Sunday, September 23, 2012

Energy (and Other) Events - September 23, 2012


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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Water Engines, Hydrinos, Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, Esoteric Energy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/17/1132871/-Water-Engines-Hydrinos-Low-Energy-Nuclear-Reactions-Esoteric-Energy

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Monday, September 24
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TALK: Wireless sensor networks and mobility: towards pervasive robotics
Monday, September 24 2012
10:00AM to 11:00AM
MIT, Building 32-397, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Ankur Mehta, UC Berkeley
Abstract:   We can easily obtain cheap off-the-shelf microprocessors, wireless radios, and sensors. A variety of actuators from motors and servos all the way to fully built toy vehicles are also readily available. We can build wireless sensor networks from the former and attach them to mobile mechanical bodies from the latter. So where are our autonomous networked swarm robots then?

It turns out there are still a number of system-level problems to solve before we can have personal robots to do our bidding. In this talk, we look at a few of these issues -- how they impede the development of swarm robots, and what can be done to solve or work around them. These range from networking concerns such as power consumption and integration to robotic concerns including localization and control. At the interface are further concerns regarding communicating with mobile nodes. This presentation will cover protocol design and enhancements for networking along with hardware and software development for robot control, with a few detours and asides on the way. We finish by presenting plans for how to move forward so that we can eventually have our own versatile army of robot servants.

Bio:   Ankur is currently finishing up his PhD at UC Berkeley with Prof. Kris Pister; his work has covered a number of fields including wireless sensor networks, autonomous helicopters, and rocket control. He came to Cal following his undergrad and MEng at MIT, doing his Masters project with Profs. Klaus Jensen and Marty Schmidt on the design of a MEMS solid oxide fuel cell. Having spent the past several years tacking on additional research projects in a bid to maintain the glamorous student lifestyle as long as possible, he now realizes that growing up is inevitable, and so will soon embark on the next phase of his journey through academia.

When not in the lab, Ankur swing dances as a part of a campus performance group, and enjoys social dancing as well. He is the founder and leader of the Cal Puzzlers League, a group that has put on yearly puzzle hunts at Berkeley in the style of the MIT Mystery Hunt. He also plays board games and ultimate frisbee.

Contact: Mieke Moran, 617-253-5817, mieke@csail.mit.edu

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Community Atmosphere and Earth System Modeling beyond CMIP5: Seamless Prediction from Climate to Weather
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 12:00p–1:00p
Location: MIT, Building 54-915, 3 Ames Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Andrew Gettelman
MASS Seminar
Abstract: The past and future evolution of a widely used earth system model, the Community Earth System Model, is discussed. The current status of the model as part of the latest coupled model inter comparison project (CMIP5) will be highlighted. CESM simulation performance is critical regimes is analyzed: such as Arctic clouds and climate change, and on simulations of tropical cyclones. Results of historical and future simulations will be presented. CESM also has a significantly different climate sensitivity to radiative forcing changes from its predecessors. The change in sensitivity is due to changes to the radiation code (forcing) and changes to the cloud parameterizations (feedbacks). These are analyzed in detail, and the causes traced to parameterizations of clouds. Future modeling directions are discussed beyond the CMIP5 version of CESM, and a conceptual framework to consistently go from climate to weather scales will be outlined, with some progress and plans presented.

The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs certainly participate.
Speaker's Website: http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/andrew/
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/calendars/mass
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars, Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate (PAOC)

For more information, contact:  MASS organizing committee
mass@mit.edu

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"Who Pays Fuel Taxes and What Does It Mean for Policy?"
Monday, September 24, 2012
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

with Erich Muehlegger, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/events.html
Contact Name:  Louisa Lund
louisa_lund@harvard.edu

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"Narrating Fukushima: Scales of a Nuclear Meltdown"
Monday, September 24, 2012
12:15pm - 2:00pm
Harvard, Room 100F, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

with Shi-Lin Loh and Kyoko Sato (Harvard, EALC/Stanford STS).

Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Thursday noon the week before.
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
sts@hks.harvard.edu

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Riding the Unicorn: The Myth of Sustainability
September 24, 2012 
12:30p–1:45p
Tufts, The Fletcher School, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford

Bruce J. Oreck currently serves as the United States Ambassador to Finland. In that capacity, he has driven the initiation of a complete renovation of the Embassy in Helsinki with a focus on high performance. Later this year Embassy Helsinki will open its Innovation Center, a 100 year old building on target for LEED Platinum EB Certification. The Innovation Center is also slated to be the first U.S. Embassy building to exclusively utilize both interior and exterior LED lighting. And the entire Embassy compound will be the first in the world to utilize both district heating and district cooling (over 90% efficient).

For more information:  http://bruceoreck.eventbrite.com/

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"Technologies for Positive Energy Buildings and Communities"
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 12:30p–2:00p
Location: MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Stella Oggianu, Project Leader, Energy Systems, United Technologies Research Center, Connecticut
Building Technology Lecture Series, Dept of Architecture
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture
For more information, contact:
617-253-1876

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Technology prospects for the U.S. Light Duty Fleet in 2050
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 1:00p–2:30p
Location: MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: John Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT
In August 2012 the National Petroleum Council released a three-year study, undertaken at the request of Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, to assess the prospects for technology changes to the vehicle and fuel mix of cars and light trucks that could significantly reduce carbon footprint of the vehicle fleet. In this talk, Institute Professor John Deutch, who served as vice chair of technology for the study group, will discuss how this massive NPC study was organized and the results presented in the report, Advancing Technology for America's Transportation Future. He shall comment on the strength and deficiencies of the model constructed to project future possible fuel/vehicle fleet composition. Further, Deutch shall propose an alternative modeling approach that he believes the MIT Energy Initiative should pursue in order to better inform industry, government, and interested citizen groups about the technology and policy choices that exist to shape the composition of the future U.S. light duty vehicle fleet.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative

For more information, contact:  Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu

