**Conferences**
Ethics and Solar Geoengineering: Justice, Legitimacy, and Governance in a Climate Crisis
February 2
Sustainability Connect 2023: A Forum on the Future of Sustainability at MIT
Tuesday, February 14
EBC Tenth Annual Offshore Wind Conference: T-minus 7 years to 30GW by 2030
February 15
The 1619 Education Conference
February 18 - February 19
Mathemalchemy Symposium: Exploring the Intersections of Mathematics, Art, & Education
Friday, February 24
**Lecture Series**
Global Energy Trends 2023: Crisis, Contingencies, and Climate Change
Thursday, February 2
Explore the Shape-Shifting Media Climate with Earth’s Publicist - David Fenton
Friday, February 3
Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy
Friday, February 3
Vandana Shiva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements
Monday, February 6
Green Shipping Corridors: Getting Maritime Shipping to Net Zero
Tuesday, February 7
Environmental Justice Roundtable
Wednesday, February 8
Climate change in Africa: Exploring citizen experiences and perspectives
Friday, February 10
Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy
Friday, February 10
Sustainable Places: Climate Adapted Cities
Wednesday, February 15
Climate Action in Nigeria: Risks, Urgencies, and Opportunities
Wednesday, February 15
Living Between Worlds, with Grace, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday February 15
The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-zero Carbon Goals
Thursday, February 16
Living with Climate Change in Northern New England
Thursday, February 16
** Events **
Energy Seminar: Leon Clarke, Bezos Earth Fund
Monday, January 30
Mini-Symposium on Environmental Justice and Energy Sustainability
Tuesday, January 31
Chilean Constitutional Reform: Mother Nature, Mapuche Women, and Decolonial Perspectives
Tuesday, January 31
The Falling Sky and The Yanomami Struggle
Tuesday, January 31
Navigating Energy Transitions: The implications of 1.5°C scenarios for Canada’s Paris-aligned energy transitions
Wednesday, February 1
Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott
Wednesday, February 1
The Foreign Policy of Technology
Thursday, February 2
Interspecies Attentiveness: An Artist Panel Discussion
Thursday, February 2
Cambridge, MA: BEUDO: A Path to Reducing Building Emissions in Cambridge
Thursday, February 2
Wikipedia edit-a-thon on climate change
Friday, February 3
Housing as a Climate Lever, with Scott Wiener
Monday, February 6
Using an International Human Rights Framework for Climate Justice Advocacy in the United States
Tuesday, February 7
Restoring the Earth’s lungs - How can forests support climate change mitigation?
Wednesday, February 8
Understanding the threat of white Christian nationalism to American democracy today: Findings from the PRRI and Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey
Wednesday, February 8
Rethinking China’s rise, restraints, and resilience
Wednesday, February 8
Transition in the Food Industry: A Solutions Approach
Wednesday, February 8
A Digital Green New Deal: Wiring Gaia in the Anthropocene
Wednesday, February 8
The Energy Transition and Indigenous Communities in the US and Canada
Wednesday, February 8
Climate Change and Health: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Friday, February 10
Can companies save the planet? Sustainable investment between greenwashing and real impact: Finance Company climate claims
Wednesday, February 15
Analyzing Earth’s “Fine Prints”: Utilization of High-Resolution Geological Records to Elucidate Future Climate Change
Wednesday, February 22
Business Climate Challenge Energy Management Workshop
Tuesday, February 21
Nomad Century - How to Survive the Climate Upheaval
Tuesday, February 21
Inclusive Insurance: A U.S. Roadmap for Climate-Related Disasters
February 22
Paul R. Ehrlich's Life: A Journey through Science and Politics
Thursday, February 23
Are Economic and Judicial Sanctions Effective in Combatting Authoritarianism? Evidence from Venezuela, Hungary & Poland
Monday, February 27
When Wounds Travel: Ecologies of War and Healthcare East of the Mediterranean
Wednesday, March 1
A Clean Energy Workforce and the Path to Equity
Thursday, March 2
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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
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**Conferences**
Ethics and Solar Geoengineering: Justice, Legitimacy, and Governance in a Climate Crisis
February 2
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST
Harvard, T-520 Nye A, B, C (three Rooms), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/ethics-and-solar-geoengineering-justice-legitimacy-and-governance-climate-crisis
If you are not Harvard affiliated, contact emilydriscoll@hks.harvard.edu for permission to attend in person. A video of the event will be available for viewing later.
The Ethics and Solar Geoengineering conference is motivated by the following question: how, if at all, should countries engage in solar geoengineering research and possible deployment? This increasingly divisive question is in part one for scientists and modelers: we need a clearer picture of the risks and benefits of various deployment regimes. But solar geoengineering also raises normative questions concerning justice, legitimacy, and governance of the technology and these questions are best answered with the help of political philosophers and ethicists. This conference aims to bring together philosophers, theorists, and public policymakers, and representatives from communities who are especially impacted by the climate crisis in order to explore the normative dimensions of disagreement concerning the development and possible deployment of solar geoengineering technologies.
Contact Emily Driscoll 617-998-5488
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Sustainability Connect 2023: A Forum on the Future of Sustainability at MIT
Tuesday, February 14
9:00 AM – 2:30 PM EST
Samberg Conference Center, MIT Chang Building (E52), 7th Floor 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainability-connect-2023-a-forum-on-the-future-of-sustainability-at-mit-tickets-506692881047
Sustainability Connect brings together the community working to create a more sustainable MIT. For Sustainability Connect 2023, we’re looking back on ten years of the Office of Sustainability, celebrating the successes you made possible, and envisioning the future of a sustainable MIT as guided by Fast Forward: MIT's Climate Action Plan for the Decade.
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EBC Tenth Annual Offshore Wind Conference: T-minus 7 years to 30GW by 2030
February 15
7:30 am - 12:30 pm EST
Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP, Louis D. Brandeis Conference Center, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
and Online
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/efcf3c51-c787-4cbe-9c05-79d7bbe87cfa/regProcessStep1 for in person
https://web.cvent.com/event/3173fc57-d292-4d46-a71b-0fcc27593e8d/regProcessStep1 for online
Cost: $50 - $150
We are 7 years away from the Biden Administration’s goal of achieving 30 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind by 2030. Trillions in federal funding and financial incentives for renewable energy and grid improvements are available from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. New England continues to be in great position for reaping social, economic, and environmental benefits from sowing commercial-scale offshore wind energy.
Vineyard Wind LLC, a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is building Vineyard Wind 1 with two cable making landfall at Covell’s Beach in Barnstable and connect to the grid at a substation in Hyannis. Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800-megawatt (MW) project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and will generate electricity in 2024 for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This first-in-the-nation, commercial-scale wind farm will create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually. The project’s progress is the result in part due to over 10 years and hundreds of meetings with fishermen and fishing organizations with the goal of enabling both industries to grow together offshore.
In December 2022, the 1,232 MW Commonwealth Wind development, owned by Avangrid Renewables, was determined by Avangrid to no longer be commercially viable. Avangrid in a filing with the state Department of Public Utilities indicating its development was no longer commercially viable due to escalating costs, requesting that the state should dismiss its current power purchasing agreements. Avangrid requested that the State instead include the 1,200 megawatts of wind energy planned for the Commonwealth Wind development in its next round of offshore wind solicitation, which is scheduled for spring 2023.
The 400 MW Mayflower Wind project, owned by Shell and Ocean Winds (a joint venture between Engie and EDP Renewables) received their contract approvals in 2022 and are advancing through permitting. In October 2022, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and Rhode Island Energy, a PPL company, announced its procurement process for 600-to-1,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy. Answers to Bidder questions were provided on December 19th. Rhode Island Energy is considering a series of non-pricing criteria in the proposals, including statewide economic impacts, proposed labor agreements, siting and permitting and an Environmental Impacts and Environmental and Fisheries Mitigation Plan. Proposals are expected to create benefits in social, environmental justice, economic development, job creation and port development.
Equinor Wind US, Ørsted, and Mayflower Wind continue to advance their other offshore wind development projects in the Northeast. RWE Renewables Americas and Diamond Offshore Wind are advancing their New England Aqua Ventus LLC (NEAV) floating wind demonstration project. NEAV uses a concrete semi-submersible floating platform supporting a 10-12 MW commercial wind turbine and is in a federally designated area 2 miles south of Monhegan Island, 14 miles off the coast of Maine. Offshore Wind Port planning and development activity is advancing in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
This year’s EBC offshore wind conference will start off with an update from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will provide an update and forecast on offshore wind procurement in the Commonwealth. Representatives from port facilities and wind developers will summarize their progress and outlook for their projects.
