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
http://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - 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
———
Reallocating the Residential California Climate Credit to Low-Income CustomersSponsored by
Thursday, January 30
8am ET [11am to 12pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K2u5el78RRSRle9w2gegNg#/registration
—————
Stories to Watch 2025
Thursday, January 30
9:00 - 10:30am EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/1/stories-watch-2025
—————
Disentangling Climate and Development Finance
Thursday, January 30
10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ahnf8UtSSLyU2A1WksHZ4g#/registration
—————
The State of the Energy Transition in 2025
Thursday, January 30
11:00 a.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-the-state-of-the-energy-transition-in-2025/
—————
Beyond Community Engagement: Centering Frontline Voices in the Environmental Movement
Thursday, January 30
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1oOl4zIESrSiIiFQ-Ids3A
—————
Building bipartisan support for public health
Thursday, January 30
1 – 1:30 p.m.
The Studio, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://hsph.harvard.edu/events/building-bipartisan-support-for-public-health/
—————
U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Insights from the 2024 Award Winners
Thursday, January 30
1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UgCozfbjRgKNCLct-bbwnQ#/registration
—————
Harvard Voices on Climate Change: An Ecosystem for Sustainable Computing
Thursday, January 30
4:30 PM-5:30 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/09de4b12-068e-4074-a73b-f30c4403f113/regProcessStep1
—————
Briefing Net Zero Good Practice - What Defines a credible Net Zero Strategy?
Friday, January 31
7am ET [12:00 GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://newclimate.org/events/briefing-net-zero-good-practice-what-defines-a-credible-net-zero-strategy
—————
Climate Disaster Displacement
Friday, January 31
12 - 1pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-disaster-displacement-registration-1217178576889
—————
The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
Friday, January 31
7:00pm (Doors at 6:15)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chris-hayes-at-first-parish-church-tickets-1089181584439
Cost: $42.00 (book included)
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The State of the Nation Project: A comprehensive discussion on America’s successes and failures
Monday, February 3
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EST
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-state-of-the-nation-project-a-comprehensive-discussion-on-americas-successes-and-failures/
—————
The Macro-Critical Aspects of Climate Change and Climate Change Policy
Monday, February 3
12 - 1:15pm EST
BU, Bay State Room, 121 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-macro-critical-aspects-of-climate-change-and-climate-change-policy-tickets-1022865045887
—————
Trade War 2.0
Monday, February 3
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Harvard, Rubenstein 414AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001PXrRIAW&_gl=1*1mxekfz*_gcl_au*MTk5MTI1NDQzOC4xNzMwNzU4OTMw*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTczNzg0MzU5OC4xMS4xLjE3Mzc4NDM3ODguNTUuMC4xNTIzOTU2NDE4
—————
How will AI Disrupt Societies? Can It Help Ukraine?
Monday, February 3
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YqNHex-1T_Kv5ce0mGQM3g
—————
Religion and Just Peace: Empire and Epistemicide: Historical Perspectives on the Rhetoric of Peace and its Erasures
Monday, February 3
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CFuFoXyoRhKcQckHYq0vxQ#/registration
—————
Source Code: My Beginnings
Monday, February 3
7:00pm (Doors at 6:00)
Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com/events/bill-gates/calendar/
Cost: $70.00 plus service fee (book included)
—————
Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Program
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 AM - 7:00 AM EST
Online
RSVP at https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/331b1f36-6899-4c4f-a543-ea0ef1a73892@8370cf14-16f3-4c16-b83c-724071654356
—————
Trees Cool the City But Feel the Heat
Tuesday, February 4
10:30 to 11:30 am
Online
RSVP at https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3r8OrgXIRI6jL9DE5meM0g#/registration
—————
2025 and Beyond: Insights from Climate Tech Leaders
Tuesday, February 4
11:30am EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-and-beyond-insights-from-climate-tech-leaders-tickets-1145613834819
—————
Small Actions Big Difference: Business Through the Sustainability Lens
Tuesday, February 4
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Northeastern, 450 Dodge Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115
RSVP at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/npu8t9g
—————
Our Climate Future: Fact + Fiction
Tuesday, February 4
1:30pm–2:30pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.woodwellclimate.org/?event=our-climate-future-fact-fiction
—————
Cross purposes: Christianity’s broken bargain with democracy
Tuesday, February 4
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
The Brookings Institution, The Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/cross-purposes-christianitys-broken-bargain-with-democracy/
—————
Climate Justice and the University: Shaping a Hopeful Future for All
Tuesday, February 4
4:30-6pm
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpiM-a3jvi5xiyTWdWgxBTi-y8h0TmuwTy8Q5_x891GZOuNA/viewform
—————
Living in the Shadow of our Fathers
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/4017377329691/WN_xB2blR-LRhKpc7Yy3eaSQw#/registration
—————
Conceiving the Committee of Safety in Revolutionary America
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
MA Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
And online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/conceiving-committee-safety
—————
Innovating the Future: Cleantech and Energy Storage Panel Discussion
Tuesday, February 4
5:30 - 7:30pm EST
CIC Cambridge @ 1 Broadway, 5th Floor - Havana Room, 1 Broadway 5th Floor - Havana Room Cambridge, MA 02142
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovating-the-future-cleantech-and-energy-storage-panel-discussion-tickets-1152466160309
—————
Boosting the clean heat market: solutions for the new policy cycle
Wednesday, February 5
4am - 6am ET [10:00 – 12:30 GMT+1]
Residence Palace, Room: Maelbeek, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
And online
RSVP at https://www.agora-energiewende.org/news-events/boosting-the-clean-heat-market
—————
Tackle Heat and Flooding in Cities: A Three-Part Capacity Building Training Webinar Series
Wednesday, February 5
4:30am EST [9:30 - 10:45am GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/2/building-capacity-assess-urban-climate-hazards-and-tackle-heat-and-flooding-cities#register
—————
Science and implementation needs to scale forest-based climate solutions
Wednesday, February 5
8am ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PST]
Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://carnegiescience.edu/events/dr-trevor-keenan-science-and-implementation-needs-scale-forest-based-climate-solutions
—————
Problematic Impacts of the Energy Transition and the Shifting Global Economic Landscape.
Wednesday, February 5
10:00 - 11:00 AM Eastern Time
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_idsTZxcLRcG2GAH3rUltRA#/registration
—————
RMI Feasibility Forum on Industrial Heat Decarbonization
Wednesday, February 5
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-rmi-feasibility-forum-on-industrial-heat-decarbonization/
—————
Small Actions Big Difference: Business Through the Sustainability Lens
Wednesday, February 5
12pm to 1:15pm
Northeastern, 450 Dodge, 324 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/npu8t9g
—————
Responding to Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Well-Being
Wednesday, February 5
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/events/responding-to-climate-change-challenges-and-opportunities-for-mental-health-and-well-being/
—————
The Paradox of Sustainability
Wednesday, February 5
1:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-Gita-Wirjawan
—————
Covering Climate Now Basics: Reporting Solutions
Thursday, February 6
Session 1: 6am ET/11am UTC/12pm CET
Session 2: 1pm ET/6pm UTC/7pm CET
Online
RSVP at https://coveringclimatenow.org/event/ccnow-basics-reporting-solutions/
—————
From Climate Action to Regional Planning: Bringing Sustainability to Scale
Thursday, February 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_00hiD-0nR6iQvr_4Ts0XmQ#/registration
—————
Hurricane Katrina and the Musical Community of NOLA: A Conversation with Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr.
Thursday, February 6
4 – 5 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-conversation-with-big-chief-bo-dollis-jr-virtual
—————
Toward a Better Security Order
Thursday, February 6
4:00-5:30 pm
BU Hillel, 213 Bay State Road, 4th Floor River Room
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/pardee/2025/01/17/upcoming-event-the-boston-launch-of-toward-a-better-security-order/
—————
A Public Health Approach to Violence
Thursday, February 6
4pm - 5:30pm
UNY SPH (Room 717), 55 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-public-health-approach-to-violence-tickets-1152542468549
—————
Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Against Haste: On the Heuristic Affordances of ‘Fascism’
Thursday, February 6
4 – 6 p.m.
Harvard, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
—————
EnergyBar at Greentown Labs
Thursday, February 6
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/energybar-kicking-off-2025/
—————
Another World Is Possible
Thursday, February 6
7pm at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, 50 Liberty Drive Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/natasha-hakimi-zapata-author-another-world-possible-conversation-dan-chiasson
—————
2025 TCUP Conference: Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment
Friday, February 7 – Saturday, February 8
Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, CGIS-South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.huri.harvard.edu/tcup-conference
—————
Winds of Change – EBC 12th Annual New England Regional Offshore Wind Conference
Friday, February 7
8:30 am - 3:00 pm EST
WilmerHale, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109
And online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-12th-annual-new-england-regional-offshore-wind-conference/#registration-details
Cost: $50 - $290
—————
Urban Tree Symposium
Friday, February 7
9AM – 4:30PM
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive,P.O. Box 598, Boylston, MA 01505-0598
RSVP at https://nebg.org/urban_tree_symposium/
Cost: $60 - $150
—————
MFN Sustainability Challenge
Friday, February 7
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Ave, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://share.hsforms.com/10ELuyS7pTz-aRWjtEinkmAejhlh
—————
2025 Business and the Environment Conference
Saturday, February 8
8:00 AM EST — 3:30 PM EST
Yale, Evans Hall, 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
RSVP at https://groups.som.yale.edu/env/conference/
Cost: $20 -$30
—————
Jonathan Rauch: The Christianity-Democracy Break Up
Monday, February 10
12pm EST [3:00 PM PST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-02-10/jonathan-rauch-christianity-democracy-break
Cost: $10
—————
How Cities and States Can Accelerate E-Bike Adoption Using RMI’s Free E-Bike Calculator
Tuesday, February 11
11am ET [1:00-2:15 p.m. MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-how-cities-and-states-can-accelerate-e-bike-adoption-using-rmis-free-e-bike-calculator/
—————
Climate Salon: The “Other” Footprints
Tuesday, February 11
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://lu.ma/aaezqng8?mc_cid=3af6fe25fa&mc_eid=080b9053a5
—————
Urban Futures Hub Series: IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities
Wednesday, February 12
5am ET [11:00 - 12:00 CET]
Online
RSVP at https://iiasa.ac.at/events/feb-2025/webinar-urban-futures-hub-series-ipcc-special-report-on-climate-change-and-cities
—————
Dynamic multiscale soil modeling for climate-smart management of soil and water resources
Wednesday, February 12
8am ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PST]
Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://carnegiescience.edu/events/dr-salvatore-calabrese-dynamic-multiscale-soil-modeling-climate-smart-management-soil-and
—————
Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World—and the Future
Wednesday, February 12
6:00pm(Doors at 5:30)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/cass-r-sunstein
—————
XR Boston February General Meeting
Wednesday, February 12
6 p.m.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://xrboston.org/action/february-general-meeting-2025/
—————
Climate forcing of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Thursday, February 13
9am ET [12pm to 1pm PT]
Stanford, Mitchell Earth Sciences, 350/372, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
—————
2025 Boston Harbor Environmental Education Workshop
Thursday, February 13
9am - 5pm EST
Boston Children's Museum, 308 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-boston-harbor-environmental-education-workshop-tickets-1105763952749
—————
Unstable Ground: Civic Engagement Around Flooding and Plastic Pollution in Kampala, Uganda
Thursday, February 13
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B2VZw7wxTsmv6_SKkROZ3g#/registration
—————
Climate Extremes: Planetary and Human Health Under Stress
Thursday, February 13
5:00 PM - 7:30 PM
SwissnexBoston, 420 Broadway, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://events.swissnexboston.org/ClimateExtremesPlanetaryandHumanHealthUnderStress#/
—————
The Behavioral Economics of Sustainable Energy Use
Friday, February 14
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-luis-mundaca-lecture-virtual
—————
Picks and Shovels: Cory Doctorow with Ken Liu
Friday, February 14
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-ken-liu-picks-and-shovels-tickets-1112058941229
—————
Boston Harbor Walk for Transit Equity
Sunday, February 16
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Location: JFK / UMass, 599 Old Colony Ave, Boston, MA 02127
RSVP at https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po00000e8UBcIAM&mapLinkHref=https://maps.google.com/maps&daddr=Boston%20Harbor%20Walk%20for%20Transit%20Equity@42.320628,-71.052376
—————
The Future of Climate Change: What Three Generations of Scientists Revealed
Tuesday, February 18
7 - 8:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-climate-change-what-three-generations-of-scientists-revealed-tickets-1131192329709
—————
Methane Emissions from the Biogas and Biomethane Supply Chains
Wednesday, February 19
8am ET [2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CET]
Online
RSVP at https://fsr.eui.eu/event/methane-emissions-from-the-biogas-and-biomethane-supply-chains/
—————
The Green Ammonia Innovation Ecosystem
Wednesday, February 19
10:00-11:00 a.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/the-green-ammonia-innovation-ecosystem/
—————
Wabanaki Climate Change Adaptation: Indigenous Science, Research Partnerships, and Justice
Wednesday, February 19
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/kqOHL6C3R6O-sNducD8Eug
—————
Creating Technology Solutions for the Energy Transition
Wednesday, February 19
4:30pm to 5:20pm PT
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-9081
—————
The War in Europe
Wednesday, February 19
7:00pm
Goethe-Institut Boston, 170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-19/war-europe
—————
Jonathan Rosser - Physical Uncertainties and Economic Impacts of Climate Tipping Points A Global Systems Institute seminar
Thursday, February 20
9am ET [14:00 to 15:00 GMT]
University of Exeter, Place Laver LT6, UK
And online
RSVP by emailing infogsi@exeter.ac.uk.
—————
What if the Real Threat is Artificial Good-Enough Intelligence?
Monday, February 24
12pm to 1:30pm
MIT, The Nexus in Hayden Library, 14S-130160 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://sts-program.mit.edu/event/2024-25-morison-prize-and-lecture-with-zeynep-tufekci-topic-to-be-revealed/
—————
Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective — The Invention of Cohesion: How Democracy Survives at Scale
Monday, February 24
3 – 5 p.m.
Harvard, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2025/02/how-popular-governance-has-adapted-to-scale
—————
America's Authoritarian Turn
Monday, February 24
4 – 5 p.m.
