Milne Library Hosts a Community Eco-Fair in Honor Climate Preparedness Week

01:26PM / Tuesday, September 16, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -—On Sunday, Sept. 21st from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. the Milne Public Library will host an outdoor, Community Eco-Fair, to raise awareness about changing climate in honor of Climate Preparedness Week and to celebrate the many Berkshire groups working towards social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Because September is also National Preparedness Month, staff will provide guidance on making "Go Bags," to prepare attendees for weather-related disasters, with the help of the Williamstown Police and Fire Departments and the Central-Western Massachusetts Red Cross.

Attendees can also learn more about initiatives in Williamstown, including Energize Williamstown, the Town's Net Zero Plan, and the sustainable features of the new Fire Department building and The Williams College Museum of Art.

There will also Food, live music, lawn games, a bouncy house and a seed bomb craft table.

Stop by and meet these local organizations:

Energize Williamstown/COOL Committee
Williamstown Garden Club
HooRWA
Rural Lands
Purple Valley Trails
Berkshire Grown
Second Chance Composting
Coral Crochet Project
The Plant Connector
Menstrual Justice Initiative
Williams College Zilkha Center
Williams College Museum of Art
Bee Friendly Williamstown
Remedy Hall
ABC Clothing Store
Buy Nothing Williamstown
Goodwill
The Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center
Williamstown Police and Fire Depts.
Central-Western Massachusetts Red Cross
Milne Public Library: "Go Bag" guidance
Milne Public Library: The Thingdom (Library of Things)
Milne Public Library: Seed bomb-making for kids

In case of bad weather, the event will take place inside the library.

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

Now's the time...

to harvest value from your home. Click for more details about a HELOC. Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Discrimination Against Muslim Americans Persists 25 Years After 9/11

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
07:00AM / Saturday, September 12, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Dozens of Muslim Americans were among people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Untold numbers of Muslim Americans have suffered countless acts of discrimination in their aftermath.

"Of course, you'll find several accounts of Muslims from all over the U.S. describing how they went from the unknown kids in the school to being stereotyped or ridiculed for their Muslim names," Sidra Mahmood recalled recently. "However, many Americans forget that the victims of 9/11 were also Muslim Americans.

"I can't forget the time when a classmate broke down in sobs when 9/11 came up in our classroom at the Islamic seminary I went to in Texas, because her father's best friend who was like an uncle to her, died on 9/11."

Today, Mahmood is a chaplain at Williams College. In 2001, she was growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, when terrorists forced two passenger jets into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and another plane into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. A third plane, which terrorists hoped to crash into a D.C. landmark, was brought down in western Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.

The attacks, which ultimately claimed 2,976 lives, horrified people around the world, including in Mahmood's native land.

"I remember being aghast like anyone who witnessed the fall of the Twin Towers in real time," she said. "However, even as a child, fear gripped me about the possibility of war, especially once we learned that Afghanistan, right adjacent to Pakistan, would be attacked by the U.S. My mother had told me about the 1971 war between India and Pakistan when she remembered hiding in the dark after bomb sirens would go off in Punjab after intentional blackouts.

View Full Story