Alan and Laura Award
The award honors Alan and Laura, who co-directed the Center for EcoTechnology for 30 years. They retired from their Co-Director positions in 2010.
Alan and Laura were pioneers in the environmental movement. From 1977 to 2010 they worked tirelessly to create and implement many successful and innovative community-based environmental initiatives and inspire others to do the same. Read more about CET’s history and accomplishments.
The award honors Alan and Laura’s achievements at CET, and brings recognition to individuals who demonstrate community and environmental leadership through their vision, persistence, collaboration, community education and accomplishments.
Award Recipients
2022 Award Recipient
2022 Award Recipient
Al Blake
For Immediate Release
Contact: John Majercak, Center for EcoTechnology President, 413-586-7350 x228
Al Blake Earns Center for EcoTechnology’s Environmental Leadership Award
Al Blake Receives 2022 Alan Silverstein and Laura Dubester Award for Community Environmental Leadership
Pittsfield, MA – Al Blake of Becket has received the 2022 Alan Silverstein and Laura Dubester Award for Community Environmental Leadership from the Center for EcoTechnology (CET). The award is named after Silverstein and Dubester, who served as co-directors of CET for decades until they retired in 2010. Dubester joined CET in 1977 and Silverstein in 1978. They became co-directors of the organization in 1988. Silverstein passed away in 2014. Blake started the NAACP Berkshire Branch Climate/Environmental Justice Committee.
“We need our grassroots leaders which Al exemplifies,” said award namesake Laura Dubester. “A positive vision, combined with lots of education to bring people along, patience and initiative are a few of Al’s leadership qualities.”
The award is given by CET to a local citizen or group who is working in their community to benefit the local environment with a focus on reducing the harmful impacts that humans can have on the environment, and the positive steps that people can take at home, work, and in their communities that help protect the environment, improve quality of life, and build community.
“Al Blake is a true community leader who has been working to raise awareness and encourage people to take positive actions to protect our environment, at the local level and beyond,” said CET President John Majercak. “We believe the best way to honor Alan and Laura’s work is to recognize the work and commitment of other remarkable people like Al.”
Blake has an impressive track record of community, environmental stewardship. He helped start the 350Mass – Berkshires chapter which continued for eight years. The chapter was part of the 350 Massachusetts for a Better Future Project, a member-led network of climate activists. He is also a member of the 350Mass State-wide Legislative Team. Blake was also the founded the Becket Energy Committee in 2016 which he chaired for six years. Additionally, Blake facilitated a local annual Energy Forum as well as meetings and forums with Berkshire Legislators to advance climate awareness and legislation.
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For more than 45 years, the Center for EcoTechnology has helped people and businesses save energy and reduce waste.
For more information visit centerforecotechnology.org.
2022
Al Blake
2020-2021 Award Recipient
2020-2021 Award Recipient
Guido’s Fresh Marketplace
Guido’s has shown incredible environmental leadership in the community: limiting single-use plastic, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and sourcing from local farms.
Guido’s has also invested in a system that grinds food waste using a customized, industrial-strength foodservice grinder. Food waste is converted into energy-rich slurry and transported to an anaerobic digestion facility where methane is extracted for energy production. The remaining biosolids become nutrient-rich fertilizer.
Guido’s is a pillar in the community, providing support for school recycling, allowing educational tabling for community organizations like CET, and is known for their exceptional treatment of employees and customers alike.
2020-2021
Guido’s Fresh Marketplace
2019 Award Recipient
2019 Award Recipient
Wendy Penner
Penner is chair of the Williamstown COOL (CO2 Lowering) Committee and has been actively engaged as a member since 2005. On the Committee, Penner partnered with the Williamstown Elementary School, Mount Greylock Regional High School, and the Center for EcoTechnology to conduct outreach and education to students and their families about energy efficiency and renewable energy. Under her direction, several hundred students have participated in energy days at their schools and toured nearby clean energy facilities such as the Jiminy Peak wind turbine. Working closely with Williams College and other community partners, Wendy has brought numerous educational and outreach events to Williamstown, including a climate change talk by Bill McKibben and several Earth Day energy fairs.
Under Penner’s leadership, the COOL Committee worked closely with Williamstown to achieve designation as a Green Community and to coordinate a very successful Williamstown Solarize MA program in 2013 during which nearly 80 households installed solar PV. Building on that success Penner recently coordinated the submission of an application for Williamstown to conduct Solarize Plus – a multi-pronged solar campaign to dramatically increase the number of clean energy installations in our community.
