Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke@world.std.com
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Monday, April 16
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London-Tuscon: The Art and Politics of Urban Transformation
WHEN Mon., Apr. 16, 2012, 12:30 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Loeb Fellowship at the GSD
SPEAKER(S) Isabel Dedring, deputy mayor for transportation, city of London
Steve Farley, Arizona state legislator from Tuscon, professional designer and public artist, candidate for U.S. House of Representatives
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO syoung@gsd.harvard.edu
NOTE Meet two rising stars of urban policy and politics for a lunch time discussion on the art and politics of progressive urban planning.
LINK http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/loeb-fellows-london-tuscon-transportation-transformation.html
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Challenges of Globalization: Economic Globalization: A Mini-Conference
Monday April 16
@ 2pm Keynote @ 7pm
First Parish (Unitarian Universalist), 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
During consecutive afternoon sessions, speakers explore the impact of globalization of labor, capital, and markets on American workers, investors, and consumers. Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and Demos moderates the public discussion after each talk and the evening keynote address.
2:00 pm Globalization of Labor: Is A race to the Bottom Inevitable?
Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
3:00 pm Globalization of Capital: The Rise of the Multinational
Robert Scott, Economic Policy Institute
4:00 pm Globalization of Markets: Do Corporations Need American Consumers?
Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect
7:00 pm The Globalization Paradox
Harvard's Dani Rodrik discusses effective responses to today's globalized economy. How have nations used the forces of globalization to their advantage in the past?
What options are available to the United States today?
This Program is funded in part by Mass Humanities.
Co-sponsored by Mullane, MIchael & McInnes, Counselors-at-Law
More information at http://www.cambridgeforum.org/
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Alaska & Climate Change
April 16
7:00 pm
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, room Milstein East A, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Lawyers from the Trustees for Alaska will talk about their legal fight over the Pebble Mine case and coal development in Alaska. Headquartered in Anchorage, Trustees for Alaska is Alaska's only public interest environmental law firm, and their work in protecting the arctic ecosystem lies at the center of momentous decisions affecting global climate change. The event will be a wine and cheese gathering.
For more information, and to RSVP, contact Susan Hackley, shackley@law.Harvard.edu
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Tuesday, April 17
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The Arab Uprisings: Underlying Factors, Democratic Transitions and Future Prospects
WHEN Tue., Apr. 17, 2012, 10 – 11:30 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Hall, Room 103, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S) Rami G. Khouri and Samir Makdisi, American University of Beirut
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE This event is open to the public; no registration required.
LINK http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/node/3149
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"The 2012 Presidential Race: Behind the Scenes."
Tuesday, April 17
12 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Speaker Series with Jake Tapper, Senior White House Correspondent, ABC News and a substitute host for ABC's This Week.
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Community-Powered Disaster Recovery: A Brown Bag Presentation by Recovers.Org
WHEN Tue., Apr. 17, 2012, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Taubman 301, Harvard Kennedy School, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on Crisis Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Moderated by Arnold Howitt, executive director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation, and faculty co-director, Program on Crisis Leadership
NOTE Created in the wake of an EF3 tornado, Recovers.org provides free software and support to recovering areas immediately after a disaster. In this brown bag presentation, the organization’s co-founders will discuss how the services Recovers.org provides allow towns to capture the goodwill of people post-disaster and turn it into action amidst the chaos that frequently characterizes early relief and recovery efforts. They will speak about their motivations for creating the organization – and the successes and challenges they’ve experienced navigating the nonprofit, for profit and tech startup scenes.
LINK http://www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/crisisleadership/events
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Unexpected Development: Decolonial Media Aesthetics and Women’s ICT4D Video
Tuesday, April 17, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/04/benfield#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast and archived on our site shortly after.
Dalida Maria Benfield, Berkman Center Fellow
ICT4D (Information Communication Technology for Development) powerfully frames women’s grassroots video production in the Global South, much of which is distributed widely through YouTube. Often, these videos reproduce racialized and gendered discourses - legacies of colonialism - in their narratives of economic, social, and technological progress. However, there are also videos by women’s groups that defy both the historical linearity and spatial fragmentation of the ICT4D framework. These videos instead remix, reclassify, and globally reconnect women’s experiences in the contemporary moment. Culled from hundreds of online videos produced by ICT4D programs, including those in countries classified as having “Low Human Development” according to the Gender Inequality Index of the United Nations Development Program, these media represent powerful instances of a decolonial aesthetics, an altogether unexpected development. These ICT4D videos make compelling claims for other historical narratives and visions for women’s future lives, identities, and uses of information communication technologies.
About Dalida:
Dalida María Benfield's research addresses artists’ and activists’ creative uses of video and other networked digital media towards social justice projects. Her work is focused on the transformational capacities of media art across different scales. As an artist and activist, she has developed production, education, exhibition, and distribution initiatives focused on youth, women, people of color in the U.S., and local and transnational social movements, including co-founding the media collectiveVideo Machete. She received her Ph.D. in 2011 from the University of California-Berkeley in Comparative Ethnic Studies with Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her dissertation, Apparatuses, Globalities, Assemblages: Third Cinema, Now, chaired by Trinh T. Minh-ha, considers contemporary media art theory and practice, including work by Cao Fei, Michelle Dizon, and the Raqs Media Collective, in relation to the Third Cinema movement. As a Fellow at the Berkman Center, she is studying race and gender in the online presence of ICT4D programs, as well as working on collaborative projects with the Networked Cultures Working Group, the Cyberscholars Working Group, and metaLAB(at)Harvard.
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New Contract Types: Revisiting the Methodology of Product Development in Islamic Finance
WHEN Tue., Apr. 17, 2012, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE 2036 Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East A, 1585 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Law School campus
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Islamic Legal Studies Program
SPEAKER(S) Ismail Cebeci, visiting fellow; researcher, Oxford Center for Islamic Studies
CONTACT INFO ilsp@law.harvard.edu
NOTE Reception to follow
LINK http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/section/calendar/gazette-calendar/#/?i=1
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"Balancing Human & Environmental Needs for Water: The Hydromorphology of Human-Hydrologic Interactions"
Tuesday, April 17
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Carr Center Conference Room, Rubenstein Building (Floor 2, Room 219), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
with Professor Richard Vogel of Tufts University
The field of geomorphology deals with the structure and evolution of watershed systems over time (e.g. years, decades and centuries) due to natural and anthropogenic influences. The new field of hydromorphology is related to hydrology in much the same way as geomorphology is related to geology. Due to the pervasive impacts of humans, nearly all watersheds are now subject to some combination of land use, water use and/or climate change influences. This presentation will introduce a number of hydromorphological challenges along with new approaches for dealing with them. Case studies highlight the influence of humans on the hydrologic cycle over broad spatial and temporal scales. It is shown that one must account for the simultaneous interactions among land use, climate and water use to fully understand the influence of humans on the hydrologic cycle, hence there is now a real need to view hydrologic problems in a hydromorphological context. The importance of balancing human and environmental needs for water is stressed, as is the need for us to consider our human right for access to a clean and reliable source of water.
Richard M. Vogel is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Graduate Program in Water: Systems, Science and Society at Tufts University.
Moderator: Sharmila Murthy
Suggested Reading:
Richard Vogel, "Hydromorphology," Editorial, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (March/April 2011).
More about the presenter, Richard M. Vogel:
Professor Vogel received his Ph.D. in Water Resource Systems Engineering from Cornell University and has been a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts University since 1984. His primary expertise is in the areas of water resource engineering with emphasis on hydrologic, hydraulic and statistical methods for analyzing environmental and water resource systems. His current research program focuses upon the areas of hydrologic and environmental statistics, water allocation, regional hydrology, regional water assessment, flood and drought management, climate change impacts, natural hazards as well as watershed modeling and management. He is currently the director of the graduate program in Water: Systems, Science and Society (http://www.tufts.edu/water).
