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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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
----------------------------
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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Journalist Alex Prud'homme will discuss his new book
You can also register through eventbrite: http://mitevevent.eventbrite.com/
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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/
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 23
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Monday, April 23
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Harvard College Global Energy Initiative Renewable Energy Demonstration
Monday, April 23, 2012
cmamxin@college.harvard.edu
Outside the Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
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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BUILDING TECHNOLOGY SPRING LECTURE SERIES: Evaluating Energy Technologies Against Climate Targets
Monday, April 23, 2012
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 7-431, Long Lounge (AVT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Jessike Trancik, Assistant Professor, MIT, Engineering Systems Division
To meet commonly cited climate change mitigation goals, a major transformation in the global energy supply infrastructure is needed. Given the changing performance of technologies over time, how do we compare energy supply options to one another? Which technologies are poised to make a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions? In this talk, I will present a statistical analysis of the dynamics of technological change, and a model relating general features of a technology???s design to its rate of improvement. I will also discuss ways to derive performance targets, in a format that is useful to engineers, from climate change mitigation scenarios.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, Building Technology Program
For more information, contact:
Alexandra Golledge
253-0463
agoll18@mit.edu
-----------------------------Alexandra Golledge
253-0463
agoll18@mit.edu
Living Sustainable Development: Opportunities for Planets, Places, and People
WHEN Mon., Apr. 23, 2012, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Nye A, 5th Floor Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and the HKS Sustainability Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Willian Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development; co-director, Sustainability Science Program
CONTACT INFO karin_vander_schaaf@harvard.edu
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5795/living_sustainable_development.html
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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
----------------------------
Trusting Truth: The Path to Avoiding Gridlock in Public Dialogue
WHEN Mon., Apr. 23, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE CGIS South Building, Room S-250,1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict
SPEAKER(S) Ron Susskind, A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence, Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government
CONTACT INFO Donna Hicks: dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu
NOTE This is a public event
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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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ACT Lecture | Michael Eng - Sound and Semiocapitalism: Affective Labor and the Metaphysics of the Real
Monday, April 23, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-001, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Michael Eng,Professor of Philosophy, John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio
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.
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ACT Spring 2012 Monday Nights Lecture Series:
Experiments in Thinking, Action and Form
This talk will analyse the sonic and affective turns that have appeared relatively recently in both contemporary art practice and current critical thought from the standpoint of what Franco 'Bifo' Berardi has termed "semiocapitalism." Though the attention to sound and affect is typically held to be a remedy to the excesses of the past few decades (occularcentrism, the preoccupation with discursivity, and the persistence of form, to name but a few), affect is precisely that which contemporary capitalism in its financialized form exploits as a productive force. Are the sonic and affective turns, then, actually extensions of semiocapitalism? Michael Eng's areas of research include sound, philosophy of the image, philosophy and architecture, and post-Heideggerian aesthetic theory.
Experiments in Thinking, Action and Form
This talk will analyse the sonic and affective turns that have appeared relatively recently in both contemporary art practice and current critical thought from the standpoint of what Franco 'Bifo' Berardi has termed "semiocapitalism." Though the attention to sound and affect is typically held to be a remedy to the excesses of the past few decades (occularcentrism, the preoccupation with discursivity, and the persistence of form, to name but a few), affect is precisely that which contemporary capitalism in its financialized form exploits as a productive force. Are the sonic and affective turns, then, actually extensions of semiocapitalism? Michael Eng's areas of research include sound, philosophy of the image, philosophy and architecture, and post-Heideggerian aesthetic theory.
Web site: http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures/2012-spring/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to the public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
For more information, contact:
Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act@mit.edu, clauraa@mit.edu
Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act@mit.edu, clauraa@mit.edu
------------------------------------
Exhibit Opening: To ExtremesMonday, 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.
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Tuesday, April 24
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"Big Media and Where It's Headed."
Tuesday, April 24
12 p.m.
Harvard, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge
A Conversation with Gary Ginsberg, Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Time Warner Inc.
A Conversation with Gary Ginsberg, Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Time Warner Inc.
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Mediated Congregation - Architecting The Crystal Cathedral
Tuesday, April 24
12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/04/robles#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast
Erica Robles-Anderson, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
Within the past thirty years the rise of a new style of worship, coined “megachurch”, has transformed the American religious landscape. Blending audio, visual, and communications technologies within postmodern architectures, megachurches radically re-imagine Christianity. These re-contextualizations of secular technologies carry particularly symbolic meaning; for believers, megachurches make visible God's hand at work in the conditions of 20th and 21st century mediated social life. They produce conditions for apprehending a Protestant ethic within the networked worldview.
This talk reads megachurches as part of late 20th century shift towards conducting collective life in increasingly mobile, mediated, and distributed arrangements. Based on a case study of a pioneering and particularly influential institution, the Crystal Cathedral (1955 - present), I trace a series of translations via automobiles and drive-in cinema (1955 - 1961), then glass, steel, and television (1962 - 1970), and finally architectural postmodernism , satellite television, and the Internet (1980 - present) by which a traditional narrative of mythic worldview entered a new technological regime.
About EricaThis talk reads megachurches as part of late 20th century shift towards conducting collective life in increasingly mobile, mediated, and distributed arrangements. Based on a case study of a pioneering and particularly influential institution, the Crystal Cathedral (1955 - present), I trace a series of translations via automobiles and drive-in cinema (1955 - 1961), then glass, steel, and television (1962 - 1970), and finally architectural postmodernism , satellite television, and the Internet (1980 - present) by which a traditional narrative of mythic worldview entered a new technological regime.
Erica Robles-Anderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. Robles-Anderson's work focuses on forms of collective life in mediated material conditions. She is currently completing a manuscript on the 20th century transformation of Protestant worship through the adoption of new media technologies and contemporary architectural materials. Before her position at NYU Robles-Anderson held a joint appointment as a post-doctoral researcher at HumLab and in the Department of Culture and Media at Umeå University. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.
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Internet Identity and Reputation
Tuesday, April 24 2012
1:30PM to 2:30PM
MIT, Building 32, Hewlett Room G882, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Gihan Dias, University of Moratuwa
Abstract:
"Who am I?" is a question which has puzzled both philosophers and ordinary people over the ages. Who we are (our identity), and who others think we are (our reputation) are prime concerns.
As our life moves on to the Internet, our identity and reputation too become artifacts on the net.
Your identity comprises a set of identifiers, such as your name, userid and e-mail address, and a set of assertions about you, e.g., "I am Ravi's daughter." Your reputation comprises of the set of such assertions available to an observer, and the significance and veracity she places on each assertion.
Establishing your - or someone else's - identity and reputation on the Internet is not straightforward. Each person has many identifiers, and an identifier may correspond to several people. Obtaining a set of assertions about a person is very difficult, and establishing their veracity is almost impossible.
