Sustainability
Blog
Biology 422: A Trip to the Field
400 pounds of seed potatoes waited for students in Professor Henry Art’s Sustainable Agriculture course when they arrived at Caretaker Farm on a warm and sunny April morning. Farmer Don Zasada demonstrated with a small hand tool how to put the cut tubers neatly to bed in the soil. “Which way do the eyes face?” more »
Just Food 2013 Conference Report
by Andrea Lindsay ’13 As an Environmental Policy major and Latina/o Studies concentrator, I have spent most of my time at Williams exploring the connections between sustainability and social justice through the lens of food. The 2013 Just Food conference in New York City provided an incredible opportunity to connect my studies and activism at more »
Musings on Gammelgården Creamery
by Hannah Smith’15 This semester I have had the opportunity to work at Gammelgården Creamery in Pownal, VT, which is owned and operated by Stina Kutzer. Most college faculty and students probably know the farm for its Skyr, a thick Icelandic-style yogurt. My love for Skyr is what drew me to the farm, and working more »
150-Mile Meals on April 22
It won’t be business as usual in the Williams College dining halls on April 22nd this year. In support of No Impact Week, an initiative led by Lexie Carr ’13 and Thursday Night Grassroots, a special breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu will put our region and staff to the test on Earth Day. If planning more »
Diane Purkiss: “The Most Underrated Food in Europe, or Eating Well in England”
by Celeste Berg ’13 Dr. Diane Purkiss, Fellow in English and historian from Oxford’s Keble College, opened her presentation on February 28th, 2013 with a question to the audience. “How many of you have eaten English food?” she asked. Many hands raised in the audience of community members and students. The aroma of fragrant English more »
A love letter to wind turbines
I can see several of the wind turbines in the Hoosac Wind project from my desk chair at home. My two year old son and I see them every day as we drive to and from day care, and we talk about how they look and whether they’re turning. One afternoon in the darkest time more »
Fresh Fest Film Series: March 9th & 10th, Images Cinema
The third annual Farm and Food Film Festival features engaging films and speakers: Saturday, 3/9 10:30 a.m. Growing Hope Against Hunger • A Sesame Street special • Post-film speaker: Ali Benjamin 1:00 p.m. Edible City • Post-film speaker: Aleisha & Brian Gibbons of Berkshire Organics SEEDS • Featuring soup from Wild Oats! • Storey Publishing more »
Philip Ackerman-Leist Speaks on Scaling Up Sustainability
by Celeste Berg ’13 Philip Ackerman-Leist is all about the practical. On the evening of Wednesday, February 13th, the author, farmer, and professor delivered a talk on his recent book Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems. Roughly 25 attendees, an even mix of students and community members, gathered in more »
Students Learn That Culinary Skills Extend Beyond the Kicthen
Three weeks was just enough time. By January 24th, the ten students in the winter study course Elementary Cooking Techniques were ready to emulsify, sauté, braise, and poach their way through preparing a grand final dinner. As they cooked for students in Peter Pedroni’s wine tasting class, the skills they had acquired during intensive cooking more »
Rental houses weatherized
Six rental properties have been weatherized this winter under the Mass Save program. Cellulose insulation is densely packed into empty wall cavities and under attic floor boards. Loose-fill cellulose is added to attics to achieve an insulation value of R-60. The cellulose is manufactured locally (National Fiber in Belchertown) from recycled newsprint, and is treated more »
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Williams College Building Guidelines
These guidelines were adopted in June, 2011 by the Williams College Board of Trustees. Background In 1991, the College’s physical plant measured 1.9 million square feet; by 2007 it had grown about 24% to 2.4 million square feet. At the same time, its energy use per square foot increased 20%. The student population stayed roughly more »
Collectively Eating Sustainably
In January 2007, Williams committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to adopting the principles of sustainability. Since that time we have significantly reduced our energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions associated with direct consumption of energy on campus. We are currently striving to evaluate and reduce the environmental impacts associated with the production, distribution, more »
Beaver Wood Energy Withdraws Permit Application
On April 18, 2011 Beaver Wood Energy submitted a petition to the Public Service Board of Vermont notifying the Board of its intention to withdraw the permit application submitted under section 248. Click here to read the full document. At least, for time being, Beaver Wood Energy will not be continuing to its plans to more »
