These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them. This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency
http://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
———
Index
———
Justice Considerations in Climate Research
Monday, September 30
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online at https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/
—————
Visionary Leaders and Green Cities
Monday, September 30
9 - 10pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionary-leaders-and-green-cities-tickets-1001613180987
—————
What If We Get It Right?
Tuesday, October 1
9am EDT [12:00 PM PDT]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-10-01/what-if-we-get-it-right-ayana-elizabeth-johnson-bill-mckibben-and-abigail-dillen
Cost: $5 - $54
—————
Press Briefing: How Do We Know Climate Change Fueled That Storm?
October 1
11am
Online
RSVP at https://coveringclimatenow.org/event/press-briefing-how-do-we-know-climate-change-fueled-that-storm/
—————
Mandela’s Leadership Blueprint – the Future of Leadership
Tuesday, October 1
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d0ANmv-YRnuBIIfiGbSLKg#/registration
—————
The Truth in the Age of Disinformation, Misinformation, and AI
Tuesday, October 1
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Suffolk University Law School, Sargent Hall, 120 Tremont Street, Faculty Dining Room, Boston, MA
—————
Systems Thinking for Renewable Energy
Tuesday, October 1
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Princeton, 10 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/systems-thinking-for-renewable-energy/
—————
Tools for the Energy Transition: Project Development Resources for Heavy Industry
Tuesday, October 1
1pm ET [10 a.m. PT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-tools-for-the-energy-transition-project-development-resources-for-heavy-industry/
—————
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America with Heather Cox Richardson
Tuesday, October 1
4pm
Boston College, Heights Room, Corcoran Commons
And online
RSVP at https://events.bc.edu/event/democracy-awakening-notes-on-the-state-of-america-with-heather-cox-richardson
—————
AI: Servant Or Master?
Tuesday, October 1
5pm
Online
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/3017249583915/WN_Z402J2CRTMWZcNRgNuzuZQ#/registration
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Media, Religion, and the Nation
Tuesday, October 1
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XMxn_ZukRGKZchwij4jP7g#/registration
—————
Demystifying the Polar Silk Road: What We Know About China's Arctic Investments
Wednesday, October 2
12:00pm - 01:15pm
Harvard, Taubman Building - Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O4OTIA0
—————
Team (GRIT): Green Infrastructure as a Resilient Design Solution (Virtual)
Wednesday, October 2
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://www.architects.org/events/769201/2024/10/02/green-roof-and-infrastructure-team-grit-green-infrastructure-as-a-resilient-design-solution-virtual
—————
Can AI Help Courts be Fair and Just? Unlocking the Positive Effects of Justice on Economic Development
Wednesday, October 2
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-daniel-l-chen-fellow-presentation-virtual
—————
Cities as Drivers for Global Health and Happiness
Wednesday, October 2
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston 02115
RSVP at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/event/environments-for-health-happiness-with-dr-jo-ivey-boufford/
—————
The Unseen Competition in the Energy Transition
Wednesday, October 2
3pm ET [12pm to 1pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NuiZaEnRTmKP1PhPjE6D-w#/registration
—————
Unlocking Local Private Capital to Finance the Productive Use of Renewable Energy Sector: A Look at East Africa Local Financial Institutions
Wednesday, October 2
Time zones: 3pm Nairobi/8am ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/10/unlocking-local-private-capital-finance-productive-use-renewable-energy-sector-look
—————
The Art of Climate Action: Creativity at the Forefront of Change
Wednesday, October 2
6:30 - 8:30pm EDT. Doors at 6pm
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Avenue Design and Media Center (DMC) Boston, MA 02115
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-art-of-climate-action-creativity-at-the-forefront-of-change-tickets-1009396350657
—————
The Stanford Energy Seminar: Karen Skelton | America's Energy Transition
Wednesday, October 2
7:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the-stanford-energy-seminar_Oct_2
—————
The Complexities of Community-Led Climate Solutions From an Outsider
Thursday, October 3
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OeMd69E3QNG46-Vh4PrHzg#/registration
—————
The role of nature-based solutions in Southeast and South Asia to address the poly-crisis of biodiversity, climate and land degradation
Thursday, October 3
4am EDT [15:00 ICT]
Bangkok, Thailand
And online
RSVP at https://www.sei.org/events/nature-based-solutions-asia-biodiversity-climate-land-degradation/
—————
Bioeconomy for climate resilient development
Thursday, October 3
7:30am EDT [14:30 EAT]
Nairobi, Kenya and Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpc-2srjMtE91LvZW9Wl8-pQ4IoLZcp0I6#/registration
—————
Governing critical raw materials and the energy transition
Thursday, October 3
10am EDT [4pm CEST]
Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies (NILAS) library, 2nd floor, Universitetsvägen 10B, Stockholm, Sweden
And online
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=XRL-PYmlr0SfxxE_O_9Yc3dN5s8Mb7pGuoG09sVO3hVUQ1Y2VDMxWThVQ0FSV1RIQVM1RlBMMlBVWS4u&route=shorturl
—————
The Complexities of Community-Led Climate Solutions From an Outsider
Thursday, October 3
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OeMd69E3QNG46-Vh4PrHzg#/registration
—————
MAGA and Project 2025: A National Teach-In
Thursday, October 3
5 pm EST
Online at https://historiansforpeace.org/maga-and-project-2025/
—————
ICON and Large-scale Robotic Construction: The Future of Building on Earth and Other Worlds
Thursday, October 3
6pm to 8pm
MIT, Building 7, 7-42977 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
And online
RSVP at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mitarchitecture/1388552 or watch at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF0b_PC-cvPzv6Us56S6rtA
—————
Abolition Labor: The Fight to End Prison Slavery!
Thursday, October 3
7pm
Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, 50 Liberty Drive, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/rsvp-attend-our-event-andrew-ross-and-aiyuba-thomas
——————
HONK! Festival 2024
Friday, October 4, 5:30 p.m. – Sunday, October 6, 2024, 6 p.m.
Davis Square and Harvard Square
More information at http://www.honkfest.org
—————
Joining Science and Theology to End Plastic Pollution, Protect Health, and Advance Social Justice
Friday, October 4, 4:00pm-6:30pm and Saturday, October 5, 8:30am-6:30pm
Boston College, Corcoran Commons and Gasson Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVliq_tizmoOnMWXFuvfPzyzMPiosmc7Taaj3YsQdKZVz5aQ/viewform
—————
Boston College Economics Symposium: Pathways to Innovation, Sustainable Productivity & Equitable Growth
Friday, October 4
7:30am to 3pm
Yawkey Athletics Center, Murray Function Room, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-D_hhOpkDxmFmW4XKE_MDiSb5TFC8K7u9AoJd2snGM2UFhg/viewform
—————
Global Sustainability Summit
Saturday, October 5
9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Northeastern University, East Village 17th Floor Conference Facility, 291 St Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115
And online
RSVP at https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/cem/events/summit-sustainability-the-developing-world/
—————
NBSAPs, hosted by the Global Ocean Alliance and High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
Monday, October 7
7:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://wri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nGqKvSYGS0KCyffRE4yr7w#/registration
—————
AltWheels Fleet Day
Monday, October 7
8am - 5pm EDT
Four Points by Sheraton Norwood, 1125 Boston-Providence Turnpike Norwood, MA 02062
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/altwheels-fleet-day-tickets-910905381517
Cost: $0 -$200
—————
System Wise
Monday, October 7
12 – 1 p.m.
Harvard, Gutman Conference Center E1, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
And online
RSVP In-person: bit.ly/SystemWise or via Zoom: bit.ly/VirtualSystemWise
—————
Green Industrial Policy and Decarbonization
Monday, October 7
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O7PZIA0&_gl=1*3bdaf6*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNTU4MS4zMC4wLjA.
—————
A Pragmatic Approach to Cumulative Impacts: Coordinating Decisions to Address Impacts Cumulatively
Monday, October 7
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online at https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/
—————
How Will AI Disrupt the Labor Market?
Monday, October 7
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Nye ABC (fifth floor Taubman Building, HKS), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.hks.harvard.edu/events/how-will-ai-disrupt-labor-market
—————
Interconnected Webinar Series: Controversial Solutions Hindering the Path to Fair Development in Rainforest Regions
Tuesday, October 8
8am ED [9:00 AM -03 TO 10:00 AM -03]
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rHGU7HenR4-CaqfI9p3IqQ#/registration
—————
Webinar: Powerful futures: practitioner insights on the just transition to renewable energy
Tuesday, October 8
10am EDt [08:00 COT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.sei.org/events/webinar-powerful-futures-book-launch/
—————
Accelerating the Climate & Health Movement: Mobilizing Toward Action
Tuesday, October 8
10 - 11:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/accelerating-the-climate-health-movement-mobilizing-toward-action-tickets-1013139897707
——————
Hunger, Food Security, and the Race to Produce New Seeds for a Climate-Changed World
Tuesday, October 8
12 – 12:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/event/hunger-food-security-and-the-race-to-produce-new-seeds/
—————
Landing the Paris Climate Agreement: How It Happened, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next
Tuesday, October 8
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/todd_stern_at_harvard_book_store/
—————
2024 Stanford Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability honoring Rodrigo Botero
Tuesday, October 8
8:30pm ET [5:30pm to 8pm PT]
Stanford, Law School, Classroom Building, Room 290, 559 Nathon Abbott Way, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/2024-stanford-bright-award-for-environmental-sustainability-honoring-rodrigo-botero
—————
Climate Adaptation & Resilience + Water Systems & Blue Economy Networking
Wednesday, October 9
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-adaptation-resilience-water-systems-blue-economy-networking-tickets-753210872997
—————
Introducing CAFE: The Calculation Assistant for Flow Extremes Decision Support Tool
Wednesday, October 9
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://necasc.umass.edu/webinars/introducing-cafe-calculation-assistant-flow-extremes-decision-support-tool
—————
The Sacred Waters of Blake Plateau: When Ocean Conservation Meets Cultural History
Thursday, October 10
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2xU-p8neTFKiUKvbGgHd2w#/
—————
Careers in Climate Action Speaker Series: Careers in K-12 Climate and Sustainability Education
Thursday, October 10
6 – 8 p.m.
Harvard’s Gutman Conference Center, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/db2f58f0-6fda-4cd8-8fcc-76cac1bc4659/regProcessStep1
—————
Data + Donuts: Bailey Flanigan on Direct Participation in Democratic Governance
Friday, October 11
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Wexner 434, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001NUzJIAW
—————
Modern Media & (Mis)Understanding the Energy Transition
Monday, October 14
2:30pm ET [11:30am to 12:20pm PT]
Stanford, Mitchell Earth Sciences, Hartley Conference Room, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQdvB67vi6HBVn_eu19l3HWdXAp4mtt_1Q1HLUMgwCSUF-Wg/viewform
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Reproductive Healthcare Access and White Nationalism
Tuesday, October 15
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wDFMPxK8R6C3Ite9UvhErg#/registration
—————
Climate Beacon 2024
Wednesday, October 16 - Friday, October18
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress St Suite 200, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://whova.com/portal/registration/clima_202410/
Cost: $0 - $319.56
More information at https://whova.com/web/7gIiNFM6mkoE2xHYvU0euJsCB6UKRv3-7AfxKYxmA2A%3D/
—————
2024 Net Zero Energy Conference
Wednesday, October 16
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://events.zoom.us/ev/Asa_Nr_g3JIohp0P07y_ufwCfGnTH9Q0wdpYYgbDOTDa6two6_Ir~AgfIYcokZeN-l4BwBu1YLNTw5EliPTQLD015FenNzU_hUo28yO2s34sG7Q
—————
Climate Reporting in America
Wednesday, October 16
1 - 2:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-reporting-in-america-tickets-1020717402227
—————
Carbon and nitrogen cycles, climate change and sustainable development
Wednesday, October 16
2pm ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT]
Stanford, Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
RSVP at https://carnegiescience.edu/events/dr-baojing-gu-carbon-and-nitrogen-cycles-climate-change-and-sustainable-development
—————
From Ideas to Impact: A Conversation with Michael Sheldrick, Global Citizen
Wednesday, October 16
5pm to 6:30am
MIT, Building 66, 110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
—————
The Stanford Energy Seminar: Karan Bhuwalka| How to Secure Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition?
Wednesday, October 16
7:30pm Et [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the-stanford-energy-seminar-oct-16
—————
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
Wednesday, October 16
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/benjamin_nathans_at_harvard_book_store/
—————
Connected Leadership for Sustainability
Thursday, October 17
11:30 AM EDT — 1:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://ereg.som.yale.edu/Connected-Leadership-for-Sustainability
—————
Climate Action: Equitable Resilience Solutions
Thursday, October 17
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0qO8iWRATz2b568BNmLXZg#/registration
—————
U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Evolving financing structures in the energy transition
Thursday, October 17
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eA8j6KY1T9Ks_jaBlCv4Lw#/registration
—————
Drawdown Roadmap
Thursday, October 17
7 - 8pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drawdown-roadmap-tickets-1012473885647
—————
SOGIESC Inclusion for Sustainable Development Webinar
Friday, October 18
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TLsw2hWXRkqq1R15Qas0PA#/registration
—————
A Changing Planet Seminar: Psychological Dimensions of Sustainability – Becoming Guides for Change
Friday, October 18
10am EST [15.00 - 16.30 BST]
ICBS UG100 - LTUG, Imperial College Business School, South Kensington Campus, London, UK
And online
RSVP at https://assets-gbr.mkt.dynamics.com/f152573f-fb95-49d8-a928-b8d8e57cc426/digitalassets/standaloneforms/80ffcdd3-7876-ef11-a670-7c1e5203c84f?readableEventId=A_Changing_Planet_Seminar_by_Dr_Rene_Lertzman2307161649
—————
Public Perceptions of “Benefits” and Risks on the Path to Net Zero
Monday, October 21
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Belfer Building, 5th Floor, Bell Hall, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O09ZIAS&_gl=1*gvzwn8*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNjA3OS4zMC4wLjA.
—————
Synergies and Co-benefits of a Clean Energy Transition in China
Monday, October 21
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/bradford-seminar-synergies-and-co-benefits-of-a-clean-energy-transition-in-china/
—————
The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet
Monday, October 21
4 - 6pm EDT
Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, 111 Cummington Mall #Suite 149 Boston, MA 02215
And online
RSVP at https://gdpcenter.org/Christophers-In-Person-Book-Talk for in person and https://gdpcenter.org/Fall24-GEGI-Book-Talk for online
—————
Power Shift: Keynote Conversation with Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer
Monday, October 21
7 PM ET
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-power-shift-symposium-opening-event
—————
Break Big Biomass - A National Call To Action
Monday, October 21
8 - 9:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/break-big-biomass-a-national-call-to-action-tickets-1020547453907
—————
Power Shift: Energy Innovation, Sustainability, and Equity
Tuesday, October 22
9:30 AM ET
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-power-shift-symposium
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Rematriation, Land, and Healing
Tuesday, October 22
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_x8fhzr1OTWuwxPcRucUXFQ#/registration
—————
Advancing Climate Justice: Integrating Fairness into Policy and Practice
Wednesday, October 23
8:45am EDT [2:45 PM - 3:45 PM CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://fsr.eui.eu/event/advancing-climate-justice-integrating-fairness-into-policy-and-practice/
—————
Does Counter-Terrorism Work?
Wednesday, October 23
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fisher Family Commons, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://wcfia.harvard.edu/event/special-event-richard-english-10-23-2024
—————
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures
Wednesday, October 23
6:00 PM ET (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ayana-elizabeth-johnson-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1017550560117
Cost: $40.00 (book included); $12.00 (admission only)
—————
The Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit 2024
Thursday, October 24
8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts, 02143
And online
RSVP at https://lu.ma/0ihoo8qi?from=embed
Cost: $0 - $200
—————
Accelerating the Transition to Zero-Emission Transportation
Thursday, October 24
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bCKCZqJDRASdJNtn_YJ3ww#/registration
—————
Cope, Adapt, Thrive: Ensuring Our Shared Future on a Hot and Hostile Planet
Thursday, October 24
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, S010, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://wcfia.harvard.edu/event/jodidi-2024-mckenna
—————
Harvard Diversity Discussion on Environmental Racism
Thursday, October 24
6:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tceGvqTMtEtYzCWbZAgwgnQHpe9i99nJq#/registration
—————
Green AI Summit at Harvard
Saturday, October 26
9am - 7pm EDT
Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-ai-summit-at-harvard-tickets-949361715447
Cost: $0 -$90
—————
Land Use and the Role of Biomass in Achieving Net Zero Greenhouse Emissions
Monday, October 28
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001NvbJIAS&_gl=1*t0mds5*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNjM3MS42MC4wLjA.