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Do Prices and Attributes Explain International Differences in Food Purchases?
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 2:30p–4:00p
Location: At Harvard - Littauer M16, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Aviv Nevo (Northwestern)

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN VENUE
Web site: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/8116
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): IO Workshop

For more information, contact:   Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Predicting the Effects of Charter School Expansion
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 4:00p–5:30p
Location: MIT, Building E51-151, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Christopher Walters (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop

For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Acquiescing to Environmental Degradation: Literary Dynamics of Resignation
WHEN  Mon., Sep. 24, 2012, 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (262), Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
SPEAKER(S) Karen Thornber, Associate Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO lkluz@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE  Professor Thornber will examine how selected works of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fiction engage with the phenomenon of environmental ambiguity.
LINK http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/event/karen-thornber

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The Gulf Today: Assessing the Impact of the Arab Transformation
WHEN  Mon., Sep. 24, 2012, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S)  Shafeeq Ghabra, professor of political science, Kuwait University
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5828/gulf_today.html

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RFID Event: What Technology Will Dominate Retail?
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 6:00p–9:00p
Location: MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Although self checkout is a hot topic, turns out that NFC will only be one of the technologies that retailers will and are flocking to. The challenge is to get shoppers into the store. And once in the store to have stellar store operations to make sure they shop - and buy. Oh, and did we say profitable operations? That still counts most.

So what are those technologies? QR Codes, RFID, Mobile, NFC or other wireless methods?

Our stellar panel, who are key innovators and dominators in retail will debate and discuss this very topic. Current market research on Retail trends and purchasing will be shared.

Web site: http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/rfid-sig-event-what-technology-will-dominate-retail-3/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge

For more information, contact:
Amy Goggins
617-253-3937
entforumcambridge@mit.edu

Editorial Comment:  This is a pay event, $30 for non-members of the MIT Enterprise Forum, $10 for members.  The Enterprise Forum has a number of events every month throughout the year.

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Science and Cooking
Monday, September 24
7p.
Harvard Science Center C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge

A lecture in Harvard's Science and Cooking series by Enric Rovira, Master Chocolatier

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MIT Visiting Artists Mel Chin and Rick Lowe
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 7:00p–8:30p
Location: MIT, Building E15-070, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Mel Chin, Rick Lowe, Dayna Cunningham
MIT Visiting Artist Program

MIT Visiting Artists Mel Chin and Rick Lowe present individual projects that engage art in planning diverse and lively urban environments. Active in their own communities and in national initiatives, each deploys art to reinvent locations in need of revitalization. Moderated by Dayna Cunningham, Executive Director of the Community Innovators Lab, a center of planning and development within the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the discussion examines the potential contributions of artists to an urban studies and planning curriculum.

Co-presented by CoLab and the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology.

Web site: arts.mit.edu/va
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: see arts.mit.edu/va
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Arts at MIT, School of Architecture and Planning

For more information, contact:  Leah Talatinian
617.252.1888
arts@mit.edu

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Folk Music Lecture Demonstration: Norman Kennedy, Scottish ballad singer
Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 7:30p–9:30p
Location: MIT, Building 14W-111, Killian Hall, Hayden Library Building, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Speaker: Norman Kennedy
Web site: web.mit.edu/mta
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts

For more information, contact:  Clarise Snyder
mta-request@mit.edu

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Nerd Nite
Monday September 24, 2012
8pm  
Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge — in Harvard Square

Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by DJ Claude Money and special guest Raleigh Fingers

$10 Advance tickets now on sale: Buy them here:  http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/nerd-nite-0

The lineup:

Talk 1. “Dance your Ph.D.”
by John Bohannon

Talk 2.  “Bending Steel: Professional Filmmaking in the New DIY Age”
by Ryan Scafuro

For more information about the speakers and the talks:  http://boston.nerdnite.com/2012/09/21/nerdnite-sept-24-nerdnite-returns-to-the-oberon-with-bonus-nerdy-speed-dating-pre-event/

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Tuesday, September 25
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Demand for Deforestation in the Amazon
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 
11:30am
Littauer Center (Department of Economics), Room M-16, 1805 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

Paper presentation by HUCE Environmental Fellow Eduardo Souza Rodrigues

Contact Name:  Eduardo Souza Rodrigues
edusouzarod@gmail.com

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"The 2012 Presidential Campaigns: Big Election, Small Campaigns."
Tuesday, September 25
12 p.m.
Speaker Series with Alex Castellanos, political media consultant.
Harvard Shorenstein Center, Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, Fifth Floor, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge

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Infrastructure: The Social Value of Shared Resources
Tuesday, September 25th
12:00pm **please note this is different from our start usual time**
Harvard Law School
RSVP required for those attending in person via http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2012/09/frischmann#RSVP
This event will be archived on our site shortly after at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/

Brett Frischmann, Cardozo Law School
Description via Amazon.com
Infrastructure resources are the subject of many contentious public policy debates, including what to do about crumbling roads and bridges, whether and how to protect our natural environment, energy policy, even patent law reform, universal health care, network neutrality regulation and the future of the Internet. Each of these involves a battle to control infrastructure resources, to establish the terms and conditions under which the public receives access, and to determine how the infrastructure and various dependent systems evolve over time.

Infrastructure: The Social Value of Shared Resources devotes much needed attention to understanding how society benefits from infrastructure resources and how management decisions affect a wide variety of interests. The book links infrastructure, a particular set of resources defined in terms of the manner in which they create value, with commons, a resource management principle by which a resource is shared within a community. The infrastructure commons ideas have broad implications for scholarship and public policy across many fields ranging from traditional infrastructure like roads to environmental economics to intellectual property to Internet policy.

Economics has become the methodology of choice for many scholars and policymakers in these areas. The book offers a rigorous economic challenge to the prevailing wisdom, which focuses primarily on problems associated with ensuring adequate supply. The author explores a set of questions that, once asked, seem obvious: what drives the demand side of the equation, and how should demand-side drivers affect public policy? Demand for infrastructure resources involves a range of important considerations that bear on the optimal design of a regime for infrastructure management. The book identifies resource valuation and attendant management problems that recur across many different fields and many different resource types, and it develops a functional economic approach to understanding and analyzing these problems and potential solutions.