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-gary-gerstle-lecture
—————
Religion and Just Peace: The Fog of Religious Conflict: Can the Fog Lift?
Monday, February 24
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_C4CdJxReQm6jEBqiYDSwIg#/registration
—————
Catherine Coleman Flowers: On Environmental Justice and Protecting Holy Ground
Tuesday, February 25
9am EST [12:00 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-02-25/catherine-coleman-flowers-environmental-justice-and-protecting-holy-ground
Cost: $5 - $10
—————
Indulging Kleptocracy: Postcommunist Elites and Corruption
Tuesday, February 25
12:30 – 2 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS South, S354, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indulging-kleptocracy-postcommunist-elites-and-corruption-tickets-1144576652579
—————
Book Talk: Tripping on Utopia with Benjamin Breen, PhD
Tuesday, February 25
5:30 – 7 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DLaZuED_RTOdV5zZ0JV6hw#/registration
—————
Shaping Climate History: Planetary health and climate change
Wednesday, February 26
12:30 - 13:30 ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shaping-climate-history-planetary-health-and-climate-change-online-tickets-1044123189567
—————
Driving the next mass solar technology (tandems) when "solar is done"
Wednesday, February 26
1:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-Colin-Bailie
—————
Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future
Wednesday, February 26
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-26/anita-say-chan-predatory-data
—————
Unsettling Colonial Ecologies, Removal, and Ruin
Thursday, February 27
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o2OvWNalStSL0uUwX-Xk-A#/registration
—————
Climatetech Intern Fair
Thursday, February 27
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET
Greentown Boston, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/climatetech-intern-fair/
—————
The Heat and the Fury: A Conversation With Peter Schwartzstein
Thursday, February 27
7 - 8:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/livestream-the-heat-and-the-fury-a-conversation-with-peter-schwartzstein-tickets-1107265654379
—————
Religion and Just Peace: Heretics and Dissenters: Lessons on Freedom from the Margins
Monday, March 3
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SOLN0dHyQMSdah4e_OGPsA#/registration
—————
The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice Is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence
Monday, March 3
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/meg-stone
—————
Responsible Offshore Wind Development in the U.S. – Implementing the Mitigation Hierarchy
Thursday, March 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_059hzDZjQDCeUjbOG-itjQ#/registration
—————
ACCEL Year 3 Kickoff Event
Thursday, March 6
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET
Greentown Boston444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/accel-year-3-kickoff-event/
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Feminist Security Studies: Collectively Building Theory and Practices about Security in the Americas
Friday, March 7
5:30pm to 7pm
MIT, Building 2, 105, 182 MEMORIAL DR, Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://wgs.mit.edu/events-all/2025/3/7/feminist-security-studies
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Events
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Reallocating the Residential California Climate Credit to Low-Income Customers
Thursday, January 30
8am ET [11am to 12pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K2u5el78RRSRle9w2gegNg#/registration
Electric bill affordability is felt acutely by low-income Californians, particularly those living in hotter regions of the state. During summer months, these customers face especially high bills due to increased cooling needs and California’s high electricity prices. Such concerns have helped spark a heightened focus on electricity affordability in California, including an October 2024 executive order from Governor Gavin Newsom and prominent attention in the current legislative session.
This webinar explores a new option to provide some relief to those customers, as outlined in a recent policy brief by scholars with the Climate & Energy Policy Program (CEPP) at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. CEPP scholars have outlined a new approach to allocating the residential California Climate Credit, which is currently distributed as a biannual credit by investor-owned utilities customers from the proceeds of the state’s Cap-and-Trade Program. An alternative method of distribution could better support low-income customers most impacted by extreme temperatures. Following the presentation, a panel will discuss electricity affordability measures that can be pursued by California legislators and regulators in 2025 and beyond.
Panelists
Lane Smith, Postdoctoral Scholar, Climate & Energy Policy Program
Linda Serizawa, Director, The Public Advocates Office
Carla Peterman, Executive VP, Corporate Affairs & Chief Sustainability Officer, PG&E
Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California State Director, Environmental Defense Fund
This event is organized and sponsored by the Climate and Energy Policy Program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
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Stories to Watch 2025
Thursday, January 30
9:00 - 10:30am EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/1/stories-watch-2025
Join World Resources Institute President and CEO, Ani Dasgupta, on Thursday, January 30 as WRI looks at a vitally important story we believe the world should be watching in 2025.
At COP29 in November, the world’s leaders came together to focus their attention on a bold new climate finance goal: How do we help countries make the critical transition to clean energy that the climate needs, while also building the resilient communities and infrastructure to deal with the climate change impacts that we're already seeing across the globe? At COP29 in Baku they agreed to a goal to reach at least 300 Billion annually by 2035—though much more is needed than that.
WRI's annual Stories To Watch presentation will present four stories that break down the key challenges—and potential solutions—to this global effort: What is the money for? Where will the money come from? And what can be done to unlock more money with innovation and efficiency?
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Disentangling Climate and Development Finance
Thursday, January 30
10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ahnf8UtSSLyU2A1WksHZ4g#/registration
Join the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program for an upcoming webinar, where we will present and seek input on our research that examines the intersection of climate and development finance. Although integrating climate and development goals may seem advantageous, there are critical trade-offs that suggest separating the two could yield more effective outcomes. At a macro level, countries in the Global South have consistently advocated for climate finance to be additional to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) originally dedicated to development. This session will explore: • Institutional Perspectives: Examining the challenges that Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) face in balancing climate action with their core development mandates. We’ll address the incongruities between climate and development finance, especially regarding portfolio composition and organizational impacts. • Project-Level Solutions: Presenting our "Green Swap" concept, which seeks to disentangle climate and development impacts at the project level. By clearly separating these benefits, the Green Swap model aims to attract greater private sector investment specifically for climate finance. Join Akash Deep, Henry Lee, and Wasim Tahir for a focused discussion on advancing climate and development finance in ways that maximize their overlapping but distinct impacts.
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The State of the Energy Transition in 2025
Thursday, January 30
11:00 a.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-the-state-of-the-energy-transition-in-2025/
RMI’s Hadia Sheerazi is moderating Reuters Events’ first webinar of the Zeroing-In Series, “The State of the Energy Transition in 2025.” Experts representing renewables development, power markets, transmission, and regulatory affairs discuss strategies to address the pressing challenge of meeting surging demand for electrification, supercharged with the rise of energy-intensive artificial intelligence and data centers, while mitigating pressures on an aging grid infrastructure that remains vulnerable to increasing risks from storms and wildfires.
This session is geared toward decision makers and project developers who are balancing innovation and risk in accelerating low-carbon business models that push transition momentum forward.
SPEAKERS
HADIA SHEERAZI
Manager - Community Engagement, Climate-Aligned Industries
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Beyond Community Engagement: Centering Frontline Voices in the Environmental Movement
Thursday, January 30
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1oOl4zIESrSiIiFQ-Ids3A
Frontline communities are often characterized as those experiencing the “first and worst” impacts of climate change. However, these communities are not just passively experiencing environmental injustice; many frontline communities are actively fighting against the oppressive systems that create these environmental and health disparities. While organizing for the health and wellbeing of their communities, frontline community-based organizations can find themselves at odds with the priorities of mainstream environmental actors, causing historic marginalization of environmental justice activism within the environmental movement at large. This lecture will explore the importance of centering frontline voices within the U.S. environmental sector, discuss the possibilities for large environmental NGOs to support frontline communities as allies, and provide key takeaways for environmental professionals to incorporate principles of environmental justice into their work.
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Building bipartisan support for public health
Thursday, January 30
1 – 1:30 p.m.
The Studio, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://hsph.harvard.edu/events/building-bipartisan-support-for-public-health/
SPEAKER: Nir Menachemi, Dean of the Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University
MODERATOR: Andrea Baccarelli, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
In an era of deep political polarization, how can we build bipartisan support for public health? During this fireside chat, Nir Menachemi, dean of the Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University, will share important insights for winning over allies based on scientific evidence. He will also share his personal experience forging successful partnerships with policymakers in Florida, Alabama, and Indiana to increase investment in public health.
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U.S. C3E Women in clean energy seminar series: Insights from the 2024 Award Winners
Thursday, January 30
1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UgCozfbjRgKNCLct-bbwnQ#/registration
Hear from the 2024 C3E Award winners in business, international, and finance & investment about their work and their own energy career paths. These Awardees are leaders in finding sustainable solutions for energy-intensive industries, creating significant public-private energy partnerships, and investing in early-stage technology companies with transformative impact.
The C3E webinar series provides a forum to hear the latest on clean energy topics from women who are making a difference. The goal of the quarterly webinars is to highlight the outstanding work of clean energy professionals in various fields and to foster discussion around clean energy opportunities and solutions.
Get to know the work of today’s leaders, including C3E Ambassadors and recent Awardees, by participating in an upcoming webinar, followed by a discussion session, allowing participants to ask the speakers questions, share their own ideas and experiences, engage in conversation, and network with other clean energy professionals.
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Harvard Voices on Climate Change: An Ecosystem for Sustainable Computing
Thursday, January 30
4:30 PM-5:30 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://web.cvent.com/event/09de4b12-068e-4074-a73b-f30c4403f113/regProcessStep1
The Salata Institute and the Harvard Alumni Association present Harvard Voices on Climate Change, a virtual series featuring Harvard faculty and fellows working on different dimensions of the climate challenge. This session features David Brooks, Haley Family Professor of Computer Science, and Gage Hills, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, both from the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As the demand for computational power grows, so does its environmental footprint. Professors Brooks and Hills will explore how advancements in computing can contribute to a more sustainable future. Join us to hear about emerging technologies, energy-efficient designs, and the role of interdisciplinary innovation in addressing climate challenges.
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Briefing Net Zero Good Practice - What Defines a credible Net Zero Strategy?
Friday, January 31
7am ET [12:00 GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://newclimate.org/events/briefing-net-zero-good-practice-what-defines-a-credible-net-zero-strategy
The briefing will discuss the five standard-setting initiatives and one summary review of 37 guidelines, and highlight the areas of convergence on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of corporate net zero strategies. We will also unpack what each initiative is actually saying.
Speakers:
Alexis McGivern, Net Zero Standards Manager, Oxford Net Zero, Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment
Frederic Hans, Senior Policy Advisor, NewClimate Institute
John Lang, Net Zero Tracker Project Lead
If you have any questions, check the Net Zero Tracker website for more details or contact Frances Green: frances.green@eciu.net
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Climate Disaster Displacement
Friday, January 31
12 - 1pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-disaster-displacement-registration-1217178576889
"Lunch and Learn" webinar hosted by the VOAD Climate Equity Roundtable with Johanna Lawton, Deputy Director, Rebuild by Design
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The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
Friday, January 31
7:00pm (Doors at 6:15)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chris-hayes-at-first-parish-church-tickets-1089181584439
Cost: $42.00 (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes Chris Hayes―Emmy Award–winning host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of A Colony in a Nation and Twilight of the Elites―for a discussion of his new book The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society.
About The Sirens' Call
From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society
We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.” Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the nineteenth century: attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated. The Sirens’ Call is the big-picture vision we urgently need to offer clarity and guidance.
Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. As Hayes writes, “Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human.” The Sirens’ Call is the book that snaps everything into a single holistic framework so that we can wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.
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The State of the Nation Project: A comprehensive discussion on America’s successes and failures
Monday, February 3
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EST
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-state-of-the-nation-project-a-comprehensive-discussion-on-americas-successes-and-failures/
On Monday, February 3, Brookings, the American Enterprise Institute, and Tulane University’s Murphy Institute will host an event featuring insights from leading experts and authors of a new report from the State of the Nation Project. The report provides a critical analysis of the United States’ status across key societal measures.
The event will provide attendees with a unique opportunity to engage with the authors as they discuss the findings of the State of the Nation Project, which evaluates a comprehensive range of topics, from economic performance and the environment, to mental health and life satisfaction. The discussions will highlight highlight the challenges facing the nation and progress made so far.
Viewers can join the conversation and ask questions in advance by emailing events@brookings.edu or on X @BrookingsEcon using the hashtag #StateoftheNation.
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The Macro-Critical Aspects of Climate Change and Climate Change Policy
Monday, February 3
12 - 1:15pm EST
BU, Bay State Room, 121 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-macro-critical-aspects-of-climate-change-and-climate-change-policy-tickets-1022865045887
Professor Kevin Gallagher will discuss his research on climate change, financial stability, and the role of the IMF in developing countries.
Climate change and even climate change policies can pose significant risk to the macro-financial stability of nations. In this seminar Gallagher will present new research on this relationship. Moreover, he will discuss how international institutions, namely the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, need to play an important role in preventing and mitigating the macro-critical aspects of climate change moving forward.
Attendees will have the chance to engage in casual discussions and gain deeper insights into Professor Gallagher's work. Lunch will be provided.
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Trade War 2.0
Monday, February 3
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Harvard, Rubenstein 414AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001PXrRIAW&_gl=1*1mxekfz*_gcl_au*MTk5MTI1NDQzOC4xNzMwNzU4OTMw*_ga*OTgwODMzMzc0LjE3MTU4Mjg2NjI.*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*MTczNzg0MzU5OC4xMS4xLjE3Mzc4NDM3ODguNTUuMC4xNTIzOTU2NDE4
Trade tensions are expected to intensify globally now that Donald Trump is back in the White House. The panel discussion will cover how tensions might play out. Speakers include Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at HKS and Elaine Buckberg, Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and former Chief Economist of General Motors. It will be moderated by Edoardo Campanella, Senior Global Economist at UniCredit Bank and Research Fellow at M-RCBG. This seminar will take place in Rubenstein 414AB for those with a Harvard ID who wish to attend in person. Others may join us remotely via Zoom. Lunch will be served.M-RCBG welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. To request accommodations or ask questions about access provided, please email mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu.
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How will AI Disrupt Societies? Can It Help Ukraine?
Monday, February 3
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YqNHex-1T_Kv5ce0mGQM3g
SPEAKER(S) Tymofii Brik, Rector of the Kyiv School of Economics
Nicholas A. Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University
Tymofii Brik, Sociologist and Rector of the Kyiv School of Economics, speaks with Nicholas Christakis, a leading Sociologist from Yale about how artificial intelligence will improve and/or disrupt our societies. This is a critical debate in Ukraine, which is dealing with a labor shortage and the demographic impact of war. Can AI be used to compensate for the loss of human capital? Or should we be wary of its disruptive power?
