Sunday, June 19, 2016

Energy (and Other) Events - June 19, 2016

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
What I Do and Why I Do It:  The Story of Energy (and Other) Events

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Index
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Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.

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Monday, June 20
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5pm  Summer Solstice Celebration 2016: Night at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
6:30pm  Do Big Farms Make Big Flu:  Agroeconomics of Zika, Ebola and H5N2
7:30pm  Time Trade Circle Orientation

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Tuesday, June 21
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7:30pm  Intro to Living Building Challenge
5pm  Boston Local Food Festival Fundraiser
6pm  Machine Learning: How Artificial Intelligence is Invading the Enterprise (Ascent B2B IT Forum)
6:30pm  Do Big Farms Make Big Flu:  Agroeconomics of Zika, Ebola and H5N2
7pm  Designing a Designer to Design Designs

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Wednesday, June 22
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8am  Precision Medicine 2016: Rogue Therapeutics
11:30am  Lunch & Learn: Cybersecurity in Wearable Robotics
7pm  Good Neighbors:  The Democracy of Everyday Life in America

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Thursday, June 23
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8:30am  Solutions for a Sustainable Community: Creating a Greener Greater Boston
10am  Workshop: How Municipalities Can Impact America's Building Energy Code
1pm  Next in Science: Oceans
6pm  Faculty Speaker: Karen Mills, A Playbook for Innovation and Small Business Growth
6:30pm  Start-Up Summer Social & Boston's Big IDEA Award Ceremony
7pm  Courting Armageddon

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Friday, June 24
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9am  A Teacher and Edtech Product Summit
7pm  Powerful Change: A Mixer for Boston's Creative Community
7pm  Annual Central Square dance party 

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Saturday, June 25
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9am Indexical Design Symposium

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Sunday, June 26
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9am  6th Annual Boston Tour de Hives
12pm  Building with Biology:  Activities and Conversations About Synthetic Biology
6pm  Should We Engineer the Mosquito?

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Monday, June 27
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2pm  Climate Resilient Boston
6pm  Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS20 (NERD)
6pm  Bootstrapping Unicorns, New Technologies & Funding

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Tuesday, June 28
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Reduce and Recover: Save Food for People
5:30pm  Women in Cleanweb Presented by GA + Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
6pm  Curatorial Tour: "Villa Design Group: The Tragedy Machine”
6pm  Boston Green Drinks - June Happy Hour
6:30pm  The Push for Renewable Energy

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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:

Signs of Trump in NYC

Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be

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Monday, June 20
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Summer Solstice Celebration 2016: Night at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
Monday, June 20
5:00pm to 9:00pm
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture

Free Public Special Event

Kick off summer at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture's annual Summer Solstice celebration.

Enjoy a fun evening with circus performers, music, dance, food trucks, and hands-on activities for all ages, with free evening admission to the Harvard Semitic Museum, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, and Harvard Museum of Natural History.

You won't want to miss this special summer night featuring a special performance by the Revels Singers directed by George Emlen. Create your own summer crown with seasonal flowers and garden greens, turn yourself into royalty by making and wearing an Egyptian-inspired ornament, or craft your own sun streamer with powerful Aztec sun symbols.

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Bon Me’s pan-Asian delights will be available for purchase.

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Do Big Farms Make Big Flu:  Agroeconomics of Zika, Ebola and H5N2
Monday, June 20
6:30 PM 
Encuentro 5, 9A Hamilton Place Boston

A book talk by Rob Wallace, Institute for Global Studies, University of Minnesota

Drawing from his new book, Big Farms Make Big Flu, evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace will explore the ways influenza and other pathogens emerge from an agriculture controlled by multinational corporations.

Organized by: MIT Science for the People, Center for Marxist Education, & Massachusetts Global Action

Details:  Thanks to breakthroughs in production and food science, agribusiness has been able to devise new ways to grow more food and get it more places quickly. There is no shortage of news items on the hundreds of thousands of hybrid poultry - each animal genetically identical to the next - packed together in megabarns, grown out in a matter of months, then slaughtered, processed, and shipped to the other side of the globe.

Less well known are the deadly pathogens mutating in, and emerging out of, these specialized agro-environments. In fact, many of the most dangerous new diseases in humans can be traced back to such food systems, among them Campylobacter, Nipah virus, Q fever, hepatitis E, and a variety of novel influenza variants. Other deadly diseases, including Ebola and Zika, emerge more indirectly but decisively out of neoliberal agroeconomics.

Rob Wallace is an evolutionary biologist presently visiting the University of Minnesota?s Institute for Global Studies. His research has addressed the evolution and spread of influenza as it relates to the economics of agriculture, the social geography of HIV/AIDS in New York City, the emergence of Kaposi?s sarcoma herpesvirus out of Ugandan prehistory, the agroeconomics of Ebola, and the evolution of infection life history in response to antivirals. Wallace is co-author of Farming Human Pathogens:  Ecological Resilience and Evolutionary Process (Springer) and the newly published Big Farms Make Big Flu (Monthly Review Press). He has consulted on influenza for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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Time Trade Circle Orientation
Monday June 20
7:30 PM
Calvary Church, 300 Mass. Avenue, Arlington

Wheelchair accessible. Orientation starts promptly at 7:30.

RSVP not required, but appreciated, anne@timetradecircle.org

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Tuesday, June 21
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Intro to Living Building Challenge
Tuesday, June 21
8:30 AM to 10:30 AM (EDT)
US Green Building Council MA Chapter HQ, 50 Milk Street, 14th floor "Dali" Conference Room, Boston
Cost:  $50 - $65

Join us for an introductory session on the newest and most rigorous standard in high performance buildings today. If you are new to the standard or have a few unanswered questions come visit this session. We will be breifly covering projects in the Commonwealth and will have mediated discussion after the comprehensive presentation. 
The Living Building Challenge is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture.  Participants will gain a basic understanding of the Living Building Challenge - a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that addresses development at all scales. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements, including Net Zero Energy, Waste and Water, over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy. Participants will learn to describe the key components of the program and discuss the rationale for restorative design principles.

