**Index**
**Conferences**
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
MA Solidarity Economy / Worker Co-op Festival & Gathering
Saturday & Sunday, June 4-5
The Pulitzer Center's 2022 Annual Conference
Interconnected: Reporting the Climate Crisis
June 9 - 10
Eurekafest!
Wednesday, June 15
**Lecture Series**
Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas & Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid
Friday, June 10
Portable Heat Pumps - Low Cost Supplemental Heating and Cooling
Wednesday, June 22
**Events**
Webinar: Get All the π̶π̶π̶π̶ SOIL on Soil Conservation in Urban Agriculture
Wednesday, June 1
Boston MA Budget Hearings on American Rescue Plan Act Funds
Wednesday, June 1
Countdown: An Evening with Alan Weisman
Wednesday, June 1
Wanjira Mathai on Sustainable Development and the Power of Women
Tuesday, June 7
Commonwealth Kitchen Food Show
Thursday, June 9
Right to a Healthy Environment: Symposium
June 9, 2022
Ukraine and beyond: Lessons in refugee education
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on key issues in refugee education
Tuesday, June 21
Climate Change, Our Youths, and Mental Health
Monday, June 27
Education meets the metaverse: The promise and the worry
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on the future of education in the 21st century
Tuesday, June 28
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These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
—————————
**Conferences**
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
9:00am to 5:30pm
MIT, Building 6, Room 120, 182 MEMORIAL DR (REAR), Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/numbers-and-nature-mitchell-j-feigenbaum-symposium-registration-333126399027
AGENDA- THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022
8:00 Registration
9:00 Welcome
Daniel Rothman — Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center, MIT-EAPS
Predrag CvitanoviΔ — Professor and Glen P. Robinson Chair in Nonlinear Sciences, Georgia Tech
9:10 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overcoming the Random Closed Packed Barrier: Crystallization in Granular Media
Harry Swinney — Professor Emeritus, UT Austin
How to Compute the Universe
Stephen Wolfram — Founder and CEO, Wolfram Research
Folds, Cuts and Isometries: Art and Science
L. Mahadevan — Professor of Physics, de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Turbulence, From Newton’s Quadratic Law of Drag to Mitch Feigenbaum and Recent Times
Yves Pomeau — Emeritus Research Director, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Fluids Experiment
Bjorn Hof — Professor of Physics, IST Austria
Life and Death of Turbulence
Nigel Goldenfeld — Swanlund Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION
Geometry, Topology, and Electrophysiology: How Excitable Tissues Sense their Shapes
Adam Cohen — Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physics, Harvard
Cognitive Neuroscience
Josh Tennenbaum — Professor of Computational Cognitive Science, MIT-BCS
Optics, Vision, and Evolution, after Mitchell Feigenbaum, 1944-2019
Jean-Pierre Eckmann — Professeur Honoraire, University of Geneva
Collective Dynamics with Complex Connectivity
Boris Schraiman— Professor of Physics, UC Santa Barbara
4:00 Coffee Break
4:30 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Mirrors and Mirages
Sir Michael Berry — Melville Wills Professor of Physics (Emeritus), University of Bristol
5:30 Reception | Hockfield Court, outside Stata Center east entrance
AGENDA- FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2022
8:30 Registration
9:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overview; Feigenbaum’s Role in Chaos
Albert Libchaber — Detlev W. Bronk Professor of Physics, Rockefeller University
Broken Symmetries in Living Systems
Nikta Fakhri — Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor, MIT-Physics
Hydrodynamics and Microbes
Alex Petroff — Professor of Physics, Clark University
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Singularity in a Teacup — When Nature Gives Infinity
Dwight Barkey — Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
TBA
Michael Brenner — Michael F. Cronin Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics, Harvard
TBA
John Bush — Professor of Applied Mathematics and Fluid Dynamics, MIT-Math
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 1
Encoding Patterns in Single-Cell Locomotion: Oscillations, Synchronization, and Excitability
Kirsty Wan — ERC Starting Grantee, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
The Mysteries of Gaps and Pile-Ups at Planetary Resonances
Renu Malhotra — Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
TBA
Sara Seager — Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT-EAPS, Physics and AeroAstro
3:30 Coffee Break
4:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 2
TBA
5:30 Adjourn
————
MA Solidarity Economy / Worker Co-op Festival & Gathering
Saturday & Sunday, June 4-5
10:00am-4:00pm
RAIN DATE: June 11-12, 2022
Global Village Farm, Grafton, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ma-solidarity-economy-festival-gathering-registration-327544072137
Another World Is Here! Let’s Build It Together
Join us for a weekend of festivities, networking, learning, visioning, strategizing and movement building.
The Massachusetts Solidarity Economy Network (MASEN) is organizing a two-day gathering on June 4-5, 2022 to celebrate, learn, strategize and build together at Global Village in Grafton, MA. Camping will be available for overnighters - a great opportunity to build relationships and have fun together around a bonfire, swimming, and maybe some music (bring an instrument). Here’s a link to a rideshare board. We will be providing Spanish interpretation and childcare.
Saturday, June 4th - Festival & Solidarity Economy/Worker Co-op Teach-in
Enjoy and celebrate the solidarity economy (SE) in Massachusetts:
Co-op vendors: As a major backbone of the SE, we’ll be spotlighting co-op businesses - come meet them and shop their wares.
Learn about solidarity economy organizations and initiatives.
Come to a participatory Solidarity Economy 101 teach-in. What’s the relationship between co-ops and the solidarity economy?
Open space: brief workshops and discussions that anyone can offer, so come with your ideas.
Come and enjoy cultural offerings and hands-on activities, including farm work.
Are you a member of a worker co-op? If YES, we want to support you with funds to be here! Please use this url: https://bit.ly/3y2An9q to sign up for a worker co-op stipend for Saturday June 4.
Organized in partnership with the Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP).
Sunday, June 5th - State of the Solidarity Economy Movement & Collective Strategy
Help us build and strengthen the solidarity economy movement in Massachusetts. All are welcome, whether you are new to this movement or an old hand.
Build relationships, network and do some speed dating.
Participate in collective visioning, strategizing, setting priorities.
Learn and exchange on a range of topics such as childcare, culture and SE, co-op policy, local SE case studies
The venue: Global Village
This event is held at Global Village, an international initiative building centers for education, training and movement building. Global Village is part of creating a new sustainable economy and cooperative living spaces with low-income immigrant communities of color and other colonized and marginalized people.
————
The Pulitzer Center's 2022 Annual Conference
Interconnected: Reporting the Climate Crisis
June 9 - 10
RSVP at https://www.tfaforms.com/4981120
More information at https://pulitzercenter.org/events/pulitzer-center-2022-annual-conference
We are pleased to invite you to join us for the Pulitzer Center's annual conference, taking place onJune 9 & 10, 2022, with virtual programming in five languages for a global audience.
Interconnected: Reporting the Climate Crisis will feature unique and engaging discussions centered on the Pulitzer Center’s mission of quality journalism and education, bringing together journalists, editors, educators, students, and experts from around the world at the forefront of climate change and environmental reporting.
Across two days of plenary sessions, panel discussions, Q&As, and informal networking, attendees will examine emerging trends in journalism through the lens of Pulitzer Center investigations; explore new and innovative tools for conducting cross-newsroom and cross-border investigations; and discover career opportunities made possible through Pulitzer Center climate reporting grants and fellowships.
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Eurekafest!
Wednesday, June 15
10:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Stata Center, Stata Center32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA
More information at https://lemelson.mit.edu/inventeams#current-inventeams
Join us for the 16th annual EurekaFest celebration to honor young inventors! This year's showcase will be held on Wednesday June 15, 2022 from 10-12 in Stata
EurekaFest is an event that empowers student inventors, honors role models, and encourages creativity and problem solving. Programming includes an introduction to the 2022 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams — teams of high school students from across the country who received an InvenTeam grant to build a working prototype to solve a real-world problem in their community or beyond.
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**Lecture Series**
Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas & Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid
Friday, June 10
9:00 am-12:30 pm
Convener/Moderator: Dr. Jonathan Raab, Raab Associates, Ltd.
Host: Foley HoagHost: Foley HoagHost: Foley Hoag
To attend in-person* or to livestream:
*All visitors to Foley Hoag must be fully vaccinated and boosted.
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weaning-buildings-off-fossil-gas-market-pathways-to-a-decarbonized-grid-tickets-314024093517
Cost: $0 - $100
Weaning New England’s Buildings Off Fossil Gas
Judith Judson, VP & Head of US Strategy, National Grid
William Akley, President & COO of Gas, Eversource Energy
Rebecca Tepper, Chief Energy & Environment, MA Attorney General’s Office
Amy Boyd, Director of Policy, Acadia Center
Decarbonizing buildings will likely be New England’s greatest carbon emissions reduction challenge in the coming decades - particularly in our existing building stock heated by natural (aka fossil) gas. Options for decarbonizing these buildings include deep weatherization, electrification, decarbonizing the gas itself by using renewable natural gas and hydrogen, and/or geothermal energy. Various important developments are currently underway in the region. These include consideration of a Clean Heat Standard in Vermont, suspension of subsidies for new natural gas hook-ups in Connecticut, and the establishment of a Clean Heat Commission in Massachusetts.
In this Roundtable, we focus on what may prove to be the most promising development for building decarbonization in the region--Massachusetts DPU’s 20-80 Docket [Role of Gas Local Distribution Companies as the Commonwealth Achieves its Target 2050 Climate Goals]. Specifically, we examine the Massachusetts’ gas distribution companies recently filed strategic gas decarbonization plans and proposed common regulatory reform framework. These filings are, in large part, based on the recently released Technical Analysis of Decarbonization Pathways conducted by E3 on behalf of the gas distribution companies. Leaders from National Grid and Eversource will present their strategic decarbonization plans, as well as the key findings from the E3 study and their joint regulatory reform framework. This will be followed by critiques of these proposals and the underlying study from leading voices on behalf of consumer and environmental advocates.
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized New England Grid
Katie Dykes, Commissioner, Connecticut DEEP
Gordon van Welie, President & CEO, ISO New England
Todd Schatzki, Principal, Analysis Group
Peter Fuller, Principal, Autumn Lane Consulting
As a result of the New England states participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), carbon-emitting generation in New England pays a price for carbon it emits. But that price is too small - in and of itself - to shepherd in the amount of new carbon-free electricity resources that New England needs to decarbonize its electricity grid. Hence, many New England states have been issuing their own solicitations to procure clean energy resources (e.g, from offshore wind and hydro from Quebec). Meanwhile, ISO New England, the New England states, and diverse regional stakeholders have been exploring various ways to redesign our wholesale markets to better align with our decarbonization aspirations. These ideas include the incorporation of a more impactful carbon price in wholesale energy markets and the introduction of a new forward clean energy market (FCEM).
At this Roundtable, we will examine the strengths and weaknesses of these various options, as well as stakeholder preferences regarding these choices. We begin with the findings of a recent ISO-New England sponsored comparative study conducted by Analysis Group. The study, which includes significant input from the New England States and NEPOOL stakeholders, compares the status quo with various approaches, including carbon pricing, FCEM, and a hybrid design combining carbon pricing and FCEM. We will then hear our panelists’ reactions to the study, and a spirited discussion about what New England should do.
Materials from our March 25th Roundtable
Materials from our 3/25 Roundtable, Federal Support for Clean Energy & Equitably Decarbonizing the Northeast, including speaker and convener biographies; a list of registrants; RTO Insider's 3.29.22 Edition (with coverage on page 23); and a link to the on-demand video are available on our website. Please note that there were no speaker slides to post for this Roundtable. The video can be viewed for free by employees of our Sponsor organizations. For non-Sponsors it costs $100 to view at the General rate and $50 at the Discounted rate.
2022 Roundtable Sponsorship Drive
We are currently accepting new NE Roundtable Sponsors for 2022. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of Roundtable Sponsorship, please email Susan at susan@raabassociates.org.
Remaining 2022 NE Roundtable Dates
September 30 • December 9
(Topics, Speakers, & Registration TBD)
Raab Associates, Ltd / www.raabassociates.org
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Portable Heat Pumps - Low Cost Supplemental Heating and Cooling
Wednesday, June 22
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/portable-heat-pumps-low-cost-supplemental-heating-and-cooling-tickets-335311213867
Portable heat pumps are a way to lower utility bills by efficiently warming or cooling a single room - a great solution for renters.
Portable heat pumps can heat or cool your home just like a regular heat pump, but with the additional advantage of being transportable. They come in window mounted options or roller options which are easier to move from room to room. They are a great solution for supplemental heat to reduce your reliance on gas or electric baseboard heating, and since they are portable, they are a great solution for renters.
These units are often used to heat or cool highly used spaces like kitchens or living rooms or to cool a bedroom for sleeping, and a single unit can heat and cool a small apartment. They offer the efficiency of a heat pump without the cost of whole house or ductless heat pumps.
Join the Electrify Coalition as we investigate portable and window heat pumps just in time for summer in the northern hemisphere. We will answer questions like:
How much do portable and window heat pumps costs?
What are some of the top brands?
How do you install and use them?
Do they really work?
What are things to consider when purchasing one?
What are their advantages over ductless and whole house heat pumps?
Where do I buy them?
Panelist
Sean Armstrong is a leading Electrification expert in North America and has co-authored five user-friendly guides to building electrification, both new construction and retrofits. His firm, Redwood Energy, has led the nation in residential ZNE design since 2011 with more than 5,000 100% solar powered homes.
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**Events**
Webinar: Get All the π̶π̶π̶π̶ SOIL on Soil Conservation in Urban Agriculture
Wednesday, June 1
12pm
Contact Abigail at abigail.appleman@usda.gov
Registrations after 11:00am (Eastern) on June 1 will not receive the link to the live webinar but will receive a link to the recording afterward.
