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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Venture Capital and Demand-side Decarbonization: How to get rich while saving the planet
Monday, January 8
8:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Jen-Hsun Huang Building (School of Engineering), NVIDIA Auditorium, Jen-Hsun Huang Center, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the_energy_seminar_January_8_Mike_Lin
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What Works in Community News
Tuesday, January 9
7:00PM ET
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ellen-clegg-and-dan-kennedy-what-works-in-community-news-tickets-763646335747
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Harvard Graduate School of Design [GSD] Virtual Town Hall: Engaged Citizenry
Wednesday, January 10
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCJlHbgESBauGmxs_2dSjw#/
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Explaining the Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules: A First Look with Rocky Mountain Institute [RMI]
Wednesday, January 10
2:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-explaining-the-hydrogen-tax-credit-rules-a-first-look-with-rmi/
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Breaking Twitter
Wednesday, January 10
7:00PM ET
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ben-mezrich-breaking-twitter-tickets-761375934917
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Announcing the 37th Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference: "Growing Connections & Collaborations”
January 13, 2024
8 AM - 6 PM
Worcester State University, In-person Only,
https://www.nofamass.org/home/nofa-events/winter-conference/
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Increasing Affordability Through Municipal Climate Action - webinar #4 - FOOD SECURITY
Monday, January 15
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/increasing-affordability-through-municipal-climate-action-food-security-tickets-672266566397
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The Social Implications of AI
Tuesday, January 16
1:00pm to 2:30pm
MIT, Building E51, E51-395, 70 MEMORIAL DR, Cambridge, MA 02142
Speakers: David Autor and Sendhil Mullainathan
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Eating Down the Food Chain: Let Them Eat Algae
Tuesday, January 16
10pm ET [7pm to 8pm PT]
Hopkins Marine Station, Izzie Abbott Boatworks Auditorium, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA. 93950
And online
RSVP at https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_enci5N_oQfmGX4JCXhaVNA#/registration
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Environmentalism from Below: How Global People's Movements Are Leading the Fight for Our Planet
Tuesday, January 16
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 T
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/ashley_dawson/
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Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation
Wednesday, January 17
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xFZgOSagSOiWYgb48uSohA#/registration
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U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Four clean energy career journeys from 2023 C3E Awardees
Thursday, January 18
1:00pm to 2:00pm
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q8-fKcVCS0uj_Pchf0PGbw#/
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Overcoming Offshore Wind Opposition
Thursday, January 18
4:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X6HgP5ylQgCdPLsAqBkKAA#/registration
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The search for extraterrestrials and the modern-day relevance of Albert Einstein
Thursday, January 18
7 – 9 p.m.
Harvard, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
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Climate Resilient Gardening: Natures Green-Print
Thursday, January 18
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-resilient-gardening-natures-green-print-tickets-765890317557
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Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture
Friday, January 19
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/kyle_chayka_at_harvard_book_store/
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Winning a Fossil Free Future
Monday, January 22
2pm - 3:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winning-a-fossil-free-future-tickets-777020829217
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Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in and Age of Conflict
Tuesday, January 23
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8zIexWoxTGiBx4uX9nIgLg#/registration
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The Fascist Turn: Race And Gender In Totalitarian Regimes
Wednesday, January 24
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Online RSVP at https://bostoncollege-lsoe.catalog.instructure.com/browse/pce/courses/the-fascist-turn-race-and-gender-in-totalitarian-regimes
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On the environmental impacts of genetically modified crops
Monday, January 29
2pm ET [11:00am to 12:00pm PT]
UCSB, Bren Hall 1414
And online
RSVP at https://bren.ucsb.edu/events/bren-seminar-frederik-noack-environmental-impacts-genetically-modified-crops
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An uncertain future for the US critical mineral supply chain
Monday, January 29
7:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Jen-Hsun Huang Building (School of Engineering), NVIDIA Auditorium, Jen-Hsun Huang Center, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the_energy_seminar_january_29_Caers
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The greenest building can be... the one that is already built: an interactive energy house model
Monday, January 29
2:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 9, 9-255, 105 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E3W5sm30J2cwUYMjNvMMUJclmFLzRa3RgmsR-vyinlo/edit#gid=0
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Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Procession of Catastrophes
Monday, January 29
6 – 8:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lqPUoByLRjGNOvrImc6lZQ#/registration
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“What Would Be A Just Energy Transition?”