We will also include an update on trends and innovations driving the industry including new technical engineering guidance from NREL and ACP, new research on gravity based foundations from Tufts and improved efficiency of offshore wind production by MIT, advancements in floating wind, lessons learned from litigation, and draft guidance to improve the federal permitting process.
General Continuing Education Certificates are awarded by the EBC for this program (3.5 training contact hours). Please select this option during registration if you wish to receive a certificate.
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The 1619 Education Conference
February 18 - February 19
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4MO9FaN-SYW63WgfCh6hrQ
The Pulitzer Center’s 1619 Materials Collection and 1619 Education Programs and Initiatives have inspired hundreds of educators across the U.S. to engage their students with the themes of The 1619 Project, and to connect with a community of educators committed to helping students better understand the role of Black people in shaping American society and the legacies of slavery that still exist today.
Taking place on February 18 and 19, the second 1619 Education Conference will offer participants the opportunity to learn from The 1619 Project Education Network members about the units they created and implemented as part of the program, the strategies and resources they found most helpful, and their key takeaways from their experience connecting the project to their students. The conference will also allow attendees to view the creative ways our Afterschool Program Partners explored The 1619 Project with students in outside-of-school programs and participate in learning workshops with project resources.
There are educators #Teaching1619 in all education contexts. If you’re an outside-of-school educator, librarian, or community leader, you may find resources to spark students' creativity, teamwork, critical thinking, and media literacy skills in these activities for afterschool educators which give various entry points into exploring multimedia components and text excerpts from The 1619 Project.
The conference will include an exploration of project resources and a Q&A for educators interested in joining the second cohort of the Network. Participants will also hear from contributors to The 1619 Project and professors who have connected the project books to schools of education.
The 1619 Education Conference is open to all, but we especially encourage educators interested in applying to the 2023 1619 Education Network cohort to attend. The Pulitzer Center team will follow up with more details on the day-by-day schedule as we get closer to the event:
https://pulitzercenter.org/event/1619-project-education-conference-2023
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Mathemalchemy Symposium: Exploring the Intersections of Mathematics, Art, & Education
Friday, February 24
10 am to 4:00 pm
808 Gallery – 808 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/math-art-education-symposium-registration-465737833397
Schedule:
10 am – Coffee, Pastries, & Social time
10:30 am – Welcome & Introduction to the Day – Li-Mei Lim (Boston University) & Ty Furman (Boston University)
10:45 am – Talk by Ingrid Daubechies (Duke University)
11:30 am – Panel – Math as a Source of Artistic Inspiration
Panelists: Gregory Gomez – Boston University, Bathsheba – Independent Artist, Erik Demaine– MIT, Thaddeus Beal – Independent Artist
12:15 pm – Light lunch
1:15 pm – Talk by Bronna Butler (Artist)
2:00 pm – Panel – Art as a Tool for Education – Panelists: Diana Davis – Instructor in Mathematics at Phillips Exeter Academy,
2:45 pm – Closing Talk by Edmund Harriss (University of Arkansas)
3:30 pm – Reception
Biographies (alphabetical order)
Bathsheba likes to think about shapes. 3D printed steel is her primary medium along with subsurface laser damage in glass. The shapes she explores aren’t moldable, so most artmaking and manufacturing methods don’t work well for her which is why she got into 3D printing. Around the turn of the millennium a window opened, as 3D printing (which had been around for many years at that point) got cheaper and better. The technology suited her style, and her designs were among the first printed objects to be sold outside the industry.
Thaddeus Beal was educated at Yale, Stanford, and The Museum School. He has shown all over New England and in New York City, and is currently represented by the Soprafina Gallery, Boston. He has won three fellowships (and been a finalist twice) in the Mass Council competitions and one from the NE Arts Foundation. His work is is in collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston..
Bronna Butler’s early interest in both the arts and science/math resulted in two rotating careers, one in art and another in finance/science. Her current artwork – multifaceted glass, mirror, and metal sculptures focusing on recreational mathematics, portraits of mathematicians and physicists, and science in general – unites her two passions. She strives to include puzzles, enigmas, and optical illusions in her pieces. Stylistically, her glass and oil painting techniques are derived from the Baroque and Renaissance periods when artists were involved in the “science” of the arts (the chemistry of their paints/materials, precise anatomy, and perspective, etc.) and the content and purpose of art frequently included science and mathematics.
Ingrid Daubechies is a Belgian physicist and mathematician and the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. She is best known for her work with wavelets in image compression. Daubechies is recognized for her study of the mathematical methods that enhance image-compression technology. She was awarded a Leroy P. Steele prize for exposition in 1994 for her book Ten Lectures on Wavelets. From 1992 to 1997 she was a fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronical Engineers.
Diane Davis is passionate about transforming math courses, at every level of education, to active learning. To teach her own college courses, she built on Exeter’s materials, modifying them and also writing her own problem books from scratch. Since 2012, she has taught courses for high school math teachers at Exeter’s Anja S. Greer Conference on Mathematics and Technology, on how to write and teach problem-based curricula. In 2016, she did a study comparing the pedagogical effectiveness of discussion-based and lecture-based math courses. She showed that while students in the two types of courses learned a similar amount of material, students in discussion-based courses learned more communication skills, and chose to take significantly more math classes in subsequent semesters than those in lecture-based courses.
Erik Demaine is a Professor in Computer Science at MIT. Demaine’s research interests range throughout algorithms, from data structures for improving web searches to the geometry of understanding how proteins fold to the computational difficulty of playing games. He received a MacArthur Fellowship (“genius grant”) as a “computational geometer tackling and solving difficult problems related to folding and bending—moving readily between the theoretical and the playful, with a keen eye to revealing the former in the latter”. He appears in the origami documentaries Between the Folds and NOVA’s The Origami Revolution. He cowrote a book about the theory of folding (Geometric Folding Algorithms), and a book about the computational complexity of games (Games, Puzzles, and Computation). Together with his father Martin, his interests span the connections between mathematics and art, including curved-crease sculptures in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian.
Gregory Gomez is a sculptor and painter and an Associate Faculty and Chair of Undergraduate Sculpture in Boston University’s College of Fine Art. His works reference nature, found graphic information, lost language, references to mathematics and other archetypical forms to inform his work. The resulting sculptures, paintings and drawings are mysterious, semi-scientific messages filled with symbology that draw viewers in with their cryptic meaning, visually and tactilly rich materials.
His body of public sculpture can be found at Harvard Medical School, The Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee, Florida, and Addison Elevated Train Station and Austin Branch Library in Chicago, Illinois. He has permanent installations in the Williamson College of Business Administration, in Ohio, and most recently completed commissions for Grinnell College, in Iowa and the Transit Center in Montpelier, Vermont.
Edmund Harris is a mathematician, teacher, artist and maker, working at the University of Arkansas. He has done research on the geometry of tilings and patterns, such as the Penrose tiling, but these days he usually describes myself as pursuing unusual applications of mathematics. Some of these are really quite traditional, for example working with physicists to model the geometry of two dimensional crystals, but others are more exotic controlling robots and working with architects and designers. In all this he is driven by a passion to communicate the beauty and utility of mathematical thinking.
Li-Mei Lim (Mathemalchemy at BU collaborator) is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Boston University. She earned her BS from MIT and her PhD from Brown University, both in mathematics. Her research is in the field of analytic number theory and automorphic forms. Her other professional interests include mathematical education and outreach. She also currently serves as the Executive Director for PROMYS, a summer program for talented high school students.
**Lecture Series**
Global Energy Trends 2023: Crisis, Contingencies, and Climate Change
Thursday, February 2
1pm ET [10:00 AM in Pacific Time]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/8716721700966/WN_KdfRxCSWQSePleJWXm1icQ
We’re in the midst of an energy transition that continues to evolve and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. This leaves energy sector participants facing a host of overlapping challenges.
Last year, world leaders gathered at COP26 to set targets for decarbonizing the global economy and the table was set for the energy transition. Since then, the energy landscape has changed dramatically.
Massive change is coming, thanks to the legislative and policy achievements of the first two years of the Biden administration. The current global energy crisis, which has led to sky-high prices and a weakening world economy, is set to only increase the attractiveness of renewables going forward. As renewable penetration on the grid continues to increase, technologies that can provide grid services and on-demand supply or demand reduction are expected to follow. Whether through increasing demand response and load optimization services or through increased installations of flexible generation assets.
In this webinar, we examine the key trends that commentators – including GridBeyond’s experts – agree will be at the forefront of discussions about developments in the energy sector in 2023 and beyond.