Learning objectives:
1. Understand the basic philosophy of the Living Building Challenge
2. Describe the key components of the program
3. Discuss the rationale for restorative design principles
4. Identify and locate the resources provided by the International Living Future Institute for deeper engagement

Presenter: Jim Newman, LBC Ambassador
Jim transforms complex environmental performance information into valuable tools for decision-makers. His experience includes over two decades in strategic planning and operational efficiency management with educational institutions and real estate firms.As Director of Strategy and Business Development at BuildingGreen, LLC - the ‘go-to’ green building resource for North America – Jim was a driver of green design into the standard practices of design and construction firms. He led the development of the BuildingGreen Suite, through funding from NYSERDA, and a research and writing project to create Green Guideline Specifications, funded by EPA. Jim also led the development of the recently launched LEEDuser information resource.Jim serves on the Boards of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter and the Green Resources Institute. He is a regular speaker at numerous conferences and seminars around the US, including SXSW Eco. Jim was educated at Lehigh University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Scholarships
A limited number of scholarships are available for students and those working in the non-profit sector. Please email celis@usgbcma.org for more information. 

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Boston Local Food Festival Fundraiser
Tuesday, June 21
5:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT)
Flatbread Co, 45 Day Street, Somerville

On Tuesday, June 21, dine at Flatbread to help support the Boston Local Food Festival. A portion of each flatbread sale will be donated to SBN to help sustain the Boston Local Food Festival and keep this a vibrant, free event celebrating the local food that New England has to offer!
The SBN team will be there to share more information about the Festival, sell raffle tickets for great prizes and connect with our partners and friends! 
RSVP is not required but will allow us to remind you about the event and send you any important updates that may occur!

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Machine Learning: How Artificial Intelligence is Invading the Enterprise (Ascent B2B IT Forum)
Tuesday, June 21
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Machine learning is at the top of the “hype curve” for emerging technologies and is one of the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2016 according to Gartner. A method of data analysis that automates analytical model building, machine learning can benefit almost any business that gathers data with the intention of acting upon it. It’s safe to say that most of us are already interacting with machine learning applications on a daily basis, whether it’s Apple’s Siri, Facebook’s face detection, Amazon and Netflix personalized recommendations, or iOS’s autocorrect.

What can we learn from this growing trend? What can we do with such a widely applicable technology and how can we maximize its potential? What techniques are making it happen? Will its functionality evolve to threaten large numbers of white collar jobs? What problems does it solve and how does it affect businesses, the Internet of Things, cloud, and cybersecurity? And where are investors placing their bets in the evolving machine learning landscape?

We will delve into these questions, including the principles and practices of machine learning, and explore the machine learning market at our next B2B IT Forum on June 21, 2016 at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA.

Organizer:  Ascent Venture Partners
Venue:  Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

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Do Big Farms Make Big Flu:  Agroeconomics of Zika, Ebola and H5N2
Tuesday, June 21
6:30 PM 
MIT, Building 4 - 231, 77 Mass Avenue,  Cambridge

A book talk by Rob Wallace, Institute for Global Studies, University of Minnesota

Drawing from his new book, Big Farms Make Big Flu, evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace will explore the ways influenza and other pathogens emerge from an agriculture controlled by multinational corporations.

Organized by: MIT Science for the People, Center for Marxist Education, & Massachusetts Global Action

Details:  Thanks to breakthroughs in production and food science, agribusiness has been able to devise new ways to grow more food and get it more places quickly. There is no shortage of news items on the hundreds of thousands of hybrid poultry - each animal genetically identical to the next - packed together in megabarns, grown out in a matter of months, then slaughtered, processed, and shipped to the other side of the globe.

Less well known are the deadly pathogens mutating in, and emerging out of, these specialized agro-environments. In fact, many of the most dangerous new diseases in humans can be traced back to such food systems, among them Campylobacter, Nipah virus, Q fever, hepatitis E, and a variety of novel influenza variants. Other deadly diseases, including Ebola and Zika, emerge more indirectly but decisively out of neoliberal agroeconomics.

Rob Wallace is an evolutionary biologist presently visiting the University of Minnesota?s Institute for Global Studies. His research has addressed the evolution and spread of influenza as it relates to the economics of agriculture, the social geography of HIV/AIDS in New York City, the emergence of Kaposi?s sarcoma herpesvirus out of Ugandan prehistory, the agroeconomics of Ebola, and the evolution of infection life history in response to antivirals. Wallace is co-author of Farming Human Pathogens:  Ecological Resilience and Evolutionary Process (Springer) and the newly published Big Farms Make Big Flu (Monthly Review Press). He has consulted on influenza for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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Designing a Designer to Design Designs
Tuesday, June 21
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
Le Laboratorie Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge

Creating custom and personalized prosthetic devices is critical to ensure optimal comfort and function. However, because of the complexities of the human body and the interactions with the device, creating and optimizing designs is a challenging procedure. Scientists and engineers are therefore going back to the drawing board when it comes to design. Instead of directly designing devices, the focus is now shifting to designing "computational designers" to design the designs for them. This involves creating a virtual design and prototyping environment where computers can rapidly propose and biomechanically evaluate designs on a virtual patient. Through iterative optimization, the computers can create and test a wide range of designs beyond what a human being could ever achieve. This new wave of designers will create the next generation of affordable, patient-specific, and 3D printable prosthetic devices. 