Is it just dirt, or is your soil alive? Join our virtual event, hosted by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pennsylvania, to hear from:
Resource Soil Scientist Dr. Kefeni Kejela - Urban Soils
and State Soil Scientist Yuri Plowden - Soil Your Undies!
We'll talk about urban soils and their properties, soil quality and management, life within the soil, and an invitation to Soil Your Undies*. There will also be time for questions and answers.
Enter your information to register for this USDA-NRCS webinar. This event will be held virtually using MS Teams at noon on June 1, 2022. You will receive a reminder with a link to join the day before.
Questions? Contact Abigail at abigail.appleman@usda.gov
*literally
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Boston MA Budget Hearings on
Wednesday, June 1, at 2 PM - Housing
Friday, June 3, at 10 AM - Climate, Mobility, and Digital Equity
Friday, June 3, at 2 PM - Public Health
More information at https://bostoncan.org/ and
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n7b8Ur3XLU9QY0zdbJI3tp5ij185C8bElvKOblVYBtE/edit#
Did you know the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocated nearly $560 million to the City of Boston with $350 million of those funds earmarked for new, transformative investments?! The City Council is holding hearings this week to discuss the allocation of these funds and we need YOUR voice there:
There are many ways to testify at a hearing: register ahead of time for live virtual testimony, send a pre-recorded testimony, send an email, or attend the meeting in person at the Iannella Chamber on the 5th floor of City Hall! See more details on our talking points at our Budget Hearing Info sheet. We need YOUR voice advocating for:
Crane Ledge Woods
BERDO staffing & software resources
BPS retrofits
Housing retrofitting & anti-displacement
Tree canopy
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Countdown: An Evening with Alan Weisman
Wednesday, June 1
7 PM – 8:15 PM
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/2537801879683909/
Join us for a live virtual interview with bestselling author, Alan Weisman, in conversation about his multiple-award-winning book Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? The conversation will be moderated by Population Balance Executive Director Nandita Bajaj.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Weisman traveled to more than 20 countries to ask what experts agreed were probably the most important questions on Earth — and also the hardest: How many humans can the planet hold without capsizing? How robust must the Earth’s ecosystem be to assure our continued existence? Can we know which other species are essential to our survival? And, how might we actually arrive at a stable, optimum population, and design an economy to allow genuine prosperity without endless growth?
Weisman visits an extraordinary range of the world’s cultures, religions, nationalities, tribes, and political systems to learn what in their beliefs, histories, liturgies, or current circumstances might suggest that sometimes it’s in their own best interest to limit their growth. The result is a landmark work of reporting: devastating, urgent, and, ultimately, deeply hopeful.
By vividly detailing the burgeoning effects of our cumulative presence, Countdown reveals what may be the fastest, most acceptable, practical, and affordable way of returning our planet and our presence on it to balance. Weisman again shows that he is one of the most provocative journalists at work today, with a book whose message is so compelling that it will change how we see our lives and our destiny.
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Wanjira Mathai on Sustainable Development and the Power of Women
Tuesday, June 7
11:30am EST
RSVP at https://commonwealthclub.secure.force.com/ticket/?_ga=2.159403646.2102446830.1653886399-149928173.1643172478#/instances/a0F3j00001VZZycEAH
Africa is responsible for less than 4 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet its people are already suffering some of the world’s most devastating climate impacts. And as the Global North looks to reduce its addiction to fossil fuels, the minerals required to do so increasingly depend on exploiting natural resources in the Global South, exacerbating a cycle of extraction, environmental devastation, dislocation, and political and social instability. How can these ongoing injustices be stopped and rectified?
Wanjira Mathai is the vice president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute, and the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, who empowered more than 4,000 women’s groups to protect and restore their local forests, even in the face of death threats. Wanjira herself has tackled such global issues as landscape restoration, youth leadership and sustainable development. She has focused on the power of emotional intelligence and has repeatedly been named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women.
Join Climate One for an in-depth conversation with Wanjira Mathai.
NOTES
This is a free, online-only program; please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.
This program is free for everyone, thanks to our generous supporters. We welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming.
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Commonwealth Kitchen Food Show
Thursday, June 9
85 Northern Avenue – across from the ICA, next to District Hall, Boston, MA
11am-4pm: Private Industry Show
4pm-7pm: Show opens to the public!
RSVP at https://commonwealthkitchen.org/foodshow/
Cost: $15
For one day only, we’ll be serving up culinary magic alongside over 90 of Boston’s most talented, creative and diverse food entrepreneurs and culinary trendsetters.
We're bringing together CWK members, grads, and alums, including food trucks, caterers, bakers. brewers, sauce makers, and packaged goods companies all under a giant tent in Boston's Seaport District! 85 Northern Ave!
The event will take place outside, under a big tent. Rain or Shine
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Right to a Healthy Environment: Symposium
June 9, 2022 (Virtual Program)
1:00 - 4:30 PM
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/right-to-a-healthy-environment-in-us-law-tickets-325027956367
The Right to a Healthy Environment in US Law: Justice for Communities Today and Tomorrow is a symposium and CLE course (approval pending in NY and CA) that focuses on the newly-endorsed right to a healthy environment and draws connections between this right and efforts to promote environmental justice in the United States.
The event will consist of a keynote speech on environmental racism, a panel on environmental justice, and a panel on youth engagement and intergenerational obligations.
The event is hosted by the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy at the Northeastern University School of Law on behalf of the Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network. All are welcome!
Opening Remarks. Martha Davis, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Keynote Speaker. Dominique Day, United Nations Working Group on People of African Descent/ Daylight Law
Session I - Implementing Environmental Justice. Moderator: Rachel Gore Freed, Vice President and Chief Organizer, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
Panelists: Ka’sha Bernard, Center for International Environmental Law
Ann Marie Chischilly, VP, Native American Initiatives at Northern Arizona University
Katrina Kuh, Haub Distinguished Professor of Law, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Sharon Lavigne, Founder, RISE St. James/2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Recipient
Session II - Future Generations. Moderator: Erin Daly, Professor of Law, Dignity Rights Project, Delaware Law School at Widener University.
Panelists: Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel, Our Children’s Trust
Ramin Pejan, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice
Samia Shell, Ron Brown Scholar, St. John’s University School of Law
Jonathan Todres, Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law
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Ukraine and beyond: Lessons in refugee education
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on key issues in refugee education
Tuesday, June 21
9:30 AM EDT - 10:30 AM EDT
Online Only
RSVP at https://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-ukraine-refugee-education
Join the conversation on Twitter using #BrookingsYidanPrize
Since February 2022, the war on Ukraine has disrupted the education of millions—as more than half of Ukrainian children have left their homes, and over 1,800 education institutions have been damaged. The next months will determine how many of these children are able to access education in their host communities across Europe. Globally, nearly half of all refugee children are out of school. Millions of Syrian, Afghan, Rohingya and other refugee children are unable to access education. In this—and all crises—host communities must be prepared, national policies responsive, and funding available.
The initial education response by countries hosting Ukrainian refugee children has primarily been promising, leading refugee education advocates to question the double standard facing children from other countries. They also worry resources will be shifted away from other already underfunded humanitarian crises. Others have posited that the favorable response by European host communities presents an opportunity to improve refugee education policies globally and advance more innovative practices.
On June 21, the Center for Universal Education and the Yidan Prize Foundation will co-host a virtual event to explore critical issues in global education today. Join Maysa Jalbout, Erum Mariam, Viktoriia Gnap, Zarlasht Halaimzai, and David Edwards as they address key questions including: Are the European countries neighboring Ukraine prepared to deliver education to millions of refugee children? What are the roles of teachers and civil society in responding to the crisis? What could Europe learn from other countries hosting large numbers of refugees? How could education responses for Ukrainian, Rohingya, Afghan refugees and others help inform the development of more sustainable system-level solutions?
This webcast is the first in a Brookings-Yidan Prize event series on the future of education in the 21st century. Together, the two organizations are exploring emerging and timely topics in education likely to have deep implications for decades to come.
Viewers can submit questions via email to events@brookings.edu or via Twitter at #BrookingsYidanPrize.
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Climate Change, Our Youths, and Mental Health
Monday, June 27
9pm EST
RSVP at https://commonwealthclub.secure.force.com/ticket/?_ga=2.157697657.2102446830.1653886399-149928173.1643172478#/instances/a0F3j00001VXhqVEAT
If you are not a member yet, now is the time to join our community and receive the great benefits of membership. We are a group of people seeking truth, insight and wisdom about the issues we face as individuals and as a society. Please join! You can become a monthly sustaining member for just $10 a month.
Join us for an in-depth discussion focused on the latest Youth Climate Survey by Blue Shield on how climate change is affecting the mental health of our youth community.
We'll be talking with David W. Bond, who is the director of behavioral health at Blue Shield of California—Promise Health Plan, where he leads initiatives to restore, sustain and enhance the behavioral health and well being of the state's Medi-Cal and Medicare beneficiaries; Kat Lee, a youth environmental activist and youth organizer for APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network)' and Maya Gomez, a Whitney High School sophomore and a student representative for the Mind Out Loud program.
Join us in-person for this timely talk!
NOTES
This program has 2 types of tickets available: In-person and online-only. For online viewing, pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.
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Education meets the metaverse: The promise and the worry
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on the future of education in the 21st century
Tuesday, June 28
10:00 AM EDT - 11:00 AM EDT
RSVP at https://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-education-metaverse
Join the conversation on Twitter using #BrookingsYidanPrize
When education trails technology, the technology rather than educators defines what counts as educational opportunity. This is largely what happened when “educational” apps designed for use on smartphones and tablets meant for adults were introduced to children.
Today, as the metaverse infrastructure is still under construction, researchers, educators, policymakers, and digital designers have a chance to lead the way rather than get caught in the undertow. To leverage the potential of the metaverse as a 3D, global, interconnected, immersive, and real-time online learning space, we need new ways to connect the physical world with augmented and virtual reality experiences.
On June 28, the Center for Universal Education and the Yidan Prize Foundation will co-host a virtual event to consider a path for bringing the best educational practices into the metaverse, stemming in part from a recent policy brief. A moderated discussion of expert panelists will seek to answer questions such as: How can those creating educational products for the metaverse work with educators and scientists to ensure that children experience real human social interaction as they navigate virtual spaces? How can we empower and support children as they safely explore these spaces? Is there a real eye to diversity in the representation and access to what is created?
This webcast is the second in a Brookings-Yidan Prize event series on the future of education in the 21st century. Together, the two organizations are exploring emerging and timely topics in education likely to have deep implications for decades to come.
Viewers can submit questions via email to events@brookings.edu or via Twitter at #BrookingsYidanPrize.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Sunday, May 01, 2022
Energy (and Other) Events - May 2022
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Index
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Conferences
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Tuesday, May 3
Graduate workshop: Data-driven environmental economics research from the EPA
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
———————
Lecture Series
———————
Tuesday, May
CAN WE RESIST THE HIJACKING OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA & BEYOND?
Cambridge Forum (https://www.cambridgeforum.org/?cat=3)
Friday, May 13
Building Climate Resilience in Transportation Systems
MIT Mobility Forum, (http://mmi.mit.edu/events)
Wednesday, May 11
Networking on the Trails: Mass Audubon’s Climate Initiatives
Climate Adaptation Forum (https://climateadaptationforum.org/events/)
Friday, June 10
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid; and Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas
NE Restructuring Roundtable (http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp)
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Events
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Monday, May 2
Mandating Climate Disclosures: Impacts on Sustainability and Financial Markets
Bazaar of Ideas: Moving Stuff Around
Wednesday, May 4
The Power of Protest: A Film Screening: The Boys Who Said No!
Thursday, May 5
Net Zero MA.: Legislation + Energy Sources for Achieving 2050 Climate Goals
Summit: Inventing the Future of Money
Environment, Ethics and Embodiment: Buddhist Approaches to Climate Change
Friday, May 6
Improving climate models with hybrid AI approaches
Saturday May 7
Fayette Park plant swap
Wake up the Earth Festival
Monday, May 9
Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing
Tuesday, May 10
American governance: The way forward
Energy Companies and the Energy Transition: Transforming the Organization
Manufacturing the Clerical Predator: How the Catholic Hierarchy Creates and Maintains a Culture of Abuse
Friday, May 13
Carbon Neutral Geothermal Building In the Hudson Valley
Tuesday, May 17
Securing the Future of Agriculture
Wedneday, May 18
NECEC Emerging Trends Series: Deploying Climate Solutions
A Changing Planet Seminar: Seasonal rainfall over Eastern Africa and the Tropics: Trends, Climate Models and Projections
Thursday, May 19
Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture
The End of the Petrostate - How Electrification will Reshape the World
Friday, May 20
Bringing Together Varied Communities, As in the Covid Pandemic and Climate Change
Wednesday, May 25
MA Attorney General Climate Debate
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These kinds of events are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
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Conferences
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Graduate workshop: Data-driven environmental economics research from the EPA
Tuesday, May 3
1:00 PM EDT - 4:30 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://brookings.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sY_DzFvERoOMHhI2k0blqQ
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) creates and maintains a wealth of data that can inform high-quality research on the most pressing policy issues in environmental economics. However identifying, accessing, and understanding these data can be a formidable task. On May 3, the Brookings Center on Regulations and Markets is hosting a workshop to help young scholars overcome these issues.
The workshop is specifically aimed at graduate students who are interested in environmental economics and policy; who want to learn more about issues of current regulatory importance; and who want to understand the data that has been and can be used to explore these issues. The program will feature agency personnel who will give an overview of various data sets and researchers who have used EPA data in their graduate work. In addition, scholars from Brookings and academic institutions across the country will discuss their experience with EPA data. Attendees will gain a better appreciation of the types of data EPA creates and maintains, how to access and use that data, and how to match research questions to the data.
