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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Index
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Boston Design Week
Tuesday, April 25 - May 7
https://www.bostondesignweek.com/
Anticipating and acting on ocean and marine ecosystem change
Monday, May 1
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54, 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://calendar.mit.edu/event/paoc_colloquium_-_charles_stock_gfdl#.ZEslhC-B2c4
Solve at MIT: Opening Plenary
Thursday, May 4
1:00pm to 2:30pm
MIT, Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenure, Cambridge, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://solve.mit.edu/events/solve-at-mit-2023/custom/public-plenary#page-subnav
Designing Parks for Green Transportation
Presented by Esplanade Association
Thursday, May 4
4:00PM to 5:00PM
Online
RSVP: https://bit.ly/3ZmBbR0
Education, Truth, and the Future of Democracy
Thursday, May 4
4:30 – 6 p.m. ET
Harvard, Askwith Hall, Longfellow Building, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA
Greenwashing, carbon capitalism and the role of PR
Friday, May 5
8:00 - 9:30 EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/greenwashing-carbon-capitalism-and-the-role-of-pr-tickets-597797617767
Landscape Architecture + Climate Action in New England; A Virtual Summit
Friday, May 5
11:00AM to 2:00PM
Online
RSVP: https://landscapearchitectureclimateaction.eventbrite.com
Wake Up the Earth Festival 2023
Saturday, May 6
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street, Boston, MA
More information at https://www.spontaneouscelebrations.org/calendar/wute-2023
Warheads to Windmills: Preventing climate catastrophe and nuclear war
Sunday, May 7
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuceGqqzsrGtGLoV5dQNMz784MYw1ljiHx#/registration
Harvard Climate Action Week
Monday, May 8 - Thursday, May 11
https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/hcaw/
Climate, Health & Equity: Toward a sustainable future
Monday, May 8
1 – 6 p.m.
Spangler Center, Harvard Business School, 117 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_00L3j2Rfrik5ELs
Energy Seminar: A Personal Reflection on Thirty Years of Energy Transitions - Michael Morgan
Monday, May 8
1:30pm to 2:20pm [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, NVIDIA Auditorium, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA
and Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/energy_seminar_Mike_Morgan
Next in Food Sustainability and Climate Change
Monday, May 8
2 PM ET
Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
and Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2023-next-in-food-sustainability-and-climate-change-program
Toward Heartier Food Crops: Pursuing Non-Genetic Regulation of Plant Traits
Tuesday, May 9
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Online
RSVP at RSVP at https://events.eventzilla.net/e/toward-heartier-food-crops-2138594460
Morison Prize and Lecture with danah boyd: Made, Not Found: Grappling with the Vulnerabilities of Data
Monday, May 8
4:00pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Wong Auditorium, E51-115, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA
The Politics of Trash: How Governments Used Corruption to Clean Cities, 1890–1929
Monday, May 8
6:00PM - 7:00PM
MA Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/politics-trash-how-governments-used-corruption-clean-cities-1890-1929
Cost: $0 - $10
Creative Solutions for Sustainable Urban Environments
Tuesday, May 9
10:30 - 11:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-solutions-for-sustainable-urban-environments-tickets-605087732697
Energy innovation for a net-zero future
Tuesday, May 9
5:30 - 7:30pm
MIT, Stata Center; Kirsch Auditorium (32-123), 32 Vassar Street Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/energy-innovation-for-a-net-zero-future-tickets-560650158717
Getting to Zero
Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12
Minneapolis Marriott City Center, Minnesota
and Online
RSVP at https://gettingtozeroforum.org/
Cost: $75 - $1000
MA Tech 15
Wednesday, May 10
9:15am - 3:15pm
750 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://masstech15.splashthat.com/
Learning for Impact — Filling the Green Skills Gap for Climate Resilience
Wednesday, May 10
5:30pm to 7pm
Northeastern, Arlington Campus, 1300 17th Street North, Suite 1500, Arlington, VA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-for-impact-filling-the-green-skills-gap-for-climate-resilience-tickets-612301910497
Floodplain Futures: Flood Insurance and the Economy of Climate Change
Thursday, May 11
1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/floodplain-futures-flood-insurance-and-the-economy-of-climate-change-tickets-579261585997
If Science Created Climate Change, Can Science Solve it?
Thursday, May 11
4:30 - 7:30pm EDT
Venture Cafe: CIC Cambridge One Broadway, 5th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142
More information at: https://venturecafecambridge.org/event/the-future-of-climate-change-where-earth-and-space-collide/
Green Infrastructure: How can we build a sustainable future?
Tuesday, May 16
9:00 - 10:30 EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-infrastructure-how-can-we-build-a-sustainable-future-tickets-576208393817
Taking on Climate Lies
Tuesday, May 16
9am - 4pm EDT
BU, Center for Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) 665 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taking-on-climate-lies-tickets-600702115197
EBC Ascending Professionals Webinar: Ecological Restoration 101
Tuesday, May 16
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-ascending-professionals-webinar-ecological-restoration-101/#registration-details
Reversing the Rivers: A Memoir of History, Hope, and Human Rights
Thursday, May 18
11:00 AM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/reversing-rivers-memoir-history-hope-and-human-rights
Survival of the Quickest: How Climate Change Has Shaped Evolution
Wednesday, May 18
6:30 p.m.