Speaker Bio:  Dr. Kevin M. Moerman is a biomechanical and design engineer. After completing a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering he worked as a design engineer of agricultural robotic systems. He then decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Bioengineering at Trinity College Dublin to learn how to apply his engineering skills in understanding and augmenting the human body. His final thesis focussed on the finite element analysis of blast induced brain injury relevant to the design of protective headgear. Being fascinated by the union of fundamental science, engineering, and advanced computational methods he stayed at Trinity College to obtain a PhD in Bioengineering. The topic of the PhD was the creation of a framework for the non-invasive analysis of the mechanical properties of human soft tissue, with relevance to impact biomechanics and crash safety. The success of his PhD relied heavily on his broad engineering background. The work included the development and validation of novel experimental MRI equipment, sensors, and imaging methodologies. However it also involved the creation of a rigorous mathematical and 3D computational modelling framework for the investigation of muscle tissue mechanical behaviour. Following his PhD he started as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, working on new techniques to understand and prevent pressure ulcer development. He is currently a post-doctoral associate and program manager for mechanical interfaces at the Biomechatronics department of the MIT Media Lab, where he works on prosthetic socket design. He also holds a visiting research fellow position at Trinity College Dublin collaborating on computational modelling of soft tissue mechanical behaviour. Kevin has shared his work at international conferences and is often involved in the organisation of special sessions and workshops. During his academic career he has amassed a wealth of computational tools for image-based modelling and inverse finite element analysis, resulting in the creation of his GIBBON open-source software project.For more information about Dr. Moerman and his research visit his website.---Directions to Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall StreetPublic Transit: Red line to Kendall Square, walk straight down 3rd Street, turn right onto Athenaeum Street, and left onto East KendallParking: There is a parking deck - the 650 East Kendall Street Garage - accessible by Linskey Way. If you purchase food or drink from Le Lab, your parking ticket can be validated for discounted rates.
Le Laboratoire, is a unique art and design center that invites visitors to explore the experiments and wonders of innovators of all kinds discovering at frontiers of science. You can find Café ArtScience's menu here.

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Wednesday, June 22
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Precision Medicine 2016: Rogue Therapeutics
WHEN  Wed., June 22, 2016, 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Medical School, Joseph B. Martin Amphitheater, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur , Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR DBMI and PIC-SURE, a BD2K Center of Excellence
SPEAKER(S)  Karen Aiach (Keynote), George Church, Ed Damiano, Daniel Anderson, Ryan Vandrey, Larry Wolk, Wayne Hall, Donald Abrams, Alison Skrinar, Eric Minikel, Sonia Vallabh, Matt Might, Bill Gahl, Ashish Jha, Carey Goldberg, Gail Marcus, Joseph Newhouse and Isaac Kohane.
DIRECTED BY  Isaac Kohane
COST  $50
DETAILS  Now that we have had our first scientific successes in precision medicine and even a new federal precision medicine initiative, will it help us treat disease?
Even if we can more precisely diagnose patients and prognosticate about their future, does this mean we will have the right treatments for them? Do we have to wait for the traditional flow of science through the large pharmaceutical companies to get new effective drugs? Will engineering, whether in gene editing or device hacking, revolutionize care?
Precision Medicine: Rogue Therapeutics will directly address these questions and give a premeditatedly iconoclastic perspective.

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Lunch & Learn: Cybersecurity in Wearable Robotics
Wednesday, June 22
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
Harvard University, Pierce Hall (Room 301); 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Cost:  $0 - $27.37

Join the Wearable Robotics Association on June 22nd for our inaugural Lunch & Learn event. In this presentation, Michael Vai with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, will facilitate an open focused discussion with the audience to define and foster ideas, observations, and suggestions in the scope of Cybersecurity in Wearable Robotics. 

Particularly, the discussion will address the following questions: 
Why is cybersecurity in wearable robotics important?
What are the security requirements/concerns?
What research is being conducted?
What are the next steps?

Presenter:  Michael Vai, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Secure Resilient Systems and Technology Group

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Good Neighbors:  The Democracy of Everyday Life in America
Wednesday, June 22
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store welcomes NANCY L. ROSENBLUM, Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University, for a discussion of her latest book, Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America.
About  Good Neighbors

"Love thy neighbor" is an impossible exhortation. Good neighbors greet us on the street and do small favors, but neighbors also startle us with sounds at night and unleash their demons on us, they monitor and reproach us, and betray us to authorities. The moral principles prescribed for friendship, civil society, and democratic public life apply imperfectly to life around home, where we interact day to day without the formal institutions, rules of conduct, and means of enforcement that guide us in other settings.

In Good Neighbors, Nancy Rosenblum explores how encounters among neighbors create a democracy of everyday life, which has been with us since the beginning of American history and is expressed in settler, immigrant, and suburban narratives and in novels, poetry, and popular culture. During disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, the democracy of everyday life is a resource for neighbors who improvise rescue and care. Degraded, this framework can give way to betrayal by neighbors, as faced by the Japanese Americans interned during World War II, or to terrible violence such as the lynching of African Americans. Under extreme conditions the barest act of neighborliness is a bulwark against total ethical breakdown. The elements of the democracy of everyday life—reciprocity, speaking out, and "live and let live"—comprise a democratic ideal not reducible to public principles of justice or civic virtue, but it is no less important. The democracy of everyday life, Rosenblum argues, is the deep substrate of democracy in America and can be its saving remnant.


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Thursday, June 23
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Solutions for a Sustainable Community: Creating a Greener Greater Boston
Thursday, June 23
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT) 
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston

Join the Social Innovation Forum (SIF) for a morning of networking and learning as our cohort of eight nonprofits share their solutions for making our community more sustainable. This event is the capstone of our nine-week pilot Boot Camp program, funded by the Schrafft Charitable Trust. Launched in spring 2016, this program provides a condensed version of SIF’s signature Social Innovator Accelerator to a group of nonprofit organizations working on issues related to environmental sustainability.

Presenters
Boston Area Gleaners is dedicated to rescuing surplus farm crops for people in need. By working closely with local farmers, BAG is able to distribute high quality produce to food pantries and meal programs.

Change is Simple aims to instill in students lifelong values of social and environmental responsibility through an innovative, comprehensive sustainability curriculum designed for grades 2-6. 

Food for Free improves access to healthy food within our community by: rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste, strengthening the community food system, and creating new distribution channels to reach underserved populations.
Friends of the Fells works to instill a sense of pride and foster stewardship through advocacy and service in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, all designed to both preserve and protect and promote the use of the Fells in a manner harmonious with landscape and habitat.

Healthy Waltham aims to promote healthy lifestyles and well-being for families and underserved populations through educational and collaborative programs that engage residents in healthy cooking and gardening, physical activity, and involvement in natural open space.

MassRecycle is the statewide nonprofit coalition of individuals, all 351 municipalities, recycling businesses and organizations dedicated to increasing recycling and waste reduction in MA through advocacy and education, plus innovative but pragmatic projects such as the MBTA Public Space Recycling Pilot Project.