Tuesday, January 30
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The Forum at Columbia University, 601 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027 315
And online
RSVP at https://events.columbia.edu/cal/event/showEventMore.rdo;jsessionid=e5XaMGha1sXoLK6tMcmfdsMwyxQLdK4Jhe1OkwWk.calprdapp08
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Silicon Valley Reads 2024: A Greener Tomorrow Starts Today
Wednesday, January 31
10pm EST [7:00 PM PST]
DeAnza Visual and Performing Arts Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014
And Online
RSVP at https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F8Z00000lUnhIUAS
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Building an Electrical Grid for the Future
Thursday, February 1
12 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard Kennedy School, Wexner 434AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And Online
RSVP at https://www.hks.harvard.edu/events/building-electrical-grid-future
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Science Communication in a Crisis
Thursday, February 1
1:00pm to 3:30pm
MIT, Building 54, 823, 21 AMES ST, Cambridge, MA 0213
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On meeting global demands without GHG increases
Monday, February 5
8am ET [11:00am to 12:00pm PT]
UCSB, Bren Hall 1414
And online
RSVP at https://bren.ucsb.edu/events/bren-seminar-steven-davis-meeting-global-demands-without-ghg-increases
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Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: Ancestors and Climate in Our Boston Backyard
Monday, February 5
6 – 8:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TxwmH9P8SWajWXcagD4K9w#/registration
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EBC 11th Annual New England Regional Offshore Wind Conference
Tuesday, February 13
7:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m.
WilmerHale, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109
And online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-11th-annual-new-england-regional-offshore-wind-conference/#registration-details
————
Events
————-
Venture Capital and Demand-side Decarbonization: How to get rich while saving the planet
Monday, January 8
7:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Jen-Hsun Huang Building (School of Engineering), NVIDIA Auditorium, Jen-Hsun Huang Center, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the_energy_seminar_January_8_Mike_Lin
Venture Capital investor Mike Lin shares his entrepreneurial journey from Stanford (BS '03, MS '06), to Apple, to startup founder, to venture investing. He'll dive into his venture capital investment thesis centered on demand-side decarbonization, integrative design, and anti-fragility.
Bio: Mike Lin is an investor, engineer and serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in tech, startups and venture capital.
Mike is a co-founder and General Partner at Dangerous Ventures, an early-stage fund investing in startups building a more resilient and sustainable future. Dangerous focuses on solutions that empower people, the planet, and society to be more resilient and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Mike is also a Lecturer at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability where he teaches SUST 234: Integrative Design, Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital for Sustainability.
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What Works in Community News
Tuesday, January 9
7:00PM ET
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ellen-clegg-and-dan-kennedy-what-works-in-community-news-tickets-763646335747?aff=oddtdtcreator
What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate
A groundbreaking study of the journalism startups that are solving the local news crisis one community at a time
A must-read for activists, entrepreneurs, and journalists who want to start local news outlets in their communities
Local news is essential to democracy. Meaningful participation in civic life is impossible without it. However, local news is in crisis. According to one widely cited study, some 2,500 newspapers have closed over the last generation. And it is often marginalized communities of color who have been left without the day-to-day journalism they need to govern themselves in a democracy.
Veteran journalists Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy cut through the pessimism surrounding this issue, showing readers that new, innovative journalism models are popping up across the country to fill news deserts and empower communities. What Works in Community News examines more than a dozen of these projects, including:
Sahan Journal, a digital publication dedicated to reporting on Minnesota’s immigrant and refugee communities;
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit news outlet in Memphis, TN, focused on poverty, power, and public policy;
New Haven Independent / WNHH / La Voz Hispana de Connecticut, a digital news project that expanded its reach in the New Haven community through radio and a Spanish-language partnership;
Storm Lake Times Pilot, a print newspaper in rural Iowa innovating with a hybrid for-profit/nonprofit model; and
Texas Tribune, once a pioneering upstart, now one of the most well-known—and successful—digital newsrooms in the country.
Through a blend of on-the-ground reporting and interviews, Clegg and Kennedy show how these operations found seed money and support, and how they hired staff, forged their missions, and navigated challenges from the pandemic to police intimidation to stand as the last bastion of collective truth—and keep local news in local hands.
Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy host the What Works podcast, on which they talk to journalists, policymakers, and entrepreneurs about the work they’re doing to keep local news alive. Clegg spent more than 3 decades at The Boston Globe and retired in 2018 after four years of running the opinion pages. She is co-founder and co-chair of Brookline.News, a nonprofit startup news organization in Brookline, Massachusetts. Kennedy is a professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University and a nationally known media commentator. He was a panelist on the GBH News television program Beat the Press (1998–2021) and also served as a weekly columnist for the network.
Brookline.News is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing comprehensive local coverage to Brookline. Brookline.News is also working to train the next generation of journalists and to bring together a network of hyperlocal outlets in Massachusetts and beyond.