Most current identity systems are based on an authority which defines and verifies an identity. However, our de-facto identity is much more social, and is based on a web of relationships rather than an authority.
In this talk, we analyze current Internet identity - and especially reputation – mechanisms and their weaknesses. We propose strategies for next-generation identity and reputation systems, based on social identity.
Bio:
Professor Dias graduated from the University of Moratuwa in 1985. He was awarded a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California in 1992. In addition to being a professor in the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, He has served as the Domain Registrar of the LK Domain Registry since its inception in 1990. Prof. Dias has been instrumental in setting up and running the academic Internet in Sri Lanka (LEARN) starting with Sri Lanka's first e-mail system in 1990, and ran the LEARN network for over 10 years. He has also assisted a number of Internet service providers in setting up their networks. In 2003/04 he was a founder Programme Director of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the govt. body responsible for the development of ICT in the country, and is currently an advisor to ICTA. Prof. Dias is the Director of both the Centre of Excellence in Localised Applications (LAKapps) of the University of Moratuwa and The High Performance Computing Lab at the Dept. of CSE. His current research interests are in Internet Identity and Reputation, and in Bandwidth-Constrained and Intermittently Connected Networks.
"Who am I?" is a question which has puzzled both philosophers and ordinary people over the ages. Who we are (our identity), and who others think we are (our reputation) are prime concerns.
As our life moves on to the Internet, our identity and reputation too become artifacts on the net.
Your identity comprises a set of identifiers, such as your name, userid and e-mail address, and a set of assertions about you, e.g., "I am Ravi's daughter." Your reputation comprises of the set of such assertions available to an observer, and the significance and veracity she places on each assertion.
Establishing your - or someone else's - identity and reputation on the Internet is not straightforward. Each person has many identifiers, and an identifier may correspond to several people. Obtaining a set of assertions about a person is very difficult, and establishing their veracity is almost impossible.
Most current identity systems are based on an authority which defines and verifies an identity. However, our de-facto identity is much more social, and is based on a web of relationships rather than an authority.
In this talk, we analyze current Internet identity - and especially reputation – mechanisms and their weaknesses. We propose strategies for next-generation identity and reputation systems, based on social identity.
Bio:
Professor Dias graduated from the University of Moratuwa in 1985. He was awarded a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California in 1992. In addition to being a professor in the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, He has served as the Domain Registrar of the LK Domain Registry since its inception in 1990. Prof. Dias has been instrumental in setting up and running the academic Internet in Sri Lanka (LEARN) starting with Sri Lanka's first e-mail system in 1990, and ran the LEARN network for over 10 years. He has also assisted a number of Internet service providers in setting up their networks. In 2003/04 he was a founder Programme Director of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the govt. body responsible for the development of ICT in the country, and is currently an advisor to ICTA. Prof. Dias is the Director of both the Centre of Excellence in Localised Applications (LAKapps) of the University of Moratuwa and The High Performance Computing Lab at the Dept. of CSE. His current research interests are in Internet Identity and Reputation, and in Bandwidth-Constrained and Intermittently Connected Networks.
Contact: Lalana Kagal, lkagal@csail.mit.edu
------------------------------
Automated Construction by Contour Crafting
WHEN Tue., Apr. 24, 2012, 2 – 3 p.m.
WHERE Room 209, Pierce Hall, Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences campus, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Behrokh Khoshnevis, professor and director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies (CRAFT), University of Southern California
NOTE The nature of construction has remained intensely manual throughout recorded history. A promising new automation approach is Contour Crafting (CC). Invented by Behrokh Khoshnevis, Contour Crafting is a mega-scale fabrication process aiming at automated on-site construction of whole structures as well as subcomponents. The potential of CC has become evident from experiments with various materials, geometries and scales. Using this process, a single building or a colony of buildings may be constructed automatically with all plumbing and electrical utilities imbedded in each; yet each building could have a different design which can include complex curved features. The technology also has astounding environmental and energy impacts. The entry level implication is especially profound for emergency shelter construction and low income housing. NASA is exploring possible application of CC in building on other planets. This new mode of construction will be one of the very few feasible approaches for building using in-situ material on planets such as Moon and Mars, which are being targeted for human colonization before the end of the century. CC has received international attention and could soon revolutionize the construction industry.
LINK http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewevent/196/automated-construction-by-contour-crafting
---------------------------------
"Water Cycle Change and the Human Fingerprint on the Water Landscape of the 21st Century: Observations from a Decade of GRACE"
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
4:00pm
Faculty Lounge, Hoffman Labs 4th Floor, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Jay Famiglietti, University of California, Irvine
----------------------------------
"The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the 21st Century."'
Tuesday, April 24
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Carr Center Conference Room, Rubenstein Building (Floor 2, Room 219), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Carr Center Conference Room, Rubenstein Building (Floor 2, Room 219), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Journalist Alex Prud'homme will discuss his new book
Human Rights to Water & Sanitation Program Lecture
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/hr2w/study_group/StudyGroup_2012_02_21.php
Contact Name: Sharmila L. Murthy Sharmila_Murthy@hks.harvard.edu
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/hr2w/study_group/StudyGroup_2012_02_21.php
Contact Name: Sharmila L. Murthy Sharmila_Murthy@hks.harvard.edu
---------------------------------
Marina Silva- Challenges to Sustainable Development
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E15-070, E15-070 (Bartos Theater), 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Marina Silva, Ex-Minister of the Environment, Brazil gives a talk on "Challenges to Sustainable Development"
*talk will be in Portuguese
*talk will be in Portuguese
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Political Science Department, SHASS Dean's Office, MISTI
For more information, contact:
Adriane Cesa
617-253-6194
acesa@mit.edu
Adriane Cesa
617-253-6194
acesa@mit.edu
------------------------------
Accelerating Clean Transportation Reception
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
5:00-7:00 p.m.
MIT-SUTD International Design Center, 265 Massachusetts Ave, MIT Building, N52 3rd floor, Cambridge
Please join the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program, the MIT Energy Club, the MIT Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSAA), and the MIT Economics and Talent Forum (ETF) for a discussion of ongoing electrified transportation innovation and research at MIT and local companies.
This is a free event and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to: laurie@1620associates.com or 508-479-8034
-------------------------------
Legatum Lecture ~ Shake the World: Too Good to Fail
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building E62-276, MIT Sloan, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: James Marshall Reilly
During this lecture, Reilly will explore how this generation is changing capitalism for the better, creating, in the process, new marketplaces and new opportunities as capitalism is harnessed for global good. Learn how breaking the corporate mold can lead to astonishing success in which for-profits trump non-profits in creating sustainable change.
