cola company’s international ventures. Blanding just published his first book, The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind… Continue reading »
At Friday’s log lunch on September 23, Jim Carlton, director of the Williams Mystic program since 1989, spoke with easy humor about what he’s learned about testifying before Congress, something he has done nine times. He most recently testified in a hearing about the best ways to regulate ballast… Continue reading »
On September 20, Bill McKibben, an environmental writer recently turned activist, spoke to a packed audience of entranced Williams students and Williamstown locals at the ’62 Center. McKibben focuses his efforts on finding new ways to compel our government to enforce policies that mitigate climate change and its effects on… Continue reading »
Sugar House at Hopkins Memorial Forest Continue reading »
Prizes for outstanding scholarship were awarded to four students at Commencement on June 3. Continue reading »