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project works with beginning farmers through training, access to farmland, markets connections, and technical support to build strong businesses, expertise in the field, and a resilient local and regional food system.
Regional Environmental Council is an urban agriculture-focused youth development and employment program for low-income teens. This curriculum-based program is focused on Professional Development, Leadership Skills, Urban Agriculture, and Social Justice.

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Workshop: How Municipalities Can Impact America's Building Energy Code
Thursday June 23
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
MAPC, 60 Temple Place, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Boston

Join MAPC - in partnership with the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) and the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition (EECC) - for a workshop at our office in Boston on Thursday, June 23rd to discuss the upcoming vote on the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Click here to register.

Homes and commercial buildings are the nation’s largest energy consuming sector, using 42% of all energy, 54% of natural gas, and 71% of electricity. Building energy codes significantly impact the level of this consumption. Registered municipal members across the nation have the opportunity to ensure that the next iteration of America's Model Energy Code is more progressive than the existing version. Attend this workshop to learn more about how Massachusetts has been involved in the IECC voting process in the past, and how your community can make an informed decision on the upcoming IECC 2018 vote this fall. 

Learn how your jurisdiction can:
Protect the 38% boost in the efficiency of new homes that local and state officials have achieved since 2008, and
Put future homes on a modest, but steady 5% glide path toward net zero.

After the workshop, your jurisdiction will also have the knowledge and tools for the following next steps:
Set policy in support of steady improvements to building energy efficiency gains;
Submit your jurisdiction’s full slate of 4, 8, or 12 Governmental Member Voting Representatives to the ICC by September 20;
Consider sending a small group of officials to the ICC’s Kansas City Public Comment Hearings (October 19-25, 2016); and
Have access to EECC’s recommendations so that your jurisdictions know what’s at stake and how to proceed when they cast their maximum number of votes during the ICC’s online cdpACCESS voting window (tentatively November 8-21, 2016).

The workshop will be led by Bill Fay, Executive Director of the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition.

Contact:  Ani Krishnan 
Metropolitan Area Planning Council 
617-933-0715 

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Next in Science: Oceans
WHEN  Thu., June 23, 2016, 1 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)
Rachel Gittman, postdoctoral research associate, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University 
Lydia Hallis, Marie Curie Research Fellow, School of Geographical and Earth Science, University of Glasgow 
Ben Harden, postdoctoral investigator, Physical Oceanography Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute 
John Huth, faculty codirector of the science program, Radcliffe Institute, and Donner Professor of Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University 
Ana Širović, assistant researcher, Marine Bioacoustics Lab, Scripps Institution of Oceanography 
COST  Free and open to the public
DETAILS  The "Next in Science" program provides an opportunity for early-career scientists whose innovative, cross-disciplinary research is thematically linked to introduce their work to one another, to fellow scientists, and to nonspecialists from Harvard and the greater Boston area. The focus of this year’s program will be on the world’s oceans. The scholars’ research represents new interdisciplinary directions in science on the origins of water on Earth, communication among whales in a noisy environment, natural ways of protecting coastal regions, and the role of deep ocean currents on climate.

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Faculty Speaker: Karen Mills, A Playbook for Innovation and Small Business Growth
WHEN  Thu., June 23, 2016, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE  The Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Lecture, Special Events
COST  Free and open to the public
DETAILS  Karen Mills was Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and a member of President Obama’s cabinet from 2009-2013. Now a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, she will be at the Harvard Ed Portal as part of the Faculty Speaker Series. She'll discuss the current state of access to bank loans for small businesses and the importance of building entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems to grow the local economy. Join Ms. Mills and learn about how small businesses can thrive in today's economy.

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Start-Up Summer Social & Boston's Big IDEA Award Ceremony
Thursday, June 23
6:30 PM to 9:30 PM 
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston

Join us on June 23rd, 6:30pm – 9pm at District Hall in the Seaport for the Start-Up Summer Social! It is an evening of networking, drinks and apps at District Hall in Boston's Seaport.
This is your chance to meet with other start-ups, entrepreneurs and local business leaders from Boston - plus we will be announcing the winner of Boston's Big IDEA 2016!
Join us on June 23rd, 6:30pm – 9pm at District Hall in the Seaport.
On June 1st, the 10 finalists of Boston's Big IDEA presented to our panel of judges - and now it is time for us to announce the winner of Boston's Big IDEA 2016!
Our top 10 finalists to Boston's Big IDEA 2016 are (in alphabetical order):
Alyce | http://alyce.co/
Nightingale Apps | https://www.nightingaleapps.com/
PMS Bites | http://pmsbites.com/
Red Apple Lunch | http://www.redapplelunch.com/
StreetInfoTech | http://www.parkwise.us/
UNItiques | http://unitiques.com/
 WrightGrid | http://www.wrightgrid.com/

Learn more about each finalist at BostonsBigIDEA.com.

Congrats to everyone for their IDEA’s and hard work, now let’s celebrate!

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Courting Armageddon
Thursday, June 23
7:00pm 
Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge
To attend, register online for Helen Caldicott’s talk or the entire series, call 617-354-2169 with credit card number, or write a check to "Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund" and mail to 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.  
Cost: $5 - $20

Massachusetts Peace Action is excited to announce that the honorable Dr. Helen Caldicott will be speaking in our Distinguished Peacebuilders Series! Come hear her talk, Courting Armageddon, which will be cosponsored also by Boston Downwinders, Cape Downwinders, Massachusetts Downwinders, and On Behalf of Planet Earth. Caldicott?s talk will be the last in the spring 2016 Series, following talks by Michael Dukakis in April and Noam Chomsky in May. 
                        
Helen Caldicott has devoted the last 42 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. Her most recent book is Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe.

Benefits Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund; part 3 of the spring Distinguished Peacebuilders Series. Register for $5 for students, $10 for Massachusetts Peace Action Members, and low income. Non-members, register for $20. To attend all 3 talks this spring, $25 for members and $50 for non-members. Members who would like to attend a talk and pay their yearly contribution may register for $50.

