Register at tinyurl.com/ewml-climate-justice
Climate change – the number one existential threat to humanity and the planet – is often described as a scientific problem with environmental impacts, but it’s more than that. Where do social justice and climate change overlap? How does identity (race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) influence the way a person is impacted by climate change? And how can we, as concerned community members, fight climate change in a way that is just and equitable for all?
Join Nia Keith, social justice educator and climate activist, as we examine the connection between societal inequities and climate impacts. Nia will share some of the most dynamic climate justice initiatives today, led by youth and People of Color around the world. Finally, we’ll discuss ways we can all take climate action in our communities and beyond.
Closed captioning will be available. This Zoom presentation will be recorded for future viewing.
Presenter Bio: Nia Keith is a Social Justice Educator & Consultant with more than 15 years experience working in nonprofits, schools, and cultural institutions. She is also Mass Audubon’s first Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice. Dedicated to cultivating equity and justice in all environments, Nia has spent her career motivating people to address environmental, social, and economic issues. As an educator, she designs and delivers interactive lessons for all ages, to help people understand and take action to fight climate change. Nia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England.
This program was funded in part by Emily’s Friends of the Library.
Communities serious about creating a resilient future need to include strategies for reversing the critical loss of biodiversity. Why is biodiversity so important, what are the threats it faces, and what can we do? In this talk Peggy MacLeod describes successful, collaborative approaches to reversing biodiversity loss while addressing the urgency of the climate crisis. Learn about a movement across Massachusetts to start projects that expand pollinator habitat using important native trees, shrubs, and plants. Local Easthampton City Councilor, Owen Zaret, will share the progress he’s made to encourage native pollinator plantings on municipal property and to apply for “Bee City USA” status for the City.
This free forum will take place on September 27th in Wilson Hall at Westfield State University. The forum
begins at 6:30 PM, preceded by a reception and informational exhibits starting at 5:45 PM.
Registration is required for in-person attendance. Click here to register. Trouble registering? – please call (413) 568-7833 x104.
This event will be livestreamed! Watch the livestream by clicking here. Registration is not required to watch the livestream.
If you are interested but unable to attend in-person or watch the livestream, you may watch the forum through a recorded video available approximately two weeks after the event through the member libraries of the PVLC (see below for a listing of libraries)
The Forum’s goal is to highlight existing MA and federal clean energy incentives for individuals, homeowners, renters, businesses, municipalities and nonprofits. Attendees will learn how to access these federal and state tax-based incentives that are available for implementing cleaner means of heating and cooling, transportation, energy efficient appliances, and whole-building energy efficiency.
The speakers panel will include special opening remarks by Hampden County DA Anthony Gulluni, MA State Senator Paul Mark, MA Climate Chief Jonathan Schrag, CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Beth Spong, and CEO of Green Energy Consumer Alliance Larry Chretien.
This event is being organized by the Pioneer Valley Library Collaborative (PVLC) and its community partner, Voices for Climate (V4C) in conjunction with WSU’s Department of Geography, Planning and Sustainability. The Collaborative’s intention is to be a hub of climate education and conversation. It includes the public libraries of: Agawam, Granville, Westfield, Northampton, Southwick, Tolland, West Springfield, Easthampton, Williamstown, and Westhampton.
One day last February Carolyn woke up with these words in her head: What if I listened to the landscape and wrote what I heard?
So she did. She pulled on her boots, gathered a 5 x 7 notebook and a pen, and set off on her usual Easthampton walk: past the library, cutting through the football field, over the bike path, by the factory, and into the cemetery by the pond. Nothing usual happened but she listened and looked and wrote as she walked. Her perception widened. The everyday happenings of our small city became extraordinary in their aliveness and in their reflection of our changing climate.
Carolyn will read poems written on these walks and talk about her inspirations and creative practice.
This presentation will inaugurate a series of Walking and Writing sessions with Carolyn on Saturday mornings leaving from the library at 8:30am and convening back there at 9:30 am to share what the landscape said to us.
Three Saturdays, March 2nd, 9th and 23rd, 8:30am meet outside the library to begin walk, 9:30am reconvene inside the library.
Meet on the steps of the library at 8:30am. A map of the “official route” will be provided that you may follow or adapt to your own needs and interests. Our time of walking and writing is followed by a library meet up with this structure:
9:30-9:45 am: Chat about how the writing and walking went
At 9:45am: Anyone who wants to read from their notebook for up to 3 minutes may
Closing: A go around where people are invited to voice an intention about further developing or sharing their writing from the walk
All of these activities are optional. People who have walked at other points in the week are welcome to join for the sharing.
This event is weather dependent. If it is too wet for our notebooks (i.e. steady rain or snow) we will not go. If it is too icy to walk we will not go.
Three Saturdays, March 2nd, 9th and 23rd, 8:30am meet outside the library to begin walk, 9:30am reconvene inside the library.
Meet on the steps of the library at 8:30am. A map of the “official route” will be provided that you may follow or adapt to your own needs and interests. Our time of walking and writing is followed by a library meet up with this structure:
9:30-9:45 am: Chat about how the writing and walking went
At 9:45am: Anyone who wants to read from their notebook for up to 3 minutes may
Closing: A go around where people are invited to voice an intention about further developing or sharing their writing from the walk
All of these activities are optional. People who have walked at other points in the week are welcome to join for the sharing.
This event is weather dependent. If it is too wet for our notebooks (i.e. steady rain or snow) we will not go. If it is too icy to walk we will not go.
Due to forecasted weather, this is cancelled.
Three Saturdays, March 2nd, 9th and 23rd, 8:30am meet outside the library to begin walk, 9:30am reconvene inside the library.
Meet on the steps of the library at 8:30am. A map of the “official route” will be provided that you may follow or adapt to your own needs and interests. Our time of walking and writing is followed by a library meet up with this structure:
9:30-9:45 am: Chat about how the writing and walking went
At 9:45am: Anyone who wants to read from their notebook for up to 3 minutes may
Closing: A go around where people are invited to voice an intention about further developing or sharing their writing from the walk
All of these activities are optional. People who have walked at other points in the week are welcome to join for the sharing.
This event is weather dependent. If it is too wet for our notebooks (i.e. steady rain or snow) we will not go. If it is too icy to walk we will not go.