From April 18 to April 24, Williams celebrated Earth Week with lectures, student group events, and delicious campus meals. Read more about the week below. Panel Discussion: “Alumni Work for Climate Solutions” Alumni in Climate Work Panel On Monday night, the Center for Environmental Studies, Williams Environmental… Continue reading »
Natalie Bump Venahttp://anso.williams.edu/profile/nbv2/ On Friday April 24, Natalie Bump Vena ‘04, Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow in Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Williams, came to Log Lunch to speak about her research on preservation in Cook County, Illinois. After graduating from Williams, Vena attained an M.Phil. in Anthropology from… Continue reading »
(L-R) Pat Joyce and Brad McNamara On the rainy Earth Day evening of April 22, 2015, Brad McNamara, co-founder and CEO, and Pat Joyce, distributor networks account representative, spoke at Williams College about their company, Freight Farms. McNamara has a background in agricultural and environmental studies, and Joyce has… Continue reading »
Heather Paxsonhttp://web.mit.edu/anthropology/people/faculty/paxson.html. On Thursday April 23, Heather Paxson, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presented a cheese tasting and Class of 1960 Scholars lecture to the Williams Community about her ethnographic work on cheese makers. With a B.A. in Anthropology… Continue reading »
In mid-April, the Williams College community celebrated theopening of the Class of 1966 Environmental Center during a weekend-long celebration. The Class of 1966 Environmental Center was built in an incredibly sustainable method in order to meet Living Building Challenge certification, an environmental building standard much stricter than LEED. Built with… Continue reading »
On Friday April 17, Timothy Mitchell, father of Purple Bike Coalition co-chair Adie Mitchell ’15, came to Log Lunch to speak about fossil fuels, democracy, and capitalization. Mitchell is a political theorist and historian, focusing on the Middle East, who has been a professor at Colombia University since 2008. He… Continue reading »
On Friday, April 10, Tom Buck ’91 came to Log Lunch to speak about private sector environmental work in developing countries. Buck’s career and work has largely been guided by a passion for international affairs. After graduating as a history major from Williams in 1991 and becoming fascinated by post-communist… Continue reading »
On Friday March 13, Jonathan Jacobson ’80 came to Log Lunch to speak about the environmental impact of the drug trade on the Amazon rain forest. Jacobson is currently chief of the information exchange partnership branch in the office of information collection at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Before… Continue reading »
On Thursday, March 12, Williams College held a panel discussion titled, “The Nature of Environmental Justice.” The panel included: Dr. Sylvia Hood Washington, an epidemiologist and editor and chief of Environmental Justice, Brentin Mock the justice editor for the online environmental magazine, Grist, and Aaron Mair, an urban environmental activist… Continue reading »
On Friday, March 6, Dan Yacobellis of the Tamakoce Wilderness Programs came to Log Lunch to speak about the benefits of animal tracking to oneself and the world. Yacobellis has spent the last two decades animal tracking, an activity during which an individual spends long amounts of time in the… Continue reading »
In late February, Philip Warbug came to Williams to speak about the potential of solar and wind energy in 21st century America. Warbug is a writer based in Newtown, MA with a diverse and impactful career in environmental law in the United States and abroad. His career began in 1973… Continue reading »
Glenn Gordinier, Co-Director of the Frank G. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies and the Robert G. Albion Historian at Mystic Seaport, came to Log Lunch on February 13 to speak about whaling history. He has taught for a quarter of a century and worked for an additional decade at… Continue reading »
On February 6, Brian McCammack, Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, came to Log Lunch to speak about African American labor in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression. The content of his talk was taken from the last chapter of his book to be published next year… Continue reading »
Jane Winn, Executive Director of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) came to Log Lunch on January 23 to talk about the proposed Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline (NEDP) by Kinder Morgan in Massachusetts. Kinder Morgan, an energy company, has proposed the NEDP to transport natural gas to Massachusetts and beyond. Continue reading »
On January 16, two graduate students from the Center for Development Economics (CDE) at Williams College came to Log Lunch to speak about environmental issues in their countries. Selarath Chum from Cambodia discussed deforestation and Yamin Portillo spoke about the environmental features that cause natural disasters in Guatemala. Chum gave… Continue reading »
On Friday, January 9, Ian Burnes of Efficiency Maine Trust came to the first Log Lunch of the year in Dodd to speak about using waste heat as an energy efficiency strategy. After graduating with an economics degree from Wesleyan, Burnes worked for the Maine Northern Forest Alliance and the… Continue reading »
On Friday, December 5, William Scully from Carbon Zero, LLC came to Log Lunch to speak about hydroelectric energy possibilities in the state of Vermont. Scully is a successful restaurateur from Bennington, Vermont, but he is also heavily involved with developing hydroelectric power plants. His work with hydroelectric power began… Continue reading »
On December 4, Mary Stewart Douglas, environmental lawyer and Washington correspondent for the Berkshire Edge spoke to a crowd of local residents and students about the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline. The proposed project is complicated and controversial, so Douglass’s presentation helped to explain the pipeline’s history and present state… Continue reading »
On Tuesday, December 2, the Center for Environmental Studies faculty, staff, and students celebrated the end of fall semester at the annual holiday dinner. This year’s event was a very special occasion as one of the last gatherings in the log before its renovation in 2015. Students mingle. Continue reading »
On Friday, November 7, Professor of Marine Sciences and Director of the Williams-Mystic Program James Carlton came to Log Lunch to discuss marine invasive species in the warmer climate change world. Professor Carlton is an expert on marine bioinvasions, holding multiple fellowships and having testified before Congress nine times about… Continue reading »
The Record featured a story on the group in the Environmental Planning class working on a Williamstown community bike path, copied below. —– Four students in the “Environmental Planning” class are working with members of the community on a bike path which will connect North Adams and Williamstown. Julie Jung… Continue reading »
On Friday, October 31, Tony Barnes ’98, JJ Augenbraun ’11, and Liz Visconti ’13 came to speak at Log Lunch about their company EnergySavvy and how its IT solutions are saving energy nationwide. This group of Williams alumni has diverse backgrounds and roles in the company. After graduating as a… Continue reading »
On Friday, October 24, Sophie Robinson ’11 came to speak at Log Lunch about her work for the past few years with 350 Massachusetts. Robinson began with a Story of Self, a short biography that is a useful grassroots-organizing tactic that connects the audience not just to the subject matter… Continue reading »
On October 17, Log Lunch welcomed two of our own students, Jordan Fields ’17 and Anna Epstein ’17, to speak about their summer experiences. Jordan conducted independent geology research in Bend, Oregon to track water flow in the Deshutes River Watershed. With increasing drought in the Bend area, Jordan sought… Continue reading »
Julian Hadley, an ecologist at Ecovative Design, came to Log Lunch on October 10 to discuss the possibilities of replacing traditional Styrofoam packaging with fungi alternatives. Hadley is a plant and forest ecologist based in eastern New York. With a background of researching spruce decline and ecosystem-level processes in the… Continue reading »