Web site: http://legatum.mit.edu/content/1190
Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Sponsor(s): Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, SEID, Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development
For more information, contact:
Agnes Hunsicker
617-324-2768
agnesh@mit.edu
Agnes Hunsicker
617-324-2768
agnesh@mit.edu
-------------------------------
Boston Green Drinks - April Happy Hour
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Kingston Station, 25 Kingston Street, Boston
RSVP at http://april12bgd-es2.eventbrite.com/?srnk=208
The purpose of Green Drinks is primarily FUN, but the events also enable people to: share new ideas, learn about opportunities to work for change and to make a difference, discuss the state of the world, find sustainability’s emerging leaders…Green Drinks can be whatever you want it to be. So come have a few drinks and meet like-minded individuals who share your interest in building a sustainable society and planet.
------------------------------
PechaKucha
Tuesday, April 24
Doors at 6:00pm; Talks at 7:00pm
OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
Free Admission!
An event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Resting on a format that is based on 20 images x 20 seconds, it makes presentations concise, keeping things moving at a rapid pace.
-------------------------------
"The Clean Energy Future: Opportunity or Train Wreck?"
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
6:30p–7:30p
MIT, Building NW86, 70 Pacific Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Prof. Ernest Moniz, Director, MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI)
The MIT Sidney Pacific/Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series
The MIT Presidential Fellows/Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series hosts leading thinkers at Sidney Pacific Graduate Residence, MIT's largest graduate community. Lectures are open to the public and followed by dinner for up to 40 lecture attendees (by lottery; RSVP required) and the speaker at Sidney Pacific.
The MIT Presidential Fellows/Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series hosts leading thinkers at Sidney Pacific Graduate Residence, MIT's largest graduate community. Lectures are open to the public and followed by dinner for up to 40 lecture attendees (by lottery; RSVP required) and the speaker at Sidney Pacific.
Ernest J. Moniz is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. Prof. Moniz served as U.S. Under Secretary of Energy from 1997 to 2001 and as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President from 1995 to 1997. He currently serves on President Obama's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST). His principal research contributions have been in theoretical nuclear physics and in energy technology and policy studies.
Web site: http://goo.gl/lz2wr
Open to: the general public
Tickets: http://goo.gl/lz2wr
Sponsor(s): Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community
For more information, contact:
sp-cosi-chair@mit.edu
sp-cosi-chair@mit.edu
-------------------------------
Slow Money Boston Entrepreneur Showcase
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
6:00 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center 5th Floor, Havana Conference Room, One Broadway, Cambridge
Price: $10.00/per person
We will be bringing together investors, sustainable food entrepreneurs and leaders working together to rebuild our local food system. Learn about investment opportunities and how you can participate in rebuilding local economies based on the principles of soil fertility, sense of place, care of the commons and economic, cultural and biological diversity.
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/
-------------------------
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/
-------------------------
The Solitude of Prime Numbers, film screening
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
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
Film screening and Q&A with writer, Paolo Giordano
Like prime numbers, -suspicious, solitary numbers- which are divisible only by the number one and by themselves and are forever separated by even numbers, the two young protagonists are drawn together and pulled apart by their emotions and wounds. An extremely well told story about the difficulty of becoming -two- The movie is based on the bestselling first novel Paolo Giordano wrote while working on a doctorate in particle physics. Directed by Saverio Costanzo, it was nominated for the 2010 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion.
In Italian with English subtitles
Like prime numbers, -suspicious, solitary numbers- which are divisible only by the number one and by themselves and are forever separated by even numbers, the two young protagonists are drawn together and pulled apart by their emotions and wounds. An extremely well told story about the difficulty of becoming -two- The movie is based on the bestselling first novel Paolo Giordano wrote while working on a doctorate in particle physics. Directed by Saverio Costanzo, it was nominated for the 2010 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion.
In Italian with English subtitles
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/misti/events/film_series.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT-Italy Program, MISTI, Foreign Languages & Literatures, ISA
For more information, contact:
Griselda Gomez
252-1483
gomezg@mit.edu
Griselda Gomez
252-1483
gomezg@mit.edu
-------------------------
Wednesday, April 25
-------------------------
Mass SAVE -Energy Conservation Workshop
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Leslie University, Stebbins Hall Room 301, 31 Everett Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3358042997/es2?srnk=231
Learn ways on how Mass Save programs work and how you can improve your homes while investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Students...you will also learn tips on civic engagement, social responsibility and community building related to Energy Conservation!!
We will also discuss some of the things that the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CEA) is doing to engage our community.
-------------------------------
The Global Teach In
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
12 noon - 4:00 p.m.
encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th flr. Boston
The Global Teach-In will take place simultaneously in seven countries and multiple cities. This interactive and participatory event will include discussions by experts, grassroots activists and citizens at large concerned about developing solutions to policy problems and creating alternative institutions.
Featuring - Gar Alperovitz, Ellen Brown, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Caleb, Colin Hines, Oscar Kjellberg, Bill McKibben
From Boston: Aaron Tanaka (Boston Workers Alliance) and Paul Shannon (Majority Agenda Project)
Austria: Vienna - Canada: Kelowna, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario - South Africa: Durban - Sweden: Stockholm - United Kingdom: Birmingham, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England - United States Ann Arbor, Michigan; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; Chicago, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Olympia, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Washington, DC - Venezuela: Caracas
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/361108657261305/
------------------------------
China Urban Development Discussion Series: China's Integration into Global Industrial Production
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-354, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Edward Steinfeld, MIT Department of Political Science; Discussant: Professor Bish Sanyal, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
China Urban Development Discussion Series
China Urban Development is dedicated to bringing together students and scholars all across MIT campus and beyond who share academic and professional interests in China's urbanization and development. In the discussion series, we invite prominent scholars and experts to share with the discussion series participants their research results, wisdom, and experiences on issues of regional, urban, transportation, and housing development, resource and energy use, sustainable development, local public finance, and the impact of social media in China. We hope to engage MIT community members across different academic disciplines and to stimulate discussions of critical urban issues in China.
China Urban Development is dedicated to bringing together students and scholars all across MIT campus and beyond who share academic and professional interests in China's urbanization and development. In the discussion series, we invite prominent scholars and experts to share with the discussion series participants their research results, wisdom, and experiences on issues of regional, urban, transportation, and housing development, resource and energy use, sustainable development, local public finance, and the impact of social media in China. We hope to engage MIT community members across different academic disciplines and to stimulate discussions of critical urban issues in China.
Please RSVP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Y5F8YQ. Complimentary lunch will be served at 12:10 pm in 9-554; talk starts at 12:30 pm and ends by 2 pm in 617-259-354.
