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Williams President Adam Falk, inset, and the college's Environmental Center are 'still in' the Paris Climate Agreement.

Williams College 'Still In' on Paris Climate Agreement

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams President Adam Falk is among the more than 1,200 governors, mayors, businesses, investors and higher education leaders from across the United States who declared their intent to continue to ensure that the United States remains a global leader in reducing carbon emissions.

Falk signed on to the "We Are Still In" statement earlier this week. The statement can be found online.  

The "We Are Still In" statement says, in part, that "the Trump administration's announcement undermines a key pillar in the fight against climate change and damages the world's ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change. Importantly, it is also out of step with what is happening in the United States."


Falk said Williams' commitment to addressing climate change, outlined in a set of initiatives developed and approved by the board of trustees in 2015, will continue as the campus community works toward reducing carbon emissions by 2020. The initiatives include Williams achieving sustainable carbon neutrality by the end of 2020.

In the past year, Williams has made strides in reducing carbon emissions by investing in local solar energy projects, including partnering with the town of Williamstown to convert a capped landfill to a solar array that will produce enough renewable energy to provide electricity to all municipal buildings, the fire district and local school buildings. The project is set to come online this summer.

Additionally, all new construction on campus is being built to meet, at the minimum, LEED Gold standards, with many buildings often exceeding those sustainability performance standards.


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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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