—————
Environmental justice concerns with carbon capture and sequestration in the US power sector and beyond
Monday, October 28
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/bradford-seminar-environmental-justice-concerns-with-carbon-capture-and-sequestration-in-the-us-power-sector-and-beyond/
—————
Making Decarbonization Financing Work for Homeowners and Contractors
Tuesday, October 29
3-4 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-making-decarbonization-financing-work-for-homeowners-and-contractors/
—————
Green Building Showcase ’24
Tuesday, October 29
4 - 9:30pm EDT
1 Boston Wharf Road, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://builtenvironmentplus.org/event/be-green-building-showcase-2024/
—————
Rethinking construction: Learning from the past to design a better future
Tuesday, October 29
6pm to 8pm
MIT, Building 7, 7-429, 77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
And online
RSVP at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mitarchitecture/1389113 and watch at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF0b_PC-cvPzv6Us56S6rtA
—————
Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation
Tuesday, October 29
6:30 PM ET (Doors at 6:00) Location
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/greg-m-epstein-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-971162542307
—————
Military Power and Ideological Appeals of Religious Extremists
Wednesday, October 30
12-1:30pm
Online
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ
—————
Careers in Climate Action Speaker Series: Careers in Innovative Technologies and Health in Hard to Abate Sectors
Wednesday, October 30
6 – 8 p.m.
Salata Institute, HKS Belfer Floor 3.5, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/30decf7d-23fd-43ea-b1f2-cecde386b36d/regProcessStep1
—————
Rewilding the Northeast: The Case for Untrammeled Nature in a Changing World
Wednesday, October 30
6:30 - 8pm EDT
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rewilding-the-northeast-the-case-for-untrammeled-nature-in-a-changing-world-registration-1000775976887
Cost: $0 -$25
—————
From Tufts to the National Parks of Boston: A Career Connecting People to Parks
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WC4hZPJyQ_eG-Moc3n3eEA#/registration
————
Events
————
Justice Considerations in Climate Research
Monday, September 30
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online at https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/
Kian Mintz-Woo, Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Cork, Ireland
Brief bio: Kian Mintz-Woo is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy at University College Cork (Ireland). He is also affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis' Equity and Justice group (Austria). This semester, Mintz-Woo is a Visiting Fellow at Princeton's University Center for Human Values. Mintz-Woo also a member of the Irish Government's Carbon Budgets' Working Group, helping to propose and support national planning. He works primarily on moral philosophy, both theoretical and applied to climate policy. Some of his recent work has focused on questions related to carbon prices including carbon taxes; loss and damage in the post-Paris climate policy space; justice aspects of shared socioeconomic pathways and just transitions; and the ethics of carbon dioxide removal.
Abstract: We use the term “justice” in many climate contexts (e.g. “just transition”)—and indeed in a variety of other political and policy contexts (e.g. “social justice”). What does it mean? In this talk, I break down some common forms of justice from a philosophical point of view in order to inform climate science and policy. The goal is to have a flexible, modular, but powerful framework that makes discussions of justice accessible and practically applicable.
—————
Visionary Leaders and Green Cities
Monday, September 30
9 - 10pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionary-leaders-and-green-cities-tickets-1001613180987
A fireside chat with John J. Berger, author of "Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth"
In this fireside chat, John J. Berger Ph.D, environmental science and policy specialist, journalist, and prize-winning author, joins Wei-Tai Kwok, co-founder of Climate Reality Project Bay Area Chapter and Lafayette (CA) city council member, to discuss "Visionary Leaders and Green Cities," a key chapter of Mr. Berger's new book, Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save Earth.
Six years in the making, Solving the Climate Crisis features interviews with governors, mayors, ranchers, scientists, engineers, business leaders, energy experts, and entrepreneurs, as well as carbon farmers, solar and wind innovators, forest protectors, non-profit leaders, and activists. It makes the case that replacing the fossil-fuel system with a newly invigorated, modernized, clean-energy economy will produce tens of millions of new jobs and save trillions of dollars — protecting the climate while offering the greatest economic opportunity of our time.
Emceed by Alma Soongi Beck, founder of ClimateHope.us and co-chair of Climate Justice at Climate Reality Project Bay Area chapter.
Presented by Climate Reality Project Bay Area chapter, ClimateHope.us, and AboveTheBeehive.org
—————
What If We Get It Right?
Tuesday, October 1
9am EDT [12:00 PM PDT]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-10-01/what-if-we-get-it-right-ayana-elizabeth-johnson-bill-mckibben-and-abigail-dillen
Cost: $5 - $54
It’s easy enough to look around and see signs of current climate destruction and future climate doom. But marine biologist, and co-founder of The All We Can Save Project, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks us instead to focus on the question, “What if we get it right?”
Johnson, Third Act Founder Bill McKibben, and Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen have all dedicated their lives to saving all they can of this beautiful planet. In their different ways, through science, public education and legal action, they have been at the forefront of enacting solutions at the nexus of science, policy and justice. Conservation is an ongoing struggle. Johnson, McKibben and Dillen recognize that it will take all of us—not just scientists and lawyers, but farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, with all our diverse skills—to get us through to the other side of the present existential crisis.
Join Climate One Co-host Ariana Brocious for an inspiring, live conversation with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Bill McKibben and Abigail Dillen.
—————
Press Briefing: How Do We Know Climate Change Fueled That Storm?
October 1
11am
Online
RSVP at https://coveringclimatenow.org/event/press-briefing-how-do-we-know-climate-change-fueled-that-storm/
In this webinar co-sponsored by Covering Climate Now, Climate Central, and World Weather Attribution, panelists will discuss how journalists can explain weather attribution science to their audiences.
When scientists say that a particular weather event was fueled by climate change, how do they know that? The answer is weather attribution science — and understanding the basics is essential to covering the climate story. Covering Climate Now, Climate Central, and World Weather Attribution are co-sponsoring a one-hour press briefing to get you up to speed and help you explain weather attribution science to your audiences.
Join Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead of World Weather Attribution, and Bernadette Woods Placky, VP Engagement and Chief Meteorologist at Climate Central and Climate Matters’s Director, for a one-hour discussion with CCNow co-founder and Executive Director, Mark Hertsgaard. Bring your questions!Panelists
Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead, World Weather Attribution
Bernadette Woods Placky, VP Engagement and Chief Meteorologist, Climate Central
Mark Hertsgaard, co-founder and Executive Director of Covering Climate Now, will moderate.
—————
Mandela’s Leadership Blueprint – the Future of Leadership
Tuesday, October 1
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d0ANmv-YRnuBIIfiGbSLKg#/registration
Speaker: Anne Pratt, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, 2017 and Harvard Centre for African Studies, 2018
About the talk: Anne Pratt believes we have a leadership and existential crisis worldwide. The world is in a pivotal “Mandela Moment,” a twin pillar moment of despair and hope with global threats that transcend our national borders. National thinking cannot survive. Nelson Mandela transformed himself, changed a nation, and galvanized the world. As Mandela did for South Africa, today’s world needs a “super cognitive revolution and bold leadership—a revolutionary new way to think, act and lead.” Pratt will present how Mandela’s leadership blueprint is the future of leadership and “what the world needs now.” The life, leadership, and legacy of Mandela offer an empirical case of hope and possibility for today’s world.
—————
The Truth in the Age of Disinformation, Misinformation, and AI
Tuesday, October 1
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Suffolk University Law School, Sargent Hall, 120 Tremont Street, Faculty Dining Room, Boston, MA
Some of the most polarizing and provocative issues in any generation depend upon the First Amendment protections of free speech and the press. Edward I. Masterman, JD ‘50, LLD ‘90, along with his wife Sydell, established the Masterman Speaker Series on the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate to provide a forum for robust and honest debate concerning freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and their attendant responsibilities. The Masterman family believes that informing the uninformed and engaging curious people in ongoing conversations about our nation’s fundamental principles will serve to strengthen our democracy.
Each year, the Masterman Speaker Series brings together representatives from government, the legal profession, and the press for the purposes of informing, educating, and engaging those who care deeply about these First Amendment issues.
Join our panel of experts:
Jonathan M. Albano, Partner, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. A renowned litigator with over 40 years of experience:
Dan Lothian, Editor-in-Chief, GBH News and The World. An acclaimed broadcaster who began his career in radio at the age of 16 and has extensive domestic and international reporting experience:
Dr. Rachael V. Cobb, Moderator, Associate Professor of Political Science, Suffolk University. A prominent scholar who specializes in American politics, focusing on voting rights and political participation:
—————
Systems Thinking for Renewable Energy
Tuesday, October 1
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Princeton, 10 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/systems-thinking-for-renewable-energy/
Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor for Energy and the Environment and professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, will present “Systems Thinking for Renewable Energy” in Guyot Hall, Room 10, and online via Zoom. Maravelias is the first speaker in the fall 2024 HMEI Faculty Seminar Series.
Professor Maravelias will discuss how systems engineering can facilitate the development of novel strategies to produce renewable fuels and chemicals. Importantly, he will show how ‘systems thinking’ (i.e., thinking about the entire system rather than its components) can be used to identify technological and economic drivers, and, ultimately, guide future research efforts.
In addition to giving an overview of the methods used for such studies, Maravelias will present results on the synthesis and analysis of biomass-to-fuels/chemicals systems as well as share information about systems that employ solar energy for power and fuels generation.
This seminar is free and open to the public. Lunch will be available in the Guyot Atrium at noon. All attendees can register here in advance to attend this event via Zoom livestream.
—————
Tools for the Energy Transition: Project Development Resources for Heavy Industry
Tuesday, October 1
1pm ET [10 a.m. PT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-tools-for-the-energy-transition-project-development-resources-for-heavy-industry/
Decarbonizing the heaviest emitting industrial sectors — from aviation and shipping to cement, chemicals, and steel — is critical to minimize the impacts of climate change, but doing so will involve deploying new innovations more quickly than we have in the past and pose unique challenges for project developers. RMI’s webinar “Tools for the Energy Transition: Project Development Resources for Decarbonizing Heavy Industry” uncovers current trends and challenges in the industrial decarbonization space, describes our suite of resources to address some of the biggest challenges to technology implementers and explains how they can be used by project developers and startups to reach commercial deployment and final investment decision (FID) more quickly.
We explore the external factors impacting industrial decarbonization projects such as policy/public incentives, community engagement, and investor relations. During the webinar, two project developers will share the challenges they’ve encountered in mobilizing industrial decarbonization projects, and RMI speakers Jane Sadler, Hadia Sheerazi, and Shravan Bhat will each present a demo of a tool from RMI’s resource suite. Demonstrations include the Decarbonizing Industry Resource Tool (DIRT), Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping Tool (SAM), and the Industrial Decarbonization Investor database.
For those who deploy earlier stage industrial decarbonization technology, we share how you can apply to Third Derivative’s Industrial Innovation Cohorts which offers targeted support for startups working on innovations for cement and concrete, iron and steel, or chemicals and plastics industries.
Join us for open discussion about how to advance industrial decarbonization projects in the United States and globally.
SPEAKERS
VALERIYA AZAROVA, Senior Associate, Clean Industrial Hubs, RMI
SHRAVAN BHAT, Manager, Climate-Aligned Finance, RMI
NEHALI JAIN, Chief of Staff, Antora Energy
ANA SOPHIA MIFSUD, Manager, Third Derivative
JANE SADLER, Senior Associate, US Program, RMI
HADIA SHEERAZI, Manager - Community Engagement, Climate-Aligned Industries, RMI
DR. JOSHUA STOLA
—————
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America with Heather Cox Richardson
Tuesday, October 1
4pm
Boston College, Heights Room, Corcoran Commons
And online
RSVP at https://events.bc.edu/event/democracy-awakening-notes-on-the-state-of-america-with-heather-cox-richardson
Heather Cox Richardson is a Professor of History at Boston College. She has written award-winning books about the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West, covering subjects ranging from the European settlement of the North American continent to the history of the Republican Party through the Trump administration.
Most recently, Prof. Richardson is the author of the best-selling Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Jane Mayer called the book “a vibrant and essential history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its best ideals.” Heather Richardson’s work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets. Her nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, reaches over a million readers.
—————
AI: Servant Or Master?
Tuesday, October 1
5pm
Online
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/3017249583915/WN_Z402J2CRTMWZcNRgNuzuZQ#/registration
Cambridge Forum is kicking off a new series AI: Servant or Master with Professor Gary Marcus, one of the most trusted voices in artificial intelligence who’s well-known for his knowledge about the challenges and risks of AI. In his latest book, Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure that AI Works for Us, Marcus explains how Big Tech is taking advantage of us, how AI could make things much worse, and most importantly, what we can do to safeguard our democracy, our society and our future.
Marcus explains the potential and potential risks of AI in the clearest possible terms and how Big Tech has effectively captured policymakers. He lays out how they have played both the public and the government and why they need to be reined in. Marcus offers eight suggestions for what a coherent AI policy should cover from data rights to layered AI oversight to meaningful tax reform.
Speakers
Gary Marcus
In addition to being a scientist and best-selling author, Marcus was founder and CEO of Geometric.AI, a machine learning company acquired by Uber. A Professor Emeritus at NYU, he is the author of five previous books, including Kluge (one of The Economist’s best-sellers on the brain and consciousness), and co-author of Rebooting AI one of Forbes’s seven must-read books on AI.
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Media, Religion, and the Nation
Tuesday, October 1
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XMxn_ZukRGKZchwij4jP7g#/registration
A liberal democracy should produce societies that are inclusive, equitable, dynamic, and responsive to the needs of citizens. This series will focus on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. We will discuss the outcomes we want from a democratic system and how such an analysis can help us construct pathways to achieving those goals.
This second session, “Media, Religion, and the Nation,” features Zeba Khan, San Fransisco Chronicle, Jesse Holland, George Washington University, and Syreeta McFadden, Borough of Manhattan Community College. Assistant Dean for RPL, Hussein Rashid, will act as moderator.
For decades, news media in the U.S. has been critiqued as reproducing structures of power and exclusion, including those in religions. While entertainment media has worked towards more inclusive storytelling recently, historically all media has been inconsistent in representing and engaging marginalized communities. This panel will examine how media framing creates our understanding of what the United States is and will discuss how we can be more literate media consumers.
Read this Q&A with Hussein Rashid, assistant dean for RPL, about the series and register for all four events: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/09/17/religion-and-democratic-ideals-a-series-of-public-online-conversations
CONTACT rpl@hds.harvard.edu
—————
Demystifying the Polar Silk Road: What We Know About China's Arctic Investments
Wednesday, October 2
12:00pm - 01:15pm
Harvard, Taubman Building - Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O4OTIA0
Anders Edstrøm
Guðbjörg Ríkey Th. Hauksdóttir Panelist
P. Whitney Lackenbauer
Moderator: Henry Lee
China’s international relationships and activities are often scrutinized, and China’s interests and ambitions in the Arctic have become the topic of increasingly heated debate. In recent years, it has pursued greater influence in the region through the expansion of economic initiatives and investments. But despite much Western handwringing over the security and governance implications of Chinese involvement in the region, it's unclear how effective China‘s overtures have been.
Join the Arctic Initiative for a seminar about Chinese investment in the Arctic region. Panelists will explore Arctic states' interests and concerns related to Chinese investment in the Arctic, the realities of China's economic activities, and the economic and security considerations Arctic states should weigh when engaging with China and Chinese companies.
Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.
Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
—————
Team (GRIT): Green Infrastructure as a Resilient Design Solution (Virtual)
Wednesday, October 2
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://www.architects.org/events/769201/2024/10/02/green-roof-and-infrastructure-team-grit-green-infrastructure-as-a-resilient-design-solution-virtual
This Fall, the GRIT is developing 4 presentations and we are excited to share them with you. Each presentation will look at the challenges and long-term benefits of green infrastructure and roofs from a different perspective. Each presentation will reinforce how fundamental green roofs and infrastructure are to assuring a resilient future.
This session will provide an overview of how green infrastructure can serve as an important tool for addressing climate impacts in the Boston area. From a civil engineer’s perspective, Nicole will describe the influences policies and regulations have on implementation, as well as how an integrated design process can help overcome challenges and help leverage green infrastructure for all its resilience co-benefits. The GRIT committee chairs, Gary Brock and Erik Hegre, along with Nicole, will facilitate a conversation and question/answer session about key themes, challenges, and opportunities when considering green infrastructure as a resilient design solution. Nicole was also involved with the development of the Boston Green Infrastructure Planning and Design Handbook.
—————
Can AI Help Courts be Fair and Just? Unlocking the Positive Effects of Justice on Economic Development
Wednesday, October 2
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-daniel-l-chen-fellow-presentation-virtual
SPEAKER(S) Daniel L. Chen, Director of research at CNRS, Professor at the Toulouse School of Economics, Moral AI cochair at ANITI
Daniel L. Chen—director of research at CNRS, professor at the Toulouse School of Economics, and moral AI cochair at ANITI—specializes in law, economics, and data science to uncover patterns in human behavior and legal decision-making. During his Radcliffe fellowship, he will synthesize his work on using AI to diagnose issues in judicial systems, drawing on global court collaborations to demonstrate efficiency gains, economic impacts, and human-AI interaction.
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
—————
Cities as Drivers for Global Health and Happiness
Wednesday, October 2
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston 02115
RSVP at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/event/environments-for-health-happiness-with-dr-jo-ivey-boufford/
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford
CONTACT INFO centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu
Join the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness for the first event in our new "Environments for Health and Happiness" seminar series, featuring urban public health leader Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford!
—————
The Unseen Competition in the Energy Transition
Wednesday, October 2
3pm ET [12pm to 1pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NuiZaEnRTmKP1PhPjE6D-w#/registration
Over the last decade, competition has intensified between gas and electric utilities to meet all building energy needs for homes and businesses, including sectors like heating and cooking. Policy incentives to transition from gas to electric appliances as part of greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies and improvements in electric technologies are further intensifying this competition. This renewed competition raises new and challenging issues for regulators - Public Utility Commissions - tasked with regulating utilities and that have traditionally viewed them as providing distinct services in separate markets.
This webinar, hosted by the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, presents results of a new study evaluating this competition between utilities. The authors argue that safe, just utility regulation and rapid, effective decarbonization require a more proactive and unified response and suggest approaches to better managing inter-utility competition. A panel of energy experts will then discuss efforts to address the newly competitive landscape and advance the energy transition.
For more information, contact: climateenergypolicy@stanford.edu
Speakers:
Mike Bloomberg, Director, Future of Heat Initiative, and Managing Partner, Groundwork Data
Denise Grab, Energy Law & Policy Project Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law
Justin Gundlach, Senior Advisor for Policy Implementation, New York State Department of Public Service
Josh Lappen, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Notre Dame
—————
Unlocking Local Private Capital to Finance the Productive Use of Renewable Energy Sector: A Look at East Africa Local Financial Institutions
Wednesday, October 2
Time zones: 3pm Nairobi/8am ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/10/unlocking-local-private-capital-finance-productive-use-renewable-energy-sector-look
The market for Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE), particularly in agriculture is vast and requires significant investment to realize its full potential. However, in the broader spectrum of renewable energy financing, only 2% of the $2.8trillion global renewable energy investments cascaded down to Africa over the last two decades. International financiers, especially development finance institutions, have been the key players in PURE investments in Africa. Local financial institutions are structured to provide short term financing, limiting their ability to meet the needs of the long-term nature of PURE projects. Patient capital is particularly important for end users who often grapple with inadequate financing and affordability challenges due to the high upfront costs of PURE equipment.
Our soon-to-be-published working paper titled Unlocking Local Private Capital in Financing the Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) Sector – A Look at East Africa Local Financial Institutions (LFIs) aims to understand the current financing landscape for Productive Use of Renewable Energy by local financing institutions in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Some of the overarching questions that we investigated sought to understand whether local financing institutions are currently funding PURE, and if so, what is their focus area by sector, for example, agriculture; how much lending they have channeled into the sector compared to other sectors; their experiences related to challenges and barriers to financing PURE; and what actions are necessary to unlock and accelerate the flow of local financing to the PURE sector.
Webinar Objectives:
To launch the working paper and highlight key research findings on local financing institutions’ involvement in financing PURE.
To share cross-country learnings in East Africa and increase awareness of avenues and mechanisms for PURE financing.
To serve as a call to action among key stakeholders, including local financing institutions, development finance institutions and development partners on the deployment of innovative interventions to unlock finance for PURE.
—————
The Art of Climate Action: Creativity at the Forefront of Change
Wednesday, October 2
6:30 - 8:30pm EDT. Doors at 6pm
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Avenue Design and Media Center (DMC) Boston, MA 02115
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-art-of-climate-action-creativity-at-the-forefront-of-change-tickets-1009396350657
What role do artists, designers, makers, and educators play in shaping our future? Join the conversation during this panel discussion.
Offered in connection with our current exhibition, Displacement, this panel discussion will seek to position the mitigation of earth's changing climate as a shared responsibility and will explore the role that the creative economy–artists, designers, makers, educators–plays in shaping our future.
With featured panelists Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council; Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures; Melissa Hoffer, Commonwealth of Massachusetts's first ever Climate Chief; and moderated by Dr. Mary Grant, President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Join us at MassArt Art Museum after the discussion to view Displacement and connect with friends and community.
Michael J. Bobbitt
Michael J. Bobbitt is a distinguished theater artist. As the Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council, he is the highest-ranking public official in Massachusetts state government focused on arts and culture. Since 2021, he has led the Agency through several initiatives, including the development of its first Racial Equity Plan, d/Deaf & Disability Equity and Access Plan, and Native American & Indigenous Equity Plan; the launch of the nation’s first statewide Social Prescribing Initiative; the securing and distribution of $60.1 million in pandemic relief funding; and the design and implementation of a strategic plan for fiscal years 2024-2026. Recently, Michael was listed as one of the Boston Business Journal’s Power 50 Movement Makers. He has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to serve on both the Governor’s Advisory Council on Black Empowerment and the newly established Massachusetts Cultural Policy Development Advisory Council, and he recently received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa from Dean College. He is a proud alumnus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Spencer Glendon
Spencer Glendon is working to make the consequences of climate change more vivid, intuitive, and useful. Collaborating with scientists, designers, technologists, and other concerned generalists like him, he founded the initiative Probable Futures, to bridge the gap between climate science and culture. Probable Futures is a climate literacy initiative that makes practical tools and resources available online to everyone, everywhere. It offers educational information about the Earth's climate and its role in human life as well as projections of local changes (hot and cold days and nights, precipitation, drought, wildfire risk, etc.). Spencer is also a pro bono consultant to institutions including McKinsey and Co., and is a Fellow at both the Woodwell Climate Research Center and Harvard Business School. He has worked in Michigan, Chicago, Germany, Russia, China, and Boston. For many years he conducted and directed research as a Partner at Wellington Management. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Economics.
Dr. Mary K Grant
Dr. Mary K. Grant is a national leader in public higher education with more than 30 years of experience championing the arts, deepening community partnerships, cultivating civic engagement, and fostering access, diversity, equity, and inclusion across higher education. She is the President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Board Chair of National Campus Compact, Secretary of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), Member of EdVestors BPS Arts Expansion Arts Advisory Board, Member of the Boston Public Schools Committee Nominating Panel, and Member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Higher Education Leadership Council. She has also served on the search committee for the Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts, as a juror for the prestigious Brother Thomas Fellowship, and is a regular guest on GBH’s The Culture Show with Jared Bowen.
Melissa Hoffer
Melissa Hoffer is Massachusetts’s first ever Climate Chief. She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee, serving as the Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. She led the EPA’s Office of General Counsel through the transition until November 2021, and continued to serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, she worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division beginning in 2012 and was named Chief of AG Healey’s newly formed Energy and Environment Bureau in 2015. Hoffer oversaw the work of the Bureau’s attorneys on matters including prosecuting civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws, proceedings before the DPU, energy policy, and defensive cases. She led the Office’s litigation against ExxonMobil for deceiving Massachusetts investors and consumers about the risk climate change poses to Exxon’s business and global financial markets, and the impacts of its fossil fuel products on climate change. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Hoffer held senior roles at the Conservation Law Foundation and practiced for many years as a litigator and environmental lawyer at WilmerHale. She also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander, Boston Federal District Court. She received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, Certificate in Environmental Management from Tufts University, M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, and B.A. from Hampshire College. In her spare time, she raises a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats at her farm in Barre, Massachusetts.
—————
The Stanford Energy Seminar: Karen Skelton | America's Energy Transition
Wednesday, October 2
7:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the-stanford-energy-seminar_Oct_2
Abstract: We are at the beginning of one of the most significant industrial transitions in history, moving from an economy based almost exclusively on carbon-producing fossil energy–coal, oil and gas–to one eventually fueled by renewable energy–sun, wind, steam, and innovative technologies that generate and enable power sources. The Biden-Harris Administration and Congress have accelerated this energy transition through passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the single greatest piece of climate legislation ever passed. IRA, along with other federal investments in America, have changed everything. In doing so, the United States has gone from laggard to leader in driving an industrial economy based on clean energy. Now, as the energy train has left the station, the 2024 presidential election will play a critical role in this transition, determining whether the train accelerates on pace or hits a switch turning its direction.
Bio: Karen Skelton has advised U.S. Presidents, Vice Presidents, U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, Governors, First Ladies, Fortune 100 corporations, philanthropies, Boards of Directors for 35 years.
Skelton is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in the Precourt Institute for Energy at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Skelton will lecture and write about America’s energy transition and the implications of the 2024 elections on the transition’s speed and scale. Most recently, Skelton served as a Senior Policy Advisor to both Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the President’s top Climate Diplomat, John Podesta. During this time, Skelton played a key role in managing political, policy, and communication strategies to accelerate the nation’s industrial policy transition to a clean energy economy. Skelton collaborated with private sector stakeholders to gain access to hundreds of billions of dollars in grants, tax credits, loans, and other investments that address the climate crisis, rebuild American manufacturing, and lower costs for consumers and businesses.
Skelton’s work included co-leading the establishment of the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities & Economic Revitalization (See www.Energycommunities.gov), now responsible for delivering over $170 billion in federal resources to help revitalize America’s energy communities; organizing private and public sector engagement in key states as Congress considered support for the Inflation Reduction Act; managing a White House effort to build a coalition of philanthropies which have contributed so far over $3 Billion in pooled funds and aligned tables to implement the President’s climate package, heading the inaugural launch of the DOE’s Foundation of Energy Security and Innovation.
—————
The role of nature-based solutions in Southeast and South Asia to address the poly-crisis of biodiversity, climate and land degradation
Thursday, October 3
4am EDT [15:00 ICT]
Bangkok, Thailand
And online
RSVP at https://www.sei.org/events/nature-based-solutions-asia-biodiversity-climate-land-degradation/
From words to action is a new series of six interconnected events held by SEI’s global centres during fall 2024. SEI Asia’s event will delve into challenges and opportunities on nature-based solutions (NBS) and ecosystem services in wetlands in Asia.
Five of the world’s top 20 biodiverse countries are found in Southeast Asia while the region also faces significant land and forest degradation and high climate vulnerability. The inter-linked crises of biodiversity, climate and land use have in the past been approached in a siloed manner that has not be
Event contact
Francis X. Johnson / francis.x.johnson@sei.org
—————
Bioeconomy for climate resilient development
Thursday, October 3
7:30am EDT [14:30 EAT]
Nairobi, Kenya and Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpc-2srjMtE91LvZW9Wl8-pQ4IoLZcp0I6#/registration
SEI Africa will host a session in Nairobi, Kenya, on 3 October to explore how the bioeconomy can support climate-resilient development across different regions.
The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services can enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change. Africa can fully realize the benefits of the continents rich biodiversity and explore ways of using it in a sustainable way to contribute towards economic development to realize the aspirations of the African Union Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want. A key pathway to this is through the Bioeconomy—comprising the sustainable use of biological resources from land, forests, and oceans, which plays a pivotal role in addressing climate change, land degradation and supporting sustainable development.
By fostering sustainable production and consumption, it offers pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance biodiversity, and create economic opportunities, particularly in climate-vulnerable regions. However, the bioeconomy must be managed carefully to avoid ecological degradation, social inequalities, and unintended consequences.
As a lead up to major convenings incuding the Global Bioeconomy Summit (GBS 2024) which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 23-24 October 2024, this event will focus on the scientific evidence that intersect biodiversity and climate, providing insights into opportunities, challenges, and innovative approaches within the bioeconomy. Specifically, the event draws upon the experiences of IPBES and IPCC processes to highlight the current state of knowledge and scientific evidence regarding biodiversity and climate change in Africa. Additionally, it seeks to provide an opportunity for participants to appreciate and explore how the existing scientific evidence, including indigenous knowledge can facilitate and accelerate implementation of bioeconomy actions for climate-resilient development in Africa and other regions.
Event objectives
The primary objectives of the event are:
To present the latest knowledge and scientific evidence at the intersection of biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable development drawing upon the experiences from the IPBES and IPCC processes in linking science and policy.
Share knowledge generated and lessons learned from SEI’s work on bioeconomy highlighting success stories and innovative solutions from different world regions that are relevant to Africa.
Identify opportunities for strengthening collaboration between the scientific community, governments, the private sectors, and civil society to advance bioeconomy for climate-resilient development.
Contribute to the global discourse leading up to major science and policy events on biodiversity and climate with specific focus on the 2024 Global Bioeconomy Summit (GBS), the CBD COP16, the UNFCCC COP 29, the UNCCD COP 16 and the IPBES 11.
Expected outcomes
Increased awareness on the latest knowledge and scientific evidence at the intersection of biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable development.
Enhanced awareness of the critical importance of biodiversity for a thriving planet.
Strengthened partnership and collaboration between the scientific community, governments, private sector and key stakeholders to advance bioeconomy actions.
Contributions to the global dialogue leading up to major convenings on biodiversity and climate change.
Event contact
Ng’endo Machua-Muniu / ngendo.machua@sei.org
—————
Governing critical raw materials and the energy transition
Thursday, October 3
10am EDT [4pm CEST]
Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies (NILAS) library, 2nd floor, Universitetsvägen 10B, Stockholm, Sweden
And online
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=XRL-PYmlr0SfxxE_O_9Yc3dN5s8Mb7pGuoG09sVO3hVUQ1Y2VDMxWThVQ0FSV1RIQVM1RlBMMlBVWS4u&route=shorturl
The transition to a low-carbon economy and the expansion of key technologies enabling it – electric vehicles, wind power and solar panels – has created a race for critical raw materials among industrialized countries. Intensified extraction in both higher and lower income countries carries significant implications for environmental and human rights protection. Finding the right governance tools to balance competing goals and demands is key to ensure sustainability.
Critical raw materials are used in advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, military, defense systems, and most importantly, clean energy technologies. As global demand for critical raw materials rises, increased extraction is leading to conflicting goals across different areas of policy and levels of government and often contributes to exacerbated environmental injustices and climate vulnerability in sites of extraction.
Countries govern natural resources based on their industrial structures, economic needs, and national security priorities. From the European Union’s point of view, increased global demands for critical raw minerals need to be mitigated to ensure their sustainable extraction.