Registration is open to current graduate students (pre-docs and post-docs are also welcome to attend) and will be held over Zoom.
PROGRAM AGENDA
1:00 pm Welcome and introductory remarks
Katja Seim, Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management
Richard Allen, U.S. EPA Chief Data Officer
1:20 pm Overview of EPA datasets relevant to economics
This session features two talks give a broad overview of potentially relevant EPA data: a summary of lessons learned from over a dozen researchers who have used EPA data and suggestions for generating research ideas.
Lessons Learned from Using EPA Data
Jay Shimshack, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Batten School, University of Virginia
Where to get Research Ideas
Alex Marten, U.S. EPA Statistical Officer and Associate Director, National Center for Environmental Economics
1:50 pm Break
2:00 pm Short talks by EPA data owners and users
This session is comprised of four talks by EPA staff who can describe some of the most relevant EPA data sets and how to access them.
EmPOWER and Related Data
Justine Huetteman, U.S. EPA, Clean Air Markets Division
Toxics Release Inventory and Chemical Data Reporting
Speaker to be announced
ECHO Data Downloads
Courtney Tuxbury, U.S. EPA, Office of Compliance
EJSCREEN/RSEI for Environmental Justice Analysis
Peiley Lau, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
2:30 pm Longer talks #1 and #2
The session features two longer talks by young scholars who have used EPA data in their research.
Air Quality System Monitoring and Strategic Behavior
Eric Zou, University of Oregon and NBER
Toxics Releases and Children
Irene Jacqz, Iowa State University and Harvard University
3:15 pm Break
3:30 pm Longer talk #3
In this talk, Professor Evans will describe 2 research projects that use data obtained from public records requests to EPA and a state environmental agency. She will use the projects to share insights on navigating the public records request process.
Using Public Records Requests to Complement Available EPA Data
Mary Evans, University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs
4:00 pm Short talks by data users
This session features talks by younger scholars who have used various EPA data sets in their research. These data include the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, the Water Quality Portal, the Safe Drinking Water Information System, and air quality monitoring data.
Lavender Yang, Carnegie Mellon University
Tina Andarge, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Jiameng Zheng, UIUC
4:30 pm End
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Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
9:00am to 5:30pm
MIT, Building 6, Room 120, 182 MEMORIAL DR (REAR), Cambridge, MA 02139
Registration Information TBA
AGENDA- THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022
8:00 Registration
9:00 Welcome
Daniel Rothman — Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center, MIT-EAPS
Predrag CvitanoviΔ — Professor and Glen P. Robinson Chair in Nonlinear Sciences, Georgia Tech
9:10 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overcoming the Random Closed Packed Barrier: Crystallization in Granular Media
Harry Swinney — Professor Emeritus, UT Austin
How to Compute the Universe
Stephen Wolfram — Founder and CEO, Wolfram Research
Folds, Cuts and Isometries: Art and Science
L. Mahadevan — Professor of Physics, de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Turbulence, From Newton’s Quadratic Law of Drag to Mitch Feigenbaum and Recent Times
Yves Pomeau — Emeritus Research Director, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Fluids Experiment
Bjorn Hof — Professor of Physics, IST Austria
Life and Death of Turbulence
Nigel Goldenfeld — Swanlund Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION
Geometry, Topology, and Electrophysiology: How Excitable Tissues Sense their Shapes
Adam Cohen — Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physics, Harvard
Cognitive Neuroscience
Josh Tennenbaum — Professor of Computational Cognitive Science, MIT-BCS
Optics, Vision, and Evolution, after Mitchell Feigenbaum, 1944-2019
Jean-Pierre Eckmann — Professeur Honoraire, University of Geneva
Collective Dynamics with Complex Connectivity
Boris Schraiman— Professor of Physics, UC Santa Barbara
4:00 Coffee Break
4:30 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Mirrors and Mirages
Sir Michael Berry — Melville Wills Professor of Physics (Emeritus), University of Bristol
5:30 Reception | Hockfield Court, outside Stata Center east entrance
AGENDA- FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2022
8:30 Registration
9:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overview; Feigenbaum’s Role in Chaos
Albert Libchaber — Detlev W. Bronk Professor of Physics, Rockefeller University
Broken Symmetries in Living Systems
Nikta Fakhri — Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor, MIT-Physics
Hydrodynamics and Microbes
Alex Petroff — Professor of Physics, Clark University
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Singularity in a Teacup — When Nature Gives Infinity
Dwight Barkey — Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
TBA
Michael Brenner — Michael F. Cronin Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics, Harvard
TBA
John Bush — Professor of Applied Mathematics and Fluid Dynamics, MIT-Math
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 1
Encoding Patterns in Single-Cell Locomotion: Oscillations, Synchronization, and Excitability
Kirsty Wan — ERC Starting Grantee, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
The Mysteries of Gaps and Pile-Ups at Planetary Resonances
Renu Malhotra — Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
TBA
Sara Seager — Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT-EAPS, Physics and AeroAstro
3:30 Coffee Break
4:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 2
TBA
5:30 Adjourn
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Lecture Series
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Cambridge Forum (https://www.cambridgeforum.org/?cat=3)
CAN WE RESIST THE HIJACKING OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA & BEYOND?
Tuesday, May 3
5:00 PM
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/4016503966173/WN_4MLtogH2RBynJHpgfS0sHg
It feels like a new Cold War is upon us – Russia poses an alarming extrinsic threat to the American concept of freedom, and to Western ideas of democratic values. Russia’s terrible assault on Ukraine and the recent elections of pro-Putin regimes in Hungary and Serbia, coincide with a growing threat to American democracy from within its own borders.
JOHN SHATTUCK, an international legal scholar and human rights leader, is currently Professor of Practice in Diplomacy at Tufts after a long and distinguished career in academia and government. In the early post-Cold War years, he was responsible for coordinating and implementing U.S. efforts to promote human rights, democracy and international labor rights. The first U.S. official to reach and interview survivors of the genocide at Srebrenica, he helped negotiate the Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and was instrumental in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He also served President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 1998-2000.
His new book ‘Holding Together: the hijacking of rights in America’ is co-authored with SUSHMA RAMAN, Executive Director and Mathias Risse, faculty director at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Shattuck and Raman will join the Forum to discuss the current world crisis with regard to human rights, a fight which challenges Americans domestically, as well as internationally. Raman is the host of Justice Matters podcast and a contributor to Foreign Policy magazine; she brings two decades of experience in launching and leading social justice and human rights’ initiatives to her position as director at the Carr Center.
Are you alarmed at the steady deterioration of common purpose among your fellow Americans or are you more concerned about the international disregard for human rights and democratic values, we have witnessed in Ukraine and beyond? Join our spirited discussion!
Our next Forum on Tuesday, May 17 "HARNESSING THE POWER OF SEAWEED: the miracle crop" will investigate the amazing properties of a common and ubiquitous aquatic plant – seaweed! If you want to learn more about the advantages of growing, eating and utilizing this rich natural resource you won’t want to miss our program. Zoom registration details follow shortly.
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MIT Mobility Forum (http://mmi.mit.edu/events), "a weekly seminar series showcasing the groundbreaking transportation research occuring across the Institute"
Building Climate Resilience in Transportation Systems
Friday, May 13
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
RSVP at https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uduurqTooEtw5jV5YDTyeuAs2ObxoaqxV
Andrew Whittle, Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering
v Building the Future of Transportation
Friday, May 20, 2022 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
RSVP at https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uduurqTooEtw5jV5YDTyeuAs2ObxoaqxV
Gill Pratt, Chief Scientist and Executive Fellow for Research of Toyota Motor Corporation
WEBSITE
http://mmi.mit.edu/events
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Climate Adaptation Forum (https://climateadaptationforum.org/events/)
Networking on the Trails: Mass Audubon’s Climate Initiatives
Wednesday, May 11
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, 280 Eliot Street, Natick, MA
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/27ed5527-1095-4485-9a6e-46194419cae7/regProcessStep1
Join the Climate Adaptation Forum community for a learning and networking opportunity at Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA! Mass Audubon will present on their important climate initiatives and be available for Q&A. The property will then be yours to explore! Get to know and connect with like-minded people over a drink or two and stir up some climate action!
Registration is free. Advance registration is required for entry.
Climate Adaptation Forum
Phone: 617-505-1818
Email: ebc@ebcne.org
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Sweltering Heat Waves and Increasing Drought: Can the Northeast handle the heat?
Friday, June 3
8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET
UMass Club, 32nd Floor, 1 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://climateadaptationforum.org/event/sweltering-heat-waves-and-increasing-drought-can-the-northeast-handle-the-heat/
Hybrid format: register to attend in-person or as a virtual attendee
Cost: $15 - $45
The Climate Adaptation Forum is a collaboration between the Environmental Business Council and the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
In the Northeast, extreme heat and drought may seem inconsequential when it comes to our list of weather woes. However, increasingly hot summers and lower levels of groundwater are showing us that those issues are not limited to the Western US – infamous for forest fires and drought. The Forum will bring in a diverse panel of speakers who will explore what we can learn from practitioners across the country who are already feeling the heat, as well as what our region is doing to mitigate these critical threats to our public and environmental health.
Join the Climate Adaptation Forum for this first in-person event since 2020! Another first – this forum will also be organized in a hybrid format. Attendees will have the option of being in-person, networking at the UMass Club in Boston, MA, or tuning in virtually from their locations around New England, the country, or even internationally! More information on these two attendance options can be found below.
Forum Speakers
Keynote Speaker:
Brenda Burman, Executive Strategy Advisor, Central Arizona Project
Presenters:
Zoe Davis, Climate Resilience Project Coordinator, City of Boston, MA
David Hondula, Director, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, City of Phoenix, AZ
Dr. Margaret Redsteer (presenting virtually), Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University of Washington Bothell
Viktoria Zoltay, Hydrologist, Office of Water Resources, Department of Conservation and Recreation Commonwealth of Massachusettsm, Forum Co-Chairs
Aaron Weieneth, Manager of Climate Change and Resilience, AECOM
Melanie GΓ‘rate, Climate Resilience Manager, Mystic River Watershed Association
Editorial Comment: Planning for Extreme Heat https://solarray.blogspot.com/2022/04/planning-for-extreme-heat-ny-phoenix.html
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NE Restructuring Roundtable (http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp)
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid; and Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas
Friday, June 10
9:00 am-12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard 17th Floor, Boston, MA
in-person and livestream
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weaning-buildings-off-fossil-gas-market-pathways-to-a-decarbonized-grid-tickets-314024093517
Cost: $0 - $100
Convener/Moderator: Dr. Jonathan Raab, Raab Associates, Ltd.
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized New England Grid
Katie Dykes, Commissioner, Connecticut DEEP
Gordon van Welie, President & CEO, ISO New England
Todd Shatzki, Principal, Analysis Group
Peter Fuller, Principal, Autumn Lane Consulting
As a result of the New England states participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), carbon-emitting generation in New England pays a price for carbon it emits. But that price is too small - in and of itself - to shepherd in the amount of new carbon-free electricity resources that New England needs to decarbonize its electricity grid. Hence, many New England states have been issuing their own solicitations to procure clean energy resources (e.g, from off-shore wind and hydro from Quebec). Meanwhile, ISO New England, the New England states, and diverse regional stakeholders have been exploring various ways to redesign our wholesale markets to better align with our decarbonization aspirations. These ideas include the incorporation of a more impactful carbon price in wholesale energy markets and the introduction of a new forward clean energy market (FCEM).
At this Roundtable, we will examine the strengths and weaknesses of these various options, as well as stakeholder preferences regarding these choices. We begin with the findings of a recent ISO-New England sponsored comparative study conducted by Analysis Group. The study, which includes significant input from the New England States and NEPOOL stakeholders, compares the status quo with various approaches, including carbon pricing, FCEM, and a hybrid design combining carbon pricing and FCEM. We will then hear our panelists’ reactions to the study, and a spirited discussion about what New England should do.
Weaning New England’s Buildings Off Fossil Gas
Judith Judson, VP & Head of US Strategy. National Grid
William Akley, President & COO of Gas, Eversource Energy
Rebecca Tepper, Chief Energy & Environment, MA AGO's Office
Amy Boyd, Director of Policy, Acadia Center
Decarbonizing buildings will likely be New England’s greatest carbon emissions reduction challenge in the coming decades - particularly in our existing building stock heated by natural (aka fossil) gas. Options for decarbonizing these buildings include deep weatherization, electrification, decarbonizing the gas itself by using renewable natural gas and hydrogen, and/or geothermal energy. Various important developments are currently underway in the region. These include consideration of a Clean Heat Standard in Vermont, suspension of subsidies for new natural gas hook-ups in Connecticut, and the establishment of a Clean Heat Commission in Massachusetts.
In this Roundtable, we focus on what may prove to be the most promising development for building decarbonization in the region--Massachusetts DPU’s 20-80 Docket [Role of Gas Local Distribution Companies as the Commonwealth Achieves its Target 2050 Climate Goals]. Specifically, we examine the Massachusetts’ gas distribution companies recently-filed strategic gas decarbonization plans and proposed common regulatory reform framework. These filings are, in large part, based on the recently-released Technical Analysis of Decarbonization Pathways conducted by E3 on behalf of the gas distribution companies. Leaders from National Grid and Eversource will present their strategic decarbonization plans, as well as the key findings from the E3 study and their joint regulatory reform framework. This will be followed by critiques of these proposals and the underlying study from leading voices on behalf of consumer and environmental advocates.