Gender and Food Activism: Dr.Carole Counihan
As part of the ongoing series exploring gender and food, the Williams College Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program & The Williams College Women’s and Gender Studies Program present: Gender and Food Activism:Dr. Carole Counihan. Monday, March 7th, 7 pm Paresky Auditorium, 39 Chapin Hall Drive Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267 Open and free to the more »
Thoughts on the Moomaw/Booth Biomass Talk
On February 10th, Professor William Moomaw, Tufts University and Mary Booth, Massachusetts Energy Alliance shared their thoughts on using woody biomass for electricity production to a packed house in the Paresky Center. Bill described how forests provide us with several usefull services: biodiversity, water quality and flood control, carbon sequestration, air quality, timber, soil production and erosion more »
Williams to Host Second Biomass Discussion Featuring Bill Moomaw and Mary Booth
Williams College will host a presentation titled “Getting Biomass Right: Should We Be Generating Electricity from Trees?” on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium on the lower level of Paresky Student Center. The event, free and open to the public, is the second in a series of forums addressing issues of biomass. more »
Intervenor Status Awarded to Williams College and Others
The Vermont Public Service Board has granted the following individuals and organizations permissive intervention in the application of Beaver Wood Energy to develop a biomass plant in Pownal. Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Southern Vermont Citizens for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Energy Richard and Leslie Morgenthal, James Winchester, Joseph Tornabene Vermont Agency of more »
Gender and Food Panel Event
Williams College Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program & Williams College Women’s and Gender Studies Program present: Gender and Food; Production & Consumption A Panel Discussion Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 7 pm Griffin Hall 3 | 844 Main Street | Williamstown Featuring: Karen Washington, Member of Garden of Happiness, La Familia Verde Garden more »
Pownal Biomass Motion to Stay
Beaver Wood Energy has recently filed a motion to stay proceedings in both the Fair Haven and Pownal biomass plants — the latter until at least April 15, 2011. Beaver Wood Energy, the developer of the proposed projects concedes — as it basically has all along — that its initial filings were not sufficiently complete, but were submitted anyway more »
A preliminary review of the Beaver Wood Proposal
This post was provided by Jim Sullivan, Assistant Executive Director, Bennington County Regional Commission, VT. This report was prepared by an advisory committee to the Bennington County Regional Commission regarding the Beaver Wood Energy Biomass Project proposal and does not represent an official position of the BCRC. The Regional Energy Committee has reviewed information submitted more »
New Sustainability Website Launched
Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives has launched a new campus sustainability website. Summer interns participating in Williams College’s WIT program helped us with the conceptual design this summer. Then, Amy Johns, Assistant Director, Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, spearheaded the effort to provide a visually effective, yet technically savvy webpage building upon the creative ideas of more »
Pownal and Williamstown Concerned Citizens Groups Merge
The Bennington-Berkshire Citizens Coalition will sponsor a free public forum, “An Open-Air Discussion About Biomass” on Saturday, November 20th, at 4 p.m., in Fellowship Hall at the First Congregational Church in Williamstown, MA
full article »Terra Madre Report
Slow Food’s international bi-annual conference, Terra Madre, took place from October 21st-25th in Turin, Italy. Williams College Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program Manager Katharine Millonzi attended the conference and shares a few highlights in this Terra Madre Report. She outlines one of the larger scale Slow Food projects in the works, 1000 Gardens in Africa more »
Pownal Biomass Prehearing Set
The Public Service Board of Vermont has announced that the Hearing Officer, Ed McNamara, Staff Attorney will hold a prehearing conference pursuant to Section 248, on Friday, November 19th, 2010 regarding the Petition of Beaver Wood Energy for a Certificate of Public Service to install and operate a biomass plant and a integrated wood pellet more »
Petition for a Certificate of Public Good – Pownal Biomass Project
The Beaver Wood Energy petition for a Certificate of Public Good pursuant to Section 248 to install and operate a biomass energy facility and an integrated wood pellet manufacturing facility on the north end of the former Green Mountain Racetrack Vermont Public Service has been filed. The documents are available at various public offices, including more »