What to expect
Leading critical raw materials governance researchers with expertise on Asia, Europe and Latin America will present their latest research focusing on:
The current state of governance for critical raw materials
To what extent and in what ways human rights and environmental standards are being integrated into the governance of critical raw materials
Bottom-up and alternative governance solutions for handling trade-offs between extraction and sustainability
Challenges and opportunities in political and institutional conditions to enhance sustainable governance of critical raw materials
Speakers:
Susan Park, Professor of Global Governance, University of Sydney, Australia
Erika Weinthal, Professor in Environmental Governance, Duke University, US
Hyeyoon Park, Lecturer in International Politics, University of Stirling, Scotland
Scott Odell, Program Scientist MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, US
Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute
Event contact
Rasmus Kløcker Larsen / rasmus.klocker.larsen@sei.org
—————
The Complexities of Community-Led Climate Solutions From an Outsider
Thursday, October 3
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OeMd69E3QNG46-Vh4PrHzg#/registration
From forest conservation and river restoration in Papua New Guinea and Mexico to reducing health and climate harming pollution from vehicles in the US freight system, Andrea Savage, campaign manager for the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrestles with unexpected tensions in community-led solutions to climate change, but often as an outsider. Join Andrea in exploring the lessons and tensions related to supporting bottom-up solutions in a world that’s mostly top-down.
Contact Sinet Kroch sinet.kroch@tufts.edu
—————
MAGA and Project 2025: A National Teach-In
Thursday, October 3
5 pm EST
Online at https://historiansforpeace.org/maga-and-project-2025/
On October 3, Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-PAD) and co-sponsors will host an online national teach-in to educate the public, and students in particular, about the origins of the MAGA movement and the Project 2025 policy plan prepared by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump administration.
Three prominent scholars of racial and political history will speak on the history of the radical right, and illustrate how the proposed policy architecture of Project 2025 advances the long-sought goals of that movement.
Carol Anderson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. She is the author of Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955 (Myrna Bernath Book Award and Gustavus Myers Book Award); Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960; White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (New York Times Bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award); One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying our Democracy, (Long-listed for the National Book Award in Non-Fiction and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Book Award in Non-Fiction); and The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (New York Times Editor’s Pick).
Nancy MacLean is the William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University and a past president of the Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA). She is the author of several award-winning books, most recently, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America. Booklist called it “perhaps the best explanation to date of the roots of the political divide that threatens to irrevocably alter American government.” The Guardian said: “It’s the missing chapter: a key to understanding the politics of the past half century.” A New York Times bestseller, it was a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award in Current Affairs and the Lillian Smith Book Award for outstanding writing about the U.S. South. The Nation named it the “Most Valuable Book” of the year.
Paul Ortiz is Professor of Labor History at Cornel University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. A PEN Award-winning author, Paul’s book An African American and Latinx History of the United States was identified in 2020 by Bustle as one of “Ten Books About Race to Read Instead of Asking a Person of Color to Explain Things to You.” Fortune Magazine listed it as one of the “10 books on American history that actually reflect the United States.”
Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a longtime socialist, trade unionist, international solidarity activist and writer. You can follow Bill on Twitter/X @BillFletcherJr.
Professors are encouraged to assign “MAGA and Project 2025: Historical Perspectives and Present Dangers” for extra credit. HPAD and our co-sponsors will produce resources, including questions to prompt in-class discussion and voter registration information that can easily be shared. We encourage Professors to invite local panels of historians/experts–and elected officials in particular–to join these teach-ins to provide local context and commentary.
—————
ICON and Large-scale Robotic Construction: The Future of Building on Earth and Other Worlds
Thursday, October 3
6pm to 8pm
MIT, Building 7, 7-42977 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
And online
RSVP at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mitarchitecture/1388552 or watch at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF0b_PC-cvPzv6Us56S6rtA
Architecture Lecture Series: Melodie Yashar and Julian Ocampo
This talk will discuss ICON’s technology development efforts advancing large-scale additive manufacturing and revolutionizing the impact of 3D printing on homebuilding—both on Earth and in space. ICON's robotics, material optimization and logistics of construction demonstrate a renewed ability to deliver homes with speed and increased resiliency. ICON’s new suite of technologies are designed to further automate construction, in addition to giving a glimpse into the future of homebuilding on the Moon and Mars.
Melodie is the Vice-President of Building Design and Performance at ICON. In 2020, Melodie joined ICON to establish and build the Architecture & Building Performance department. Disciplines under her management include: Construction Architecture, Architectural Technology, Structural Engineering, Building Science & Performance, and Regulatory Affairs. Melodie oversees the architectural direction of ICON’s built work as well as the performance of ICON’s building systems to deliver optimally-performing structures that shift the paradigm of homebuilding on Earth and beyond.
In prior roles, Melodie was a Senior Research Associate within the Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames. She was a co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture, a NASA-funded research practice developing human supporting design concepts for space exploration. Her portfolio of space architecture work has been published and exhibited worldwide. Melodie was a professor at Pratt Institute and continues teaching limited coursework at Art Center College of Design. Melodie received a Master of Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Human Computer Interaction from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an advocate for STEM education among minorities. She likes tiny robots. She would like to visit the Moon (though not yet Mars) in her lifetime.
Julian is the Senior Director of the Design+Build team at ICON, where he leads the design of the company’s innovative construction projects. In this role, he collaborates with a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, and designers to create cutting-edge structures using ICON’s proprietary 3D printing technology. Julian plays a key role in advancing ICON’s mission to address the global housing crisis by designing scalable, sustainable, and affordable housing solutions. His work integrates architectural design with advanced construction technologies to improve the speed, efficiency, and quality of building processes.
Prior to joining ICON, Julian worked at BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, where he led pioneering projects in collaboration with NASA, including habitat designs for Project Olympus, a program that explores space-based construction for long-term habitation on the Moon and Mars. He also contributed to the design of Mars Duna Alpha, a Martian simulation habitat built at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2022.
Julian’s diverse experience includes working at world-renowned studios such as Diller Scofidio + Renfro in New York, MVRDV in Rotterdam, and SelgasCano in Madrid. He holds an M.Arch from MIT and a B.Arch from the University of Waterloo. An active voice in architectural discourse, Julian regularly lectures at institutions like the AA Visiting School, IAAC Barcelona, and the Bienal Colombiana de Arquitectura.
—————
Abolition Labor: The Fight to End Prison Slavery!
Thursday, October 3
7pm
Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, 50 Liberty Drive, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/rsvp-attend-our-event-andrew-ross-and-aiyuba-thomas
Abolition Labor chronicles the national movement to end forced labor, much of it unpaid, in American prisons. It draws on interviews with formerly incarcerated persons in Alabama, Texas, Georgia and New York to give a more holistic picture of these work conditions, and it covers the new prisoner rights movement that began with system-wide work strikes involving more than 50,000 people in the 2010s.
Incarcerated people work for penny wages (15 cents an hour is not unusual), and, in several states, for nothing at all, as cooks, dishwashers, janitors, groundskeepers, barbers, painters, or plumbers; in laundries, kitchens, factories, and hospitals. They provide vital public services such as repairing roads, fighting wildfires, or clearing debris after hurricanes. They manufacture products like office furniture, mattresses, license plates, dentures, glasses, traffic signs, garbage cans, athletic equipment, and uniforms. And they harvest crops, work as welders and carpenters, and labor in meat and poultry processing plants.
Abolition Labor provides a wealth of insights into what has become a vast underground economy. It draws connections between the risky trade forced on prisoners who hustle to survive on the inside and the precarious economy on the outside. And it argues that, far from being quarantined off from society, prisons and their forced work regime have a sizable impact on the economic and social lives of millions of American households.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andrew Ross is a social activist and Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU, where he also directs the Prison Research Lab. A contributor to the Guardian, the New York Times, The Nation, and Al Jazeera, he is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including, most recently, Cars and Jails: Freedom Dreams, Debt, and Carcerality.
Aiyuba Thomas is a recent MA graduate from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and a justice impacted affiliate of the NYU Prison Research Lab. He is currently the project manager for “Movements Against Mass Incarceration,” an archival oral history project at Columbia University.
—————
HONK! Festival 2024
Friday, October 4, 5:30 p.m. – Sunday, October 6, 2024, 6 p.m.
Davis Square and Harvard Square
The HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands returns for another year of Reclaiming the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet! This FREE 3-day festival will take place from October 4th to October 6th.
More information at http://www.honkfest.org
—————
Joining Science and Theology to End Plastic Pollution, Protect Health, and Advance Social Justice
Friday, October 4, 4:00pm-6:30pm and Saturday, October 5, 8:30am-6:30pm
Boston College, Corcoran Commons and Gasson Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVliq_tizmoOnMWXFuvfPzyzMPiosmc7Taaj3YsQdKZVz5aQ/viewform
Plastics are manufactured chemical materials produced from fossil carbon–gas, oil, and coal. Plastics have supported extraordinary advances in virtually every area of human endeavor, and they have made our daily lives very convenient. However, is now clear that plastics are neither as safe nor as inexpensive as they seem. Plastics’ benefits come at great and increasingly visible costs to human health, the environment, and social justice.
The Minderoo Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, anchored at Boston College, found that plastics harm human health at every stage of their life cycle – from extraction of the crude oil, fracked gas, and coal that are plastics’ principal feedstocks, through transport, manufacture, use, recycling, and on to disposal into the environment. Plastic production further endangers health by releasing nearly 2 gigatons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year, as much as the annual contribution of Brazil, thus driving climate change and magnifying its consequences.
Plastics’ harms fall disproportionately on the poor, minorities, and the marginalized. Groups at particularly high risk are fossil fuel extraction workers; chemical and plastic production workers; informal waste and recovery workers; persons living near pipelines, rail lines and compressor stations, such as the community of East Palestine, Ohio; people living in “fenceline” communities adjacent to plastic production facilities; Indigenous communities, and people in the Global South. Children are at very high risk. These groups did not create the current plastics crisis. They do not profit from it. They lack the power to address it. Yet they suffer its most severe consequences. They are victims of social and environmental injustice on a planetary scale.
Continuing exponential increases in plastic production are the main driver of plastics’ worsening harms. Annual output has grown from under 2 million tons in 1950 to more than 400 million tons today. Output is projected to double by 2040 and treble by 2060 as fossil fuel producers pivot to plastic in anticipation of decreasing demand for fossil energy. Disposable, single-use items account for about 40% of current production and contribute disproportionately to the accumulation of plastic waste. Plastic waste is ubiquitous in the environment, where it breaks down into chemical-laden micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs), which damage ecosystems and are responsible for widespread human exposure.
In response to the worsening plastics crisis, the U.N. Environment Assembly voted in March 2022 to develop a Global Plastics Treaty. The goal is to reduce plastic pollution across the entire plastic lifecycle. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee has met four times, and their fifth and final meeting is scheduled to take place in Korea in late November. The U.N.’s intent is to finish drafting the treaty by the end of 2024.
The Minderoo Monaco Commission argued that inclusion in the Global Plastics Treaty of a mandatory, legally binding global cap on the production of new plastic will be essential for protecting human health and advancing social justice. The Treaty needs also to include restrictions on single-use plastics, and comprehensive regulation of plastic chemicals.
Please register to attend.
What Will This Conference Add?
This Conference is based on the recognition that the plastics crisis is more than an environmental challenge. Like climate change, air pollution, biodiversity loss, and escalating inequality, the plastics crisis is also a social and ethical challenge. It is another example of humanity’s reckless strip‐mining of the earth’s resources and mortgaging of humanity’s future for short‐term economic gain.
Building on this recognition, the purpose of this Conference is to bring moral clarity to the conversation on plastic pollution. We will do this by:
Examining recent, rapid increases in plastic production and plastic pollution through the lens of ethics;
Proposing just, scientifically sound remedies to the plastic crisis;
Producing a Declaration at the conclusion of the conference that urges the negotiators for the UN Global Plastics Treaty, and especially the delegates from high-income countries, to work together to produce a legally binding, just, and equitable Treaty that prioritizes the protection of human rights and the protection of health for all people; and
Producing a book based on the discussions at the conference that examines the ethical foundations of the plastics crisis and serves as a reference for those who wish to develop solutions that are scientifically sound, just, and ethical.
The Conference will be held in-person on the Chestnut Hill campus of Boston College and it is open to the public.
—————
Boston College Economics Symposium: Pathways to Innovation, Sustainable Productivity & Equitable Growth
Friday, October 4
7:30am to 3pm
Yawkey Athletics Center, Murray Function Room, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-D_hhOpkDxmFmW4XKE_MDiSb5TFC8K7u9AoJd2snGM2UFhg/viewform
Boston College Economics, in collaboration with experts from the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Census Bureau, McKinsey Global Institute and the Brookings Institution, is holding a one-day symposium on October 4 on “critical features of the current economic expansion”.
The “post Covid shock” expansion has been distinct from so many perspectives. The resilience of the economy over the period 2020 to 2024 has been impressive: employment, productivity and growth have expanded, and it is reasonable to foresee a sustained expansion into 2025 and beyond.
The symposium comes at the crux of a major turning point of successful efforts across all contributors in the economy to restore stability in prices after a series of major global shocks. The Federal Reserve has taken some initial steps to lower interest rates and ease up on the burden of the high cost of borrowing, which differentially impacts young people, young firms and households with relatively low net worth.
The symposium will offer a unique opportunity to look “under the hood” and examine where we are, where we are going, and how we can continue to underpin positive business dynamics, and support the expansion of opportunities, employment, income, and wealth across the spectrum of society.
The first panel will feature speakers William Wascher and Christopher Nekarda, from the Federal Reserve Board, who will focus on the socioeconomic and labor market benefits of a high-pressure economy, with particular focus on the post Covid shock expansion from the second half of 2020 to the first half of 2024.
The U.S. economy was 50% more concentrated in 2022 than it was 50 years prior. On the second panel, Falk Brauning, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, will discuss how this may have impacted the “pass-through” of cost shocks on prices from supply chain disruptions, such as the disruptions that we saw in the first two years of the Covid cycle. Romain Duval from the International Monetary Fund will discuss how variation in market power, firm age, and financial constraints, in advanced economies, can differentially influence the transmission of monetary policy on firm output across the economy. This is a critical issue when there are sharp wide swings in the stance of monetary policy, such as the period from 2020 to 2024.
Our keynote speaker, William Rodgers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Institute of Economic Equity, will discuss challenges in terms of the income and wealth inequalities that persist, despite the benefits of the remarkable post-Covid expansion explored by panel I.
Panel III includes Maggie Jones from the Census bureau, who will present pathbreaking work done by the census bureau with scholars from Harvard and Brown Universities, which examines the childhood roots of social mobility, and how local economic policies potentially can be crafted to be more effective in addressing the specific needs of neighborhoods. Jeff Fuhrer from the Brookings Institution will share some thought provoking observations on social mobility based on his recent MIT press book “The Myth that Made Us”, and Marc Canal Noguer will present some work done by the McKinsey Global Institute on the puzzle relating to the declining share of labor income in overall income in the economy, and how concerned we should be about this trend in the context of social mobility challenges presented by Jones and Fuhrer.
—————
Global Sustainability Summit
Saturday, October 5
9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Northeastern University, East Village 17th Floor Conference Facility, 291 St Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115
And online
RSVP at https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/cem/events/summit-sustainability-the-developing-world/
Dive into a thought-provoking discussion with five leading experts as they tackle the pressing sustainability challenges of today:
Speakers include:
The leader of a climate think-tank and policy advisor in India;
A senior policy maker at the World Bank;
A China expert who argues that the country's innovations are making important contributions to mitigating climate change;
The Chairman of a large multinational enterprise (Schneider Electric) that has been recognized for its sustainability practices; and
The Founder-CEO of an NGO (Goonj) that is trying to soften the impact of climate change on rural and underprivileged citizens.
This event is free and open to students, faculty, staff, and the business community.
