April 15-May 30th will be action packed with events happening throughout Western Mass to commemorate both Earth Day and May day - days to accelerate environmental justice and conservation, mobilize in response to the escalating climate crisis, and move towards labor rights and workers' liberation. Western Mass Area Labor Federation, Climate Action Now and Springfield Climate Justice Coalition have joined together to create this calendar of events and to build solidarity and community across our region.
What do these movements have to do with one another? How can addressing the climate crisis move our workers' movements forward, and vice versa? Can we prioritize a just transition away from fossil fuels that actually improves working conditions and labor rights? Ensure that a "green transition" doesn't happen on the backs on the working class and bust unions? This calendar will be updated regularly. Consider attending one (or several) of the events below and help us bring these organizing efforts closer to one another.
The Labor/Climate movement is complex and full of contradictions - there is still a lot for us to figure out together. Events listed here are not necessarily endorsed by all of us, but they do show the breadth of what is before us.
Details TBD
6pm // Greenfield Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St Greenfield MA
The Greenfield Garden Cinema presents the concert film of Geoffrey Hudson’s eco-oratorio A Passion for the Planet. Sing along during the closing chorale!
"Get-involved" fair following the film will feature Climate Action Now (CAN), Sunrise, YCAN, Mothers Out Front, mobilizing for a livable climate, the Franklin Community CO-OP, the Montague Pollinator Habitat Group, Western Mass Rights of Nature, and more. Free to all, $10 suggested donation will support the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund. The event is part of the The Episcopal Church of Sts. James and Andrew's Environmental Sunday series for 2023-2024.
6pm // 143 Main St, Room 104, Springfield, MA.
Springfield No One Leaves will be hosting representatives from a clean energy jobs recruitment program to let the community know about new green energy jobs in Springfield. With a low bar for entry a paid training, this is an amazing opportunity for anyone looking for a career change or a job.
Register here: https://forms.gle/KoQ5vDCFR2tvvYME6
For further info, call or text 413-342-1804 or email tim@springfieldnooneleaves.org
Free energy-conservation webinars, mid-April through early June!
Green Energy Consumers Zoom presentations on incentives and rebates for EVs, heat pumps, and more! Click here to register.
4 - 8pm // Yurt in the Woods Studio, Williamsburg.
Come make banners at the Art Pulse-Art Build. Contact Beth at beth@bethfairservis.com for more details.
WHY TREES MATTER FOR GREEN DEVELOPMENT
7 - 8:30 // Zoom event
Towns and cities across the Commonwealth are working BOTH to encourage green development of housing and energy and ALSO to avert the climate emergency. Learn how to make development climate friendly and “green” by preserving trees’ crucial eco-services in urban areas and in wild forests. Two scientists and three community advocates will explain how natural climate solutions can work together with the development Massachusetts needs. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/Trees-Matter
Join our Network: https://tinyurl.co
ENDING THE CLIMATE AND THE NUCLEAR CRISES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
3 - 4 P.M. // Zoom event
FOODWAYS & RESILIENCE: CELEBRATING EARTH DAY AT AMHERST CINEMA
7pm Film // Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity St, Amherst
Celebrating Earth Day 2024, Amherst Cinema presents two short films from Comidas que Curan: "Salango, A Living Ancestral Heritage", and "Tarpuna: Corn." Pilar Egüez Guevara, PhD, founder of Comidas que Curan and Anthropology Lecturer at UMass Amherst, joins us for a post-screening discussion.
This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available at the box office only on a first-come, first-served basis, either in advance or on the day of the screening. Foodways & Resilience: Celebrating Earth Day | Amherst Cinema
4 - 6 p.m. // Fine Arts Center Lobby, UMass Amherst
Join us for an engaging discussion with climate action advocates about maintaining the climate justice movement. This dialogue will be an opportunity to learn from past successes and obstacles as well as serve as a foundation for coalition building. There will be time for both Q+A and guided group discussion. We hope to see you there!
RSVP for the event here: https://forms.gle/dfMR67xBpaN7H4556
5:30pm // UMass Venue TBD
When our basic rights are under attack, how do we get them back? On the 2nd anniversary of his release from house arrest, lawyear Steven Donziger joins UMass 57 member Ayva Holden and UMass alumna Barkha Bhandari ('22) for a discussion on corporate terror, state repression, and civil disobedience. RSVP required: bit.ly/donzigerumass
12-4pm // UMass Amherst, Goodell Lawn
Student farmers market, meditation and yoga, smoothie bike, thing swap, workshops, and more!
