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 »
Jon Piasecki is a landscape architect who specializes in trying to reconnect people and the land. He is the recipient of the 2004 Prince Charitable Trust Rome Prize awarded by the American Academy in Rome. Within his lifetime, Piasecki has witnessed the landscape alter drastically which motivated him to design… Continue reading »
Leslie Brunetta is the co-author of Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating. In the book, Brunetta and her co-author, Catherine Craig, wrote about the different types of spider webs and the story of spider evolution and natural selection. Although Brunetta studied a mostly… Continue reading »
Two recent Williams alumni spoke about their current careers related to the agriculture industry after romanticizing the idea of farming as Williams students. Continue reading »
Not long after Uttarakhand’s formation in 2000, the Uttarakhand government adopted policies to promote organic agriculture as part of its rural development and poverty-fighting programs. Continue reading »
Dr. James Carlton, Director of the Williams-Mystic Program and Professor of Marine Sciences, presented on “Coming to America: Marine Biology and Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris” at Log Lunch on April 12. Focusing on the story of four large docks dislodged from the port of Misawa in Japan, Carlton discussed the… Continue reading »
Professor Michelle Joffroy of Smith College presented a Log Lunch talk on April 5 entitled “The True Cost of Justice: Imagining Ecological and Social Debt in Latina Fiction.” Arguing that cultural expressions allow us to examine questions of environmental justice with greater creativity and to take more risks in critiquing… Continue reading »
The Center for Environmental Studies welcomed professor Kim Fortun of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for a lecture on “Late Industrialism: Characterizing a Historical Moment and its Political-Scientific Challenges” on April 4. Dr. Fortun discussed the need to understand industrialism as a culture with its own set of norms and assumptions that… Continue reading »
USGS research oceanographer Peter Howd has made great strides in actually quantifying the relationship between tropical storms and a warmer planet. Continue reading »
Today’s log lunch featured Williams College’s Rosenburg Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology Hank Art speaking about his travel winter study course to California. Students in the course experienced a broad range of agricultural practices from the vineyards of San Luis Obispo County to winter vegetable and livestock operations in… Continue reading »
Climate change, energy supply, and obesity are three major dilemmas in America today. As a prominent cyclist, commentator, and activist, Richard Fries believes that creating an American bike culture could be a big part of the solution. Continue reading »
At Friday’s Log Lunch, Chris Varrone ‘84, president of Riverview Consulting, claims that the wind industry will beat fossil fuel prices within seven years. Continue reading »
Bruce Winn, president and co-founder of Berkshire Environmental Protection Team (BEAT), discusses the power of grassroots activism. Continue reading »
Log Lunch on October 19 featured presentations on student summer research and internships. Amelia Simmons ’13 researched “The Secrets of Italian Salumi” with a Wilmers travel fellowship, using the Slow Food network of “endangered” local and traditional “presidia” breeds and food products to connect with small-scale meat producers in Italy. Continue reading »