—————
NBSAPs, hosted by the Global Ocean Alliance and High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
Monday, October 7
7:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://wri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nGqKvSYGS0KCyffRE4yr7w#/registration
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity are currently revising their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and national targets, to align to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This online workshop ahead of COP16 will provide an opportunity to exchange knowledge and share experiences and challenges for the integration of the ocean into updated NBSAPs under the CBD. This workshop is for government officials working on ocean policy and its integration into their NBSAP. Speakers confirmed to date: - Farah Chaudry, Head of CBD Marine, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK - Chris McOwen, Lead Marine Scientist, UNEP-WCMC - Alexander Szumilas, Senior Policy Advisor, Domestic Oceans Policy, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada - Other speakers to be confirmed
—————
AltWheels Fleet Day
Monday, October 7
8am - 5pm EDT
Four Points by Sheraton Norwood, 1125 Boston-Providence Turnpike Norwood, MA 02062
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/altwheels-fleet-day-tickets-910905381517
Cost: $0 -$200
AltWheels Fleet Day is an annual sustainable transportation event that brings together corporate and municipal fleet managers and clean-fleet stakeholders working to reduce emissions and lower costs for tomorrow’s transportation needs.
AltWheels is a leading place municipal and corporate fleets come each year to understand more sustainable transportation options. AltWheels showcases the latest vehicle and fuel technologies, educates passenger and fleet consumers on best practices, promotes real choices that exist in the marketplace, and stimulates the demand for choices that will improve our health, air quality, and survival. AltWheels has won awards from the EPA and WTS for its effectiveness in changing thinking about transportation and real practices and behaviors.
AltWheels participants include Fleet Managers from more than 30 cities and towns in California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Georgia and Vermont. Additionally, many state and federal agencies such as MassDOT, DOT, EPA, CALSTART, attend AltWheels. We have 11 Clean Cities coalitions represented as well as support from National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) and North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE).
AltWheels Fleet Day attracts Fleet Managers from colleges/universities, hospitals, and last mile delivery providers among others. Recent attendees from institutions include Brown University, Harvard University, Merrimack College, MIT, New York University, Princeton, University of Vermont, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, Suffolk University, Yale University, and the University of New Hampshire among others.
Registration fees include: Breakfast, Lunch, Cocktail Hour, Panels, Exhibits, Ride and Drives, and Parking for the day.
Editorial Comment: I remember when the late Steve Connors, a professor at MIT, help start AltWheels. Good to see it still going on.
—————
System Wise
Monday, October 7
12 – 1 p.m.
Harvard, Gutman Conference Center E1, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
And online
RSVP In-person: bit.ly/SystemWise or via Zoom: bit.ly/VirtualSystemWise
SPEAKER(S) Adam Parrott-Sheffer
Carmen Williams
David Rease, Jr.
Kathryn Parker Boudett
In 'System Wise,' Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Carmen Williams, David Rease, Jr., and Kathryn Parker Boudett provide a blueprint to scale up the Data Wise process for continuous improvement, extending it from classrooms and schools to broader educational contexts. The System Wise approach highlights the adaptability of the Data Wise protocols, which promote agency among students and teachers, data literacy among educators, and capacity building within organizations to achieve better learning outcomes system-wide.
Please contact myanne_krivoshey@gse.harvard.edu if you have questions/requests regarding accessibility.
Our book talk events are open to the public and are live-captioned.
—————
Green Industrial Policy and Decarbonization
Monday, October 7
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O7PZIA0&_gl=1*3bdaf6*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNTU4MS4zMC4wLjA.
Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Jonas Meckling, Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and Climate Fellow at Harvard Business School.
—————
A Pragmatic Approach to Cumulative Impacts: Coordinating Decisions to Address Impacts Cumulatively
Monday, October 7
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online at https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/
Timothy M. Barzyk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/ Office of Research and Development
What cumulative impacts needs is a simple solution to a complex problem, or at least a simplified approach if solution is a too ambitious goal. A solution implies that they would cease to exist, yet cumulative impacts are a part of everyone’s everyday lives. The question remains whether a feasible, standardized approach can be designed to coordinate across sectors, scales, and stakeholders, or whether the conundrum of cumulative impacts shall remain uncoordinated through time. The work presented here attempts to operationalize cumulative impacts. It is based on the premise that only through human decision-making can change occur through programs, policies, and decisions acting as points of intervention and levers for change, supported by science and targeted to relevant stakeholders. This work presents a simple and familiar conceptual model and four real-world applications; not designed to address cumulative impacts, but rather to address impacts cumulatively. The process to address impacts cumulatively is simple; not easy, but straightforward, and can be done by any individual, team, or organization – public, private, or government; local, regional, or national – motivated to improve public health and environmental quality.
Tim Barzyk is a physical scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. Over the past two decades, he has worked with dozens of community residents and leaders, state environmental and public health agencies, and national regulatory program offices to apply scientific research to policies and decision-making while seeking measurable improvements in environmental quality and public health. After many trials and more than a few errors of applying measurements, models, and data analysis to the issue of cumulative impacts, he contends that it’s the willingness of people to work together that ultimately effects change on the ground, and not so much the measurements we take. His current work focuses on convening appropriate stakeholders and collecting relevant measurements to strategically target programs, policies, and decisions that demonstrably improve public health and environmental quality through coordinated decision-making.
—————
How Will AI Disrupt the Labor Market?
Monday, October 7
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Nye ABC (fifth floor Taubman Building, HKS), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.hks.harvard.edu/events/how-will-ai-disrupt-labor-market
SPEAKER(S) David Deming, Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy, HKS.
Moderator: Lawrence H. Summers, Frank and Denie Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard.
Recent advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) have the potential to disrupt the labor market and reshape the US economy. This seminar will explore important questions, including: What changes are likely to be seen over the shorter and longer term as a result of AI? What steps should policymakers take to create a workforce prepared for the transformation that is likely to occur? How are employees using AI in the workplace today? The seminar will be led by David Deming, Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy, HKS and moderated by Lawrence H. Summers, Frank and Denie Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard. Deming, Summers, and Christopher Ong recently co-authored a paper commissioned by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group titled “Technological Disruption in the US Labor Market.” This event will take place in Nye ABC (5th floor Taubman Building) for those with a Harvard ID who wish to attend in person. Others may join us remotely via Zoom.
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
—————
Interconnected Webinar Series: Controversial Solutions Hindering the Path to Fair Development in Rainforest Regions
Tuesday, October 8
8am ED [9:00 AM -03 TO 10:00 AM -03]
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rHGU7HenR4-CaqfI9p3IqQ#/registration
This webinar series will feature live Zoom interpretation in five languages: English, French, Bahasa, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Join us for an engaging webinar series where we delve into the critical links between climate, the environment—including the ocean, forests, and other geographical landscapes—and governance. We will examine the impact of poorly regulated industries and inadequate law enforcement on the climate crisis, and brainstorm viable solutions to mitigate its consequences.
Featuring Pulitzer Center stories, our discussions will bring together journalists, leaders from environmental and social movements, policymakers, and affected communities. This platform is designed to foster critical conversations on some of the most pressing and emerging issues of our time.
Insights generated from these webinars will be further explored during our in-person workshop in Brazil on December 5 and 6. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a transformative dialogue that aims to inspire change and drive action.
Controversial Solutions Hindering the Path to Fair Development in Rainforest Regions
Carbon credits are becoming the new commodities in tropical forests. However, some experiences from past stories supported by the Pulitzer Center highlight how this potential solution could create more problems if not properly regulated and carefully implemented. What are the main concerns surrounding carbon credits? Are they a useful tool for the bioeconomy, or could they hinder the evolution of sustainable and fair development in the Amazon region?
Speakers:
Fernanda Wenzel is a Brazilian journalist whose investigations have been published in The Intercept Brasil, Agência Pública, Repórter Brasil, Revista Piauí, Valor Econômico, Folha de S. Paulo, CNN International, BBC Brasil, and Mongabay. Her work includes a series of stories about the advance of livestock in the rainforest, investigations about the financiers of the beef industry, stories denouncing violations by large corporations against traditional communities, and BR Above All, a documentary about the construction of a road in one of the most preserved parts of the Amazon.
Andrés Bermúdez Liévano is a Colombian journalist who works at the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and whose reporting has focused on environmental issues, drug policy, transitional justice, and how victims of Colombia's armed conflict rebuild their lives. His work also includes two books on Colombia's 2016 peace agreement.
Pedro Martins is a lawyer and researcher at FASE (Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional) Amazônia.
Marcela Vecchione Gonçalves holds a doctorate in international relations and has experience in critical development studies, land and territory governance in the Pan-Amazon region, and international cooperation between and for Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
Moderator: Maria Darrigo is the Pulitzer Center's program manager for education in Latin America.
Don’t miss out! Join our engaging webinar series on climate and governance, featuring discussions on marine management, heat and labor protection policies, and the impact of carbon credits. Hear from journalists, experts, and local voices as we explore innovative solutions and contribute to the conversation.
—————
Webinar: Powerful futures: practitioner insights on the just transition to renewable energy
Tuesday, October 8
10am EDt [08:00 COT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.sei.org/events/webinar-powerful-futures-book-launch/
Join the Global South Alliance for a Just Transition to Renewable Energy (JustRE) in the online launch of their book “Powerful Futures: Practitioner Insights on the Just Transition to Renewable Energy”.
The conversation about just energy transition has largely focused on the phasing-out of fossil fuels, resulting in a gap in research and discussion about the impacts and best practices in the phasing-in of utility-scale renewable energy. The book Powerful Futures: Practitioner Insights on the Just Transition to Renewable Energy aims to bridge this important gap by showcasing – from a Global South perspective – promising emerging inclusive practices.
During the webinar, the book authors and guest experts will share key findings from their work, discuss the challenges and opportunities in achieving just energy transitions, and highlight lessons learned from case studies in Latin America, Africa and South and Southeast Asia.
What to expect
Book presentation by authors
Panel discussion with guest speakers
Q&A session
Networking opportunity!
About the book
Powerful Futures is a guide by practitioners for practitioners who are committed to ensuring that the global shift to renewable energy is equitable and inclusive. This book is the first product of the Global South Alliance for a Just Transition to Renewable Energy (JustRE). The book gathers the expertise and experiences of organisations and initiatives from Latin America, Africa, and South and Southeast Asia dedicated to championing social responsibility in renewable energy projects.
Event contact
José Vega Araújo / jose.vega@sei.org
—————
Accelerating the Climate & Health Movement: Mobilizing Toward Action
Tuesday, October 8
10 - 11:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/accelerating-the-climate-health-movement-mobilizing-toward-action-tickets-1013139897707
Join the NAM Climate Collaborative for a webinar on its progress to date and opportunities for scaling climate action across the nation.
Agenda
Welcome
Remarks from the Action Collaborative
Co-Chairs Opening Remarks
Special Remarks: Clinician Perspective from the Frontlines
Panel: Accelerating the National Climate and Health Movement
Launch of the NAM Climate Action Showcase
Closing Remarks
Join the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector for a virtual public session on Tuesday, October 8 from 10:00 am to 11:30 am ET! The webinar will feature remarg the national climate and health movement. The NAM will also launch a new climate action showcase amplifying the tremendous progress from organizations participating in the NAM’s Climate and Health Movement initiative. Don’t miss the first look at this new showcase that aims to help share opportunities for scaling climate action across the health sector and beyond.
—————
Hunger, Food Security, and the Race to Produce New Seeds for a Climate-Changed World
Tuesday, October 8
12 – 12:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/event/hunger-food-security-and-the-race-to-produce-new-seeds/
SPEAKER(S) Gabriela Soto Laveaga, PhD, MA
Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University
Megan Murray, ScD, MD
Ronda Stryker and William Johnston Professor of Global Health, Harvard Medical School; Director of Research, Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Drawing on lessons from the mid-twentieth century efforts to rapidly increase food production, this session explores the urgent need for innovation in food production, highlighting the long-term impacts on the environment, health, and food security. Dr. Gabriela Soto Laveaga will discuss how this race for resilience will shape the future of global health and well-being. Dr. Megan Murray will moderate the conversation. The event is free and open to the public.
—————
Landing the Paris Climate Agreement: How It Happened, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next
Tuesday, October 8
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/todd_stern_at_harvard_book_store/
Harvard Book Store welcomes Todd Stern—former Special Envoy for Climate Change at the Department of State, where he was President Barack Obama’s chief climate negotiator-—to celebrate the release of Landing the Paris Climate Agreement: How It Happened, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next
About Landing the Paris Climate Agreement
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change was one of the most difficult and hopeful achievements of the twenty-first century: 195 nations finally agreed, after 20 years of trying, to establish an ambitious, operational regime to address one of the greatest civilizational challenges of our time. In Landing the Paris Climate Agreement, Todd Stern, the chief US negotiator on climate change, provides an engaging account from inside the rooms where it happened: the full, charged, seven-year story of how the Paris Agreement came to be, following an arc from Copenhagen, to Durban, to the secret U.S.-China climate deal in 2014, to Paris itself.
With a storyteller’s gift for character, suspense, and detail, Stern crafts a high-stakes narrative that illuminates the strategy, policy, politics, and diplomacy that made Paris possible. Introducing readers to a vivid cast of characters, including Xie Zenhua, Vice Minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Bo Lidegaard, chief strategist for Denmark’s Prime Minster, and Indian minister Jairam Ramesh, Stern, who worked alongside President Barack Obama and Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, depicts the pitfalls and challenges overcome, the shifting alliances, the last-minute maneuvering, and the ultimate historic success. The book concludes with a final chapter that describes key developments since 2015 and the author’s reflections on what needs to be done going forward to contain the climate threat.
A unique peek behind the curtain of one of the most important international agreements of our time, Landing the Paris Climate Agreement is a vital and fascinating read for anyone who cares about the future of our one shared home.
—————
2024 Stanford Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability honoring Rodrigo Botero
Tuesday, October 8
8:30pm ET [5:30pm to 8pm PT]
Stanford, Law School, Classroom Building, Room 290, 559 Nathon Abbott Way, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/2024-stanford-bright-award-for-environmental-sustainability-honoring-rodrigo-botero
2024 Stanford Bright Award winner Rodrigo Botero is a leading environmental activist in Colombia who has dedicated his career to preserving the Amazon rainforest and advocating for local communities and indigenous land rights.
As part of this work, he has had to negotiate with groups who seek to occupy and exploit the Amazonian region—including armed rebels engaged in illegal mining and drug trafficking. And he has done this in what has been ranked as the world’s most dangerous country for environmental activists and people who defend land rights for indigenous people.
Join Botero at SLS on October 8 for the Stanford Bright Award to hear about these negotiations and his work to expand Chiribiquete National Park, the heart of the Colombian Amazon. The park is now the largest protected area in Colombia and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
—————
Climate Adaptation & Resilience + Water Systems & Blue Economy Networking
Wednesday, October 9
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-adaptation-resilience-water-systems-blue-economy-networking-tickets-753210872997
Discuss & network with other climate adaptation, nature resilience, marine & ocean startups, professionals & investors for collaboration
Welcome to Climate Adaptation & Resilience + Water Systems & Blue Economy
Are you working in local adaptation or climate resilience, designing low water biotech crops or focused on marine system, bluetech and preserving our natural world? If so, you've come to the right place.
Join our monthly discussion and collaboration sessions hosted by Asim Koldzo & Alexander Liss as they present and host discussions on the latest in watertech, blue economy businesses and innovative climate adaptation & resilience solutions for the inevitable climate changes our planet is undergoing.
Date: Every 2nd Wednesday of the month
Time: 6-7pm CET (12pm EST)
To access this event as well as RSVP for upcoming sectors & sessions, create your account:
https://4ward.vc/naturecall
4WARD: The world's largest local-to-global community of climate & sustainability DOERs collaborating to move the world 4WARD...
—————
Introducing CAFE: The Calculation Assistant for Flow Extremes Decision Support Tool
Wednesday, October 9
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://necasc.umass.edu/webinars/introducing-cafe-calculation-assistant-flow-extremes-decision-support-tool
Andrew DelSanto, Western New England University
Richard Palmer, UMass Amherst
Natural resource managers require estimates of hydrologic extremes on rivers (e.g., floods and droughts) for many reasons, including establishing water rights, setting minimum flow targets for protecting aquatic species, and developing flood/drought management plans for municipalities. Despite the USGS National Water Information System's extensive network, estimates of hydrologic extremes are often needed on rivers with either limited historical data or at locations where no gaging stations exist. In addition, state water resource managers often lack readily accessible and reliable tools to support estimation of possible changes in future extreme flows related to climate change.