About Brett
Brett Frischmann’s expertise is in intellectual property and internet law. After clerking for the Honorable Fred I. Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practicing at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC, he joined the Loyola University Chicago law faculty in 2002. He is currently a professor at Cardozo Law School and has held visiting appointments at Cornell and Fordham. A prolific author, whose articles have appeared in Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and Review of Law and Economics, among other journals, Professor Frischmann has focused recently on the relationships between infrastructural resources, property rights, commons, and spillovers.

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D-Lab Open Hours
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
12:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building N51-3rd floor, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

A selection of D-Lab staff members, instructors and students will be available to give tours and answer questions. Please note our new location in N51, above the MIT Museum.

Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
This event occurs on Tuesdays through December 18, 2012.
Sponsor(s): D-Lab

For more information, contact:  Nancy Adams
6173246197
nadamsx@mit.edu 

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City 2.0 Conference
Tuesday, September 25
12pm - 7 pm
Webinar:  http://www.integralcitycollective.com/sp/11666-join-the-integral-city-20-conference

There will be three sessions each day – each 90 minutes long. 
Each day is carefully structured to cover three unique perspectives on the day's theme.
12pm  Session - A Thought Leader addresses the "What" of the day’s theme
3 pm Session - A Designer addresses the "So What" of the day’s theme
7pm Session - A Practitioner addresses the "Now What" of the day’s theme

These live sessions will occur on an advanced tele-conference bridge, which means all you need is a phone or internet connection/Skype to participate. You can attend the conference from virtually anywhere in the world!

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Putting the 'UD Back in HUD with Erika Poethig (Brown Bag Lecture)
WHEN  Tue., Sep. 25, 2012, 1:05 – 2:05 p.m.
WHERE   Harvard, Kennedy School, Taubman, Nye A, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
SPEAKER(S)  Erika Poethig, Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, US Department of Housing and Urban Development
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.7908
LINK http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/event/housing-cities-erika-poethig-hud

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Cycles of Distrust: An Economic Model
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Daron Acemoglu (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Seminar in Organizational Economics

For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Boston Green Drinks - September Happy Hour
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
kingston station, 25 kingston street, Boston
RSVP at http://sep12bgd-es2.eventbrite.com/?rank=450

Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists.  Enjoy a Drink at Kingston station and build your connection with our green community!
Keep sending feedback to Lyn@bostongreendrinks.com for ideas about speakers or content for the future and mark your calendar for drinks on the last Tuesday of every month.
Boston Green Drinks  builds a community of sustainably-minded Bostonians, provides a forum for exchange of sustainability career resources, and serves as a central point of information about emerging green issues.  We support the exchange of ideas and resources about sustainable energy, environment, food, health, education.
 
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SOCIAL INTEL: GAINING INSIGHTS FROM AN OPEN SOURCE KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY PLATFORM
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
6:00 PM To 9:00 PM
Microsoft N.E.R.D. Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Because social media is essentially 'real-time' information, it provides an efficiency mechanism to reduce intelligence time to action if it can be harvested effectively. Fusing social media with traditional intelligence information provides additional context and connections of entities and events, which increases quality, relevance and predictability.
Learn how with IKANOW's open source platform, Infinit.e, your organization can gain valuable intelligence by fusing social media data with traditional enterprise data.
Presentation will be given by one of IKANOW's Intelligence Analysts and food and drinks will be provided by IKANOW.

Register at http://www.meetup.com/Open-Analytics-Boston/events/67990392/

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Green tech Entrepreneur Forum & Brainstorming.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
7:00 PM To 10:00 PM
Eastern Bank, 647 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The Agenda is:
We will introduce ourselves and tell about our interest, expertise or work (1st hr)
You can give a ~3 to 5 minute elevator speach about your startup if you would like. (We will divide the 1st hour by # of people.)
What stage is your ideas or startup?  What is your goal?
Tell what personnel or additional expertise, funding, etc. you are seeking,
Discussion and Brainstorming on (2nd hr)
ideas for viable moneymaking startups,
methods of collaboration, networking, forming teams & partnerships etc.
marketing, media, social media, ideas that have worked well for publicity
Agencies, websites, companies that assist startups
Boston Greenfest & Gov't opportunities.
What would ou like to see in future meetups?
Seminars - We will have seminars by Sustainable Energy engineers and other tech experts as often as possible.
The bank is near the center of Central Sq., where Prospect and Mass Ave cross, - there is a Starbucks on the Northeast corner of the intersection.  Next to Starbucks is a Flower shop, and next to that is Eastern Bank.  You can see the conference room thru the window, so just wave to us and we will let you in.

http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Clean-Tech-and-Energy/events/79994272/

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Wednesday, September 26
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City 2.0 Conference
Wednesday, September 26
12pm - 7 pm
Webinar:  http://www.integralcitycollective.com/sp/11666-join-the-integral-city-20-conference

There will be three sessions each day – each 90 minutes long.
Each day is carefully structured to cover three unique perspectives on the day's theme.
12pm  Session - A Thought Leader addresses the "What" of the day’s theme
3 pm Session - A Designer addresses the "So What" of the day’s theme
7pm Session - A Practitioner addresses the "Now What" of the day’s theme

These live sessions will occur on an advanced tele-conference bridge, which means all you need is a phone or internet connection/Skype to participate. You can attend the conference from  virtually anywhere in the world!

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Cheap Credit, Collateral and the Boom Bust Cycle
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
1:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Amir Kermani (MIT)

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Macroeconomics Seminar
For more information, contact:  Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu 

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"Insect flight mechanics in the real world: Organismal and environmental interactions on the wing"
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 
3:00pm
Main Lecture Hall, Biolabs Building, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Stacey Combes, Harvard University, OEB. 

