The Berkshire Edge LLC is a locally owned, regional publication. Our goal is to provide – regularly and in depth – content that truly reflects the life, interests and aspirations of this unusually rich and vibrant community.
Guided by respected journalistic standards, the principle of fairness, the quest for truth, a commitment to social, economic and environmental justice, and an abiding admiration for the independent spirit of the Berkshires, The Berkshire Edge offers in-depth local news reports and features, perspectives on the arts, wide-ranging commentary, and a comprehensive calendar of events – all written, illustrated, and, in some cases performed, with wit, intelligence, insight and humor.
This week we talk about:
- At town meeting Monday night, Great Barrington became the third community in the nation — all in Massachusetts — to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles. The prohibition will go into effect in May of 2019. The meeting, attending by 350 voters, was influenced by three high school students who advocated for the ban that was on the town meeting ballot due to a petition from the Berkshires Women’s Action Group.
- Great Barrington is one of four towns selected to take part in HeatSmart Massachusetts, a program to introduce a heating and cooling system — air-source heat pumps — that will save homeowners on their energy costs. The program is a collaboration between the Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center:
- Our columnist Carole Owens discusses the film being made about Elizabeth Freeman, a k a MumBet (Mother Betty), the African-American woman who brought slavery to an end in Massachusett in 1781. She lived in Sheffield, in the household of Col. John Ashley. Of MumBet, the attorney — and future Supreme Judicial court judge Theodore Sedgwick said: “She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years; she could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. She neither wasted time nor property. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. “
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