This project extends previous research efforts by the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center to forecast climate change impacts on hydrologic extremes in the Northeast U.S. by developing a web-based decision support tool. Three avenues of research were pursued. First, we explored whether readily available “off the shelf” hydrology models could be calibrated with artificial intelligence to estimate low flows in locations without gaging stations. Next, we investigated the application of various artificial intelligence algorithms to better estimate low flows in comparison to current USGS estimates. Finally, we examined the application of more well-established, statistical approaches for estimating the impacts of climate change on future extreme flows. To accomplish these goals, we also conducted interviews with resource managers in the Northeast U.S. to identify current techniques being applied for calculating extreme flows and their effectiveness. These interviews established a stakeholder user-group that provided insight into the development of a new webtool called CAFÉ- Calculation Assistant for Flow Extremes. The webtool estimates hydrologic extremes on any free-flowing stream throughout the Northeast and acknowledges the impacts of climate change on extremes in two ways: 1) By incorporating a guided process that allows the user to utilize more recent historical flows to calculate extreme flows, and 2) By statistically incorporating forecasts of precipitation and temperature changes from global/regional climate change projections into extreme flow calculations.
—————
The Sacred Waters of Blake Plateau: When Ocean Conservation Meets Cultural History
Thursday, October 10
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2xU-p8neTFKiUKvbGgHd2w#/
Offshore of the Southeastern U.S. lies an extraordinary undersea plateau that hosts the largest deep-sea coral province on earth, the Blake Plateau. It is not only home to amazing marine life, it also holds significant cultural and historical meaning to the Gullah/Geechee people. Valerie Cleland, a senior manager who advocates for policies that protect and restore our oceans at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), will explore why we must conserve Blake Plateau—for the marine life and people who rely on it—before industry can harm this special place.
—————
Careers in Climate Action Speaker Series: Careers in K-12 Climate and Sustainability Education
Thursday, October 10
6 – 8 p.m.
Harvard’s Gutman Conference Center, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/db2f58f0-6fda-4cd8-8fcc-76cac1bc4659/regProcessStep1
Join us on October 10th, to hear from a panel of climate and sustainability educators, including Havard Graduate School of Education alumni, reflect on their career, education, and current work in K-12 climate and sustainability education.
—————
Data + Donuts: Bailey Flanigan on Direct Participation in Democratic Governance
Friday, October 11
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Wexner 434, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001NUzJIAW
SPEAKER(S) Bailey Flanigan
Bailey Flanigan is a 2024 Wojcicki Troper HDSI Postdoctoral Fellow, hosted by Archon Fung at HKS’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Bailey studies democratic processes that facilitate direct public participation and representation in policymaking. Using methods from algorithms, social choice, and political science, her work contributes deployable tools for supporting existing processes, as well as computational, empirical, and theoretical frameworks for analyzing their impacts. In Fall 2025 Bailey will be joining MIT as an assistant professor, joint between Political Science and EECS (LIDS).
CONTACT INFO Alessandra Seiter
alessandra_seiter@hks.harvard.edu
—————
Modern Media & (Mis)Understanding the Energy Transition
Monday, October 14
2:30pm ET [11:30am to 12:20pm PT]
Stanford, Mitchell Earth Sciences, Hartley Conference Room, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQdvB67vi6HBVn_eu19l3HWdXAp4mtt_1Q1HLUMgwCSUF-Wg/viewform
Getting to net zero carbon emissions will require Congress to more aggressively regulate greenhouse gas emissions. If the idea has wide support (and it does), why can't Congress muster the will to do it? David Spence (University of Texas at Austin) tackles this question in his new book Climate of Contempt: Rescuing the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship (Columbia University Press, 2024). Spence proposes that the problem is not that members of Congress are unresponsive to voters-but that most are responsive to the most partisan voters who perceive the most negative effects of these regulations. Meanwhile, the online information environment- rife with misinformation and spin- pushes all of Americans to become more negatively partisan over time, breeding misunderstanding of the value choices the energy transition entails, and distorting each party's sense of its political opponents. The book’s final chapter offers suggestions for overcoming these pathologies.
About the Author: David Spence is the Rex G. Baker Chair in Natural Resources Law at the University of Texas School of Law, and Professor of Business, Government & Society at UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Professor Spence’s research and teaching focuses on government regulation of the energy industry, broadly defined to include economic and environmental regulation of the entire energy sector. He is author of Climate of Contempt: Rescuing the Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship (Columbia Univ. Press, 2024), and co-author of the energy law textbook, Energy, Economics and the Environment (Foundation Press, 6th Ed., 2023). Professor Spence earned his Ph.D in political science from Duke University, his J.D. from the University of North Carolina, and his B.A. from Gettysburg College. LECTURE/PRESENTATION/T
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Reproductive Healthcare Access and White Nationalism
Tuesday, October 15
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wDFMPxK8R6C3Ite9UvhErg#/registration
A liberal democracy should produce societies that are inclusive, equitable, dynamic, and responsive to the needs of citizens. This series will focus on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. We will discuss the outcomes we want from a democratic system and how such an analysis can help us construct pathways to achieving those goals.
This third session, “Reproductive Healthcare Access and White Nationalism,” features founder of Funky Brown Chick, Twanna Hines, and Melissa Deckman, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Assistant Dean for RPL, Hussein Rashid, will act as moderator.
Access to reproductive healthcare engages with explicitly religious language. This session positions that language in the broader framework of white nationalism, which is often undergirded by Christian nationalism. The session ties together structures of patriarchy and race, offering ways of possible solidarity to create a more just future.
Read this Q&A with Hussein Rashid, assistant dean for RPL, about the series and register for all four events: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/09/17/religion-and-democratic-ideals-a-series-of-public-online-conversations
CONTACT rpl@hds.harvard.edu
—————
Climate Beacon 2024
Wednesday, October 16 - Friday, October18
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress St Suite 200, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://whova.com/portal/registration/clima_202410/
Cost: $0 - $319.56
More information at https://whova.com/web/7gIiNFM6mkoE2xHYvU0euJsCB6UKRv3-7AfxKYxmA2A%3D/
—————
2024 Net Zero Energy Conference
Wednesday, October 16
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://events.zoom.us/ev/Asa_Nr_g3JIohp0P07y_ufwCfGnTH9Q0wdpYYgbDOTDa6two6_Ir~AgfIYcokZeN-l4BwBu1YLNTw5EliPTQLD015FenNzU_hUo28yO2s34sG7Q
In our continued commitment to help build the next generation of zero energy buildings, we are excited to invite you to attend our 8th 2024 Annual Net Zero Energy Conference!
Join us virtually to learn from the experts at B2Q Associates, CMTA, SMMA and Lincoln Schools about how net zero energy buildings are being designed and constructed today. Our agenda includes a special session on a financially feasible approach to net zero elementary schools with Chris Till, Facilities Project Manager for the Town of Manchester, Connecticut.
Eversource leaders, including Vice President of Energy Efficiency and Electric Mobility, Tilak Subrahmanian, will speak about technical and financial support available through a variety of energy efficiency and clean energy programs to support zero energy buildings.
This event will be held virtually and at no cost to all architects, builders, general
contractors and anyone interested in learning more about net zero buildings.
Reach out to eemarketingevents@eversource.com if you have any questions.
—————
Climate Reporting in America
Wednesday, October 16
1 - 2:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-reporting-in-america-tickets-1020717402227
Showcasing and discussing local climate reporting from around the United States with the 2024 MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellows
Americans' most trusted news sources are those closest to home: the local and regional outlets where reporters write about their own communities. As the urgency of climate change intensifies, can these newsrooms help build support and understanding of ambitious climate solutions around the country?
Join MIT's newest class of Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellows as they discuss their work on major reporting projects for news outlets across the United States, covering local implications of the transition to a clean energy economy in Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Oregon. Special guest moderator Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Director of Climate Journalism at the Solutions Journalism Network, will lead a conversation with our fellows on the diverse audiences they engaged, how they connected climate solutions to local values and priorities, and the challenges and opportunities of climate reporting for local and regional outlets.
Moderator: Dr. Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson is an Indigenous climate journalist and scholar from Samoa in the South Pacific. She is the Director of Climate Journalism at the Solutions Journalism Network. Prior to this role, she was the inaugural Global Climate Collaborations Editor for The Associated Press, where she facilitated the revision of The AP Style Guide chapter on climate change and designed the first global South climate journalism training for The AP. Lagipoiva, a chieftess from the island of Savai'i, has reported on climate change for over 20 years in the Pacific islands for various local and global media outlets, including Samoa Observer, Newsline Samoa, AFP, Al Jazeera English, ABC Radio Australia, New Zealand Herald, CNN, and others. She is also the Co-Chair of Covering Climate Now and a Gender Council Member for the International Federation of Journalists.
Featured Panelists:
Alex Baumhardt is a reporter covering environment and education for the nonprofit news site Oregon Capital Chronicle. Before coming to Oregon, she was a national radio producer and reporter covering education for American Public Media’s documentaries and investigations unit, APM Reports. Her fellowship project reports on opportunities and challenges in the nascent carbon credit markets in Oregon forests and working lands.
Anastasia Hufham is an environmental reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune originally from Birmingham, AL. She covers the Colorado River and the use of Utah’s public lands — like mining, grazing, recreation and energy development. Her fellowship project investigates the resurgence of the uranium industry in Utah, looking at the potential impacts of developing a domestic nuclear energy supply chain.
Brooke Larsen is a journalist based in Salt Lake City, where she reports on water, the energy transition, and environmental justice for High Country News and other outlets. Over the past year, she covered rural communities, agriculture and conservation as HCN’s Virginia Spencer Davis Fellow. Her fellowship project examines the energy transition in Utah’s coal country.
Philip Jankowski is a political correspondent for the Dallas Morning News focusing on energy and the state Legislature. He has covered government, politics, and criminal justice in Texas for 16 years, and has previously worked for the Austin American-Statesman, the Killeen Daily Herald, and the Taylor Press. His fellowship project examines how climate change affects North Texas’ economy and the state politics of renewable energy in the country’s largest fossil fuel producer.
Reid Frazier covers energy for The Allegheny Front, a weekly public radio environmental news show in Pennsylvania. He has covered the impacts of the natural gas, coal, petrochemical, and steel industries, and is a contributor to the NPR Climate Collaborative. For his fellowship project, Reid is reporting on the implications of a ‘blue’ hydrogen hub in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
—————
Carbon and nitrogen cycles, climate change and sustainable development
Wednesday, October 16
2pm ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT]
Stanford, Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
Professor Gu's work aims to better quantify the costs and benefits of carbon and nitrogen use and loss and to understand how they link to policy and management. He discovered that small farm sizes can lead to the overuse of agricultural chemicals alongside socioeconomic development, while urbanization can release more cropland and enhance food security through large-scale farming. Additionally, he found that rural aging and the temporal and ownership decoupling between animals and crops can deteriorate agricultural sustainability. He also developed a nitrogen credit system to promote advanced agricultural practices at the farm level. His current research focuses on sustainable agricultural development, striving to produce more food with less pollution, and involves urbanization and rural development, agricultural resource management, environmental policy regulations, and management for sustainable development.
Bio
Baojing Gu is a professor of sustainability at Zhejiang University, China. He received his training as an ecologist, specializing in biogeochemical nitrogen cycling analysis and economics, at Zhejiang University, the University of Alberta, and McGill University. Currently, he serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief of Earth Critical Zone, Editor of The Innovation, and Associate Editor of Earth’s Future. He is also the deputy director of the East Asia Center of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). In his role, he co-leads cost and benefit analyses of global nitrogen use under the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS) framework, enhancing our understanding of human-nitrogen cycle interactions.
Professor Gu leads several research projects on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change, including the National Key R&D Program, the China-Austria Government Cooperation Project, the National Distinguished Youth Fund Project, and the NSFC-UNEP International Cooperation Key Project. He has published over 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with notable contributions in Science (1), Nature (3), PNAS (2), Nature Sustainability (3), Nature Food (9), Nature Communications (2), and The Innovation (2). In 2023, he was recognized as the international champion of the Frontiers Planet Prize.
—————
From Ideas to Impact: A Conversation with Michael Sheldrick, Global Citizen
Wednesday, October 16
5pm to 6:30am
MIT, Building 66, 110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Michael Sheldrick is the co-founder and chief policy, impact and government relations officer at Global Citizen. Over the past decade, Global Citizen’s campaigns have led to over $35 billion distributed to anti-poverty efforts around the world. Sheldrick leads Global Citizen’s campaigns to rally support from governments, businesses and foundations to get the world on track to end extreme poverty. His recent book, “From Ideas to Impact: A Playbook for Influencing and Implementing Change in a Divided World,” elucidates characteristics and strategies of successful policy entrepreneurs who bridge the gap between promises and outcomes.
—————
The Stanford Energy Seminar: Karan Bhuwalka| How to Secure Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition?
Wednesday, October 16
7:30pm Et [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the-stanford-energy-seminar-oct-16
Abstract: The adoption of renewable energy technologies hinges on the availability of many critical minerals. To meet the large demand for critical minerals, it is vital to scale up mineral supply chains that are resilient and sustainable. In this talk, Karan will introduce the STEER program at Stanford which is guiding policy and innovation for the energy transition by conducting systems analysis that incorporates materials availability, technology learning, and energy markets. The talk will focus on models that evaluate how supply and demand for critical minerals will evolve, and quantify the life-cycle impacts from the production. He will cover case studies on battery minerals, showing how electric vehicle costs and deployment are impacted by: i) restricting environmentally-damaging nickel production pathways, and ii) trade disruptions due to geopolitical tensions. Discussion will focus on necessary policy mechanisms to support sustainable domestic production for critical minerals.
Bio: Karan Bhuwalka is a Staff Research Engineer at Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy. He leads the materials supply chain modeling for STEER, a collaboration between Precourt and the SLAC National Lab conducting techno-economic systems analysis to guide investment, innovation, and policy for the energy transition. Karan earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Technology Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on how to build a sustainable and resilient supply chain for materials needed in the energy transition. He builds computational systems models that integrates geologic data on mineral deposits, materials engineering, life-cycle assessments, and economic analysis. The models guide decision-making on where, how, and how much to build mining projects for energy transition needs by accounting for environmental costs and geopolitical supply risks.
—————
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
Wednesday, October 16
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/benjamin_nathans_at_harvard_book_store/
Harvard Book Store presents Benjamin Nathans—author of Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia and frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books—to celebrate the release of his new book To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. He will be joined in conversation by Yevgenia Albats—Russian investigative journalist and editor-in-chief and CEO of The New Times, a formerly Moscow-based, Russian-language, independent political weekly.
About To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause
Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world’s imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile—and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century.
Benjamin Nathans’s vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents—from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was “simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people.”
An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR’s totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin’s Russia—and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today.
—————
Connected Leadership for Sustainability
Thursday, October 17
11:30 AM EDT — 1:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://ereg.som.yale.edu/Connected-Leadership-for-Sustainability
Welcome to our introductory workshop, Connected Leadership for Sustainability.
Join us for a transformative online experience where you'll learn valuable insights and tools to connect your purpose to your sustainability leadership journey.
Led by Peter Boyd, Resident Fellow at Yale Center for Business and the Environment, Lecturer at Yale School of the Environment, and Founder & CEO at Time4Good, this is a live and interactive experience with the instructor, and a taste of the Yale Coursera Connected Leadership course (from Self to Team to System) but with a Sustainability focus.
Improve your ability to get the most out of life, and be the best sustainability leader you can be. You will learn a simple and powerful practice to reflect on your purpose, clarify priorities, visualize your potential, and maximize your effectiveness at progressing toward your goals.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional, just starting out, or at a fork in your leadership journey, this workshop will provide you with tools to help you succeed.