Remaining 2022 NE Roundtable Dates
September 30 • December 9
(Topics, Speakers, & Registration TBD)
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Events
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Mandating Climate Disclosures: Impacts on Sustainability and Financial Markets
Monday, May 2
4:45pm to 7:00pm
MIT Building 2, Room 190, 2-190 182 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Monday, May 2, 2022 — 4:45-6:15 PM — Reception to Follow
Host: Deborah Lucas, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Finance and Director, MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy
Panelists: Robert Eccles, Visiting Professor of Management Practice, SaΓ―d Business School, University of Oxford
Carol Geremia, President, MFS Investment Management
Michelle Hanlon, Howard W. Johnson Professor of Accounting, MIT Sloan School of Management
Robert Pozen, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management
John Sterman, Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Moderator: Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director, MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative
THIS HYBRID EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL
In person:
MIT Covid Pass users: No registration required.
Non-MIT Covid Pass users: Please register in advance for a Tim Ticket, which will allow access to MIT buildings and the event:
https://visitors.mit.edu/?event=51dea2c3-8ef9-4381-b02a-a635fdc90da8
Face coverings are now optional indoors at MIT for everyone.
Livestream: Link to be provided in the week leading up to the event.
Contact: gcfp@mit.edu
More information at https://calendar.mit.edu/event/mandating_climate_disclosures_impacts_on_sustainability_and_financial_markets
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Bazaar of Ideas: Moving Stuff Around
Monday, May 2
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 13, Lobby 13, 105 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge, MA
Terrascope students showcase their ideas for facilitatiing sustainable, pedal-powered hauling of trash, recycling and compost.
Design for Complex Environmental Issues 2.00C/1.016/EC.746 Final Projects
7:00-8:00 Students present their designs and answer questions from the general public
8:00-8:30 Students present their ideas to a panel of experts and answer the experts' questions. The public is welcome to watch, and if time is available may have the opportunity to ask questions as well
8:30-9:00 Students available to show designs and answer questions from the general public
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The Power of Protest: A Film Screening: The Boys Who Said No!
Wednesday, May 4
7pm-9:30pm
MIT, tbd
This is a hybrid event.
For Virtual Attendance: please register at https://mit.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TYlRUvWEQwutkdR5HTHiJQ
For In-Person Attendance: Non-MIT-Community,
please go here to register
http://covidapps.mit.edu/visitors#attend-mit-events
(Covid guidelines) or email weinmann@mit.edu
Refreshment will be served.
The Boys Who Said No! offers valuable lessons in what it takes to change the direction of national policy and for the voices of protest to be heard. Most importantly, the film demonstrates how moral courage is catching; how taking a stand encourages others to do the same; and how speaking out can reverberate through a whole country.
The Boys Who Said No! is a riveting panorama of draft resistance in the Vietnam War--complete with historical events including the shooting at Kent State and The Pentagon Papers. The film contains fascinating footage of the political figures of the day such as Martin Luther King (not to mention Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon), as well as hundreds of college students across America.
Professor Emeritus Ruth Perry will make introductory remarks and moderate the post-screening discussion. Mr. Robert Eaton, a protester featured in the film, will be our guest for questions and discussion.
This is a hybrid event: To virtually attend, please register here.
For non-MIT Community members, please go here to register
(Covid guidelines or email weinmann@mit.edu)
Refreshment will be served.
Questions: Email: weinmann@mit.edu
Radius @MIT (The Technology and Culture Forum)
40 Massachusetts Ave., W11, Cambridge, MA 02139
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Net Zero MA.: Legislation + Energy Sources for Achieving 2050 Climate Goals
Thursday, May 5
7:30 AM EDT
MCLE, 10 Winter Place, Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/net-zero-ma-legislation-energy-sources-for-achieving-2050-climate-goals-tickets-313660967397
Cost: $15
With urgency growing to reach net-zero in Mass, join the State House News Service for a timely, in-person discussion with key legislators and industry leaders.
Having committed Massachusetts to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Beacon Hill leadership is shifting its focus towards the policies and programs that might help the state honor that commitment: The House recently passed far-reaching legislation designed to attract more competition in the offshore wind sector and to boost its economic benefits, along with funding to upgrade the electric grid. The Senate has responded by unveiling a broad climate bill, one that includes solar energy initiatives and requires that all vehicles sold in the Commonwealth be electric by 2035. These efforts follow Gov. Baker's renewable energy proposal, filed last year, that targets the offshore wind price cap and would create a $750 million clean energy investment fund with federal relief money.
With urgency growing and so many factors at play, join us for a timely, in-person discussion with Gov. Baker, key legislators, and industry leaders on the issues driving clean energy and climate change policy. The State House News Forum, the events division of the State House News Service, brings together leaders on a wide range of impactful public policy issues.
Keynote speaker: Gov. Charlie Baker
Panel 1: The Legislative Road Ahead
Key members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, including House Chair Rep. Jeffrey Roy and Senate Chair Michael Barrett, will discuss proposed renewable energy and climate legislation under consideration with Katie Lannan of the State House News Service.
We’ll explore the component parts of the proposals and the considerations that may affect the outcome this legislative session.
Panel 2: Visions for Renewable and Other Clean Energy Sources
What’s the outlook, both near-term and 10 years ahead, for critical sources of renewable and clean energy?
Moderator: Jon Chesto, business reporter, the Boston Globe
Panelist: Judith Judson, VP of US Strategy, National Grid
Panelist: Daniel Hubbard, Director of External Affairs & General Counsel, Mayflower Wind
Panelist: Bill White, President and CEO, Avangrid Renewables
Panelist: Bill DiCroce, President and CEO, Vicinity Energy
For more information about the event, contact Dylan Rossiter at dylan.rossiter@statehousenews.com. Attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination.
Program:
7:30 a.m. — Doors open for networking and light refreshments
8:30 a.m. — Keynote address from Gov. Charlie Baker
8:45 a.m. — Panel 1: The Legislative Road Ahead
9:25 a.m. — Panel 2: Visions for Renewable and Other Clean Energy Sources
10:15 a.m. — Event end
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Summit: Inventing the Future of Money
Thursday, May 5
12 – 1 p.m.
RSVP at https://hopin.com/events/inventing-the-future-of-money/registration
SPEAKER(S) Scott Duke Kominers, HBS Professor
Vasant Prabhu, CFO of Visa
Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation
Join the HBS DI, HBAP, and D^3 for a one-hour virtual event to unpack where money is moving and where the opportunity lies — and for who. We’ll look at what this new world means economically and especially technologically. And as a case study, we’ll explore the opportunities and hurdles of a US-backed digital currency.
We are excited to bring in the perspectives of Vasant Prabhu, the CFO of Visa and Sheila Warren, the CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. HBS professor Scott Kominers will moderate a conversation on what the future of money looks like from Vasant and Sheila’s vantage points, focusing in on leveraging technology and the role of digital currency in that future.
CONTACT INFO digitalinitiative@hbs.edu
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Environment, Ethics and Embodiment: Buddhist Approaches to Climate Change
Thursday, May 5
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Welcome Center Lecture Hall (E38), E38 292 Main Street, Cambridge
The T.T. and W.F. Chao Distinguished Buddhist Lecture Series engages the rich history of Buddhist thought and ethical action to advance critical dialogues on ethics, humanity, and MIT’s mission “to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.”
Lecture By Willa Blythe Baker
(free and open to the public)
A book signing with Willa Blythe Baker will follow the lecture. A limited number of copies of The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness As a Path to Freedom will be available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
About the speaker
Lama Willa Blythe Baker is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston (MA) and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield (NH). She received her PhD in Religion from Harvard University in 2013, and was a Visiting Lecturer in Buddhist Ministry at Harvard Divinity School from 2013-2017. In the 1990s she completed two three-year retreats, after which she was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder (lama) in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
Her books include Essence of Ambrosia (2005), Everyday Dharma (2009), The Arts of Contemplative Care (2012) and The Wakeful Body(2021). Her articles have appeared in the Journal of International Buddhist Studies, Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Tricycle Magazine, and other publications. She serves on the Advisory Board for One Earth Sangha, and has worked as Contemplative Faculty for the Mind and Life Institute.
Information: http://chaobuddhism.mit.edu
Contact: languages-events@mit.edu
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Improving climate models with hybrid AI approaches
Friday, May 6
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard, Science and Engineering Complex, LL2.221, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdn2tTPySCKBYOgwNJXDDJ0t9ptyaSd1YBv16MwqBNQfa_15g/viewform
SPEAKER(S) Tapio Schneider, Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering California Institute of Technology
While climate change is certain, precisely how climate will change is less clear. But breakthroughs in the accuracy of climate projections and in the quantification of their uncertainties are now within reach, thanks to advances in the computational and data sciences and in the availability of Earth observations from space and from the ground. I will survey the design of a new Earth system model (ESM), developed by the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA). The talk will cover key new concepts, including how AI techniques can be combined with process-informed models and how they can be used to dramatically accelerate algorithms for learning from data and for quantifying uncertainties.
CONTACT INFO jstrom@seas.harvard.edu
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Fayette Park plant swap
Saturday May 7
12 to 2
At Fayette Park (off Fayette St, near corner of Broadway), Cambridge, MA, USA
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday May 8, 12-2.
As ever, bring anything you’d like to share. No need for elegant packaging, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, tools, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening. It should be great just to see each other again!
But, one caveat: we have to make sure this isn’t a superspreader of.. Asian jumping worms! They have spread so widely that it’s hard to be sure anyone’s yard is free of them. If you don’t know about them, here’s a good informative link:
https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/jumpingcrazysnake-worms-amynthas-spp
So.. given the need to be careful, here’s the deal:
Houseplants are fine. So are seedlings grown in potting soil. And of course seeds, tools, etc. Bring ‘em on!
But if you’re digging anything straight out of the soil, you have two choices:
= If possible, please wash off the plant roots—dunk them in water till you see no soil on the roots, therefore probably no worm eggs. Then bring them bare root in wet newsprint or a plastic bag, or repot them in clean potting soil.
= If you don’t have time to wash them off, we’ll put them in a separate area where people can help themselves, knowing that the soil could possibly have worm eggs. Not likely, but possible.
We will try to set up an area with a bucket for washing plants. And we’ll have a couple people around who know plenty about worms and can guide the process.
Can you tell that we’re figuring this out as we go? It’s not fun creating yet another protocol when we’re all so sick of them, but it’s best to be careful. “Spread the word, not the worm.”
Editorial Comment: The prophetic sf novel The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner includes a cascading series of environmental catastrophes, including invasive worms which destroy plants as well as protesters who block highways and chant, “Stop, you’re killing me!"
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Wake up the Earth Festival
Saturday, May 7
Parade at 11:00 AM, food and booths 12:00-6:00 PM
This year we will be extending our celebration along the park stretching from Stonybrook to Jackson Square. We will be having some activities and entertainment along the park and entertainment at Jackson Square. More details to come.
https://www.spontaneouscelebrations.org/calendar/wake-up-the-earth
The Wake up the Earth festival is a 44 year old event bringing together hundreds of people from around Boston to celebrate community and our planet. It’s a phenomenal day of food, parades, organizations, and festivities. It is returning for the first time in three years since the pandemic began, on Saturday, May 7 from 12:00-6:00 PM. BCAN will be having a table we’re sharing with the HERO nurturing Center and the Crane Ledge Woods Coalition. We need volunteers to help with several roles! This could include tabling (with talking points provided!), banner holding in the parade, help setting up, and more. Go to our spreadsheet for tasks to sign up for.
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Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing
Monday, May 9
12 – 1:30 p.m.
Harvard, Wexner Building, Room 102, Marc Heng and Family Conference Room, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/circular-economy-sustainable-development-role-land-fuels-and-manufacturing
SPEAKER(S) Henrique Pacini, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Francis X. Johnson, Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environmental Institute
Please join the Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) for a seminar on "Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing," featuring Francis X. Johnson, Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), and Henrique Pacini, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Dr. Johnson will discuss governing land and biomass use for a climate-compatible bioeconomy, and Dr. Pacini will discuss governing materials and pollution pathways.
CONTACT INFO Elizabeth Hanlon - ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu
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American governance: The way forward
Tuesday, May 10
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. EDT
Online: https://www.brookings.edu/events/american-governance-the-way-forward
RSVP at https://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-american-governance
American democracy is in crisis—and solutions are needed more than ever. Public trust in elected officials and democratic institutions has plummeted; state legislatures are restricting voting rights and access to the ballot box; and Americans across the political spectrum are pessimistic about the future of the nation and unsure of democracy’s persistence. The factors responsible for this include a failure to safeguard the democracy, rule of law, and ethics pillars that have upheld American governance for nearly two and a half centuries. The results of that failure were never more evident than over the past four years. A new Brookings Press book, "Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, Rule of Law, and Democracy," analyzes what went wrong and exactly how to fix it. Edited by Brookings Senior Fellow Norman Eisen, the volume brings together a group of distinguished scholars and practitioners to provide an independent assessment of the problem and its solutions.
On May 10, Governance Studies at Brookings will host Eisen and seven of his co-authors as part of a two-panel webinar to mark the book’s public launch and discuss the key issues and the reforms the authors propose to address them. The first panel will consider the situation in the states in advance of the 2022 midterm elections. The second panel will address the issues at the federal level. Both panels will consider how to close democracy, rule of law, and ethics gaps going forward.
Viewers can submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using #OvercomingTrumpery.
Panel 1: The view from the states: Crisis and response
Moderator: Norm Eisen, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings
Mel Barnes, Staff Counsel, Law Foward
Victoria Bassetti, Consultant, Brookings
Jeffrey Mandell, Founder, President, and Lead Counsel, Law Forward
Panel 2: Closing the gaps at the federal level
Moderator: Norm Eisen, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings
Virginia Canter, Chief Ethics Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Joseph Foti, Chief Research Officer, Open Government Partnership
Walter M. Shaub Jr., Senior Ethics Fellow, Project on Government Oversight (POGO); Former Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics
Anne Weismann, Former Chief Counsel and Chief FOIA Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
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Energy Companies and the Energy Transition: Transforming the Organization
Tuesday, May 10
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Online
RSVP at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/events-calendar/energy-companies-and-energy-transition-transforming-organization
The transition away from a fossil fuel-based energy system to one based on cleaner energy technologies raises profound questions for traditional oil and gas companies. In looking to the world’s future energy requirements, some of these companies are looking for ways to evolve into broader energy companies to reach net-zero targets by 2050. They will require new capabilities, leadership, and cultures as they shift their business models, capital allocation, and organizational capabilities.
