Our reach extends throughout the Berkshires and beyond with our bi-weekly newsletter, action alerts, and educational presentations. We sponsor monthly gatherings and attend dozens of events, conferences, and meetings all year long. Want to join us? Get in touch! We love volunteers!
We work to keep you informed about environmental issues affecting Western Massachusetts – because an informed and engaged public is the environment’s best protection.
Green Drinks : Each month, we gather to hear a guest speaker and hang out with our friends. Some highlights from 2022 include Winter Wildlife Tracking, Conserving Flower-Pollinator Networks, Cliff Swallow Nesting Research, Berkshire Bird Banding, and Pathways to Zero Waste. The drinks aren’t green but the conversations are.
Bi-Weekly Newsletter : Did you know our bi-weekly newsletter has local, state, and national news, a jobs board, public notices for regional development, and a community calendar? Subscribe for free today. Or, check out our Community Calendar, Public Notices, and Environmental Monitor pages. We also produce an annual newsletter with highlights from the year.
Workshops, Presentations, Trainings : BEAT organizes workshops and presentations to help our neighbors learn about the environment and what you can do to protect it. We love to be in schools and community organizations; reach out! Let’s make something happen. Topics we have led presentations on include: Berkshire wildlife & wildlife tracking, spring ephemerals (wildflowers), tree identification, fossil fuels & fossil fuel infrastructure, foraging, vernal pools, zero waste living, wildlife connectivity, and more. We have led trainings to monitor road segments for turtle crossings, stream crossing surveys, certify vernal pools and more.
Community Events : Throughout this year, BEAT and NFGiM staff are out in our communities. You can find us at farmers markets from Williamstown to Sheffield, at the NAACP’s annual Gather-In Festival, the Earth Expo, and Pittsfield 3rd Thursdays. We host a screening of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival each year. With the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), we organize river cleanups up and down Pittsfield and throughout the county, and each year we haul thousands of pounds of trash from the Housatonic River.
Website – We maintain this website to help keep you informed about what is happening right now that may affect the environment of Berkshire County and what action you can take to protect the environment.
We also host websites for:
- No Fracked Gas in Mass
- MassPLAN (Massachusetts PipeLine Awareness Network)
- Berkshire Wildlife Trackers
- Western Mass Naturalist (Snakes in Western MA)
- Berkshire Zero Waste Initiative
Televised meetings – BEAT began videotaping the Pittsfield Conservation Commission hearings, which are now broadcast (usually live) by Pittsfield Community Television. BEAT also videotapes for broadcast the Berkshire Metropolitan Planning Organization meetings and many other meetings that could have an environmental impact, either positive or negative. These meetings are broadcasted on local community access television.