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/hr2w/study_group/StudyGroup_2012_04_17.php
Contact Name: Sharmila L. Murthy
Sharmila_Murthy@hks.harvard.edu
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Neal Stephenson Lecture
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief of MIT Technology Review, will conduct a wide-ranging but informal conversation with science fiction writer Neal Stephenson about his craft, preoccupations, influences, and inspirations. Among the issues they'll discuss: the state and future of hard science fiction and how e-readers are influencing novels. At the end of an hour-long conversation with Pontin, Stephenson will take 30 minutes of questions from the audience. The event will be video taped and an edited version of the interview will appear in the 2012 edition of Technology Review's annual science fiction special issue, TRSF.
Event hashtag on Twitter: #TRSF
Hosted by Technology Review with assistance from the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing.
NOTE: There is no cost to attend but you must register and bring your printed ticket with you.
Web site: http://nealstephenson.eventbrite.com/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: http://nealstephenson.eventbrite.com/
Sponsor(s): Technology Review, Graduate Program in Science Writing
For more information, contact:
Amy Lammers
amy.lammers@technologyreview.com
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Exploring New Materials for Energy Applications with Theory and Computation
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
4:15p–5:30p
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Jeffrey B. Neaton, Director of the Theory of Nanostructured Materials Facility at the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
MITE Seminar Series sponsored by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates
New materials, architectures, and concepts are needed to realize many low-cost, sustainable energy conversion and carbon mitigation applications. Organic semiconductors and transition-metal oxides comprise two promising classes of materials in this respect. Although structurally distinct, organics and oxides share astonishing chemical diversity; highly-localized, sometimes strongly-correlated electronic states; and, in instances, appreciable non-covalent interactions. As such, they provide a broad design space but also significant challenges to contemporary electronic structure theory. In this talk, I will describe theoretical and computational studies, based on first-principles density functional theory and beyond, of organic semiconductors and donor-acceptor interfaces in solar cells; transition metal oxide photocatalysts; and metal-organic frameworks for carbon capture.
Web site: http://mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars/neaton.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact: Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
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Deleterious Me: Whole Genome Sequencing, 23andMe, and the Crowd-Sourced Health Care Revolution
WHEN Tue., Apr. 17, 2012, 5 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Emerson Hall 105, Harvard Yard, 19 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on Science, Technology, and Society, Harvard Kennedy School; co-sponsored by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Graduate School of Design, and Harvard University Center for the Environment
SPEAKER(S) Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder of 23andMe, a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company headquartered in Mountain View, California
CONTACT INFO Lisa Matthews: matthew@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE Moderator: Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard Kennedy School
Commentators: Archon Fung, Harvard Kennedy School, Jeremy Greene, Harvard Medical School and History of Science
· Sanford Kwinter, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School
Recent developments in genomic and communication technologies are prompting shifts in the social, institutional and ethical architectures of biomedicine. Examples include direct-to-consumer genetic testing and crowd-sourced, “citizen-science” epidemiological research using smartphones and the web. These new architectures promise a gold rush of information and biospecimens that may provide a foundation for a more precise, personalized, and targeted medicine. They are also attracting new actors and new modes of participation that have the potential to enhance but also to destabilize established patterns of ethical, legal, and social responsibilities in biomedicine. How will these changing patterns of research and discovery affect citizens, consumers, donors, patients, physicians, researchers, and companies?
LINK http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/lectures/wojcicki.html
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Harvard College Global Energy Initiative Lecture: Jonny Cohen - Named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - 5:30pm
Sever Hall 214, 25 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Jonny is only 16-years old, and he has invented GREENSHIELDS, an aerodynamic shield that attaches to school buses to reduce fuel consumption by 25%.
Sponsored by: Harvard College Global Energy Initiative
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Visualizing Science: The Changing Arctic Ice
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Visualizing Science
A three-part evening series, featuring panel discussions with MIT researchers about the power of images in science.
PART II - The Changing Arctic Ice
Explore the Arctic ice cap with photographer Chris Linder and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist John Toole. See stunning images from the pole, explore the latest data from deep beneath the cap???s surface, and find out how such information can be used to forecast global environmental change.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:
Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu
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My 5 Dinners with Ahmadinejad: Iran, Nuclear Weapons, the Middle East
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Buildling 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Jim Walsh, MIT Security Studies Program
A nuclear armed Iran? An Israeli military strike?
Facts and myths about Iran and its nuclear program will be discussed.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, Global Zero
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GreenPort Forum
Tuesday, April 17
7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Ave at Magazine Street, Cambridge
Emergency Preparedness Part 2: Continuing the Conversation. Following up on last month's Forum, an open discussion of ways to work together as a community to prepare for climate-related emergencies. What are practical ways to start practicing mutual aid? How can we increase our reliance on sustainable local resources? How can we learn to live well while consuming less? What appropriate technologies can make us more resilient as we face extreme weather, rising ocean levels, and new scarcities? Bring your ideas and your spirit of resilience! Presentations on emergency preparation from the March Forum will be summarized for the benefit of those who were not able to attend.
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CafeSciBoston's Energy Cafe: "Why haven't we solved the energy problem yet?"
Tuesday
7:00pm until 8:30pm
Middlesex Lounge, 315 massachusetts ave, Cambridge
Presented by Matthew Pearlson and Michael Hagerty
Moderators: Graham Veth and Rachel Gesserman
Americans consume more energy per capita than any other civilization on earth. Most of that energy comes from fossil fuels, a finite resources that contributes to global climate change. Reducing fossil fuel use increases domestic security and can reduce environmental impact. However, changing the way our country fuels itself after more than a hundred years of industrial development is complex and difficult. This presentation will attempt to demystify the size of the issue and answer audience questions about the energy system.
About the speakers: Matthew Pearlson and Michael Hagerty are chemical engineers who researched energy systems for their master's degrees in the Technology and Policy program at MIT.
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Nerd Nite
Tuesday April 17, 2012
8pm
Oberon in Harvard Square, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
(Note special night and venue!)
Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money
Advance tickets on sale: http://www.cluboberon.com/events/nerd-nite
Special Feature: Premier of the short film “Pie Heaven” by Aviv Rubinstein
Talk 1. “Who needs friends when you’ve got Google? How Google is reshaping our minds, relationships, and ideas about the self.”
by Adrian Ward
Talk 2. “Subatomic Screenwriting and The Psychology of the Moving Picture”
by Aviv Rubinstein
More information at http://boston.nerdnite.com/
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Wednesday, April 18
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M-RCBG Seminar. "Single-Payer Healthcare Reform in Vermont: Is it Economically Sustainable?"
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Fainsod Room, 3rd Floor, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S) Timothy Christian, professor of medicine, University of Vermont, and Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@ksg.harvard.edu
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Energy 101: Wind
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
12:30p–1:30p
MIT, Building 2-135, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Alex Kalmikov
This talk will present an overview on the science, technology and economics of wind energy.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
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"HBO in the 21st Century."
Wednesday, April 18
12 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
A conversation with Richard Plepler, co-president of HBO. Moderated byAlex Jones, Shorenstein Center Director.