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Harvard Graduate School of Design [GSD] Virtual Town Hall: Engaged Citizenry
Wednesday, January 10
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCJlHbgESBauGmxs_2dSjw#/
SPEAKER(S) Dean Sarah M. Whiting, Josep LluÃs Sert Professor of Architecture
Hazel Edwards MAUD ’89, Radcliffe Institute Fellow ’24 and Professor of Architecture at Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture
Belinda Tato, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Join GSD Dean Sarah M. Whiting, Josep LluÃs Sert Professor of Architecture, in conversation with panelists Hazel Edwards MAUD ’89, Radcliffe Institute Fellow ’24 and Professor of Architecture at Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture, and Belinda Tato, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the GSD, as they explore the value of public participation in shaping the infrastructure where we live, work, and connect. How can the design community effectively engage our communities to improve social interaction and our relationship with the environment while prioritizing sustainability, growth, and resiliency?
Please visit our website for more information.
CONTACT INFO alumni@gsd.harvard.edu
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Explaining the Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules: A First Look with Rocky Mountain Institute [RMI]
Wednesday, January 10
2:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-explaining-the-hydrogen-tax-credit-rules-a-first-look-with-rmi/
The US Department of the Treasury issued guidance on the federal hydrogen tax credit 45V on December 22, 2023, and RMI is hosting a webinar analyzing the guidance and its overarching implications for the larger clean hydrogen industry.
Our [Rocky Mountain Institute’s] deliberation will explore insights shared by our distinguished panel of experts and expand on the overarching implications for the clean hydrogen industry. Our federal policy team will also highlight engagement opportunities for stakeholders seeking to participate in forthcoming federal opportunities.
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Breaking Twitter
Wednesday, January 10
7:00PM ET
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ben-mezrich-breaking-twitter-tickets-761375934917
Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
From New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich: the book Elon Musk doesn’t want you to read.
In October 2022, Elon Musk barreled through Twitter’s front doors carrying a kitchen sink, tweeting a message to his millions of followers: “Let that sink in.” His takeover came with the promise of fundamental changes, but nothing could prepare the company for the turbulence to come—brutal, sometimes arbitrary mass firings, an exodus of advertisers and users, and a vicious internal battle for control.
With unique access to Twitter employees and Musk’s confidants, this is the astonishing story from all sides, revealing a wealth of new details, including:
The events and motivations that led Elon to take over the social media site at the center of our global conversation.
The chaos of the first few days after Elon and his “goons” crashed through Twitter’s front door.
The fiasco of Elon’s relaunched “Blue Check” system, and the near collapse of Twitter’s revenue stream.
The series of events – darkly comic, self-inflicted, and sometimes frightening—that led to Elon’s emotional and dangerous downward spiral.
And what, ultimately, Elon hoped to accomplish: Why the battle for Twitter isn’t simply about money, of whim, or even political reach.
Breaking Twitter takes readers inside the darkly comic battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time—Elon Musk—and the company that represents our culture’s dearest hope for a shared global conversation. From employee accounts within Twitter headquarters to the mission-driven team Musk surrounded himself with, this is the full story from all sides. Can Musk miraculously succeed or will he spectacularly fail? What will that mean to the global town hall that is Twitter? What, really, is Elon’s end goal? The whole world is watching. Breaking Twitter provides ringside seats into one of the most dramatic business stories of our time. Elon Musk didn’t break Twitter. Twitter broke Elon Musk.
Ben Mezrich is the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires (adapted by Aaron Sorkin into the David Fincher film The Social Network), Bringing Down the House (adapted into the #1 box office hit film Dumb Money, recently released by Sony as a major motion picture), and many other bestselling books. His books have sold over six million copies worldwide.
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Announcing the 37th Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference: "Growing Connections & Collaborations”
January 13, 2024
8 AM - 6 PM
Worcester State University, In-person Only,
https://www.nofamass.org/home/nofa-events/winter-conference/
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Increasing Affordability Through Municipal Climate Action - webinar #4 - FOOD SECURITY
Monday, January 15
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/increasing-affordability-through-municipal-climate-action-food-security-tickets-672266566397
Are you passionate about making a positive impact on your community and taking action on climate change? Are you eager to learn more about how municipalities can play a crucial role in addressing climate change while increasing affordability? Then we invite you to join us for this webinar series!
This is an 8-part series that will focus on 7 climate-related policy themes, including Buildings, Energy, Food Security, Nature-Based Solutions, Zero-Waste & Circular Economy, Transportation and Governance.
In this series, we will delve deep into the intersection of affordability and local climate action, exploring innovative policy solutions and successful case studies from municipalities around the country. Our panel of speakers will share their insights and best practices, empowering you to be an agent of change in your own community.