Time
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Explore the Shape-Shifting Media Climate with Earth’s Publicist - David Fenton
Friday, February 3
12 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.earth.columbia.edu/videos/channel/sustain-what
Viewing links and background added before showtime
Longtime journalist Andy Revkin of the Columbia Climate School in conversation with David Fenton, who, through more than 40 years as a social-change strtegist and publicist, helped craft a host of high-profile campaigns - from ending apartheid and New York fracking to making the case for the Green New Deal.
Drawing on his new book, The Activist's Media Handbook, Fenton will describe his learning curve navigating massive changes in the media landscape and offer guidance for anyone trying to make information matter in pursuit of a better planet.
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Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy
Friday, February 3
12:00 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/virtual_event_sigal_ben-porath/
This is a virtual event. Please follow the link on this page to register.
The "Ethics in Your World" series, presented with the Harvard Book Store, features leading thinkers taking on tough problems that matter to us all.
About Constructing Basic Liberties:
College campuses have become flashpoints of the current culture war and, consequently, much ink has been spilled over the relationship between universities and the cultivation or coddling of young American minds. Philosopher Sigal R. Ben-Porath takes head-on arguments that infantilize students who speak out against violent and racist discourse on campus or rehash interpretations of the First Amendment. Ben-Porath sets out to demonstrate the role of the university in American society and, specifically, how it can model free speech in ways that promote democratic ideals.
In Cancel Wars, she argues that the escalating struggles over “cancel culture,” “safe spaces,” and free speech on campus are a manifestation of broader democratic erosion in the United States. At the same time, she takes a nuanced approach to the legitimate claims of harm put forward by those who are targeted by hate speech. Ben-Porath’s focus on the boundaries of acceptable speech (and on the disproportional impact that hate speech has on marginalized groups) sheds light on the responsibility of institutions to respond to extreme speech in ways that proactively establish conversations across difference. Establishing these conversations has profound implications for political discourse beyond the boundaries of collegiate institutions. If we can draw on the truth, expertise, and reliable sources of information that are within the work of academic institutions, we might harness the shared construction of knowledge that takes place at schools, colleges, and universities against truth decay. Of interest to teachers and school leaders, this book shows that by expanding and disseminating knowledge, universities can help rekindle the civic trust that is necessary for revitalizing democracy.
Sigal Ben-Porath is professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also a member of the philosophy and the political science departments, and a fellow at the Institute for Law and Philosophy. She received her doctorate in political philosophy from Tel-Aviv university in 2000, and was a fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values, Tel-Aviv University’s Safra Center for Ethics, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Her recent books are Cancel Wars (Chicago 2022), Free Speech on Campus (Penn Press, 2017) as well as Making Up Our Mind (with Michael Johanek, Chicago 2019). She chaired Penn's Committee on Open Expression 2015-2019, and serves on the board of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. In recent years she has offered guidance to many campuses on policy development and responses to controversies surrounding speech.
Jane Kamensky earned her BA (1985) and PhD (1993) in history from Yale University. She is Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University and Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. A historian of British America and the United States, she is the author of numerous books, including A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley (2016), which won four major prizes and was a finalist for several others. She is currently completing her next book, Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution, as a Leon Levy Biography Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center. A former Commissioner of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Kamensky serves as a Trustee of the Museum of the American Revolution, and as one of the principal investigators on the NEH/ Department of Education-funded initiative, Educating for American Democracy.
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Vandana Shiva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements
Monday, February 6
6:00pm
Boston College, Robsham Theater Arts Center, Robsham Theater Arts Center, Chestnut Hill, MA
https://events.bc.edu/event/vandana_shiva_presented_by_rewilding_planet_earth#.Y9INnS2ZOiI
Part of by Rewilding Planet Earth Series
Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocate, is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International.
Trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, she completed her Ph.D. on the ‘Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory’ from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology, and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.
In 1982 she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), an independent research institute that addresses the most significant problems of ecology of our times, and two years later, Navdanya (‘nine seeds’) the movement in defense of biodiversity and the contributions made to the climate, environment and society by small farmers.
The recipient of many awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) and the Sydney Peace Prize, she has been named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek.
She is a prolific writer and author of numerous books and serves on the board of the International Forum on Globalization, and member of the executive committee of the World Future Council.
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Green Shipping Corridors: Getting Maritime Shipping to Net Zero
Tuesday, February 7
10am [8 am MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/events/
A green shipping corridor is more than a way to get from point A to B. It’s how an essential, hard-to-abate sector will start to decarbonize this decade.
Green shipping corridors allow ships to travel along their route with low-carbon energy, principally green hydrogen and its derivatives ammonia and methanol.
How do we start building these corridors?
This interactive, one-hour webinar, co-hosted by RMI and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, will discuss the state-of-play in green shipping corridor development and cover important considerations when selecting their location. The webinar will also introduce a practical, free handbook, based on real-world experience and local data, to help ports, shipping companies, fuel producers, financiers, and governments start developing green shipping corridors.
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Environmental Justice Roundtable
Wednesday, February 8
7:30pm - 9pm ET [4:30pm to 6pm PT]
Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford ChEM-H Building, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Rotunda, E241 × 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA and Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/deans_lecture_series_on_environmental_justice
Dean's Lecture Series:
Please join leading scholars and thought leaders for wide-ranging discussions around the frontiers of research, education, practice and impact for environmental justice.
Dean Arun Majumdar, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
This upcoming Environmental Justice Roundtable with Honorable Shalanda H. Baker, Professor Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor Beth Rose Middleton Manning, and Professor Rodolfo Dirzo as moderator will showcase the scholarship of Environmental Justice (EJ) and discuss the interaction of EJ and public policy.
Together, these speakers will bring a unique and comprehensive perspective to the conversation by exploring their respective fields of expertise which will help build a better understanding of environmental justice and how to move forward with policy change.
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Climate change in Africa: Exploring citizen experiences and perspectives
Friday, February 10
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kJzM5EOrQRqYdDqb91nkEg
Speakers and Presenters
Joseph Asunka, CEO of Afrobarometer
CID's "Road to GEM23" cliamte and development series precedes and helps launch the May 2023 Global Empowerment Meeting (GEM23), "Growing in a Green World". This spring, CID strives to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and feature important learnings from the leaders who will be active participants at GEM23. On February 10, 2023, CID presents Joseph Asunka, CEO of Afrobarometer, who will discuss 'Climate change in Africa: Exploring citizen experiences and perspectives'
Climate change is wreaking havoc across Africa. Severe droughts are striking the Sahel and parts of West Africa; East African glaciers are melting; Cyclone Idai in 2019 and deadly floods in KwaZulu Natal have devastated southern Africa. How are ordinary Africans experiencing these extreme weather conditions? What do they want (and expect) their governments and other development actors to do about climate change? Do they think they have a role to play in addressing the effects of climate change?
Afrobarometer, a pan-African survey research organisation, has been collecting, analysing, and disseminating data on the views and experiences of ordinary Africans with regard to governance, democracy, the economy, and society since 1999. The latest rounds of the survey have included questions on climate change. In general, about half of Africans have heard of climate change. Among this group, most say it is making life more difficult, and they want their governments to take immediate action, even at considerable cost to the economy and jobs. But Africans also see the fight against climate change as a shared responsibility among governments, the international and business communities, and themselves.
This is a virtual only event open to the public. Registration is required.
Contact Claire McCarthy
617-495-5931
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Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy
Friday, February 10
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building 5th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School
RSVP at https://ash.harvard.edu/event/american-politics-seminar-series-taylor-carlson
You’re invited to join Taylor Carlson, author and assistant professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis for a talk on "Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy." This discussion is part of the American Politics Speaker Series sponsored by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the Center for American Political Studies.
Lunch will be served.
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Sustainable Places: Climate Adapted Cities
Wednesday, February 15
8am EST [13:00 – 14:00 GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-places-climate-adapted-cities-tickets-514162843907?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1
Join us for an online discussion exploring how cities can adapt to climate change using nature-based solutions.
In this Sustainable Places: Climate Adapted Cities event we will explore how city strategists are using nature-based solutions to help urban infrastructures adapt to unprecedented climate impacts, including heatwaves, flooding, air and water pollution and storms.
Solutions like green roofs and walls, rain gardens and green spaces are already being delivered by the new but fast-growing field of urban green infrastructure, but there are also challenges created by retrofitting buildings, transport, water and energy systems.
Join our panel of experts to explore how the built environment sector can help implement, manage and maintain biodiverse urban landscapes – and the changes needed to get there.
We will discuss new opportunities for employment, training and skills; financing mechanisms that account for more than just economic returns; real empowerment of people, communities and organisations; and radical collaborations between health, ecology, planning, design, construction management and maintenance.
We will imagine what scale of change might be possible for healthier, fairer and more resilient societies, and what steps we can take to make cities nature-based.
