By MICKEY RATHBUN, For the Gazette
Imagine being able to look at Mt. Sugarloaf in South Deerfield, or Zoar Bridge across the Deerfield River in Charlemont, and to see at the same time how they appeared back in the 1840s. A wonderful exhibition currently on display at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst provides just such a window onto the landscapes of the Pioneer Valley in the early 19th century, when Orra Hitchcock, a botanist and scientific illustrator, painted them. The exhibition, “Re-presenting Nonotuck: The Landscape Paintings of Hitchcock and Gloman,” pairs Hitchcock’s paintings with contemporary renderings of the same scenes by artist David Gloman, who has been teaching art at Amherst College since 1992.
The Western Mass Youth Climate Summit provides an empowering platform for high school
students to engage in conversations and planning with their peers on the issue of climate change
and to discuss actions and goals their team will take to address the problem. Schools can participate
in the Summit at no charge thanks to support form grant funders and local business sponsors.
By Edward Watt & Gillian Andrews
Last summer our area, which has a strong agricultural economy, experienced a severe drought. We chose to explore this issue in-depth with our students, who understood firsthand the importance of water as a resource and of conserving water in their communities.
By Ariel Moyal and Julie Johnson
Massachusetts residents expected some heat this summer, and maybe even welcomed it after a long winter. However, the heat that residents have experienced across the state has gone beyond expected summer temperatures and veered into dangerous territory. Unfortunately, scientists tell us these risky heat waves are not an anomaly, but Massachusetts’ new normal. If we do not take expedient action to avert the worst effects of climate change, science tells us it is going to get even hotter.
Hitchcock Center Executive Director Julie Johnson will speak at the Net Positive for Higher Education Symposium sponsored by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). Her talk on June 26th is entitled Engaging Stakeholders and Funders in Creating a Living Building and will share Hitchcock Center’s process of building constituent support in the Living Building process.
To combat the growing rate of Lyme disease in the Northeast, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment will host a presentation Monday night on how to best protect oneself from tick bites. In Hampshire County, reported cases of Lyme disease have increased 32 percent since 2013, according to the state Department of Public Health, with 216 confirmed and suspected cases last year.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, MA presents an exhibition that explores how engineering and design concepts from nature can make the world a better place. Opening May 26, Wild Designs features not only bio-inspired works by artists, but also 24 projects and prototypes conceived by innovators who look to nature and living systems for new ideas and creative solutions to human problems.
May 4, 2018 — More than 400 nonprofits in the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts joined forces on Tuesday to raise $1,697,604 in an annual one-day effort called Valley Gives, 12% more than the total raised last year.
By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN
AMHERST — As the existential problem of catastrophic climate change increasingly haunts humanity, many are looking for important ways to combat carbon emissions and reverse the trends pushing the planet to the precipice of disaster. It was under that context that forest preservationist Michael Kellett spoke Sunday at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment about Massachusetts forests in the era of climate change. Forest loss contributes significantly to climate change, and Kellett — executive director at the nonprofit RESTORE: The North Woods — advocated protecting those forests as a way to mitigate climate calamity.
By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN
As the existential threat of climate change increasingly haunts humanity, many are looking for important ways to combat carbon emissions. It was under that context that forest preservationist Michael Kellett spoke Sunday at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment about Massachusetts forests in the era of climate change. Forest loss contributes significantly to climate change, and Kellett — executive director at the nonprofit RESTORE: The North Woods — advocated for protecting those forests as a way to mitigate climate calamity.