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China Urban Development Discussion Series | Urbanization: Regional & Spatial Transformation
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
1:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building 9-354
Speaker: Professor Weiping Wu, Dept. of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University; Discussant: Professor Amy Glasmeier, Head and Professor of Geography and Regional Planning, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
China Urban Development Discussion Series
China's cities are home to 10 percent of the world's population today. They display unprecedented dynamism under the country's surging economic power. Although China's urban transformation is in some ways comparable to what industrialized countries have gone through in the past, the outcomes -- particular patterns of development, the nature of urbanism, interactions between urban and rural -- necessarily are quite different. This presentation will focus on two aspects: how rapid urbanization has reconfigured the urban system across regions and urban space across social strata. How might reform policies and inter-city economic competition change the urban system? What are the key dimensions of disparity within and across cities? An overarching theme points to increasing double divide in urban China.
Please RSVP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Y5F8YQ. Complimentary lunch will be served at 12:30 pm in 9-554; talk starts at 1:00 pm and ends by 2:30 pm in 9-354.
Web site: http://dusp.mit.edu/cud/cud_series.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Graduate Student Life Grants, China Urban Development
For more information, contact: Shan Jiang
shanjang@mit.edu
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The International Human Rights Movement
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 2 – 3 p.m.
WHERE Wasserstein Hall 3013, Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
SPEAKER(S) Aryeh Neier, president of the Open Society Foundations and co-founder of Human Rights Watch
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://hausercenter.harvard.edu/
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Environmental Regulations and Corruption: Automobile Emissions in Mexico City
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Paulina Oliva (Santa Barbara)
Web site: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/7735
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Development and Environmental Economics Workshop
For more information, contact: Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu
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Oxford-style Debate: "Libraries are Obsolete"
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 3 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Comedy, Conferences, Humanities, Information Technology, Lecture, Special Events, Working@Harvard
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Library Strategic Conversations; co-organized by Donna Viscuglia, Emily Baldoni, Linda Collins, Krista Ferrante, Marc McGee, and Hugh Truslow
SPEAKER(S) Professor Jonathan Zittrain will chair the debate, with James Tracy and Professor R. David Lankes speaking in favor of the motion, and Professor John G. Palfrey and Susan Hildreth arguing in opposition.
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Donna Viscuglia: dviscugl@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE The format of the debate is similar to that of the House of Commons and is known for combining a degree of wit and whimsy with serious argumentation. The debate will take up the controversial and timely proposition that "Libraries are Obsolete."
Also participating in the event are student speakers Sanhita Dey, and Rishav Mukherji, both of the Harvard Speech & Parliamentary Debate Society.
The Harvard Library Strategic Conversations planning committee is made up of volunteer members of the library community. Our mission is to engage library colleagues in open, community-driven discussion about the future of libraries.
LINK http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/yopc/
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Can We See Earthquakes Before They Happen?
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Brendan Meade, Center for the Environment, Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
EAPS Department Lecture Series
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/lectures
Open to: the general public
Cost: $0.00
Tickets: N/A
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact:
Jacqui Taylor
617-253-2127
jtaylor@mit.edu
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Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy: "Impacts of Mexico's National Payments for Ecosystem Services Program"
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Kennedy School, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Sustainability
SPEAKER(S) Katharine Sims
LINK http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k82245&pageid=icb.page443881
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Whither Nanotechnology?
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Boston College , Merkert 127, 2609 Beacon Street, Chestnut Hill
Professor Charles M. Lieber, Mark Hyman Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard
Contact: Terri Wallace
terri.wallace@bc.edu
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The Open Fuels Standard: Solving the Chicken-and-Egg or Just Plain "Foul"?
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Tom Stricker, Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs, and Energy and Environmental Research Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Recent attention has been given to expanding the portfolio of gasoline and diesel alternatives. The result is significant discussion around the "Open Fuel Standard" which would require that vehicles be capable of using a range of ethanol and methanol blends, and encourage or force the sale of other alternatives: hydrogen, electricity, CNG, etc. Academic analysis has suggested that achieving substantial biofuels and methanol expansion is a matter of creating new government policies, mandates, and subsidies to overcome the technical issues of alcohol fuel production and the practical issues challenges of the "chicken and egg" deployment hurdle. Some of these policies fail to fully appreciate the technical, cost, and liability issues that will be imposed on the automotive and fuel industry. Perhaps more importantly, these policies assume that major breakthroughs in clean fuel production methods are inevitable. What can the lessons of less complex fuel initiatives tell us about the merits of the Open Fuel Standard? Is this the most effective pathway for industry and the fuel providers, or will it undermine and divert critical mass from other technologies? Will it provide the opportunity for consumers to select preferable technologies? Why does this particular approach warrant actions vis-a-vis other potential options? The topic certainly merits a rigorous debate and analysis that engages all components of the transportation/energy system prior to legislative action.
Web site: http://mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars/stricker.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
For more information, contact: Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
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Kerry Kennedy - Speak Truth to Power: Take Action for Human Rights
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME Amber DiNatale
CONTACT EMAIL askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE 617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture, Special Events
NOTE Introduction: Kathleen McCartney, dean and Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development, HGSE
Speaker: Kerry Kennedy, president, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
Kerry Kennedy will talk about Speak Truth To Power, a project of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. This multi-faceted global initiative uses the experiences of courageous defenders from around the world to educate students and others about human rights, and urge them to take action. Defender programs include civic and moral education, and safe learning environments as a human rights issue for children.
This event is free and open to the public. No ticket or registration is required. Seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.
This event will be live-streamed. Please check back the day of the event for the live-stream link.
Want to win a reserved seat for this forum? Become a fan of the Ed School on Facebook (www.facebook.com/harvardeducation) and watch for a posting about this event.
Connect with Us:
Tweeting at an Askwith Forum? Use the #Askwith hashtag.
Attending a Forum? Check in on Foursquare (www.foursquare.com/hgse)
For more information on Askwith Forums, please visit our Frequently Asked Questionspage.
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Curate Your Own Experience: Community Engagement Through Culture
WHEN Wed., Apr. 18, 2012, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Belfer Building, Weil Town Hall (BL1), Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK St. Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Dennis Scholl, vice president of arts, Knight Foundation
DIRECTED BY Wine and cheese reception to follow
COST Free and open to the public
TICKET WEB LINK http://hausercenter.harvard.edu
LINK http://hausercenter.harvard.edu
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Economic & Technical Analysis of Wind Assets
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 4-144, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Mr. Shaheer Hussam '03 and Dr. Cegeon Chan '09 of First Wind Energy, LLC
The Wind Community of the MIT Energy Club presents Economic & Technical Analysis of Wind Assets.
There are many different avenues in developing a utility scale wind farm. In the first part of this talk, we will discuss key pieces to the development process, with a focus on the evaluation of project economics. A case study will follow describing a project acquisition process.
In the second part of the talk, we will go over some of the "surprises" that have been found once the wind farm has been built.
Shaheer Hussam is a Manager at First Wind where he focuses on project M&A and strategic initiatives. Prior to First Wind, Shaheer was at GenPower Holdings, a power asset investment joint venture with First Reserve. Shaheer holds a bachelors in mechanical engineering from MIT. Cegeon Chan, PhD is a Wind Resource Manager for First Wind Energy, LLC. His main responsibility is improving the long-term projections made in energy assessments. Dr. Chan has served on the American Meteorogical Society's Renewable Energy Sub-committee for the last three years. Dr. Chan graduated with a BS in Meteorology and BA in Mathematics from Lyndon State College. After a year as an on-air TV meteorologist, he then went on to receive his PhD in atmospheric science from MIT in 2009.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
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Thursday, April 19
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Civic Media Lunch: Schuyler Towne, "Lost In Space"
Thursday, April 19, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E15-344, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Schuyler Towne
Civic Media Lunch
Everyone has a strong physical and emotional connection to the divisions of private and public space, though few ever have the chance to explore the consequences of crossing those lines. This talk will reveal the whispered conversation societies have been having for millennia, in which we discover what defines private space and what happens to us as individuals and communities when those lines become blurred. We'll talk about security in the ancient world, revolutions both French and industrial, and the role of governments as determined attackers.
