April 22: Earth Day – Regional Food System Strategies Panel
Environmental educator and writer David Orr, Henry P. Kendall Foundation executive director Andrew W. Kendall, and CISA special projects director Margaret Christie will join President Jonathan Lash for a panel discussion of regional food system strategies when Hampshire College celebrates Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22.
The 4 p.m. panel, which will be held in Franklin Patterson Hall’s Main Lecture Hall, is free and the general public is invited.
A leading visionary and voice in the sustainable campus movement, Orr is author of the influential book Earth in Mind. He organized efforts to design the first substantially green building at a U.S. college, and in his writings proposed the goal of carbon neutrality for colleges and universities. He is Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and special assistant to the president of Oberlin College.
Kendall (pictured right) and his colleagues at the Henry P. Kendall Foundation are committed to the creation of a resilient and healthy food system in New England that increases the production and consumption of local, sustainably produced food. The foundation is a significant supporter of Hampshire College’s efforts to eventually provide nearly 100 percent of food on campus from local sources.
Christie (pictured right) is instrumental in new project development for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) and served previously as executive director. Her current work focuses on infrastructure and research projects related to large-volume sales of locally grown products.
President Lash will moderate the panel. Lash brought expertise on practical solutions to global sustainability and climate change to the College’s longstanding environmental commitments, leading efforts to merge campus operations with education in support of sustainability. He challenged the Hampshire community to launch its now-well established Healthy Food Transition, changing the enterprise of producing, preparing, consuming, and managing food on campus.
Other Earth Day events at Hampshire for the on-campus community include:
A panel discussion of the R.W. Kern Center and the Living Building Challenge from noon to 1 p.m. in the Prescott Tavern. Panelists are Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders, Jason Jewhurst of Bruner/Cott Architects, and Charley Stevenson of Integrated Eco Strategy. Beth Hooker, Hampshire’s director of food, farm, and sustainability, will moderate.
A Thursday, April 23, pancake breakfast cohosted by Mixed Nuts co-op and the Farm Center, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the Roos-Rohde House. Maple syrup from the Hampshire College farm will be featured.
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