About the speakers
Host:
Blanche Cameron, Environmental Design Lecturer, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Panel:
Wendy Allen, award-winning garden designer specialising in biodiversity, and gardens for climate change
Drew Davy, Senior Sustainability Insights Manager, Grosvenor Property UK
Dusty Gedge, President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations, Founding Director of living roofs.org
John Little, biodiverse urban public realm landscapes innovator, Hilldrop wildlife gardens
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Climate Action in Nigeria: Risks, Urgencies, and Opportunities
Wednesday, February 15
12:00-1:30 p.m. EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/events/climate-action-in-nigeria-risks-urgencies-and-opportunities/
While international organizations and global financial institutions debate the future of investment in fossil fuels on the African continent, African nations continue to suffer the worst impacts of climate change. The October 2022 devastating floods in Nigeria were the worst in half a century and displaced more than one million people while causing massive damage to agricultural production and industrial activity. Intensifying discussions over Nigeria's role in adaptation to and mitigation of climatic changes underline the importance of exploring different perspectives–across sectors and different parts of Nigerian society–on what kind of climate action the country should prioritize.
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs for this panel discussion.
Moderators:
Ariwoola Ogbemi, Senior Advisor, Equinor and Adjunct Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA
Dr. Harry Verhoeven, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA
Panelists:
Dr. Ibidun Adelekan, Professor of Geography, University of Ibadan
Tariye Gbadegesin, CEO and Managing Director, ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment
Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, Head of the Energy Transition Office, Sustainable Energy for All
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Living Between Worlds, with Grace, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday February 15
3pm EST [12pm PST]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvf-mvrD8qGNUBS287pVRGQr77bUBhKQF4?mc_cid=3db3567dff&mc_eid=5c91f0d9a1
"New worlds don't just happen. We speak them into being…" Please join us for our fourth year of monthly conversations exploring how we might live, with both impact and serenity, in these strange times.
If if was in doubt before, it's clear now: We live between old worlds and new—as we move from the fossil age to renewables, from linear take-make-waste economies to circular, from the post-war geo-political-economic order to a world of climate crisis and geopolitical instability—something that we can't yet name. Between working inside the structures and norms of modern life, and challenging them from "outside;" between working to help institutions adapt, and working to re-invent or replace them. Between tinkering at the margins and committing to reinventing everything. Between fear and hope, resignation and ambition, despair and courage.
Gramsci called it "the time of monsters." Arundhati Roy was more hopeful: "Another world is not only possible, She is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
In these monthly calls, hosted by Gil Friend and Ken Homer, we explore the challenges of navigating the world of messes we've inherited and built—from climate and Covid to biodiversity and fascism to identity and pluralism—with grace, dignity, and power.
(You can find our previous sessions—and other gems—on Gil's YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/3wKcE9z. If you like what you see, please Like and Subscribe.)
Who joins these conversations? Executives. Sustainability professionals. Investors. Activists. Entrepreneurs. Seekers. Up-and-comers. A poet or two. And you!
And consider inviting someone who might enrich the conversation. (Maybe even someone who shares our concerns, but is different than you or me.)
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The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-zero Carbon Goals
Thursday, February 16
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Princeton, Maeder Hall Auditorium Princeton NJ and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andlinger-center-highlight-seminar-jennifer-wilcox-us-dept-of-energy-registration-514136665607
Jennifer Wilcox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050. The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. Meeting those objectives will require investing in technology research, design, development, and deployment, including investments in carbon capture at point sources as well as carbon dioxide removal approaches that target accumulated atmospheric carbon.
These approaches are critical to achieving net-zero and must be deployed in parallel, which will require the use of resources including land, water, and in some cases, low-carbon energy. Therefore, carbon capture and storage and carbon dioxide renewal technologies must be deployed strategically in terms of regional goals and requirements. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors – through investments in technology solutions including CCS, direct air capture, and the deployment of carbon capture technologies to produce low-carbon products and fuel, including hydrogen.
Jennifer Wilcox is the principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the U.S. Department of Energy and is on leave as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she was the James H. Manning Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She was also a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, where she led the Carbon Removal Program.
Wilcox holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and an M.A. in chemistry from the University of Arizona, as well as a B.A. in mathematics from Wellesley College. Wilcox’s research takes aim at the nexus of energy and the environment, developing both mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize negative climate impacts associated with society’s dependence on fossil fuels. She has served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society to assess carbon capture methods and impacts on climate. She is the author of the first textbook on carbon capture and co-edited the CDR Primer.
All seminars are held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Lunch is provided at 12:00 noon.
Visit acee.princeton.edu/highlight-seminar-series for more info.
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Living with Climate Change in Northern New England
Thursday, February 16
5:00PM - 6:15PM
MA Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston and
Online
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/Living-with-Climate-Change-in-Northern-New-England-In-Person for in person
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/Living-with-Climate-Change-in-Northern-New-England-Virtual for online
Cost: $25
Author: Emma C. Moesswilde, Georgetown University
Comment: Christopher M. Parsons, Northeastern University
This is a hybrid event.
In the early modern centuries, natural variabilities in Earth’s climate disrupted the seasonal rhythms that governed landscapes and livelihoods in the Northern Atlantic world. This paper uncovers the impacts of and responses to the changing meteorological and material realities of seasons in rural New England communities. Emma C. Moesswilde’s research explores how farmers and fishers have long responded flexibly and creatively to climate change. She contends that living with variable climate change on seasonal scales facilitated multiscalar adaptations across rural agro-ecologies, which can provide new perspectives on how rural populations can adapt to global warming today.
The Environmental History Seminar invites you to join the conversation. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.
Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.
** Events **
Energy Seminar: Leon Clarke, Bezos Earth Fund
Monday, January 30
1:30pm to 2:20pm [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Precourt Institute for Energy, NVIDIA Auditorium, Stanford University and Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/energy_seminar_gabrielle_wong-parodi_earth_system_science
Dr. Leon Clarke is the Director of Decarbonization Pathways at the Bezos Earth Fund. Leon joined the Earth Fund from the University of Maryland (UMD), where he served as the Research Director for the Center for Global Sustainability and Acting Director. He held a joint appointment with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Before UMD, Dr. Clarke worked for 16 years at the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a collaboration between PNNL and UMD. He led the Integrated Human Earth System Science Group at JGCRI for 10 years.
Dr. Clarke has served as an author and coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Climate Assessment, and the National Research Council. Dr. Clarke holds a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Mini-Symposium on Environmental Justice and Energy Sustainability
Tuesday, January 31
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://sites.google.com/mit.edu/symposium-ej-es/
Decarbonization in electricity generation is advancing at a rapid pace. However, there is growing recognition that this rapid transition has wider consequences, motivating the need to consider existing and emerging challenges – particularly equity and justice issues – such as mining impacts, "Not In
Decarbonization in electricity generation is advancing at a rapid pace. However, there is growing recognition that this rapid transition has wider consequences, motivating the need to consider existing and emerging challenges – particularly equity and justice issues – such as mining impacts, "Not In My Backyard" oppositions to siting of carbon-free energy facilities, and others. Clearly, a broader global perspective as well as social dimensions are essential to tackling climate change as well as improving the equity of energy generation. Our goal is to increase the awareness about environmental justice issues among the MIT students/community and to seed research/development for tackling these issues.
This symposium is supported by the MIT Climate Nucleus’ new Independent Activities Program (IAP) ‘The Imperative of Justice’.
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Chilean Constitutional Reform: Mother Nature, Mapuche Women, and Decolonial Perspectives
Tuesday, January 31
4 PM ET
Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
Online
RSVP at https://radcliffe-nenmf.formstack.com/forms/2023_ramamehtalecture - for in person
https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rhHNkdL7Q72u9z2Ydcfm3w - for online
Harvard Radcliffe Institute is pleased to welcome Elisa Loncón Antileo to deliver the Rama S. Mehta Lecture for 2022–2023. In 2021, Loncón was elected as one of the representatives of the Mapuche people to the Chilean Constitutional Convention, and was then named the Convention’s first president (July 2021–January 2022). The Convention was tasked with rewriting the dictatorship-era constitution, a process that began after mass protests across the nation in 2019 and a national vote in favor of replacing the old constitution in 2020. Although Chilean voters rejected the proposed revisions in September, the process of developing the recommendations—which directly addressed issues of gender parity in representation and environmental protections, among other changes—was instructive and will inform subsequent efforts toward reform.
In her talk, Loncon will discuss her experience—from personal, professional, and philosophical perspectives—leading the historic Chilean Constitutional Convention as an Indigenous woman, as well as lessons learned from her involvement. The roles of gender and indigeneity are inextricably linked in her analysis, and she will share her thoughts in the context of the Mapuche philosophy and knowledge paradigm, feminine spirits of the earth, and research methodologies shared by Indigenous peoples.