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Friday, June 24
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A Teacher and Edtech Product Summit
Friday, June 24
9:00 AM to 3:30 PM (EDT)
Northeastern, Ell Hall, 346 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Cost:  $0 - $100

LearnLaunch is partnering with Northeastern University, LearnPlatform, and MassCUE to showcase cutting edge technologies which will help schools move toward blended and personalized learning. K-12 educators, teachers, superintendents, and school teams that value having a chance to play with exciting new tools, giving feedback on new products, rating new edtech products, and interacting will like-minded educators are encouraged to attend this event. Entrepreneurs who are developing products to help schools address problems of practice - like teaching new concepts or curriculum, keeping learning on track or solving operational issues in schools - will be in attendance. 

Agenda 
9:00 am - 9:30 am 
All About Ratings 
Educators will explore the LearnPlatform rating system, which will be used to rate the products at this session. 
9:30am - 11:30am 
Edtech Tools Playground 
Educators will spend time assessing, giving feedback, and rating a select group of products that are in development. 
11:30am - 12:00pm 
Break and Lunch
12:00pm - 2:30pm [Choose One - These sessions will be run concurrently.]
Session 1 - Innovate: Design Thinking for Teaching and Learning 
Participants in this session are asked to bring an educational challenge or adopt someone else's, as educators and edtech entreprenuers work together through a design thinking process aimed at shifting narratives in teaching and learning. 
Facilitator: David Dockterman is a nationally recognized pioneer in the development and implementation of technology for classroom instruction. A former classroom teacher, David helped found Tom Snyder Productions in 1982 while earning his Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Tom Snyder, a later at Scholastic and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, David designed dozens of award-winning computer programs including Science Court and The Great Ocean Rescue. Most recently, Dr. Dockterman served as a key advisor for the development of MATH180, a revolutionary mat intervention program. David is a frequent - and popular - speaker at NCSM, Title I, Learning and the Brain, and other conferences. He is also a Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where his courses in innovation, technology, and instructional design draw students from around the world.
Session 2 - Deep Product Dive 
Participants in this session will get the opportunity to do a deep dive with better known edtech products. 

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Powerful Change: A Mixer for Boston's Creative Community
Friday, June 24
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT)
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street 17th floor, Boston 
Cost:  $15

Powerful Pathways and Poetic Change unite to bring you Powerful Change: the 1st Annual Gathering for Boston's Black and Brown Creatives.

This is not your average networking event!  We'll have food, drinks, a collaborative mural and a networking 'speed dating' actvity, followed by an Open Mic and Performance session.
OPEN TO EVERYONE!
Tickets are $15, $20 at the door and proceeds go towards Beantown Society, social justice youth program at Spontaneous Celebrations and Poetic Change.
The Open Mic is open spoken word, music and theatrical performance artists. The Sign Up period is from 7 - 8 pm.

Boston is a multicultural city with endless possibilities. But for some, particularly people of color, who bring art, culture, social entrepreneurship and innovation to the city, their work and potential can go unnoticed and in silos. Boston's Black and Brown Creatives began as a virtual space on social media intended to unite Boston's underserved and under-promoted talent of color. Together, we celebrate Boston's and Brown creative community; and are redefining the creative class. While the group is intended for creative people of color who live and work in the city, everyone is welcome support and uplift creative place and space in Boston.

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Annual Central Square dance party 
Friday, June 24
7pm - 12pm
Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

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Saturday, June 25
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Indexical Design Symposium
Saturday, June 25
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
Northeastern University's Fenway Center, 77 Saint Stephen Street, Boston

Information visualization is concerned with the symbolic languages of charts, maps, and diagrams. Its underlying data are also symbolic representations: the results of processes encoding traces and events. At the same time, traces such as tree rings, fingerprints, or ice core samples are also visualizations that we can directly experience.
The symposium explores the physical trace and its role for making sense of the world. We will investigate the different scientific, aesthetic, and rhetoric techniques for making traces “speak.” 
For more information, please visit http://www.northeastern.edu/indexical/symposium.html

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Sunday, June 26
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6th Annual Boston Tour de Hives
Sunday, June 26
9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Fellsmere Pond Park, Fellsway East, Malden
Cost:  $25 - $30

The Tour de Hives will engage, educate and enchant you with a first-hand look at honey bees in hives across the city, guided by the humans who tend them. On Sunday, June 26th, join us for a bicycle tour of apiaries in Somerville, Malden, and Medford, followed by a picnic lunch. Come celebrate the bees with us!   

We will have groups starting out from two locations in the morning. You will have the opportunity when buying your ticket to select your preference to begin your ride at Fellsmere Park, near Malden Center on the Orange Line, or at Nathan Tufts Park, near Davis Square on the Red Line. We will do our best to accomodate requests. Meet up at your location at 9am on the morning of the tour to get your teeshirt, join your group, and start the ride!

APIARIES FEATURED ON THE TOUR INCLUDE:  
Site A: First-year Backyard Beekeeper
First-year beekeeper Carl Palme will show his hive, discuss how he got started, and answer basic questions about hive management for newbees
Site B: Tufts University - Honey Bee Research
See the different life stages of honey bees through  the glass of observation hives, and learn from Tufts University PhD candidate Rachael Bonoan about her work linking honey bee nutrition to brood development
Site C: Tufts University - Native Pollinator Research
See the inner workings of bumble bee hives and learn from Tufts University PhD candidate Kelsey Graham about her research on the impact of the invasive wool carder bee on native pollinators
Site D: Community-owned Backyard Flow Hive
Check out the new hive design that last year inspired the sixth-most successful crowdfunding campaign EVER. Hear perspectives from a group of beekeepers who are giving it a try this season while implementing shared hive ownership and management.
Site E: Seasoned Backyard Beekeeper
Experienced backyard beekeeper Carl Puglisi will cover topics including successful overwintering strategies, mite prevention, and splitting hives
Site F: Groundwork Somerville
Visit honeybees and native pollinators at the Somerville South St. farm and hear about how they fit into Groundwork Somerville's work in community education and engagement.  
Each group will visit  3 of the above sites.

BYO PICNIC LUNCH:  
After a full morning of cycling and bees, all groups will gather at Fellsmere Park for a picnic lunch and a chance to mingle!   

Please bring a bag lunch, bicycle, helmet, and water bottle! The total cycling distance is ~10 miles.  

Please contact us if the suggested early-bird registration fee of $25 is prohibitive for you. All proceeds raised will bee reinvested in education & outreach initiatives by the Boston Area Beekeepers Association (formerly Boston Beekeepers Club). 