Online on Zoom or YouTube Live
RSVP at https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminars/2022/may-18-survival-of-the-quickest-how-climate-change-has-shaped-evolution/
Global sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide by semi-arid forestation
Wednesday, May 31
4 - 6pm BST
Imperial College London Exhibition Road London SW7 2BX United Kingdom
and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-sequestration-of-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-by-semi-arid-forestation-tickets-588143883187
Full Listings
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Boston Design Week
Tuesday, April 25 - May 7
https://www.bostondesignweek.com/
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Anticipating and acting on ocean and marine ecosystem change
Monday, May 1
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54, 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://calendar.mit.edu/event/paoc_colloquium_-_charles_stock_gfdl#.ZEslhC-B2c4
PAOC Colloquium - Charles Stock (GFDL)
Climate change projections have argued cogently that the ocean at this century’s end will be far different than the ocean that began it. Many projected ocean changes, including warming ocean temperatures, sea ice declines, more corrosive waters, and fisheries on the move, have shifted from looming threats to contemporary challenges. Climate-informed decisions are needed for resilient marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Recent studies provide compelling evidence that current ocean and climate models can anticipate numerous facets of ocean and marine ecosystem change across decision-relevant time horizons from days to decades. Use of ocean models and predictions to directly inform marine ecosystem decisions, however, remains limited. To address this, ocean prediction systems need to be developed within a sustained end-to-end workflow that allows for efficient dissemination of predictions, continuous evaluation against robust coastal observing capabilities, and continuous feedback from stakeholders to ensure models are fit-to-task. Coastal ecosystems have an outsized importance to marine resources, but the pervasive push for finer model grids to better resolve these systems must be tempered by the necessity for predictions that span the range of ocean futures, and models that are comprehensive enough to capture the diverse drivers and mechanisms underlying marine ecosystem change. These manifold requirements will demand effective integration of global and regional modeling approaches, and coastal observing systems that balance innovation with sustained monitoring needs. NOAA has proposed the Climate Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) to help meet these challenges and provide the national-scale modeling and decision support system needed to effectively anticipate and act on marine ecosystem change.
About this series: The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Contact paoc-colloquium-comm@mit.edu for more information and Zoom password.
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Solve at MIT: Opening Plenary
Thursday, May 4
1:00pm to 2:30pm
MIT, Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenure, Cambridge, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://solve.mit.edu/events/solve-at-mit-2023/custom/public-plenary#page-subnav
The Opening Plenary for Solve at MIT 2023 is open to the public and MIT Community. Schedule available at https://solve.mit.edu/events/solve-at-mit-2023/schedule#page-subnav
Solve at MIT 2023 is an inspiring, interactive three-day event that brings together our Solve community and cross-sectors leaders from around the world committed to solving global challenges. Over the course of the event, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leaders in social impact, connect with innovators looking to scale their solutions, form partnerships with like-minded individuals and organizations, and learn about the upcoming 2023 Global Challenges.
Our annual Global Challenges are open to anyone, anywhere in the world. Through an open innovation platform, we source tech-based ideas, businesses, or products that solve urgent global problems. The most promising social entrepreneurs from across the world are chosen to join our Solver class in the areas of Economic Prosperity, Climate, Learning, and Health. Solve also selects a group of Indigenous Communities Fellows who are helping to make Native communities in the US thrive.
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Designing Parks for Green Transportation
Presented by Esplanade Association
Thursday, May 4
4:00PM to 5:00PM
Online
RSVP: https://bit.ly/3ZmBbR0
This virtual panel will feature a conversation and Q&A session with representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, community non-profits, public realm designers, and transportation planners. Join us to learn more about how park design projects can contribute to "green transportation" networks with shared-use paths that accommodate people on foot, and on wheels -- without sacrificing safety for park visitors. Attendees will hear about an innovative 2022 pilot project which used custom-designed painted symbols to encourage visitors to slow down, share paths, and look out for one another in Massachusetts' most popular state park.
Moderator Gerald Autler is Director of Trails and Greenways at DCR, which builds and manages trails and shared-use paths across the Commonwealth. Gerald lives in Boston and uses his bicycle as his primary mode of transportation within the city.
Panelist Alysoun Wright is an Associate at Stoss Landscape Urbanism and a registered architect. She holds a dual-degree Master in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning from Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and a BS in Architecture and a Master of Architecture from Northeastern.
Panelist Jessica Mortell is a Principal at Neighborways Design, with a mission to help communities build networks of traffic-calmed streets that are inviting for people of all ages, and prioritize biking and walking.
Panelist Alyson Fletcher brings an interdisciplinary approach to transportation planning at Nelson Nygaard. She has expertise in multimodal, parking, and transportation demand projects as well as designs for improved intersections and streetscape facilities.
Panelist Alison Badrigian is the Director of Projects & Planning at the Esplanade Association. The Esplanade Association is a Boston-based nonprofit that works to revitalize and enhance the Charles River Esplanade, sustain its natural green space, and build community in the park in partnership with DCR.
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Education, Truth, and the Future of Democracy
Thursday, May 4
4:30 – 6 p.m. ET
Harvard, Askwith Hall, Longfellow Building, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA
What roles can schools and universities play in helping to shore up democracies — whether in the United States or in countries around the world? Schools should be — can be — key engines for knowledge-building and for producing engaged democratic citizens. What challenges do they face in achieving these aims — and what can we learn from their failures, both historically and today? How should we think about current political activity — from governors and university presidents to legislative sessions to local school board meetings — focused very specifically on education policies and practices? When the political discourse includes K-12 and college curricula, counseling services, bathroom and sports team access, book selection, equity and inclusion policies, school safety, tenure policies, and school and university governance, it begs the question: Are these admirable exercises of democratic activism by engaged citizens, attacks on education in service of misinformation and demonstrable untruths — or both (or neither)? At this pivotal time for education ethics and civic engagement, join us for a rich conversation that will explore these and other critical questions and help put each of us on a path to contribute to a positive path forward.
Speakers
Neema Avashia, Ethnic Studies Coach, Boston Public Schools
Sigal Ben-Porath, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History, Yale University
John Silvanus Wilson, Jr., Executive Director of Millennium Leadership Initiative, American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Host
Meira Levinson, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society, Harvard Graduate School of Education
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Greenwashing, carbon capitalism and the role of PR
Friday, May 5
8:00 - 9:30 EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/greenwashing-carbon-capitalism-and-the-role-of-pr-tickets-597797617767
The climate crisis is an existential threat for all who inhabit the planet. For marginalised regions, nations and social groups, the intensity of the threat has been felt more keenly than by those who are already privileged. These inequalities are due not only to the political economy of climate change mitigation and adaptation, but also to the media and communications ecology that surrounds and supports climate discourse in variable ways. Research on media representations of climate change effects has already demonstrated the ways in which coverage privileges western-driven understandings of climate, nature, and human life, and stops short of calling for the fundamental change that is required for planetary survival. In this panel discussion, we add to this work by exploring how the public relations profession has facilitated climate narratives that obfuscate, while perpetuating technodeterministic solutionism that protects corporate ambition and sacrifices the collective good. We contrast such anti-planetary work with a discussion of how public relations strategies and tactics are used by activist groups that fight greenwashing and carbon capitalism to create genuine change that supports, rather than endangers, our collective futures.