Christakis’ research begins from the assumption that the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) transcends the simple case of human-machine interactions and extends to human-human interactions in the presence of machines. Careful yet simple programming of AI agents can enhance the performance of human groups, making people within such groups better able to cooperate, coordinate, innovate, and communicate, ultimately contributing to their superior performance. On the other hand, both simple and complex forms of AI (such as large language models) can also do the opposite, harming groups of people and our society as a whole.
Experiments show how AI agents can affect social processes and human performance in settings as diverse as people working together online or coordinating their movement on roadways. These findings reveal what the disruptive introduction of AI into our lives means for the future of human social behavior. And they suggest ways to design AI — as a type of “social catalyst” — so as to make sure it supports a utopian rather than dystopian future.
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Religion and Just Peace: Empire and Epistemicide: Historical Perspectives on the Rhetoric of Peace and its Erasures
Monday, February 3
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CFuFoXyoRhKcQckHYq0vxQ#/registration
When is peace not peace? When does pluralism only seem like pluralism from the perspective of the people in power?
Christianity famously took form during the Pax Romana—an era of celebrated stability in the Roman empire—even as its message about the dawn of the messianic age and the coming of the kingdom of God resonated among those who saw the same age, instead, as a time of political oppression, cosmic upheaval, and eschatological unraveling. Likewise, to the degree that the Roman empire can be characterized by terms like ethnic “diversity” and religious “tolerance,” it was in a manner marked by massive erasures—both of knowledge and ways of knowing, pertaining to whole peoples. Arguably, a parallel dynamic marks Christian approaches to Jews and so-called “heretics” and “pagans,” with consequences for memory, forgetting, and archival amnesias especially with the empire’s Christianization—and with rippling effects that continue to shape our present.
In this session of "Religion and Just Peace | A Series of Public Online Conversations," Annette Yoshiko Reed, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity and Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, reflects upon the perennial questions above using examples from these ancient religions and empires.
This is the second event of a five-part series of online public conversations with members of the HDS faculty to explore what an expansive understanding of religion can provide to the work of just peacebuilding.
For more information, visit the series webpage: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-and-just-peace
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Source Code: My Beginnings
Monday, February 3
7:00pm (Doors at 6:00)
Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com/events/bill-gates/calendar/
Cost: $70.00 plus service fee (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes Bill Gates—technologist, business leader, and philanthropist—for a discussion of his memoir Source Code: My Beginnings, where for the first time, Gates tells his own story, a fascinating portrait of an American life. He will be joined in conversation by Henry Louis Gates Jr.—award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, and institution builder, and the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
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Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Program
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 AM - 7:00 AM EST
Online
RSVP at https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/331b1f36-6899-4c4f-a543-ea0ef1a73892@8370cf14-16f3-4c16-b83c-724071654356
Join us for the Virtual Launch of the Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Programme, a landmark initiative aimed at addressing the urgent need for transformative climate adaptation across the UK.
This engaging session will feature:
Insightful discussions led by experts and policymakers from across the UK, exploring a shared vision for a well-adapted future.
Interactive elements through engagement exercises, allowing attendees to contribute ideas and insights to shape the Hub's work.
Speed presentations showcasing the groundbreaking research projects driving innovation in adaptation strategies.
Opportunities to learn how you can get involved in advancing adaptation efforts, including joining our advisory board, contributing to knowledge-sharing platforms, and participating in key events.
Whether you are a policymaker, researcher, or practitioner, this event offers a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse community dedicated to building resilience and shaping the UK’s climate adaptation agenda.
We look forward to welcoming you to this pivotal event!
Speakers (5)
Helen Adams, MACC Hub Director & Senior Lecturer
Victoria Magreehan, External Affairs Consultant
Jude Hassall, Principal Policy Officer
Rebecca Gibbs, Program Lead
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair
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Trees Cool the City But Feel the Heat
Tuesday, February 4
10:30 to 11:30 am
Online
RSVP at https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3r8OrgXIRI6jL9DE5meM0g#/registration
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2025 and Beyond: Insights from Climate Tech Leaders
Tuesday, February 4
11:30am EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-and-beyond-insights-from-climate-tech-leaders-tickets-1145613834819
An inspiring event in collaboration with The TAU Career Center & The Coller Startup Competition
Join us for an exciting evening featuring five distinguished speakers at the forefront of climate technology and innovation. Discover the latest trends, gain industry insights, and explore the intersection of entrepreneurship and climate solutions.
Topics
The Coller Startup Competition’s Climate Tech track
Trends in the climate tech industry
Understanding the climate crisis and solutions
Proving your Carbon Case: what makes Climate Tech VCs (and generalist VCs) want to fund your startup
Carbon Engineering - from POC to Commercialization
Q&A
Gil Shai. Head of The Climate Tech Track & a Venture Partner with a climate focus at Meron Capital. A former co-founder and CRO at CloudEndure (acquired by AWS) as well as former COO and co-founder of AcceloWeb (acquired by Limelight Web Technologies). Gil will present this important new track and discuss trends in the climate tech industry.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilshai/
Prof. Colin Price. Head of PlanNet Zero - TAU Climate Crisis Initiative. Prof. Price will discuss strategies to tackle the climate crisis and TAU's contributions to solving global challenges.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-price-b496a8275/
Vanessa Bartram, Founder, and Managing Partner of ZORA Ventures will share her experiences as an investor in deep-tech climate solutions, offering actionable insights into driving change at scale.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessabartram/
Daniel Friedmann. Director at Solutum; Former CEO, Carbon Engineering. Daniel will provide a deep dive into the climate startup ecosystem and discuss creating impactful environmental solutions.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-friedmann-p-eng-masc-60923a90/
Dr. Eyal Benjamin. Head of Entrepreneurial Projects, Coller Institute of Ventures. Eyal will announce the opening of the Coller Startup Competition and its New Climate Tech Track.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyal-benjamin/
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Small Actions Big Difference: Business Through the Sustainability Lens
Tuesday, February 4
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Northeastern, 450 Dodge Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115
RSVP at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/npu8t9g
The notion of a corporate purpose has been ascendant in the business world since the start of this century. At the heart of this purpose imperative among businesses today is their urgent desire – and need – to be more sustainable in a world buffeted by social and environmental upheavals. In this talk, CB Bhattacharya, Professor of Marketing and Professor of Organizations and Entrepreneurship at the University of Pittsburgh, will unveil a purpose-driven pathway to enable companies to integrate environmental and social concerns into business decisions. Lunch provided, registration required.Show lesschevronNorth icon
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Our Climate Future: Fact + Fiction
Tuesday, February 4
1:30pm–2:30pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.woodwellclimate.org/?event=our-climate-future-fact-fiction
How do we create a rich, nuanced vision of our climate future that can motivate and guide climate action today? This virtual event brings together a diverse panel of experts to explore the relative strengths of science and science fiction—and the potential synergies between the two—in understanding what the future might look like.
Dr. Christopher Schwalm is the Risk Program Director and a Senior Scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. His research focuses on forward-looking climate projections and risk modeling. He leads the Risk team in work with multiple partners, from local communities to leading financial service firms, to assess climate risk to human and natural systems.
Dr. Vandana Singh is a Professor of Physics at Framingham State University, as well as a science fiction writer whose short stories have been widely published to critical acclaim. In recent years she has been working on transdisciplinary scholarship of climate change, focusing on innovative teaching and learning methods.
Joey Eschrich is Managing Editor for the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University and Assistant Director for Future Tense, a partnership of ASU and New America that explores emerging technologies, culture, policy, and society. He is also a writer and podcast host, and has contributed to many projects on science fiction and futures thinking.
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Cross purposes: Christianity’s broken bargain with democracy
Tuesday, February 4
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
The Brookings Institution, The Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/cross-purposes-christianitys-broken-bargain-with-democracy/
What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In his provocative new book “Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy,” Brookings senior fellow and award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch—a lifelong atheist—reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity. “Thin Christianity,” as Rauch calls the mainline church, has been unable to inspire and retain believers. Worse, a “church of fear” has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings. On February 4, join Governance Studies at Brookings for an event with Jonathan Rauch and Atlantic staff writer Christine Emba to discuss how Christianity’s crisis is making America ungovernable.
Viewers can submit questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter at @BrookingsGov by using #CrossPurposes.
Editorial Comment: I wonder if Christian Nationalism and Dominionism will come up in the discussion. Maybe I’ll ask.
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Climate Justice and the University: Shaping a Hopeful Future for All
Tuesday, February 4
4:30-6pm
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpiM-a3jvi5xiyTWdWgxBTi-y8h0TmuwTy8Q5_x891GZOuNA/viewform
Jennie C. Stephens, PhD, Professor of Climate Justice, National University of Ireland Maynooth, ICARUS Climate Research Centre, Maynooth University, Ireland, Climate Justice Universities Union Coordinating Team
Book talk and conversation with Naomi Oreskes.
The book reimagines the transformative power of higher education institutions if universities were focused on the public good and moving humanity toward more stable, healthy and equitable futures. The ideas in the book are also summarized in this article just published in Times Higher Education - On climate change, are universities part of the problem or part of the solution? The goal of the book is to catalyse new and different conversations about reclaiming and restructuring higher education for transformative change. All welcome and please share with others who may be interested. Attached is the flyer with all the details and here is a link to the registration page and web-based information.
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Living in the Shadow of our Fathers
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/4017377329691/WN_xB2blR-LRhKpc7Yy3eaSQw#/registration
Omo Moses‘s book, The White Peril, is a coming-of-age story, a multigenerational family memoir, an epic father-son road trip, a searing account of the Black male experience, and a work that powerfully revives Reverend Moses’s demand for liberation. Moses deftly interweaves his own life story with excerpts from both his great-grandfather’s sermons and the writings of his father, the civil rights activist Robert P. Moses. (Link to archived interview https://cambridgeforum.org/mississippi-then-and-now/). Omo’s memoir is a compelling chorus of voices that spans three generations of an African-American family, shining a light on the Black experience, and demanding racial justice.
Omo will be joined in conversation by Jack Tchen, the Clement A. Price Professor of Public History & Humanities, and Director of the Price Institute on Ethnicity, Cultures, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers University. Paris Alston, the host of GBH News and incoming host of the new Basic Black will moderate the discussion. Alston has extensive media experience reporting stories from around the world. A North Carolina native, she is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, where she studied media, journalism and global studies. Alston recently earned a Social Impact MBA from Boston University and is a member of the Boston and National Associations of Black Journalists.
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Conceiving the Committee of Safety in Revolutionary America
Tuesday, February 4
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
MA Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
And online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/conceiving-committee-safety
Author: Donald F. Johnson, North Dakota State University
Comment: Brendan McConville, Boston UniversityThis is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 PM.
This essay explores how ordinary Americans conceived of the local committees of safety that served as the backbone of the revolutionary movement in 1774 and 1775. Authorized by the First Continental Congress in late 1774 to enforce the Articles of Association, local leaders largely determined the structure and operation of these committees. As tensions mounted and especially after war broke out in April 1775, committeemen drew on a mixture of historical inspiration, long-standing traditions of corporate governance, and contemporary legal culture to outstrip their Congressional mandate and assert de-facto revolutionary governance in communities across British North America.
Editorial Comment: Might be useful in the current political and environmental situation.
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Innovating the Future: Cleantech and Energy Storage Panel Discussion
Tuesday, February 4
5:30 - 7:30pm EST
CIC Cambridge @ 1 Broadway, 5th Floor - Havana Room, 1 Broadway 5th Floor - Havana Room Cambridge, MA 02142
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovating-the-future-cleantech-and-energy-storage-panel-discussion-tickets-1152466160309
Join us, in person or online, for a panel discussion on the future of clean technology & energy storage. Refreshments will be available.
Agenda
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Networking - Sandwiches and PizzaNetworking and refreshments before the talk for attendees joining in person at the CIC.
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Panel Discussion - In Person and OnlineVirtual guests please join at 6pm. 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Q&A Session
Come join Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds for an exciting panel discussion on the latest trends in cleantech and energy storage! Our event will be held in person at CIC Cambridge @ 1 Broadway in the Havana Room on the 5th Floor or online via Zoom.
Hear from industry expert leaders Jose LaSalle of florrent, Christopher Bencal of FDE Hydro, Michael Hoff of American Energy Storage Innovations, Nicolas Chanut of MIT, and IP Experts Ron Demsher and Keith Wood of Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds.
This seminar will delve into the latest innovations, strategies, and successes in the field of energy storage. Our esteemed panelists will share their insights on cutting-edge technologies, market trends, and the future of sustainable energy solutions. Attendees will gain valuable knowledge on how to navigate the evolving landscape of energy storage and cleantech, making this a must-attend event for innovators in the clean tech and energy storage space.
Key Takeaways for Attendees:
Understanding Emerging Technologies: Learn about the latest advancements in energy storage technologies and how they are transforming the industry.
Strategic Insights: Gain insights into effective strategies for implementing and scaling energy storage solutions.
Market Trends: Discover current market trends and future projections in the cleantech and energy storage sectors.
Success Stories: Hear real-world success stories and case studies from leading experts in the field.
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Boosting the clean heat market: solutions for the new policy cycle
Wednesday, February 5
4am - 6am ET [10:00 – 12:30 GMT+1]
Residence Palace, Room: Maelbeek, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
And online
RSVP at https://www.agora-energiewende.org/news-events/boosting-the-clean-heat-market
Exploring the role of market-based policies for making clean heating more competitive
The heating transition in Europe is at a pivotal moment. The sales of clean heating appliances are slowing down, while the current policy framework fails to deliver the necessary signals to drive the decarbonisation of the heating market. Consequently, both manufacturers and consumers hesitate to fully embrace clean heating solutions, putting the future competitiveness of European heat pump manufacturing at risk.
Against this backdrop, Agora Energiewende has conducted extensive research and stakeholder consultation on the potential role of market-based policies to support the clean transition of the EU heating market. Building on the policy example of the UK Clean Heat Market Mechanism, our analysis uncovers key insights and outlines considerations for designing such a policy at the EU level.