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Urban Films: Last Train Home
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 7-429, AVT/Long Lounge, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Urban Planning Film Series
A mostly-weekly series showing documentary and feature films on topics related to cities, urbanism, design, community development, ecology, and other planning issues. Free.

Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. The homes they seek are the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal cities. It is an epic spectacle that tells us much about China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic dominance.

Last Train Home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful debut film from Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration. Sixteen years ago, the Zhangs abandoned their young children to find work in the city, consoled by the hope that their wages would lift their children into a better life. But in a bitter irony, the Zhangs' hopes for the future are undone by their very absence. Qin, the child they left behind, has grown into adolescence crippled by a sense of abandonment. In an act of teenage rebellion, she drops out of school. She too will become a migrant worker. The decision is a heartbreaking blow for the parents. In classic cinema verite style, Last Train Home follows the Zhangs' attempts to change their daughter's course and repair their ruptured family.

Special Guest: Tunney Lee, Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies and Planning

Web site: http://www.urbanfilm.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, China Urban Development
For more information, contact:  Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu

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Thursday, September 27
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City 2.0 Conference
Thursday, September 27
12pm - 7 pm
Webinar:  http://www.integralcitycollective.com/sp/11666-join-the-integral-city-20-conference

There will be three sessions each day – each 90 minutes long.
Each day is carefully structured to cover three unique perspectives on the day's theme.
12 pm  Session - A Thought Leader addresses the "What" of the day’s theme
3 pm Session - A Designer addresses the "So What" of the day’s theme
7pm Session - A Practitioner addresses the "Now What" of the day’s theme

These live sessions will occur on an advanced tele-conference bridge, which means all you need is a phone or internet connection/Skype to participate. You can attend the conference from virtually anywhere in the world!

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“The Importance of Biodiversity Monitoring in Conservation: Research Opportunities”
Thursday, September 27, 2012 
12:00pm
Museum of Comparative Zoology 101, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Speaker Dr. Tim Coles, OBE.

Operation Wallacea is a tuition-funded organization that runs a series of conservation management and biological research programs in remote locations around the world by academic collaboration. The details of the presentation are as follows:

Operation Wallacea provides several research opportunities for both students and faculty.  Students may join our program as Research Assistants with the option of gaining course credit, gathering data for a senior or Master’s thesis, or simply gaining field research experience in a volunteer-based internship.  Program participation offers students the experience of hiking through montane cloud forest, camping in African safari parks, living aboard river-based Amazon research vessels, or diving some of the world’s most pristine coral reef systems. Faculty may join our 170 participating academics by conducting funded research at our study sites through student participation or by using our research locations to offer independent academic field courses through their home university or college.

Contact Name:  Sara Ramirez
(973) 920-0487

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"Oil and Gas Industry: Conventional and Unconventional"
Thursday, September 27, 2012
12:30p–1:30p
MIT, Building 8-119, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Junlun Li

MIT Energy Club Discussion Series
The Discussion Series is an energy discussion series lead by graduate student experts in various energy areas. Suggested preparation readings for upcoming discussions are available on our website.

In this round table discussion, Li will first give a quick summary to the topics in the gas/oil industry. Then Li will lead the discussion between the audiences about topics of interest in the oil/gas industry.

Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:  Jonathan Mailoa; Michelle Park
jpmailoa@mit.edu; mpark15@mit.edu

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A Frank Conversation on U.S. Missile Defense
Thursday, September 27, 2012
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM (EDT)
Tufts, Cabot 206, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford

Frank Rose Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy.

Mr. Rose currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy. In this position, he is responsible for advising the Assistant Secretary and, as required, the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, on key issues related to arms control and defense policy. These issues include missile defense, military space policy, and conventional arms control. His responsibilities also include liaison with the U.S. Intelligence Community on issues related to the verification of arms control treaties and agreements. Prior to joining the State Department June 2009, Mr. Rose held various national security staff positions in the U.S. House of Representatives, including service as a Professional Staff Member on both the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Rose has also held numerous positions within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, including as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction; and Policy Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. Previous to that, he worked as a National Security Analyst with Science Applications International Corporation and on the staff of U.S. Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA). Mr. Rose received his Bachelors degree in History from American University in 1994 and a Masters degree in War Studies from Kings’ College, University of London in 1999. He is a recipient of the Department of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award (2001), the Office of Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence (2002), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service (2005).

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Solution-Processed Solar Cells using Colloidal Quantum Dots
Thursday, September 27, 2012
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 36-428, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Ted Sargent, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto
Excitonics Seminar Series
This series presents current research in the science and technology of excitons - the crucial intermediates for energy transformation in the next generation of light emitting devices and solar cells.
Web site: http://www.rle.mit.edu/excitonics/12.09.27.sargent.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for Excitonics, Energy Frontiers Research Center, Dept. of Energy, Basic Science Research
For more information, contact:  Cathy Bourgeois
617-253-0085

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Science & Advocacy:  The Legacy of Silent Spring
Thursday, September 27
4:00 pm
Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge

A Discussion Featuring:
Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council
Bill McKibben, Writer, activist, community organizer
Andrew Revkin, New York Times and Pace University

With Harvard Faculty:
William Clark, Harvard Kennedy School
Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School
Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard Kennedy School
James McCarthy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
John Spengler, Harvard School of Public Health

Moderated By:
Daniel Schrag, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring brought concerns about the environmental impact of pesticides to a broad public audience—spawning a grass-roots environmental movement that continues to this day. Join environmental leaders to explore the legacy of Silent Spring, and how science and advocacy interact in the face of our modern environmental challenges.