Participants
Melissa Aronczyk is an associate professor in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University. She is the co-author (with Maria I. Espinoza) of A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of American Environmentalism (Oxford University Press, 2022); and chairs the Greenwashing Working Group for the Climate Social Science Network. Her research has been profiled on the BBC and in The Nation; Grist; Foreign Policy; the Washington Post; and other national and international outlets. Her research articles can be accessed at melissaaronczyk.com. Melissa’s talk will focus on the historical legacy of greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry and its impact on current efforts by major companies to promote green initiatives. How do organizations combine green claims with green action in the contemporary context?
Clea Bourne is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research explores how digital economies and markets are mediatised. Her current work explores the public legitimisation of discourses surrounding digital technologies, the impact of AI and automation in media and promotional industries, and the rise of fintech markets and ‘frictionless finance’. She is the author of Public Relations and the Digital: Professional Discourse and Change, and Trust, Power and Public Relations in Financial Markets. She is also co-editor of The Entangled Legacies of Empire: Race, finance and inequality (Manchester University Press). Dr Bourne will explore PR’s role in organising silence and invisibility around the high-tech industry’s massive industrial formations, highlighting recent examples of digital greenwashing and machine washing including market practices such as techno-hype (e.g. ChatGPT). Drawing on feminist perspectives, Dr Bourne will argue that PR work supports structures of power at the intersection of the high-tech industry, global capital markets and national state policies, and that a more sustainable future for PR must acknowledge its duty of care to the planet and the quality of life therein.
Benedetta Brevini PhD is Associate Professor of political economy of communication at the University of Sydney and Senior Visiting Senior Fellow LSE, Department of Media and Communication. Before joining the academy, she worked as journalist in Milan, New York and London for CNBC, RAI and the Guardian. She is the author of several books including Is AI good for the Planet (2022), Amazon:Understanding a Global Communication Giant (2020), Public Service Broadcasting online (2013) and the editor of Beyond Wikileaks (2013), Carbon Capitalism and Communication: Confronting Climate Crisis (2017), Climate Change and the Media (2018). She is currently working on a new volume for Polity entitled “Communication systems, Technology and the climate emergency”.
Paulina Magaña Carbajal is Nutritional Health Campaign Coordinator at El Poder del Consumidor, Mexico. El Poder del Consumidor is an activist organisation that addresses industry interference and conflicts of interest from food companies. Paulina’s work focuses on advocacy in food policies, with an emphasis on obesity and industry interference. She has participated in many policy processes in Mexico, including the adoption of warning labels on ultra-processed foods and changes to Mexican laws and regulations. She trained as a nutritionist, and has a master's degree in Public Health from the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico.
Jotham Keleino is an environmental activist based in Papua New Guinea. He has worked in Morobe Provincial Government as a Special Duties Officer, and as a Researcher and Sustainable Development Advocate in Morobe Province and PNG more widely. His current role supports the Evangelical Lutheran Church in PNG in their campaigns addressing social and environmental injustice. He has played a central role in the campaign against the Wafi-Golpu Deep Sea Tailing Placement (see https://www.nowafigolpudstp.org/), which would result in tones of mine waste being dumped into the Huon Gulf. Jotham will discuss the campaign, its successes and challenges, and the ongoing struggle against mining companies’ practices in Papua New Guinea.
The panel will be chaired by Professor Lee Edwards, who is Professor of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where she also serves as Director of Graduate Studies and Programme Director for the MSc Strategic Communications. For queries, please email media.events@lse.ac.uk.
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Landscape Architecture + Climate Action in New England; A Virtual Summit
Friday, May 5
11:00AM to 2:00PM
Online
RSVP: https://landscapearchitectureclimateaction.eventbrite.com
Join us for the second annual virtual, regional summit to discuss climate action through landscape architecture & design in New England. (Held this year in conjunction with Boston Design Week!)
Climate change is here. Our outdoor spaces, from backyards to schoolyards, parks to forests to watersheds, have vital roles to play in mitigation and adaptation.
As a professional community of designers, planners, engineers, scientists, policy makers, advocates, academics, students -- landscape architects and many, many more -- working in Massachusetts and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and Vermont and Connecticut and beyond, what are you seeing in your work now?
As we consider the New England landscape, where do we need to go?
The summit invites participants from across our region to discuss climate ISSUES, current and projected, that cities and towns, rural and suburban areas are experiencing in the landscape today, along with ACTIONS that are underway, and that need to grow. Keynote speakers and a lively series of “lightning talks” will share a lively array of projects, and we’ll discuss measuring IMPACT; a vital design consideration as we look ahead.
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Wake Up the Earth Festival 2023
Saturday, May 6
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street, Boston, MA
More information at https://www.spontaneouscelebrations.org/calendar/wute-2023
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Warheads to Windmills: Preventing climate catastrophe and nuclear war
Sunday, May 7
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuceGqqzsrGtGLoV5dQNMz784MYw1ljiHx#/registration
Climate catastrophe and nuclear war are two existential threats that could end human civilization as we know it. Both of these threats have been exacerbated by the ongoing war in Ukraine, but nuclear war could happen at any moment, whether on purpose or by accident. And global carbon emissions continue to rise despite all the many efforts to reduce them.
How do we convince the general public to take these threats more seriously? How do we get politicians to address these threats with the urgency and boldness they require? Can we be more effective working together, for instance in pushing for divestment from both fossil fuels and nuclear weapons?
This webinar aims to bring together some of the leading organizations and activists working on these two crucially important issues to discuss how we can better collaborate and coordinate our efforts to save the planet from these existential threats before it is too late. There will be break-out rooms to help us connect to some of the campaigns that are already ongoing.
Program
4:00 Welcomes and introduction
4:05 Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis of the Poor People’s Campaign will introduce the urgency of addressing climate change and nuclear weapons within the context of crushing inequalities, the scourge of racism and so many other pressing issues that need to be addressed.