Web site: http://dusp.mit.edu/cud/cud_series.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, International Development Group, Graduate Student Life Grants, China Urban Development
For more information, contact:
Xin Li
xinli@mit.edu
Xin Li
xinli@mit.edu
---------------------------
The Challenges to Anticipating and Preventing Mass Violence: The Different Tools of Humanitarian Response
WHEN Wed., Apr. 25, 2012, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge St., Ted and Doris Lee Gathering Room (S030)
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
SPEAKER(S) Charlie Clements, executive director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, adjunct lecturer in public policy, Harvard Kennedy School;
Jennifer Leaning, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health, director, FXB Center Health and Human Rights;
Nancy Polutan, WCFIA fellow, lawyer and humanitarian official, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Nancy Polutan, WCFIA fellow, lawyer and humanitarian official, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
CONTACT INFO Nirvana Abou-Gabal: nabougabal@wcfia.harvard.edu
NOTE Lunch available at 12:15 p.m.
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/node/7578
-----------------------------
Beyond Kepler: Direct Imaging of Earth-like Exoplanets
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Ruslan Belikov, Space Science and Astrobiology, NASA
EAPS Department Lecture Series
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events
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
-----------------------------Jacqui Taylor
617-253-2127
jtaylor@mit.edu
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy. "Distributional Consequences of Water Markets: Local Economic Spillovers from Agricultural Water-use"
WHEN Wed., Apr. 25, 2012, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Kennedy School, Room Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Sustainability
SPEAKER(S) Pinar Keskin
LINK http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k82245&pageid=icb.page443881
-----------------------------
No Citizen Left Behind Book Talk and Reception
WHEN Wed., Apr. 25, 2012, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Gutman Library, first floor reading room, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR CMEI Faculty Colloquium in conjunction with the Gutman Library Distinguished Author Series
SPEAKER(S) Moderated by Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE, Tisch College, Tufts;
featuring Meira Levinson, associate professor of education, Harvard Graduate School of Education;
Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University, professor of African and African American studies, and Harvard College Professor;
Lawrence Bobo, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University;
James Liou, teacher, Boston Public Schools
Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University, professor of African and African American studies, and Harvard College Professor;
Lawrence Bobo, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University;
James Liou, teacher, Boston Public Schools
NOTE "No Citizen Left Behind" combines anecdotes from Meira Levinson's eight years of teaching middle school in Atlanta and Boston, political theorizing, and social science analysis. She argues that the United States suffers from a civic empowerment gap that is as shameful and anti-democratic as the academic achievement gap targeted by No Child Left Behind. Levinson shows how schools can help address the civic empowerment gap by teaching collective action, openly discussing the racialized dimensions of citizenship, and provoking students by engaging their passions against contemporary injustices through action civics. The book also includes chapters on historical counternarratives, heroes and role models, school culture, and accountability.
-----------------------------
Science Trivia Challenge - 6th Annual!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
5:30p–9:00p
MIT, Building NE30, Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center
The Science Trivia Challenge is a contest hosted by the MIT Club of Boston that is part of the Cambridge Science Festival. It's a live team trivia quiz where contestants are challenged on their knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy, computer science, earth sciences, inventions, local contributions to science and other subjects. The information might be useful or purely trivial and might test knowledge of scientific methods, theories, or history. Teams have to be ready for anything, and any team can win! See website for sample questions, team registration and more information.
The contest is broken into two divisions: a Youth Division, in which teams must consist entirely of students in middle school and high school; and an Open Division, in which there are no limits on team composition. In each division, the maximum team size is five players. Prizes are awarded to the top teams in each division.
We are thrilled that this event will again be moderated by renowned MIT Professor Walter Lewin. Teams are entered on a first-come, first-served basis until the event capacity is reached, so it is best to register early
The contest is broken into two divisions: a Youth Division, in which teams must consist entirely of students in middle school and high school; and an Open Division, in which there are no limits on team composition. In each division, the maximum team size is five players. Prizes are awarded to the top teams in each division.
We are thrilled that this event will again be moderated by renowned MIT Professor Walter Lewin. Teams are entered on a first-come, first-served basis until the event capacity is reached, so it is best to register early
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/trivia/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: http://web.mit.edu/trivia/
Sponsor(s): MIT Club of Boston, Alumni Association, Division of Student Life
For more information, contact:
Bob Ferrara
617-253-7495
rferrara@mit.edu
Bob Ferrara
617-253-7495
rferrara@mit.edu
------------------------------
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
--------------------------
Rebecca Skloot: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
April 25, 2012
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Boston College, Murray Function Room, 4th Floor of the Yawkey Athletics Center, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
Award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot has made a career of probing the intersections between hard science and human experience; the resulting stories have been as varied as cellular research and cancer, medical care for pet goldfish, and the science behind personal motivation. In her bestselling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), Skloot tells the story of a young black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 and left behind an inexplicably immortal line of cells known as HeLa. Skloot spent more than ten years researching Henrietta Lacks, whose cells—harvested without her knowledge or consent—contributed to scientific advancements as varied as the polio vaccine, treatments for cancers and viruses, in-vitro fertilization, and our understanding of the impact of space travel on human cells. Part detective story, part scientific odyssey, and part family saga, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks raises fascinating questions about race, class, and bioethics in America. This event is presented in partnership with the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.
-----------------------------
Wealth Inequality: The Gilded Road to Ruin?
WHEN Wed., Apr. 25, 2012, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE First Parish in Cambridge, 3 Church Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Cambridge Forum
SPEAKER(S) Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies
LInda McQuaig, journalist
Amy Goldstein, Radcliffe Institute, moderator
Amy Goldstein, Radcliffe Institute, moderator
COST FREE
CONTACT INFO director@cambridgeforum.org, 617.495.2727
NOTE Chuck Collins and Linda McQuaig explore the impact of the growing wealth gap, and suggest ways to reverse the increase in economic inequality.
LINK http://www.cambridgeforum.org
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Thursday, April 26
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Feedback, Monitoring, and Free Snacks: Management Techniques for Crowd Work
Thursday, April 26 2012
11:00AM to 12:00PM Refreshments: 10:45AM
MIT Building 32, Patil/Kiva 32-G449, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Björn Hartmann, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract: In this talk , I will present an overview of recent crowdsourcing work in my research group. Specifically, I will present three approaches to improve work quality and increase the complexity of work that can be completed on paid microtask platforms: 1) Our work on the Shepherd system demonstrates how timely feedback and self-assessment can lead to better work and higher worker perseverance. 2) Our Turkomatic system recruits crowd workers to aid requesters in planning and solving complex jobs. Requesters can view the status of workflows in real time; intervene to change tasks and solutions; and request new solutions to subtasks from the crowd. 3) Finally, I will introduce an alternative mechanism for crowdsourcing tasks that require specialized knowledge or skill from workers: communitysourcing — the use of physical kiosks to elicit work from specific populations.