To better understand the opportunities, experiences, and challenges facing oil and gas companies in adapting to the energy transition, the Center on Global Energy Policy will host a panel of experts with experience in the sector.
Moderator:
Amy Myers Jaffe, Co-Chair, Women in Energy Steering Committee, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA and Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, Fletcher School, Tufts University
Speakers: Andrea Galieti, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, bp
Sunaina Ocalan, Director, Corporate Strategy and Climate Change, Hess Corporation
Ariwoola Ogbemi, Senior Advisor, Equinor
This webinar will be hosted via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with access details. The event will be recorded and the video recording will be added to our website following the event.
This event is open to press, and registration is required to attend. For media inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact Natalie Volk (nv2388@columbia.edu).
For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu
Event Contact Information:
Center on Global Energy Policy
energypolicyevents@columbia.edu
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Manufacturing the Clerical Predator: How the Catholic Hierarchy Creates and Maintains a Culture of Abuse
Tuesday, May 10
4 – 6 p.m.
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a6_KXI-3QgOWt3PtFjuFsg
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
The Catholic Church has overseen the world's longest lasting and most widespread campaign of institutional sexual abuse. Why is it that after sixteen centuries of documented evidence and decades of continuous international public exposure, new revelations of the scope and magnitude of the abuse crisis continue to shock the public? In this webinar, organizer and film director Sarah Pearson will present her documentary film featuring former and current priests who reveal how clerical pedophilia is not a phenomenon that occurs as the result of an external perversion of the Catholic hierarchy, but rather, a distinct form of sexual violence that is produced, manufactured, and reproduced within the clerical system.
Panelists include:
Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, Bishop Accountability
Shaun Dougherty, President, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Denise Buchanan, Founding Board Member, Ending Clergy Abuse
Peter Isely, Program Director, Nate’s Mission
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Carbon Neutral Geothermal Building In the Hudson Valley
Friday, May 13
1pm–5pm
New Paltz, NY
RSVP at https://nesea.org/be-event/net-zero-mixed-use-building-hudson-valley
Cost: $25
NESEA returns to the Hudson Valley for a Pro Tour of Zero Place, an award-winning building that is poised to bring the town of New Paltz 6 commercial and 46 residential units. Thanks to generous sponsor support, all attendees are being given the member price of $25, which will include the tour, CEUs, and lunch.
Under the building, the 15 geothermal wells act as a heat sink or "thermal battery" for the ground-water loop running through the building, with separate heat pump units for all residential, common area, and retail units. 100% of the domestic hot water for the building is provided by the integrated geothermal system, specifically designed for ultra-efficient performance.
This project was recognized as a Round One Winner in NYSERDA’s Buildings of Excellence competition. This competition was launched in March 2019 and has awarded over $31 million to over three dozen exemplary new construction projects.
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Securing the Future of Agriculture
Tuesday, May 17
9:00am to 5:00pm
MIT Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Sustainable food production is challenged on many fronts. There will be more mouths to feed using fewer resources on less land. The environment is warming, rainfall patterns are changing, and atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing. Industrial farms based on the oil economy will need to give way to new energy systems in less than a generation. Geopolitical instability threatens global food security, and the rate of crop improvement remains stubbornly slow.
There is plenty of room for innovation. Seeds are the key to revolutionizing agricultural productivity, and the 21st Century brought powerful new genomic tools to accelerate genetic gain.
This symposium — cosponsored by the MIT Whitehead Institute and Inari — covers how some of these tools, developed here in Cambridge, are being used to advance crop improvement.
Morning Session
Where We Find Opportunities for Crop Improvement
Afternoon Session
Bring on the Compute: How Data and Deep Learning Will Deliver Tomorrow's Crops
Have a question about the event? Email: SecuringAgFuture@inari.com
INDIVIDUALS WHO DO NOT HAVE AN MIT ID ARE REQUIRED TO ORDER A TIM TICKET VISITOR PASS TO ACCESS THIS EVENT. Visit the following page to order your pass: https://visitors.mit.edu/?event=f4a2a203-a30b-4c6f-b170-ea0196c3acd2
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NECEC Emerging Trends Series: Deploying Climate Solutions
Wedneday, May 18
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/necec-emerging-trends-series-deploying-climate-solutions-tickets-323371190937
Cost: $0 – $25
Connecting City Leaders & Entrepreneurs
Cities are ground zero in the fight against climate change. They consume more than 78 percent of the world’s energy and produce more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
These statistics present a tremendous challenge but also an enormous opportunity to deploy the solutions necessary to achieve our climate goals. Boston (home to NECEC and Greentown Labs) and New York (a city NECEC works closely with) are two of the cities ranked most “at risk” for climate change by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. To mitigate this risk, these cities are making real commitments and taking significant action toward creating a just and equitable clean energy future while also building a diverse climate economy for their residents. Additionally, the Northeast proudly fosters a robust community of climatetech disruptors who are creating solutions that cities and towns can deploy to reduce their carbon footprint, save their residents money, and improve their quality of life.
And while these solutions are being created in Boston, New York, and across the Northeast, city leaders and technology innovators often don’t know each other or know how to engage one another. Cities frequently lack the resources and expertise to identify, vet, and purchase the latest technologies; while entrepreneurs have difficulty finding places to pilot and deploy their solutions.
In this Emerging Trend Series, NECEC and Greentown Labs are coming together to unite city leaders and entrepreneurs on the same stage to learn from each other and explore how they can work together to accelerate our transition to a just and equitable clean energy future and diverse climate economy. We’ll discuss the challenges cities face in reaching their climate goals, how entrepreneurs can best connect with cities given public procurement laws, and examples of solutions that are ready to deploy in cities.
Agenda
10:00 - Welcoming Remarks. Joe Curtatone, President, President of NECEC and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, City of Somerville
10:08 - Opening Remarks. H.G. Chissell, Founder & CEO of Advanced Energy Group
10:15 - Mayoral Panel Discussion: Advancing local climate goals: how technology can help?
11:00 - Conversation between City leaders and Entrepreneurs.Moderator: former NECEC President Peter Rothstein
11:20 - Panel Reflection. Ryan Dings, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Greentown Labs
11:30 - Lightning pitches. Moderator: Moneer Azzam, Principal, Beacon Climate Innovations
11:50 - Networking and Technology Showcase.
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A Changing Planet Seminar: Seasonal rainfall over Eastern Africa and the Tropics: Trends, Climate Models and Projections
Wednesday, May 18
11:00 - 12:30 GMT-04:0
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-africa-tropics-seasonal-rainfall-trendsclimate-models-projection-tickets-324129830047
Abstract
Much of the tropics experience a strong seasonal cycle of rainfall, with marked wet and dry seasons. These seasons are of key societal importance to populations across the global tropics, impacting sectors including agriculture, health and energy. Recent declines in seasonal rainfall across Eastern Africa are linked with decreasing food security and other challenges. Yet, future projections suggest an increase in rainfall over Eastern Africa. This discrepancy between recent trends and future projections is known as the East Africa Climate Change Paradox. Furthermore, climate models used to produce projections under future climate do not capture the correct seasonal cycle over Eastern Africa, leading to questions on the reliability of projections. This adds to the challenges around communication of future projections over the region. In other regions, changes during the dry seasons may present challenges for perennial crops, including cocoa.
About the speaker
Caroline is based at the Grantham Institute, and her research is on topics around exploring climate change-related risk for populations whose livelihoods are strongly dependent on seasonal rainfall, predominantly focused on Africa. She completed her PhD at the University of Reading, during which she developed a methodology for quantifying the seasonal cycle and analysed future projections of changing precipitation seasonality over Africa. Since then, she has worked on a range of projects, including research on rainfall seasonality (including recent trends and model representation) over East Africa, sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting over East and West Africa, and changing climatic suitability for cocoa growth across Africa and South America (in collaboration with Mars-Wrigley confectionery). Previously, she completed her BSc in Mathematics with Geography at the University of Exeter and an MSc in Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate at Reading.
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Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture
Thursday, May 19
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-conversations-adaptation-in-agriculture-tickets-317620329957
Join us for a conversation about how U.S. farmers are responding to changing climate conditions and how policies can support these efforts.
Extreme rainfall, rising temperatures, and changing production conditions are just some of the hazards climate change creates for agriculture. Join us for a conversation about how farmers are responding to these challenges in the United States and how policies can support or hinder innovative practices. Speakers will be announced soon.
The conversation will be webcast on the Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture webpage on Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 3-4pm ET. Closed captioning will be provided. The conversation will include questions from the audience and will be recorded and available to view on the page after the event.
Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to national policy action on climate change.
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The End of the Petrostate - How Electrification will Reshape the World
Thurssday, May 19
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-end-of-the-petrostate-how-electrification-will-reshape-the-world-tickets-319681986427
Join the Electrify Coalition as we explore the potential of Renewable Energy and Electrification to end the Petrostate.
Russia's war in Ukraine has again brought the world face to face with the lose-lose dynamics of our dependence on fossil fuels for energy. The uneven distribution of fossil fuels resources and the ensuing wealth and power that accrues to a handful of individuals, corporations and states too often results in bad outcomes.
With autocrats invading sovereign nations with arms paid for by oil and gas revenues, and gigantic multinational oil and gas corporations using their immense profits to maintain the earth scorching status quo, its hard to avoid the conclusion that fossil fuels have corrupted our world. Add to that the aptly named "resource curse" where countries with fossil fuel resources usually end up poorer than their neighbors without them, and it's time to switch to a clean energy dynamic for the 21st century.
Renewable energy and electrification offers a distributed, democratic, self sufficient alternative to the petrostate. The wind and sun reach every corner of the earth. For the first time, formerly energy challenged countries can be energy producers by constructing cost effective solar farms and wind turbines. Even individuals can be nearly energy independent by installing solar panels on their roofs and powering their homes with efficient electric appliances.
Join the Electrify Coalition as we explore the potential of renewable energy and electrification to end the petrostate and change the global balance of energy power. We'll discuss the rapid pace of change in energy generation globally and the latest estimates on how quickly we might achieve an end to our reliance on fossil fuels and the corrupting power that comes with this limited resource.
Donations:
Please consider making a donation for this webinar to the Electrify Everyone Fund. All proceeds from your donations go towards installing free heat pump water heaters in low income homes through the nonprofit Community Energy Project. Your donation will help reduce carbon emissions and lower utility bills for these families. Thank you!
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Bringing Together Varied Communities, As in the Covid Pandemic and Climate Change
Friday, May 20
2:30 – 5 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/873b731b-36c5-4695-8cf5-423fceaa7ba1/summary
SPEAKER(S) Janet Ancel, Member, Vermont General Assembly, Chair, House Committee on Ways and Means
Edgar H. Schein, Emeritus Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Elena Cherepanov, Professor, Cambridge College; Clinical Lead for Refugees, Lynn Community Health Center
From the Community Mental Health perspective, the health—including mental health—of communities is based on community self-determination and self-care. This is composed of community understanding and activation. How can this be facilitated through health professionals’ preventive and reparative intervention? We present some concepts and experiences of various degrees of complexity and success. These days we do not lack life stresses on which to test these ideas; we have chosen the COVID pandemic and environmental threats as examples. We offer this exchange to enhance clarity and effectiveness for those engaged in community health promotion.
CONTACT INFO Information via Emily Pierce: ce@williamjames.edu : (781) 312-248
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MA Attorney General Climate Debate
Wednesday, May 25
6-7pm
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QcIQzQ-8SP2tZjXUehx0yg
350MA is proud to host the Massachusetts Attorney General Climate Debate, with candidates Andrea Campbell, Quentin Palfrey, and Shannon Liss-Riordan, moderated by Boston Globe climate reporter Sabrina Shankman.
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Index
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Conferences
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Tuesday, May 3
Graduate workshop: Data-driven environmental economics research from the EPA
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
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Lecture Series
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Tuesday, May
CAN WE RESIST THE HIJACKING OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA & BEYOND?
Cambridge Forum (https://www.cambridgeforum.org/?cat=3)
Friday, May 13
Building Climate Resilience in Transportation Systems
MIT Mobility Forum, (http://mmi.mit.edu/events)
Wednesday, May 11
Networking on the Trails: Mass Audubon’s Climate Initiatives
Climate Adaptation Forum (https://climateadaptationforum.org/events/)
Friday, June 10
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid; and Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas
NE Restructuring Roundtable (http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp)
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Events
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Monday, May 2
Mandating Climate Disclosures: Impacts on Sustainability and Financial Markets
Bazaar of Ideas: Moving Stuff Around
Wednesday, May 4
The Power of Protest: A Film Screening: The Boys Who Said No!