4:10 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of DC will introduce her 2023 Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Conversion Bill, H.R. 2775
4:15 Timmon Wallis of NuclearBan.US will introduce the newly revised and updated report: Warheads to Windmills: Preventing Climate Catastrophe and Nuclear War
4:20 Medea Benjamin of CodePink will discuss how rising tensions with Russia and China are increasing the risks of nuclear war and undermining international collaboration to address the climate crisis
4:25 Natalie Mebane of Greenpeace will talk about the need for climate and anti-nuclear activists to work together to address these two existential threats
4:30 Roundtable discussion on how we can better collaborate and coordinate efforts to address these two issues and the links between them, featuring:
Kevin Martin, President, Peace Action
Ivana Hughes, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
David Swanson, Executive Director, World Beyond War
Jill Stein, Green Party
Jim Rine, Veterans for Peace
Christian Ciobanu, Reversing the Trend
Nicholas Mele, Pax Christi
Joe Hodgkin, MD, Back from the Brink
Alex Rafalowicz, Fossil Fuel Treaty
Susan Theberge, Climate Action Now
Jackie Cabasso, Mayors for Peace
5:00 Break-out Rooms giving participants an opportunity to speak, ask questions and discuss some of the on-going and proposed projects that focus on addressing these two existential threats.
Room 1: Collaboration between climate and anti-nuclear activists – Continuation of the discussion in the main room
Room 2: People Over Pentagon – follow-up webinar program – Jonathan King
Room 3: Pressuring the Profiteers – Vicki Elson
Room 4: Lobbying Congress to support Norton bill – Timmon Wallis
Room 5: Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons and Climate Commission in Mass – Kathleen Hamill
Room 6: Mayors for Peace and other efforts at municipal level – Jackie Cabasso
Room 7: National Back from the Brink campaign – Joe Hodgkin
Room 8: PSR program on climate and nuclear weapons – Brita Lundberg
Room 9: VFP Climate Crisis and Militarism project – Jim Rine
Room 10: Other ideas welcome
5:30 Conclusion and end of the webinar
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Harvard Climate Action Week
Monday, May 8 - Thursday, May 11
https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/hcaw/
May 8, 2023 | 8:00 am – 5:00 pm ET
Harvard Climate Leadership Summit: Creating the Climate Future
Emerging Climate Leaders
At the first annual Harvard Climate Leadership Summit on May 8th, student leaders from across Harvard will launch a student – led platform for collaboration in the climate space. The Harvard Climate Leadership Summit will convene students and decision – makers across industry, government, and civil society to cultivate a rising generation of climate leadership. Click the “learn more” button to register and view more details.
May 8, 2023 | 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Climate, Health, and Equity: Toward a Sustainable Future
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
This symposium will bring together leading researchers and policy makers to explore the interplay between planetary and public health — with a rigorous focus on solutions. Keynote speaker Heather McTeer Toney, vice president for community engagement at the Environmental Defense Fund, will end the program with a clarion call for climate justice, as together we work to build a more sustainable future. Open to the public; please click “learn more” to register for the in-person symposium and see our full agenda.
May 8, 2023 | 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET
Next in Food Sustainability and Climate Change
Harvard Radcliffe Institute
What does climate change mean for our food systems? How do our food production and consumption habits contribute to the climate crisis? The four speakers in this year’s program will explore the complex interplay of food and climate change, challenging and illuminating our unsustainable relationships with meat and water, soil and sea. The presentations will adopt both regional and international perspectives – from the depletion of fish stocks in the United States to crop failures in rural communities in the Global South – while highlighting mitigation and adaptation strategies in these areas. In – person & Virtual sessions open to the public.
May 8, 2023 | 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Urban Green Space as a Climate (and Equity) Solution
Harvard Division of Continuing Education
Please join us for a virtual panel discussion on May 8, 2023, from 3-4pm ET as part of Harvard University’s Climate Action Week. Urban parks and green spaces are a key solution to climate change because they reduce the Urban Heat Island effect, mitigate flooding and damage from weather-related disasters, and increase the mental and physical health of the people living in these communities. Delivering both a climate change and an equity solution, our speakers will discuss the benefits of urban green spaces, some challenges in implementing these nature-based climate solutions, including displacement and gentrification, and how communities can scale up this vital climate change solution. Hear about these solutions from: Diane Regas, CEO, Trust for Public Land; Dr. Isabelle Anguelovski, Director of Barcelona Laboratory for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability; and, Catherine Werner, Sustainability Director for the City of St. Louis, MO.
May 8, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET
Harvard Law School Environmental and Climate Justice Reception
Harvard Law School
The Energy & Environmental Law Program and the Emmett Environmental and Policy Law Clinic at Harvard Law School are celebrating Massachusetts-based advocates, attorneys, and policymakers advancing environmental and climate justice.
May 9, 2023 | 8:00 am – 6:00 pm ET
Harvard Climate Symposium: Rising to the Climate Challenge
The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability
This inaugural Harvard Climate Symposium focuses on the fundamental changes that we must make to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the requisite levels. The event will convene leaders in government, business, civil society, and academia, who are helping bring about these changes. The event represents the first major event of the Salata Institute’s Climate Action Accelerator, which will serve as both a resource and a partner to leaders around the world seeking to meet the climate challenge. Virtual sessions open to the public, in person conference by invitation only. Additional details and registration to be confirmed.
May 10, 2023 | 8:30 am – 6:30 pm ET
Accelerating Climate Solutions
Harvard Business School
Climate change is here, it’s urgent, and it affects every aspect of business and global society. Join us for a groundbreaking day of discussion and interaction around what it takes to discover, develop, scale, and achieve meaningful progress on climate solutions. Through expert panels, case discussions, and networking, we will consider the role of the firm, individual business leaders, and HBS, as well as new business and investment opportunities. The conference, hosted by the HBS Business & Environment Initiative as part of Harvard Climate Action Week, will bring together distinguished faculty, HBS alumni and other business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs. In person conference – invitation only. Virtual sessions open to the public.
May 10, 2023 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm ET
Building Our Resilient Future: Education Driving Hope, Innovation, and Action
Harvard Graduate School of Education
In conversation with national and local leaders, the Graduate School of Education will highlight an action – oriented agenda for the education sector with innovation and engagement as drivers for climate resilience and mitigation. This event will show how schools and communities are already making an impact in confronting climate change – altering our use of resources, creating exciting learning opportunities, and advancing equity in community approaches. The event will explore ways to accelerate progress, to spur collective effort, and to act with urgency. Participants will be asked to share stories of where they are finding hope and momentum now. In – person and open to the public. Additional details and registration coming soon.