Schuyler Towne is obsessed with locks. He got his start as a competitive picker, winning the American Open and competing internationally as well. At an early point in his lock collecting he came across an old "Yale & Towne" padlock. This potential familial connection drove his interest further and he spent the next several years of his life trying to understand everything he could about locks. From how they work and why they fail, to the stories of who invented them and when and where they came into existence.
Web site: RSVP: http://civic.mit.edu/event/civic-media-lunch-schuyler-towne-lost-in-space
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for Civic Media
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
awhit@mit.edu
---------------------------
Ben Heineman: Responsible Corporate Supply Chain Practices--Apple in Context
WHEN Thu., Apr. 19, 2012, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Malkin Penthouse, 4th Floor, Littauer, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S) Ben Heineman, senior fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
CONTACT INFO Please RSVP to mrcbg@ksg.harvard.edu
----------------------------
Regional Climate Modeling over West Africa
Thursday, April 19, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Marc Pace Marcella, MIT
Environmental Fluid Mechanics/Hydrology
Join us for a weekly series of efm/hydrology topics by MIT faculty and students, as well as guest lecturers from around the globe.
Web site: http://cee.mit.edu/events/60
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Roberta Pizzinato
robertap@mit.edu
-----------------------------
Social Business—New Models for Providing Sustainable Services to the Poor
WHEN Thu., Apr. 19, 2012, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Burden Auditorium, Harvard Business School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HBS Healthcare Initiative, HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, and Harvard Innovation Lab
SPEAKER(S) Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner
COST Free
TICKET WEB LINK http://proximate.ly/social_business_with_muhammad_yunus
TICKET INFO http://proximate.ly/social_business_with_muhammad_yunus
NOTE Yunus will discuss his recent efforts that focus on building social businesses and health care initiatives in Bangladesh. Visit www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise/ to register.
LINK http://proximate.ly/social_business_with_muhammad_yunus
---------------------------
Forced to Succeed: Gender Quotas, Candidate Quality and Political Competition
Thursday, April 19, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
Harvard K354, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Olle Folke (Columbia)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Seminar on Positive Political Economy
For more information, contact:
Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu
----------------------------
Biodiversity, Ecology & Global Change with Thomas B. Smith
WHEN Thu., Apr. 19, 2012, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Biolabs Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Ave, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Center for the Environment
SPEAKER(S) Thomas B. Smith, director of the Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA
CONTACT INFO Lisa Matthews: matthew@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE "Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation: The Importance of Preserving Environmental Gradients in a Changing World"
Thomas Smith has more than 25 years of experience working in the rainforests of Africa, Australia, Latin America, and Hawaii. A central focus of his research investigates how biodiversity is generated and maintained in tropical rainforests. Combining molecular genetics and field biology, he identified a new theory of how speciation occurs in rainforests. In a series of recent studies, he has shown that for a wide range of taxa in rainforests worldwide, the processes of diversification and speciation take place not only within “biodiversity hotspots” but also along environmental gradients or ecotones representing the transition from one habitat to another. The results of Smith’s research point to new and more effective ways of prioritizing regions for conservation. In recent years his research has also focused on studying evolution in human-altered environments, the ecology of disease, and developing new approaches for mapping adaptive variation in species to mitigate the effects of climate change.
LINK http://environment.harvard.edu/tsmith
-----------------------------
CleanWeb+Clean Energy Nite at the Venture Cafe
Thursday, April 19
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)
The Venture Cafe, Kendall Square, One Broadway, 4th floor, Cambridge
Register at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dElFLWhaYzVtS0tyY1B4ZG50VzBocHc6MQ&entry_0=Cleanweb+Panel
Please join Cleantech Open NE, CleanWeb Hackathon, Greentown Labs, and the MIT Enterprise Forum Clean Energy Special Interest Group for this special collaborative event exploring the Cleanweb and Clean Energy opportunities in our region.
There will be an interactive roundtable discussion at 5:30pm (limited to 30 participants) to learn how CleanWeb entrepreneurs are using the internet, social media, and mobile technologies to address energy, water and environmental resource constraints.
In addition, the Cleantech Open NE, MIT Clean Energy Prize finalists, Greentown Labs, and the CleanWeb Hackathon will all have informational tables to showcase their programs.
Join us for a fun and relaxed night full of networking opportunities, great speakers and dialogue, and a chance to learn more about the opportunities Boston and New England have to offer!
--------------------------------
Brand-Name Genes
Thursday, April 19
6:30-8:00 pm
McLaughlin Moot Court Room, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
with Attorney Lee Carl Bromberg and Dr. Robert Klitzman; moderated by Dominick Ianno
Biotechnology in genetics is reaching heights that the average person can barely imagine. But what are the effects of this unstoppable science on individuals, the economy, and our society as a whole? If we cannot abate the speed of innovation, how can we better control it or at least mitigate the negative consequences? Attorney Lee Carl Bromberg reveals the tactic of companies patenting genetic code, while Dr. Robert Klitzman, author ofAm I My Genes?: Confronting Fate and Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing, shares the stories of real people whose lives were forever changed by genetic testing. Dominick Ianno, Ford Hall Forum President and Pfizer's Director of Public Affairs, US Northeast, leads us through a discussion of the revolutionary and sometimes frightening future of genetics.
A book signing by Dr. Klitzman will follow the presentation.
Further background information on the participants:
Lee Carl Bromberg is a trial attorney who concentrates in the area of Intellectual Property/Information Technology. He has successfully handled a wide range of patent infringement actions, as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition cases in high technology areas. Bromberg has been named a World’s Leading Patent Litigator by IAM Patent Litigation 250, and has been recognized as a Chambers USA “Leaders in their Field” lawyer for 2007–2012. He has been named among the top 100 lawyers in Massachusetts, listed in The Best Lawyers in America for intellectual property, and named as a “Super Lawyer” in the field of intellectual property. He has received one of the highest peer review ratings from Martindale Hubbell, based on a survey of other lawyers and judges. Bromberg's patent infringement practice on behalf of numerous national companies has involved a wide array of technologies, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and recombinant DNA. He has served as a court-appointed discovery master in patent litigation, has testified as an expert witness on patent litigation, and led the Task Force that obtained implementation of local patent rules in the Massachusetts federal court. Bromberg has previously served as Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law and as the President of the Boston Patent Law Association. He is currently a Fellow of the Boston Bar Foundation and a board member of the Ford Hall Forum.
Dr. Robert Klitzman, Author & Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health, is the Director of the Masters of Bioethics Program; the Director of the Ethics, Policy and Human Rights Core of the HIV Center; a member of the Division of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics; and co-founded and for five years co-directed the Center for Bioethics. Klitzman has written seven books, and numerous articles drawing on multi-disciplinary methods to examine ethical, psychological and social issues in a variety of contexts in medicine and psychiatry. Specifically, he has examined decision-making concerning HIV disclosure, genetic testing, reproductive choices among individuals at risk for genetic disorders, Institutional Review Boards, and other topics.