Speaker
Born in the Mapuche community of Lefweluan in Chile, Elisa Loncón Antileo is a linguist and an Indigenous rights and languages activist. She holds a PhD in humanities from the University of Leiden and a second PhD in literature from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Currently a professor in the Department of Education at the University of Santiago de Chile, Loncón researches the teaching of Mapudungun. She is also affiliated with the Center for Indigenous and Intercultural Studies of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 2021, Loncón was awarded the René Cassin Human Rights Award from the Basque Government to recognize her substantial contributions to the defense of human rights and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and one of Financial Times’s 25 most influential women.
Discussant
Emil’ Keme, 2022–2023 Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellow and professor, Department of English, Emory University
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The Falling Sky and The Yanomami Struggle
Tuesday, January 31
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Princeton, Chancellor Green and Online
RSVP at https://environment.princeton.edu/event/the-falling-sky-and-the-yanomami-struggle/
Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY4HvaEHEIs
The world-renowned shaman and Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa will visit Princeton on Tuesday, January 31. He will speak at Chancellor Green’s Rotunda at 4:30 pm. Kopenawa is the author of the classic The Falling Sky and is at the forefront of struggles to guarantee Indigenous rights and to safeguard the Amazon rainforest.
Kopenawa will be accompanied by the acclaimed photographer Cláudia Andujar, the anthropologists Bruce Albert and Ana Maria Machado, and the Indigenous artists and activists Ehuana Yaira, Morzaniel Ɨramari, Joseca Mokahesi, and Dario Yanomami.
On February 3, the group will participate in the North American debut of The Yanomami Struggle, an exhibition at The Shed in New York dedicated to the collaboration and friendship between Andujar and the Yanomami people. The exhibition includes more than 80 drawings and paintings by Yanomami artists. Visitors will also discover new video works by contemporary Yanomami filmmakers. These works will appear alongside more than 200 photographs by Claudia Andujar that trace the artist’s encounters with the Yanomami and continue to raise visibility for their struggle to protect their land, people, and culture.
The Yanomami Struggle is organized by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and Instituto Moreira Salles in partnership with the Brazilian NGOs Hutukara Associação Yanomami and Instituto Socioambiental. Throughout the Spring, the Brazil LAB and the Department of Anthropology will help to organize guided tours for student groups to The Yanomami Struggle exhibition at The Shed in New York.
The event at Princeton, The Falling Sky and The Yanomami Struggle, is being organized by the Brazil LAB, the Department of Anthropology, and HMEI, together with other units at Princeton.
Not on campus? Watch the livestream on the Brazil LAB YouTube channel.
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Navigating Energy Transitions: The implications of 1.5°C scenarios for Canada’s Paris-aligned energy transitions
Wednesday, February 1
12:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VNCmNJgPT5WZBIt-Dc85-g
Energy scenarios have a key role to play in guiding the energy transition by informing investor expectations and policy decision making. The recent IISD Navigating Energy Transitions report conducts an unprecedented analysis of the most influential modelled pathways consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C. The research finds that all major 1.5°C scenarios agree: there is no room for new oil and gas development. This conclusion, shared by the International Energy Agency, has important implications for fossil fuel production both globally and in Canada and must be accounted for in Canadian policy-making.
This webinar will unpack key findings from IISD’s report, outline barriers to energy transitions, and highlight solutions to overcome such challenges. Additionally, it will provide Canadian policy-makers and financial institutions with information on how they can navigate the current energy crisis, while maintaining ambition to limit warming to 1.5°C. The event will connect to current policy developments, including the proposed cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector and clean electricity regulations.
Following a presentation of the report’s key findings, panelists will reflect on intersections with key Canadian policy areas and industries, and engage in a moderated discussion on the national implications of 1.5°C energy scenarios.
Agenda
Introduction
Dan Woynillowicz, Principal, Polaris Strategy + Insight
Presentation
Olivier Bois von Kursk, Policy Analyst, IISD
Interventions
Caroline Lee, Research Lead, Mitigation, Canadian Climate Institute
Jan Gorski, Program Director, Oil and Gas, Pembina Institute
Moderated Panel Discussion
Audience Q&A
Closing Remark
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Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott
Wednesday, February 1
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2023-maxine-gordon-fellow-presentation-virtual
Maxine Gordon, a jazz producer, consultant, and scholar, will discuss her work at Radcliffe–a book that presents the genius of four Black women, all jazz musicians taking their places as luminaries in jazz history, who speak for themselves using archival research framed in the “jazz geography” of their lives.
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The Foreign Policy of Technology
Thursday, February 2
10:30 - 11:30am EST
The German Marshall Fund of the United States, 1744 R Street, NW, Washington DC and Online
RSVP at https://www.gmfus.org/event/foreign-policy-technology-ambassador-nate-fick
The Department of State established the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP) to address “the national security challenges, economic opportunities, and implications for US values associated with cyberspace, digital technologies and digital policy.” Its inaugural ambassador at large, Nathaniel C. Fick, is a veteran of the tech industry with in-depth front-line exposure to these policy matters.
The Bureau comes into being just as the need for what GMF Digital refers to as “the foreign policy of technology” becomes clear. The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy calls for creation of a new “techno-industrial alliance” as the weaponization of cyberspace, digital authoritarianism and tech protectionism reveal the need for a robust cyber-diplomacy.
Join us for a discussion with Amb. Fick on Thursday, February 2 at 10:30 am ET at GMF’s offices in Washington DC, with GMF Board Member David Ignatius and GMF Digital Director Karen Kornbluh. The panel will discuss the plan for the new bureau and what it has already accomplished, as well as how it fits into the overall US approach to digital democracy, national security and industrial policy.
This is a hybrid event and in-person space is limited, so guests should register as soon as possible. We will also provide a live stream of the program. If you have any questions, please contact Tony Franquiz at TFranquiz@gmfus.org.
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Interspecies Attentiveness: An Artist Panel Discussion
Thursday, February 2
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street Building E15, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/interspecies-attentiveness-an-artist-panel-discussion-tickets-484363292647
Alan Michelson, Špela Petrič, and Miriam Simun, exhibiting artists in Symbionts: Contemporary Artists and the Biosphere, will convene in a panel discussion exploring interspecies communication and symbiosis.
Whether it is trees offering nectar to tempt bees (Simun), tobacco and its role in human ritual (Michelson), or plants and their gardeners (Petrič), many species engage with the vegetal and offer a form of what Petrič calls “vegetal consciousness.” Exhibition curators Natalie Bell and Caroline A. Jones will guide the discussion to explore human collaborations with varied species and the role of digital media and technologies in facilitating our exploration and pursuit of these ways of knowing, thinking, or communicating beyond the human.
Access the livestream on Thursday, February 2 from 6–7:30 PM EDT. Video recording will with Closed Captions will be available at a later date.
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Cambridge, MA: BEUDO: A Path to Reducing Building Emissions in Cambridge
Thursday, February 2
7:00pm - 8:30 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.mothersoutfront.org/events/cambridge-ma-20230202/
Did you know that buildings account for 80% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions? And that those emissions have been increasing? AND that there’s an upcoming opportunity to reverse that trend?
In the coming months, the City Council will be voting on a set of amendments to the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) that would require owners of large buildings to steadily reduce their fossil fuel emissions.
Please join us for a virtual community meeting on these important amendments.
Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, physician and founding co-director of the Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy, will talk about the public health aspects of emissions and their disproportionate impact on communities of color and lower-income residents in our city.
Seth Federspiel, climate program manager for the City of Cambridge, will give a brief overview of the proposed BEUDO amendments. We’ll also have ample time for questions and discussion.
CONTACT: info.ma.cambridge@mothersoutfront.org
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Wikipedia edit-a-thon on climate change
Friday, February 3
1:00pm to 3:00pm
MIT, Building 14, 14N-132 (DIRC), 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://libcal.mit.edu/calendar/events/wikipedia_iap2023
Wikipedia is now 22 years old and is the largest encyclopedia ever written, providing a free and reliable reference on hundreds of thousands of topics. But it's still incomplete! Come learn how the collaborative website works and how to make contributions. We'll cover how to make edits and improve articles and read Wikipedia with a critical eye, with a focus on climate change information. Articles related to climate change range from articles about technology, to policy and laws, to impacts on particular geographies or environments. We'll go over some areas to get started, how to work with other editors interested in this topic, tips for using the libraries to find reliable sources, and some considerations for writing scientific articles on Wikipedia.
No prior experience with Wikipedia is needed, and contributions in languages other than English are welcome. We will start with a tutorial and overview, and then use the second half of the workshop for hands-on work. Use the computers in the room, or bring your laptop.