The film follows five Native American communities as they restore their traditional land management practices in the face of a changing climate. As the climate crisis escalates, these time-tested practices of North America's original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Ben-Alex Dupris, enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes. Co-sponsored by the American Studies department, the Environmental Science & Policy program, the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability, and the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall at Smith College
6:30 p.m.
1pm on Saturday, April 27th, 50 Arrow Gallery/Eastworks 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton
Poets and audience will create a collective poem. Designed by Ollie Perrault and Morgan Brown-McNeil, poets and youth climate activists, and Carolyn A. Cushing, Easthampton Poet Laureate 2023-2025. We will follow 50 Arrow Gallery’s Community Care’s policies for masking. Participating Poets: Morgan Brown-McNeil, Serena Gross, Jason Montgomery, Mary Clare Powell, Ebbie Russell, and Jamie deVelder
12-4 pm // Haigis Mall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Amherst MA 01003
The third annual People’s Science Fair, organized by Western Mass Science for the People, will showcase diverse efforts by Western Massachusetts residents to harness STEM for social, economic, racial, environmental, climate, and cultural justice. Participants will include campus-based researchers with justice-oriented projects, grassroots organizers whose work involves STEM knowledge, and student activists committed to building a just future.
7pm // Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering via Zoom link here
With Susan Masino, Trinity College. The growing evidence for the brain health benefits of nature includes beneficial changes in brain activity, improved cognition and emotional regulation, and decreased depression and anxiety. The good news is these benefits do not require a wilderness trip – they can be achieved right here in our communities. Dr. Masino's research focuses on mechanisms of brain health and disease and the critical role of climate-regulating ecosystems.
SITE WITH LOVE - TRANSITION IS CERTAIN, JUSTICE IS NOT
ZOOM Webinar: Monday, April 29th 5pm- 6:30pm. RSVP HERE.
The MA Environmental Justice Legislative Table invites you to join us in a vision for justice. All too often we see public policy driven by fear and scarcity- yet as our planet is transformed by climate change, we have the opportunity to move towards justice. This webinar invites allies to connect, to learn and ultimately take action in solidarity with Environmental Justice communities both long-term and short-term for siting justice this legislative session.
The MA Environmental Justice Legislative Table members include GreenRoots, Alternatives for Community & Environment, Coalition for Social Justice, Arise for Social Justice, Groundwork Lawrence, and the North American Indian Center of Boston with allied support from Conservation Law Foundation, Union of Concerned Scientists, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Unitarian Universalist Mass Action, Clean Water Action, MA Climate Action Network, and Environmental League of MA.
To have your organization co-sponsor this event, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/pmjpgxxP4ZxNHmqy9
12pm // Hagis Mall, UMass Amherst
Student debt impacts workers of all kinds, from nurses to teachers, custodians to truck drivers, personal care attendants to childcare workers, and many more. On May Day, as we celebrate workers, we demand that all student debt be cancelled entirely
Join the Debt Collective, the Western Mass Area Labor Federation, and the Higher Ed for All Coalition to make our voices heard.
7-9PM (doors at 6:30) // Holyoke Media, 1 Court Plaza (Suffolk St), Holyoke. Parking lot across street
A free program of dramatic readings and lots of songs, with emphasis on Western Mass. voices, telling the origin story of May Day as International Workers’ Day in Chicago with an inspiring introduction to US labor history up to present-day voices of workers rising up ~ inspired by Howard Zinn. Seating is limited! Reserve seats by May 1st here.
2-5pm // LAVA Center, Greenfield
Join us! Acoustic instruments, food, and ideas for answering the question, "What can we do, here in Greenfield, about the climate crisis?" After the potluck and jam, we'll have panelists from UMass to talk about the science and history, local leaders who are making our community more resilient, and end with an open conversation about what would be worth committing to build together. Visit the event page and register. 47 people max.
5:30-7pm // UMass Amherst Campus Center 168C
What can unions do for you? What is it like to have a union at your job? How do you start a union? What are the basics of organizing a union? Light dinner provided.
Register here: https://forms.gle/YSJ7LS2tpWpyDs9D8 For more information email Clare Hammonds at chammonds@umass.edu
Time and location TBD
Organized by Western Mass Area Labor Federation, Climate Action Now and Springfield Climate Justice Coalition
Come listen to a panel of workers from various industries discuss their frontline work as farmers, grocery workers and line cooks. Hear what they love and hate about their jobs, how they see themselves impacted by a growing climate crisis, and what opportunities and challenges they see for change from their vantage point as a worker.