Contact:  Lisa Matthews
lisa_matthews@harvard.edu, 617-495-8883

Editorial Comment:  Bill McKibben and others will be presenting a petition to address climate change at Romney Campaign Headquarters in Boston the next day:
WHERE: Romney HQ, 585 Commercial Street, Boston, MA
WHEN: Friday, September 28, 10:30 AM
RSVP at http://act.350actionfund.org/signup/Romney_delivery/?akid=2172.354267.JW8xbH&rd=1&t=2

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Starr Forum: How to Start a Revolution
Thursday, September 27, 2012
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Film screening and Q&A with Ruaridh Arrow: HOW TO START A REVOLUTION
Meet the Most Important Man You've Never Heard Of
http://howtostartarevolutionfilm.com/
More details to come
Web site: http://howtostartarevolutionfilm.com/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:  starrforum@mit.edu 

Editorial Comment:  This is a documentary on Gene Sharp of East Boston's Einstein Institute, the major living theorist of non-violent politics in the world today.

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Ideastorm
Thu, 09/27/2012
5:30pm - 6:00pm
Venture Cafe (Darjeeling) @ CIC, One Broadway, Cambridge, MA

Description:  While computers in Africa remain scarce, mobile phones are ubiquitous. 75% of Kenyans have cell phones, and 99% of internet traffic is mobile. Nairobi has been dubbed "Silicon Savanah" with the new startups riding this wave. What type of businesses can be built on this newly connected emerging economy.

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Countdown to Zero
Thursday, 27
7 pm
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Featured Guest:  Dr Graham Allison, Harvard
Countdown to Zero is directed by Lucy Walker and produced by the Academy Award winning producers of An Inconvenient Truth, Lawrence Bender and Participant Media.

The film is a fascinating and frightening exploration of the dangers of nuclear weapons, exposing a variety of present day threats and featuring insights from a host of international experts and world leaders who advocate the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Countdown to Zero is a chilling wake-up call about the urgency of the nuclear threat. It tells the striking story of uncertainty, exposing the real possibility of nuclear disaster and revealing the truth behind an issue on which human survival behind an issue on which human survival itself hangs.

Co-sponsored with MIT Global Zero 
http://web.mit.edu/mitglobalzero

------------------------------------

The National Movement for a Constitutional Amendment to Reclaim our Democracy
Thursday, September 27, 2012
7 pm  
First Church JP, 6 Eliot St - by the Monument, Jamaica Plain
Heard of Citizens United? Concerned that money has too much influence in our political system? Come learn about the democracy movement!
We the People: The National Movement for a Constitutional Amendment to Reclaim our Democracy

Government by the people is under attack by big money in politics. Because of the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC and other rulings, corporations and the super-rich can now spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections. To make matters worse, corporations have been given constitutional rights originally lntended only for the people. Using these rights, big business has gotten the court to strike down hundreds of laws protecting our, health, safety, environment, and democracy.
Move to Amend speaker John Hill will talk about Citizen United, the threat to our democracy, the long history of big business efforts to to gain an upper hand, and the proper role of corporations in our society. He?ll also discuss the burgeoning democracy movement in the US and the Democracy Amendment Question, which one-third of the state?s voters, including JP voters, will vote on this November 6.
John Hill serves on the coordinating committee of Greater Boston Move to Amend. A longtime activist, organizer, and former fundraiser and nonprofit administrator, he has worked on a myriad of social justice issues. This year he helped his mother, Jean Hill, and other Concord environmental activists pass the first ban on the sale of single-serve bottled water in the country. John is also a musician whose songs deal with social concerns and whose music has been praised in the Boston Globe  and Boston Phoenix.

Move to Amend is a national coalition seeking an amendment to the US Constitution stating that inalienable rights belong to human beings only and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns. Formed in September 2009 and growing like a wildfire, the coalition is made up of hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals committed to justice and a vibrant democracy accountable to the people, not corporations and the super-rich.

For more information about this events visit http://jamaicaplainforum.org

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Standing Up, Fighting Back: Lessons from the fight for education in Chicago and Quebec
Thursday, September 27, 2012
7:00pm
Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain

RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/357297851022745/

Featuring guest speakers from both of these struggles!  Hear CLASSE leader Guillaume Legault and CTU teacher Becca Barnes speak about fighting back against privatization and winning free, quality education for all.

This Spring Quebec students led by radical student union CLASSE launched the first successful challenge against the privatization of education. Despite a government law that outlawed their protests students and workers secured a government promise to repeal both the 75% fee hike and the law. Stateside, the Chicago Teacher’s Union went on strike and managed to win a victory for students and teachers against the attempts to restructure education for profit. The struggles continue, but provide countless lessons for education justice activists in Boston.

Sponsored by the Boston International Socialist Organization
Contact: contact@bostonsocialism.org

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Friday, September 28
--------------------------

Nuclear 101: The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
September 28, 2012
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer-324, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Speaker: David Nusbaum
Description:  Project on Managing the Atom's Nuclear 101 series presents overviews of key issues affecting the future of nuclear weapons, energy, and nonproliferation policies. In this session, MTA Fellow David Nusbaum will discuss the basics of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Contact:  atom@harvard.edu
Phone: 617-495-4219
http://www.managingtheatom.org

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11th Annual International Development Fair
Friday September 28
1-3pm
MIT, Building 32, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

The 11th Annual International Development Fair is a showcase of the vibrant International Development ecosystem at MIT.  Open to MIT students, recent graduates and members of the MIT community, the Fair features ways to get involved, such as MIT student groups and projects and academic course offerings, as well as ways to get support, including programs and resources.   With over 40 groups represented, strolling through the Fair is a fantastic way to learn about the myriad ways MIT is out in the world and improving the lives of people worldwide.   

The Fair is organized by the International Development Initiative and  the Technology and Culture Forum.
 
For further information, contact lsampath@mit.edu or weinmann@mit.edu  

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Monday, October 1
----------------------

On Rabbits, Foxes, Clouds, and Precipitation
Monday, October 01, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915

Speaker: Graham Feingold
Abstract: Our ability to predict future climate states is significantly hampered by our inability to represent small-scale (order 100 m) processes associated with aerosol particles, clouds and precipitation in climate models. The complexity of the aerosol-cloud-precipitation system has driven process-level model development that attempts to capture as much of the coupled physics as possible, but at considerable computational expense. While these represent important benchmarks for the system, they are far too expensive to be incorporated in climate models. In the spirit of the pioneering work of Edward Lorenz, I will show that this system exhibits emergence that in some cases can be described by simple non-linear mathematical models. I will present examples of different dynamical states of the marine boundary layer cloud system revealed by the simplified equation set and compare to rigorous large eddy simulation.

