Students in Research Class Present at the Massachusetts Green Careers Conference

At the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Westborough, MA, on September 20, Alana Danison and Madeleine Mattson participated in Rick Reibstein’s presentation on the projects students have been doing in his class Research for Environmental Agencies and Organizations (GE 532 and 534). The projects have included work on lead poisoning prevention, water quality data, community-led and green development, preventing releases of chemicals in floods, tree retention, pesticide harm to bees, environmental literacy, nanomaterials and many other topics. Clients have included federal, state and local governments and nonprofits such as watershed associations, Clean Water Action, Quiet Communities, and sustainability planners. Alana and Madeleine talked about their current projects, which involve helping people see the value of community farms and sustainable farming, and helping restaurants source locally from farms operating sustainably. They connected with Suzanne LePage, who owns a farm-to-table restaurant (Homefield Kitchen and Brewery in Sturbridge). The Green Careers conference has been held since 2009 and Reibstein led a “teach-in” by sustainability experts as the keynote session, as a companion event to the Climate Strike taking place that day. The conference agenda is at http://www.massgreencareers.org/, where past events can be viewed and presentations from the 2019 conference will be posted.