On Tuesday, March 16 our next Zoom titled “ Williams ’71 Paths to Sustainability: Clean Water, Green Living, and Worship that Works.” featured Dave Albert, Rick Ertel, and Steve MacAusland telling us about their personal experiences in sustainability in three very different contexts.
Update: In late May of 2023, Dave sent Steve Brown a report on some rainwater catchment tanks funded by eight of our classmates.
1. Dave, as Co-Founder of and Board Chairman of Friendly Water of the World with a mission of expanding global access to low-cost, clean water technologies, guided us through a project his foundation did with a Massai tribe in Africa;
2. Rick walked us through his award-winning, minimal impact home in Mountain View, Texas, and gave us some hints on our own home improvement projects; and
3. Steve told us about exciting changes/investments that the Episcopal Church is considering in the area of renewable energy.
| Dave Albert: Dave is co-founder and Board Chairman of Friendly Water for the World. In 2012, he retired from a career in public health, put on new tires, and hasn’t missed a day since. David was also the founder of New Society Publishers (www.newsociety.com) and has written 11 books. He has also founded three foundations, and has worked on and off in India for 44 years. He holds degrees from Williams College, Oxford University, and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, but will trade them for exotic musical instruments. He is an active Quaker, and believes there is a light within all of us, of all races, religions, creeds that impels us toward the good. He is a follower of Gandhi, Badshah Khan, Martin Luther King, Jr., and of all people of goodwill. Friendly Water for the World’s mission is to expand global access to low-cost clean water technologies and information about health and sanitation through knowledge-sharing, training, applied research, community-building, peacemaking, and efforts at sustainability. We empower communities abroad to take care of their own clean water needs, even as we empower people here to make a real difference. |
|
Dave has shared his PowerPoint presentation with us:
| Rick Ertel: After Williams, Rick went directly to Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) and then to Stanford Law School (J.D.). He practiced corporate and securities law in Chicago and in Dallas. Rick met his wife Stephanie, also a corporate attorney, at their Dallas firm. Rick and Stephanie have always been interested in environmental issues and decided to return to her native Texas Hill Country where they built their sustainable off-grid home. |
|
||
| The home is a passive solar design with solar power, rainwater harvesting, solar hot water, and graywater systems. Their home has received LEED Platinum certification, the 2010 Energy Value Home Gold Award in competition sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders and the U. S. Department of Energy, and other national and state level awards and recognition for energy efficiency and sustainability.
Rick has also shared his PowerPoint presentation with us: no images were found |
|||
| Steve MacAusland: Steve is an adventurer, educator, environmentalist, and Episcopalian. His connection with the environment started in 1971 when he took a 50-day, 500-mile canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness down the Eastmain River. Steve eventually moved in with a Cree family and spent two winters fishing, hunting and trapping with them. Steve took up the cause to preserve the river for the Cree tribe. Steve has spent the last 5 decades pursuing environmental causes, including 6 years as a member of the Committee on Faith and the Environment of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. |
|
|
|
|