Dominick Ianno, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University President, the current Director of Public Affairs, US Northeast, in Pfizer’s Global Sites Public Affairs group. Ianno began his Pfizer career in January 2008, joining the company in a newly-created position as Director of Public Affairs in Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy, where he managed media outreach strategy for the company’s interests on state policy and legislative issues throughout the Northeast. Prior to joining Pfizer, Ianno served four years as a Vice President at Gray Media in Boston, providing political and business counsel to a wide range of business, education, and political clients. He is a past Executive Director of the Massachusetts Republican Party and worked as a research and media operative for several statewide Republican campaigns in Massachusetts. Ianno was named one of Politics and Campaigns “Top 100 Massachusetts Influencers” in June 2010.
For more information on Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, visit www.fordhallforum.org. Information about Suffolk University’s partnership with Ford Hall Forum can be obtained by contacting Mariellen Norris, (617) 573-8450, mnorris@suffolk.edu.
----------------------------
Indigenous Grandmothers: Planting Seeds for Seven Generations
Thursday, April 19
7 pm
Wellesley, Houghton Chapel, 106 Central Street, Wellesley
It is with a sense of gratitude and deep joy that we announce the Art and Soul program at Wellesley College will be hosting three of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers this spring. The Grandmothers will give a talk at Houghton Chapel on Thursday, April nineteenth at seven p.m. The theme of their talk will be Planting Seeds for Seven Generations: Making Change. The Grandmothers will share their cultural treasures and life experience, in support of our community’s exploration of an ethics of wholeness, which can bring about a sustainable future for the generations to come.
Originating from all four corners of the world, these 13 wise women elders and medicine women first came together in 2004 at a peace gathering. They represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Earth, all her inhabitants and the next seven generations. We are honored to host, as representatives of this Grandmothers’ Council, Grandmothers Rita and Beatrice Long- Visitor Holy Dance of the Lakota tribe and Grandmother Mona Polacca of the Hopi/ Havasupai/Tewa tribe. This event is open to all, as an offering to our circles of community. For more information about this event, contact Ji Hyang at 781.283.2793
---------------------------------
Nanoscale construction with DNA
Thursday, April 19, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E51-315, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Shawn Douglas
IEEE/ACM Joint Seminar Series
Exploring the edge of computing technology.
The programmability of DNA makes it an attractive material for constructing intricate nanoscale shapes. One method for creating these structures is DNA origami, in which a multiple-kilobase single-stranded 'scaffold' is folded into a custom nanoscale shape by interacting with hundreds of short oligonucleotide 'staple' strands. I will talk about our efforts to realize demand-meeting applications of this method, including our recent development of nanoscale devices to mimic cell-signaling stimulation carried out by our own immune systems. shawndouglas.jpg
Shawn Douglas received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Yale in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard in 2009. His research interest is in developing experimental methods and software to construct and manipulate self-assembling biomaterials on the nanometer scale. He worked as a graduate student in the laboratories of William Shih and George Church to generate custom three-dimensional shapes using the "DNA origami" method, including a novel alignment medium for NMR structure determination of membrane proteins. He has also led the development of cadnano, an open-source computer-aided design software that aids in the design of 3D shapes. Contact: shawn.douglas@wyss.harvard.edu.
Web site:http://ewh.ieee.org/r1/boston/computer/shawndouglas.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): ACM & IEEE/CS
For more information, contact: Dorothy Curtis
617-253-0541
dcurtis@alum.mit.edu
------------------------------
New Self-Organizing Practices for the City
WHEN Thu., Apr. 19, 2012, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
WHERE RCC conference room, 26 Trowbridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Real Colegio Complutense
SPEAKER(S) José María Ortiz Cotro
COST Free, open to the public
CONTACT INFO rcc_info@harvard.edu
LINK http://www.realcolegiocomplutense.harvard.edu
-------------------
Friday, April 20
------------------
Cambridge Science Festival
April 20 through April 29
http://cambridgesciencefestival.org/Home.aspx
--------------------------
Tufts Energy Conference
April 20
http://www.tuftsenergyconference.com/
----------------------------
Free Day at the MIT Museum
Friday, April 20, 2012
10:00a–5:00p
N51, MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
In celebration of the Cambridge Science Festival's opening day, the MIT Museum is open for free on Friday, April 20. Participate in hands-on activities and explore the newly renovated galleries and exhibitions!
Web site: web.mit.edu/museum/programs/festival.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu
--------------------------------
Caution: This Game Is Under Construction
Friday, April 20, 2012
10:00a–12:00p
N52, MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Making a video game takes a lot of work and we need your help!
A dollop of art, a dab of audio, a generous helping of programming and voila: the perfect video game! We wish it were that simple. Before we release our games to the public, we need playtesters to make sure they're worthy of being GAMBIT games. Is the game fun? Are the goals clear? Can players figure out what to do? Even though these games aren't finished, we can still discover the answers to these questions and others. How? By asking you! At the MIT Museum on Friday morning, the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab will be testing several works in progress. Come be the first to play our newest games and tell us what you think.
All experience levels welcome and encouraged. Making games may be hard, but playtesting them is easy. Trust us, you're exactly who we want to talk to.
Web site: http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/2012/03/csf_2012.php
Open to: the general public
Cost: presented as part of the MIT Museum free day
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
For more information, contact: Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu
------------------------------
Prospects For Sustainable Transport Fuel: Solar And Wind Derived Alcohol
Friday, April 20, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E19-306, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: James Turner, Chief Engineer - Powertrain Research, Advanced Concepts, Lotus Engineering
The lecture reviews the drivers on society at large and the vehicle manufacturers in particular with regard to energy utilization in transport. It then discusses synthetic alcohol fuels as a long-term alternative to electrification or the hydrogen economy. A means of producing alcohols which reduces atmospheric levels of CO2 is also discussed.
The ease of implementation of this approach due to the alcohols and gasoline being miscible is discussed. Hence this approach removes the need for any massive specification changes in the existing fuel systems for road vehicles as well as keeping the distribution and supply infrastructure similar to that which is used at the moment with gasoline.
In following this path, the need for a step change in funding by any of the major transportation stakeholders - fuel suppliers, vehicle manufacturers or end customer - is therefore avoided. Finally, the way in which transport sector fuel demand, coupled to the chemical storage of renewable energy, can remove the funding bottleneck for renewable energy is discussed.
Web site: http://mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars/turner.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact: Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
----------------------------
Nanoscience and Carbon Sequestration
Friday, April 20, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building 3-333, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Donald DePaolo, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy & Environment, Director, Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Energy & Environment Community and Lecture Series of the MIT Energy Club
Subsurface processes, including transport of CO2, originate from chemical and physical interactions at the molecular and nano-scale,even though they are played out as macroscopic material and dynamical properties of a meter-to-multi-kilometer scale geologic system.
The DOE-funded Energy Frontier Research Center called the Center for Nanoscale Controls on Geologic CO2 (NCGC) aims to improve our ability to understand and predict the performance of underground CO2 storage systems. The research program is built on the many new analytical and computational tools available for characterizing and simulating molecular and nano-scale features and processes in fluids and rocks. The largest effort focuses on how carbonate minerals nucleate and precipitate under the conditions of CO2 sequestration in both reservoir rocks (sandstones) and geologic seals (shales). The remainder of the NCGC effort is focused on the properties of fluid mixtures under confinement in high-surface area environments, and the interplay between 2- and 3-phase flow and chemical reactions. An additional effort is aimed at the effects of pore scale transport and multi-scale heterogeneity.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact: MIT Energy Club
energy-environment@mit.edu
--------------------------------
Breaking a biofuels bottleneck: deconstructing biomass from the ground up
Friday, April 20, 2012
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Douglas S. Clark, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley
Chemical Engineering Department Seminar Series
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cheme/news/seminar.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Chemical Engineering Department
For more information, contact: Melanie Miller
617-253-6500
melmils@mit.edu
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Urban Astronomy: Bringing the Stars to the Street
WHEN Fri., Apr. 20, 2012, 8 – 11 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
COST Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.7461
NOTE Join us to look through telescopes at fantastic views of Venus, Mars, Saturn, double stars, and distant star clusters. Cloud/rain date Saturday, April 21. Part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
LINK http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/public_events.html
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Saturday, April 21
---------------------
13th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup
Saturday, April 21, 2012
9:00a–12:00p
MIT Sailing Pavilion, 134 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Help MIT Sea Grant cleanup the sidewalks and meridian strip along Memorial Drive between the Harvard and Longfellow Bridges!