In this hybrid event, we will present the key conclusions from our work and discuss the policy lessons from the UK’s experience and how these could shape the European heating transition. The presentation is followed by a panel discussion with EU policymakers and representatives from industry and civil society, exploring the role such market-based policies could play in the next EU policy cycle.
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Tackle Heat and Flooding in Cities: A Three-Part Capacity Building Training Webinar Series
Wednesday, February 5
4:30am EST [9:30 - 10:45am GMT]
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/2/building-capacity-assess-urban-climate-hazards-and-tackle-heat-and-flooding-cities#register
5 February 2025 / 5 March 2025 / 26 March 2025
[FOR ALL THREE WEBINARS] 9:30-10:45 am Accra / 10:30-11:45 am Bonn / 12:30-1:45 pm Nairobi / 3:00-4:15 pm India / 4:30-5:45 pm Jakarta
Co-organized by WRI India, UrbanShift, and Cities4Forests, this three-part capacity building training webinar series is designed to build capacity of city officials to conduct vulnerability assessments and implement nature-based approaches to enhance climate resilience in cities. The three webinars will focus on (1) an introduction to the Climate Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (CHVA) framework to prioritize resilience actions in cities, (2) nature-based solutions to tackle extreme heat in cities, and (3) nature-based solutions to mitigate urban flooding. City government officials from global South cities, national government officials with urban development mandates and other urban practitioners are encouraged to attend and advised to participate in all three webinars for a comprehensive learning experience. The webinars will be conducted in English and simultaneous interpretation will be offered in French and Bahasa Indonesia.
Contact: John-Rob Pool (john-rob.pool@wri.org)
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Science and implementation needs to scale forest-based climate solutions
Wednesday, February 5
8am ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PST]
Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://carnegiescience.edu/events/dr-trevor-keenan-science-and-implementation-needs-scale-forest-based-climate-solutions
Nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) have garnered both enthusiastic support and significant controversy due to their potential for climate mitigation and co-benefits such as biodiversity enhancement and improved ecosystem services. NbCS involve deliberate actions to manage ecosystems to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Despite substantial investment, including significant allocations through federal funding through initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act, effective applied science for long-term NbCS is an urgent near-term need.
The implementation of NbCS has outpaced rigorous scientific understanding, raising concerns about important project aspects such as additionality, leakage, and permanence. Challenges exist across various ecosystems, from agricultural lands lacking representative data to forests with outdated carbon estimation models and diverse wetlands with long-term impact timelines. Furthermore, variability in protocols and lack of standardized data limit the reliability and credibility of carbon credits and overall NbCS efficacy.
Ecosystem scientists are perfectly positioned to address these gaps by developing robust methods for project assessment, monitoring, reporting, and verification. Achieving a scientifically robust framework for NbCS requires strategic coordination, significant investment, and leveraging existing infrastructure. This talk will focus on the key research questions and applied science needs that are urgently required to make NbCS a viable and reliable climate
mitigation strategy.
Trevor Keenan is an associate professor at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Keenan is a global change ecologist whose work combines ecological theory with numerical techniques to examine the response of terrestrial ecosystems to environmental change. His research spans from individual organisms (primarily phototrophs) to ecosystems, landscapes, and the globe. He combines satellite observations with large ecological data sets, models of ecosystem state and function, and data assimilation/mining tools, with results from in-situ field studies and experiments, to gain a mechanistic understanding of key physical and biological processes.
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Problematic Impacts of the Energy Transition and the Shifting Global Economic Landscape.
Wednesday, February 5
10:00 - 11:00 AM Eastern Time
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_idsTZxcLRcG2GAH3rUltRA#/registration
The presentation will be recorded and will be available for those who are unable to attend the live presentation.
Program Description: This presentation will address how upcoming policy changes will remedy some of the problematic impacts of the energy transition. While the shift to renewables was well-intentioned, it has led to rising electricity prices that disproportionately affect lower-income communities. States with a higher percentage of renewable energy often face steeper electricity costs. We'll also explore the potential risks of Net Zero targets, including concerns about Europe's industrial future. Recent headlines, like VW's decision to close three factories in Germany, contrast sharply with the record profits of China's BYD-a sign of the shifting global economic landscape. Don't miss this critical discussion on what the future holds for energy, industry, and the global economy!
Moderator: Dr. Isabella Ruble is an economist at the U.S. Department of Energy, a position she assumed after nearly two decades in academia, where she taught at economics departments in the U.S. and abroad. With a deep passion for education, she has extensive expertise in academic curriculum development and the creation of new graduate degree programs. Her research, which covers a broad range of energy-related issues, is frequently published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Dr. Ruble is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Economic Asymmetries and the owner of The Weck Institute. She is fluent in German, French and English.
Speaker: Diana Furchtgott-Roth, an Oxford-educated economist, is director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and the Environment at The Heritage Foundation and an adjunct professor of economics at George Washington University. Ms. Furchtgott-Roth served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation; Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury; Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Labor; and Chief of Staff of the Council of Economic Advisors. Diana worked in senior roles in the White House under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. She is the author or coauthor of six books, most recently United States Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2021). Her articles have been published in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Review, and The New York Times, among others. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio shows.
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RMI Feasibility Forum on Industrial Heat Decarbonization
Wednesday, February 5
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-rmi-feasibility-forum-on-industrial-heat-decarbonization/
RMI Feasibility Forum on Industrial Heat DecarbonizationProject cost pitfalls and evolving business models
This engaging session brings together leaders from across the industrial heat ecosystem to exchange critical lessons learned in managing project costs and explore the evolution of business models in industrial heat decarbonization projects. It delivers valuable insights and practical strategies to accelerate the deployment of sustainable heat solutions.Who
This webinar is tailored for professionals involved in industrial heat projects, including:
Industrial companies: process engineers, sustainability managers, and environmental engineers from sectors such as chemicals, refining, food and beverage, pulp and paper, and pharmaceuticals
Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms
Energy management and energy service companies
Industrial energy auditors and consultants
Industrial heat technology providers
Industrial project financiers
Policymakers
Nonprofits and advocacy organizations
Join us to learn from industry leaders and connect with peers driving the decarbonization of industrial heat.
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Small Actions Big Difference: Business Through the Sustainability Lens
Wednesday, February 5
12pm to 1:15pm
Northeastern, 450 Dodge, 324 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/npu8t9g
In this talk, CB Bhattacharya, Professor of Marketing and Professor of Organizations and Entrepreneurship at the University of Pittsburgh, will unveil a purpose-driven pathway that will enable companies to integrate environmental and social concerns into all their business decisions. Using real world data, he will show that a transition to a more sustainable business model, via the “sustainability ownership experience,” is a surefire way to ignite a key stakeholder, our employees, and provide more meaning to their jobs thereby boosting employee engagement.
This event is open to all students, faculty members, staff, and members of the greater Boston community. Lunch provided, registration required.
This event is part of the Nardone Family Seminar Series at the Center for Emerging Markets.
About CB Bhattacharya
Dr. CB Bhattacharya is Professor of Marketing, Professor of Organizations and Entrepreneurship, and founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. His research and teaching focus specifically on how companies can use underleveraged “intangible assets” such as corporate identity, reputation, corporate social responsibility and sustainability to strengthen stakeholder relationships and drive business and societal value.
He has published over 100 articles and has over 48,000 citations per Google Scholar, putting him in the top 50 most cited scholars both in sustainability and marketing. His latest book entitled Small Actions Big Difference: Leveraging Corporate Sustainability to Drive Business and Societal Value was published by Routledge in 2019. He is co-author of the book Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value and co-editor of the book Global Challenges in Responsible Business, both published by Cambridge University Press. He has served on the Editorial Review Boards and served as Editor of special issues of many leading publications. Prof. Bhattacharya is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at Pitt as well as the ESMT Sustainable Business Roundtable, a forum with more than 25 multinational members, aimed at discussing opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming sustainability practices within organizations. In 2007, he started the Stakeholder Marketing Consortium with support from the Aspen Institute. He has been named twice to Business Week's Outstanding Faculty list.
He received his PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and his BA from St. Stephens College, Delhi.
He is often quoted in publications such as Business Week, BBC, Forbes, Financial Times, Newsweek, the New York Times, The Economist and on TV stations such as Times Now, CBS, and PBS.
More information at https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/cem/events/business-through-sustainability-lens/
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Responding to Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Well-Being
Wednesday, February 5
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/events/responding-to-climate-change-challenges-and-opportunities-for-mental-health-and-well-being/
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Gaurab Basum Director of Education and Policy at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Global Health & Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
CONTACT INFO centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu
On Wednesday, February 5th, from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12 or online, please join us for the third installment in our Environments for Health and Happiness Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Gaurab Basu. In this event, titled “Responding to Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Well-Being”, Dr. Basu will explore the mechanisms by which climate change impacts the mental health and well-being of our communities, and challenge the audience to explore the ways in which climate solutions can enable the deeper work of creating well-being.
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The Paradox of Sustainability
Wednesday, February 5
1:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-Gita-Wirjawan
The Stanford Energy Seminar has been a mainstay of energy engagement at Stanford for nearly 20 years and is one of the flagship programs of the Precourt Institute for Energy. We aim to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the Stanford community – academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, non-profits, and more. Join us!
Abstract: The transition to sustainable energy systems presents a fundamental paradox: developing nations are expected to achieve both rapid modernization and environmental sustainability in a fraction of the time that developed nations took to industrialize. This talk examines this temporal disconnect through the lens of coal-powered electricity, comparing the centuries-long industrialization of Western Europe and the United States with the compressed timeline facing Southeast Asian and Indian economies today. This accelerated modernization timeline creates unique challenges for developing economies. The discussion concludes by exploring how renewable energy technologies and enhanced international cooperation could help bridge this temporal gap, offering pathways to reconcile rapid development with environmental sustainability.
Speaker Bio: Gita Wirjawan is founding partner of Ikhlas Capital and the chairman of Ancora Group, an Indonesian business group with interests in real estate, natural resources, arts and technology, which he founded in 2007.
His public service has included positions as Indonesia's minister of trade (2011–2014), chairman of its Investment Coordinating Board (2009–2011), and chair of a 159-nation WTO ministerial conference in 2012 that focused on easing global trade barriers. He led his country's national badminton association from 2012 to 2016, when Indonesia won 3 gold medals at the World Championships, four titles at the All England Championships, and one gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
As an investment banker, he has held key appointments at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, where he led many mergers, corporate restructuring, corporate financing and strategic sales involving leading companies in Southeast Asia. His various board roles included service as a commissioner of the state-owned oil giant, Pertamina, and an independent board director of Axiata Group Berhad.
Gita hosts the educational podcast "Endgame", focused on the region to promote Southeast Asia's growth and prosperity. He is a visiting scholar with Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy, researching Southeast Asia's nation-building directionality. Additionally, he is a member of the Angsana Council, a non-profit group dedicated to boosting the region's businesses and economies, and global advisory firm Macro Advisory Partners.
His degrees are from the Harvard Kennedy School (MPA), Baylor University (MBA), and the University of Texas at Austin (BSc)
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Covering Climate Now Basics: Reporting Solutions
Thursday, February 6
Session 1: 6am ET/11am UTC/12pm CET
Session 2: 1pm ET/6pm UTC/7pm CET
Online
RSVP at https://coveringclimatenow.org/event/ccnow-basics-reporting-solutions/
Join this CCNow Basics session to learn about covering solutions to the climate crisis
Climate change is the defining story of our lives. Journalists around the world face the challenge of covering a story that is vast and global, yet deeply personal and immediate. Amid the whirlwind of impacts, scientific reports and diplomatic disputes, one part of the story is often left untold: Not all hope is lost.
Audiences everywhere are demanding more — and better — solutions journalism. But in an ocean of greenwashing, big claims, and doom and gloom, it’s easy to lose direction.
Join us on February 6 for a live training session and learn more on how to identify, question, investigate, and report climate solutions. Together, we’ll explore how to tell the whole story. To fit your schedule, we’re offering the same session at two different times.
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From Climate Action to Regional Planning: Bringing Sustainability to Scale
Thursday, February 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_00hiD-0nR6iQvr_4Ts0XmQ#/registration
How can we work with diverse stakeholders at different scales to advance sustainable and equitable solutions to the climate crisis? This question has animated Adi Nochur for the entirety of his academic and professional careers. From starting as an Environmental Studies major and a student activist on the Tufts campus, to advocating for federal climate policy in Washington, DC, to now advancing regional urban planning and transportation solutions in his native Greater Boston area, Adi will share lessons learned and insights gained from over 20 years of climate and sustainability work across multiple issues, scales, and sectors—from walkability to brownfields, from local to international, from non-profit to government. He will also speak to the power of arts and planning as tools to drive sustainable change, and he encourages lecture attendees to discover their inner urban planner as well.
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Hurricane Katrina and the Musical Community of NOLA: A Conversation with Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr.
Thursday, February 6
4 – 5 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-conversation-with-big-chief-bo-dollis-jr-virtual
SPEAKER(S) Gerard “Bo” Dollis, Jr., Big Chief of The Wild Magnolias
Emmett G. Price III, Dean of Africana studies, Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Join Big Chief Gerard (Bo) Dollis, Jr. for a conversation about music, community, and strength in the face of climate change, with a particular focus on Mardi Gras Indian traditions and performance. He will be joined in conversation by Emmett G. Price III, dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
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Toward a Better Security Order
Thursday, February 6
4:00-5:30 pm
BU Hillel, 213 Bay State Road, 4th Floor River Room
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/pardee/2025/01/17/upcoming-event-the-boston-launch-of-toward-a-better-security-order/
As the world transitions away from unipolarity, a dangerous competition over norms and rules is emerging that risks splitting the world into competing orders. In response, The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has debuted the first report from its Better Order Project, which brought together more than 130 experts from more than 40 countries to develop a roadmap for stabilizing the international security order.
The report, titled “Toward a Better Security Order,” puts forth a series of proposals aimed at rejuvenating an inclusive global security order rooted in international law, multilateralism, and the ability of states to participate on an equal basis. Its 20 detailed proposals address a wide range of vital global security concerns, including reforming the UN Security Council, containing rogue AI, avoiding nuclear war, prioritizing climate change, and more.
Join the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future on Thursday, February 6 for the Boston launch of the report. The event will feature Quincy Institute Executive Vice President Trita Parsi; Harvard Kennedy School Prof. Stephen Walt; and BU Pardee School of Global Studies Prof. Min Ye; and will be moderated by Pardee Center Interim Director Amb. Jorge Heine.