BONUS: A lucky participant will be selected for a FREE 1-1 coaching session with Peter at the end of the session.
—————
Climate Action: Equitable Resilience Solutions
Thursday, October 17
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0qO8iWRATz2b568BNmLXZg#/registration
Yesteryear’s strategies are not suitable for a climate-changed future. In addition to greenhouse gas mitigation, leaders are seeking new solutions to address growing physical climate impacts from extreme heat to river flooding, wildfires to drought, coastal storms to sea level rise. There are opportunities for every sector to be part of creating safety, stability, and security in the face of climate change disruption. Join Joyce Coffee, founder and president of Climate Resilience Consulting, for this lecture.
—————
U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Evolving financing structures in the energy transition
Thursday, October 17
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eA8j6KY1T9Ks_jaBlCv4Lw#/registration
Are you interested in learning more about financing and investments related to the clean energy transition? This webinar features a panel of leaders working on financing clean energy. Hear about the global developments of project finance in the energy transition space and listen to the panel examine
Are you interested in learning more about financing and investments related to the clean energy transition? This webinar features a panel of leaders working on financing clean energy. Hear about the global developments of project finance in the energy transition space and listen to the panel examine the challenges of transitioning to clean energy, availability, supply chain issues and the deployment of financing. The panel will also discuss collateral security packages, fiscal treatment of foreign investments in the United States, and related topics.
You are also invited to an optional informal networking session with the panelists to be held immediately following the webinar. This session will provide a chance for more Q&A, interaction, and career-path-based questions and advice. When registering for the webinar, please indicate if you are interested in the networking session to receive the separate networking session Zoom link.
—————
Drawdown Roadmap
Thursday, October 17
7 - 8pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drawdown-roadmap-tickets-1012473885647
Given the many possible solutions to combat climate change, how do we focus our efforts, create the most effective plan & make a difference?
You may know that there are many possible solutions to combat climate change. But, how do we focus our efforts, create the most effective plan and really make a difference on climate before it’s too late? The Drawdown Roadmap is a science-based strategy for accelerating climate solutions, pointing to which climate actions governments, businesses, investors, philanthropists, community organizations, and others should prioritize to make the most of our efforts to stop climate change. Attend this 4-week course to understand the roadmap, and consider how to actualize it in your business, community organization, investments and more. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com for more information.
—————
SOGIESC Inclusion for Sustainable Development Webinar
Friday, October 18
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TLsw2hWXRkqq1R15Qas0PA#/registration
Event Description: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people across the globe experience discrimination and exclusion due to their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). In many countries across the world, LGBTI people lack legal protections and regulations that can underpin their inclusion and effective participation in social, economic, civil, and political spaces. In the absence of inclusive and protective legal frameworks, LGBTI people continue to face structural barriers and lack equal access to education, health, employment, and social and political participation, and consequently, socioeconomic development opportunities. Evidence from various parts of the world increasingly suggests that legal and structural barriers to LGBTI people’s inclusion in social and economic spaces are resulting in poor development and economic outcomes.
This panel will bring together experts from the World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) to discuss the global and regional trends and challenges to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) inclusion and the emerging efforts by multilateral development banks (MDBs) to foster LGBTI-inclusive development.
Speakers and Presenters
Clifton Cortez, Global Adviser on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), World Bank Group;
Diego Garcia Blum, Program Director for the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy;
Francesco Tornieri, Principal Social Development Specialist (Gender and Development), Asian Development Blog Sectors Group;
Samreen Shahbaz, Consultant, World Bank and Asian Development Blog
Contact: Emma Costa
617-495-8629
—————
A Changing Planet Seminar: Psychological Dimensions of Sustainability – Becoming Guides for Change
Friday, October 18
10am EST [15.00 - 16.30 BST]
ICBS UG100 - LTUG, Imperial College Business School, South Kensington Campus, London, UK
And online
RSVP at https://assets-gbr.mkt.dynamics.com/f152573f-fb95-49d8-a928-b8d8e57cc426/digitalassets/standaloneforms/80ffcdd3-7876-ef11-a670-7c1e5203c84f?readableEventId=A_Changing_Planet_Seminar_by_Dr_Rene_Lertzman2307161649
Event speakers: Dr. Renée Lertzma
In this seminar, Dr. Renée Lertzman will share highlights from her research of over twenty years of working closely with leaders, teams and organizations to advance progress on our planet’s most pressing existential threats. Participants will learn about why and how sustainability work is uniquely psychologically charged, and gain specific practices and tools that can help us build resilience, while supporting our stakeholders, collaborators and communities we work with.
About the speaker:
Dr. Renée Lertzman is a researcher, educator and strategist who translates relational psychological insights to change our approach to our planetary crisis. Applying her graduate training as a psychosocial researcher specializing in deep human insights, she designs frameworks and methods, grounded in public health, clinical psychology and neurosciences, that guide people to take action and create impact on climate and sustainability issues. She partners with leaders, founders, teams, start-ups, innovators, companies and organizations across public and private sectors, looking to strengthen climate and sustainability initiatives, and harness the creativity and innovation needed to address our most complex and intractable problems. A popular international keynote speaker, trainer and facilitator, she advises and develops programs with organizations, leaders, and teams across sectors and regions. In 2018, she received an award from the KR Foundation to launch a new initiative called ProjectInsideOut.net, to create tools and resources drawing on psychological insights for existential planetary change. Past and current clients include Google, Johnson & Johnson, VMWare, IKEA, California Academy of Sciences, WWF, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Transport for London, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Renée received her PhD in social sciences from Cardiff University and her MA in communications from UNC Chapel Hill. She can be found at reneelertzman.com
—————
Public Perceptions of “Benefits” and Risks on the Path to Net Zero
Monday, October 21
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Belfer Building, 5th Floor, Bell Hall, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001O09ZIAS&_gl=1*gvzwn8*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNjA3OS4zMC4wLjA.
Deep decarbonization will require all kinds of new industries and technologies, including renewables, critical minerals refining and battery manufacturing, low-carbon fuels, carbon management, and more. What benefits do communities expect from new clean energy projects and infrastructure? What risks do they see in developing new industries, and how do people think about the tradeoffs between these risks and benefits?
Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Holly Buck, a 2024-25 Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow and Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo. Drawing on mixed-methods research conducted in 2023-2024 that involved interviews with community leaders, focus groups with the public, and surveys in five different regions of the United States, Buck will discuss some of the common benefits people identified as desirable, and the obstacles they saw to making those benefits real.
Contact: Liz Hanlon
617-495-5964
—————
Synergies and Co-benefits of a Clean Energy Transition in China
Monday, October 21
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/bradford-seminar-synergies-and-co-benefits-of-a-clean-energy-transition-in-china/
Denise Mauzerall, William S. Tod Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Public and International Affairs and the Environment, will present “Synergies and Co-benefits of a Clean Energy Transition in China.” This seminar will be held in-person (PUID holders only) and available via livestream (open to all).
Mauzerall is the William S. Tod Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Public and International Affairs at Princeton University holding a joint appointment between the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research examines linkages between air pollution origin, transport and impacts, including impacts on human health, food security and climate change. Current research is examining the potential air quality and climate benefits of increased penetration of renewable energy and natural gas in China, evaluating methane leakage from abandoned oil and gas wells, and examining the impact of climate change on global air quality. She teaches courses at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels on ‘Global Environmental Issues’, ‘Climate Change, Science and Policy’, and various aspects of sustainability.
—————
The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet
Monday, October 21
4 - 6pm EDT
Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, 111 Cummington Mall #Suite 149 Boston, MA 02215
And online
RSVP at https://gdpcenter.org/Christophers-In-Person-Book-Talk for in person and https://gdpcenter.org/Fall24-GEGI-Book-Talk for online
On Mon., Oct. 21 from 4:00-6:00PM, join us for a hybrid event featuring Brett Christophers, Professor of Human Geography, Uppsala University
Green electricity is key to curbing climate change, but while prices of solar and wind power have tumbled, the golden era of renewables has yet to materialize.
What if the problem is not that transitioning to renewables is too expensive, but that saving the planet is not sufficiently profitable?
In “The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet,” Brett Christophers argues that the global economy is moving too slowly toward sustainability because the return on green investment is too low.
He makes the case that markets and the private sector cannot be expected to solve the climate crisis while the profits that are their lifeblood remain unappetizing. But there is an alternative to providing surrogate green profits through subsidies, he writes: take energy out of the private sector's hands.
On Monday, October 21 from 4:00-6:00PM, join us for a hybrid event featuring Brett Christophers, Professor of Human Geography at Uppsala University’s Institute for Housing and Urban Research, on his book and why the market won’t solve the climate crisis.
—————
Power Shift: Keynote Conversation with Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer
Monday, October 21
7 PM ET
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-power-shift-symposium-opening-event
Melissa Hoffer is Massachusetts’ first climate chief—the only state climate chief in the country. In this cabinet-level position, Hoffer is responsible for climate leadership across the whole of state government, leading the advancement of the commonwealth’s climate innovation, mitigation, adaptation, and resilience policies. A Day 1 political appointee in the Biden Administration, Hoffer served as acting general counsel and principal deputy general counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. Previously, she was chief of the environmental Protection division and chief of the energy and environment bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. Hoffer has also worked for the Conservation Law Foundation and as a litigator and environmental lawyer at WilmerHale. She holds a JD from Northeastern University School of Law, a certificate in environmental management from Tufts University, an MEd from the University of Massachusetts, and a BA from Hampshire College.
—————
Break Big Biomass - A National Call To Action
Monday, October 21
8 - 9:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/break-big-biomass-a-national-call-to-action-tickets-1020547453907
Join us for an urgent and transformative online rally and national call to action. Discover the truth about industrial biomass energy.
Agenda
Biomass Basics
We'll explain what large-scale biomass energy is. Who the key players are. We'll share our urgent call to action.
Community ConcernsHear directly from frontline voices. Our panel will include community members from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and the US West Coast.
Pollution and Public Health
Meet Dr. Erika Walker. The lead researcher from Brown University studying the health impacts of biomass pollution. Joining her will be Heather Hililaker from Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). SELC recently surveyed 5 communitites across 4 states living near biomass plants.
Climate and Biodiversity Impacts
Learn how the biomass industry makes the climate crisis worse. Understand how biodiversity is threatened by forest destruction and pollution.
Take Action
We'll give you clear guidance and important actions. This is your chance to help break big biomass.
—————
Power Shift: Energy Innovation, Sustainability, and Equity
Tuesday, October 22
9:30 AM ET
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2024-power-shift-symposium
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—adopted by all member states of the United Nations—emphasizes “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.” Familiar alternative technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and lithium storage cannot, however, meet the challenge alone, in either capacity or equity.
Pursuing a sustainable energy agenda necessitates producing energy more efficiently, more locally, and less harmfully to the environment and our communities. Our energy future requires radical innovations in energy production and distribution, with an emphasis on the equitable division of benefits and burdens across global and local communities.
Fortunately, exciting new developments at the frontiers of science and engineering—from fusion and hydrogen fuel to micro-fission and decarbonized global shipping—are paving the way for an energy revolution. Technologies first imagined in science fiction are fast becoming practicable realities. These developments can also help overcome the geographic constraints, socioeconomic inequities, and disparate impacts of current energy policy. The 2024 Harvard Radcliffe Institute science symposium will bring together scientists, public officials, industry leaders, environmental justice advocates, and behavioral scientists to investigate an equitable energy revolution, critical to the future of our planet.
—————
Religion and Democratic Ideals: Rematriation, Land, and Healing
Tuesday, October 22
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_x8fhzr1OTWuwxPcRucUXFQ#/registration
A liberal democracy should produce societies that are inclusive, equitable, dynamic, and responsive to the needs of citizens. This series will focus on where religion intersects with democratic ideals and institutions. We will discuss the outcomes we want from a democratic system and how such an analysis can help us construct pathways to achieving those goals.
This fourth session, "Rematriation, Land, and Healing," features co-founder of Women of Bears Ears, Cynthia Wilson, and board member of Women of Bears Ears, Doreen Bird. Assistant Dean for RPL, Hussein Rashid, will act as moderator.
How we steward our land—and the lands of others—brings up essential questions of belonging, indigeneity, and spiritual and political governance. How do different types of stewardship impact how we enact democracy in and with the land we occupy? This session examines how we relate to the natural world around us and the possibilities—and obstacles—for strengthening those relationships through our democratic institutions.
Read this Q&A with Hussein Rashid, assistant dean for RPL, about the series and register for all four events: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/09/17/religion-and-democratic-ideals-a-series-of-public-online-conversations
CONTACT rpl@hds.harvard.edu
—————
Advancing Climate Justice: Integrating Fairness into Policy and Practice
Wednesday, October 23
8:45am EDT [2:45 PM - 3:45 PM CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://fsr.eui.eu/event/advancing-climate-justice-integrating-fairness-into-policy-and-practice/
Join us for the second instalment of the FSR Insights series’ quarterly theme “Securing Europe’s Energy Future”
Kian Mintz-Woo from University College Cork will present insights from his co-authored paper, which explores a proposed justice framework to address the complex implications of climate change and decarbonization.
The discussion will address key aspects such as the distribution of responsibilities among nations, the role of ethical considerations in policy-making, and practical approaches to implementing fair climate actions. The study emphasizes the need for deeper integration of these principles into climate scenario research to better inform policy-making and ensure fairer outcomes in tackling global climate challenges. Dr. Mintz-Woo will provide concrete examples to illustrate how fairness can be incorporated into climate policies to ensure both effectiveness and equity.
Philippe Delacote from INRAE, Amaia Palencia Esteban from LSE, and Jacopo Cammeofrom FSR will provide their insights and critiques, enriching the conversation with diverse perspectives. Moderated by Marzia Sesini and Nicolò Rossetto from FSR, the session will invite audience participation, encouraging an engaging and thought-provoking dialogue.
Keynote Speaker Kian Mintz-Woo | University College Cork
Discussants
Philippe Delacote | INRAE
Jacopo Cammeo | FSR
Amaia Palencia-Esteban | LSE
Moderators
Marzia Sesini | FSR
Nicolò Rossetto | FSR
—————
Does Counter-Terrorism Work?
Wednesday, October 23
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fisher Family Commons, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://wcfia.harvard.edu/event/special-event-richard-english-10-23-2024
SPEAKER(S) Richard English
Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast; Director, Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
Moderator
Melani Cammett, Director, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Identity Politics. Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government, Harvard University.
Does Counter-Terrorism Work? offers an historically grounded, systematic, and expert interrogation of the effectiveness of state responses to terrorist violence from one of the world's leading experts on terrorism. —Oxford University Press
Richard English, member of the Weatherhead Center Advisory Committee, is director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice at Queen's University Belfast. His books include the award-winning studies Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2003) and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (2006). His most recent books are Does Terrorism Work? A History (2016), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism (coedited, 2019), and The Cambridge History of Terrorism (edited, 2021). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Honorary Fellow of Keble College Oxford, a Faculty Affiliate at the University of Chicago, and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. In 2018 he was awarded a CBE for services to the understanding of modern-day terrorism and political history. In 2019 he was awarded the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal in the Social Sciences.
CONTACT INFO Sarah Banse, Event Manager
sarahbanse@wcfia.harvard.eduD
—————
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures
Wednesday, October 23
6:00 PM ET (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ayana-elizabeth-johnson-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1017550560117
Cost: $40.00 (book included); $12.00 (admission only)
Harvard Book Store welcomes Ayana Elizabeth Johnson—marine biologist, policy expert, co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, and the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College—for a discussion of her new book What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures.
About What If We Get It Right?
Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side. This provocative and joyous book maps an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures.
Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data, poetry, and art, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take—from every one of us, with whatever we have to offer—to create.
If you haven’t yet been able to picture a transformed and replenished world—or to see yourself, your loved ones, and your community in it—this book is for you. If you haven’t yet found your role in shaping this new world or you’re not sure how we can actually get there, this book is for you.