The webinar sessions will be led by organizations working on local climate action, including Clean Air Partnership, David Suzuki Foundation, Tamarack, Climate Reality Project Canada, and Climate Caucus.
Key highlights of the webinar series include:
Policy 101: learn about local policy solutions
Successful Case Studies: discover inspiring stories of municipalities that have successfully implemented these policies, that you can put into place in your own community
Practical Tools and Resources: takeaway a toolkit after each webinar with relevant resources, policies, tools and case studies
Networking Opportunities: connect with like-minded individuals, including professionals, policymakers, community leaders, and activists, who are passionate about affordability and climate action
Theme: Food Security
The cost of food has been rising steeply in Canada, with the latest Food Price Report predicting a 5-7% food price increase in 2023. Fresh, healthy and culturally-appropriate foods have become increasingly unaffordable for many Canadians. Yet many sustainable, community-based food initiatives are working to change that by making good food more accessible to residents, while also promoting circular food systems, reducing waste, and supporting a more sustainable planet. Learn more about how food programs and policies can support the planet while tackling the affordability crisis.
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The Social Implications of AI
Tuesday, January 16
1:00pm to 2:30pm
MIT, Building E51, E51-395, 70 MEMORIAL DR, Cambridge, MA 02142
Speakers: David Autor and Sendhil Mullainathan
—————
Eating Down the Food Chain: Let Them Eat Algae
Tuesday, January 16
10pm ET [7pm to 8pm PT]
Hopkins Marine Station, Izzie Abbott Boatworks Auditorium, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA. 93950
And online
RSVP at https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_enci5N_oQfmGX4JCXhaVNA#/registration
How will planet Earth feed more people in the next century while increasing sustainability? One solution comes from tiny plants called micro-algae, with their high nutrients, vitamins and food value. Chuck Greene is a world leader in looking at this solution, and will talk about its need and its promise
Can we create a global food production system that meets society's projected nutritional requirements while simultaneously reducing its carbon, land, and freshwater footprints to levels consistent with our sustainability goals? Chuck was an award-winning professor at Cornell and served as Director of the Ocean Resources & Ecosystems Program. Currently, he is Associate Director for Research and Strategic Planning at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs. His research interests include ecological dynamics of marine animal populations and impacts of global climate change on ocean ecosystems.
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Environmentalism from Below: How Global People's Movements Are Leading the Fight for Our Planet
Tuesday, January 16
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 T
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/ashley_dawson/
Harvard Book Store welcomes ASHLEY DAWSON—author of People’s Power: Reclaiming the Energy Commons—for a discussion of his new book Environmentalism from Below: How Global People's Movements Are Leading the Fight for Our Planet. He will be joined in conversation by SANJAY KRISHNAN—author of V. S. Naipaul’s Journeys: From Periphery to Center.
About Environmentalism from Below
Environmentalism from Below takes readers inside the popular struggles for environmental liberation in the Global South. These communities—among the most vulnerable to but also least responsible for the climate crisis—have long been at the forefront of the fight to protect imperiled worlds. Today, as the world’s forests burn and our oceans acidify, grassroots movements are tenaciously defending the environmental commons and forging just and sustainable ways of living on Earth.
Scholar and activist Ashley Dawson constructs a gripping narrative of these movements of climate insurgents, from international solidarity organizations like La Via Campesina and Shack Dwellers International to local struggles in South Africa, Colombia, India, Nigeria, and beyond. Taking up the four critical challenges we face in a warming world—food, urban sustainability, energy transition, and conservation—Dawson shows how the unruly power of environmentalism from below is charting an alternative path forward, from challenging industrial agriculture through fights for food sovereignty and agroecology to resisting extractivism using mass nonviolent protest and sabotage.
An urgent, essential intervention, Environmentalism from Below offers a hopeful alternative to the gridlock of UN-based climate negotiations and the narrow nationalism of some Green New Deal efforts. As Dawson reminds us, the fight against ecocide is already being waged worldwide. Building on longstanding traditions of anticolonial struggle, environmentalism from below is a model for a people’s movement for climate justice—one that demands solidarity.
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Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation
Wednesday, January 17
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xFZgOSagSOiWYgb48uSohA#/registration
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs for a discussion of how artificial intelligence (AI) can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. David Sandalow, lead author of the Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap, which was released earlier this month, will explore that topic along with seven of the report’s co-authors.
The report’s findings and recommendations include:
AI could make significant contributions to climate change mitigation. Areas of opportunity include emissions monitoring, the power sector, the manufacturing sector, materials innovation, the food system, and road transport.
Barriers to using AI to reduce greenhouse gas emissions include a lack of trained personnel and high-quality data. All institutions with a role in climate change mitigation should prioritize AI skills-development and explore ways to develop and share relevant data.
