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Hoosac Water Quality District to Keep Producing Compost for NowBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:40AM / Monday, June 09, 2025 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Hoosac Water Quality District will continue its decades-long practice of composting biosolid waste and offering it for sale as fertilizer. The district's Board of Commissioners made that decision in a meeting on Wednesday at the Williamstown Municipal Building after a half dozen North County residents raised concerns about the dangers of recycling feces contaminated with polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, which have been linked to cancer. Earlier this spring, the four-member commission learned that a deal that would have imported biosolids, or sludge, from other municipalities to be composted at the district's Williamstown facility no >> Read More |
Berkshire Green Drinks to Feature Hoffmann Bird Club| 11:45AM / Thursday, May 15, 2025 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire Green Drinks will host a presentation by Audrey Werner and Steven Miller of the Hoffmann Bird Club on Wednesday, May 21, at 6:00 p.m. The event, titled "Flock Together with Hoffmann Bird Club," will be hybrid, taking place online via Zoom and in person at The Barn Kitchen & Bar of the Williams Inn, located at 103 Spring St, Williamstown, MA. An in-person social gathering will begin around 5:15 p.m. The presentation will introduce attendees to the Hoffmann Bird Club, a Berkshire County nature organization. Werner and Miller, members of the club's executive committee, will discuss the club's history, upcoming bird walks and events,
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Images Cinema to Screen Antarctic DocumentaryBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:15PM / Saturday, April 12, 2025 | |
Sunrise over the Antarctic during southern winter from 'Antarctic Voyage.' WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Plenty of artists suffer for their work. Not many have to go under the knife for it. Documentary filmmaker Kevin Schreck screens his documentary "Antarctic Voyage" on Monday evening at Images Cinema. The film follows environmental scientist Samantha Monier on a research expedition to the remote South Atlantic island of South Georgia. It was a project years in the making and one for which Schreck had to go above and beyond. "I had to endure surgery to qualify for this [voyage,]," Schreck said in a recent telephone >> Read More |
Images Cinema's Inaugural Earth Week Film Festival| 08:00AM / Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Images Cinema presents their inaugural Earth Week Film Festival Friday, April 19 through Thursday, April 25. An expansion upon the long-standing Fresh Fest: A Food and Farming Film Festival, which usually ran one weekend, the Earth Week Film Festival will run a full week and engage in a variety of topics that range from regenerative agriculture, the plastic pollution, and metal extraction from the ocean floor. The festival includes 10 films, 13 screenings, 7 with discussions with experts in their field, local farmers, activists, and more. A full list of films follows below, and can also be found at >> Read More |
Williamstown Select Board Gets Update on Climate Action PlanBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:06AM / Tuesday, February 20, 2024 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The leaders of a Net Zero Task Force in town updated the Select Board last week on a climate action plan that the annual town meeting authorized in 2021. Wendy Penner and Nancy Nylen told the board that a group of two dozen volunteers plans to have a plan ready to present to attendees at the upcoming annual town meeting May. The goal of the plan is help the town achieve a goal of net zero carbon emissions by adopting, "multi-pronged strategies including energy efficiency, renewable energy, zero waste, and nature-based solutions to CO2 removal, such as the protection and restoration of forests, wetlands and other ecosystems," in the words >> Read More |
HooRWA: What Happens on Land Doesn’t Stay on Land| 12:30PM / Thursday, February 08, 2024 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Ecosystem ecologist Allison Gill will talk on "Land to Water: Managing Terrestrial Landscapes to Support Healthy Waterways" at the Hoosic River Watershed (HooRWA)'s State of the River and Annual Meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7:00 p.m. in Williams College's Griffin 5. She will discuss how the way people treat land impacts waterways, like the Hoosic River. All are welcome. No registration needed for this free program co-hosted by Williams College Center for Environmental Studies. A brief Annual Meeting of the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA) will proceed the presentation, with a review on some of >> Read More |
Vermonters Asked to Support Threatened Species Recovery with Nongame Tax Checkoff| 08:00AM / Sunday, February 04, 2024 | |
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont's Nongame Wildlife Fund is essential to the conservation and restoration of some of Vermont's most at-risk wildlife, from bumblebees and butterflies to mussels, birds and mammals. Thanks to a checkoff option on the Vermont state income tax form, donating to the fund is easy and impactful. "Every dollar Vermonters donate to Nongame Wildlife Fund on their taxes is nearly tripled," says Rosalind Renfrew, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department's Wildlife Diversity Program Manager. "Public donations leverage matching federal grants, meaning that every dollar donated secures another $2 to $3 in federal funds >> Read More |
North Berkshire Waste District Interested In Hydrogen Facility Project By Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
02:50PM / Monday, January 22, 2024 | |
ADAMS, Mass.— Members of the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District (NBSWMD) were intrigued by a plan by Local Power to work towards community-wide decarbonization through a waste hydrogen facility in Western Massachusetts. In a presentation on Jan. 11, Local Power President Paul Fenn told the district members that Local Power helps local governments set up community-wide decarbonization with a focus on localization "as a core strategy in an industry defined by centralized energy and capital sources." He said the community choice aggregation firm helped usher in community choice power supply programs to many towns and cities in Berkshire
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Williams College Testing for Geothermal Capacity at New Museum SiteBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
12:59PM / Wednesday, January 17, 2024 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College is doing the ground work for a new art museum at the former site of the Williams Inn. Actually, it is doing the underground work. This winter, the college is drilling a test well near the Field Park rotary to assess the terrain's capacity to produce geothermal energy for the planned museum. A crew from Armonk, N.Y.'s, Brightcore Energy has been working on the site, setting the stage for a project that could supply a significant percentage of the heating and cooling needs for the museum the college is planning to replace the current facility at Lawrence Hall. "The location of the test well is in the range >> Read More |
Williamstown Gathering Info on Livestock at Request of State AgencyBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
05:14PM / Monday, January 08, 2024 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — An attempt by the town's health inspector to cooperate with a state agency sparked a minor controversy on social media over the weekend. On Sunday, a user posted anonymously on the "Williamstown Mass. Info & Issues" Facebook page an image of a form the the health inspector sent to area farms seeking information about the number and types of livestock they keep and acknowledging consent for the town's regular inspections of agricultural operations. "Since when do we need an application for farm animals, did we get rid of right to farm??" the Facebook user posted. "im not sure if im being pranked or >> Read More |
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