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A Public Health Approach to Violence
Thursday, February 6
4pm - 5:30pm
UNY SPH (Room 717), 55 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-public-health-approach-to-violence-tickets-1152542468549
Dr. Piquero will apply a public health perspective to examine crime and violence, particularly focusing on domestic and gun violence, before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Alexis R. Piquero serves as Acting Chair of Sociology and Criminology, Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology and Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami in Florida.
A leader in the field of criminology, Dr. Piquero’s studies focus on the intersection of race/ethnicity and crime, criminal justice policy and crime prevention, and criminal careers; focusing on quantitative methodology.
Those who are unable to attend in person can register and tune in to a livestream via Zoom. Virtual attendees will receive the livestream link after registering.
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Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Against Haste: On the Heuristic Affordances of ‘Fascism’
Thursday, February 6
4 – 6 p.m.
Harvard, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Federico Marcon, Professor of East Asian Studies and History; Chair of the East Asian Studies Department, Princeton University
Chair Peter E. Gordon Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
This event is organized by the Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series led by CES Resident Faculties Peter E. Gordon and CES Director Daniel Ziblatt. It is also co-sponsored by the Democracy and Its Critics Initiative at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES).
More information at https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2025/02/against-haste-on-the-heuristic-affordances-of-fascism
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EnergyBar at Greentown Labs
Thursday, February 6
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/energybar-kicking-off-2025/
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs’ signature networking event!
We are excited to welcome you back to Greentown Labs for our first EnergyBar of the year! On Thursday, February 6, we’re inviting entrepreneurs, investors, students, and friends of climatetech to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional climatetech network. Join us to kick off 2025!
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs’ signature networking event that fosters conversation and collaboration among entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, students, neighbors, and other climate champions passionate about innovations in climatetech and the energy transition.
If you have questions or need to request accommodation, please reach out to Greentown Labs’ Events Manager, Kelly Wilson (kwilson@greentownlabs.com).
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Another World Is Possible
Thursday, February 6
7pm at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, 50 Liberty Drive Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/natasha-hakimi-zapata-author-another-world-possible-conversation-dan-chiasson
ABOUT ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE
Real-world solutions to America's thorniest social problems--from housing to retirement to drug addiction--based on original reporting from around the world
A new generation of Americans has declared that another world is possible. And yet, the stubborn problems of inequality, climate change, and declining health seem as intractable as ever. Where might different answers lie?
Intrepid journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata has traveled around the world, from Costa Rica to Uganda, and Estonia to Singapore, uncovering how different countries solve the problems that plague the United States. Through in-depth reporting, including interviews with senior government officials, activists, industry professionals, and the ordinary people affected by their policies, Another World Is Possible examines innovative programs that address public health, social services, climate change, housing, education, addiction, and more.
In each instance Hakimi Zapata provides a clear-eyed assessment of the history, challenges, cost-effectiveness, and real-world impact of these programs. The result is a compelling, frame-shifting account of how we might live differently and create a safer, healthier, more sustainable future.
A work of keen analysis as well as enormous heart and optimism, Another World Is Possible is destined to crack the mold of current debates, and to refresh our sense of what might be possible tomorrow.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Natasha Hakimi Zapata is an award-winning journalist, university lecturer, and literary translator. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Los Angeles Review of Books, In These Times, Truthdig, Los Angeles Magazine, and elsewhere. The former foreign editor of Truthdig and the author of Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe (The New Press), she lives in London.
Dan Chiasson is the author of seven books, including the forthcoming Bernie for Burlington: Sanders in a Changing Vermont (Knopf, 2026), a study of politics and change in one American place. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and teaches at Wellesley College.Event date:
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2025 TCUP Conference: Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment
Friday, February 7 – Saturday, February 8
Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, CGIS-South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.huri.harvard.edu/tcup-conference
SPEAKER(S) Jojo Mehta (keynote), Stop Ecocide International
The 2025 TCUP Conference will address how Ukrainians are being denied their right to build (and rebuild) a safe environment due to Russia’s continued aggression. Panels will discuss the geopolitical landscape in which the war is being waged; ecocide and environmental crimes; the (re)built environment, and the landscape of digital technologies contributing to reconstruction.
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Winds of Change – EBC 12th Annual New England Regional Offshore Wind Conference
Friday, February 7
8:30 am - 3:00 pm EST
WilmerHale, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109
And online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/ebc-12th-annual-new-england-regional-offshore-wind-conference/#registration-details
Cost: $50 - $290
The offshore wind industry experienced another year of milestones. The number of approved commercial scale offshore wind projects in the U.S. has doubled, bringing the number of approved projects up to twelve with a total approved capacity over halfway to the nation’s 30 gigawatts (GW) goal. As the nation steps up its advancement of offshore wind development, New England has kept pace and maintained a commitment to positioning the region to gain from the environmental, economic and social benefits of commercial-scale offshore wind energy.
Similarly to last year, this year’s EBC offshore wind conference is structured as a longer event to allow for a wider array of presentations, more audience engagement, and increased time for networking. The program will start with a review of milestones and a reflection of the New England offshore wind industry to date followed by an overview of how far the industry has come and a look towards the future and continued progress.
The conference will conclude with presentations on the nation’s energy outlook and the state of the supply chain followed by a newly introduced regulator roundtable formatted to generate collaborative discussion between states and attendees. We invite you to join us in-person or virtually for what promises to be an engaging and informative event!
Contact
Phone: (617) 505-1818
Email: ebc@ebcne.org
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Urban Tree Symposium
Friday, February 7
9AM – 4:30PM
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive,P.O. Box 598, Boylston, MA 01505-0598
RSVP at https://nebg.org/urban_tree_symposium/
Cost: $60 - $150
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s annual Urban Tree Symposium is dedicated to exploring the importance of urban forests and ways we can improve our green spaces. The symposium brings together experts in the fields of forestry, horticulture, biology, technology and more. You can expect to hear current and important information that will impact your work in our communities and your own home. This event is co-hosted in partnership with the Ecological Landscape Alliance.
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MFN Sustainability Challenge
Friday, February 7
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Ave, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://share.hsforms.com/10ELuyS7pTz-aRWjtEinkmAejhlh
Join us on Friday, February 7th for the final pitch event for the MFN Sustainability Challenge. Over the past two months, participating teams have engaged in workshops and mentorship sessions with industry experts, refining their innovative business models to address critical climate challenges.
The teams are competing for a $40,000 innovation grant, sponsored by MassCEC. The grant will be awarded to the team with the most scalable business model.
This event is hosted in partnership with Greentown Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit accelerating climatetech innovation and commercialization by empowering entrepreneurs and enabling collaboration. As the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America—with locations in Somerville, Mass. and Houston, Texas—Greentown convenes the climatetech ecosystem to provide entrepreneurs the community, connections, and resources they need to thrive.
Agenda:
12:30pm - Doors open
1:00pm - Opening remarks
1:15pm - Startup pitches
3:30pm - Reception
4:00pm - Winner announced
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2025 Business and the Environment Conference
Saturday, February 8
8:00 AM EST — 3:30 PM EST
Yale, Evans Hall, 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
RSVP at https://groups.som.yale.edu/env/conference/
Cost: $20 -$30
Co-organized by the B&E clubs at Yale School of Management and the Yale School of the Environment, this conference will convene leaders across multiple sectors to discuss the latest challenges at the intersection of business growth and environmental impact.
Attendees will have the opportunity to network directly with established professionals as well as passionate students from top-tier schools, while learning about the latest challenges in industry.
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Jonathan Rauch: The Christianity-Democracy Break Up
Monday, February 10
12pm EST [3:00 PM PST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-02-10/jonathan-rauch-christianity-democracy-break
Cost: $10
The crisis of American Christianity has become a crisis for democracy, says award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch. A lifelong atheist, he is warning that the waning of the church in this country is tied to the waning of our democracy.
What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In his provocative new book Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy, Rauch reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity.
Rauch says the mainline church—which he calls “thin Christianity”—isn’t able to inspire and retain believers. Worse, he says a “Church of Fear” has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings.
Rauch addresses secular Americans who think Christianity can be abandoned, and Christian Americans who blame secular culture for their grievances. The two must work together, he argues, to confront our present crisis. He calls on Christians to recommit to the teachings of their faith that align with Madison, not MAGA, and to understand that liberal democracy, far from being oppressive, is uniquely protective of religious freedom. At the same time, he calls on secular liberals to understand that healthy religious institutions are crucial to the survival of the liberal state.
Join us for a special online-only talk about mending the rift in American democracy.
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How Cities and States Can Accelerate E-Bike Adoption Using RMI’s Free E-Bike Calculator
Tuesday, February 11
11am ET [1:00-2:15 p.m. MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-how-cities-and-states-can-accelerate-e-bike-adoption-using-rmis-free-e-bike-calculator/
This event is for state and city transportation officials and planners. If you are an advocate interested in learning how to leverage the e-bike calculator to advance your work, please register for the webinar designed for you.
A growing number of state and city transportation officials and city planners are exploring ways in which they can accelerate e-bike adoption. While they know that e-bikes have many social, environmental, and economic benefits, it can be difficult to quantify these benefits and galvanize the necessary momentum to advance their e-bike efforts.
If you are navigating these efforts for your government or city, join RMI and partners to learn how cities have successfully increased access to e-bikes by using RMI’s free E-Bike Environment and Economics Impact Assessment Calculator, which provides granular and big-picture data about the benefits of replacing vehicle trips with e-bikes. Attendees will learn how to use the calculator, which has been updated since its launch in 2023, significantly expanding its usefulness to local and state governments.
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Climate Salon: The “Other” Footprints
Tuesday, February 11
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA
RSVP at https://lu.ma/aaezqng8?mc_cid=3af6fe25fa&mc_eid=080b9053a5
We often use "carbon footprint" as a catch-all when really we're talking about our impact on many planetary systems. We have many levers to pull to reduce emissions — are we - and should we - consider them all equally?
In this salon, we'll take a "step" back to explore innovations that help us adapt to, mitigate, or reduce our effects on:
Our Urban Footprint
Our Biodiversity Footprint
Our Water Footprint
Our Energy Grid Footprint
Our Food & Agriculture Footprint
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Urban Futures Hub Series: IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities
Wednesday, February 12
5am ET [11:00 - 12:00 CET]
Online
RSVP at https://iiasa.ac.at/events/feb-2025/webinar-urban-futures-hub-series-ipcc-special-report-on-climate-change-and-cities
The Urban Futures Hub is pleased to announce the second installment of its Urban Futures Series. Join us for an insightful discussion featuring distinguished speakers Debra Roberts and Şiir Kılkış about the process leading to the scoping, outline agreement, and essential expectations related to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. The session will be moderated by Leila Niamir.
This groundbreaking report, part of the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Cycle (AR7), will commence with its First Authors' Meeting in March 2025 and is scheduled for completion by March 2027. The session will shed light on the critical roles of scientists, local governments, and practitioners in addressing climate change within urban contexts through the lenses of science and policy. The event will also feature engaging panel discussions exploring the science-policy interface around cities and the built environment.
If you are passionate about urban areas and the intersection of science and policy for transformative action in addressing climate change through mitigation and adaptation, don’t miss this event!
Speakers
Prof. Debra Roberts, IPCC AR6, Co-Chair, Working Group II Prof. Debra Roberts is a scientist who has spent four decades working at the science-policy-practice interface at local and international levels. She headed the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit and Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa) between 1994 and 2024. She was elected as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Co-Chair of Working Group II for the sixth assessment cycle (2015-2023). She has held several international advisory roles, for example, in the Global Commission on Adaptation; United Cities and Local Governments; ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability; the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Summit; Global Commission for SDG Urban Finance; the WMO World Weather Research Programme; UN-Habitat and UNEP. She was also a lead negotiator for the South African delegation involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. In 2019 and 2022/23 she was included in a list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy. She is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the School of Life Sciences and holds the Professor Willem Schermerhorn Chair in Open Science from a Majority World Perspective at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation at the University of Twente. She is President of the AXA Research Fund Scientific Board and Chair of the Board of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Professor Roberts will be a Co-ordinating Lead Author for the IPCC’s upcoming Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.
Prof. Åžiir Kılkış IPCC AR7, Vice-Chair, Working Group III Åžiir Kılkış serves as Vice-Chair of IPCC’s Working Group III on mitigation since her election in July 2023. She served as a Lead Author of the Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, focusing on mitigation options, urban systems, and sustainable development linkages, and undertook responsibilities in multiple cross-chapter and cross-Working Group collaborations. She has over two decades of experience in climate change mitigation, including its role in pursuing sustainable development.
She is senior researcher and science adviser at The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye and is double affiliated to the Middle East Technical University in Ankara as professor. Her research focuses on the mitigation potential of urban areas, supply-demand interactions, global and local scales, and sustainable development. She received her doctorate from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Civil and Architectural Engineering and Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University in Science, Technology and International Affairs where she holds a gold medal in her field. Alongside international awards, she received a high-level fellowship for her research centered on climate change mitigation and urbanization awarded at the Centennial Year of the Republic of Türkiye. Through her publications, she takes place among the top 2% of scientists in energy, environmental sciences, and enabling/strategic technologies. She served on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Scoping Meeting of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and is a member of the Gender Action Team. Most recently, she has been selected to serve the responsibilities of a Review Editor within the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.
Moderator: Dr. Leila Niamir, Lead of IIASA Urban Futures Hub Dr. Leila Niamir is a research scholar and the lead of the Urban Futures Hub at the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. She is a computational economist working on energy demand and climate change. Her research focuses on cities and the built environment, behavioral and lifestyle changes, human wellbeing, and agent-based modeling. Dr. Niamir has been appointed as a Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.