Risks related to AI – including bias, privacy, and safety issues – require careful attention when using AI for climate mitigation.
Greenhouse gas emissions from computing infrastructure for AI are currently modest. The amount of such emissions in the years ahead is very uncertain.
The Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap is the 12th roadmap released as part of the ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project. Information on previous roadmaps can be found in this booklet.
Moderator:
David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy; Chair, ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project
Speakers:
Zhiyuan Fan, Research Associate, Center on Global Energy Policy
Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist, Carbon Direct
Antoine Halff, Chief Analyst and Co-Founder, Kayrros; Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy
Alp Kucukelbir, Chief Scientist, Fero Labs; Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
Elena Méndez Leal, MIA Candidate at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs
Colin McCormick, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Chief Innovation Officer, Carbon Direct
Trishna Nagrani, Business Development, Climeworks
For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.ed
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U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Four clean energy career journeys from 2023 C3E Awardees
Thursday, January 18
1:00pm to 2:00pm
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q8-fKcVCS0uj_Pchf0PGbw#/
Join four of the 2023 C3E Award winners to hear about their leading work as well as their own clean energy paths. These Awardees are leaders in clean energy and climate investing, energy storage research, decarbonization of the energy system, and the advancement of utility-scale solar and storage projects.
An optional virtual networking event, immediately following the session, will provide attendees with the opportunity to ask questions and hear the speakers’ advice on clean energy career paths. Please indicate your interest in the networking session when you register. You will receive a separate link to join the networking session.
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Overcoming Offshore Wind Opposition
Thursday, January 18
4:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X6HgP5ylQgCdPLsAqBkKAA#/registration
In the final installment of this three-part webinar series, you will learn about opposition messaging prevalent in the Northeast offshore wind sector and best practices for setting the record straight about this important clean energy resource. You will leave with access to a practical messaging guide and social media tool kit to help you identify and counter deceptive messaging practices.
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The search for extraterrestrials and the modern-day relevance of Albert Einstein
Thursday, January 18
7 – 9 p.m.
Harvard, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Avi Loeb and Benyamin Cohen
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Climate Resilient Gardening: Natures Green-Print
Thursday, January 18
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-resilient-gardening-natures-green-print-tickets-765890317557
Join us for an exciting online event, Climate Resilient Gardening: Natures Green-Print, on Fri Jan 19 2024 at 12:00 PM (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). Discover the secrets to creating a resilient garden that thrives in changing climates.
In this event, we will explore innovative gardening techniques, sustainable practices, and nature-inspired strategies to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this event is perfect for anyone interested in creating a greener and more sustainable garden.
Learn from an expert speaker who will share their knowledge and experiences on topics such as water-wise gardening, selecting climate-appropriate plants, soil health, and much more. Engage in interactive sessions and gain practical insights to help you transform your garden into a resilient oasis.
Don't miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, exchange ideas, and discover new ways to make a positive impact on our environment.
Editorial Comment: From Australia so the details may not be relevant but I suspect the general outlines will be.
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Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture
Friday, January 19
7:00 PM ET
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/kyle_chayka_at_harvard_book_store/
Harvard Book Store welcomes KYLE CHAYKA—author of The Longing for Less—for a discussion of his new book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture.
About Filterworld
From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.
This ever-tightening web woven by algorithms is called “Filterworld.” Kyle Chayka shows us how online and offline spaces alike have been engineered for seamless consumption, becoming a source of pervasive anxiety in the process. Users of technology have been forced to contend with data-driven equations that try to anticipate their desires—and often get them wrong. What results is a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experiences—human lives—for profit. But to have our tastes, behaviors, and emotions governed by computers, while convenient, does nothing short of call the very notion of free will into question.
In Filterworld, Chayka traces this creeping, machine-guided curation as it infiltrates the furthest reaches of our digital, physical, and psychological spaces. With algorithms increasingly influencing not just what culture we consume, but what culture is produced, urgent questions arise: What happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity—the qualities that make us human? What does it mean to make a choice when the options have been so carefully arranged for us? Is personal freedom possible on the Internet?
To the last question, Filterworld argues yes—but to escape Filterworld, and even transcend it, we must first understand it.
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Winning a Fossil Free Future
Monday, January 22
2pm - 3:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winning-a-fossil-free-future-tickets-777020829217
The international fight against fossil fuels and the case for a global exit plan
By Global Justice Now
Speakers will include Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, plus others from around the world to be announced
While the UN climate conference declaration talked about the need to “transition away from fossil fuels”, the final text was littered with loopholes. Yet the conference also saw a parallel effort gain traction, with fossil fuel producer Colombia becoming the latest country to call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. With so much money and so many vested interests involved, winning the end of the fossil fuel era isn’t going to be easy, but there’s no way out of the accelerating climate crisis without it. The international campaign for a Fossil Fuel Treaty is naming the problem and building momentum towards a global exit plan from fossil fuels which is both rapid and fair.
