MCLA Green Living Seminar: Ecological Economics and Policy Change Discussion

10:50AM / Wednesday, April 12, 2023Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — David Batker, President of Batker Consulting and Founder of Earth Economics, will give a talk titled "Using Ecological Economics to Drive Policy Change" at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19 at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121.

This event is free and open to the public as part of MCLA's Green Living Seminar series.

About David Batker

David Batker is a renowned ecological economist, policy leader, pragmatic project proponent, and acclaimed speaker with 35 years of experience. With an extensive resume, Batker has worked to advance policy at U.S. federal agencies and worked in over 40 countries, 45 U.S. states, and many U.S. cities and countries.

Batker's history of keynote addresses covers a wide range of institutions including the International Society for Ecological Economics, the Soil Science Society of America, and the Association of State Floodplain Managers. Batker has worked to implement hundreds of projects providing jobs and local economic development ranging from mining and forestry to shipping and disaster resilience.

Batker received a bachelor's in Geology and Biology and a master's in Economics from Louisiana State University. He is a fellow at the University of Vermont the author of dozens of publications, book chapters, and a book.

Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic, timely and relevant to current sustainability issues. The 2023 series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department. Podcasts will be posted online following each presentation: http://www.mcla.edu/greenliving

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North Adams Inauguration Set for New Year's Day

Staff Reports10:04AM / Wednesday, December 31, 2025

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city's new government will be sworn in on Thursday, Jan. 1, at 11 a.m. in Council Chambers.

The inauguration and organization of government is open to the public and may be broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television.

City Clerk Tina Leonesio will be in charge, calling the council to order and administering the oath of office until the new president is elected and sworn in. Once the council is issued its committee and liaison assignment, the School Committee members and McCann School Committee representatives will be sworn in.

The president will select two councilors to draw seat numbers for the next term and two to escort Mayor Jennifer Macksey to council chambers, where she will be sworn in and will address the city.

This ceremony has become something of a recent New Year's Day tradition, though the adoption in 1965 of the Plan A form of government has the mayor take office on the first Monday in January. However, the council takes office on Jan. 1.

As far back as 1913, the swearing in was a Monday in council chambers. The first mayor elected under Plan A, James Cleary, took the oath along with the nine councilors on Monday, Jan. 1, 1968. This continued through Mayors Francis Floriani, Joseph Bianco and Richard Lamb.

The date was shifted for the first inauguration of John Barrett III in 1984. The ceremony was moved to Drury High School on a Sunday night, Jan. 1, to allow for the event to be open to the public. It was the first time it had been broadcast on radio (WMNB) and television (cable Channel 7). (Macksey also held her first inauguration at Drury in 2022 because of expected attendance.)

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