North Adams – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will join more than 1,000 colleges, universities, high schools and other institutions across the country in participating in a national education initiative, Focus the Nation.
As part of that initiative, MCLA will host a presentation led by Environmental Studies Instructor Audrey Werner, “Carbon Calculator 101: Your Questions Answered,” on Friday, Feb. 1 in Murdock Hall conference room 218, from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public.
In addition to Werner’s remarks, MCLA student Daniel Harris ’08, a student majoring in environmental studies, who recently completed an internship at MCLA when he calculated the College’s carbon footprint, will present his findings. Also speaking will be Stephanie Boyd, acting director of the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives at Williams College. She will present Williams’ carbon calculator figures. As a part of this event, student-artwork with a global warming theme, as well as other environmental concerns, will be on display in the MCLA Amsler Campus Center’s Centennial Room. In addition, on Tuesday, Jan. 29, from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. in the Centennial Room, MCLA students will talk about ecological footprints and how they affect the surrounding environment.
Focus the Nation is organizing a national teach-in on global warming solutions for America—creating a dialogue at over a thousand colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, places of worship, civic organizations and businesses, and directly engaging millions of students and citizens with the nation’s decision-makers. For more information on these and other Focus the Nation activities, go to www.focusthenation.org and www.mcla.edu/About_MCLA/Administration_and_Finance/Green_Campus
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I would like to bring to your attention a program offered by Zerofootprint that would enable all of these 1000 schools and all their students to be linked in a social network around climate change. The program is built around the Zerofootprint.net ecological footprint calculator. It is being used by cities, universities,schools, hospitals to link millions of people who want to contribute to the battle on climate change.
The program gets all students to fill in a very comprehensive and mass customizable calculator and then lins them via social networking tools. It permits schools to form groups competing with other schools or internally as well.
It sounds like this could be very useful as an enabler for your initiative.
A charcuterie board at the event displays fare from some of the regional producers.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Prospect Meadow Farm last week officially opened a new barn to sell plants and other goods it produces.
Prospect Meadow Farm Berkshires is an expansion of ServiceNet's first farm in Hatfield that has provided meaningful agricultural work, fair wages, and personal and professional growth to hundreds of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since opening in 2011.
The Berkshires farm opened on Crane Avenue two years ago and has now introduced a new vocational and unwinding space for the more than 25 farmhands who get paid a minimum wage.
"This is a facility for our folks who work on the farm to learn additional skills and do additional work," said Vice President of Vocational Services Shawn Robinson at the Friday event. "So we have a food packaging space, we've got a walk-in cooler space, we've got a floral design space, we've got a farm store room for staff, lunch room, and then a meditation room that we're standing in now, which is when you're having those hard moments and you need to get away from everything.
"This is going to be a peaceful place you can find and sort of find some comfort, and then hopefully get back to work."
The barn was built by funds from the state Executive Office of Economic Development and the state Department of Agricultural Resources that equated to around $600,000, with ServiceNet contributing around the same amount. The structure took over a year to build.
The state's Department of Developmental Services Commissioner Sarah Peterson spoke on how meaningful this farm and ServiceNet is to her and that this place is important to those who need it.
"Places like this are so crucial because they create opportunities for people living with disabilities that aren't plentiful," she said. "People living with developmental and intellectual disabilities have an unemployment rate over 25 percent five times the rate for people without disabilities, even more jarring is under appointment, which is at 80 percent. That means that four out of every five people with disabilities earn below market rate wages and have limited upward mobility.
"The building itself is really impressive, but what you're really seeing here is the result of vision. It's about opportunity, it's about community, and it's founded in the belief that every person deserves the chance to learn and work and contribute to thrive under the leadership of ServiceNet."
One aspect of the barn will be the market where produce from the farm and other local growers will be sold as well as keeping the tradition of Jodi's Seasonal, which previously occupied the location, alive with plant sales. The market will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"Everything you see in terms of the tomatoes, the fresh produce, that's all done with the hands of our farm hands here, individuals with disabilities who get out every single morning, get in those greenhouses, put their hands in the dirt, and make all of this happen, and this is just the start," said Robinson. "This farm is a little over a year old at this point, but give it another two years, and we hope to be growing enough food to share throughout the Berkshires."
Robinson said the farm is focused on local food security, recently partnering with the Hatfield Council on Aging and planning to work toward making enough food to partner with places in the Berkshires.
He said the barn serves the Hatfield farm and what the employees here needed.
"We've been able to learn the needs of the farm hands who work there and so we have learned that they need a comfortable break space for those times where it's hard to be out in the fields, we've learned that a quiet space for when you're going through something you need to be away from people are key, and then also we have a small farm store in Hatfield, but we've seen increasing interest in retail work from our participants, so we thought it was time for a larger-scale farm store," he said.
Robinson noted that Prospect Meadow Farm has helped the individuals working there feel valued and head.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
Jason Codey struck out 13, walked two and allowed just an infield single as the Generals earned a 7-1 win over Wahconah to claim their third straight regional title. click for more
Gracelyn Wright struck out eight, and Genevieve Lagess went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Hurricanes beat Monson, 17-3, to claim their first Western Mass title in four years. click for more
For the boys, Ward Bianchi helped lead the way with a win in the shot put and a second place in the javelin as the Mounties finished 16 points ahead of runner-up Pittsfield (pending the results of the pole vault, which were unavailable at 11 p.m. Friday night). click for more