With grace, humor, and humanity, Johnson invites readers to ask and answer this ultimate question together: What if we get it right?
—————
The Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit 2024
Thursday, October 24
8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts, 02143
And online
RSVP at https://lu.ma/0ihoo8qi?from=embed
Cost: $0 - $200
Now in its fifth year, the Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit is the ultimate celebration of climate-focused entrepreneurship and innovation. Climatetech entrepreneurs are developing the solutions that are the core of global decarbonization, yet they need support and partnership from investors, corporates, policymakers, and the growing climatetech workforce in order to scale their critical technologies. The energy transition is here, and the climatetech ecosystem needs your involvement to propel climatetech out into the world.
On Oct. 22 in Houston and Oct. 24 in Boston, we’re inviting you, your colleagues, and all the climate champions in your life to step into our incubators for a day of hands-on exploration with our 200+ startups and their climatetech solutions; keynotes and sessions featuring leaders across climatetech, finance, policy, and equity; and networking with key climate-action trailblazers.
Throughout the event, we’ll shine a spotlight on the momentum our startups, corporate partners, and ecosystem champions have been building together, how these collaborations will chart the course for climatetech deployment, and how everyone can play a role in commercializing climate technologies.
—————
Accelerating the Transition to Zero-Emission Transportation
Thursday, October 24
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bCKCZqJDRASdJNtn_YJ3ww#/registration
Transportation is the largest source of climate pollution in the U.S., the Northeast, and Massachusetts. Jordan Stutt, the senior director at CALSTART Northeast Region, will discuss how innovative technologies, policies, business models, and partnerships are supporting the shift away from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.
—————
Cope, Adapt, Thrive: Ensuring Our Shared Future on a Hot and Hostile Planet
Thursday, October 24
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, S010, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://wcfia.harvard.edu/event/jodidi-2024-mckenna
SPEAKER(S) Tjada D'Oyen McKenna
Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps
Moderator
Melani Cammett
Director, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Identity Politics; Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government, Harvard University.
The last five years have illuminated our growing global interconnectedness: from the pandemic to volatile food prices and shortages to global tech outages. As we enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century, the twin threats of climate change and conflict are now converging with urgent global consequences for all: destruction of food systems and livelihoods; mass displacement and migration; and fierce competition over depleting natural resources. This convergence has unraveled decades of progress and strained our global systems to their breaking point. It is no coincidence that the world’s most worrisome hotspots are mired in conflict alongside the worst real-time impacts of climate change. Our hotter and more hostile world requires a bold new agenda for a shared humanity. Neither conflict nor climate change can be ignored or addressed by individual nations acting alone and in self-interest. Neither can we address climate change or conflict separately, as if they are somehow disconnected global challenges with divergent impacts and solutions. We must come together and partner with those most impacted by conflict and on the frontlines of climate change to forge innovative, cross-sector solutions born from communities themselves to build a better world where everyone can thrive.
The lecture will be followed by a public reception. Wine and cheese will be provided in the CGIS South concourse outside Tsai Auditorium.
CONTACT INFO Sarah Banse
Event Manager
sarahbanse@wcfia.harvard.edu
—————
Harvard Diversity Discussion on Environmental Racism
Thursday, October 24
6:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tceGvqTMtEtYzCWbZAgwgnQHpe9i99nJq#/registration
Join us in a group discussion of shared experiences and personal opinions (with no presentations or breakouts) on Environmental Racism: Examples and Prospects
—————
Green AI Summit at Harvard
Saturday, October 26
9am - 7pm EDT
Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-ai-summit-at-harvard-tickets-949361715447
Cost: $0 -$90
Green AI Summit focus on the impact of AI on the environment, climate change, clean energy technology, and green investment
Global issues such as climate change, energy pollution, and resource scarcity have closely linked the fate of all humanity. In-depth cooperation and communication across industries and borders are key to solving these complex problems. Against this backdrop, the U.S.-Asia Sustainable Development Foundation has organized a series of summit events, creating a cross-border cooperation platform that encompasses multiple dimensions such as academia, technology, business, and social policy. These efforts aim to advance the common goal of sustainable development worldwide.
This April, we successfully hosted the inaugural U.S.-Asia Sustainable Development Summit at Harvard University. The summit attracted many experts and leaders from academia, industry, and policymaking, fostering cutting-edge exchanges and cooperation between industry and academia. Through a series of panel discussions, workshops, and lectures, participants delved into the latest research findings and practical experiences in the field of sustainable development. The summit received positive feedback from various sectors and laid a solid foundation for future interdisciplinary cooperation.
On October 26th, we will meet again at Harvard for the second major summit of the year, continuing our in-depth discussions with senior experts on cutting-edge topics in sustainable development. This summit will focus on the impact of AI on the environment, climate change, clean energy technologies, and green investments, exploring the latest advancements in these areas and how they can promote environmental protection, energy transformation, and sustainable production and consumption patterns. The summit will feature a series of roundtable discussions, results announcements, and expert lectures, showcasing the results of Sino-American cooperation in the field of climate change, analyzing the environmental impact of artificial intelligence, and discussing how green financial innovation can promote sustainable development.
Through this summit, we aim to connect industry, academia, the financial sector, and policymakers from the U.S. and Asia to provide a platform for exploring solutions to global environmental challenges. If you are passionate about sustainable development, looking forward to addressing climate change, and keen to learn about the latest trends in energy conservation and green investments, we warmly invite you to stay tuned for UASDF news and participate in the summit to become part of driving a green future!
Info about the event: https://www.greenai.institute/summit
—————
Land Use and the Role of Biomass in Achieving Net Zero Greenhouse Emissions
Monday, October 28
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001NvbJIAS&_gl=1*t0mds5*_gcl_au*MTMzMjg5MTI1Mi4xNzIxOTMzMzIz*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTcyNjgwNTM1Ny40LjEuMTcyNjgwNjM3MS42MC4wLjA.
Clean energy systems require land for solar arrays, wind turbines, transmission lines, and other infrastructure, but biofuel feedstocks occupy by far the largest area of land dedicated to energy production.
Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Dan Lashof, the Director of World Resources Institute, United States. Lashof will discuss how the United States could achieve net zero emissions by mid-century in a world with increasing pressure on available land to feed a growing global population, preserve biodiversity, and sequester carbon.
Contact: Liz Hanlon
617-495-5964
—————
Environmental justice concerns with carbon capture and sequestration in the US power sector and beyond
Monday, October 28
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/bradford-seminar-environmental-justice-concerns-with-carbon-capture-and-sequestration-in-the-us-power-sector-and-beyond/
Yukyan Lam, director of Research and a senior scientist at the Tishman Environment and Design Center, New School University, NYC, will present “Environmental justice concerns with carbon capture and sequestration in the US power sector and beyond.” This seminar will be held in-person (PUID holders only) and available via livestream (open to all).
Lam is the Director of Research and a Senior Scientist at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School University, where she helps develop and manage the Center’s research portfolio. She is a social and behavioral public health scientist trained in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with a background as a former international human rights lawyer. Yukyan’s recent work with the Tishman Center has focused on investigating the impacts of climate change mitigation policies and technologies on environmental justice communities and advancing approaches to address cumulative impacts in permitting. She was the 2019 recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Rebecca A. Head Award, which recognizes an emerging leader working at the nexus of science, policy, and environmental justice. Yukyan holds a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law.
—————
Making Decarbonization Financing Work for Homeowners and Contractors
Tuesday, October 29
3-4 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-making-decarbonization-financing-work-for-homeowners-and-contractors/
In single-family homes, it’s often cheaper and more convenient to replace a gas or oil furnace with the same equipment than to upgrade to an efficient heat pump.
This webinar presents new findings from RMI’s Making Decarbonization Financing Work for Homeowners and Contractors report, featuring real-world perspectives from experts in home energy upgrade financing, contracting, and program design. The panel discusses how to create simpler, more accessible financing options that make electrification a more appealing choice for both homeowners and contractors.
This webinar is for policy makers, program implementers, and advocates interested in how to make financing homeowner- and contractor-focused.
SPEAKERS
RUSSELL UNGER, Principal, Carbon-Free Buildings, RMI
OLIVIA PRIETO, Senior Associate, Carbon-Free Buildings, RMI
ANUJ KHANNA, Founder & CEO, Comfort Connect
DR RICHARDSON, Co-Founder, Elephant Energy
HEATHER CLARK, Assistant Director - Financing Solutions, NYSERDA RESOURCES
—————
Green Building Showcase ’24
Tuesday, October 29
4 - 9:30pm EDT
1 Boston Wharf Road, Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://builtenvironmentplus.org/event/be-green-building-showcase-2024/
Once a year, the Built Environment Plus community gathers to celebrate industry success in greening the built environment at our annual Green Building Showcase.
Join us for a night of project boards, short presentations, discussions, and awards. Attendees include architects, engineers, contractors, developers, owners, facility managers, building users, lenders, suppliers – everyone who plays a role in designing, operating, and constructing the built environment.
—————
Rethinking construction: Learning from the past to design a better future
Tuesday, October 29
6pm to 8pm
MIT, Building 7, 7-429, 77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
And online
RSVP at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mitarchitecture/1389113 and watch at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF0b_PC-cvPzv6Us56S6rtA
Architecture Lecture Series: Philippe Block
Following the motto “strength through geometry” and the principles of traditional unreinforced masonry construction, this lecture will show how translating the (lost) knowledge of the Gothic master builders into today’s praxis results in truly sustainable, circular and economical structures, addressing climate change by significantly reducing embodied emissions, utilising fewer single-use resources and minimising construction waste.
Philippe Block is Full Professor of Architecture and Structures and head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) at ETH Zurich, where he co-leads the Block Research Group (BRG) with Dr. Tom Van Mele. He is also the director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) on Digital Fabrication. He studied architecture and structural engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium and at MIT, where he under the guidance of Prof. John Ochsendorf earned a SMArchS in 2005 and a PhD in 2009.
The BRG develops sustainable and circular construction solutions through the advancement of computational structural design and innovation in digital fabrication and construction. Specific expertise includes computational form finding, discrete masonry, graphic statics, architectural and structural geometry, digital fabrication and construction, and open-source computation.
Philippe and Tom translate their research into practice, with the consultancy Foreign Engineering and the ETH spin-off VAULTED. Most significant is the development and commercialisation of the Rippmann Floor System (RFS), a low-carbon-footprint, fully circular prefabricated concrete floor solution.
—————
Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation
Tuesday, October 29
6:30 PM ET (Doors at 6:00) Location
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/greg-m-epstein-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-971162542307
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Greg M. Epstein—Humanist Chaplain at Harvard & MIT—for a discussion of his new book Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation. He will be joined in conversation by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein—Associate Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire.
About Tech Agnostic
Today's technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT's influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith. Encouraging readers to reassert their common humanity beyond the seductive sheen of “tech,” this book argues for tech agnosticism—not worship—as a way of life. Without suggesting we return to a mythical pre-tech past, Epstein shows why we must maintain a freethinking critical perspective toward innovation until it proves itself worthy of our faith or not.
Epstein asks probing questions that center humanity at the heart of engineering: Who profits from an uncritical faith in technology? How can we remedy technology's problems while retaining its benefits? Showing how unbelief has always served humanity, Epstein revisits the historical apostates, skeptics, mystics, Cassandras, heretics, and whistleblowers who embody the tech reformation we desperately need. He argues that we must learn how to collectively demand that technology serve our pursuit of human lives that are deeply worth living.
In our tumultuous era of religious extremism and rampant capitalism, Tech Agnostic offers a new path forward, where we maintain enough critical distance to remember that all that glitters is not gold—nor is it God.
—————
Military Power and Ideological Appeals of Religious Extremists
Wednesday, October 30
12-1:30pm
Online
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ
Luwei Ying, University of California, Los Angeles
The proliferation of terrorist propaganda threatens societies worldwide. Yet, we know little about violent extremists' strategy in disseminating their ideologies. Luwei Ying will present a paper that studies the ideological appeals of jihadi groups, among the most prominent contemporary conflict movements, and shows how these groups navigate between religious and secular narratives in response to the fluctuations in their military power. Weaker groups must prioritize their core believers and foreground a more radical religious ideal, while stronger groups seek broader support from more moderate individuals and thus pitch themselves more secularly. Ying illustrates this dynamic with an original database of 87 magazines published regularly by 35 jihadi groups from 1984 to 2019. Further, the research leverages approximately 6 million tweets from 21,000 ISIS-related accounts in 2015 to examine the jihadists' mobilization efforts regarding different audiences. Overall, the article demonstrates that violent groups put more emphasis on their ideological brand when they are militarily weaker.
Bio:
Luwei Ying is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis in 2022. She also received a B.A. in international Politics and a B.A. in Journalism & Communication (with honors) from Tsinghua University.
Ying studies international relations, with a focus on civil conflict and political violence, and quantitative political methodology. Specifically, her research examines how militant organizations propagate ideologies to mobilize, recruit, and exercise control over individual members and how these ideological strategies fit into the groups’ broader military agendas. Corresponding to this focus on ideology, her methodological work advances text-as-data methods that facilitate the measurement of ideology from text corpora. Another set of projects analyze the importance of territorial control for states and non-state groups in conflict. This research spans her work on the determinants of transnational terrorism, the consequences of modern state expansion, as well as the historical legacies of border institutions. Overall, her research provides a more comprehensive understanding of modern warfare and the violent actors involved.
Ying received the 2022 Peace Science Society (International) Walter Isard Award for the best dissertation in Peace Science (over a 2 year period). Her papers have been awarded the Best Paper in International Relations Award, the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper presented at the 2019 MPSA Conference, and the Best Poster Award (Application) at the PolMeth XXXVII Summer Meeting. Her published work has appeared in American Political Science Review, Political Analysis, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution.
—————
Careers in Climate Action Speaker Series: Careers in Innovative Technologies and Health in Hard to Abate Sectors
Wednesday, October 30
6 – 8 p.m.
Salata Institute, HKS Belfer Floor 3.5, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/30decf7d-23fd-43ea-b1f2-cecde386b36d/regProcessStep1
SPEAKER(S) Christopher Chantre, Co-Founder and CEO of Tender Food
Sorin Grama, Co-Founder of Transaera and Greentown Labs
Adele Houghton DrPH ’23, President of Biositu
Ramon Sanchez ScD ’11, Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer, Tribal Alliance for Clean Energy and Instructor at Harvard Extension School
Join us on October 30th, to hear from Christopher Chantre, Co-Founder and CEO of Tender Food, Sorin Grama Co-Founder of Transaera and Greentown Labs, Adele Houghton DrPH ‘23, President of Biositu, and Ramon Sanchez ScD ’11, Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer, Tribal Alliance for Clean Energy and Instructor at Harvard Extension School, on careers in innovative technologies and health in hard to abate sectors.
—————
Rewilding the Northeast: The Case for Untrammeled Nature in a Changing World
Wednesday, October 30
6:30 - 8pm EDT
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rewilding-the-northeast-the-case-for-untrammeled-nature-in-a-changing-world-registration-1000775976887
Cost: $0 -$25
A lively panel discussion with leaders in Rewilding the Northeast.
Northeast Wilderness Trust invites you to learn about the growing movement to conserve wild nature for biodiversity and a livable climate.
Kelsey Wirth, Co-Founder, Mothers Out Front, and Jon Leibowitz, President and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust, will convene a reception and roundtable with wilderness movement leaders:
Mark Anderson, Director of Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy
Tom Butler, Senior Fellow, Northeast Wilderness Trust
Aaron Mair, “Forever Adirondacks” Director, Adirondack Council
—————
From Tufts to the National Parks of Boston: A Career Connecting People to Parks
Thursday, October 31
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WC4hZPJyQ_eG-Moc3n3eEA#/registration
In this lecture, Marc Albert, director of science and stewardship partnerships for the National Parks of Boston, will discuss how he found his way back into empowerment and public service through connecting community to urban coastal national parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston Harbor. He will detail science and stewardship initiatives on public park lands that demonstrate environmental conservation and community empowerment, and will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of park management in a changing climate.
