MCLA to Present Seminar on Transportation and Decarbonization on Feb. 16

NORTH ADAMS — Katherine Fichter, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) assistant secretary and chief of Climate and Decarbonization, will give a talk titled “Transportation’s Responsibility to the Climate: Our Role in Decarbonization” on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121.

Part of MCLA’s Green Living Seminar series, this event is free and open to the public. Masks are required in all buildings on MCLA’s campus.

The transportation sector is the single greatest contributor to carbon emissions among economic sectors, and it is growing, both in raw numbers and relative to other sectors. This is true in Massachusetts as well as nationally and internationally. Fichter will discuss the reasons for this, the opportunities for and challenges to change, what is currently happening in Massachusetts, local transportation patterns and how they reflect broader needs, and the future of the field.

Fichter has served in various capacities since 2004. She is now responsible for overseeing multiple policy initiatives and insuring that MassDOT policy priorities are implemented through investments and projects. Among other issues, she works on transportation and climate policy, congestion, regional planning, and sustainable transportation. She is also program manager for the MassDOT Shared Streets & Spaces program. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and MIT and has also worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation and for the Massachusetts Legislature, where she worked on transportation-related issues.

MCLA’s annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of “Greening the City.” Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic that is timely and relevant in current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. until April 20. The series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department and MCLA’s Berkshire Environmental Resource Center.

Presentations will also be broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television channel 1302 at the following times: Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 4 p.m., Saturdays at 3:30 p.m., Sundays at 11:30 a.m., and Mondays at 5:30 p.m. Recordings will also be available on the college’s YouTube channel.

For more information, visit www.mcla.edu/greenliving or call Professor of Environmental Studies Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303.