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Building with Biology:  Activities and Conversations About Synthetic Biology
Sunday, June 26
12:00 – 4:00 pm
Museum of Science, Blue Wing, Lower Level, Museum Of Science Driveway, Boston
Free with admission to exhibit hall

Humans have been engineering living systems for decades in a variety of ways, using agricultural breeding and genetic engineering. Synthetic biology is an emerging science that builds on these developments and is focused on understanding, redesigning, and constructing new biological systems in even more controlled and precise ways. Synthetic biology provides potential biology-based solutions to problems in health, energy, and the environment. It also raises important questions about how and why we use new science and technology in our lives.

Come discuss these issues and share your perspectives with scientists, students, and other members of the engineering biology community.

This program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

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Should We Engineer the Mosquito?
Sunday, June 26 
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Museum of Science, Museum Of Science Driveway, Boston

Mosquitos are more than annoying pests — they're carriers of the deadly malaria parasite. Every year, hundreds of millions of people are infected with malaria, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. Insecticide resistance is increasing, and the drugs used to treat malaria are becoming less effective. Scientists have developed a way to alter mosquito DNA to reduce their ability to transmit malaria. Releasing genetically modified mosquitos into affected environments could bring us closer to eradicating these diseases, but may also cause unforeseen consequences. Should we tinker with the mosquito?

Come discuss the potential benefits and tradeoffs. What would you do?

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Monday, June 27
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Climate Resilient Boston
Monday, June 27
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
Atlantic Wharf, Fort Point Room, 290 Congress Street, Boston

Join Boston Harbor Now for presentations on the Climate Ready Boston and 100 Resilient Cities initiatives, followed by a focused, participatory session with the organizers of the Boston Living with Water Competition. Come with your best ideas on how we address sea level rise and extreme weather while improving social equity and other community goals. 

Co-Sponsored by Boston Harbor Now, the BSA Foundation, the Urban Land Institute and the City of Boston’s Chief Resilience Officer in partnership with Climate Ready Boston, Enterprise Community Partners, and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.

Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?
You may contact Rebecca Herst, Climate Project Manager.

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Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS20 (NERD)
Monday, June 27
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft NERD New England Research & Development Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Sign in at the front desk and then take the elevators to the 11th floor.
Cost: $7.00 /per person

After a brief hiatus, your favorite quantified self meetups are back! Please come join us on Monday, June 27th for another fun night of self-tracking presentations, sharing ideas, and showing tools. If you are self-tracking in any way -- health stats, biofeedback, life-logging, mood monitoring, biometrics, athletics, etc. -- come and share your methods, results and insights. 

We're happy to hosted by our friends at Microsoft. Be sure to RSVP early to grab your spot! Come to meet new people, check out new hands-on gadgets and tools, enjoy healthy food, and learn from personal stories. 

QS Boston is dedicated to hosting events that are safe and comfortable for everyone. All QS Boston events will follow the QS Boston Code of Conduct. Questions/feedback can be sent to Maggie (maggie.delano@gmail.com).

6:15 - 6:45 pm IGNITE SHOW&TELLS 
If you'd like to talk about your personal self-tracking story, please let us know in your RSVP or contact Maggie at maggie.delano@gmail.com, so you can discuss your topic. In your talk, you should answer the three prime questions: What did you do? How did you do it? What did you learn?

If you've never been to a meetup before, you can get a sense of what the talks are like from watching videos of previous QS talks.

Don't know what Ignite means? Click here for more info and here for tips on how to deliver a fantastic quick-fire presentation.

6:45 - 7:15 pm KEYNOTE TALK
Listen to Professor Rosalind Picard share her experience in the field of wearables and human-computer interaction. Prof. Picard is founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, co-director of the Media Lab's Advancing Wellbeing Initiative, and faculty chair of MIT's Mind+Hand+Heart Initiative. She has co-founded Empatica, Inc. creating wearable sensors and analytics to improve health, and Affectiva, Inc. delivering technology to help measure and communicate emotion.

7:15 - 9:00pm DEMO HOUR & SOCIAL TIME
Enjoy some snacks while chatting with speakers and fellow meetup attendees.

Are you a toolmaker? Come demo your self-tracking gadget, app, project or idea that you're working on and share with others in our "science fair for adults." If you are making something useful for self-trackers – software, hardware, web services, or data standards – please demo it in this workshop portion of the Show&Tell. Want to participate in Demo Hour? Please let us know when you RSVP or contact Kenny at ken.e.westerman@gmail.com for a spot. 

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Bootstrapping Unicorns, New Technologies & Funding
Monday, June 27
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
Wayfair, 4 Copley Place Floor 7, Boston

Objective:  Find high caliber unfunded entrepreneurs who will join SLP and be a valuable part of our network

Agenda
Networking- 6:00- 6:30 p.m.
My Story: Building a Unicorn: Steve Conine, Wayfair talks about building a unicorn, bootstrapping for 10 years and more - Q&A Format- 6:30-7:00 p.m.
About SLP and talk by Entrepreneurs- 7:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Short Talks & Showcases
The role of data in Ecommerce & Retail: Rama Ramakrishnan 
Demonstration of AR & VR in E-commerce: Mike Festa
What’s hot / what’s getting funded:
How I got funded: An entrepreneur shares his/her pitch deck and story of getting a first round of funding
How to grow an Ecommerce company: Role of Tech, Advertising, Marketing & PR
Networking and close: 8:00 - 8:30 p.m.

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Tuesday, June 28
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Reduce and Recover: Save Food for People
June 28-29
Cost:  $15 - $125

Join the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and RecyclingWorks Massachusetts for an action-oriented conference.

This two-day event will convene entrepreneurs, practitioners, policymakers, and enthusiasts to further a public dialogue on reaching EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national food waste reduction goal of 50% by 2030.

The conference will focus on the top two tiers of EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, which prioritizes actions people can take to reduce and recover wasted food: “source reduction” and “feed hungry people.” Speakers will highlight innovative solutions from New England and across the nation to reduce wasted food and recover edible food for people.