Since 2000, the Charles River Watershed Association has coordinated the Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup each April with a collaborative of other non-profit organizations. The Cleanup involves volunteers picking up trash at over 100 different cleanup sites along the Charles River and its tributaries.
Web site: http://www.crwa.org/cleanup.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Sea Grant
For more information, contact: Nancy Adams
617-253-3461
nadamsx@mit.edu
----------------------------
Saturday, April 21st
9-12noon
for our first 2012 cleanup of Magazine Beach, Cambridge. This will be part of the much larger 13th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup, organized by the Charles River Watershed Association, Charles River Conservancy, etc., etc.
If you would like an official Earth Day Cleanup t-shirt to wear that day, please e-mail me your name, phone number and t-shirt size by this Sunday, March 11th. Large youth shirts are available and adult shirts in small, medium, large and extra large.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Shirts will be available, with drinks and refreshments, at our table in front of the Riverside Boat Club 4/21.
Cathie (Zusy)
Questions? Call 617-868-0489
-------------------------------
Tufts Energy Conference
April 21
http://www.tuftsenergyconference.com/
----------------------------
Earth Day Celebration
WHEN Sat., Apr. 21, 2012, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
WHERE Mac Quad (next to Kirkland, Eliot, and Winthrop)
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Environmental Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard College Environmental Action Committee
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Mary Griffin: mgriffin@college.harvard.edu; Sam Parker: parker@college.harvard.edu
NOTE EARTH DAY 2012
Rio +20: The UN Conference on Sustainable Development
COME ENJOY
LIVE MUSIC – PIE EATING CONTESTS – B. GOOD –
RECYCLING BIN RACES – FREE ICE CREAM-
FREE ODWALLA – FREE NALGENE BOTTLES –
STUDENT AND COMMUNITY GROUP BOOTHS
And bring your prefrosh!
http://www.greencrimson.com
LINK http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/eac/?page_id=50
------------------------------
The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources
WHEN Sat., Apr. 21, 2012, 2 – 3 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Special Events, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Museum of Natural History
SPEAKER(S) Michael Klare, Five College Professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College
COST $6-9 (includes admission to the museum galleries)
NOTE Author talk and booksigning
In his newest book, "The Race for What’s Left," Michael Klare describes a world facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—from oil to coal and natural gas, copper and cobalt, water, and arable land.
Regular admission rates apply. Part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
LINK http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php
-------------------------
Spring Planting 2012 is coming up soon! Come out and learn how you can grow food in your yard, on your porch and inside your home!
The Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc. and the Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. will be hosting a FREE event on
Saturday, April 21, 2012
2:00 PM until 5:00 PM
Harambee Park (AKA Franklin Field) in Dorchester near the Perkins Community Center at 155 Talbot Avenue.
There will be information tables, workshops and demonstrations on ways that you can grow plants including food plants.
Workshops include:
Landless Garden: Build a garden in 2 square feet of space! Laurel Valchuis.
The Landless Garden is an urban gardening method that uses a burlap bag, gravel, sticks and soil. It only takes up 2 square feet of space and can be placed almost anywhere there is sunshine including a porch, roof, or even a parking spot. The materials are cheap, and at the end of the season everything (sans gravel) can be composted. Come learn how to build one of these gardens for your own space and enjoy fresh veggies all summer!
Home composting with worms! Gerald Robbins.
Learn the basics of creating your own compost by feeding food scraps to worms that you raise! The compost they provide is a great organic fertilizer.
Container gardening tips and techniques! Massachusetts Certified Master Gardener, Laurinda LeCain, and The Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association
How to turn a 5 gallon plastic container into a self-watering container garden". Easy, creative and inexpensive. We will take an ordinary 5-gallon bucket that is usually available for free from many sources and convert it into a self-watering container garden.
This event is free to the public. The presenters are all volunteers who have great information to share with you and your families.
Live plants are beautiful, soothing, clean the air, provide oxygen and can produce food for you as well.
Come and learn how to get green and leafy at home!
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Sunday, April 22
--------------------
Harvard College Global Energy Initiative Renewable Energy Demonstration
WHEN Sun., Apr. 22 – Mon., Apr. 23, 2012
WHERE Outside the Science Center
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Environmental Sciences, Exhibitions, Science, Special Events, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard College Global Energy Initiative
CONTACT INFO cmamxin@college.harvard.edu
NOTE GEI is planning a renewable energy demonstration for Earth Day weekend. We are using solar energy to power a stereo and also charge your cellphones. We have information on Harvard's commitment to renewable energy and what you can do to get involved. We also will have a raffle for different neat solar technologies!
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GreenFilmFest for Earth Day
Sunday, April 22, 2012
11:30 AM
Moot Court Room, Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
Register online here:http://foundationforagreenfuture.givezooks.com/events/greenfilmfest-for-earth-day
Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. will host its first annual “GreenFilmFest for Earth Day” on Sunday, April 22, 2012 from 11:30AM to 6PM at Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street, Boston. In celebration of Earth Day, the festival will showcase films highlighting environmental issues right here in the United States and around the world. Guest speakers will lead discussions after each film. The festival is free and open to the public. Attendees are also requested to bring in used smartphones that will be donated to Konbit Santé, a Haitian health care charity. This event is co-sponsored by the Boston Youth Environmental Network and Progressive Asset Management.
Film Descriptions:
Dreamland (2009, 90 min) Dreamland is a film about a nation standing at a crossroads. Leading up to Iceland’s greatest economic crisis, the government started the largest mega project in its history by building the biggest dam in Europe and providing Alcoa cheap electricity for an aluminum smelter in the rugged east fjords of the country. Today Iceland is left holding a huge debt and an uncertain future.
Future of Hope (2010, 75 min) Over the past 20 years we have seen a growing realization that the current model for society and culture is unsustainable. We have been living beyond our means... Future of Hope is a documentary following individuals that strive to change the world of consumerism, a system of credit and debt that the Icelandic economy was built upon for the past 10 years. Focusing on sustainable developments in organic farming, business, innovation, renewable energy and the environment - filled with positivity and emotion as we are viewing a story of struggle, determination and most importantly... hope.
H2Oil (2009, 72 min) Ever wonder where America gets most of its oil? If you thought it was Saudi Arabia or Iraq, you are wrong. America's biggest oil supplier has become Canada's oil sands. Located under Alberta's pristine boreal forests, oil sand extraction uses up to four barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil. It goes without saying that water has become the most important issue to face humanity in this century. At the same time, the war for oil is well underway across the globe. As the province of Alberta rushes towards a large-scale extraction, the social, ecological and human impacts are hitting a crisis point. In only a few short years, the continent will be a crisscross of pipelines, reaching from the Arctic all the way to the southern part of the United States, leaving toxic water basins the size of Lake Ontario, and surface-mines as large as Florida. Ultimately we ask what is more important - oil or water.
