"Grassroots Data Collection for Advocacy" with Arianna Collins, Nick Russo, and Brittany Ebeling

At October 2025's Berkshire Green Drinks, Arianna Collins from Hoosic River Watershed Association, Nick Russo from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and Brittany Ebeling of BEAT discussed data collection projects in the Berkshires and how they inform local environmental advocacy.

Resources mentioned in this talk:
Hoosic River Watershed Association Monitoring https://hoorwa.org/monitoring/
Dark Waters (2019 film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Wa...)
They Poisoned the World by Mariah Blake (2025 book) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
AARP Walk Audit Toolkit https://www.aarp.org/livable-communit...
Streetmix https://streetmix.net/-/3153528
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Arianna Collins from Hoosic River Watershed Association spoke about water quality monitoring in the Hoosic River. She described the different sampling methods used and how factors such as temperature, bacteria load, and presence of benthic macroinvertebrates relate to water health.

Nick Russo discussed his research and data collection in the field for street safety and walkability, using the Walk Audit model. He shared the example of information gathered from Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield.

Brittany Ebeling spoke on BEAT’s work collecting water samples from storm pipes, assessing culverts for wildlife connectivity, measuring local air quality, and more. She discussed how each of these data collection methods in turn fuel BEAT’s advocacy work and inform our campaigns to stop pollution at the source and ensure wildlife can move freely through the environment.
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Arianna Alexsandra Collins, Executive Director of the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA), attends to daily operations, water quality monitoring, supervising interns, and facilitating public programming. She is an environmental education professional with over 30 years of experience in teaching, curriculum design, program development, project administration, public relations, and community engagement. Arianna is also a writer and poet. She writes natural science/natural history articles for local and regional publications and facilitates outdoor immersion poetry workshops throughout New England and themed poetry shares at libraries. One of Arianna‘s greatest passions is to connect people with the land and she does through teaching people how to identify wild edibles and medicinals. Arianna holds a master’s degree in Environmental Administration from Antioch University New England.

Nick Russo works as Senior Transportation Planner for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission focusing on many aspects of travel throughout Berkshire County, including pavement management, complete streets, safety planning, and bicycle/pedestrian planning. He grew up in Pittsfield and received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Nick works in both a professional and personal capacity to promote cycling in Pittsfield and to make the streets safer for all modes travel.

Brittany Ebeling is the Director of Berkshire Environmental Action Team, whose work is dedicated to protecting the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. Brittany has worked as an advocate on climate justice issues, collective land ownership models, and sustainable food systems. She has an undergraduate degree in International Economics and Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s in Urban Policy from Sciences Po Paris.
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Berkshire Green Drinks (formerly Pittsfield Green Drinks) is a casual gathering organized by Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and held at various venues throughout Berkshire County. These events are free and open to everyone who is interested in the environment. A guest speaker discusses an environmentally related topic for approximately half an hour, and the presentation is followed by a discussion and Q&A. The presentation is also live-streamed via Zoom, where online attendees can actively participate. The drinks aren't green, but the conversations are. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join and bring along questions!

BEAT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Pittsfield, MA. Its mission is to protect the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. BEAT has three major focal areas: stewardship, education & outreach, and watchdogging. Through its work, BEAT enacts meaningful change throughout Berkshire County, western Massachusetts, and beyond. Learn more at https://www.thebeatnews.org/