Thursday, May 5
Net Zero MA.: Legislation + Energy Sources for Achieving 2050 Climate Goals
Summit: Inventing the Future of Money
Environment, Ethics and Embodiment: Buddhist Approaches to Climate Change
Friday, May 6
Improving climate models with hybrid AI approaches
Saturday May 7
Fayette Park plant swap
Wake up the Earth Festival
Monday, May 9
Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing
Tuesday, May 10
American governance: The way forward
Energy Companies and the Energy Transition: Transforming the Organization
Manufacturing the Clerical Predator: How the Catholic Hierarchy Creates and Maintains a Culture of Abuse
Friday, May 13
Carbon Neutral Geothermal Building In the Hudson Valley
Tuesday, May 17
Securing the Future of Agriculture
Wedneday, May 18
NECEC Emerging Trends Series: Deploying Climate Solutions
A Changing Planet Seminar: Seasonal rainfall over Eastern Africa and the Tropics: Trends, Climate Models and Projections
Thursday, May 19
Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture
The End of the Petrostate - How Electrification will Reshape the World
Friday, May 20
Bringing Together Varied Communities, As in the Covid Pandemic and Climate Change
Wednesday, May 25
MA Attorney General Climate Debate
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These kinds of events are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
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Conferences
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Graduate workshop: Data-driven environmental economics research from the EPA
Tuesday, May 3
1:00 PM EDT - 4:30 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://brookings.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sY_DzFvERoOMHhI2k0blqQ
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) creates and maintains a wealth of data that can inform high-quality research on the most pressing policy issues in environmental economics. However identifying, accessing, and understanding these data can be a formidable task. On May 3, the Brookings Center on Regulations and Markets is hosting a workshop to help young scholars overcome these issues.
The workshop is specifically aimed at graduate students who are interested in environmental economics and policy; who want to learn more about issues of current regulatory importance; and who want to understand the data that has been and can be used to explore these issues. The program will feature agency personnel who will give an overview of various data sets and researchers who have used EPA data in their graduate work. In addition, scholars from Brookings and academic institutions across the country will discuss their experience with EPA data. Attendees will gain a better appreciation of the types of data EPA creates and maintains, how to access and use that data, and how to match research questions to the data.
Registration is open to current graduate students (pre-docs and post-docs are also welcome to attend) and will be held over Zoom.
PROGRAM AGENDA
1:00 pm Welcome and introductory remarks
Katja Seim, Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management
Richard Allen, U.S. EPA Chief Data Officer
1:20 pm Overview of EPA datasets relevant to economics
This session features two talks give a broad overview of potentially relevant EPA data: a summary of lessons learned from over a dozen researchers who have used EPA data and suggestions for generating research ideas.
Lessons Learned from Using EPA Data
Jay Shimshack, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Batten School, University of Virginia
Where to get Research Ideas
Alex Marten, U.S. EPA Statistical Officer and Associate Director, National Center for Environmental Economics
1:50 pm Break
2:00 pm Short talks by EPA data owners and users
This session is comprised of four talks by EPA staff who can describe some of the most relevant EPA data sets and how to access them.
EmPOWER and Related Data
Justine Huetteman, U.S. EPA, Clean Air Markets Division
Toxics Release Inventory and Chemical Data Reporting
Speaker to be announced
ECHO Data Downloads
Courtney Tuxbury, U.S. EPA, Office of Compliance
EJSCREEN/RSEI for Environmental Justice Analysis
Peiley Lau, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
2:30 pm Longer talks #1 and #2
The session features two longer talks by young scholars who have used EPA data in their research.
Air Quality System Monitoring and Strategic Behavior
Eric Zou, University of Oregon and NBER
Toxics Releases and Children
Irene Jacqz, Iowa State University and Harvard University
3:15 pm Break
3:30 pm Longer talk #3
In this talk, Professor Evans will describe 2 research projects that use data obtained from public records requests to EPA and a state environmental agency. She will use the projects to share insights on navigating the public records request process.
Using Public Records Requests to Complement Available EPA Data
Mary Evans, University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs
4:00 pm Short talks by data users
This session features talks by younger scholars who have used various EPA data sets in their research. These data include the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, the Water Quality Portal, the Safe Drinking Water Information System, and air quality monitoring data.
Lavender Yang, Carnegie Mellon University
Tina Andarge, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Jiameng Zheng, UIUC
4:30 pm End
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Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
9:00am to 5:30pm
MIT, Building 6, Room 120, 182 MEMORIAL DR (REAR), Cambridge, MA 02139
Registration Information TBA
AGENDA- THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022
8:00 Registration
9:00 Welcome
Daniel Rothman — Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center, MIT-EAPS
Predrag CvitanoviΔ — Professor and Glen P. Robinson Chair in Nonlinear Sciences, Georgia Tech
9:10 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overcoming the Random Closed Packed Barrier: Crystallization in Granular Media
Harry Swinney — Professor Emeritus, UT Austin
How to Compute the Universe
Stephen Wolfram — Founder and CEO, Wolfram Research
Folds, Cuts and Isometries: Art and Science
L. Mahadevan — Professor of Physics, de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 - MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Turbulence, From Newton’s Quadratic Law of Drag to Mitch Feigenbaum and Recent Times
Yves Pomeau — Emeritus Research Director, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Fluids Experiment
Bjorn Hof — Professor of Physics, IST Austria
Life and Death of Turbulence
Nigel Goldenfeld — Swanlund Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION
Geometry, Topology, and Electrophysiology: How Excitable Tissues Sense their Shapes
Adam Cohen — Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physics, Harvard
Cognitive Neuroscience
Josh Tennenbaum — Professor of Computational Cognitive Science, MIT-BCS
Optics, Vision, and Evolution, after Mitchell Feigenbaum, 1944-2019
Jean-Pierre Eckmann — Professeur Honoraire, University of Geneva
Collective Dynamics with Complex Connectivity
Boris Schraiman— Professor of Physics, UC Santa Barbara
4:00 Coffee Break
4:30 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Mirrors and Mirages
Sir Michael Berry — Melville Wills Professor of Physics (Emeritus), University of Bristol
5:30 Reception | Hockfield Court, outside Stata Center east entrance
AGENDA- FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2022
8:30 Registration
9:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1
Overview; Feigenbaum’s Role in Chaos
Albert Libchaber — Detlev W. Bronk Professor of Physics, Rockefeller University
Broken Symmetries in Living Systems
Nikta Fakhri — Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor, MIT-Physics
Hydrodynamics and Microbes
Alex Petroff — Professor of Physics, Clark University
10:40 Coffee Break
11:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2
Singularity in a Teacup — When Nature Gives Infinity
Dwight Barkey — Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
TBA
Michael Brenner — Michael F. Cronin Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics, Harvard
TBA
John Bush — Professor of Applied Mathematics and Fluid Dynamics, MIT-Math
12:30 Lunch | Ida Green Lounge, Green Building, Room 54-923
2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 1
Encoding Patterns in Single-Cell Locomotion: Oscillations, Synchronization, and Excitability
Kirsty Wan — ERC Starting Grantee, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
The Mysteries of Gaps and Pile-Ups at Planetary Resonances
Renu Malhotra — Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
TBA
Sara Seager — Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT-EAPS, Physics and AeroAstro
3:30 Coffee Break
4:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 2
TBA
5:30 Adjourn
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Lecture Series
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Cambridge Forum (https://www.cambridgeforum.org/?cat=3)
CAN WE RESIST THE HIJACKING OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA & BEYOND?
Tuesday, May 3
5:00 PM
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/4016503966173/WN_4MLtogH2RBynJHpgfS0sHg
It feels like a new Cold War is upon us – Russia poses an alarming extrinsic threat to the American concept of freedom, and to Western ideas of democratic values. Russia’s terrible assault on Ukraine and the recent elections of pro-Putin regimes in Hungary and Serbia, coincide with a growing threat to American democracy from within its own borders.
JOHN SHATTUCK, an international legal scholar and human rights leader, is currently Professor of Practice in Diplomacy at Tufts after a long and distinguished career in academia and government. In the early post-Cold War years, he was responsible for coordinating and implementing U.S. efforts to promote human rights, democracy and international labor rights. The first U.S. official to reach and interview survivors of the genocide at Srebrenica, he helped negotiate the Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and was instrumental in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He also served President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 1998-2000.
His new book ‘Holding Together: the hijacking of rights in America’ is co-authored with SUSHMA RAMAN, Executive Director and Mathias Risse, faculty director at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Shattuck and Raman will join the Forum to discuss the current world crisis with regard to human rights, a fight which challenges Americans domestically, as well as internationally. Raman is the host of Justice Matters podcast and a contributor to Foreign Policy magazine; she brings two decades of experience in launching and leading social justice and human rights’ initiatives to her position as director at the Carr Center.
Are you alarmed at the steady deterioration of common purpose among your fellow Americans or are you more concerned about the international disregard for human rights and democratic values, we have witnessed in Ukraine and beyond? Join our spirited discussion!
Our next Forum on Tuesday, May 17 "HARNESSING THE POWER OF SEAWEED: the miracle crop" will investigate the amazing properties of a common and ubiquitous aquatic plant – seaweed! If you want to learn more about the advantages of growing, eating and utilizing this rich natural resource you won’t want to miss our program. Zoom registration details follow shortly.
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MIT Mobility Forum (http://mmi.mit.edu/events), "a weekly seminar series showcasing the groundbreaking transportation research occuring across the Institute"
Building Climate Resilience in Transportation Systems
Friday, May 13
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
RSVP at https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uduurqTooEtw5jV5YDTyeuAs2ObxoaqxV
Andrew Whittle, Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering
v Building the Future of Transportation
Friday, May 20, 2022 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
RSVP at https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uduurqTooEtw5jV5YDTyeuAs2ObxoaqxV
Gill Pratt, Chief Scientist and Executive Fellow for Research of Toyota Motor Corporation
WEBSITE
http://mmi.mit.edu/events
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Climate Adaptation Forum (https://climateadaptationforum.org/events/)
Networking on the Trails: Mass Audubon’s Climate Initiatives
Wednesday, May 11
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, 280 Eliot Street, Natick, MA
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/27ed5527-1095-4485-9a6e-46194419cae7/regProcessStep1
Join the Climate Adaptation Forum community for a learning and networking opportunity at Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA! Mass Audubon will present on their important climate initiatives and be available for Q&A. The property will then be yours to explore! Get to know and connect with like-minded people over a drink or two and stir up some climate action!
Registration is free. Advance registration is required for entry.
Climate Adaptation Forum
Phone: 617-505-1818
Email: ebc@ebcne.org
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Sweltering Heat Waves and Increasing Drought: Can the Northeast handle the heat?
Friday, June 3
8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET
UMass Club, 32nd Floor, 1 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://climateadaptationforum.org/event/sweltering-heat-waves-and-increasing-drought-can-the-northeast-handle-the-heat/
Hybrid format: register to attend in-person or as a virtual attendee
Cost: $15 - $45
The Climate Adaptation Forum is a collaboration between the Environmental Business Council and the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
In the Northeast, extreme heat and drought may seem inconsequential when it comes to our list of weather woes. However, increasingly hot summers and lower levels of groundwater are showing us that those issues are not limited to the Western US – infamous for forest fires and drought. The Forum will bring in a diverse panel of speakers who will explore what we can learn from practitioners across the country who are already feeling the heat, as well as what our region is doing to mitigate these critical threats to our public and environmental health.
Join the Climate Adaptation Forum for this first in-person event since 2020! Another first – this forum will also be organized in a hybrid format. Attendees will have the option of being in-person, networking at the UMass Club in Boston, MA, or tuning in virtually from their locations around New England, the country, or even internationally! More information on these two attendance options can be found below.
Forum Speakers
Keynote Speaker:
Brenda Burman, Executive Strategy Advisor, Central Arizona Project
Presenters:
Zoe Davis, Climate Resilience Project Coordinator, City of Boston, MA
David Hondula, Director, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, City of Phoenix, AZ
Dr. Margaret Redsteer (presenting virtually), Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University of Washington Bothell
Viktoria Zoltay, Hydrologist, Office of Water Resources, Department of Conservation and Recreation Commonwealth of Massachusettsm, Forum Co-Chairs
Aaron Weieneth, Manager of Climate Change and Resilience, AECOM
Melanie GΓ‘rate, Climate Resilience Manager, Mystic River Watershed Association
Editorial Comment: Planning for Extreme Heat https://solarray.blogspot.com/2022/04/planning-for-extreme-heat-ny-phoenix.html
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NE Restructuring Roundtable (http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp)
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid; and Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas
Friday, June 10
9:00 am-12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard 17th Floor, Boston, MA
in-person and livestream
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weaning-buildings-off-fossil-gas-market-pathways-to-a-decarbonized-grid-tickets-314024093517
Cost: $0 - $100
Convener/Moderator: Dr. Jonathan Raab, Raab Associates, Ltd.
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized New England Grid
Katie Dykes, Commissioner, Connecticut DEEP
Gordon van Welie, President & CEO, ISO New England
Todd Shatzki, Principal, Analysis Group
Peter Fuller, Principal, Autumn Lane Consulting
As a result of the New England states participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), carbon-emitting generation in New England pays a price for carbon it emits. But that price is too small - in and of itself - to shepherd in the amount of new carbon-free electricity resources that New England needs to decarbonize its electricity grid. Hence, many New England states have been issuing their own solicitations to procure clean energy resources (e.g, from off-shore wind and hydro from Quebec). Meanwhile, ISO New England, the New England states, and diverse regional stakeholders have been exploring various ways to redesign our wholesale markets to better align with our decarbonization aspirations. These ideas include the incorporation of a more impactful carbon price in wholesale energy markets and the introduction of a new forward clean energy market (FCEM).
At this Roundtable, we will examine the strengths and weaknesses of these various options, as well as stakeholder preferences regarding these choices. We begin with the findings of a recent ISO-New England sponsored comparative study conducted by Analysis Group. The study, which includes significant input from the New England States and NEPOOL stakeholders, compares the status quo with various approaches, including carbon pricing, FCEM, and a hybrid design combining carbon pricing and FCEM. We will then hear our panelists’ reactions to the study, and a spirited discussion about what New England should do.