Bio: Björn Hartmann is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in EECS, Computer Science division. He received a BA in Communication, BSE in Digital Media Design, and MSE in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He received his PhD degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2009. His research in Human-Computer Interaction focuses on the creation and evaluation of design tools, end-user programming environments, and crowdsourcing systems. He is a co-recipient of Best Paper awards at ACM CHI and UIST in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012.
Bio: Björn Hartmann is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in EECS, Computer Science division. He received a BA in Communication, BSE in Digital Media Design, and MSE in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He received his PhD degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2009. His research in Human-Computer Interaction focuses on the creation and evaluation of design tools, end-user programming environments, and crowdsourcing systems. He is a co-recipient of Best Paper awards at ACM CHI and UIST in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012.
Contact: Juho Kim, juhokim@mit.edu
Relevant URL: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/seminar.shtml
----------------------------
Energy 101 : Nuclear Fusion
Thursday, April 26, 2012
12:30p–1:30p
MIT, Building 4-159, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Caleb Waugh (MIT Energy Club co-director)
-----------------------------
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/
------------------------------
Energy 101 lectures series
The Energy 101 lectures aim at presenting an overview of various topics in the energy field. These lectures are open to everyone and require no prior knowledge.
The Energy 101 lectures aim at presenting an overview of various topics in the energy field. These lectures are open to everyone and require no prior knowledge.
This edition of the Energy 101 lectures will present an overview of nuclear fusion technology. Scientific, technological and economical issues will be addressed. No previous knowledge is required. This event is free and open to the public.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
Aziz Abdellahi (MIT Energy Club)
aziz_a@mit.edu
Aziz Abdellahi (MIT Energy Club)
aziz_a@mit.edu
------------------------------
"Aviation Biofuels: Propelling the World toward a Low-Carbon Future"
Thursday, April 26, 2012
12:30pm - 1:45pm
Tufts University, Murrow Room, The Fletcher School, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
CIERP’S Energy, Climate, and Innovation Program presents:
Cristina Haus, Executive Editor, Jet Fuel Intelligence, Energy Intelligence Group
Open to the public. Convened by the Energy, Climate, and Innovation Program at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. (A light lunch will be served. No RSVPs – first come first served.)
Cristina Haus will speak about the development of aviation biofuels over the last six years, from the military’s early strategic priorities that led to testing by the Air Force and later the Navy, to the certification effort for commercial use, to flight tests by Lufthansa and others, and the current effort to bring these fuels from technical viability to commercial reality through efforts by NGOs such as the Carbon War Room and groups like the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative. She will also discuss the regulatory framework – what exists and what is missing in terms of a global climate change agreement for aviation specifically and the world in general.
Haus, a Fletcher graduate (F’81), has worked at Energy Intelligence for most of her professional career. She began as a reporter at the flagship publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, and for the last twenty years has been Executive Editor of Jet Fuel Intelligence. She attends (and has been a frequent speaker at) Fuel Forums of the International Air Transport Association, which has taken her all over the globe. During a brief hiatus from EIG she worked for Bloomberg Business News and Cambridge Energy Research Associates. She speaks German, French, Italian and English, each of which she uses often in her work. Haus has two daughters, one of whom currently attends Tufts University.
Haus, a Fletcher graduate (F’81), has worked at Energy Intelligence for most of her professional career. She began as a reporter at the flagship publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, and for the last twenty years has been Executive Editor of Jet Fuel Intelligence. She attends (and has been a frequent speaker at) Fuel Forums of the International Air Transport Association, which has taken her all over the globe. During a brief hiatus from EIG she worked for Bloomberg Business News and Cambridge Energy Research Associates. She speaks German, French, Italian and English, each of which she uses often in her work. Haus has two daughters, one of whom currently attends Tufts University.
Coordination Of Emergency Response To Unprecedented Large-Scale Events
Thursday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 26, 2011
1:30-3:00 pm
MIT Building E62, Room 450, 100 Main Street , Cambridge
Dr. Graham Coates, BSc PhD CEng FIMechE MRAeS CMath, FIMA, FHEA, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Durham University, United Kingdom
Video recording of Graham Coates' presentation
Abstract
Coordination is a well-established area of research in disciplines such as organisation theory, distributed artificial intelligence and engineering design. More recently, coordination has been recognised as a key element of emergency response (Militello et al., 2007), however research in this area is scarce (Chen et al., 2008).
High profile events in the last decade have led to emergency response becoming increasingly topical and high on the political agenda in many countries. In practice, emergency response is based on static pre-planning with assumptions being made about the event. This approach suffers inflexibility in the face of unprecedented events characterised by high urgency and the evolving operational conditions. In research literature, it is recognised that it would be impractical to assemble an exhaustive list of potential major events and develop the corresponding response plans (Mendonça, 2007). Thus it is necessary to develop adaptive approaches for fast and flexible emergency response, which are applicable to any event.
Research in the area of emergency response is being conducted at Durham University in close collaboration with Government Office, Emergency Planning Units, Police Forces, Fire and Rescue Services, and Ambulance Services. The objective of this research is to develop a solution to coping with fast changing, unprecedented events on a large-scale. This will be achieved through the real-time coordination of the collective efforts and actions of first responders from the multiple agencies involved in emergency response. In this talk, an overview will be given of the progress made in the first year of a three yearEPSRC*funded project, which has focused on the development of a preliminary framework consisting of a decision support tool and an agent-based simulation (ABS) environment. The decision support tool aims to rapidly generate and maintain operational plans for a coordinated emergency response, which are tailored to the evolving event. The ABS environment aims to model events in realistic geographical areas in which agents representing first responders from the emergency services adhere to the operational plans as closely as possible. However, depending on the unfolding event, agents will adapt their actions when necessary such that coordinated emergency response operations can be preserved and loss of life, injury to people and damage to property can be reduced.
*Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK)
Coordination is a well-established area of research in disciplines such as organisation theory, distributed artificial intelligence and engineering design. More recently, coordination has been recognised as a key element of emergency response (Militello et al., 2007), however research in this area is scarce (Chen et al., 2008).
High profile events in the last decade have led to emergency response becoming increasingly topical and high on the political agenda in many countries. In practice, emergency response is based on static pre-planning with assumptions being made about the event. This approach suffers inflexibility in the face of unprecedented events characterised by high urgency and the evolving operational conditions. In research literature, it is recognised that it would be impractical to assemble an exhaustive list of potential major events and develop the corresponding response plans (Mendonça, 2007). Thus it is necessary to develop adaptive approaches for fast and flexible emergency response, which are applicable to any event.