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Dynamic multiscale soil modeling for climate-smart management of soil and water resources
Wednesday, February 12
8am ET [11:00 am - 12:00 pm PST]
Department of Plant Biology Seminar Room, 260 Panama Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://carnegiescience.edu/events/dr-salvatore-calabrese-dynamic-multiscale-soil-modeling-climate-smart-management-soil-and
As global warming and shifting rainfall patterns threaten soil and water resources, sustainable land management—especially in agriculture—is crucial for enhancing resource use efficiency as well as mitigating climate change. Addressing these challenges necessitates a deep understanding of the dynamic, multiscale interactions between water and carbon cycles in soils. However, decision support tools and models often oversimplify the soil as a rigid, homogeneous medium, failing to capture its complex responses to climate change and land use and leading to suboptimal management solutions. This presentation highlights advances in understanding of the soil as an integrated physical, biological, and geochemical system that evolves under climate and agricultural management pressures. Leveraging data from multiple platforms (experiments, in-situ sensors, remote sensing) and mathematical modeling tools (nonlinear dynamics, scaling), we present approaches to conceptualize and model from microbial activity in soil microsites up to the dynamics of soil biophysical properties and water and carbon cycles at the field scale. These insights inform the development of holistic practices that integrate water (e.g., irrigation) and carbon management for sustainable land use in a changing climate.
Salvatore Calabrese is an assistant professor of Biological & Agricultural Engineering of Plant Sciences at Texas A&M University. Salvatore earned his B.S. in 2012 and M.S. in 2014 at the University of Palermo (Italy) and completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University (NJ, USA) in 2019. In 2020, he joined as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University. Research in his lab addresses critical environmental challenges arising from the effects of climatic changes and land management practices on the hydrologic and carbon cycles, and their impacts on soil and water resources. Salvatore’s lab adopts an interdisciplinary approach to develop innovative sustainable land management strategies, with a specific focus on water use and soil carbon sequestration. Salvatore is the recipient of the 2022 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research New Innovator Award and the 2024 Texas A&M Vice Chancellor Award in Excellence for Early Career Research. As a member of the American Geophysical Union, Salvatore currently chairs the Soil Processes and Critical Zone Technical Committee.
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Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World—and the Future
Wednesday, February 12
6:00pm(Doors at 5:30)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/cass-r-sunstein
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Cass R. Sunstein—the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University, where he is the cofounder and codirector of the Initiative on Artificial Intelligence and the Law—for a discussion of his new book Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World—and the Future.
If you're injuring someone, you should stop—and pay for the damage you've caused. Why, this book asks, does this simple proposition, generally accepted, not apply to climate change? In Climate Justice, a bracing challenge to status-quo thinking on the ethics of climate change, renowned author and legal scholar Cass Sunstein clearly frames what’s at stake and lays out the moral imperative: When it comes to climate change, everyone must be counted equally, regardless of when they live or where they live—which means that wealthy nations, which have disproportionately benefited from greenhouse gas emissions, are obliged to help future generations and people in poor nations that are particularly vulnerable.
Invoking principles of corrective justice and distributive justice, Sunstein argues that rich countries should pay for the harms that they have caused and that all of us are obliged to take steps to protect future generations from serious climate-related damage. He shows how “choice engines,” informed by artificial intelligence, can enable people to save money and to reduce the harms they produce. The book casts new light on the “social cost of carbon,” the most important number in climate change debates—and explains how intergenerational neutrality and international neutrality can help all nations, above all the United States and China, do what must be done.
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XR Boston February General Meeting
Wednesday, February 12
6 p.m.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://xrboston.org/action/february-general-meeting-2025/
This February, we're debuting XR Boston's new General Meeting format, with more chill social time, and time at the end for organizing groups to meet in person.
In our big group activity, we'll give each other space to process our fears about these uncertain times. What is your biggest fear for the coming years? How can metabolize those fears into action?
If you're able to bring a plant-based dish to share, potluck style, that's appreciated. If you can only bring yourself, that's also appreciated! The organizers will be bringing enough food to ensure everyone is fed.
Schedule:
6:00 - 6:45: Socializing and sharing food
6:45 - 7:30: Circle up and group activity.
7:30 - 9:00: There will be space for Working Groups and Affinity Groups to have in-person meetings.
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Climate forcing of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Thursday, February 13
9am ET [12pm to 1pm PT]
Stanford, Mitchell Earth Sciences, 350/372, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
The polar ice sheets are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise. In Greenland the reason for this is relatively straightforward: the air is getting warmer, melting the ice from above. In Antarctica, the ice is melting from below, from ocean heat delivery to the underside of floating ice shelves. How much heat is delivered depends on the complex interplay among winds, sea ice, and ocean currents. It is not yet clear whether increased melt in Antarctica can be linked to anthropogenic climate change. This talk will review our current understanding of this question, with an emphasis on the role that records from ice and sediment cores have played in advancing our knowledge.
Eric Steig, the Department of Earth and Space Sciences Chair, is a glaciologist and isotope geochemist who studies how the climate behaved in the past to learn what it can tell us both about the effects of climate change today, and how it will change in the future. He uses ice core records to study climate variability over thousands of years. He works on the geological history and dynamics of ice sheets, as well as on aspects of atmospheric chemistry, and develops novel laboratory research tools in isotope geochemistry. He is the founding co-director of ISOLAB, a state-of-the art isotope geochemistry facility involving research ranging from climate, atmospheric chemistry and neotectonics, to geobiology, aquatic science and fisheries. In addition to his research and teaching, he is committed to fostering greater public understanding of the effects of climate change, and is a founding member of RealClimate.org.
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2025 Boston Harbor Environmental Education Workshop
Thursday, February 13
9am - 5pm EST
Boston Children's Museum, 308 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-boston-harbor-environmental-education-workshop-tickets-1105763952749
Join us for a one-day education workshop, including virtual lighting talks and an in-person afternoon session.
Are you an environmental educator working in and around Boston Harbor? Join the Stone Living Lab for our fourth workshop for educators on February 13, 2025! This all-day workshop will include a morning of virtual lightning talks and discussion, and an in-person session of collaboration and activity fair.
9AM - 12PM: Virtual Lightning Talks
Hear from fellow educators about their programs, lessons learned, and opportunities for collaboration. Each session will have 20 minutes of presentations followed by 35 minutes of breakout sessions where you can interact with the presenter(s) of your choice in small groups.
2 - 5PM: In-person Sessions
Join us for an afternoon of brainstorming and collective action at Boston Children's Museum! Topics will center around the themes of Climate, Coasts, and Curiosity. Stay tuned for more details around speakers and sessions!
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Unstable Ground: Civic Engagement Around Flooding and Plastic Pollution in Kampala, Uganda
Thursday, February 13
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B2VZw7wxTsmv6_SKkROZ3g#/registration
In this presentation, Tufts researchers will discuss their ongoing collaboration with environmental defenders working in Kampala, Uganda. This work has involved a risk analysis to understand which parts of the capital city are most vulnerable to flooding associated with plastic pollution, in partnership with the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Today, the team is leading efforts around a clean-up campaign in two informal settlements and a series of outreach and training initiatives to help communities manage waste and reduce flooding risks.
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Climate Extremes: Planetary and Human Health Under Stress
Thursday, February 13
5:00 PM - 7:30 PM
SwissnexBoston, 420 Broadway, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://events.swissnexboston.org/ClimateExtremesPlanetaryandHumanHealthUnderStress#/
From heatwaves to droughts, floods, and wildfires, our warming planet is precipitating more extreme weather and environmental disasters. The effects are both local and global. These climate extremes threaten human health and communities, fragile ecosystems, and the delicate balance of our planetary systems. By disrupting the carbon cycle, droughts and heatwaves may even be accelerating climate change. What are the implications for local communities, public health, and our planet as a whole? And how can policies be put in place to mitigate the damage?
Join a diverse expert panel for a fireside chat on climate extremes. We will explore their causes and effects, the specific role of wildfire smoke in human health, and the role of indigenous knowledge in shaping effective adaptation and mitigation policies, among other topics. The discussion of leading academic and policy experts will be followed by a networking reception.
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The Behavioral Economics of Sustainable Energy Use
Friday, February 14
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-luis-mundaca-lecture-virtual
SPEAKER(S) Luis Mundaca, Professor, The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University (Sweden)
Luis Mundaca, an environmental economist and IPCC lead author on climate change mitigation, will explore the economics of alternative energy promotion and adoption
Consumers’ decision-making on adopting alternative energies is often cast as a mysterious “black box” of unknown factors. What can cutting-edge innovations in the behavioral sciences teach us about effectively promoting sustainable energy behaviors? How can social-scientific experiments and sophisticated surveys demystify energy choices and inform policy design and successful implementation?
Editorial Comment: When the Urban Solar Energy Association did follow-up on the barn-raised solar devices we built in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the data showed that the occupants used less energy than predicted as having a solar device made them more energy conscious and conservative.
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Picks and Shovels: Cory Doctorow with Ken Liu
Friday, February 14
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-ken-liu-picks-and-shovels-tickets-1112058941229
In person at Brookline Booksmith! Celebrate the release of Picks and Shovels with author Cory Doctorow, in conversation with Ken Liu.Register for the event!RSVP to let us know you're coming! Depending on the volume of responses, an RSVP may be required for entrance to the event. You will also be alerted to important details about the program, including safety requirements, cancellations, and book signing updates. In the event that we reach capacity and have to close RSVPs, there will not be a waiting list.Picks and Shovels: A Martin Hench Novel
New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer.
The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant--what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money--but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted.
When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup Fidelity Computing to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he's on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Fidelity Computing and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Fidelity Computing out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they're seeking to unroot or the risks they run.
In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives.
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Picks and Shovels (a followup to The Bezzle), The Bezzle (a followup to Red Team Blues) and The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His most recent nonfiction book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the Little Brother series for young adults; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesey the Monster Slayer. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 2022, he earned the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Award for lifetime achievement. In 2024, the Media Ecology Association awarded him the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity. York University (Canada) made him an Honourary Doctor of Laws; and the Open University (UK) made him an Honourary Doctor of Computer Science.
Ken Liu ( http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he wrote the Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series (starting with The Grace of Kings), as well as short story collections The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. He also penned the Star Wars novel The Legends of Luke Skywalker. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Liu frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, history of technology, bookmaking, and the mathematics of origami.
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Boston Harbor Walk for Transit Equity
Sunday, February 16
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Location: JFK / UMass, 599 Old Colony Ave, Boston, MA 02127
RSVP at https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po00000e8UBcIAM&mapLinkHref=https://maps.google.com/maps&daddr=Boston%20Harbor%20Walk%20for%20Transit%20Equity@42.320628,-71.052376
Join us on Sunday February 16th for a 4 mile out and back transit-linked walk of the UMASS section of the Boston Harbor walk in celebration of Transit Equity Day! We will read a historical timeline of transit equity created by Labor Network for Sustainability while talking breaks along our walk enjoying the beautiful sights of wintery Boston Harbor. Transit Equity day is February 4th, 2025 (chosen for Rosa Park's birthday); it is a collaborative effort of several organizations and unions to promote public transit as a civil right and a strategy to combat climate change.
Exact meeting location will be sent to those who register ahead. The primary transit linkage will the the MBTA Red Line JFK/UMass Station.
Pace will be set by the group, so exact end time cannot be certain.
Event Organizers: Celeste Venolia celeste.venolia@sierraclub.org
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The Future of Climate Change: What Three Generations of Scientists Revealed
Tuesday, February 18
7 - 8:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-climate-change-what-three-generations-of-scientists-revealed-tickets-1131192329709
Discover how we can peer into the future of climate change, in a special webinar featuring Smithsonian scientists from three generations!
In 1987, the Smithsonian launched a futuristic experiment that would transform how we think about climate change. Inside small experimental chambers, a few scientists doubled the amount of carbon dioxide to see how wetland plants would cope. Today, that project is the world’s longest-running experiment on plants and rising carbon dioxide. And its home, the Global Change Research Wetland, now has six long-term experiments simulating different future climate scenarios, from higher carbon dioxide and hotter temps to sea level rise.
On Feb. 18, join us for a special panel with three generations of climate scientists at the Smithsonian. Meet Bert Drake, creator of the 1980s experiment that began it all; Pat Megonigal, the current director of the Global Change Research Wetland; and Jaxine Wolfe, a technician studying wetland “blue carbon” around the globe. Find out what we know for certain, what mysteries remain, and why wetlands may be one of Earth’s greatest hopes for resisting and withstanding climate change. Part of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's 60th anniversary webinar series.
This event will be recorded! Closed captions will be available at the live event and on the recording. All signups will receive a link to the recording a few days after the live event.
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Methane Emissions from the Biogas and Biomethane Supply Chains
Wednesday, February 19
8am ET [2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CET]
Online
RSVP at https://fsr.eui.eu/event/methane-emissions-from-the-biogas-and-biomethane-supply-chains/
This debate will discuss the findings of the JRC Report on methane emissions coming from the biogas and biomethane supply chains. Starting from the data presented, the panel debate will expand to the wider role that biogas and biomethane will have in the upcoming decade and assess their contribution to reaching the EU decarbonisation targets.
Read the JRC Report titled “Methane emissions in the biogas and biomethane supply chains in the EU” here.
The scaling up of renewable gases, such as biogas and biomethane, is a critical and effective component of the EU’s long-term decarbonisation strategy. The gradual replacement of fossil-based energy with cleaner energy sources – either to produce renewable electricity or used in the form of ‘clean molecules’ – is at the core of the EU Green Deal, as outlined in the EU System Integration Strategy (2020).
More specifically, the REPowerEU Plan of 18 May 2022 set the target to 35 bcm of biogas/biomethane by 2030, with the double aim of reducing the EU’s dependency on natural gas imports while, at the same time, improving the overall European GHG footprint, by replacing molecules of fossil origin with molecules of biological origin.
According to the European Biogas Association (EBA), in 2023, biomethane production alone reached 4.9 bcm, the highest level ever, with the greatest year-on-year increase concentrated in the EU area (21%). Combined biogas and biomethane production in 2023 amounted to 22 bcm, which represented 7% of the natural gas consumption of the European Union.
On the other hand, the biogas and biomethane supply chains are not zero-GHG emissions supply chains and particular attention has been paid by several observers to the emissions of methane.
The doubling of methane emissions concentration levels in the last 200 years has been blamed on anthropogenic activities, particularly in the fossil fuels, agriculture and waste management sectors. Coal mining and gas generation and transport are among the main causes of this detrimental impact on the atmosphere.
Moreover, about 54% of man-made methane emissions come from the agriculture sector and particularly from enteric fermentation (81%) and manure.