May 10-11, 2023
| – GEM23 Conference: Growing in a Green World
Harvard Center for International Development
Join Harvard University’s Center for International Development (CID) for its flagship Global Empowerment Meeting, where change-makers from academia, government, business, civil society, and philanthropy will gather to share insights and develop action-focused strategies and solutions to combat climate change. GEM23: Growing in a Green World will explore different dimensions of climate change, with a particular lens on both the challenges and opportunities emerging from developing countries. The emphasis will be on action so that we have pathways to pursue evidence – driven solutions together. In – person conference – invitation only. Virtual sessions open to the public.
May 10, 2023 | 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm ET
Designing Sustainable Solutions for a Better Built Environment
Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities
With mounting evidence of the impact of human activity on the global climate, the built environment is increasingly understood as a critical site for applied and conceptual research in questions of energy and ecology. In light of the increasing imperative to act on mitigating the causes and effects of climate change—and to devise new pathways for research and investigation—Harvard’s Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) are pleased to present, “Designing Sustainable Solutions for a Better Built Environment.” This event features a keynote address by Harvard’s Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability, James Stock, followed by short presentations by CGBC affiliated faculty from the GSD, whose research ranges from a carbon-free electrical grid to radiant cooling devices. A five-minute Q&A session will follow each presentation. Faculty presenters include Holly Samuelson, Niall Kirkwood, Peter Rowe, Craig Douglas, Rosalea Monacella, Martin Bechthold, Erika Naginski, and Jonathan Grinham.
May 10, 2023 | 9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET
SEAS Nexus EventHarvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
How can we better forecast climate risks? What sustainable energy technologies do we need? At the fifth annual SEAS Nexus, we are showcasing the ways our scientists and engineers accelerate promising ideas and transformative solutions to tackle our biggest climate challenges. As part of a daylong program at the Science and Engineering Complex, participants will hear about leading translational research from SEAS faculty and graduate students. Participants will also have a chance to connect with alumni, industry partners, and our wider community.
May 10, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Climate Policy In ActionHarvard Kennedy School
Professor Henry Lee will conduct a fireside chat with Nat Keohane, the president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, former Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate in the Obama White House, and an alum of the political economy and government doctoral program at Harvard. Henry and Nat will discuss recent progress in the U.S. climate policy space (including the Inflation Reduction Act and U.S. participation in international climate agreements), and the actions that must be taken to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This event will be open to the public.
May 11, 2023 | 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET
Examining the Religious and Spiritual Implications of Climate ChangeHarvard Divinity School
What kind of religious and spiritual questions are raised by climate collapse? How might understanding the religious dimensions of climate collapse and responses to it inform scientific, business, policy, activist, and other professional communities seeking to develop sustainable and just climate solutions? Religion and spirituality play a crucial role in shaping drivers of climate change and responses to it worldwide. In this online conversation, Harvard Divinity School faculty members Matthew Ichihasi Potts, Terry Tempest Williams, Janet Gyatso, and Diane L. Moore will examine the religious and spiritual implications of climate change. This will be a virtual, public event.
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Climate, Health & Equity: Toward a sustainable future
Monday, May 8
1 – 6 p.m.
Spangler Center, Harvard Business School, 117 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_00L3j2Rfrik5ELs
SPEAKER(S) Melissa Hoffer, Massachusetts Climate Chief
Janet McCabe, EPA Deputy Administrator
Heather McTeer Toney, Vice president, community engagement, Environmental Defense Fund
Faculty from Harvard Chan School and Harvard Medical School
Climate change is actively harming human health — and the more we understand the harms, the better we can confront them.
On May 8, the Harvard Chan School will bring together leading scientists, policy makers, and activists to examine climate-driven threats to public health, including the spread of infectious diseases, the rise of food insecurity, and the surge in forced migration.
The symposium will also put a rigorous focus on solutions.
Leading policy makers at the state and federal level will share their perspectives.
More information at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/climate-health-equity-toward-a-sustainable-future/
CONTACT INFO Stephanie Simon, ssimon@hsph.harvard.edu
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Energy Seminar: A Personal Reflection on Thirty Years of Energy Transitions - Michael Morgan
Monday, May 8
1:30pm to 2:20pm [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, NVIDIA Auditorium, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA
and Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/energy_seminar_Mike_Morgan
Mike Morgan will share his reflections and lessons learned from 30 years as a leader and venture investor in a range of energy businesses that have seen significant transitions, including: natural gas infrastructure, residential solar, batteries + AI, and energy-optimizing software.
Mike Morgan is a co-founding partner and chairman of Triangle Peak Partners, a manager of venture and growth equity investments in energy and technology. He also serves on the boards of three public companies navigating the transition to a more sustainable energy future. He is the former president and current lead director at Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. He is a current director and former lead director of Sunnova, a leading residential solar and energy storage company. He also serves as director of Stem, which combines advanced energy storage with a world-class AI-powered analytics platform.
Mike is a frequent Stanford volunteer and has served in a variety of roles: as national chair of The Stanford Fund, co-chair of the Precourt Institute for Energy’s advisory council, and on the boards of the DAPER Fund, the Stanford LEAD Council, the GSB Management Board, the Undergraduate Cabinet, and the Parents’ Advisory Board.
Mike earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and both a BA in Economics and an MA in Sociology from Stanford. He previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the Jones School of Business at Rice University.
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Next in Food Sustainability and Climate Change
Monday, May 8
2 PM ET
Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
and Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2023-next-in-food-sustainability-and-climate-change-program
What does climate change mean for our food systems? How do our food production and consumption habits contribute to the climate crisis? The four speakers in this year’s program will explore the complex interplay of food and climate change, challenging and illuminating our unsustainable relationships with meat and water, soil and sea. The presentations will adopt both regional and international perspectives—from the depletion of fish stocks in the United States to crop failures in rural communities in the Global South—while highlighting mitigation and adaptation strategies in these areas.