MASS Seminar
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs certainly participate.

Speaker's Website: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/staff/graham.feingold/
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/calendars/mass
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate (PAOC), MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact:  MASS organizing committee
mass@mit.edu

-----------------------------------

"Putting Free Enterprise to Work on Energy and Climate"
Monday, October 1, 2012 
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
with Bob Inglis, U.S. Rep. (R-SC4) 1993-1999; 2005-2011; Director, Energy & Enterprise Initiative

ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar
Lunch will be provided.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/events.html
Contact Name:  Louisa Lund
louisa_lund@harvard.edu

--------------------------------------

Zero Waste: Advocates and Activists Workshop
October 1, 2012
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street, near Copley Square, Boston

With Boston at a 17% recycling rate, ever wondered how San Francisco manages to divert 75% of their discards to reuse, recycling, and composting?

Clean Water Action invites YOU to a Zero Waste planning event for residents, activists and advocates. It costs zero dollars to attend, and you will waste no time whatsoever!

Clean Water Action will host a Zero Waste event for residents and others interested in reducing the amount of waste going to transfer stations, landfills, and incinerators. Download a flyer here:  http://cleanwater.org/files/images/ma/TalkingTrash-10-1CWAsm.pdf.

Special guests: Ruth Abbe, Gary Liss, and Ric Anthony (brilliant planners) from California; Lynne Pledger from Clean Water Action, Massachusetts; a panel of Massachusetts residents and YOU.

Please RSVP to Lynne Pledger to reserve your seat:  lpledger@cleanwater.org.

Visit this link to see an update from Clean Water Action and Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) on zero waste efforts across MA:   http://bit.ly/PezgWp.
To learn more about Clean Water Action (& CWA Massachusetts), visit CleanWater.org, Facebook.com/CleanWaterMA, or Twitter: @CleanH2OMA

10/2 EPA-hosted Muni Waste gathering: A second event, hosted by the EPA, will be held for municipal officials on Tuesday, October 2, 2012: 9:00-5:00 -- Municipal Officials Only. Don't worry, activists: the same presenters will be at your event.  The all-day meeting for officials is sponsored by US EPA and will be held in Chelmsford, MA, Randolph Center VT, and Hartford, CT, all on Tuesday October 2, 2012. Ask your town officials to contact Jeri at weiss.jeri@epa.gov. Cost: $0.

Clean Water Action is a one million member organization of diverse people and groups joined together to protect our environment, health, economic well-being and community quality of life. Our goals include clean, safe and affordable water; prevention of health threatening pollution; creation of environmentally safe jobs and businesses; and empowerment of people to make democracy work. Clean Water Action organizes strong grassroots groups and coalitions and campaigns to elect environmental candidates and solve environmental and community problems.

------------------------------------

MTA Composer Forum presents Mark Harvey
Monday, October 01, 2012
5 pm
MIT Lewis Music Library, 14 E-109, (MIT Hayden Library Building)

Mark Harvey will discuss his philosophy of flexology that allows for individual, collective, and conductor's improvisation within complex structural frameworks. He will also talk about music from his new CD Evocations that includes works on political and cultural themes.

Web site: web.mit.edu/mta
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact:  Clarise Snyder
mta-request@mit.edu 

---------------------------------

Water Lecture Series:  Recent and Likely Future Changes in the Hydrological Cycle
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 1, 2012, 5 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Jim McCarthy, the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8600
NOTE  The Radcliffe Institute's Water Lectures Series will be relatively informal presentations by Harvard faculty, followed by discussion with attendees, on topics that approach water from multidisciplinary perspectives. The collegial events are intended to present, and potentially to link, faculty interests, in order to learn more about research currently under way and to foster connections across Harvard schools.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-james-mccarthy-water-lecture

-----------------------------

Askwith Forum: Joel Klein: Educational Innovations for the Future
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 1, 2012, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Discussion, Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Amber DiNatale
CONTACT EMAIL  askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This Askwith Forum is free and open to the public.
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
NOTE  Speaker: Joel Klein, chief executive officer, Amplify; and former chancellor, New York City Department of Education
Join Joel Klein as he discusses innovation in education. After working on the front lines to improve the nation's largest school district, Klein now leads Amplify, a new business dedicated to reimagining K–12 education by creating digital products and services that empower teachers, students, and parents in new ways. Amplify is focused on transforming teaching and learning by creating and scaling digital innovations in three areas: analytics and assessment, content and curriculum, and distribution and delivery.

---------------------------

Book Talk: Inevitable Democracy in the Arab World
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 1, 2012, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Fainsod Room, Littauer Building, 3rd Floor, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Poetry/Prose, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative, Center for International Development, and the Masters in Public Administration/International Development Program at Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S)  Wissam Yafi, Author, technologist and international development specialist
NOTE  Followed by a book signing at 7pm at the Harvard COOP, 1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5838/inevitable_democracy_in_the_arab_world.html

------------------------------

Placemaking Revolution: How Ephemera and the Arts Are Playing a More Powerful Role in Our Cities than Architecture!
WHEN  Mon., Oct. 1, 2012, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE  Stubbins Room 112, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Loeb Fellowship
SPEAKER(S)  Carol Coletta, director, ArtPlace America Foundation, Dennis Scholl, vice President/arts, The Knight Foundation, Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO syoung@gsd.harvard.edu

------------------------
Tuesday, October 2
-----------------------

Energy Lecture Series: "Future Automobile Fuels: Fill Up or Plug In"
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building W20-491

Speaker: BP's Chief Chemist Mike Desmond
MIT Energy Club Lecture Series
A biweekly lecture series featuring prominent speakers from the energy field at MIT & beyond. These lectures include 20 minutes of moderated open discussion.