Join us for the launch of Global Justice Now’s new UK-wide campaign for a Fossil Fuel Treaty. Our speakers will discuss the international fight against fossil fuels, the hows and whys of the treaty itself, and crucially, how you can help make the treaty happen from wherever you are in the UK.
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Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in and Age of Conflict
Tuesday, January 23
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8zIexWoxTGiBx4uX9nIgLg#/registration
SPEAKER(S) William Ury, Co-founder, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, Distinguished Fellow, Harvard Negotiation Project, Harvard University, Founder, Abraham Path Initiative, Co-founder, Climate Parliament
Whether you’re facing a family feud, a workplace dispute, or a political crisis, Possible will help you turn any challenge into an opportunity.
Equal parts memoir, manual, and manifesto, Possible empowers us all to be “Possibilists”: those who believe in the human potential to transform today’s toughest conflicts creatively and constructively.
CONTACT INFO ponevents@law.harvard.edu
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The Fascist Turn: Race And Gender In Totalitarian Regimes
Wednesday, January 24
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Online RSVP at https://bostoncollege-lsoe.catalog.instructure.com/browse/pce/courses/the-fascist-turn-race-and-gender-in-totalitarian-regimes
Cost: This event is free to the public, please use the promotional code GRANDCHOKSI24 to register at no cost.
This event is $25 for practitioners seeking CEs for this lecture.
As citizens, individuals face a global turn towards fascism. How do individuals understand the popular appeal of fascism? How do they empower their resistance? In this meeting, Dr. Sue Grand and Dr. Komal Choksi will apply a social-psychoanalytic lens to these questions. In particular, the deep psycho-social structure of totalitarian splitting will be explored. They will argue that race and gender are the bedrock to that structure. The racing and gendering of fascism: these themes will be linked to neoliberalism, to wealth concentration, social alienation, colonial legacies, and the decay of liberal democracy. Dr. Grand and Dr. Choksi will link these issues to gun culture and Christian nationalism and will argue that fascism has always been within the United States -- in myriad ways, largely obscured, forgotten, and invisible to whiteness.
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On the environmental impacts of genetically modified crops
Monday, January 29
2pm ET [11:00am to 12:00pm PT]
UCSB, Bren Hall 1414
And online
RSVP at https://bren.ucsb.edu/events/bren-seminar-frederik-noack-environmental-impacts-genetically-modified-crops
Frederik Noack, Assistant Professor, Food and Resource Economics Group, University of British Columbia
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An uncertain future for the US critical mineral supply chain
Monday, January 29
7:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Jen-Hsun Huang Building (School of Engineering), NVIDIA Auditorium, Jen-Hsun Huang Center, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/the_energy_seminar_january_29_Caers
The United States is strategically disadvantaged in building its critical mineral supply, in particular in the upstream and downstream portion. In this presentation, I will report findings on a year-long conversation with government officials, academics, and international industry experts on the status of the US critical mineral supply chain, in particular in the area of electrification (lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper & REE). Overall, the US and its government agencies lack a coherent view of how a robust, resilient & sustainable supply chain will be built starting from exploration to mining, processing to manufacturing. While important research is ongoing on finding replacement materials and recycling, these activities are likely not to have an impact relative to the state of the energy transition we are finding ourselves in today. Additionally, the US is betting too much on single horses, such as the Salton Sea, that remain unproven at operational scale, are unattractive to investors and constitute an unresolved environmental justice concern. Innovation in exploration in particular is completely neglected which means that proven and mineable reserves of critical minerals remain uncertain. In a simple analogy, the US is researching new technology for farming, but has no land to farm on. In the second portion of my presentation, I will focus on a plausible roadmap with very specific recommendations to get the US on a more certain footing. Important to such roadmap is the timing at which priority on innovation, development and manufacturing needs to take place, how are allies, Australia and Canada, will play a crucial role and how such roadmap requires having Environmental Justice and the Geosciences as pillars of its foundation.
Speaker Bio: Jef Caers received both an MSc (’93) in mining engineering / geophysics and a PhD (’97) in mining engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Currently, he is Professor of Earth and Planetary at Stanford University, California, USA. Jef Caers’ research interests are data science, artificial intelligence and decision making under uncertainty in developing the critical mineral supply required to transition to 100% renewable energy. Jef Caers is founder of the Mineral-X, a community building effort to strengthen stewardship for a prosperous future for all, powered by Earth's minerals. Jef Caers has published in a diverse range of journals covering Mathematics, Statistics, Earth Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science. Jef Caers authored five books on data science & decision making for natural resources. He was awarded the Krumbein Medal of the International Association of Mathematical Geosciences for his career achievement.
