News & Announcements
Glenn Gordinier on “Epiphany: From Surfer to Activist, Inspirational Lives from the Surf Zone.”
On Friday, May 5, Glenn Gordinier, Associate Professor of History at Williams College Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies and lifelong surfer, spoke to Log Lunchers about what he calls the surfer-activist “epiphany.” Gordinier, whom geosciences professor Rónadh Cox introduced as a “righteous, badass, old-dude surfer,” described his own epiphany at the age of sixteen, when
Les Beldo on “Whales and Other Fish”
Les Beldo admitted that the title of his talk is a “cheap provocation,” since, technically, whales are not fish. However, Beldo said, in the eyes of the US federal government, they are. On Friday, April 28, Les Beldo, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Studies, spoke to the Log Lunch crowd about how the legal
Bill McKibben on Global Grassroots Movements, Divestment
“Were losing badly,” he said. “We’re way behind.” On Thursday, April 20, famed climate change writer and activist Bill McKibben spoke as part of the Confronting Climate Change initiative. McKibben began his talk by establishing the “pace and scale” of the effects of climate change, which he said, “came a hell of a
Benjamin Downing on “Why Politics Matters”
Friday, April 22, former Massachusetts State Senator Benjamin Downing spoke with Williams College students, faculty and community members at Log Lunch. Mr. Downing grew up in Pittsfield, MA and was told that the town’s best days were behind it. Inspired by the city’s struggles and its people’s lack of confidence, he returned years later as
Katrina Korfmacher on “Environmental Justice and Urban Housing: Lead Poisoning Prevention in Rochester, NY”
At Log Lunch on April 14, Kartrina Korfmacher, Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester, spoke about her environmental justice work fighting lead poisoning in Rochester, NY. As a student at Brown, Korfmacher dreamed of doing flashy environmental work, like saving Narragansett Bay or expanding the public trust doctrine to radically
Bern Johnson on “Grassroots Heroes for the Global Environment?”
On Friday, April 7, Bern Johnson spoke to Log Lunchers about his work as Executive Director of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), an organization that provides resources for grassroots environmental lawyers and citizens fighting environmental legal battles throughout the world. Johnson, who graduated from Williams as a political economy major in 1983 before
Jacquelyn Gill and Andrew Revkin on “Communicating Climate Science in a Post-fact World”
Last Wednesday, April 5, award-winning environmental journalist Andrew Revkin and paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill joined professors Nick Howe and Phoebe Cohen in a roundtable discussion about communicating climate change in a “post-fact world.” Jacquelyn Gill, Assistant Professor of Paleoecology & Plant Ecology at the University of Maine, is a first-generation college graduate from a working-class background
Jim Hansen on “Global Climate Change: How Can Young People Take Charge of Their Future?”
On Wednesday, March 8, Dr. Jim Hansen, an atmospheric physicist turned activist, spoke to a concert hall packed with students, professors, and community members. Hansen was born into a tenant-farming family in Denison, Iowa, and completed his B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in the 1960s. He began his career researching the
Log Lunch: “Cutting our Carbon: A Participatory Exercise in Which You Choose How to Fight Climate Change at Williams!”
Williams has committed to reduce emissions to 35% below 1990 levels by 2020. Ever wonder how the college will actually meet its emissions reduction goal? On Friday, March 3, Log Lunchers put their heads together to design a solution. Environmental Fellow-in-Residence Elizabeth Kolbert and economics professor Sarah Jacobson guided students, faculty, and community members through the wedge
Leah Penniman on “Ending Racism in our Food System”
On February 24, Leah Penniman entertained the Log Lunch crowd with a presentation full of information, justice and even a bit of poetry. She is an educator, a farmer, a writer, and a food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. According to Leah, despite how the world may seem today, our