Weaning New England’s Buildings Off Fossil Gas
Judith Judson, VP & Head of US Strategy. National Grid
William Akley, President & COO of Gas, Eversource Energy
Rebecca Tepper, Chief Energy & Environment, MA AGO's Office
Amy Boyd, Director of Policy, Acadia Center
Decarbonizing buildings will likely be New England’s greatest carbon emissions reduction challenge in the coming decades - particularly in our existing building stock heated by natural (aka fossil) gas. Options for decarbonizing these buildings include deep weatherization, electrification, decarbonizing the gas itself by using renewable natural gas and hydrogen, and/or geothermal energy. Various important developments are currently underway in the region. These include consideration of a Clean Heat Standard in Vermont, suspension of subsidies for new natural gas hook-ups in Connecticut, and the establishment of a Clean Heat Commission in Massachusetts.
In this Roundtable, we focus on what may prove to be the most promising development for building decarbonization in the region--Massachusetts DPU’s 20-80 Docket [Role of Gas Local Distribution Companies as the Commonwealth Achieves its Target 2050 Climate Goals]. Specifically, we examine the Massachusetts’ gas distribution companies recently-filed strategic gas decarbonization plans and proposed common regulatory reform framework. These filings are, in large part, based on the recently-released Technical Analysis of Decarbonization Pathways conducted by E3 on behalf of the gas distribution companies. Leaders from National Grid and Eversource will present their strategic decarbonization plans, as well as the key findings from the E3 study and their joint regulatory reform framework. This will be followed by critiques of these proposals and the underlying study from leading voices on behalf of consumer and environmental advocates.
Remaining 2022 NE Roundtable Dates
September 30 • December 9
(Topics, Speakers, & Registration TBD)
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Events
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Mandating Climate Disclosures: Impacts on Sustainability and Financial Markets
Monday, May 2
4:45pm to 7:00pm
MIT Building 2, Room 190, 2-190 182 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Monday, May 2, 2022 — 4:45-6:15 PM — Reception to Follow
Host: Deborah Lucas, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Finance and Director, MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy
Panelists: Robert Eccles, Visiting Professor of Management Practice, SaΓ―d Business School, University of Oxford
Carol Geremia, President, MFS Investment Management
Michelle Hanlon, Howard W. Johnson Professor of Accounting, MIT Sloan School of Management
Robert Pozen, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management
John Sterman, Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Moderator: Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director, MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative
THIS HYBRID EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL
In person:
MIT Covid Pass users: No registration required.
Non-MIT Covid Pass users: Please register in advance for a Tim Ticket, which will allow access to MIT buildings and the event:
https://visitors.mit.edu/?event=51dea2c3-8ef9-4381-b02a-a635fdc90da8
Face coverings are now optional indoors at MIT for everyone.
Livestream: Link to be provided in the week leading up to the event.
Contact: gcfp@mit.edu
More information at https://calendar.mit.edu/event/mandating_climate_disclosures_impacts_on_sustainability_and_financial_markets
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Bazaar of Ideas: Moving Stuff Around
Monday, May 2
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 13, Lobby 13, 105 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge, MA
Terrascope students showcase their ideas for facilitatiing sustainable, pedal-powered hauling of trash, recycling and compost.
Design for Complex Environmental Issues 2.00C/1.016/EC.746 Final Projects
7:00-8:00 Students present their designs and answer questions from the general public
8:00-8:30 Students present their ideas to a panel of experts and answer the experts' questions. The public is welcome to watch, and if time is available may have the opportunity to ask questions as well
8:30-9:00 Students available to show designs and answer questions from the general public
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The Power of Protest: A Film Screening: The Boys Who Said No!
Wednesday, May 4
7pm-9:30pm
MIT, tbd
This is a hybrid event.
For Virtual Attendance: please register at https://mit.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TYlRUvWEQwutkdR5HTHiJQ
For In-Person Attendance: Non-MIT-Community,
please go here to register
http://covidapps.mit.edu/visitors#attend-mit-events
(Covid guidelines) or email weinmann@mit.edu
Refreshment will be served.
The Boys Who Said No! offers valuable lessons in what it takes to change the direction of national policy and for the voices of protest to be heard. Most importantly, the film demonstrates how moral courage is catching; how taking a stand encourages others to do the same; and how speaking out can reverberate through a whole country.
The Boys Who Said No! is a riveting panorama of draft resistance in the Vietnam War--complete with historical events including the shooting at Kent State and The Pentagon Papers. The film contains fascinating footage of the political figures of the day such as Martin Luther King (not to mention Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon), as well as hundreds of college students across America.
Professor Emeritus Ruth Perry will make introductory remarks and moderate the post-screening discussion. Mr. Robert Eaton, a protester featured in the film, will be our guest for questions and discussion.
This is a hybrid event: To virtually attend, please register here.
For non-MIT Community members, please go here to register
(Covid guidelines or email weinmann@mit.edu)
Refreshment will be served.
Questions: Email: weinmann@mit.edu
Radius @MIT (The Technology and Culture Forum)
40 Massachusetts Ave., W11, Cambridge, MA 02139
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Net Zero MA.: Legislation + Energy Sources for Achieving 2050 Climate Goals
Thursday, May 5
7:30 AM EDT
MCLE, 10 Winter Place, Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/net-zero-ma-legislation-energy-sources-for-achieving-2050-climate-goals-tickets-313660967397
Cost: $15
With urgency growing to reach net-zero in Mass, join the State House News Service for a timely, in-person discussion with key legislators and industry leaders.
Having committed Massachusetts to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Beacon Hill leadership is shifting its focus towards the policies and programs that might help the state honor that commitment: The House recently passed far-reaching legislation designed to attract more competition in the offshore wind sector and to boost its economic benefits, along with funding to upgrade the electric grid. The Senate has responded by unveiling a broad climate bill, one that includes solar energy initiatives and requires that all vehicles sold in the Commonwealth be electric by 2035. These efforts follow Gov. Baker's renewable energy proposal, filed last year, that targets the offshore wind price cap and would create a $750 million clean energy investment fund with federal relief money.
With urgency growing and so many factors at play, join us for a timely, in-person discussion with Gov. Baker, key legislators, and industry leaders on the issues driving clean energy and climate change policy. The State House News Forum, the events division of the State House News Service, brings together leaders on a wide range of impactful public policy issues.
Keynote speaker: Gov. Charlie Baker
Panel 1: The Legislative Road Ahead
Key members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, including House Chair Rep. Jeffrey Roy and Senate Chair Michael Barrett, will discuss proposed renewable energy and climate legislation under consideration with Katie Lannan of the State House News Service.
We’ll explore the component parts of the proposals and the considerations that may affect the outcome this legislative session.
Panel 2: Visions for Renewable and Other Clean Energy Sources
What’s the outlook, both near-term and 10 years ahead, for critical sources of renewable and clean energy?
Moderator: Jon Chesto, business reporter, the Boston Globe
Panelist: Judith Judson, VP of US Strategy, National Grid
Panelist: Daniel Hubbard, Director of External Affairs & General Counsel, Mayflower Wind
Panelist: Bill White, President and CEO, Avangrid Renewables
Panelist: Bill DiCroce, President and CEO, Vicinity Energy
For more information about the event, contact Dylan Rossiter at dylan.rossiter@statehousenews.com. Attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination.
Program:
7:30 a.m. — Doors open for networking and light refreshments
8:30 a.m. — Keynote address from Gov. Charlie Baker
8:45 a.m. — Panel 1: The Legislative Road Ahead
9:25 a.m. — Panel 2: Visions for Renewable and Other Clean Energy Sources
10:15 a.m. — Event end
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Summit: Inventing the Future of Money
Thursday, May 5
12 – 1 p.m.
RSVP at https://hopin.com/events/inventing-the-future-of-money/registration
SPEAKER(S) Scott Duke Kominers, HBS Professor
Vasant Prabhu, CFO of Visa
Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation
Join the HBS DI, HBAP, and D^3 for a one-hour virtual event to unpack where money is moving and where the opportunity lies — and for who. We’ll look at what this new world means economically and especially technologically. And as a case study, we’ll explore the opportunities and hurdles of a US-backed digital currency.
We are excited to bring in the perspectives of Vasant Prabhu, the CFO of Visa and Sheila Warren, the CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. HBS professor Scott Kominers will moderate a conversation on what the future of money looks like from Vasant and Sheila’s vantage points, focusing in on leveraging technology and the role of digital currency in that future.
CONTACT INFO digitalinitiative@hbs.edu
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Environment, Ethics and Embodiment: Buddhist Approaches to Climate Change
Thursday, May 5
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Welcome Center Lecture Hall (E38), E38 292 Main Street, Cambridge
The T.T. and W.F. Chao Distinguished Buddhist Lecture Series engages the rich history of Buddhist thought and ethical action to advance critical dialogues on ethics, humanity, and MIT’s mission “to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.”
Lecture By Willa Blythe Baker
(free and open to the public)
A book signing with Willa Blythe Baker will follow the lecture. A limited number of copies of The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness As a Path to Freedom will be available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
About the speaker
Lama Willa Blythe Baker is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston (MA) and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield (NH). She received her PhD in Religion from Harvard University in 2013, and was a Visiting Lecturer in Buddhist Ministry at Harvard Divinity School from 2013-2017. In the 1990s she completed two three-year retreats, after which she was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder (lama) in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
Her books include Essence of Ambrosia (2005), Everyday Dharma (2009), The Arts of Contemplative Care (2012) and The Wakeful Body(2021). Her articles have appeared in the Journal of International Buddhist Studies, Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Tricycle Magazine, and other publications. She serves on the Advisory Board for One Earth Sangha, and has worked as Contemplative Faculty for the Mind and Life Institute.
Information: http://chaobuddhism.mit.edu
Contact: languages-events@mit.edu
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Improving climate models with hybrid AI approaches
Friday, May 6
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard, Science and Engineering Complex, LL2.221, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdn2tTPySCKBYOgwNJXDDJ0t9ptyaSd1YBv16MwqBNQfa_15g/viewform
SPEAKER(S) Tapio Schneider, Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering California Institute of Technology
While climate change is certain, precisely how climate will change is less clear. But breakthroughs in the accuracy of climate projections and in the quantification of their uncertainties are now within reach, thanks to advances in the computational and data sciences and in the availability of Earth observations from space and from the ground. I will survey the design of a new Earth system model (ESM), developed by the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA). The talk will cover key new concepts, including how AI techniques can be combined with process-informed models and how they can be used to dramatically accelerate algorithms for learning from data and for quantifying uncertainties.
CONTACT INFO jstrom@seas.harvard.edu
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Fayette Park plant swap
Saturday May 7
12 to 2
At Fayette Park (off Fayette St, near corner of Broadway), Cambridge, MA, USA
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday May 8, 12-2.
As ever, bring anything you’d like to share. No need for elegant packaging, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, tools, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening. It should be great just to see each other again!
But, one caveat: we have to make sure this isn’t a superspreader of.. Asian jumping worms! They have spread so widely that it’s hard to be sure anyone’s yard is free of them. If you don’t know about them, here’s a good informative link:
https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/jumpingcrazysnake-worms-amynthas-spp
So.. given the need to be careful, here’s the deal:
Houseplants are fine. So are seedlings grown in potting soil. And of course seeds, tools, etc. Bring ‘em on!
But if you’re digging anything straight out of the soil, you have two choices:
= If possible, please wash off the plant roots—dunk them in water till you see no soil on the roots, therefore probably no worm eggs. Then bring them bare root in wet newsprint or a plastic bag, or repot them in clean potting soil.
= If you don’t have time to wash them off, we’ll put them in a separate area where people can help themselves, knowing that the soil could possibly have worm eggs. Not likely, but possible.
We will try to set up an area with a bucket for washing plants. And we’ll have a couple people around who know plenty about worms and can guide the process.
Can you tell that we’re figuring this out as we go? It’s not fun creating yet another protocol when we’re all so sick of them, but it’s best to be careful. “Spread the word, not the worm.”
Editorial Comment: The prophetic sf novel The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner includes a cascading series of environmental catastrophes, including invasive worms which destroy plants as well as protesters who block highways and chant, “Stop, you’re killing me!"
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Wake up the Earth Festival
Saturday, May 7
Parade at 11:00 AM, food and booths 12:00-6:00 PM
This year we will be extending our celebration along the park stretching from Stonybrook to Jackson Square. We will be having some activities and entertainment along the park and entertainment at Jackson Square. More details to come.
https://www.spontaneouscelebrations.org/calendar/wake-up-the-earth
The Wake up the Earth festival is a 44 year old event bringing together hundreds of people from around Boston to celebrate community and our planet. It’s a phenomenal day of food, parades, organizations, and festivities. It is returning for the first time in three years since the pandemic began, on Saturday, May 7 from 12:00-6:00 PM. BCAN will be having a table we’re sharing with the HERO nurturing Center and the Crane Ledge Woods Coalition. We need volunteers to help with several roles! This could include tabling (with talking points provided!), banner holding in the parade, help setting up, and more. Go to our spreadsheet for tasks to sign up for.
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Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing
Monday, May 9
12 – 1:30 p.m.
Harvard, Wexner Building, Room 102, Marc Heng and Family Conference Room, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/circular-economy-sustainable-development-role-land-fuels-and-manufacturing
SPEAKER(S) Henrique Pacini, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Francis X. Johnson, Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environmental Institute
Please join the Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) for a seminar on "Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing," featuring Francis X. Johnson, Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), and Henrique Pacini, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Dr. Johnson will discuss governing land and biomass use for a climate-compatible bioeconomy, and Dr. Pacini will discuss governing materials and pollution pathways.
