Berkshire Green Drinks - “Grassroots Data Collection for Advocacy"

You may be familiar with the terms citizen or community science, but what does that look like in practice? How does this data collection lead to better environmental advocacy? Join Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Hoosic River Watershed Association, and Berkshire Regional Planning Commission for a special Green Drinks panel to learn about different data collection projects that are taking place now, and what they mean for environmental advocacy locally.

Arianna Collins from Hoosic River Watershed Association will speak about water quality monitoring in the Hoosic and Housatonic Rivers. She will describe the different sampling methods used and how factors such as temperature, bacteria load, and presence of benthic macroinvertebrates relate to water health.

Nick Russo from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission will discuss how he has been conducting research and data collection in the field for street safety and walkability, using the Walk Audit model. He will be sharing the example of information gathered from Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield, and will demonstrate the Streetmix tool, which community members can use to redesign their own safer streets for advocacy and conversational purposes.

Brittany Ebeling will speak on BEAT's work collecting water samples from storm pipes, assessing culverts for wildlife connectivity, and measuring local air quality. She will discuss how each of these data collection methods in turn fuels BEAT's advocacy work and informs our campaigns to stop pollution at the source and ensure wildlife can move freely through the environment.

This is a free HYBRID event, taking place in person and online via Zoom.

The in-person gathering begins at 5:30 PM at BEAT's Environmental Leadership & Education Center (20 Chapel St in Pittsfield, MA). Please note: There will be alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase and some complimentary snacks and finger-foods. You're also welcome to bring your own food.

The presentation and Zoom meeting will start at 6:00 PM.

Registration is required to receive the Zoom meeting info. to register for online participation.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Arianna Alexsandra Collins, Executive Director of the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA), attends to daily operations, water quality monitoring, supervising interns, and facilitating public programming. She is an environmental education professional with over 30 years of experience in teaching, curriculum design, program development, project administration, public relations, and community engagement. Arianna is also a writer and poet. She writes natural science/natural history articles for local and regional publications and facilitates outdoor immersion poetry workshops throughout New England and themed poetry shares at libraries. One of Arianna‘s greatest passions is to connect people with the land and she does through teaching people how to identify wild edibles and medicinals. Arianna holds a master’s degree in Environmental Administration from Antioch University New England.

Nick Russo works as Senior Transportation Planner for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission focusing on many aspects of travel throughout Berkshire County, including pavement management, complete streets, safety planning, and bicycle/pedestrian planning. He grew up in Pittsfield and received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Nick works in both a professional and personal capacity to promote cycling in Pittsfield and to make the streets safer for all modes travel.

Brittany Ebeling is the Director of Berkshire Environmental Action Team, whose work is dedicated to protecting the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. Brittany has worked as an advocate on climate justice issues, collective land ownership models, and sustainable food systems. She has an undergraduate degree in International Economics and Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s in Urban Policy from Sciences Po Paris.

What is Berkshire Green Drinks? Berkshire Green Drinks is an informal gathering on the second Wednesday* of the month. A guest speaker talks for about 30 minutes beginning at 6 PM, and the presentation is followed by a discussion and Q&A. These nights are free and open to everyone with any environmental interest. The drinks aren’t green but the conversations are. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join and bring along questions!

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These free educational events are organized by Berkshire Environmental Action Team. BEAT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Pittsfield, MA. They work with the community to protect the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. To learn more about BEAT, visit their website at, or contact them at dGVhbSB8IHRoZWJlYXRuZXdzICEgb3Jn, (413) 464-9402.

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