Speakers
Kimberly Oremus, assistant professor, School of Marine Science and Policy, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of Delaware
Angela J. Rigden, assistant professor, Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine
Niki Rust, head of land, agriculture, and nature, UK Climate Change Committee
Divya Solomon, doctoral student, resource policy and behavior, School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Poster Session
Please join us in person for a student poster session showcasing work related to the broad themes of climate change and environmental justice after the conference at 4 PM. This will take place at the Knafel Center in Coolidge Room 105.
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Toward Heartier Food Crops: Pursuing Non-Genetic Regulation of Plant Traits
Tuesday, May 9
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Online
RSVP at RSVP at https://events.eventzilla.net/e/toward-heartier-food-crops-2138594460
In this webinar, Whitehead Member Mary Gehring will explore epigenetic mechanisms of information transfer from one generation of plants to the next. She will focus on the role of DNA methylation and demethylation in plant growth and development. And she'll discuss the prospects for epigenetic engineering of heartier plants -- which will be key to feeding a growing global population despite climate change's negative effects on agricultural yields.
Live webinar. Visit https://wi.mit.edu/events for details and to register.
Questions?
Contact Erin DeMarco at edemarco@wi.mit.edu.
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Morison Prize and Lecture with danah boyd: Made, Not Found: Grappling with the Vulnerabilities of Data
Monday, May 8
4:00pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Wong Auditorium, E51-115, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA
About the talk:
Made, Not Found: Grappling with the Vulnerabilities of Data
The U.S. census is a piece of data infrastructure upon which countless programs, policies, and decisions depend. In fact, many data produced in the 21st century ripples through complex sociotechnical systems, shaping actions far from the point of data production and collection. This is particularly visible when it comes to the development of artificial intelligence systems. By understanding how data are made, we can start to appreciate the various work that goes into ensuring that data are resilient.
In this talk, danah will draw on lessons learned studying the construction of 2020 U.S. census data to grapple with the ways in which political forces shape data in order to shape the systems that depend on those data. This talk will weave through discussions of differential privacy, statistical repairwork, and epistemic contestations about what makes data "real" to showcase the invisible layers of data that we all take for granted.
From danah boyd’s website:
danah boyd is a Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology and society, with an eye to how structural inequities shape and are shaped by technologies. She is currently conducting a multi-year ethnographic study of the US census to understand how data are made legitimate. Her previous studies have focused on media manipulation, algorithmic bias, privacy practices, social media, and teen culture. Her monograph “It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens” has received widespread praise. She founded the research institute Data & Society, where she currently serves as an advisor. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and on the advisory board of Electronic Privacy Information Center. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Brown University, a master’s degree from the MIT Media Lab, and a Ph.D in Information from the University of California, Berkeley.
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The Politics of Trash: How Governments Used Corruption to Clean Cities, 1890–1929
Monday, May 8
6:00PM - 7:00PM
MA Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
and Online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/politics-trash-how-governments-used-corruption-clean-cities-1890-1929
Cost: $0 - $10
Patricia Strach, University of Albany, and Kathleen Sullivan, Ohio University
The Politics of Trash explains how municipal trash collection solved odorous urban problems using nongovernmental and often unseemly means. Patricia Strach and Kathleen S. Sullivan tell a story of dirty politics and administrative innovation that made rapidly expanding American cities livable. When the efforts of sanitarians, engineers, and reformers failed, public officials turned to the tools of corruption as well as to gender and racial hierarchies. Effective waste collection involves translating municipal imperatives into new habits in homes and private spaces. To change domestic habits, officials relied on gender hierarchy to make the women of the white, middle-class households in charge of sanitation. When public and private trash cans overflowed, racial and ethnic prejudices were harnessed to single out scavengers, garbage collectors, and neighborhoods by race. These early informal efforts were slowly incorporated into formal administrative processes that created the public-private sanitation systems that prevail in most American cities today.
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Creative Solutions for Sustainable Urban Environments
Tuesday, May 9
10:30 - 11:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-solutions-for-sustainable-urban-environments-tickets-605087732697
Part of the Creative Industries Festival 2023 collection
Can we transform our built environment to a nature positive one? Join our discussion!
In collaboration with the Sustainable and Resilient Futures Network, this session introduces architect Iva Stanisheva, an Oxford Brookes alumna and part of the Architects Climate Action Network, who will discuss circular economy in construction and the development of urban environments in the context of the climate crisis. The conversation continues with local experts Helen Gordon, Creative Director and Co-founder of Kite Creative (an Oxfordshire regenerative design and build interior studio and workshop) and Oliver Bannister, Project Manager and Project Lead at Ridge and Partners (a multidiscipline property and construction consultancy with a Head Office in Blenheim Park). The panel will focus on positive practices on the ground to transform Oxford(shire)'s built environment to a nature positive one. Audiences are invited to reflect, ask questions and take practical outcomes forward. The session is facilitated and moderated by Dr Esra Kurul, Lead of the Sustainable and Resilient Futures Network.
This session is part of the third International Creative Industries Festival, organised by the Creative Industries Research and Innovation Network (CIRIN) at Oxford Brookes University. Our slogan this year is “Joyful Resistance”! To learn more about our programme and different themes, please visit: Creative Industries Festival 2023.
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Energy innovation for a net-zero future
Tuesday, May 9
5:30 - 7:30pm
MIT, Stata Center; Kirsch Auditorium (32-123), 32 Vassar Street Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/energy-innovation-for-a-net-zero-future-tickets-560650158717
Join us for an exciting panel on energy innovation for a net-zero future. Researchers from across MIT will discuss current research underway, focusing on the five priorities in the recent publication, “U.S. Innovation to Meet 2050 Climate Goals.”
Speakers will present on the following topics:
Efficient building heating and cooling, presented by Christoph Reinhart, Alan and Terri Spoon Professor of Architecture and Climate, and Director, Building Technology Program, MIT Department of Architecture
Net-zero aviation, presented by William H. Green, Hoyt Hottel Professor in Chemical Engineering, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering
Net-zero power grid and electrification, presented by Anuradha Annaswamy, Senior Research Scientist, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
Industrial products and fuels for a net-zero circular economy, presented by Bilge Yildiz, Breene M. Kerr (1951) Professor, MIT Departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering
Fusion energy at scale, presented by Dennis Whyte, Director, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, and Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, MIT Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering
Moderated by Anne White, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Research Administration, School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering, MIT Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering
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Getting to Zero
Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12
Minneapolis Marriott City Center, Minnesota
and Online
RSVP at https://gettingtozeroforum.org/
Cost: $75 - $1000
The Getting to Zero Forum is the premier event dedicated to building decarbonization. With a growing number of climate emergencies across the United States and around the world, there is no more important time than now for the Getting to Zero Forum. The event brings together the world’s leading experts to share best practice approaches to reducing energy demand and decarbonization related to policy, program, and projects. It is the only event with a broad cross-section of stakeholders focused on ambitious building efficiency goals and is an ideal venue for organizing both the policy and building communities to achieve zero carbon ambitions.