Hip-Hop Rev (2011, 60 min) In Hip-Hop Rev we are shown the background of Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., a devoted people's preacher. We learn about his motivations for choosing to work in the streets rather than the steeple. Rev. Yearwood is the Founder and CEO of the young and growing "Hip-Hop Caucus." This caucus is a 21st century human rights organization begun in hurricane-hit Louisiana and now has nearly 700,000 supporters across the country. The film moves from Yearwood’s roots in Louisiana to his community organizing in South East Washington, DC. Rev Yearwood joins the national Clean Energy Bus Tour with former Vice President Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection and visits nine cities across America in seven days. Musician Wyclef Jean and activist Van Jones are also featured.
A complete schedule of events can be found at bostongreenfest.org.
Boston GreenFest is organized by the Foundation for a Green Future, Inc, a Boston-based 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to providing environmentally focused programs to the Greater Boston community. Learn more at foundationforagreenfuture.org.
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Picnic for the Planet - Boston
Sunday, April 22
12:00pm - 3:00pm
Boston Common Frog Pond, Boston
Join us this Earth Day, April 22, and be part of the world's largest picnic.
From the Antarctic to the South Pacific, to right here in Boston, people will celebrate Earth Day with The Nature Conservancy’s second annual Picnic for the Planet. The annual event celebrates the role that nature plays in daily life, by reminding people to stop and take a few minutes to enjoy being outside and sharing a meal with their families and friends.
“From the fish in our rivers and seas, to the forests that keep our air and our drinking water clean, to the vegetables we buy at the local farmers’ market; nature touches our lives every day,” Alison Bowden, of the Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts.
DETAILS: We’ll be celebrating, rain or shine, cohosting the family-friendly event with The Skating Club of Boston, at the Boston Common Frog Pond.
Take the Planet Out to Lunch: The Nature Conservancy will attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the largest global picnic, to the soundtrack of live music courtesy of Radio 92.9. Learn more about nature in Massachusetts, sample great local and natural foods, and enter to win free tickets to Earthfest in May.
Get Down 2 Earth: The Skating Club of Boston, which manages the Boston Common Frog Pond, will sponsor a D:2:E Green Spot, with local vendors offering information about living green in the city and activities for families.
Partners who have generously supported this event include: The Skating Club of Boston, Radio 92.9, the Boston Parks and Recreation and Food Should Taste Good.
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/massachusetts/explore/bostonpicnic2012.xml
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Weatherization barnraising at
The Friends Meeting House
Sunday, April 22nd from 1 to 5 pm
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
What a great way to celebrate Earth Day. You will be taught how to do the work by experienced team leaders, while you learn how to lower your own bills at home.
Sign up at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDRNLV9xOC00SVllOGdLd1dYdzMxU0E6MQ#gid=0
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Monday, April 23
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Building the #Knowosphere - How new ways to share and shape ideas can help build durable progress on a finite planet
Monday, April 23, 2012
3:00p–4:15p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Andrew Revkin, Dot Earth Blogger, the New York Times
Andrew Revkin is the senior fellow for environmental understanding at Pace University's Academy for Applied Environmental Studies and writes the award-winning Dot Earth blog for The New York Times. He has spent nearly three decades covering subjects ranging from the assault on the Amazon rain forest to the troubled relationship of climate science and politics.
From 1995 through 2009, he covered the environment for The Times as a staff reporter. His quarter century of coverage of global warming has earned most of the major awards for science journalism along with the John Chancellor Award for sustained journalistic excellence from Columbia University. Revkin has been a pioneer in multimedia communication, blogging and shooting still and video imagery in farflung places. He has also carried his journalism to a new generation in The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World, the first account of Arctic climate change written for the whole family. His other books are The Burning Season, which was the basis for a much-lauded HBO film, and Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast.
Revkin lives in the Hudson River Valley with his wife and two sons. In spare moments, he is a performing songwriter and plays in a folk-roots band, Uncle Wade.
Web site: http://mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars/revkin.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate (PAOC), MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact: Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
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The shale gas revolution: Technological enablers and environmental considerations
Monday, April 23, 2012
5:30p–7:00p
MIT, Building 4-237, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Francis O'Sullivan, Research Engineer and Executive Director of the Energy Sustainability Challenge Program at MITEI
Energy & Environment Community Lecture/Discussion Series
The emergence over the past decade of economically recoverably shale gas resources in the U.S. has been characterized by some as a revolution, with its national importance being stressed in the 2012 State of the Union address, which called for every possible action to safely develop this energy. Nevertheless, contemporary shale gas development has not been without controversy. Significant concerns have been raised regarding water pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and uncertainty surrounding estimates of the resource scale. This talk will explore how shale gas has risen from being a niche marginal source of gas to the point where it is now supplying more than 25% of all U.S. gas production. The technologies that have enabled this remarkable growth will be discussed and in particular, the process of hydraulic fracturing will be described. In addition, the environmental challenges associated with shale gas development will be outlined and some of the possible pathways to safe and sustainable long-term shale gas production will be discussed.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energy-environment@mit.edu
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2012 Freeman Lecture- Climate Change and Water Resources: Characterizing Uncertainties for Decision Makers
Monday, April 23, 2012
6:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E51, Wong Auditorium / Ting Foyer, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Richard N. Palmer Department Head and Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Freeman Lecture
Scientific evidence tells us that global climate is changing. However, precise impacts on natural and man-made systems are less certain. Estimating climate change impact on river flow, water supply reliability, and ecosystem response requires careful application of global or regional circulation models, hydrologic models, and ecosystem response models. This presentation addresses each type of model, but focuses on characterizing climate information uncertainty when advising large-scale, public decision making. We begin by describing forecasted impacts of climate change on the US. Next, techniques to translate these broad climate shifts to the watershed scale in a fashion useful for decision making are described. We then address how best to frame this information for decision makers.
The presentation contains examples of the use of general circulation model output in past water resources studies. The examples highlight how stakeholder engagement in evaluating potential climate change impacts significantly improves the understanding of uncertainty, increasing the likelihood that the results will be used in real decision making. The presentation concludes by discussing limits of these techniques and suggests how such limits may be overcome by the next generation of engineers and scientists.
Please note:
Reception: 6 p.m./ Lecture: 7 p.m.
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering, BSCES
For more information, contact: MIT Staff contact
617-258-8685
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Exhibit Opening: To Extremes
Monday, April 23
7:00pm-9:00pm
Maseeh Hall, 305 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP: http://toextremes.eventbrite.com/
An exhibition of proposed artworks, To Extremes sought ideas last year for public art projects on climate from 50 invited artists and designers. To inform their work, artists and designers referred to nine dossiers on various themes covered in a major science report on climate and extreme events released in November 2011. In February a jury of experts in the visual arts and climate sciences selected the winners and proposals that would make up the exhibition, which is part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
On April 23, the winner, Sam Jury, will present her proposal for a video installation. Along with a proposal by Ms. Jury, the exhibition includes runner up Dan Borelli and the following artists and designers: Andrea Frank -- Kalman Gacs -- Sam Jacobson, Irina Chernyakova, Nicole Goehring -- Bradford Johnson --Marcus Owens and Jack Becker -- Evelyn Rydz -- Gina Siepel.
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program, the MIT Energy Club, the MIT CSSA, and the MIT ETF presents:
Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation Reception
Please join us for a discussion of ongoing clean energy and electric vehicle innovation and research at MIT and other local companies.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
5:00-7:00 p.m.