A recently published report from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) carries out a review of all methane emissions from biogas and biomethane production to provide an updated, comprehensive methodology for emissions accounting for biogas and biomethane production, including methane losses.
Draft Programme
Introduction to the Debate and Opening Presentations
14.00 – 14.05 Introduction to the Debate
Ilaria Conti | Florence School of Regulation
14.05 – 14.20 Presentation of the Report
Marco Buffi | Scientific Project Officer, Unit C2, Joint Research Centre
14.20 – 14.30 The regulatory perspective
Benoît Esnault | CEER
Panel Discussion: Introductory Remarks and Discussion
Moderator: Alberto Pototschnig | Florence School of Regulation
14.30 – 14.50 Introductory remarks from the panellists
Maria Olczak | Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Harmen Dekker | CEO, European Biogas Association
TBC | IMEO
14.50 – 15.20 Discussion and Q&A from the audience
Panellists
15.20 – 15.30 Concluding remarks
Ilaria Conti | Florence School of Regulation
Alberto Pototschnig | Florence School of Regulation
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The Green Ammonia Innovation Ecosystem
Wednesday, February 19
10:00-11:00 a.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/the-green-ammonia-innovation-ecosystem/
Green ammonia isn’t a dining room topic, but maybe it should be.
This webinar explores innovation within the green ammonia space, highlighting large corporate case studies and groundbreaking startups developing low-carbon solutions such as water electrolysis, plasma-catalytic synthesis, or technologies that can work at much lower temperature and pressure. It also details how entities like RMI’s Third Derivative are accelerating innovation in the field.
This is the second webinar in the joint series, The Journey to a Green Ammonia Future, hosted by the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) and RMI exploring the shift to sustainable ammonia production.
The first webinar in the series, “Accelerating Green Ammonia: Purposes and Priorities,” was hosted by IFA and held in December, 2024.
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Wabanaki Climate Change Adaptation: Indigenous Science, Research Partnerships, and Justice
Wednesday, February 19
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/kqOHL6C3R6O-sNducD8Eug
Darren Ranco, University of MaineDescription
In this talk, Dr. Darren Ranco will examine current climate change impacts to the Wabanaki Tribal Nations in what is now Maine, and their climate adaptation priorities. Emphasis will be on how climate change adaptation research partnerships can ethically address Indigenous livelihoods such as agriculture, hunting and gathering, fishing, forestry, energy, recreation, and tourism in centering Indigenous science, and in turn how these threats are already impacting the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of Wabanaki and other Indigenous people. He will present elements of a Wabanaki climate adaptation strategy developed in the last three years as part of a NE CASC-supported project.
About the Speaker
In addition to serving as a member of the NE CASC leadership team, Darren Ranco is a Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Programs at the University of Maine. His research focuses on the ways in which Indigenous communities in the United States resist environmental destruction by using Indigenous diplomacies and critiques of liberalism to protect cultural resources, and how state knowledge systems, rooted in colonial contexts, continue to expose indigenous peoples to an inordinate amount of environmental risk. He teaches classes on Indigenous intellectual property rights, research ethics, environmental justice and tribal governance. A member of the Penobscot Nation, he is particularly interested in how better research relationships can be made between universities, Native and non-Native researchers, and Indigenous communities.
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Creating Technology Solutions for the Energy Transition
Wednesday, February 19
4:30pm to 5:20pm PT
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
And online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-9081
Abstract: A discussion on the challenges presented by the energy transition and ExxonMobil's research to develop technical solutions to reduce emissions while meeting growing global energy demand.
Speaker Bio: Nick Clausi is the vice president of Research for ExxonMobil. In this role, Nick leads a team of scientists and engineers whose collective mission is to develop the next generation of products and lower carbon energy technology solutions, including advanced biofuels, carbon capture and storage, natural gas technologies and energy efficient processes. As part of their research, Nick’s team works with leading research and technology companies, national labs, universities and others around the world involved in breakthrough energy and product research.
Nick received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1994, followed by M.S. and Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined ExxonMobil in 1998 and during his career has held roles across the corporation in chemicals, refining, and technology. Most recently, he served as vice president of Global Chemical Technology, senior vice president of Performance Derivatives and vice president of Engineering before assuming his current position in April 2022.
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The War in Europe
Wednesday, February 19
7:00pm
Goethe-Institut Boston, 170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02116
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-19/war-europe
Join Goethe-Institut Boston, Irish Pages, AGNI, The Boston University Center for the Study of Europe, Arrowsmith Press, and the Transnational Literature Series for a panel discussion on the war in Europe featuring Serhii Plokhii, Marci Shore, and Liudmyla Kurnosikova. They will be in conversation with Askold Melnyczuk.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the bloodiest war in Europe in eighty years, we'll reflect on how we got here, where we stand now, and what might be required in the aftermath—for the United States, Europe, and of course, Ukraine. Three of the world's leading authorities on Ukraine will assist us in exploring these matters. Serhii Plokhii, Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, will offer an update on the current situation in Ukraine, along with relevant background on the war; Professor of Modern European Intellectual History at Yale University Marci Shore will examine the intellectual framework that enabled the war, together with its impact and implications for Ukrainian, and European, culture. Economist Liudmyla Kurnosikova, currently a McCloy Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School, will speak about plans for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The panel will be moderated by writer and editor Askold Melnyczuk, University of Massachusetts Boston.
This panel discussion marks the publication of a special issue of Ireland's leading literary journal, Irish Pages, guest-edited by Askold Melnyczuk, on the topic of the War in Europe. Copies of this special edition of Irish Pages will be available for sale.
Serhii Plokhii interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. He is the author of, among others, The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History; Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters; The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present; Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis; Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance; Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe; and The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. His books have won numerous awards, including the Ballie Gifford Prize and the Shevchenko National Prize.
Marci Shore is professor of history at Yale University and a regular visiting fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. She is on leave in 2024-2025 at the Munk School for Global Affairs at University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the intellectual history of twentieth and twenty-first century Central and Eastern Europe. She is the translator of Michał Głowiński's The Black Seasons and the author of Caviar and Ashes: A Warsaw Generation's Life and Death in Marxism, 1918-1968 and The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe. A new edition of her third book, The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution, was published in March 2024. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Eurozine, The Atlantic, The Yale Review, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2018 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the book project about phenomenology in East-Central Europe tentatively titled In Pursuit of Certainty Lost: Central European Encounters on the Way to Truth.
Liudmyla Kurnosikova is currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration as a McCloy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her academic focus centers on the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, with a particular emphasis on fostering investment. Before joining HKS, she worked as a senior manager in management consulting, operating across Europe and Central Asia, with her primary base in Germany. Liudmyla holds an M.Sc. in International Economics and Economic Policy from Goethe University Frankfurt, along with two separate bachelor’s degrees in Economics from the University of Goettingen and Philology from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Askold Melnyczuk has published four novels and a book of stories. What Is Told, was the first commercially published novel in English to highlight the Ukrainian refugee experience and was named a New York Times Notable Book. Others have been cited as an LA Times Best Books of the Year and an Editor’s Choice by the American Library Association’s Booklist. His selected poems, The Venus of Odesa, will appear in 2025. A book of essays and selected non-fiction, With Madonna in Kyiv: Why Literature Matters More than Ever will appear from the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in 2026. A co-edited anthology of contemporary Crimean Tatar literature is forthcoming in 2025. He has also edited a book of essays on the St. Lucian Nobel-prize winning poet Derek Walcott and is co-editor of From Three Worlds, an anthology of Ukrainian writers from the 1980s generation. Founding editor of Agni Magazine and Arrowsmith Press, he has taught at Boston University and Harvard and currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In 2024 he edited a special issue of Irish Pages, Ireland's leading literary journal, on the War in Europe.
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Jonathan Rosser - Physical Uncertainties and Economic Impacts of Climate Tipping Points A Global Systems Institute seminar
Thursday, February 20
9am ET [14:00 to 15:00 GMT]
University of Exeter, Place Laver LT6, UK
And online
RSVP by emailing infogsi@exeter.ac.uk.
Climate tipping points such as the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the polar ice sheets are currently assessed to have a significant chance of tipping this century. This could potentially lead to large impacts on the global economy and human society. However, there are huge uncertainties in both the physical behaviour and economic impacts of these tipping points. In this talk I will describe recent published work on interacting uncertainties between tipping points in the climate system alongside ongoing work to understand the economic impacts of tipping point uncertainties.
Jonathan is a Research Officer at LSE working at the intersection of climate science and economics. As part of the ClimTip Horizon project, he researches the economics impacts on climate tipping points as well as the use and design of climate model ensembles for decision-making. Jonathan completed a PhD focusing on global climate model representation of the Southern Ocean, based at the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey. The focus of this research was on the analysis and intercomparison of global climate models in the CMIP6 ensemble under control and forced scenarios. During this time he also worked on uncertainties in climate tipping points at the Existential Risk Alliance, and international climate diplomacy and UK heat supply at the UK Climate Change Committee. He holds an MMath (Masters in Mathematics) and an MA (Masters of Arts in Natural Sciences) from the University of Cambridge.
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What if the Real Threat is Artificial Good-Enough Intelligence?
Monday, February 24
12pm to 1:30pm
MIT, The Nexus in Hayden Library, 14S-130160 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://sts-program.mit.edu/event/2024-25-morison-prize-and-lecture-with-zeynep-tufekci-topic-to-be-revealed/
with Zeynep Tufekci, Turkish-American sociologist and Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
What if the Real Threat is Artificial Good-Enough Intelligence?
Are we having the wrong nightmares about AI? Many worry that “artificial general intelligence” — AGI, or when machine intelligence matches or exceeds that of humans — poses a severe threat. These newly-superintelligent machines could turn on their creators, we’ve been warned, like Skynet in the apocalyptic movie Terminator.
But many early predictions — fears and hopes — about how new technologies will change the world turn out to be false or misleading. Meanwhile, significant risks that arise simply from increased speed, expanded scale or lower costs that technology enables are often overlooked.
A new technology does not have to outperform humans, or even be singularly sensational compared to previous technologies, to fuel extreme turbulence and instability, usually in an unforeseen manner. Cars weren’t so transformative simply because they exceeded the speed benchmark set by horses, nor were they horseless carriages.
In this talk, Tufekci will examine the disruptive and even potentially catastrophic risks from Artificial Good-Enough Intelligence — AI that can do things not necessarily as well as humans but just good enough to be useful while being faster, cheaper and deployable at scale, and in ways that go beyond current concerns such as employment effects, productivity or bias.
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Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective — The Invention of Cohesion: How Democracy Survives at Scale
Monday, February 24
3 – 5 p.m.
Harvard, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2025/02/how-popular-governance-has-adapted-to-scale
SPEAKER(S) David Stasavage, Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor, Department of Politics, New York University
Chair Volha Charnysh, Ford Career Development Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Local Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
This event is organized by the Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective. It is co-sponsored by the Democracy and Its Critics Initiative led by CES Director Daniel Ziblatt to focus on both the history and contemporary shape of democracy in Europe.
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America's Authoritarian Turn
Monday, February 24
4 – 5 p.m.
Harvard, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-gary-gerstle-lecture
SPEAKER(S) Gary Gerstle, Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus and Paul Mellon Director of Research in American History at the University of Cambridge
Harvard Radcliffe Institute Joy Foundation Fellow
Gary Gerstle, the 2024–2025 Joy Foundation Fellow, will present this year's Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in the Arts and Humanities.
Gerstle will look beyond the figure of Donald Trump to inquire into the roots of America’s authoritarian turn. His lecture will dissect how a neoliberal political order widened economic inequality, stirred ethnoracial resentments, and raised doubts about the capacity of liberal democratic regimes to fix what had gone wrong. Gerstle will explore why the unraveling of this political order in the 2010s energized the authoritarian right more than the democratic left, and will conclude with some thoughts about where Americans might look for democratic renewal.
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Religion and Just Peace: The Fog of Religious Conflict: Can the Fog Lift?
Monday, February 24
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_C4CdJxReQm6jEBqiYDSwIg#/registration
On becoming dean of HDS in 2012, David N. Hempton, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies, gave a Convocation address entitled ‘The Fog of Religious Conflict: Eleven Reflections from a Conflict Zone.’ The talk was a play on Errol Morris’s film about the Vietnam War and was based on his experiences in Belfast during the ‘Troubles’. The aim was to build understanding for those caught up in conflicts with roots much deeper than their own lifespans.
In this session of "Religion and Just Peace | A Series of Public Online Conversations," Hempton will first speak from his own background in Belfast, which showed him that religious ideas, in George Eliot’s words, ‘have the fate of melodies, which, once afloat in the world, are taken up by all sorts of instruments, some of them woefully coarse, feeble, or out of tune, until people are in danger of crying out that the melody itself is detestable.’ He will reflect on the impact of the ‘Troubles’ on his own scholarship, which can be framed around the dialectical tension of religious ideas operating as both attractive and detestable melodies.
Hempton will then discuss how the fog of religious conflict was slowly lifted after the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998 under five alliterative headings: identity aspirations; institutional access; investment opportunities; injustices and inequities; and international support.
Hosted by Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean for Religion and Public Life
This is the third event of a five-part series of online public conversations with members of the HDS faculty to explore what an expansive understanding of religion can provide to the work of just peacebuilding.
For more information, visit the series webpage: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-and-just-peace
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Catherine Coleman Flowers: On Environmental Justice and Protecting Holy Ground
Tuesday, February 25
9am EST [12:00 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-02-25/catherine-coleman-flowers-environmental-justice-and-protecting-holy-ground
Cost: $5 - $10
Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life to fighting for the most vulnerable communities—people who have been deprived of the basic civil right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment.
When she was first on Climate One in 2021, Flowers talked about growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, and working to stem the raw sewage contaminating homes and drinking water in her county and beyond. In recognition of this work she was granted a MacArthur “Genius Award.” Now, she picks up the story, connecting the dots between her mother, a civil rights activist who lost her life to gun violence, her own deeply personal experience with reproductive justice, her awareness of racialized disinvestment in the South, and the impact of unfettered fossil fuel production nationwide.
Join Climate One co-host Greg Dalton in a live conversation with leading environmental justice advocate Catherine Coleman Flowers.