CONTACT INFO Elizabeth Hanlon - ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu
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American governance: The way forward
Tuesday, May 10
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. EDT
Online: https://www.brookings.edu/events/american-governance-the-way-forward
RSVP at https://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-american-governance
American democracy is in crisis—and solutions are needed more than ever. Public trust in elected officials and democratic institutions has plummeted; state legislatures are restricting voting rights and access to the ballot box; and Americans across the political spectrum are pessimistic about the future of the nation and unsure of democracy’s persistence. The factors responsible for this include a failure to safeguard the democracy, rule of law, and ethics pillars that have upheld American governance for nearly two and a half centuries. The results of that failure were never more evident than over the past four years. A new Brookings Press book, "Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, Rule of Law, and Democracy," analyzes what went wrong and exactly how to fix it. Edited by Brookings Senior Fellow Norman Eisen, the volume brings together a group of distinguished scholars and practitioners to provide an independent assessment of the problem and its solutions.
On May 10, Governance Studies at Brookings will host Eisen and seven of his co-authors as part of a two-panel webinar to mark the book’s public launch and discuss the key issues and the reforms the authors propose to address them. The first panel will consider the situation in the states in advance of the 2022 midterm elections. The second panel will address the issues at the federal level. Both panels will consider how to close democracy, rule of law, and ethics gaps going forward.
Viewers can submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using #OvercomingTrumpery.
Panel 1: The view from the states: Crisis and response
Moderator: Norm Eisen, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings
Mel Barnes, Staff Counsel, Law Foward
Victoria Bassetti, Consultant, Brookings
Jeffrey Mandell, Founder, President, and Lead Counsel, Law Forward
Panel 2: Closing the gaps at the federal level
Moderator: Norm Eisen, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings
Virginia Canter, Chief Ethics Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Joseph Foti, Chief Research Officer, Open Government Partnership
Walter M. Shaub Jr., Senior Ethics Fellow, Project on Government Oversight (POGO); Former Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics
Anne Weismann, Former Chief Counsel and Chief FOIA Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
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Energy Companies and the Energy Transition: Transforming the Organization
Tuesday, May 10
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Online
RSVP at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/events-calendar/energy-companies-and-energy-transition-transforming-organization
The transition away from a fossil fuel-based energy system to one based on cleaner energy technologies raises profound questions for traditional oil and gas companies. In looking to the world’s future energy requirements, some of these companies are looking for ways to evolve into broader energy companies to reach net-zero targets by 2050. They will require new capabilities, leadership, and cultures as they shift their business models, capital allocation, and organizational capabilities.
To better understand the opportunities, experiences, and challenges facing oil and gas companies in adapting to the energy transition, the Center on Global Energy Policy will host a panel of experts with experience in the sector.
Moderator:
Amy Myers Jaffe, Co-Chair, Women in Energy Steering Committee, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA and Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, Fletcher School, Tufts University
Speakers: Andrea Galieti, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, bp
Sunaina Ocalan, Director, Corporate Strategy and Climate Change, Hess Corporation
Ariwoola Ogbemi, Senior Advisor, Equinor
This webinar will be hosted via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with access details. The event will be recorded and the video recording will be added to our website following the event.
This event is open to press, and registration is required to attend. For media inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact Natalie Volk (nv2388@columbia.edu).
For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu
Event Contact Information:
Center on Global Energy Policy
energypolicyevents@columbia.edu
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Manufacturing the Clerical Predator: How the Catholic Hierarchy Creates and Maintains a Culture of Abuse
Tuesday, May 10
4 – 6 p.m.
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a6_KXI-3QgOWt3PtFjuFsg
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
The Catholic Church has overseen the world's longest lasting and most widespread campaign of institutional sexual abuse. Why is it that after sixteen centuries of documented evidence and decades of continuous international public exposure, new revelations of the scope and magnitude of the abuse crisis continue to shock the public? In this webinar, organizer and film director Sarah Pearson will present her documentary film featuring former and current priests who reveal how clerical pedophilia is not a phenomenon that occurs as the result of an external perversion of the Catholic hierarchy, but rather, a distinct form of sexual violence that is produced, manufactured, and reproduced within the clerical system.
Panelists include:
Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, Bishop Accountability
Shaun Dougherty, President, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Denise Buchanan, Founding Board Member, Ending Clergy Abuse
Peter Isely, Program Director, Nate’s Mission
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Carbon Neutral Geothermal Building In the Hudson Valley
Friday, May 13
1pm–5pm
New Paltz, NY
RSVP at https://nesea.org/be-event/net-zero-mixed-use-building-hudson-valley
Cost: $25
NESEA returns to the Hudson Valley for a Pro Tour of Zero Place, an award-winning building that is poised to bring the town of New Paltz 6 commercial and 46 residential units. Thanks to generous sponsor support, all attendees are being given the member price of $25, which will include the tour, CEUs, and lunch.
Under the building, the 15 geothermal wells act as a heat sink or "thermal battery" for the ground-water loop running through the building, with separate heat pump units for all residential, common area, and retail units. 100% of the domestic hot water for the building is provided by the integrated geothermal system, specifically designed for ultra-efficient performance.
This project was recognized as a Round One Winner in NYSERDA’s Buildings of Excellence competition. This competition was launched in March 2019 and has awarded over $31 million to over three dozen exemplary new construction projects.
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Securing the Future of Agriculture
Tuesday, May 17
9:00am to 5:00pm
MIT Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Sustainable food production is challenged on many fronts. There will be more mouths to feed using fewer resources on less land. The environment is warming, rainfall patterns are changing, and atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing. Industrial farms based on the oil economy will need to give way to new energy systems in less than a generation. Geopolitical instability threatens global food security, and the rate of crop improvement remains stubbornly slow.
There is plenty of room for innovation. Seeds are the key to revolutionizing agricultural productivity, and the 21st Century brought powerful new genomic tools to accelerate genetic gain.
This symposium — cosponsored by the MIT Whitehead Institute and Inari — covers how some of these tools, developed here in Cambridge, are being used to advance crop improvement.
Morning Session
Where We Find Opportunities for Crop Improvement
Afternoon Session
Bring on the Compute: How Data and Deep Learning Will Deliver Tomorrow's Crops
Have a question about the event? Email: SecuringAgFuture@inari.com
INDIVIDUALS WHO DO NOT HAVE AN MIT ID ARE REQUIRED TO ORDER A TIM TICKET VISITOR PASS TO ACCESS THIS EVENT. Visit the following page to order your pass: https://visitors.mit.edu/?event=f4a2a203-a30b-4c6f-b170-ea0196c3acd2
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NECEC Emerging Trends Series: Deploying Climate Solutions
Wedneday, May 18
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/necec-emerging-trends-series-deploying-climate-solutions-tickets-323371190937
Cost: $0 – $25
Connecting City Leaders & Entrepreneurs
Cities are ground zero in the fight against climate change. They consume more than 78 percent of the world’s energy and produce more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
These statistics present a tremendous challenge but also an enormous opportunity to deploy the solutions necessary to achieve our climate goals. Boston (home to NECEC and Greentown Labs) and New York (a city NECEC works closely with) are two of the cities ranked most “at risk” for climate change by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. To mitigate this risk, these cities are making real commitments and taking significant action toward creating a just and equitable clean energy future while also building a diverse climate economy for their residents. Additionally, the Northeast proudly fosters a robust community of climatetech disruptors who are creating solutions that cities and towns can deploy to reduce their carbon footprint, save their residents money, and improve their quality of life.
And while these solutions are being created in Boston, New York, and across the Northeast, city leaders and technology innovators often don’t know each other or know how to engage one another. Cities frequently lack the resources and expertise to identify, vet, and purchase the latest technologies; while entrepreneurs have difficulty finding places to pilot and deploy their solutions.
In this Emerging Trend Series, NECEC and Greentown Labs are coming together to unite city leaders and entrepreneurs on the same stage to learn from each other and explore how they can work together to accelerate our transition to a just and equitable clean energy future and diverse climate economy. We’ll discuss the challenges cities face in reaching their climate goals, how entrepreneurs can best connect with cities given public procurement laws, and examples of solutions that are ready to deploy in cities.
Agenda
10:00 - Welcoming Remarks. Joe Curtatone, President, President of NECEC and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, City of Somerville
10:08 - Opening Remarks. H.G. Chissell, Founder & CEO of Advanced Energy Group
10:15 - Mayoral Panel Discussion: Advancing local climate goals: how technology can help?
11:00 - Conversation between City leaders and Entrepreneurs.Moderator: former NECEC President Peter Rothstein
11:20 - Panel Reflection. Ryan Dings, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Greentown Labs
11:30 - Lightning pitches. Moderator: Moneer Azzam, Principal, Beacon Climate Innovations
11:50 - Networking and Technology Showcase.
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A Changing Planet Seminar: Seasonal rainfall over Eastern Africa and the Tropics: Trends, Climate Models and Projections
Wednesday, May 18
11:00 - 12:30 GMT-04:0
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-africa-tropics-seasonal-rainfall-trendsclimate-models-projection-tickets-324129830047
Abstract
Much of the tropics experience a strong seasonal cycle of rainfall, with marked wet and dry seasons. These seasons are of key societal importance to populations across the global tropics, impacting sectors including agriculture, health and energy. Recent declines in seasonal rainfall across Eastern Africa are linked with decreasing food security and other challenges. Yet, future projections suggest an increase in rainfall over Eastern Africa. This discrepancy between recent trends and future projections is known as the East Africa Climate Change Paradox. Furthermore, climate models used to produce projections under future climate do not capture the correct seasonal cycle over Eastern Africa, leading to questions on the reliability of projections. This adds to the challenges around communication of future projections over the region. In other regions, changes during the dry seasons may present challenges for perennial crops, including cocoa.
About the speaker
Caroline is based at the Grantham Institute, and her research is on topics around exploring climate change-related risk for populations whose livelihoods are strongly dependent on seasonal rainfall, predominantly focused on Africa. She completed her PhD at the University of Reading, during which she developed a methodology for quantifying the seasonal cycle and analysed future projections of changing precipitation seasonality over Africa. Since then, she has worked on a range of projects, including research on rainfall seasonality (including recent trends and model representation) over East Africa, sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting over East and West Africa, and changing climatic suitability for cocoa growth across Africa and South America (in collaboration with Mars-Wrigley confectionery). Previously, she completed her BSc in Mathematics with Geography at the University of Exeter and an MSc in Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate at Reading.
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Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture
Thursday, May 19
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-conversations-adaptation-in-agriculture-tickets-317620329957
Join us for a conversation about how U.S. farmers are responding to changing climate conditions and how policies can support these efforts.
Extreme rainfall, rising temperatures, and changing production conditions are just some of the hazards climate change creates for agriculture. Join us for a conversation about how farmers are responding to these challenges in the United States and how policies can support or hinder innovative practices. Speakers will be announced soon.
The conversation will be webcast on the Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture webpage on Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 3-4pm ET. Closed captioning will be provided. The conversation will include questions from the audience and will be recorded and available to view on the page after the event.
Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to national policy action on climate change.
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The End of the Petrostate - How Electrification will Reshape the World
Thurssday, May 19
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-end-of-the-petrostate-how-electrification-will-reshape-the-world-tickets-319681986427
Join the Electrify Coalition as we explore the potential of Renewable Energy and Electrification to end the Petrostate.
Russia's war in Ukraine has again brought the world face to face with the lose-lose dynamics of our dependence on fossil fuels for energy. The uneven distribution of fossil fuels resources and the ensuing wealth and power that accrues to a handful of individuals, corporations and states too often results in bad outcomes.
With autocrats invading sovereign nations with arms paid for by oil and gas revenues, and gigantic multinational oil and gas corporations using their immense profits to maintain the earth scorching status quo, its hard to avoid the conclusion that fossil fuels have corrupted our world. Add to that the aptly named "resource curse" where countries with fossil fuel resources usually end up poorer than their neighbors without them, and it's time to switch to a clean energy dynamic for the 21st century.
Renewable energy and electrification offers a distributed, democratic, self sufficient alternative to the petrostate. The wind and sun reach every corner of the earth. For the first time, formerly energy challenged countries can be energy producers by constructing cost effective solar farms and wind turbines. Even individuals can be nearly energy independent by installing solar panels on their roofs and powering their homes with efficient electric appliances.
Join the Electrify Coalition as we explore the potential of renewable energy and electrification to end the petrostate and change the global balance of energy power. We'll discuss the rapid pace of change in energy generation globally and the latest estimates on how quickly we might achieve an end to our reliance on fossil fuels and the corrupting power that comes with this limited resource.
Donations:
Please consider making a donation for this webinar to the Electrify Everyone Fund. All proceeds from your donations go towards installing free heat pump water heaters in low income homes through the nonprofit Community Energy Project. Your donation will help reduce carbon emissions and lower utility bills for these families. Thank you!
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Bringing Together Varied Communities, As in the Covid Pandemic and Climate Change
Friday, May 20
2:30 – 5 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/873b731b-36c5-4695-8cf5-423fceaa7ba1/summary
SPEAKER(S) Janet Ancel, Member, Vermont General Assembly, Chair, House Committee on Ways and Means
Edgar H. Schein, Emeritus Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Elena Cherepanov, Professor, Cambridge College; Clinical Lead for Refugees, Lynn Community Health Center
From the Community Mental Health perspective, the health—including mental health—of communities is based on community self-determination and self-care. This is composed of community understanding and activation. How can this be facilitated through health professionals’ preventive and reparative intervention? We present some concepts and experiences of various degrees of complexity and success. These days we do not lack life stresses on which to test these ideas; we have chosen the COVID pandemic and environmental threats as examples. We offer this exchange to enhance clarity and effectiveness for those engaged in community health promotion.
CONTACT INFO Information via Emily Pierce: ce@williamjames.edu : (781) 312-248
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MA Attorney General Climate Debate
Wednesday, May 25
6-7pm
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QcIQzQ-8SP2tZjXUehx0yg
350MA is proud to host the Massachusetts Attorney General Climate Debate, with candidates Andrea Campbell, Quentin Palfrey, and Shannon Liss-Riordan, moderated by Boston Globe climate reporter Sabrina Shankman.
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