MIT-SUTD International Design Center, 265 Massachusetts Ave, MIT Building, N52 3rd floor, Cambridge
This is a free event and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to: laurie@1620associates.com or 508-479-8034
You can also register through eventbrite: http://mitevevent.eventbrite.com/
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Upcoming
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We're pleased to announce the businesses presenting at the Entrepreneur Showcase on April 24th:
Black Earth Hauler: http://www.blackearthhauler.com/
Red's Best: http://www.redsbest.com/shopreds/
City Growers: http://citygrowers.wordpress.com/
Recover Green Roofs: http://www.recovergreenroofs.com/
NH Farm Fresh...Direct! http://www.nhiaf.org
Bootstrap Compost: http://bootstrapcompost.com/
For more details about the showcase or to RSVP, click here:
http://www.meetup.com/Greater-Boston-Slow-Money/events/54328062/
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More Than Money Careers: Discussion and Reception with Dr. Mark Albion, Bestselling Author and Co-Founder of Net Impact
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
6:30 pm - 9:00 PM
Microsoft New England Research & Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
http://www.rossboston.org/article.html?aid=324
*** Registration required ***
4th Annual RossBoston Sustainability Event with Dr. Mark S. Albion, co-founder of Net Impact and New York Times Best Selling author
Join us for an interactive and inspiring evening with Dr. Mark S. Albion who will discuss the challenges and opportunities of pursuing rewarding careers that deliver sustainable environmental and social value. The co-founder of Net Impact, and a prolific author and speaker, Dr. Albion will lead a discussion on how to create successful careers with impact and meaning. The evening will feature casual networking before and after Dr. Albion's presentation. Food and drinks will be served.
Agenda
6:30 PM Networking reception
7:00 PM More Than Money Careers presented by Dr. Mark S. Albion
8:00 PM Continued networking reception
Registration Required: Cost is $10 for Ross School of Business alumni, $20 for guests. No fee for current or prospective Ross students. Registration fee includes cocktail reception with open bar and hors d'oeuvres. Please register and buy tickets here!!!
About Dr. Albion: Dr. Albion was a student, administrator and professor at Harvard for 20 years, after which he co-founded six organizations, including Net Impact. Most recently, he served in the Office of the President at Babson College, helping to integrate social values into the college through entrepreneurship of all kinds. A New York Times Best Selling author, he has written seven books and made over 600 visits to business school campuses on five continents, for which BusinessWeek dubbed him, "the savior of business school souls." In 2010, Dr. Albion became the first social entrepreneur to receive the distinguished national entrepreneur of the year award, presented at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, and in that year co-founded More Than Money Careers, LLC, along with Dr. Mrim Boutla to support university staff, students and working professionals who are looking for well-paying social impact work that fits their values. Dr. Albion's 200 articles, books and award-winning short films can be found at www.morethanmoneycareers.com and www.makingalife.com.
About Net Impact: Net Impact is a new generation of leaders who use their careers to tackle the world’s toughest problems. Putting business skills to work for good throughout every sector, Net Impact members show the world that it’s possible to make a net impact that benefits not just the bottom line, but people and planet too. With more than 280 chapters, students can find a chapter at the world’s top graduate business schools and undergraduate campuses, and professionals can connect to a chapter based in cities around the globe. Net Impact is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in San Francisco.
*** Registration required ***
http://www.rossboston.org/article.html?aid=324
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Healing Earth: An Interfaith Evening of Connection, Community and Commitment with Bill McKibben
Thursday, April 26
Vigil: 5:30 pm; Dinner and Talk: 7 pm
Vigil at Charles River at JFK Street bridge and walk through Harvard Square; Dinner at First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge
$15 for dinner and talk, $10 for students, kosher meal available
To sign up, visit http://healingearth.eventbrite.com/
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May 1 - How Can We Feed A Growing World and Sustain the Planet
12th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Wong Auditorium, E51-115, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/henry_kendall_lecture
Speaker: Professor Jonathan Foley, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota
In his talk, Foley will discuss how increasing population and wealth, along with changing patterns of diet and consumption, are placing unprecedented demands on the world’s agriculture and natural resources. He will propose possible solutions to this dilemma, which together could double the world’s food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.
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Wake Up the Earth Festival
Saturday, May 5
11 am - 6 pm
Southwest Corridor, Jamaica Plain
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Connect the Dots Campaign
Saturday, May 5
Connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather.
http://www.climatedots.org/
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Get Growing festival
Sunday May 6
noon to 6.
Harvard Square on Palmer Street, as part of the May Fair
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Media Lab Conversations Series: Howard Rheingold
Thursday, May 10, 2012
2:00pm - 4:00pm
MIT Media Lab, E14 6th Floor, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
ALL TALKS AT THE MEDIA LAB, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
THIS TALK WILL BE WEBCAST.
JOIN US ON TWITTER: #MLTALKS
The future of digital culture depends on how well we learn to use the media that have infiltrated, amplified, distracted, enriched, and complicated our lives. How we employ a search engine, stream video from our phonecam, or update our Facebook status matters to us and everyone, because the ways people use new media in the first years of an emerging communication regime can influence the way those media end up being used and misused for decades to come. Instead of confining his exploration to whether or not Google is making us stupid, Facebook is commoditizing our privacy, or Twitter is chopping our attention into microslices (all good questions), Rheingold has been asking himself and others how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and above all mindfully.
Rheingold's talk will be followed by a conversation with Joi Ito and Mimi Ito, as well as Q&A.
Biography: Howard Rheingold, author of best-sellers Virtual Reality, The Virtual Community, Smart Mobs, and Net Smart,editor of best-seller The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, takes audiences on a journey through the human side of the technology-shaped future. He's been in on the Web since the beginning, and long before. He's studied Internet enterprises and started them. Rheingold was the founding executive editor of HotWired; founder of Electric Minds (named by Time magazine one of the ten best websites of 1996). He's a participant-observer in the design of new technologies; a pioneer, critic, and forecaster of technology's impacts; and a speaker who involves his audience in an adventure in group futurism. His books are published in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish language editions, in addition to distribution in the United Kingdom, and the United States. Rheingold has taught as appointed lecturer at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. He was a non-resident fellow at the Annenberg Center for Communication, visiting professor at De Montfort University, UK, which awarded him an honorary doctorate of technology degree. He delivered the invited Regents Lecture for University of California, Berkeley.
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NEW ENGLAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FORUM (NEEJF) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SUMMIT
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Worcester, Mass (Location to be determined)
9:30—6:30 PM Registration Free / Food Provided
For the first time in New England, residents of low income communities and communities of color, together with community organizers, attorneys, public health and environmental professionals and government officials will assemble for a one- day summit on environmental justice. At the Summit attendees will share ideas, learn from one another and plan future work to address environmental and public health issues that especially affect low income communities and communities of color. NEEJF is a collaboration of Alternatives for Community and Environment, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice and Rhode Island Legal Services.
To register and for more information, please contact Steve Fischbach: neejforum@gmail.com or 401-274-2652 ext.182
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Spring of Sustainability
June 22
http://springofsustainability.com/
Live and webcast conference with Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, Van Jones, John Robbins, Hazel Henderson, Frances Moore Lappé, John Perkins, Thom Hartmann, Aqeela Sherrills, Julia Butterfly Hill + MANY others
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Opportunity
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CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out. The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
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Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
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Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
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Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the state’s residents say global warming will have very serious consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge: What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
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The presentations from the recent Affordable Comfort National Home Performance Conference are available online at
http://2011.acinational.org/downloadable_resources
Lots of good information from what some call the best energy conference in the USA on Deep Energy Retrofits to Community Energy Challenges with details on insulation, heat flow, energy metering, ducting, hot water, and many, many other topics. If you are a practical energy wonk, this should make your eyes light up.
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Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei@wellesley.edu
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List http://aacel.blogspot.com/
http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://sustainability.mit.edu/
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://pechakuchaboston.org/blog/
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
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