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The greenest building can be... the one that is already built: an interactive energy house model
Monday, January 29
2:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 9, 9-255, 105 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E3W5sm30J2cwUYMjNvMMUJclmFLzRa3RgmsR-vyinlo/edit#gid=0
The presentation will showcase an interactive house model, with a series of features and measuring technologies (thermal imaging, temperature, humidity, due point, indoor air quality measurement).
The model is operated (with regulating it's temperature, moisture, indoor air quality, air movement) to show in an interactive way how existing homes' performance can be understood, measured and and with weatherization/home improvement programs.
The context in which the presenters work are lower-income existing homes in Latin America which when weatherized improve their energy efficiency, reduce emisions and energy poverty, and also improve health, safety and quality of life of families.
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Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Procession of Catastrophes
Monday, January 29
6 – 8:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lqPUoByLRjGNOvrImc6lZQ#/registration
This is the first event is a six-part series that will take place live on Zoom and is free and open to the public. Attendees must register for each event separately. For those wishing to engage in discussion of the presentations with other audience members, Diane L. Moore will convene a live discussion on Zoom for one hour following each presentation.
Environmental catastrophes can create a break in the experience of time, they can rupture the possibility of collective meaning. Yet for communities shaped by colonialism and racism, this rupture can only be understood in relation to the past, as an event in the “unceremoniously archived procession of our catastrophes,” to use Édouard Glissant’s words. Histories of colonial and racial devastation teach us that environmental futures are linked to our pasts. We may describe them as “ancestral catastrophes,” as Elizabeth Povinelly suggests. In this session, Mayra Rivera explores the question, “How may we engage those stories in ways that honor our pasts and open possibilities for different futures?”
Speaker: Mayra Rivera, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies
Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life
Mayra Rivera works at the intersections between philosophy of religion, literature, and theories of coloniality, race and gender—with particular attention to Caribbean postcolonial thought. Her research explores the relationship between discursive and material dimensions of existence in shaping human embodiment and socio-material ecologies. She is the author of The Touch of Transcendence (2007) and Poetics of the Flesh (2015). Rivera is currently working on a project that explores the relationships between coloniality and ecological thought through Caribbean thought.
For more information on the full series, "Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Series of Public Online Conversations," visit https://hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-times-earth-crisis
CONTACT rpl@hds.harvard.edu
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“What Would Be A Just Energy Transition?”
Tuesday, January 30
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The Forum at Columbia University, 601 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027 315
And online
RSVP at https://events.columbia.edu/cal/event/showEventMore.rdo;jsessionid=e5XaMGha1sXoLK6tMcmfdsMwyxQLdK4Jhe1OkwWk.calprdapp08
Dr. Stephanie Pincetl, Director California Center for Sustainable Communities & Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA
Professor Pincetl does research on cities, how they impact resources far and near such as water sources and ecosystems, and how those resources are used in cities, where, by whom, and to do what. She focuses on quantifying those flows, including urban generated wastes like greenhouse gases, and how institutions, regulations and rules shape the ways the flows are appropriated, and how cities are built (including infrastructures) and organized. She has created the first ever interactive energy web atlas that describes building energy use in Los Angeles County (http://www.energyatlas.ucla.edu). Buildings account for 40% of urban GHGs and the Atlas shows the relationships between building age, size, use with energy consumption, as well as energy use and sociodemographic characteristics in the residential sector. Her other main project has been to understand the water system of Los Angeles County that has over 100 different water delivering agencies and 7 adjudicated groundwater basins. Pincetl assembles interdisciplinary teams of researchers to conduct work: ecologists, engineers, and hydrologists. She was one of the main leads of the first Los Angeles County Sustainability Plan and is currently serving in the same capacity for the LA Department of Water and Power 100% renewable, equity plan.
Dr. Pincetl is a California native who has written extensively on land use regulations, habitat protection, environmental justice, urban ecosystems and water She has a PhD in Urban Planning from UCLA, a Masters in Cultural Anthropology from UC Davis, and an undergraduate interdisciplinary degree in Land Ethics, an independent major she created while at UC Davis. She is the author 2 books, and of over 100 peer reviewed papers, and book chapters. Pincetl has served on boards and commissions, including the statewide Planning and Conservation League and as President of the statewide environmental justice organization Communities for a Better Environment, and the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission among others.