Research in the area of emergency response is being conducted at Durham University in close collaboration with Government Office, Emergency Planning Units, Police Forces, Fire and Rescue Services, and Ambulance Services. The objective of this research is to develop a solution to coping with fast changing, unprecedented events on a large-scale. This will be achieved through the real-time coordination of the collective efforts and actions of first responders from the multiple agencies involved in emergency response. In this talk, an overview will be given of the progress made in the first year of a three yearEPSRC*funded project, which has focused on the development of a preliminary framework consisting of a decision support tool and an agent-based simulation (ABS) environment. The decision support tool aims to rapidly generate and maintain operational plans for a coordinated emergency response, which are tailored to the evolving event. The ABS environment aims to model events in realistic geographical areas in which agents representing first responders from the emergency services adhere to the operational plans as closely as possible. However, depending on the unfolding event, agents will adapt their actions when necessary such that coordinated emergency response operations can be preserved and loss of life, injury to people and damage to property can be reduced.
*Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK)
Speaker bio
Graham Coates is a Senior Lecturer in the Mechanics Group within the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences atDurham University. He received his PhD in Computational Engineering Design from Newcastle University. His doctoral research focused on developing an integrated approach to real-time operational design co-ordination, which was realised within an agent-based system working in a distributed computing environment. This research was partially funded by BAE Systems and done in collaboration with Strathclyde University. His post-doctoral research was conducted in the area of process control and scheduling optimisation on a European Union funded project related to the development of a technology platform for virtual ship systems.
Graham Coates is a Senior Lecturer in the Mechanics Group within the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences atDurham University. He received his PhD in Computational Engineering Design from Newcastle University. His doctoral research focused on developing an integrated approach to real-time operational design co-ordination, which was realised within an agent-based system working in a distributed computing environment. This research was partially funded by BAE Systems and done in collaboration with Strathclyde University. His post-doctoral research was conducted in the area of process control and scheduling optimisation on a European Union funded project related to the development of a technology platform for virtual ship systems.
He has seven years experience working as an aerospace engineer at British Aerospace Commercial Aircraft (now BAE Systems Regional Aircraft), and Aerospace Systems & Technologies Ltd (now CAV Aerospace Ltd). The majority of his industrial experience was gained in the areas of aircraft structures, aerodynamics, and flight testing. Industrial projects he has worked on include various structural and aerodynamic certification aspects of turbo prop aircraft and laminar flow technology for future aircraft.
-------------------------------
"Geoengineering: Whiter Skies?"
Thursday, April 26, 2012
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Benjamin S. Kravitz, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science
MIT Oceanography and Climate Sack Lunch Seminar Series
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact:
Roberta Allard
allard@mit.edu
Roberta Allard
allard@mit.edu
--------------------------
Smart Grid and Implications for Wind Power Integration in China
Thursday, April 26, 2012
3:30pm
Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge
CHEN Xinyu, Visiting Fellow, Harvard China Project; doctoral candidate, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/seminar%20folder/seminar/ChenXinyu120426
Contact Name: Chris Nielsen
nielsen2@fas.harvard.edu
---------------------------
The Earth Is My Laboratory: Putting the high-tech in oilfield
Thursday, April 26, 2012
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 4-231, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Julius Kusuma and Christophe Dupuis. Telemetry Group, Mathematics & Modeling Department. Schlumberger-Doll Research
Technology has played a major role in shaping how hydrocarbon exploration and production is done. In this talk we give a brief tour of some of the state-of-the-art and showcase how technology has revolutionized the practice of the industry, enabling innovations such as horizontal drilling, logging-while-drilling, and well-placement. At the same time, we give a tutorial on how the lifecycle of a reservoir is managed, including imaging, drilling, logging, sampling, testing, and completing.
This Lecture will be taught by Julius Kusuma and Christophe Dupuis from Schlumberger: a leading oilfield services provider, trusted to deliver superior results and improved E&P performance for oil and gas companies around the world.
This Lecture will be taught by Julius Kusuma and Christophe Dupuis from Schlumberger: a leading oilfield services provider, trusted to deliver superior results and improved E&P performance for oil and gas companies around the world.
Web site: Schlumberger-Doll Research
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
--------------------------------
Designing Digital Humanities
Thursday, April 26, 2012
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 2-105, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Johanna Drucker, UCLA
CMS Colloquium Series
What is the role of design in modeling digital humanities? Can we imagine new forms of argument and platforms that support interpretative work? So much of the computationally driven environment of digital work has been created by design/engineers that humanistic values and methods have not found their place in the tools and formats that provide the platform for research, pedagogy, access, and use. The current challenge is to take advantage of the rich repositories and well-developed online resources and create innovative approaches to argument, curation, display, editing, and understanding that embody humanistic methods as well as humanities content. Designers have a major role to play in the collaborative envisioning of new formats and processes. Using some vivid examples and case studies, this talk outlines some of the opportunities for exciting work ahead.
Johanna Drucker is the inaugural Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. She is internationally known for her work in the history of graphic design, typography, experimental poetry, fine art, and digital humanities.
Web site: http://cms.mit.edu/events/talks.php#042612
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies
For more information, contact:
Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cms@mit.edu
Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cms@mit.edu
---------------------------
Tsunami Exhibition Opening Reception
Thursday, April 26
5 pm to 7 pm
MIT, Building 7-238, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Camila Chaves Cortes, photographer
http://www.mit.edu/~camila/tsunami/
Exhibition will be on display until May 31, 2012
------------------------------
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/
------------------------------
New England's Nuclear Power Plants: Are We Any Safer After Fukushima?
Thursday, April 26, 2012
6:00p–9:00p
Reception: 6 PM
MIT, Building E51-Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
***********
-------------
Upcoming
-------------
***********
Moderator: Bruce Gellerman, Senior Correspondent/Host of National Public Radio's Living on Earth
Speakers:
Dave Lochbaum, Director of the UCS Nuclear Safety Project
Raymond Shadis, Consultant to the New England Coalition;
Mary Lampert, Director of Pilgrim Watch
Debbie Grinnell, Research Director for the C-10 Education and Research Foundation.
(Representative Edward Markey has been invited but his participation has not yet been confirmed.)
The event's goals are to highlight specific safety concerns at New England's nuclear power plants; advance Union of Concerned Scientists recommendations to improve their safety; and to engage concerned citizens, Union of Concerned Scientists supporters, and regional opinion leaders on the issue.
The event will be filmed, an edited version of which will be posted on the Union of Concerned Scientists web site and promoted after the event.
PLEASE RSVP via http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/what_you_can_do/nuclear-power-town-hall-new-england.html
Co-sponsored by the the Union of Concerned Scientists and the MIT Center for International Studies
Speakers:
Dave Lochbaum, Director of the UCS Nuclear Safety Project
Raymond Shadis, Consultant to the New England Coalition;
Mary Lampert, Director of Pilgrim Watch
Debbie Grinnell, Research Director for the C-10 Education and Research Foundation.