Conference topics will include:

Food Recovery Entrepreneurs and Innovation
Donation Opportunities by Sector: Farm, Retail, and Institutions
Consumer Awareness and Education
Federal, State and Local Regulations and Policies
Strategies to Measure Waste


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Women in Cleanweb Presented by GA + Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Tuesday, June 28
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
General Assembly Boston, 51 Melcher Street, Boston

MassCEC + GA are pairing up for the Second Annual Women in Cleanweb event, an evening panel discussion focused on bridging the developer and cleantech communities and highlighting challenges and opportunities for women in the cleanweb industry.
This is a free event open to all women and men interested in the nexus of tech and cleantech.
Join us for after work libations and snacks and meet movers and shakers in the community!
Cleanweb is a category of cleantech that intersects with and leverages the capability of big data, the internet, social media and mobile technologies to address energy, natural resources and the environment. Cleanweb goes beyond the typical images associated with clean technology and power generation -- PV panels or wind turbines -- to include the broad range and huge potential of all types of digital media and information technology.

About Our Partners
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is dedicated to accelerating the success of clean energy technologies, companies and projects in the Commonwealth—while creating high-quality jobs and long-term economic growth for the people of Massachusetts.

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Curatorial Tour: "Villa Design Group: The Tragedy Machine"
Tuesday, June 28
6:00p–6:45p
MIT, Building E15, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Join the List's Assistant Curator Alise Upitis for a guided tour of the exhibition "Villa Design Group: The Tragedy Machine". Look closer and learn more about the artist collective's site-specific installation at the List, and hear about their activation of the galleries as a performance space. 

The tour will meet in the List's Hayden Gallery. This event is free and open to all, but registration is required. Visit the link below to sign up.

Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): List Visual Arts Center
For more information, contact:  Mark Linga
617-253-4680

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Boston Green Drinks - June Happy Hour
Tuesday, June 28
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
Scholars, 25 School Street, Boston

Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists.  Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community!
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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The Push for Renewable Energy
Tuesday, June 28
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont

Philip Warburg, author, lawyer and former director of the Conservation Law Foundation, New England's oldest and largest environmental watchdog group. Philip Warburg is the author of two respected books on renewable energy, Harvest the Wind: America's Journey to Jobs, Energy Independence, and Climate Stability (Beacon Press 2012, 2013), and Harness the Sun: America's Quest for a Solar-Powered Future (Beacon Press, 2015). His articles have appeared in numerous policy journals and newspapers including Audubon, The Boston Globe, The Daily Beast, HuffPost Green, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Orion, and The Washington Post.

In this discussion, Mr Warburg explains the important role of the public in making the shift to renewable energy, and describes his own experience in this regard. He also provides background on the various conflicts that accompany the energy change, and offers viable solutions to such problems.

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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, June 29
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Social Innovator Second Look
Wednesday, June 29
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT)
Brown Rudnick, One Financial Center, Boston 

Did you miss the May Showcase? The Social Innovation Forum's 2016 Innovators will pitch again in June.
Join us for our "Second Look" breakfast event on June 29!
The event is a great opportunity for those who missed the Showcase to meet our Innovators and hear their presentations. The morning will begin with breakfast and networking, followed by our Innovator pitches.
2016 Social Innovators
African Community Education
Budget Buddies
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association
Dorchester Community Food Co-op
Hale
Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH)
SMART Team

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Community Microgrids: Opportunities and the Role of Municipalities
Wednesday June 29
8:30 AM to 1:00 PM EDT
The Atlantic Wharf, Fort Point Room, 290 Congress Street, Boston

Community microgrids bring many benefits to their users, the opportunity for local clean energy generation, and added energy resiliency and reliability. But does your municipality have the expertise to establish - and finance - them for municipal needs? Or have a plan in place to support other community microgrids in your city or town?

 Join the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) for a half-day microgrids workshop for municipalities, Community Microgrids: Opportunities and the Role of Municipalities.

The event, designed for municipal stakeholders and energy committee members, will provide an introduction and overview of microgrid technology and its potential in communities across Massachusetts. Attendees will also learn about the regulatory context, ownership models, siting, and financing options for municipalities. The interactive workshop will feature microgrid experts and local governments that have extensive experience in this field and will present feasible options for municipalities interested in exploring microgrid applications and opportunities.

MassCEC will also share details of its planned Microgrid Grant Program and provide guidance on how municipalities can leverage this resource to scope a project and launch a project feasibility study.

We hope to see your participation in this exciting workshop and look forward to engaging in a dialogue aimed at bringing the innovative and forward-looking technology of microgrids to municipalities.

Contact:  MAPC (Metropolitan Area Planning Council)
617-933-0713 

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Solar Monitoring, Information Systems and Asset Management
Wednesday, June 29
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (EDT) 
Foley Hoag & Eliot, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston 
Cost:  $25 – $40

Please join us and invite your customers to join us in exploring PV system monitoring services and long term PV system asset management. Explore services helping to make owning and operating PV systems easier and make PV systems more productive.
**Additional details to follow**

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Thursday, June 30
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Envision Cambridge Panel:  Changes & Opportunities Facing Cambridge
Thursday, June 30
6:00-8:00 pm
Cambridge Main Library Lecture Hall

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Making the Business Case for A New England Food Vision
Thursday, June 30
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
SBN Boardroom, 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge

Food Solutions New England Presents:
Making the Business Case for A New England Food Vision: Creating Conditions that Support Diverse Food-related Enterprises
Profitable food-related businesses are integral to the New England Food Vision. The Vision describes a future in which at least 50% of the food consumed in our region is grown, raised, caught, and harvested in the region by 2060 ("50 by 60"); sustainable farming and fishing provide healthy food for all; and racial equity and food justice promote dignity and quality of life in thriving communities across New England. A resilient and expanding network of diverse enterprises, operating at different scales across the food system, will be key to achieving this Vision.

Members of the Food Solutions New England network's Core Team will lead an interactive discussion with local business leaders. We will learn from businesses who are already contributing to the “50 by 60” Vision as well as those who are considering how they can get involved. We will explore critical questions including: What do businesses need to be successful in the emerging New England food system? What kinds of state, local, and federal policies would make success for existing and new enterprises most likely and attract more entrepreneurs and resources?  How can the Food Solutions New England network join forces with the Sustainable Business Network and other business and economic development networks to develop shared goals and strategies for collaboration?

