Jan. 28, 2019
NORTH ADAMS, MASS. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) announces the next
Green Living Seminar will take place on Thursday, Feb. 7, with a presentation on “Cows
Save the Planet: Soil, Climate, and the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture,” presented
by author and journalist Judith D. Schwartz.
All Green Living Seminars will take place at 5:30 p.m. in room 121 of the Feigenbaum
Center for Science and Innovation on the MCLA campus. Presented on Thursdays throughout
the spring semester, this series is free and open to the public.
The theme of this semester’s series is “Sustainable Food and Farming,” which focuses
on the past, present, and future of how food is produced and distributed in our region,
and strategies for improving the sustainability of our food system.
Some say that cows are “bad” for the environment. According to Schwartz, the problem
isn’t cattle per se—but the way they have been managed. Once grazing animals’ ecological
role is understood, they can be important allies for building fertile soil, ensuring
water sources and enhancing resilience to floods, droughts and wildfires.
Schwartz will take the audience on a quick, global tour of grazing solutions that
will have them never looking at cows the same way again.
An author and journalist who lives in Bennington, Vt., Schwartz’s recent work explores
nature-based solutions to global environmental challenges. She writes on this theme
for numerous publications and speaks at venues throughout the world. She is the author
of “Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth,”
and “Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World.”
This semester’s Green Living Seminars will take place through April 25. Following
Schwartz’s talk on Thursday, Feb. 7, the next Green Living lecture will take place
on Thursday, Feb. 14, when Julia Freedgood, assistant vice president of programs at
American Farmland Trust, presents “Realizing the New England Food Vision.”
Podcasts of this semester’s Green Living lectures will be posted online following
each presentation at http://www.mcla.edu/greenliving.
MCLA’s Green Living Seminar Series hosts lectures by local, regional, and national
experts. The seminars are organized around a central theme related to the environment
and sustainability. The 2019 series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies
Department and MCLA’s Berkshire Environmental Resource Center.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu/greenliving or contact Traister at (413) 662-5303 or Elena.Traister@mcla.edu.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) is the Commonwealth's public liberal
arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system. MCLA promotes
excellence in learning and teaching, innovative scholarship, intellectual creativity,
public service, applied knowledge, and active and responsible citizenship. MCLA graduates
are prepared to be practical problem solvers and engaged, resilient global citizens.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu.