(Representative Edward Markey has been invited but his participation has not yet been confirmed.)
The event's goals are to highlight specific safety concerns at New England's nuclear power plants; advance Union of Concerned Scientists recommendations to improve their safety; and to engage concerned citizens, Union of Concerned Scientists supporters, and regional opinion leaders on the issue.
The event will be filmed, an edited version of which will be posted on the Union of Concerned Scientists web site and promoted after the event.
PLEASE RSVP via http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/what_you_can_do/nuclear-power-town-hall-new-england.html
Co-sponsored by the the Union of Concerned Scientists and the MIT Center for International Studies
Web site:http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/what_you_can_do/nuclear-power-town-hall-new-england.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, Union of Concerned Scientists
For more information, contact:
starrforum@mit.edu
starrforum@mit.edu
---------------------------
Environmental Film Series – Warriors of Quigang, Pipe Dreams, and When the Water Ends
Thursday, April 26
7:30-9:00pm
Harvard University, Dudley House (Lehman Hall) 3rd floor, 8 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Contact: Hannah Lee hannah@seas.harvard.edu
In honor of upcoming Earth Week 2012 & Earth Day 2012 (April 22), please join your graduate student community in celebrating with a Film Series!
*Brought to you by Dudley House, GSAS Housing, and Harvard SEAS Environmental Science & Engineering.
More ABOUT the films:
WARRIORS OF QUIGANG (short) documents villagers in central China who take on a chemical company [film website]
PIPE DREAM (short) highlights today’s most contested project: The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline [film website]
WHEN THE WATER ENDS (short) is a film produced by Yale Environment 360 on water and conflict in East Africa [film website]
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Friday, April 27
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Renewable Energy Market in New England
Friday, April 27, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E51-151, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Mimi Zhang, Principal Analyst at Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC
Renewables have been a big growth area within the energy industry, largely driven by policy mechanisms such as state-level renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which have created markets for renewable energy premiums. In the years since New England states implemented RPS policies, the regional market has experienced both supply surplus and shortage driven by long project lead-times and economic and political uncertainly. Many states are now adapting to technology trends by implementing distributed generation carve-outs in addition to incentives for large-scale renewable energy development. The region as a whole is also tackling transmission constraints and questions around imports, all while trying to minimize ratepayer cost.
To better understand our current policy mechanisms and how states or regions can effectively support renewable energy development while minimizing cost, we will start with an overview of the mechanisms and their impact to date, with a focus on New England. We will also talk about some of the challenges and issues that face this and other regions, and end with some discussion on ways to address these issues and more effectively achieve our policy goals.
To better understand our current policy mechanisms and how states or regions can effectively support renewable energy development while minimizing cost, we will start with an overview of the mechanisms and their impact to date, with a focus on New England. We will also talk about some of the challenges and issues that face this and other regions, and end with some discussion on ways to address these issues and more effectively achieve our policy goals.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu
----------------------
Saturday, April 28
----------------------
The LA Riots: Twenty Years Later
WHEN Sat., Apr. 28, 2012, 9:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Provost Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration, Department of African and African American Studies, Korea Institute, Department of Anthropology, Committee on Ethnic Studies, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Hip Hop Archive
SPEAKER(S) Keynote address by Patricia Williams;
Special appearance by David Banner;
Keynote Introduction by Henry Louis Gates Jr.;
Evelyn Higginbotham, Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, Lewis Gordon, Luisa Heredian, Arthur Kleinman, Jim Sidanius, Elizabeth Wong, Gopal Balakrishnan, Jacqueline Bhabha, Nigel Gibson, Biodun Jeyifo, Christine Rebet, Min Hyoung Song, Kerry Chance, Ju Yon Kim, Laurence Ralph
Presentations by Harvard College students from the Spring 2012 courses Economic Rights and Wrongs (Anthropology 1713), Gangsters and Troublesome Populations (Anthropology 1682), and Interracial Encounters in Contemporary Ethnic American Narratives (English 90ea)
Performance by Hoop Suite Youth Poets: Deisha Lee, Khelyia Serrano, Daniel Rivera, Jasmine Cadet
Keynote Introduction by Henry Louis Gates Jr.;
Evelyn Higginbotham, Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, Lewis Gordon, Luisa Heredian, Arthur Kleinman, Jim Sidanius, Elizabeth Wong, Gopal Balakrishnan, Jacqueline Bhabha, Nigel Gibson, Biodun Jeyifo, Christine Rebet, Min Hyoung Song, Kerry Chance, Ju Yon Kim, Laurence Ralph
Presentations by Harvard College students from the Spring 2012 courses Economic Rights and Wrongs (Anthropology 1713), Gangsters and Troublesome Populations (Anthropology 1682), and Interracial Encounters in Contemporary Ethnic American Narratives (English 90ea)
Performance by Hoop Suite Youth Poets: Deisha Lee, Khelyia Serrano, Daniel Rivera, Jasmine Cadet
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/lariots/index.html
CONTACT INFO Kerry Chance (kchance@fas.harvard.edu)
Laurence Ralph (lralph@fas.harvard.edu)
Ju Yon Kim (juyonkim@fas.harvard.edu)
Ju Yon Kim (juyonkim@fas.harvard.edu)
NOTE “The LA Riots: Twenty Years Later” conference brings together leading scholars, activists, and artists to look back at—and forward from—the LA Riots. The conference will combine a critical retrospective examination of the uprising with reflections on democracy and inequity today, a time of economic crisis and revolution in much of the world.
LINK http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/lariots/index.html
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Sunday, April 29
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LET'S TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD Forum
Sunday, April 29
7:00 p.m.
Museum of Science, Cahners Theater, 1 Science Park, Boston
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Let's Talk About Food.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Let's Talk About Food.
Register at http://sustainableseafoodforum.eventbrite.com/
Seafood is increasingly important to the human diet, but is the future of this protein source at risk? This free forum event, featuring a crash course in "Seafood 101," shares a number of informed perspectives on threats to fish stocks and to marine ecosystems in the context of the New England economy. As a participant, you'll engage with experts in various aspects of the seafood world, such as fishermen, retailers, environmental scientists, and more.
In small groups, consider and discuss the issue of sustainable seafood: the complexities and tradeoffs of potential solutions, the role of technology in the future of seafood, and the role we each play in finding the balance in an uncertain future.
Part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
Presented in collaboration with the New England Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood Program, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Chefs Collaborative, and the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment.
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Monday, April 30
--------------------
Webinar: The Emergence of a Digital Money Ecosystem
Monday, April 30, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
Location: Virtual -- Web site: http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_043012/webinar-digital-money-ecosystem.html
Speaker: Irving Wladawsky-Berger, PhD Visiting Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division and MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar Series
This series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
This series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
We are in the early stages of a very important transformation???the transition to a digital money ecosystem. This transformation is likely to be among the most exciting, important, and challenging initiatives the world will undertake in the coming decades.
