This Week at Williams

Spring is here, even if the weather is making up for January, and the feverish pace of projects has increased.

- Do it in the Dark started this week, complete with a huge banner in Paresky. The contest will run for three weeks, with prizes still in the works but likely to be more creative than previous competitions.

- Step it Up appears to have cold and cloudy weather, but that won't stop plans from going ahead. We are tabling with postcards to congressmen today and tomorrow and we're hoping Saturday goes well.

- Collette and Vickie are tackling an ambitious project to film a movie about Williams sustainability to show to first-years at orientation. I've been told I need to dress up as Al Gore for it, which might require putting on some weight.

- Others are talking about renovating a co-op to be carbon neutral with insulation, heating, appliances, etc. researched and installed by students as a demonstration for the school.

- I visited the Berkshire Youth Conference and led a discussion with 15 high-school students from the county. They impressed me with their views and ideas. I tried to lead them towards a better understanding of using moral incentives vs. economic incentives to encourage environmentalism, how govt. policy can and should influence the market and how to make saving the environment (aka us) cool. They were pretty psyched at that point in the discussion when I passed out Do it in the Dark bumper stickers to all of them. Lastly, I tried to convey how important it was to have a group, to exercise strong leadership and encourage other leaders, because our strength lies in organization, dedication and numbers.

- Next Monday there is a special tour for prospective students on sustainability at Williams that I'm leading with Stephanie Boyd. More on that later.

- Next week we also meet to discuss 'greening the first years' with the deans and campus life. Again, more on that later.

- Guster is coming! Two weeks until we get to meet the band, table at their event and generally enjoy how cool we are.

Spring's exciting, lots to do and lots of energy to do it.