Read more about Wendy’s other numerous accomplishments.
2019
Wendy Penner
2018 Award Recipient
2018 Award Recipient
Berkshire Community College Green Team
opens IMAGE file The Berkshire Community College Green Team coordinates efforts to reduce the College’s carbon footprint, maintain sustainable practices, seek funding to carry out initiatives, and coordinate these efforts with other colleges.The Green Team Committee leads efforts to help the college become more environmentally friendly, sustainable, and attractive for residents, visitors, and future generations. BCC has installed solar panels, recycles and composts, and once a year sponsors a Green Team Forum for students and faculty. Read more about the Berkshire Community College Green Team here.
2018
Berkshire Community College Green Team
2017 Award Recipient
2017 Award Recipient
Peter Hofman
Peter Hofman chairs of the Town of Lee Greener Gateways Committee, and has been an active member since he and his wife, Phyllis, moved to the Berkshires in late 2013.
The Lee Greener Gateways Committee – until December 2016 called the Lee Recycling Committee – leads efforts to help the town to become more environmentally-friendly, sustainable, and attractive for residents, visitors, and future generations.
Last year the Committee helped draft and pass new bylaws, which went into effect on May 12th, regulating the use of plastic shopping bags and polystyrene containers in Lee. The Committee and other Town partners developed resources and activities to inform the community about the bylaws and their implications and to help residents and businesses make any needed changes.
In recent years the Committee has expanded its zero-waste efforts at several large events, including Lee’s annual Founders Weekend, where about two-thirds of all waste is recycled or composted. At the Taste of Lee event, committee members and more than 20 volunteers staffed five recycling-composting-trash stations.
In 2016 the Committee launched an annual town-wide cleanup, started a table-to-farm initiative to keep wasted food from being thrown away, and supported recycling and composting activities at local and regional events. In recognition of this work, the Lee Chamber of Commerce named the Committee its “Volunteer of the Year.”
2017
Peter Hofman
2016 Award Recipient
2016 Award Recipient
Lauren Stevens
Lauren Stevens has worked for more than three decades to protect and raise awareness about our local environment.
Lauren began his career as an educator, teaching English and environmental studies at Williams College. He founded the Hoosic River Watershed Association in 1986 and has served on its board of directors since its inception, as well as many of those years as president or executive director. Championing protection and access to trails and rivers, Lauren has served on several boards of directors and advised organizations and initiatives, from the Ashuwillticook Bike Path and Mohican-Mohawk Trail initiative to the Mount Greylock State Reservation Advisory Council and Berkshire Renewable Energy Collaborative.
He has also contributed significantly to raising awareness about the local environment as a writer and journalist. He is the author of several books and a regular columnist for the Berkshire Eagle, and in 1981 founded the Berkshire Advocate,. His Hikes and Walks in the Berkshire Hills and The Berkshire Book have been reprinted several times. He also co-authored Most Excellent Majesty: A History of Mount Greylock with Deborah Burns and Old Barns in the New World: Reconstructing History with Richard Babcock.
2016
Lauren Stevens
2015 Award Recipient
2015 Award Recipient
Juliette Haas
opens IMAGE file Juliette Haas
A deep commitment to protecting her local environment and community has earned Juliette Haas of Egremont the Center for EcoTechnology’s inaugural Alan Silverstein and Laura Dubester Award for Community Environmental Leadership.
Juliette, who serves as Director of the Egremont Board of Health and Egremont Sustainability Coordinator, received the award at a meeting of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce at the Pittsfield Country Club on March 11, 2015.
Juliette has led a number of energy efficiency, renewable energy and waste reduction initiatives in Egremont. She secured grant funding to improve the town’s Highway Department, including installing a new energy efficient heating system and a solar array. Since going solar, the array has generated over 50,000 kWh of clean, renewable energy. In 2009, while chairing the Egremont Green Committee, she launched “Egremont Recycles”, a once-a-year Earth Day event where volunteers pick up roadside trash and then recycle it. She also helped the town establish a part-time Sustainability Coordinator position, whose job responsibilities would be to investigate further energy efficiency, renewable energy and recycling/waste reduction programs. She recently served as Solar Coach for the state sponsored “Solarize Mass” project, helping forty Egremont households install solar arrays.
Juliette served as administrator to the Egremont Wastewater Management Committee from 2002-2005, where she was instrumental in presenting a $4 million sewer project to the town, which secured close to $1 million in federal grant funding. She served for five years on the Alford/Egremont Cultural Council and was chairman for three.
2015