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MA Tech 15
Wednesday, May 10
9:15am - 3:15pm
750 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://masstech15.splashthat.com/
Fifteen years ago Massachusetts leaders drove a burst of catalyzing activity: creating the billion-dollar Life Science Initiative and passing important climate legislation that kickstarted the energy transition. Join Deval Patrick, Katie Rae, and more colleagues across business and government in the Commonwealth for a retrospective on the decade and a half since and a call to action on where we go next.
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Learning for Impact — Filling the Green Skills Gap for Climate Resilience
Wednesday, May 10
5:30pm to 7pm
Northeastern, Arlington Campus, 1300 17th Street North, Suite 1500, Arlington, VA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-for-impact-filling-the-green-skills-gap-for-climate-resilience-tickets-612301910497
Washington, D.C.-area employers need workers with green skills to prepare the region for extreme weather, natural disasters, pandemics, longer allergy seasons, and other climate-related challenges. Neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations increasingly depend on advanced research, analysis, and management to prepare communities for unforeseeable climate changes.
Northeastern University’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) offers experiential learning through advanced degree and certificate programs that use real-world problems and hands-on experience to equip professionals with green skills for building climate resilience and sustainability.
Join us on May 10, 2023, at our regional campus in Arlington, to learn how partnering with CSSH and the Policy School can help your workforce get experiential opportunities for building skills in climate resilience and making a positive impact in our region, nation, and world.
The discussion will be led by:
Maria Ivanova, Director and Professor, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (Policy School), Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities
ichelle Wyman, Executive Director, the Thomas Lovejoy Amazon Biodiversity Center; Member, Policy School Advisory Committee, Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities
tephen Flynn, Director and Professor, Global Resilience Institute, Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities
osh Sawislak, Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Global Resilience Institute
racy Corley, Director of CSSH Programs in Arlington and Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Reserve your seat for this critical conversation on partnering for climate resilience!
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Floodplain Futures: Flood Insurance and the Economy of Climate Change
Thursday, May 11
1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/floodplain-futures-flood-insurance-and-the-economy-of-climate-change-tickets-579261585997
Communities around the United States face the threat of being underwater. This is not only a matter of rising waters reaching the doorstep. It is also the threat of being financially underwater, owning assets worth less than the money borrowed to obtain them. Many areas around the country may become economically uninhabitable before they become physically unlivable.
Rebecca Elliott is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of Underwater: Loss, Flood Insurance, and the Moral Economy of Climate Change in the United States. In the book, she explores how families, communities, and governments confront problems of loss as the climate changes. She offers the first in-depth account of the politics and social effects of the US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides flood insurance protection for virtually all homes and small businesses that require it. In doing so, the NFIP turns the risk of flooding into an immediate economic reality, shaping who lives on the waterfront, on what terms, and at what cost.
New Orleans-based photographer Virginia Hanusik explores how invisible policies such as flood insurance have exacerbated the impacts of climate change. Her current work encourages thinking of coastal communities around the US as an interconnected system rather than as separate and expendable landscapes.
Houston-based Alice Liu will discuss the work of West Street Recovery, a horizontally structured grassroots organization which aims to use the disaster recovery process to build community power. Their work is rooted in an understanding that disasters amplify previously existing inequalities. There are no natural disasters: the destruction of climate disasters is produced by social, racial, and political factors.
During this event Elliot, Hanusik, and Liu will discuss their current work and how invisible policies such as flood insurance have exacerbated the impacts of climate change.
For more information about this talk, please visit: https://mascontext.com/events/floodplain-futures-flood-insurance-and-the-economy-of-climate-change
MAS Context is supported in part by private donations. For information about how to support MAS Context, please visit: https://mascontext.com/support
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If Science Created Climate Change, Can Science Solve it?
Thursday, May 11
4:30 - 7:30pm EDT
Venture Cafe: CIC Cambridge One Broadway, 5th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited and imagination encircles the world.” - Albert Einstein
Be part of an experience that integrates behavioral science research from MIT & Harvard with field practices in collective wisdom generation
Join a listening circle and be part of an experience that integrates behavioral science research from MIT and Harvard with field practices in collective wisdom generation.
Facilitated by We Are Open Circle in partnership with Blue Green, this session will offer an opportunity to bridge the efforts of our intellects with our natural creative capacities as we tend to the rapid transformations of our world.
Please note: This workshop will be an experiential learning exercise — active participation is encouraged. It is designed less to find answers, but instead to shift the questions we are asking about our environment and the way we are responding to it.
Part of the May 11, 2023 Venture Café event, “The Future of Climate Change: Where Space & Earth Collide.” More information at: https://venturecafecambridge.org/event/the-future-of-climate-change-where-earth-and-space-collide/
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Green Infrastructure: How can we build a sustainable future?
Tuesday, May 16
9:00 - 10:30 EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-infrastructure-how-can-we-build-a-sustainable-future-tickets-576208393817
Due to our growing population and increased urbanisation, it is estimated that globally we build the equivalent of a city the size of Paris every single week!
At present, the building and construction industry is responsible for almost 40% of global carbon emissions, of which 70% is from energy consumption and the remainder from construction materials. The strive for net-zero emissions would require these CO2 emissions to fall by 50% by 2030 according to the IEA. As the energy grid transitions away from fossil fuels, it is evident that the next step in the fight against climate change is tackling the carbon footprint of building materials, both the manufacture and supply of construction materials as well as the construction process itself. As such, we invite you to join us as we ask the question: How can we build a sustainable future?