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The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right
Thursday, June 30
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store welcomes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School MICHAEL J. GRAETZ and Pulitzer Prize–winner LINDA GREENHOUSE for a discussion of their book The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right.
About The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right

A fresh and revelatory look at the Warren Burger Supreme Court finds that it was not a “moderate” or transitional court, as often portrayed, but a conservative one that still defines the constitutional landscape we live in today.

When Richard Nixon campaigned for the presidency in 1968 he promised to change the Supreme Court. With four appointments to the court, including Warren E. Burger as the chief justice, he did just that. In 1969, the Burger Court succeeded the famously liberal Warren Court, which had significantly expanded civil liberties and was despised by conservatives across the country.

The Burger Court is often described as a “transitional” court between the liberal Warren Court and the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts, a court where little of importance happened. But as Michael J. Graetz and Linda Greenhouse show, the Burger Court veered well to the right in such areas as criminal law, race, and corporate power. Even while declaring a right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, it drew the line at government funding for poor women. The authors excavate the roots of the most significant Burger Court decisions and show how their legacy affects us today.

The most comprehensive evaluation of the Burger Supreme Court ever written for a general audience,The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right draws on the personal papers of the justices as well as other archives to reveal how the Court shaped its major decisions. It will surprise even legal scholars and historians with its insights into a period that has received too little attention from either.


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Opportunity
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On the weekend of July 16 & 17th at Microsoft NERD in Cambridge we will be having a weekend event centered around Application Programming Interfaces.  If you have a work or home project that leverages API's, and are interested in presenting, then please let me know.  Talks can be any length.  If that weekend does not work, please note that there will be evening lectures over the next few months on API's.

For those who are new to API’s, these are being leveraged across many industries, and as such this event will have workshops to help participants learn how to access API’s; as well as on creating “data products” whether blogs, web applications, or the like. The event will have a special track devoted to “Civic Tech” and “Citizen Data Science”. The Programmable Web site provides good coverage of API’s, and beyond that there are many sites focused on specific applications.

API Categories
Social Media Top Ten API’s (article and review)
Machine Learning APIs (article and review)
Music API’s from Music Machinery
Federal Government

Many thanks to Microsoft NERD for hosting us!!!  Please let me know if you have any questions, and/or are interested in giving a talk!
John Verostek:  johnverostek@yahoo.com

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The Summer of 2016 there will be a special issue of the journal Socialism and Democracy (http://sdonline.org/) on Energy Transition, with an emphasis on renewable energy, including wind, solar, and biomass.

We are looking for reviewers of one or more articles. We are also seeking people who could send us reviews of relevant books, for this issue.

Weimin Tchen

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Solarize Somerville is a go! 
Hello neighbors--
On this cold winter day, I'm delighted to share the sunny news that Somerville MA has been chosen by the MassCEC (Clean Energy Center) to be a Solarize Mass community! You can see the announcement here:
State energy officials today announced the selection of the first five communities to participate in Solarize Mass for 2016.  The new municipalities participating in the community-based solar energy group-buying program that lowers overall costs of installing solar electric systems include Somerville and Natick, as well as Shelburne, Colrain and Conway, which have joined as a trio of partner communities....

You can learn more about the MassCEC and the SolarizeMass program at: www.solarizemass.com .
As the announcement has just been made, we don't have a lot of additional information at this time. But this selection means that we can now work with the city and the state to help residents of Somerville to decide if solar is a suitable option for them and their homes or businesses. We'll be developing and sharing educational materials, we'll have events to help people learn more and get questions answered, and we will help people to understand the processes associated with generating local, artisanal electrons.

Officially I'm the "Solar Coach" for Somerville. I am a point of contact to help people with basic solar PV issues and incentives. I'm working with folks from the city who will manage the overall project. This is a joint effort by the Office of Sustainability and Environment, with director Oliver Sellers-Garcia, and the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development with Russell Koty.

As a Coach, I am a volunteer organizer and am not authorized to speak as a spokesperson on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or MassCEC. My job is to help people to understand the program once it's in place, and to answer questions that my neighbors may have as they consider the options. Things outside of my wheelhouse will be directed to the folks who can answer them.

You can contact me here with questions, or soon we'll have some information resources with more details. If you might want to volunteer to be on the outreach team. let me know.

Mary Mangan
Solar Coach Volunteer
[vendors should not contact me, I'm not supposed to have contact with them prior to the proposal process]

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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.

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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

Solar map of Cambridge, MA

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Hey Cambridge residents!

Did you know the City of Cambridge is trying to win the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize? It was created to develop a cleaner and more efficient energy future. Energy efficiency and conservation are the best ways to save energy and minimize environmental impact. In that effort, Cambridge is hoping all residents will get a no-cost energy assessment in order to make their homes more efficient and comfortable. Let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment

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

Again, let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment and someone will be in contact with you shortly to give you personally tailored contact information on how you can get your no-cost home energy assessment. Renters are also eligible!

Any action to save energy in the home will help Cambridge win this competition while protecting the environment. For additional ideas on how to save energy, please see the Cambridge Energy Alliance website at http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/interactivehome

Please share with your Cambridge friends and family and ask them to get a free energy assessment!

Want to be more involved? Become a neighborhood Block Captain! Block Captains help their community members sign up for and complete no-cost home energy assessments through the MassSave program. Our team will give you the tools and guidance needed to recruit neighbors to get an assessment and improve the efficiency of their homes. Participation is welcome at whatever level you are able to commit to.
If you are interested in becoming a Block Captain, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/blockcaptainsurvey and someone from the Cambridge Energy Alliance will be in contact with you shortly. If you know someone who might be interested, please let them know about this opportunity!

Questions? Contact jnahigian@cambridgema.gov

Cambridge Energy Alliance
@cambenergy 

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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.

The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org 

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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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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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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info@bnid.org if you have any questions!

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BASEN / Boston Solidarity Network Economy:  http://ba-sen.tumblr.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston:  http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/

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Links to events at over 50 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
MIT Events:  http://events.mit.edu
Sustainability at Harvard:  http://green.harvard.edu/events
Microsoft NERD Center:  http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events:  http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal:  http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings:   http://cambridgehappenings.org

Cambridge Community Calendar:  https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
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