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Housing as a Climate Lever, with Scott Wiener
Monday, February 6
9pm EST [6:00 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco and
Online
RSVP at https://commonwealthclub.secure.force.com/ticket/?&_ga=2.248747970.417910296.1671998998-149928173.1643172478#/instances/a0F3j00001c6MuwEAE
Cost: $5
California’s attempt to increase housing and reduce carbon pollution is upsetting the power balance between local and state officials. With new laws empowering Sacramento to require more home construction, cities and counties are scrambling to decide what to build where. It’s getting messy and fraying friendships and alliances.
Would you agree to increased housing density in your neighborhood? How about in the next neighborhood over? Infill development that increases urban density tends to decrease reliance on cars and cut carbon footprints. At the same time, multi-story apartments in urban cores usually cost more per square foot to build than one or two-story houses where land is cheaper. So how do we balance environmental concerns with “neighborhood preservation”? How do racial exclusion and displacement play into the situation?
Join Climate One Host Greg Dalton in conversation with California State Senator Scott Wiener, followed by a panel discussion, as we unpack the connections between housing, climate and justice.
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Using an International Human Rights Framework for Climate Justice Advocacy in the United States
Tuesday, February 7
12:30 pm - 1:15 pm
TBD, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://hls.harvard.edu/events/using-an-international-human-rights-framework-for-climate-justice-advocacy-in-the-united-states/
Frontline communities affected by the climate crisis and other environmental harms may pursue various legal strategies to achieve climate and environmental justice, including both domestic civil rights and international human rights frameworks. Join OPIA for a community discussion with Wasserstein Fellow Maryum Jordan ’14, Climate Justice Attorney at Earthrights International, who will discuss such strategies and share some of her ongoing work with a coalition of Indigenous Tribes threatened by forcible climate displacement. Maryum will also discuss career paths for climate and environmental justice advocacy both in the U.S. and abroad.
Maryum Jordan (She/Her/Hers) first worked at EarthRights from 2014-2018 where she worked in both the Amazon and U.S. offices. During this time, she developed international legal and advocacy strategies with Indigenous community leaders and grassroots organizations in Peru and Ecuador, and represented clients in human rights litigation against multinational corporations. Before her return to EarthRights in 2022, Maryum served as counsel for the Special Litigation and Advocacy Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. There, she supported legal and advocacy strategies in relation to cross-cutting racial justice issues including environmental racism and anti-Blackness in the U.S. immigration system. She also coordinated pro bono assistance to monitor law enforcement activity at demonstrations and to provide support to arrested protestors.
Maryum received her J.D. in 2014 from Harvard Law School where she was actively involved in the International Human Rights Clinic and the Law and International Development Society. She earned her B.A. from Harvard College.
Lunch provided.
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Restoring the Earth’s lungs - How can forests support climate change mitigation?
Wednesday, February 8
8:30am - 9:45am [2:30pm - 3:45pm CET]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventleaf.com/Attendee/Attendee/RegistrationForm?EId=cXSaaZVRGPCGCsHHRnVnkw%3D%3D&SId=a2393b15-ba74-4eae-9a33-42da99bf2cf1
The Nature Restoration Law, the first of its kind, is a proposal adopted by the European Commission in June 2022 which aims to restore damaged ecosystems and revive nature across Europe. The proposal is seen as instrumental in avoiding ecosystem collapse and preventing the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.
According to the European Commission, 80% of European habitats are in poor condition. The proposal aims to cover at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030 with nature restoration measures, and eventually extend these to all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. To reach these targets, while accounting for national circumstances, the law would require Member States to develop National Restoration Plans, in close cooperation with scientists, interested stakeholders and the public.
Forests comprise 45% of European land. They act as the Earth’s lungs by absorbing enormous amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and are vital for combating climate change. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, eliminating emissions from deforestation and increasing carbon removals by promoting forest regrowth and landscape restoration could reduce global emissions by up to 30%.
Forests also provide non-carbon services such as providing water and food security and medicines and materials, regulating global rainfall patterns, and reducing the risk of disasters. They also host more than 50% of the world’s land-based species.
The Life Terra project seeks to plant 500 million trees in Europe. Tree planting is regarded as the most cost-effective solution to capturing carbon. It also supports nature restoration and prevents biodiversity loss.
Join this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to discuss the Commission’s proposal for the Nature Restoration Law in the context of forests. How can tree planting and forest restoration support climate change mitigation? What role can projects like Life Terra play in reaching the Commission's targets, and how can projects like this be replicated elsewhere?
Life Terra is co-financed by the European Commission through the LIFE Programme (LIFE19 CCM/NL/001200).
The content of this publication represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The Agency does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
PANELLISTS
Luisa Samarelli, Head of Unit Nature Conservation, DG ENV, European Commission
Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg MEP, Substitute ENVI Committee, European Parliament
Kelsey Perlman, Forest and Climate Campaigner, FERN
Marta Múgica, Professional planting coordinator, Life Terra
More to be announced soon.
MODERATOR
Niko Kurmayer, Journalist, EURACTIV
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Understanding the threat of white Christian nationalism to American democracy today: Findings from the PRRI and Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey
Wednesday, February 8
10:00 AM EST - 11:30 AM EST
Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Washington, DC and Online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/understanding-the-threat-of-white-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-today/
Join the conversation on Twitter using #WhiteChristianNationalism
The rising influence of white Christian nationalism in some circles of American politics is posing a major threat to the health of our democracy and our culture. A new PRRI/Brookings survey of more than 6,000 Americans takes a closer look at the underpinnings of white Christian nationalism, providing new measures to estimate the proportion of Americans who adhere to and reject Christian nationalist ideology. The survey also examines how Christian nationalist views intersect with white identity, anti-Black sentiment, patriarchy, antisemitism, anti-Muslim sentiments, anti-immigrant attitudes, authoritarianism, and support for violence. Additionally, the survey explores the influence Christian nationalism has among our two political parties and major religious subgroups today.
On February 8, Governance Studies at Brookings and the Public Religion Research Institute will host the release of this new groundbreaking national survey. A panel of experts will discuss the survey results and what they reveal about Christian nationalism, the state of American democracy, and the health of our society.
Viewers can submit questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter at @BrookingsGov by using #WhiteChristianNationalism.
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Rethinking China’s rise, restraints, and resilience
Wednesday, February 8
11:00 AM EST - 12:15 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/rethinking-chinas-rise-restraints-and-resilience/
Join the conversation on Twitter using #RethinkingChina
Over the 40 years since the country opened to the world, China has undergone significant economic, political, and social changes that have led to unprecedented growth. China has become increasingly powerful both domestically and internationally, challenging long-held assumptions about free markets and democratic institutions. Recent geopolitical, ideological, and economic clashes between the U.S. and China have fomented speculation that the world has entered a new Cold War.
On Wednesday, February 8, the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings will host a panel discussion featuring distinguished authors of new books focusing on the historical, political, and economic elements that are shaping the current state of the U.S.-China relationship. They will discuss the factors that have led to China’s drastic transformation and new domestic and external challenges and how they will affect the future of U.S.-China relations and of the world.
Viewers can submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter by using #RethinkingChina.
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Transition in the Food Industry: A Solutions Approach
Wednesday, February 8
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PjYAjtM_TTibfEyxgowwqA
Robert Boer, Director, Blue Horizon
Franco Fubini, CEO, Natoora
Jed Lynch, CFO, 80 Acres Farms
Albert Sparrow, Global Head of Agri & Foodtech - ESG Sustainable Tech, Santander
Matt Myers, Managing Partner, Climate Tech Circle
Ignacio Neri, MS Sustainability Management '23, Columbia Climate School [moderator]
This webinar is hosted by ENVENT, Columbia's Environmental Entrepreneurs student organization.
Event Contact Information:
Ignacio Neri Barranco
jin2112@columbia.edu
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A Digital Green New Deal: Wiring Gaia in the Anthropocene
Wednesday, February 8
12 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9NCIf70hSuCdhW3u6xs0TA
A presentation from 2022–2023 Matina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor Karen Bakker
Bakker is an author, professor, and researcher of environmental governance and innovation. Through a book and web portal, she will explore how the tools of the Digital Age could be mobilized to address some of the most pressing socio-environmental challenges of the Anthropocene, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and water insecurity.
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The Energy Transition and Indigenous Communities in the US and Canada
Wednesday, February 8
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive, New York and Online
RSVP at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/events-calendar/energy-transition-opportunities-and-challenges-indigenous-communities-us-and-canada
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a panel of experts for a discussion about opportunities and risks for indigenous communities in the North American energy transition.
