Images Cinema and Williamstown COOL committee team up to promote An Inconvenient Truth

The Williamstown COOL (CO2 Lowering) Committee and Images Cinema are co-sponsoring a series of special events in connection with upcoming showings of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the global warming documentary starring Al Gore.
The special events are designed to encourage energy saving and offer practical tips to residents who want to lower their CO2 emissions.
“An Inconvenient Truth,” rated PG, will be shown at Images from Friday, June 23rd to Thursday, July 6th. The film will screen nightly at 7 and 9pm with matinees at 4:30pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesday. Tuesday nights, admission is two-for-one. Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA. (www.imagescinema.org).
Each showing will open with slides offering energy-saving tips. The slides have been designed by Williams College art professor Ed Epping.
There will also be weekly drawings for free bags of energy-saving gifts, including compact fluorescent light bulbs and a copy of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, by local author Elizabeth Kolbert. (The reusable canvas bags are being donated by Wild Oats.) Participating businesses will be posting energy-saving tips in their windows.
Those interested will be able to sign up for GreenStart, a program that supplies green power to residential customers, before and after the film.
On Wednesday, June 28th, Dave Ackerson, outdoor adventure guide, will lead a casual bike ride starting at Images at 6:05pm and ending up back at the cinema in time for the 7pm show. Moviegoers who bring in their bike helmets on that Wednesday will enter at the $4 admission rate.
On Wednesday, July 5th, there will be a community discussion on energy at Images starting at 6:05. It will be hosted by Nancy Nylen,Associate Director of the Center for Ecological Technology (CET) and other members of the COOL Committee.
“In April, the COOL Committee launched a campaign to educate Williamstown residents about the crucial issue of global warming,” Selectwoman Jane Allen, the COOL Committee chairwoman said. “The community conversation and the other events at Images build on that effort. We hope everyone who is interested will attend.”
CO2 emissions are the major cause of climate change. Williamstown is a member of Cities for Climate Protection. The town has pledged to reduce its emissions by 10 percent by 2010.
For more information, contact Wendy Penner at wendypenner@hotmail.com or Sandra Thomas at sandra@imagescinema.org.

Hoosic River bike challenge fund-raiser set Aug. 26

Organizers of last year's Hoosic River Watershed Association benefit bicyle
ride have scheduled the second-annual running of the event for Aug. 26. They
submitted this announcement:

Last August, 140 bicycle riders inaugurated the First Annual Hoosic River Ride,
starting and ending in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and covering scenic terrain
in all three states (MA, VT, and NY)
that the river and its watershed call home. Riders came from New York City,
Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Canada as well as nearby tri-state
communities. Together, the riders and sponsors
raised $8500 for the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA)—approximately
10% of the organization’s annual budget.

HoorWA, a nonprofit now celebrating its twentieth year of involvement in
protecting and restoring the Hoosic River and its watershed, has announced that
this year’s event, the Barr & Barr Builders 2nd
Annual Hoosic River Ride, will take place on Saturday, August 26th. Riders
may begin registering now at two websites, active.com and bikereg.com.

Like last year, the event is non-competitive and offers a choice of two rides,
approximately 31 miles and 64 miles in length. Registration is $40.00 by
August 1st and $50.00 after that, up to and
including the day of the ride. Early registrants receive a free T-shirt as
well as the discount. To receive a jersey with graphic design by Sarah Brill,
riders may either pay $75 or raise $250 in
donations for HoorWA.
This is a non-competitive event but one that holds some challenges, at least
for the more casual recreational rider. Both rides begin with the ascent of
Petersburg Pass on the border between
Massachusetts and New York, and the longer ride includes some hilly territory
in Eagle Bridge and other New York towns north of Route 7. Riders last year
were very impressed with the vistas along
the route. One of the highlights was riding through the recently renovated
covered bridge across the Hoosic River in Buskirk, N.Y.

Riders will receive water bottles, discount coupons for Berkshire area
attractions, and other perks donated by sponsors. They will find food and
water stations every ten to fifteen miles staffed by
volunteers, with abundant snacks ranging from orange slices to peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches. They will also receive a hearty meal when they get back
to the starting point at Mount Greylock
High School.

In addition to Barr & Barr Builders, Berkshire Gas will support the event. A
full list of sponsors will be forthcoming in future news releases and on the
HoorWA website, http://www.hoorwa.org/.
Riders may also visit the site to read further details about the route, and for
links to the two registration sites.

For further information: http://www.hoorwa.org
Dale Fink (413) 458-5334 dalefink@verizon.net