The transformation involves more than the transformation of money (cash, checks, credit and debit cards, etc.) from physical to digital objects that we will carry in our smart mobile devices. It encompasses the whole money ecosystem, including the global payment infrastructures, the management of personal identities and personal financial data, the global financial flows among institutions and between institutions and individuals, the government regulatory regimes, and more.
This webinar will present an overview of this digital money transformation and the technical and societal forces that are driving it. We will also discuss some of the potential major consequences to business, the economy, and society in general.
The transformation involves more than the transformation of money (cash, checks, credit and debit cards, etc.) from physical to digital objects that we will carry in our smart mobile devices. It encompasses the whole money ecosystem, including the global payment infrastructures, the management of personal identities and personal financial data, the global financial flows among institutions and between institutions and individuals, the government regulatory regimes, and more.
This webinar will present an overview of this digital money transformation and the technical and societal forces that are driving it. We will also discuss some of the potential major consequences to business, the economy, and society in general.
Web site: http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_043012/webinar-digital-money-ecosystem.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: See url above
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design and Management (SDM) Program
For more information, contact:
Lois Slavin
617-253-0812
lslavin@mit.edu
Lois Slavin
617-253-0812
lslavin@mit.edu
-------------------------
BUILDING TECHNOLOGY SPRING LECTURE SERIES: Building Energy Efficiency Research at the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems
Monday, April 30, 2012
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 7-431, Long Lounge (AVT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Kurt W. Roth, Director, Building Energy Efficiency, Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE, Cambridge, MA
Building Technology Spring Lecture Series
Dr.Kurt Roth leads the Building Energy Efficiency Group at the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE). His group works with industry on applied research to develop, analyze, test, evaluate, and demonstrate advanced energy-saving building technologies. At CSE, Dr. Roth also is the Principal Investigator for the Fraunhofer CSE-led Building America Team. Prior to joining Fraunhofer CSE, he was a Principal in the Mechanical Systems group of TIAX LLC, formerly Arthur D. Little???s Technology & Innovation business. Dr. Roth has led several studies funded by the Department of Energy to assess the energy savings and commercialization potentials of HVAC, building controls and diagnostics, toplighting, and IT technologies. In addition, he led analyses to characterize building energy consumption, including the energy consumed by commercial and residential IT, consumer electronics, and residential and commercial miscellaneous electricity consumption. Dr. Roth has presented at numerous conferences and meetings, and has authored more than sixty "Emerging Technology" articles for the ASHRAE Journal. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), all in mechanical engineering, and is a member of ASES, ASHRAE, ASME, NESEA, and Sigma Xi.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, Building Technology Program
For more information, contact:
Alexandra Golledge
253-0463
agoll18@mit.edu
Alexandra Golledge
253-0463
agoll18@mit.edu
----------------------------
Economic Gardening: An Entrepreneurial Approach to Economic Development
WHEN Mon., Apr. 30, 2012, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Christian Gibbons, director of business/industry affairs, Littleton, Colorado
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Christina Marchand: christina_marchand@harvard.edu, 617.496.4491
NOTE Littleton, Colorado's Economic Gardening program focuses on enhancing the city’s home-grown industries to increase job growth and overall economic prosperity for the region. Launched in 1987, Economic Gardening gives emerging growth Stage II businesses assistance in competitive market research, trade area analysis, social media, and web marketing grounded in a host of scientific theories adapted to entrepreneurship.
LINK http://ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events/Economic-Gardening-An-Entrepreneurial-Approach-to-Economic-Development
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CDD Forum - Shrinking Cities
Monday, April 30, 2012
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 7-431, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Camilo Jose Vergara
Photographer and MacArthur Fellow
Detroit: The Eternal City of the Industrial Age
The 2012 City Design and Development Forum public lecture series will bring to MIT emerging and leading thinkers in disciplines influencing the urbanism of shrinking cities, including: landscape, architecture, planning, and photography.
Photographer and MacArthur Fellow
Detroit: The Eternal City of the Industrial Age
The 2012 City Design and Development Forum public lecture series will bring to MIT emerging and leading thinkers in disciplines influencing the urbanism of shrinking cities, including: landscape, architecture, planning, and photography.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Department of Architecture
For more information, contact:
Sandra Elliott
617-253-5115
sandrame@mit.edu
Sandra Elliott
617-253-5115
sandrame@mit.edu
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Nerd Nite
Monday April 30, 2012
8pm
Middlesex, 315 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money
$5
The lineup:
Talk 1. “Urban Farming: From Backyards to Rooftops”
by Brendan Shea and Jessie Banhazl
by Brendan Shea and Jessie Banhazl
Talk 2. “Glam Rock 101 – Wolves in Women’s Clothing: The Differences between GLAM-rock & glam-RAWK”
by Vadim Akimenko
by Vadim Akimenko
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Upcoming
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How Can We Feed A Growing World and Sustain the Planet
May 1
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Wong Auditorium, E51-115, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Wong Auditorium, E51-115, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Jonathan Foley, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota
12th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture
http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/henry_kendall_lecture
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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http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/henry_kendall_lecture
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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Sajed Kamal, author of The Renewable Revolution
May 1
5:15 pm
Brandeis, Glynn Auditorium, Heller School, 415 South Street, Waltham
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Making the decision on Residential Solar Power Easy for everyone
Green Drinks Boston/Cambridge
Thursday, May 3, 2012
6:30 PM
6:30 PM
Brickyard Collaboration Space, 86 Sherman Street, Cambridge
Ok everyone, it's time to get rolling with some serious GreenDrinks action to celebrate the beautiful spring in Boston.
On May 3rd, let's meet up to learn about solar electricity in the state of Massachusetts.
On May 3rd, let's meet up to learn about solar electricity in the state of Massachusetts.
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Green-Drinks-Boston-Cambridge/events/61404752/?a=ea1_grp&rv=ea1
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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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FESTIVAL FLORALIA
Sunday May 6, 2
4:30
Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, 159 Brattle Street, Cambridge
A fund-raiser for Grow Native Massachusetts, which encourages us to use native plants in our gardens. Great event: info sessions, music, food, native plants for sale.
More info: www.grownativemass.org/programs/festivalfloralia
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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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The Spring 2011 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
Saturday May 12
NOON to 2 pm
at Fayette Park (near the corner of Broadway and Fayette St., across from former Longfellow School)
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Saturday, May 19, 12-2
Bring anything that's growing in too much abundance in your garden. Elegant packaging not required, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, biennial seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening.
Contact HMSnively@aol.com
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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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