According to the US Department of Energy, wind resources on US tribal lands could meet up to 32% of US electricity needs. Similarly, according to MSCI, 79% of US lithium reserves are located within 35 miles of an Indian reservation. These data highlight the critical role that indigenous peoples and lands will play in the transition to a low carbon economy–in the US and globally.
Our panel will discuss the Biden administration's efforts to strengthen indigenous consultation and environmental justice around natural resources and renewable energy development with US native communities. We will also explore how Canadian indigenous leaders are developing equity-based partnerships to develop renewable energy and critical minerals projects under the principles of Free Prior and Informed Consent–and whether such partnerships can meet the needs of indigenous groups in the US as well as ESG-focused investors and project developers.
Moderator:
Robert Johnston, Executive Director, Columbia SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy
Speakers:
Niilo Edwards, CEO, First Nations Major Projects Coalition
Kate R. Finn, Esq., Executive Director, First Peoples Worldwide, University of Colorado
Chief Sharleen Gale, Chair, First Nations Major Projects Coalition & Chief, Fort Nelson First Nation
Wahleah Johns, Director, Office of Indian Energy Policy, US Department of Energy
Mark Podlasly, Chief Sustainability Officer, First Nations Major Projects Coalition
Gare Smith, Partner and Head of Business & Human Rights Practice, Foley Hoag
This event will be hosted in person in New York City and live-streamed via Zoom. All in-person attendees are required to have received a full COVID-19 vaccination series.
Advance registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email. The event will be recorded and the video recording will be added to our website following the event.
This event is open to the 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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Climate Change and Health: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Friday, February 10
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Online
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ejj7emuf9ab78fcf&oseq=&c=&ch=
As one of the largest economic sectors globally, health care represents nearly 10% of GDP spending across O.E.C.D. countries. This significant activity produces an estimated 5-10% of global greenhouse gases, presenting opportunities to directly reduce this impact through changes to energy supply, waste, purchasing, and care models. Equally important, health care has a special interest in addressing climate change. Across the globe, human health is negatively impacted by the ramifications of climate change, such as heat, storms, flood, and fires. The health care sector must provide leadership on this critical issue to protect and improve the health of its patients.
What should the role of the health care sector be when it comes to climate change policies and advocacy? Dr. Aaron Bernstein and Anand Bhopal discuss the opportunities and challenges.
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Can companies save the planet? Sustainable investment between greenwashing and real impact: Finance Company climate claims
Wednesday, February 15
10am - 11:30 am EST [16.00-17.30 CET]
Online
RSVP at https://www.cleanenergywire.org/events/can-companies-save-planet-sustainable-investment-between-greenwashing-and-real-impact
Sign up for our journalists' webinar! Many companies worldwide claim that they are caring for climate and environment. They promise climate and carbon neutrality not only for toothpaste or travel, but also products from the financial sector. As part of Clean Energy Wire's focus series on company climate claims, the 3rd joint online event in collaboration with the German Sustainable Finance Research Platform will take a close look at the investment side of these promises.
Journalists who want to gain deeper insights into the pitfalls of greenwashing in the financial sector and get a better grip on the validity of climate claims and impact investments are invited to join us on 15 February 2023.
Launch of the first euro banknotes. Photo: ECB
The narrative of climate action’s impact on the economy has been turned upside down in recent years, as a growing number of companies see environmental credentials as an asset and a vehicle to attract investors that are looking for sustainable options to put their money into. As advertisement billboards and product brochures become awash in climate claims and sustainability labels, guidance by journalists on how to differentiate between legitimate efforts and mere greenwashing of business practices is needed more than ever. To fulfil this role, journalists must equip themselves with the necessary tools for unpicking climate claims in finance and understanding how developments in the abstract world of banking and investment eventually translate into concrete emissions reduction – or not.
At the 3rd installment of a joint online event series by the German Sustainable Finance Research Platform and Clean Energy Wire, we aim to provide some of this equipment to reporters who are keen on exposing false claims and giving credit to honest corporate climate action when it is deserved. Verena von Ondarza, a reporter for German public broadcaster NDR who spent an entire year piecing together the status quo of sustainable finance journalism, together with two leading academics in the field, Alexander Bassen and Timo Busch from the University of Hamburg, will share their expertise on the practical and theoretical tools for making sense of this complex topic. Journalists attending our session will learn about:
The DWS story – how German media portrays one of the first sustainability lawsuits in the financial sector
Common misconceptions about greenwashing and their consequences
The true impact of impact investments and how it can be measured
Why mandatory sustainability reporting could become a tipping point for climate action
What the EU plans to do against greenwashing risks
AGENDA
16.00 - 16.10
Welcome and opening words
By Benjamin Wehrmann, Clean Energy Wire
16.10 - 16.30
Reporting on Sustainable Finance – Understanding market mechanisms and detecting greenwashing
By Verena von Ondarza, German public broadcaster NDR and Sustainable Finance Journalism Fellow at Stiftung Mercator
Key points:
Case Study: How German Media report on Sustainable Finance Products and Greenwashing
Great Expectations on the impact of Sustainable Finance and how common misunderstandings may produce greenwashing allegations
Baseline for detecting real greenwashing
Followed by Q&A
16.30 - 16.50
Identifying real impact - how the financial sector could play a substantial role in fostering sustainability in the non-financial sector
By Timo Busch, Professor of management & sustainability at the University of Hamburg; scientific advisor on climate for the German government
Key points:
Study on real impact of impact funds
How do these insights affect our understanding of the financial sector‘s impact on real world problems?
How to distinguish different types of impact?
Followed by Q&A
16.50 - 17.10
The case for transparency: Why all companies should care about sustainability reporting & how this could increase the financial sector's impact
By Alexander Bassen, Professor of capital markets and management at the University of Hamburg; co-developer of EU's Sustainability Reporting Standards
Key points:
Why upscaling impact needs a broader base of sustainability information
The concept of double materiality
At a turning point: mandatory sustainability reporting is on the rise
Followed by Q&A
17.10 - 17.25 Open debate & question time
17.25 - 17.30 Conclusion and outlook
SPEAKERS
Verena von Ondarza is Fellow of Stiftung Mercator for Sustainable Finance in Journalism. As freelance reporter she works for German Public Broadcasting ARD (television) and NDR info (radio) and tagesschau.de. She is observing the development of the surging market for sustainable finance products including regulatory loopholes, discussions on Greenwashing and and real impact. Verena von Ondarza has studied economics at Humboldt University and the University of Hamburg.
Prof. Dr. Timo Busch is professor for business administration at University of Hamburg and senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth of University of Zurich. Before he worked for ETH Zürich and the Wuppertal Institute. He is member of the steering committee on the Science Platform Climate Protection advising the German government as well as member of the editorial board of the journals Organization & Environment, Journal of Business Ethics, and Business Strategy and the Environment.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Bassen is a full professor of capital markets and management at the University of Hamburg. He teaches courses in financeand investment, ESG and capital markets and reporting. Alex is a member of the German Council for Sustainable Development – advisory body of the German Federal Government, the Sustainable Finance Advisory Council of the German Federal Government, the German Advisory Council on Global Change of the German Federal Government, and the EFRAG Project Task Force EU Sustainability Reporting Standard (PTF ESRS). He is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Oxford (Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment) and a Visiting Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
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Analyzing Earth’s “Fine Prints”: Utilization of High-Resolution Geological Records to Elucidate Future Climate Change
Wednesday, February 22
12 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A7BBrsp_REmCFoEpXfR0dg
A presentation from 2022–2023 William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow Hong Yang
Yang is recognized for his interdisciplinary work in paleoclimate research. He will use an integrated biogeochemical, paleobiological, and modeling approach to analyze decadal-scale atmospheric CO2, temperature, and other biological and ecological records within a millennium during the middle Miocene global warming period, some 15 million years ago, to contextualize high-resolution paleoclimate data in modeling future global climate changes.
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Business Climate Challenge Energy Management Workshop
Tuesday, February 21
8am - 10am [13:00 – 15:00 GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/business-climate-challenge-energy-management-workshop-tickets-513925514047
Participants of the Mayor's Business Climate Challenge are invited to join an Energy Management Workshop.
The Mayor’s Business Climate Challenge (BCC) is an energy efficiency programme supporting businesses across London reduce their energy consumption by 10% to accelerate progress towards the city’s net zero target.
Emissions from heating and powering London’s commercial and industrial buildings currently make up 36% of the capital’s carbon footprint. Decarbonising the city’s building stock is pivotal to reach the Mayor's net zero target by 2030 and ensure a green and clean recovery from the pandemic and support green jobs.
Every business participating in the BCC will receive an energy audit, a report detailing energy-reducing recommendations, guides, training, and access to the io-gen energy management tool.
