Hitchcock Center for the Environment

Colleen Kelley received the Legacy Award at the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce's A+ Awards Dinner last week! We all know how special Colleen is, and what an impact she has had on generations of children and families, and it was so inspiring to see her 40 years of sparking love of nature and planet honored in this way. We love you Colleen!

This morning we got the chance to show Michael Kane, Community Relations Specialist at Eversource Energy, around the Hitchcock Center's Living Building. Shelly Kahan explained the principles of the Living Building, showed Michael our interactive Living Building dashboard, and shared about our building's water collection -- can you see how our roof lines are sloped (like a watershed!) to capture rainfall?

We are so appreciative of the support of @eversourceenergy, who sponsored our Hitchcock Harvest event in October.

Check out our Living Building Dashboard here: https://hitchcock.hellobeacon.com/living-building/mode/kiosk/

#WesternMass #BuildingCommunity #sustainabledesign #AmherstArea #ClimateAction #HitchcockCenter #Sustainability #ClimateResilience #EnvironmentalEducation #EducationForAHealthyPlanet #livingbuildingchallenge #LivingBuilding #eversourceenergy

Hitchcock Center Director of Development Kim Snyder was so excited to join Hitchcock Board member Koby Gardner-Levine, Regional Manager for Congressman Jim McGovern at the ribbon cutting of the state-of-the-art electric vehicle fast-charging hub in South Deerfield on Friday.

The project - a partnership between the Town of Deerfield, Rivermoor Energy, and the Federal Highway Administration - is funded by a $2.46 million federal Charging and Infrastructure (CFI) grant, made possible by the Biden administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). It is only the second CFI grant project to be completed in the country - the first in the Eastern United States, and is also compliant with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program.

So exciting to have this project, which will lead the way for for others across the state, right here in Western Mass!

In addition to the eight charging stations (two dual-port Level 3 DC fast chargers and two dual-port Level 2 chargers), the project incorporates environmental engineering designed to mitigate and adapt to the effects of flooding and climate, including the installation of permeable asphalt and rain gardens, planting of native trees, grasses, and shrubs -- many things we touch on in our sustainable design and engineering challenges with youth and model at our Living Bu#BipartisanInfrastructureLaw

Read more, here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241114031013/en/Town-of-Deerfield-Rivermoor-Energy-and-the-Federal-Highway-Administration-Complete-New-Electric-Vehicle-Fast-Charging-Hub-in-Massachusetts---First-Project-of-its-Kind-in-Eastern-U.S.

#HitchcockCenter #sustainabledesign #hope #ClimateAction #Sustainability #ClimateChange #BuildingCommunity #WesternMass #MyLocalMA #AmherstArea #EV #EVCharging #TownofDeerfieldMassachusetts #ClimateResilience #BipartisanInfrastructureLaw