In this first inspiring lecture of the MIT Energy Club Lecture Series, BP's Chief Chemist Mike Desmond will suggest how vehicles and fuels may evolve over the next 20+ years for meeting the challenges of climate change and energy supply security. You are very welcome to join us!
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:  MIT Energy Club
energyclub@mit.edu 

--------------------------------

Climate & Conflict: Risky Politics
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
N51, MIT Museum, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: John Sterman

Soap Box: Climate & Conflict
The MIT Museum invites you to contribute to the debate about climate change as we explore fresh new perspectives on politics, profits, and conflict.

Part 1: Risky Politics
Why is climate change a taboo topic? Join John Sterman, MIT Professor of Management and Director of the System Dynamics Group, on the eve of the first presidential debate to discuss what happens when we elect policymakers who won't talk about science. Share your ideas about the topics that OUGHT to be talked about in the debates and find out how decisions about climate really get made.

Web site: http://mit.edu/museum/programs/soapbox.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:  Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo@mit.edu
**********
------------
Upcoming
------------
**********

"Building Greener Communities through Entreprenuership"
Event Date: October 4, 2012
Networking Reception: 7:30 a.m. Breakfast and Speaking Program: 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. Q&A Session: 8:30 to 9:00 a.m.
100 Summer Street, Pokross A Room, Boston

Hear Antje Danielson, the Administrative Director at TIE (Tufts Institute of the Environment), discuss social entrepreneurship.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Technologists, social entrepreneurs, non-profits, community activists, legal professionals, and those with general interest in Massachusetts' cleantech and green space. **Space is limited so please RVSP to reserve your place!**

Antje Danielson is the Administrative Director at TIE (Tufts Institute of the Environment) as well as the graduate interdisciplinary Water: Systems, Science and Society (WSSS) program. She came to Tufts from Durham University (UK), where she served as the Deputy Director for Sustainability, in May 2008. Previously, she worked with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative. A long-time resident of Cambridge, Mass, Antje also co-founded the innovative carsharing company Zipcar. She holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Free University, Berlin.
Contact Information  Callie Reis
Email: callie.reis@greenprobono.org

---------------------------------------

BLACK ECONOMY, WHlTE PRIVILEGE
Thursday, October 4
6:30-8 pm
Modern Theatre, 525 Washington Street, Boston

with Maggie Anderson (Author) and  Thomas Shapiro (Sociology Professor); moderated by Candelaria Silva (Arts Marketer)

Sponsored by the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council.
(Boston, MA 02111) Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents “Black Economy, White Privilege” with Maggie Anderson and Thomas Shapiro; discussion moderated by Candelaria Silva. Sponsored by the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council. Thurs., Oct. 4, 6:30-8 pm. Admission is free and open to all. Modern Theatre (part of Suffolk University), 525 Washington St., Boston, MA.  Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Downtown Crossing stop on the MBTA Orange and Silver Lines.  For more information, call Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visit www.fordhallforum.org.

Black businesses lag behind businesses of all other racial groups in every measure of success. Is it necessary – or even possible – for the black community to sustain its own economy? Author Maggie Anderson shares her highly-publicized year-long journey completely living off Black businesses, called The Empowerment Experiment, and how she encountered a community that refused to support its own, an economy that had Black businesses wholly disenfranchised, and virulent criticism from those outside the Black community who called her a racist. Meanwhile, sociology professor Thomas Shapiro warns that blacks are failing in asset accumulation and homeownership, to the point of negating gains in employment and income. Drawing on economic research, social history, surveys, interviews, and their own personal experiences, these authors show moderator Candelaria Silva how racial inequality is transmitted across generations and pinpoint why the black economy continues to suffer.

At the end of the event, the speakers will be signing and selling copies of their books, Our Black Year: One Family’s Request to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson, and The Hidden Costs of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequalityby Thomas Shapiro.

The Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council (GNEMSDC) is a 35-year-old non-profit agency that develops business relationships with and increases procurement opportunities between corporate members and certified Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs). The GNEMSDC recruits private and public entities, hosts events, and provides contacts to facilitate potential contracts to MBEs. It also serves to certify minority businesses.

Further background information on participants:

Maggie Anderson
As CEO and cofounder of The Empowerment Experiment Foundation, Maggie Anderson has become the leader of a self-help economics movement that supports quality black businesses and urges consumers, especially other middle and upper class African Americans, to proactively and publicly support them. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS Morning News, among many other national television and radio shows. Anderson received her BA from Emory University and her JD and MBA from the University of Chicago. She has participated in successful political campaigns for Rep. John Lewis, Mayor of Atlanta Bill Campbell, and Barack Obama's campaign for U.S. Senate. In addition, she has done work for the RainbowPUSH Coalition and was an executive at McDonald's.

Thomas Shapiro
Professor Thomas Shapiro directs the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and is the Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. His primary interest is in racial inequality and public policy. He is a leader in the asset development field with a particular focus on closing the racial wealth gap. “The Hidden Cost of Being African American” was named one of the Notable Books of 2004 by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With Dr. Melvin Oliver, he also wrote the award-winning Black Wealth/ White Wealth, which received the 1997 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award from the American Sociological Association. It also won the 1995 C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and was named an Outstanding Book of 1996 by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America. Shapiro’s media appearances include Tony Brown's Journal, The Tavis Smiley Show, Talk of the Nation, CNN, and On Point. His work has been reviewed or discussed in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The American Prospect, The Chicago Sun-Times, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, CommonWealth Magazine, Newsweek, The Village Voice, and others.