This training session will focus on energy management, how to use the io-gen platform to understand energy use in the building, identify wasted energy and monitor energy savings.
By taking part in this FREE training session, you will learn:
How energy is being used in your business, its cost and associated carbon emissions.
How to measure energy consumption and understand your business's energy bills
How to log, monitor and track energy use
How to share your energy use with staff and other stakeholders
How to use energy data to reduce waste and improve efficiency
In addition, you will meet and network with other businesses on a similar energy saving journey, allowing you to share learning and experience.
Please note that the event will be recorded and circulated for your training benefit, so please keep your cameras off if you wish not to be recorded.
Full details about the Mayor's Business Climate Challenge service can be found here: www.businesshub.london/resource/business-climate-challenge/
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Nomad Century - How to Survive the Climate Upheaval
Tuesday, February 21
1pm - 2:30pm EST [6:00 PM – 7:30 PM GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nomad-century-how-to-survive-the-climate-upheaval-gaia-vince-tickets-470953403307
In Conversation with prize-winning author Gaia Vince - Exploring how migration is the solution to the seismic consequences of climate change
NOMAD CENTURY is an urgent investigation of the most underreported, seismic consequence of climate change: how it will force us to change where – and how – we live. Gaia Vince’s latest book is packed with solutions and also a rousing call to arms, describing how we can plan for and manage the now unavoidable climate migration while we restore the planet to a fully habitable state.
In partnership, ENORB is hosting a conversation with Gaia to explore her urgent species emergency investigation. With every degree of temperature rise, a billion people will be displaced from areas in which humans have lived for thousands of years. While we must do everything we can to mitigate climate change impacts, the brutal truth is that huge swathes of the world are becoming uninhabitable. From Bangladesh to Sudan to the western United States, the quadruple threat of drought, heat, wildfires and flooding will utterly reshape Earth’s human geography in coming decades.
In this rousing call to arms, the Royal Science Book-prize winning author Gaia Vince describes how we can plan for and manage this unavoidable climate migration while we restore the planet to a fully habitable state. The vital message of Gaia’s book is that migration is not the problem – it’s the solution. Please see Gaia's 8 point Manifesto taken from her book.
Come and discuss this with us. The conversation will be moderated and led by ENORB Director Mark Ereira-Guyer, Moussa Sangare and Haja Nana Salifu Dagarti. Moussa is the President & Co-ordinator of the Ivorian Community of Greece and Board member of the Greek Forum of Refugees. Haja Nana is the founder and director of the Salifu Dagarti Foundation, an environmentalist, agriculturalist, business coach, human rights activist and also a UN fellow. She is also an officer of the Global African Congress UK.
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Inclusive Insurance: A U.S. Roadmap for Climate-Related Disasters
February 22
1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://ceres-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YC5oVPDiSNmxdRrZtjUJ7A
Over the past year, the U.S. has experienced how climate-driven disasters threaten lives and livelihoods, from devastating hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico to catastrophic flooding in California. These types of acute climate shocks cause disproportionate harm to people with lower-income and people of color, driven by historical disinvestment, less resilient building stock, and less access to financial resources.
Insurance is one important tool for financial protection from the economic shocks of disasters. However, many people most in need of economic resources for recovery face a disaster insurance system that is inaccessible, unaffordable, and not designed for their needs. A new report by Ceres offers a roadmap for how local, state, and federal regulators and policymakers can improve the disaster insurance system to make it more inclusive.
We will hear from public and private sector experts about the state of disaster recovery in the U.S. and the role insurance plays in financial protection, discuss where our current insurance system falls short in protecting those households most harmed by climate-driven disasters, and explore the opportunities for change within our current regulatory, legal, and market structures.
During this webinar, participants will:
Understand the state of the disaster insurance gap in the U.S. and who is affected.
Explore different perspectives on the drivers of disaster insurance gaps.
Understand what role federal, state, and private sector leaders can play given the U.S. insurance regulatory structure.
Gather insights into promising policy and regulatory actions at both the federal and state level.
Featuring:
Moderator: Steven Rothstein (Ceres)
Carolyn Kousky (EDF)
Yommy Chiu (Swiss Re)
Reese May (SBP)
Daniel Schwarcz (UMN School of Law)
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Paul R. Ehrlich's Life: A Journey through Science and Politics
Thursday, February 23
8:30PM [5:30 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Family Auditorium, San Francisco and Online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2023-02-23/paul-r-ehrlichs-life-journey-through-science-and-politics
Cost: $10 - $50
A renowned scientist and environmental advocate looks back on a life that has straddled the worlds of science and politics.
Acclaimed as a public scientist and as a spokesperson on pressing environmental and equity issues, Paul R. Ehrlich reflects on his life, from his love affair with his wife Anne, to his scientific research, public advocacy, and concern for global issues. Interweaving the range of his experiences—as an airplane pilot, a desegregationist, a proud parent—Ehrlich’s offers valuable insights on pressing issues such as biodiversity loss, overpopulation, depletion of resources, and deterioration of the environment. A lifelong advocate for women’s reproductive rights, Ehrlich also helped to debunk scientific bias associating skin color and intelligence and warned some 50 years ago about a possible pandemic and the likely ecological consequences of a nuclear war.
His new book Life: A Journey Through Science and Politics, focuses on the human predicament, including problems of governance and democracy in the 21st century, and insight into the ecological and evolutionary science of our day. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding global change, our planet’s wonders, and a scientific approach to the present existential threats to civilization.
Paul Ehrlich is the Bing Professor of Population Studies, Emeritus, and president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. He has carried out field, laboratory and theoretical research on the dynamics and genetics of insect populations, the evolutionary interactions of plants and herbivores, the behavioral ecology of birds and reef fishes, the effects of crowding on human beings, human cultural evolution, and health problems related to industrialization. He is author and co-author of more than 1,100 scientific papers and articles and more than 40 books. Ehrlich is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Among his many other honors is the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Crafoord Prize. He has appeared on more than 1,000 TV and radio programs and was a correspondent for NBC News.
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Are Economic and Judicial Sanctions Effective in Combatting Authoritarianism? Evidence from Venezuela, Hungary & Poland
Monday, February 27
1 to 2:15 PM
BU, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/european/2023/01/21/are-economic-and-judicial-sanctions-effective-in-combatting-authoritarianism-evidence-from-venezuela-hungary-poland-02-27-23/
Lunch provided.
Join us for a a Panel Discussion with Bojan Bugaric, Professor of Law, University of Sheffield; Javier Corrales, Dwight W. Morrow 1895 professor of Political Science, Amherst College, and Fernanda G. Nicola, Professor of Law, Washington College of Law, American University. Moderated by Daniela Caruso, Professor of Law, Boston University.
Are Economic and Judicial Sanctions Effective in Combatting Authoritarianism? Evidence from Venezuela, Hungary & Poland
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When Wounds Travel: Ecologies of War and Healthcare East of the Mediterranean
Wednesday, March 1
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2023-omar-dewachi-fellow-presentation-virtual
Omar Dewachi. 2022–2023 Hrdy Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; associate professor of medical anthropology and global health, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Trained in medicine and anthropology, Omar Dewachi works at the intersections of global health, history of medicine, and political anthropology. In this online lecture, he will conduct a critical historical and ethnographic exploration of the biopolitical unravelings following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and its reverberations across the region, focusing on the individual, collective, and institutional struggles to cope with, and care for, war-related afflictions.
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A Clean Energy Workforce and the Path to Equity
Thursday, March 2
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EST
Kleinman Center for Energy Policy 220 S. 34th St. University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-clean-energy-workforce-and-the-path-to-equity-registration-518131815207
Please note this is a hybrid event. We look forward to welcoming guests to the Kleinman Center’s Energy Forum. In accordance with the University of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 guidelines, masks are optional for all visitors. PennOpen Pass and PennOpen Campus screenings are no longer required for entry to our events. Further details for joining in-person or virtually will be emailed with your registration. Boxed lunches will be available to go following the event!
Electricity is central to society—for organizing, communicating, working, and providing care. Depending on how we design and implement it, energy infrastructure can either enrich or impoverish a society.
In this talk, energy justice scholar Nikki Luke chronicles how subsidized worker training programs in the South, modeled after Van Jones’s “green jobs, not jails” program, grew a workforce of laborers in utilities, energy efficiency, and solar panel manufacturing. Based on interviews and observational data with union, charitable, and community college job training providers in Georgia, Luke demonstrates that more work must be done to instill high-road labor practices in the South, curtail geographical competition at the expense of workers, and support a social wage.
Speaker
Nikki Luke is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Luke is a 2022-2023 Kleinman Center Visiting Scholar.