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Silicon Valley Reads 2024: A Greener Tomorrow Starts Today
Wednesday, January 31
10pm EST [7:00 PM PST]
DeAnza Visual and Performing Arts Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014
And Online
RSVP at https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F8Z00000lUnhIUAS
Silicon Valley Reads celebrates its 21st year with Lily Brooks-Dalton, Favianna Rodriguez, Alexandria Villaseñor, and Heather White.
Our featured authors and book contributors will focus on environmental sustainability and explore the challenges and opportunities of creating a more sustainable future, not only in Santa Clara County but worldwide.
They will share more about their work and efforts to create awareness and meaningful change for the future.
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Building an Electrical Grid for the Future
Thursday, February 1
12 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard Kennedy School, Wexner 434AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And Online
RSVP at https://www.hks.harvard.edu/events/building-electrical-grid-future
SPEAKER(S) Thomas J. Healey, M-RCBG Senior Fellow
The United States is in the midst of a massive drive to reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2050, led by the enormous promise of wind and solar power. Along that ambitious road, the main challenge won't be our ability to produce enough energy in a zero-carbon world, but instead to put in place the seamlessly connected nationwide transmission grid to move electricity from where it's produced to the millions of homes and businesses where it's actually needed. Consider that the current system - which was designed for a fossil fuel era dominated by coal, oil, and natural gas - must now be recreated to meet the enormous needs of a vastly different world of green energy.
This hybrid seminar will be given by M-RCBG Senior Fellow Thomas J. Healey. It will take place in Wexner 434AB for those who wish to attend in person. Others may join us remotely via Zoom. Lunch will be served.
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
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Science Communication in a Crisis
Thursday, February 1
1:00pm to 3:30pm
MIT, Building 54, 823, 21 AMES ST, Cambridge, MA 02139
Email Chris Reddy (creddy@whoi.edu) to Register.
This workshop will be offered at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (January 30, 2024) and at MIT on (February 1, 2024).
The twenty-first century has seen an increase in extreme weather events, large-scale environmental disasters, and global health pandemics. Although science has enormous value to decision-makers during such crises, the disconnect between scientists and those who respond to and are affected by such events is enormous. In this workshop, we will identify the principal challenges that scientists face when communicating with different stakeholder groups, offer advice on how to navigate the maze of competing interests, and deliver actionable science when the clock is ticking. The lead instructor will be Chris Reddy, Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and faculty member of the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, and recent author of “Science Communication in a Crisis: An Insider’s Guide”.
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On meeting global demands without GHG increases
Monday, February 5
2pm ET [11:00am to 12:00pm PT]
UCSB, Bren Hall 1414
And online
RSVP at https://bren.ucsb.edu/events/bren-seminar-steven-davis-meeting-global-demands-without-ghg-increases
Steven J Davis, Professor, Earth System Science, UC Irvine
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Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: Ancestors and Climate in Our Boston Backyard
Monday, February 5
6 – 8:45 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TxwmH9P8SWajWXcagD4K9w#/registration
This is the second event is a six-part series that will take place live on Zoom and is free and open to the public. Attendees must register for each event separately. For those wishing to engage in discussion of the presentations with other audience members, Diane L. Moore will convene a live discussion on Zoom for one hour following each presentation.
Two hundred years ago, the residents of metropolitan Boston faced a climate crisis. White settlers had destroyed the region’s pine forests, triggering dangerous disruptions to both water and carbon cycles. Activists responded by creating forest parks on previously disrupted landscapes. But many of these activists were themselves descended from the settlers who had caused the harm they sought to heal. In imperfect yet instructive ways, they blended ecological care with new forms of ancestral devotion. Gradually they learned what indigenous communities had long known: that care for the more-than-human-world is inseparable from care for our ancestors. In this session, Dan McKanan, will discuss these stories and how they can help contemporary Bostonians, and others, recognize that what makes a place wild is not the absence of humans but the presence of ancestors.
Speaker: Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity
Moderator: Diane L. Moore, Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life
Dan McKanan, AB '89, joined the HDS faculty in 2008. He researches religious and spiritual movements for social transformation in the United States and beyond. McKanan serves on the Unitarian Universalist Panel on Theological Education and the board of the Unitarian Universalist Studies Network. At Harvard, he serves as chair of the MTS Curriculum Committee and as faculty director for the Divinity School’s Program for the Evolution of Spirituality.
For more information on the full series, "Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Series of Public Online Conversations," visit https://hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-times-earth-crisis
CONTACT rpl@hds.harvard.edu
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EBC 11th Annual New England Regional Offshore Wind Conference
Tuesday, February 13
7:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m.
WilmerHale, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109
And online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-11th-annual-new-england-regional-offshore-wind-conference/#registration-details
Cost: $50 - $275
