By Carol Lollis Photos by Kevin Gutting, Dan Little, Jerry Roberts Daily Hampshire Gazette
Every year, nearly 9,000 folks take advantage of programs at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment at 525 South Pleasant St. in Amherst. The nonprofit center, founded in 1962, offers 370 outdoor educational programs to participants who come mainly from western Massachusetts.
By James Heflin Daily Hampshire Gazette
Hike leader Oliver Sheppard-Witkowski, 14 months old, points with a noble air toward the stand of red and gold trees on the other side of the road at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst. He steadies himself with one hand on a wire fence. His brow is creased. He looks like a Shakespearean actor preparing to intone great words.
By George Harvey Green Energy Times
The Hitchcock Center, however, is very remarkable for reasons of its own. In fact Eric Corey Freed, Vice President of ILFI, made it clear that it stands out as one of his favorite projects. He explained, “I love the Hitchcock Center because it stands as a testimony to what an educational center can be.”
By Scott Merzbach Daily Hampshire Gazette
AMHERST — An advanced water system to be installed at the new Hitchcock Center for the Environment building under construction on West Street will be supported by a $50,000 grant from the Rotary Club of Amherst.
By The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment, the Amherst-based environmental education nonprofit, held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 1 as construction officially began on its new, state-of-the-art facility. The Community Foundation was one of many funders and supporters of the project, having provided a $50,000 grant last year in support of the design phase of the project. The 9,000 square-foot building more than doubles the current capacity and will meet the stringent requirements of a “living building.” Those standards include providing 100% of its own energy through renewable sources, providing 100% of its water through a rainwater capture and filtration system, using all nontoxic materials and sourcing its building materials locally, among other requirements.
By Jim Madigan Connecting Point WGBY
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment was founded in 1962 by Ethel Dubois (1906–1987), a retired guidance counselor. With a handful of dedicated volunteers, she provided summer camp and nature programs for low-income children, primarily from Holyoke and Springfield. Today, the Center remains true to its mission: to foster greater awareness and understanding of the environment and develop environmentally literate citizens. Recently Julie Johnson, Exec. Dir. of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst discussed the new environmental center they are building.
Jenny Ivy Byrne Green Building News
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment, located in Amherst, broke ground May 1 on an environmental center designed and constructed to the world’s toughest sustainable development standards.
Diane Lederman MassLive.com
With the Hitchcock Center groundbreaking ceremony Friday afternoon at Hampshire College, the center has now launched an overall fundraising campaign to complete funding for the 9,000 square-foot project. The Building For the Future campaign has raised $4.6 million of the $5.8 million project cost. And now the center is asking the community at large to donate. A group of donors will match all donations given or pledged between now and May 31, of up to $100,000.
Diane Lederman MassLive.com
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, Rep. Ellen Story, acting state Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Dan Burgess and Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash, are slated to speak a the Hitchcock center ground-braking May 1 on the college campus. The center is building a 9,000-square-foot environmental education center at Hampshire College that will meet Living BuildingChallenge standards, the most advanced measure of sustainability. Fewer than 10 buildings have been certified, according to a press release.
Teresa Lee Dowd Hurlburt
Like most 10-year-olds, I love the outdoors and love exploring nature. It seems that the best part of living in New England is the wildlife and all the people who care about it so much. At the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, my friends and I listen and look around for clues in nature for fun. I did a wood frog project and found out that a group of scientists is creating an organ-freezing substance based on the wood frog’s antifreeze. They successfully used it to transplant a rabbit kidney, and they are now focusing on creating real organ banks for humans.
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Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
845 West Street | Amherst MA 01002 | 413.256.6006 | 413.253.2809 fax