This online event will include a panel discussion with experts in construction from both industry and academia to highlight the top priorities and challenges for decarbonising infrastructure, as well as cutting-edge research in the area. There will be the opportunity for you to ask the panellists your burning questions and understand the best practices for building a greener world. All staff, students and general public are welcome.
Chair:
Professor Rachael Rothman - Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering, The University of Sheffield
Panellists:
Dr Danielle Densley Tingley - Senior Lecturer in Architectural Engineering, The University of Sheffield
Dr Brant Walkley - Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, The University of Sheffield
Ricardo Moreira - Managing Director at XCO2, a company that focuses on sustainable infrastructure
More speakers to be confirmed.
This event is a part of Festival of Debate 2023 which runs from 12 April to 26 May. For full listings please visit https://festivalofdebate.com. If you tweet about the event, please use the Grantham Centre handle @granthamcsf. For information about more upcoming free Grantham Centre events, please visit our website.
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Taking on Climate Lies
Tuesday, May 16
9am - 4pm EDT
BU, Center for Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) 665 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taking-on-climate-lies-tickets-600702115197
The Taking on Climate Lies symposium will take place from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on the 17th floor of Boston University's new Center for Computing & Data Sciences building– the greenest building in BU’s history and one of the most sustainable buildings in New England. We anticipate a lively program with fresh research findings from the team, keynote speaker Deputy Climate Chief Jonathan Schrag, lunch, and refreshments. Most of all, we look forward to your discussion and participation as we work to use the findings to create a better future.
This symposium will share the focused research findings on Data and Misinformation in an Era of Sustainability and Climate Change Crises.
By BU Institute for Global Sustainability
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EBC Ascending Professionals Webinar: Ecological Restoration 101
Tuesday, May 16
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-ascending-professionals-webinar-ecological-restoration-101/#registration-details
The EBC Ascending Professionals Committee invites you back for another “101” webinar on ecological restoration. This webinar will introduce professionals and project managers to ecological restoration and tools from the federal and state government to start project planning. This program will educate attendees on the purpose of ecological restoration, when it’s applied in projects, and offer a case study highlighting successes and challenges unique to New England. This type of work is crucial to decreasing our impact on the environment.
A robust panel discussion with the audience will conclude the webinar.
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Reversing the Rivers: A Memoir of History, Hope, and Human Rights
Thursday, May 18
11:00 AM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/reversing-rivers-memoir-history-hope-and-human-rights
From 1994 to 2006, William F. Schulz headed Amnesty International USA. During this time, he and the organization confronted some of the greatest challenges to human rights, including genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Sudan; controversies over the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the use of torture by the United States after 9/11; as well as growing concern about inequities in the American justice system, from police misconduct to the death penalty. Drawing upon his encounters with tyrants, the inspiration of brave human rights heroes, and collaborations with celebrities ranging from Patrick Stewart to Salma Hayek, Schulz uses poignant narrative and amusing anecdotes in Reversing the Rivers to discuss the day-to-day realities of struggling with life-and-death human rights crises.
SPEAKERS
William F. Schulz | Affiliate Professor, Meadville Lombard Theological School; Former Executive Director, Amnesty International USA (1994-2006)
Mathias Risse (moderator) | Faculty Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
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Survival of the Quickest: How Climate Change Has Shaped Evolution
Wednesday, May 18
6:30 p.m.
Online on Zoom or YouTube Live
RSVP at https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminars/2022/may-18-survival-of-the-quickest-how-climate-change-has-shaped-evolution/
Speaker: Daniel Richard
Evolution acts most strongly during times of change – favouring those species that are best equipped to handle new challenges. In the distant past, climate change has acted as a strong driver of evolutionary change – shaping species and whole ecosystems as they adapt to their new environments. Given that we are in the midst of our own period of intense climate change – one of our own making – we’ll consider how evolution and natural selection may respond to redefine the plants and animals around us.
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Global sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide by semi-arid forestation
Wednesday, May 31
4 - 6pm BST
Imperial College London Exhibition Road London SW7 2BX United Kingdom
and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-sequestration-of-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-by-semi-arid-forestation-tickets-588143883187
The global carbon sequestration potential of semi-arid forests is described. Organic and inorganic carbon sequestration were studied in Israel’s planted Yatir forest, a 28 km2 Aleppo pine forest growing at the semi-arid timberline (with no irrigation or fertilization). The organic carbon sequestration rate (above and below ground) was measured as 550 g CO2 m−2 yr−1, by Eddy Covariance flux and Carbon Stock counting methods. Assuming that the soil composition at Yatir is representative, we estimate a global organic sequestration rate of roughly 3.0 billion tons CO2 yr−1, after future global forestation, by extrapolating to 20 % of the global semi-arid area. Consider also the inorganic carbon sequestration rate. A tree’s roots exhale CO2 into the soil after some of the tree’s glucose (produced by photosynthesis) has been oxidized to supply energy for the tree’s cellular processes. The bicarbonate concentration decreases with depth, corresponding to time, as the bicarbonates precipitate and are incorporated within the soil. At Yatir, in 1 Liter of sediment, the calcite precipitation rate was measured as 22 mg CO2 yr−1 L−1. Such calcite remains in place long term, not dissolving in low rainfall semi-arid regions. Taking 6 m as the global average depth of root respiration in semi-arid regions, extrapolating as above, roughly 0.8 billion tons of CO2 could potentially be precipitated globally each year in the USZ as calcite. The total organic plus inorganic sequestration rate of ~4 billion tons CO2 yr−1 then represents roughly 20 % of the present annual increase of 20 billion tons of CO2 being added to the present global atmospheric CO2 reservoir of ~3200 billion tons. Although the uncertainties are high, this estimate already demonstrates the global potential, the need for further measurements, and the need to begin implementing a global land management policy of widespread tree planting in semi-arid regions.
About the speaker:
Murray Moinester, Emeritus Professor of Physics, received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1968, and then joined the faculty at Tel Aviv University. He served as guest professor for extended periods at many leading universities and accelerator laboratories, has extensive experience in experimental and computational methods, carried out many research programs in high energy particle physics, published some 250 scientific papers in refereed journals, and authored some 75 conference papers. Since retirement, he works in the fields of particle physics, archaeology on infrared spectral imaging & scientific dating, environmental radioactivity, and climate engineering.