Candelaria Silva
Candelaria Silva is a freelance arts marketing professional, facilitator and writer. She was the director of the cultural economic development program, ACT (Arts, Culture & Trade) Roxbury from its inception in 1998 until August 2007. Silva conceived and developed ACT Roxbury’s signature programs including the Roxbury Film Festival, Roxbury Open Studios, Roxbury Literary Annual, Roxbury Playwright Mentorship, and the Roxbury Discussion Series.  She is most proud of being part of the team that rehabbed Hibernian Hall and brought it back to life as well as the four Roxbury Holiday Shopping Guides that were inserted in the Bay State Banner & Boston Globe. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Silva currently serves on the board of The Henderson Foundation.

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On October 12, the Concord Museum welcomes Gary Hirshberg, the educator, activist, and co-founder of the successful organic yogurt company, Stonyfield.  Author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the  World, Gary is an advocate for change in national food and agriculture policies and a passionate speaker on the profitability of green business, sustainability, and organic agriculture. In his talk, "Inventing a Truly Sustainable Future," Hirshberg proposes that it won't be possible to have a truly sustainable future if our food makes us sick. The organic and sustainable food movement is about much more than healthy food.  It's about decreased fuel use, reducing our carbon footprint, reducing water use, reducing healthcare costs to society, and creating healthy jobs and a healthy economy. The free event will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Wood Theater and Arts Center at Middlesex School. Let us know if you will be able to attend: 978-369-9763, ext. 216.

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Cloudy with a Chance of Solutions: The Future of Water
Friday, Oct 12, 2012
9:00 am
Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street. Cambridge
http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-future-of-water-symposium

The Radcliffe Institute’s annual science symposium will focus on the important and challenging topic of water. Water is a theme that encompasses issues as varied as environmental contamination, public health, agricultural shortages, and geopolitical disputes. “Cloudy with a Chance of Solutions: The Future of Water” will focus on the ecological and human health hazards of environmental contaminants, the threats to drinking water of fracking, the promise of new technologies for water treatment, the need for national water policy, and the role of urban and other areas in conservation. The majority of the talks will focus on the “hard science” of water-related issues; others will offer the perspectives of experts from the policy, business, or urban-planning worlds to put the scientific discussions in a broader context and to link them thematically.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required by October 5. Register now at http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?453224


The symposium will be webcast live, in its entirety, on October 12 at http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-future-of-water-symposium. Registration is not required to view the webcast. Videos of the symposium will be available the following week on the above site and on Harvard's YouTube channel. 

---------------------------------------------

Solidarity And Green Economy (SAGE) 2nd annual conference "Another World Is Possible"
9am-4pm Saturday, October 13th, 2012
in Worcester, MA
Much more: http://WorcesterSAGEalliance.org

A day of resource sharing, alliance building, and collective visioning to create and organize around equitable, democratic, and sustainable community economies.

The conference brings together activists, organizers, community leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, local government, non-profits, and other individuals and organizations committed to forging more equitable and sustainable ways of organizing our communities.

***Call for workshop proposals!***
Please fill out your workshop ideas/proposals by 5pm September 12th here:  http://www.worcestersagealliance.org/?page_id=112

Matt Feinstein
Co-director, Media and Organizing Coordinator
Worcester Roots Project
w: 508-343-0035
c: 508-335-7783
http://worcesterroots.org

5 Pleasant St 3rd floor
Worcester, MA 01609

What's a co-director and a staff collective?  Find out more here:
http://www.worcesterroots.org/about-2/staff-and-board/why-a-staff-collective/

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Hello Makers and Hacker/Makerspaces!

Artisans Asylum, the City of Somerville, and the Somerville Arts Council are hosting the first Somerville Mini Maker Faire in Somerville's Union Square (near Boston), Saturday October 13th 3-7pm, and we're looking for makers!

To make this a success we need YOU, the makers of the area, to come and show off all your cool stuff! If you've got anything you think the greater world of both makers and non-makers might enjoy, this is the place to show it off.

Tell you friends, members, spread the word! The more the merrier, even if its just to stop by and see what the greater New England area had drummed up.

Answer the Call Here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CfMSomervilleMMF

More info here:
www.makerfairesomerville.com

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Food For Free (www.foodforfree.org) invites you to join us at our
Party Under the Harvest Moon
Friday, October 19th
6-10 p.m.
Morss Hall, Walker Memorial Building, MIT, 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

In addition to a silent auction, the event will include complimentary food and drink from several area restaurants including:

Andala Coffee House, Area Four, Baraka Cafe, Cambridge Brewing Co., Central Bottle, Chez Henri, Diesel Cafe, Emma's Pizza, Flatbread Pizza, Flour Bakery & Cafe, EVOO, Henrietta's Table, The Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub, Nubar, Ole Mexican Grill, Pacific Street Cafe, Redbones, Rendezvous in Central Square, Royal East Restaurant, Stone Hearth Pizza, Tables of Content, Upstairs on the Square, and more...

There will also be live music from One Thin Dime and the opportunity to meet and chat with Car Talk's Ray Magliozzi and Executive Producer Doug Berman, as well as Here and Now's host Robin Young.

This event is a fundraiser for Food For Free. Food For Free rescues fresh food—food that might otherwise go to waste—and distributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.

Through a combination of food rescue, farming, and transportation services, we give food programs year-round access to fresh fruits and vegetables, while our delivery program brings food directly to isolated seniors and people with disabilities.

Our programs address not only short-term hunger, but obesity, diet-related disease, and other long-term health effects of food insecurity and poor nutrition.

In addition, food rescue—also called salvage or gleaning—reduces food waste.

To find out more:
Event: www.foodforfree.org/event
Tickets: http://www.foodforfree.org/ticket-sales
Auction preview: http://www.foodforfree.org/auction-preview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-For-Free/147077179535?ref=ts


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Opportunity

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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!

Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch.  No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.

For more information checkout.
https://sites.google.com/site/somervilleyogurtcoop/home

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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.

Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at  www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET  and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.

This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.

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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, see
http://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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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://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/

http://green.harvard.edu/events

http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx

http://boston.nerdnite.com/

http://www.meetup.com/

http://www.eventbrite.com/

http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar

http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html

http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/

Cambridge Civic Journal  http://www.rwinters.com

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