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Indulging Kleptocracy: Postcommunist Elites and Corruption
Tuesday, February 25
12:30 – 2 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS South, S354, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indulging-kleptocracy-postcommunist-elites-and-corruption-tickets-1144576652579
SPEAKER(S) John Heathershaw, Professor of International Relations at University of Exeter
Nargis Kassenova, Director, PCA
In their new book Indulging Kleptocracy, John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec, and Tom Mayne offer an engaging inside account of the fight against kleptocracy in the UK. They build case studies of UK-based professionals enabling international kleptocrats by drawing on court documents and correspondence with the enablers themselves. The book develops an influential theory explaining the emergence of transnational kleptocracy and how it has transformed international politics. Foreign Affairs have selected the book as one of the best books of 2024.
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Book Talk: Tripping on Utopia with Benjamin Breen, PhD
Tuesday, February 25
5:30 – 7 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DLaZuED_RTOdV5zZ0JV6hw#/registration
Join CSWR Psychedelics and Spirituality Program Leads Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith in conversation with Benjamin Breen, author of Tripping on Utopia (Grand Central Publishing, Jan. 2024), to explore the fascinating history of the study of psychedelics, and assess how it may present lessons for contemporary psychedelic research in both clinical and naturalistic settings.
At the dawn of Western psychedelic research, utopia was close at hand. Or so it seemed to Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, two renowned anthropologists whose contributions to the study of psychedelics have been largely forgotten. In Benjamin Breen's latest book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, the lives of Mead and Bateson come alive. From encounters with the CIA to a physician dosing dolphins with LSD to Omaha members of the Native American Church, it is hard to overestimate the far-ranging impact of these two scholars.
Benjamin Breen is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he works on the history of science, medicine, empire, and the long-term impacts of technological change. He has written two books: Tripping on Utopia (2024) and The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In addition to his academic writing, he publishes a weekly newsletter, “Res Obscura,” a catalog of obscure things.
LINK cswr.hds.harvard.edu…
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Shaping Climate History: Planetary health and climate change
Wednesday, February 26
12:30 - 13:30 ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shaping-climate-history-planetary-health-and-climate-change-online-tickets-1044123189567
An online talk on the history of planetary health.
Today, it is widely recognised that human health is intimately connected to the health of the planet. But how has this understanding come about? Join historian Deborah Coen and nursing professor Teddie Potter (Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice) to explore the past, present and future of global climate change and planetary health.
This event is open to all and takes place online only.
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Driving the next mass solar technology (tandems) when "solar is done"
Wednesday, February 26
1:30pm ET [4:30pm to 5:20pm PT]
Stanford, Shriram Center, Room 104, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-seminar-Colin-Bailie
The Stanford Energy Seminar has been a mainstay of energy engagement at Stanford for nearly 20 years and is one of the flagship programs of the Precourt Institute for Energy. We aim to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the Stanford community – academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, non-profits, and more. Join us!
Talk abstract: Tandem PV is a startup commercializing a new solar technology (perovskite-silicon tandem panels). In this seminar, CTO and co-founder Colin Bailie will discuss his journey to date from technology to startup and hopefully soon to product. Starting from a graduate student at Stanford working on the seminal demonstrations of the technology, to transitioning to a startup. Navigating a world in which solar technology is difficult to fund (in the US). Why the world still needs better solar and why perovskite+silicon tandems are that next leap forward. And where the future of solar might go in the short- and medium- terms
Speaker Bio: As a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, Bailie performed seminal research on a then-new class of solar technology—perovskite-based tandem panels—which have the potential to substantially improve the power output of conventional solar modules. Bailie co-founded Tandem PV with Chris Eberspacher, our managing director, while an Activate fellow at Cyclotron Road, the U.S. Department of Energy startup accelerator based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bailie holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 30 leaders in the world under 30.
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Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future
Wednesday, February 26
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-26/anita-say-chan-predatory-data
The first book to draw a direct line between the datafication and prediction techniques of past eugenicists and today's often violent and extractive "big data" regimes.
Predatory Data illuminates the throughline between the nineteenth century's anti-immigration and eugenics movements and our sprawling systems of techno-surveillance and algorithmic discrimination. With this book, Anita Say Chan offers a historical, globally multisited analysis of the relations of dispossession, misrecognition, and segregation expanded by dominant knowledge institutions in the Age of Big Data.
While technological advancement has a tendency to feel inevitable, it always has a history, including efforts to chart a path for alternative futures and the important parallel story of defiant refusal and liberatory activism. Chan explores how more than a century ago, feminist, immigrant, and other minoritized actors refused dominant institutional research norms and worked to develop alternative data practices whose methods and traditions continue to reverberate through global justice-based data initiatives today. Looking to the past to shape our future, this book charts a path for an alternative historical consciousness grounded in the pursuit of global justice.
Anita Say Chan, PhD (she/her) is a scholar and educator dedicated to feminist and decolonial approaches to technology. She is an Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Media, and founder of the Community Data Clinic at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Unsettling Colonial Ecologies, Removal, and Ruin
Thursday, February 27
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o2OvWNalStSL0uUwX-Xk-A#/registration
Join us for a conversation between Matt Hooley (Dartmouth College) and Mary Amanda McNeil (Tufts University) as they discuss critical ecologies that emerge from Indigenous lives and claims to land. Moving comparatively across sites including Minneapolis and St. Paul, New England, and Palestine, Hooley and McNeil will share how their respective works unsettle colonial ecologies, settler removal, and its forms of ruin. This conversation will be facilitated by AB Huber (Tufts University).
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Climatetech Intern Fair
Thursday, February 27
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET
Greentown Boston, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/climatetech-intern-fair/
There’s a place for everyone in climatetech! Join us to connect with cutting edge startups looking for bright and eager talent.REGISTER HERECalling all students and soon-to-be graduates! Please join us for our annual Intern Fair, which focuses on connecting rockstar interns directly with Greentown Labs’ network of cutting-edge climatetech startups looking for bright and eager talent.
At this internship fair, students from Boston and beyond can connect with Greentown startups and learn more about opportunities at their companies. Attendees will be able to connect in person with the startups that are not only developing climatetech solutions but building a climate workforce that is ready to harness the massive economic opportunities of the energy transition.
There’s a place for everyone in climatetech, whether they’ve previously worked in traditional energy, have experience tackling climate change, or are new to the climate and energy fields. The jobs are here. We just need you!
THE TYPES OF ROLES YOU’LL FIND AT THE FAIR:
Business Administration
Data
Engineering
Marketing
Operations
Sales
Software
And more!
Greentown Labs will be partnering with College to Climate (C2C) to help facilitate the Climatetech Intern Fair! C2C is an organization dedicated to helping college students find jobs and internships in climate.
To better prepare students and job-searchers for the event, C2C will be hosting a virtual ‘Climatetech Intern Fair Prep Session’ on Monday, Feb 24th at 7 pm ET. The session will cover:
What to expect at the fair
A background on the various sectors within climate
How to stand out when speaking with employers
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The Heat and the Fury: A Conversation With Peter Schwartzstein
Thursday, February 27
7 - 8:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/livestream-the-heat-and-the-fury-a-conversation-with-peter-schwartzstein-tickets-1107265654379
Join Peter Schwartzstein as he presents key findings of his new book, “The Heat and the Fury On the Frontlines of Climate Violence.”
Agenda
6:00 AM
Introduction
6:05 PM
Remarks by Peter Schwarzstein
6:30 PM
Discussion
6:55 PM
Audience Q & A
Climate change is increasingly driving conflicts and exacerbating tensions worldwide. From water scarcity to food insecurity, the environmental impacts of climate change often contribute to underlying frustrations, pushing communities and nations toward violence. Efforts to address these challenges, however, may also open opportunities for cooperation and conflict resolution.
At this event, journalist and researcher Peter Schwartzstein will present key findings from his new book, “The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence” (Island Press, 2024). In his book, Schwartzstein examines how climate change often serves as a catalyst for longstanding tensions, escalating frustration into conflict and, in some cases, violence. He explores whether cooperation on climate issues can reduce geopolitical frictions and help mend divisions. Drawing on more than a decade of reporting and field research from dozens of countries, including Iraq, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, and other countries, Schwartzstein provides insights into the complex relationship between environmental challenges and societal stability.
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Religion and Just Peace: Heretics and Dissenters: Lessons on Freedom from the Margins
Monday, March 3
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SOLN0dHyQMSdah4e_OGPsA#/registration
In this session of "Religion and Just Peace | A Series of Public Online Conversations," Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Assistant Professor of African American Religious Studies, explores ‘freedom’ as both a political and spiritual movement, examined through the lens of Black diasporic thinkers, religionists, and political organizers from the early twentieth century to today. Drawing from the archive of Black religion, he will make three key moves: first, guiding listeners through the rich tapestry of Africana religious traditions in Jim Crow New Orleans, as shaped by those labeled heretics by church and state; second, reflecting on the legacies of mid-to-late twentieth century organizers for gender, sexual, and racial justice whose political dissent challenged structural inequalities and hegemonic order; and third, contemplating what these myriad lessons mean for our present politically fraught moment.
Hosted by Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean for Religion and Public Life
This is the fourth event of a five-part series of online public conversations with members of the HDS faculty to explore what an expansive understanding of religion can provide to the work of just peacebuilding.
For more information, visit the series webpage: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/religion-and-just-peace
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The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice Is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence
Monday, March 3
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/meg-stone
Harvard Book Store welcomes Meg Stone—Executive Director of IMPACT Boston, an abuse prevention and empowerment self-defense organization—for a discussion of her new book The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice Is Sexist and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence, where Stone shows us how we can make safety choices that expand our worlds and contribute to the fight for social justice.
About The Cost of Fear
Personal safety shouldn’t mean living in fear, nor should it come at the expense of political progress.
Questionable advice to avoid violence, like “don’t go shopping alone,” comes mostly from the police or other men in authority. But gender-based violence is often enacted in the most intimate spheres of our lives, not when we’re out grocery shopping. To stop this violence, we need strategies that are just as intimate.
In The Cost of Fear, nationally recognized violence prevention expert Meg Stone helps readers separate fact from fiction. It’s full of practical, research-based strategies that readers can use to keep themselves and their communities safer. Increased safety comes from developing the skills to resist coercive control, especially from people we know or people in authority, not from complying with rigid rules or avoiding homeless people on the street.
This deeply researched book draws timely connections between personal safety and political change—from Latina organizers in California working to stop sexual violence against night shift janitorial workers to teenage girls who call out double standards.
Work to change laws and change people’s minds is essential, but without practical strategies, the change is incomplete. The Cost of Fear will show us how we can make safety choices that expand our worlds and contribute to the fight for social justice.
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Responsible Offshore Wind Development in the U.S. – Implementing the Mitigation Hierarchy
Thursday, March 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_059hzDZjQDCeUjbOG-itjQ#/registration
Global climate change is a key driver of biodiversity loss, and the clean-energy transition is crucial to reducing carbon emissions and subsequent impacts on global biodiversity. Offshore wind energy has emerged as a pivotal player in the transition toward clean energy, and this is particularly true for dense urban coastal cities such as those found on the East Coast of the U.S. where access to other sources of renewable energy are more constrained. As the American leader in offshore wind and recognizing that no large-scale energy project is without potential impacts to wildlife, Ørsted is shaping an industry that can successfully coexist with marine wildlife. Ørsted's principal avian and bat biologist will discuss how Ørsted and other developers are using the mitigation hierarchy approach to strive towards “no net loss” and, in Ørsted's case, towards meeting its ambition to have a net-positive impact on biodiversity for all renewable energy projects commissioned by 2030 or later.
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ACCEL Year 3 Kickoff Event
Thursday, March 6
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET
Greentown Boston444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
RSVP at https://greentownlabs.com/event/accel-year-3-kickoff-event/
Kick off Year 3 of our accelerator program for BIPOC-led startups!
Join us to celebrate the kickoff of Year 3 of ACCEL, an accelerator program from Greentown Labs and Browning the Green Space (BGS) designed to support BIPOC-led climatetech startups. At this event, hear from innovative startups that are developing climate solutions for sectors including agriculture, buildings, electricity, manufacturing, resilience and adaptation, and transportation.
The third iteration of ACCEL follows two successful program years. The Year 2 cohort featured seven startups working on innovations as diverse as yeast-centered water treatment, vertical-axis offshore wind turbines, and algae- and cellulose-based fashion beads. Their accomplishments during the accelerator included conducting successful pilots, earning acceptances into additional accelerators, securing capital, winning awards, and more.
Take this opportunity to network, celebrate, and build community around this incredible program and meet the Year 3 cohort!
ACCEL is a year-long program that combines acceleration with a curated curriculum, incubation through a Greentown membership, and extensive mentorship from Greentown and BGS’s networks of industry experts. The program is designed to bolster BIPOC-led startups as they develop critical climatetech solutions by offering access to funding, networking connections, resources, and opportunities that structural inequities put out of reach. Learn more about ACCEL here.
Browning the Green Space is a coalition of leaders and organizations, primarily in the New England region, that share the passion to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) in clean energy. Their goal is to increase the participation and leadership of Black and Brown people and of women (collectively, “underrepresented groups”) in the clean energy space and beyond (e.g., wasted food, water, agtech) in the Northeast. Learn more about Browning the Green Space here.
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Feminist Security Studies: Collectively Building Theory and Practices about Security in the Americas
Friday, March 7
5:30pm to 7pm
MIT, Building 2, 105, 182 MEMORIAL DR, Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://wgs.mit.edu/events-all/2025/3/7/feminist-security-studies
“Feminist Security Studies in the Americas: Pushing the Fronteras,” edited by Priscyll Anctil convenes voices from across the Americas, creating space for decolonial, anti-racist, and class-based perspectives within feminist security discussions. This led to the formation of the Feminicides and Feminist Security Studies reading group. The reading group’s critical discussions evolved into essays by activists, government workers, and academics featured in the second book, “Feminist Security Studies from Latin America and the Caribbean”, edited by Alessandra Jungs de Almeida. Together, these books represent a collective transnational feminist effort to address security issues from perspectives often marginalized in traditional security studies. Please join us in this panel, where the authors and editors, Priscyll Anctil, Alessandra Jungs de Almeida, and J.C.D. Calderónm, will discuss the two volumes and explore the main theoretical, epistemological, and methodological contributions, including how they contest andro-anglo-centered knowledge production and expand the concept of feminist security.
Food will be provided