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Something New Under the Sun: Solarize Project Begins in North Adams, Williamstown

By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:24PM / Monday, June 24, 2019

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Six years ago, the Solarize Williamstown initiative helped 79 homeowners add solar photo-voltaic panels to their properties. Six years later, Solarize Plus looks to replicate and expand on that model thanks to more options, a wider pool of property owners, new technology and a greater need than ever to reduce the use of fossil fuels. It seems like weekly new evidence is released about the threat of climate change, which the scientific community overwhelmingly agreed is fueled in part by human activity. Just last week, a study by the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development found that in the next 20 years, U.S. coastal communities

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Farley-Bouvier, Hinds Chat Environmental Issues At Pittsfield Forum

By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
01:22AM / Tuesday, June 18, 2019

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state hopes to see more renewable energy from solar so it's incentivizing development. However, the way the programs are currently established, solar often comes at the expense of cutting trees. "We have perverse incentives for solar. It is cheaper for a developer to come in and cut down a whole bunch of trees to do something for the environment," state Rep. Farley-Bouvier said. The Pittsfield Democrat would like to see a shift in the way the projects are located. She said there are acres of rooftops available without solar but yet large scale projects go into wooded areas. Even in her neighborhood, there is a large

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Center for EcoTechnology Honors Williamstown's Penner

By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:32PM / Thursday, April 25, 2019

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With passion, persistence and patience, Wendy Penner long has been one of the leading environmental advocates in the town. On Monday, Earth Day, she was publicly recognized for her engagement in the uphill battle to stem the tide of climate change. "To me, leadership is the ability to engage people, to race a problematic reality and do some work," said Laura Dubester, a co-director of the Pittsfield-based Center for EcoTechnology for 30 years. "In this case, the problematic reality is climate change and its impact on people, businesses, communities and the planet. "Wendy understands the science and why people want

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MassWildlife Offers Tips for Dealing With Aggressive Turkeys

Staff Reports,
11:53AM / Thursday, April 18, 2019

BOSTON — The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is offering some tips for dealing with aggressive wild turkeys. A woman in Cambridge was recently injured when a flock of turkeys began pecking at her legs; aggressive turkeys have also been reported and recorded in in Foxboro and Brookline. There's more room for humans and turkeys to co-exist in the Berkshires but residents should still be aware of turkey behavior if there's an encounter. MassWildlife says: March through May is breeding season for wild turkeys and as a result, there is an increase in turkey activity all across the commonwealth. Some turkeys may be seen acting

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Pittsfield City Council Passes Plastic Bag Ban

By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
04:03AM / Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Rinaldo Del Gallo first petitioned for the ban in 2013. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After close to six years of debate, the city finally passed a ban on single-use plastic bags Tuesday night. The ban had been proposed in 2013 and has been working its way through the City Council process since. It was first coupled with a ban on Styrofoam, which was later passed in 2015 separate from the bag ban and restricted polystyrene food containers. The bag ban went before the Green Commission and to City Council subcommittee meetings, the latter of which had left it unaddressed for a time. Earlier this year, it made its way to the full council will a full

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Williamstown Con Comm OKs Marijuana Farm

By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
12:54PM / Tuesday, February 19, 2019

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Conservation Commission on Thursday approved plans for an outdoor marijuana plantation near the Green River. But one member of the panel abstained from the decision, citing a potential conflict between the production and sale of the drug and federal law. Unlike the recreational retail facility in the works on Main Street, the proposed pot plantation at 295 Blair Road is the first operation to come before the Con Comm. Member Philip McKnight, an attorney, questioned whether the town should play any role in permitting cannabis-related businesses. Even though Massachusetts voters decided in 2016 to decriminalize the drug, marijuana remains a

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Big Y Plans to Eliminate Single-Use Plastic Bags in 2020

Staff Reports,
05:32PM / Tuesday, January 08, 2019

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Both Berkshire County cities last year spent months, if not years, talking about banning single-use plastic bags but they might find business is moving ahead of them. Big Y Foods Inc., one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England, will eliminate its use of the bags from all 70 of its markets, specialty stores and Big Y Express Gas and Convenience locations in 2020. That decision was prompted, in part, by local towns that have already prohibited the use of the bags. The 83-year-old company says it has been complying with bag bans in Adams (which launched a free bag initiative), Amherst, Great Barrington, Lee,

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Good Science at Work Inside Butterfly Magical Wings

By Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
04:57PM / Sunday, November 25, 2018

I walked down the road on Mount Greylock that leads to a parking lot for trekkers who want to traverse trails through the deciduous woodlands where the manifold wonders of nature unfold. All around me were untold numbers of buds about to burst from their winter dormancy. Trilliums at ground level were showing tiny green leaves, not yet revealing their triad flowers so deep red or white, remindful of the three-cornered hats worn during Colonial days. Spring beauties were carpeting the forest floor with their jolly pink and white blossoms. And perusing the naked branches before the buds leaf out, I found a Cecropia moth's silken cocoon spun on a low-lying

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North Berkshire Waste District Transfer Stations Pass Inspection

By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
11:22AM / Thursday, November 15, 2018

ADAMS, Mass. — Transfer stations in the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District have passed their inspections with flying colors. "The inspections went well, very well actually some of the towns that had some issues last year, they were really impressed by the progress they made," Program Coordinator Linda Cernik reported. "They were happy. There were small infractions but nothing major." Although there was no quorum last Thursday, Cernik still updated the commissioners who were present on the late October inspections conducted by a third party hired by the state Department of Environmental Protection. She will share

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Merlins Abide at Spruces Park

By Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
05:30PM / Tuesday, September 18, 2018

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Look aloft, for I hear wings stirring the air and the primeval cry of a falcon in the spruce! Also known as pigeon hawk, a family of merlin falcons occupies a significant niche in the open meadow known for its tall Norway spruce, seeded when these 38 acres was formerly a thriving mobile home park. While I was surveying this moist meadow for butterfly diversity, both resident and migratory, walking the dirt roads between weedy quadrants, I heard a deliberate outcry from above, and looked up to behold some large hawk-like birds swiftly flying between the tall spruces that punctuate the grassy meadow like solemn sentinels. A

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