Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - December 2024

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
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Networks: From Cross-Border Propaganda to Mutual Legitimation
December 2
Online
9am EST [3:00 - 4:30pm CET]
Online
RSVP at https://www.gmfus.org/event/russias-illiberal-networks-cross-border-propaganda-mutual-legitimation

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Using Facebook-Based Surveys to Assess Climate Concern and the Micro-Foundations of Climate Adaptation Governance in Small-Island Developing States
Monday, December 2
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://cpree.princeton.edu/events/2024/using-facebook-based-surveys-assess-climate-concern-and-micro-foundations-climate

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Leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle climate change
Monday, December 2
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
The Brookings InstitutionFalk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/leveraging-artificial-intelligence-to-tackle-climate-change/

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Zero Fuel Bias Energy Codes
Monday, December 2
3:30-5 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-zero-fuel-bias-energy-codes/

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Unlock 3 Keys to Resilience in a Changing Climate
Monday, December 2 
8 - 9:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unlock-3-keys-to-resilience-in-a-changing-climate-tickets-1082700138259

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Bridging Knowledge Systems: Co-Producing Sustainable Ocean Plans with Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge for Equitable Ocean Governance
Wednesday, December 4
09:00-10:30 EST [2:00 - 3:30pm GMT] 
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/12/bridging-knowledge-systems-co-producing-sustainable-ocean-plans-indigenous

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We Can’t Get There from Here: Carbon, Climate and the Call to Wonder
44th Annual Schumacher Lecture with Paul Hawken and Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé
Wednesday, December 4
11am EST
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DVBXT_ljSdq0UVKQD4YZcg#/registration

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#Stoprussia: Weaponizing Social Media for Foreign Support
Wednesday, December 4
12-1:30pm
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ

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Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood (RSM Speaker Series)
Wednesday, December 4
12:30 PM–1:30 PM
Online
RSVP at https://rebootingsocialmedia.org/events/politics-of-falsehood/

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Environments for Health and Happiness: A Seminar with Dr. Joe Allen
Wednesday, December 4
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/event/environments-for-health-and-happiness-a-seminar-with-dr-joe-allen/

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Democracy’s next act: How to build resilience around the world
Wednesday, December 4
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
Online 
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/democracys-next-act-how-to-build-resilience-around-the-world/

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A Revolutionary Woman: Elizabeth Freeman and the Abolition of Slavery in the North 
Wednesday December 4
6:00 PM  –  7:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/A-Revolutionary-Woman-Elizabeth-Freeman-and-the-Abolition-of-Slavery-in-the-North---Program

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How We Reclaim the Internet
Wednesday, December 4 
7:30pm ET [5:30 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RVSP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-12-04/jeff-jarvis-how-we-reclaim-internet
Cost:  $10 - $52

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Trees & Forests
Thursdays, December 5, 2024 – January 30, 2025
12 noon -or- 7 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/trees-and-forests/registration/
Cost:  $5 - $160 

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Interrogative Design Symposium
Thursday, December 5 – Friday, December 6
MIT, Building E15-001, ACT Cube, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK6PddR-9mg28UcCNrMQ2jOKT0lRgWT5tDfOUJsgH7Q8Ak9g/viewform

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Webinar – Accelerating Green Ammonia: Purpose and Priorities
Thursday, December 5
10am EST [8-9 a.m. MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-accelerating-green-ammonia-purpose-and-priorities/

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Climate in the Roman World
Thursday, December 5
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TH3pwIRfSxm3C-ty07Fv0w#/registration

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Towards a theory of Sustainable African Urbanism: institutional hybridity and urban sustainability in Ghana 
Thursday, December 5
12- 1pm EST
Yale, Burke Auditorium,m] 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT06511
And online
RSVP https://yale.zoom.us/j/92629487528?pwd=0qNSBhJ78GROBslW9v3hOhdlYCpxNO.1

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Russia-U.S. Relations in 2025: Can Arctic Science Diplomacy Mend Strategic Fences?
Thursday, December 5
12:00pm - 01:15pm
Harvard, Belfer Building - Belfer 322 Salata Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/russia-us-relations-2025-can-arctic-science-diplomacy-mend-strategic-fences

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Yale Forest Forum Fall 2024 Speaker Series - What’s Next on Old Growth Policy: A Panel Discussion 
Thursday, December 5
12 PM – 1:30 PM EST (GMT-5)
Online
RSVP at https://yaleconnect.yale.edu/tfs/rsvp_boot?id=2286326

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Reckless Abandonment? Assessing how agricultural legacies impact the ecological & social functions of land
Thursday, December 5
1 - 2pm
UCSB1414 Bren Hall, Santa Barbara, CA
Online
RSVP at https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/84499323441#success with passcode land

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Rapid adaptation across climates in a synchronozied long-term plant evolution experiment; and why this matters for global species conservation targets
Thursday, December 5
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Harvard, Northwest Building, B101, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge

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Risks of destabilization of the carbon cycle
Thursday, December 5
4pm to 5pm
Boston College, 245 Beacon Street, Room 501 (Schiller Institute Convening Space) Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
https://forms.gle/pQMXvX3WvTawLD959

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Climate Change and Clean Energy
Thursday, December 5 
4-6 PM
BU, Kilachand Center Eichenbaum Colloquium Room (Room 101), 610 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

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Security and Resilience Speaker Series:  Climate Resilience Academy
Thursday, December 5 
6:00 pm. 
Northeastern, Renaissance_Park, 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=gcLuqKOqrk2sm5o5i5IV53F80AfBWgdCrlSTeI2yfzpURE1GU1FOSTBWTDVCMDJMTzZIUEY1MkJXQy4u&route=shorturl

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SFI Seminar: When Do Firms Oversell or Undersell Their Environmental Sustainability? with Gaku Morio (Hitachi America) & Isabella Yoon (University of Otago)
Thursday, December 5
7pm EST [4pm to 5pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/sfi-seminar-morio-and-yoon

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Five Steps to a Sustainable and Peaceable Economy
Thursday, December 5
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://masspeaceaction.org/event/five-steps-to-a-sustainable-and-peaceable-economy-2/

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Climate Mobilization Project:  Tending the Seeds of Survival
Thursday, December 5
7-9pm EST [4-6pm Pacific PST] 
Online
RSVP at https://secure.everyaction.com/_x-wqDomCkGwm9_hp6dldQ2?emci=a834ed8f-f9ac-ef11-88cf-6045bdfe8d29&emdi=b234ed8f-f9ac-ef11-88cf-6045bdfe8d29&ceid=15533

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Climate, Biogeoscience, and Health: Transformative Science to Real-World Action
Friday, December 6
10:00 am – 12:00 pm ET
Networking Lunch—12:00 – 1:00 pm ET
Boston University, Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Ave, Room 1750 (17th floor). To access the upper floors, please use the elevators near Saxby’s café.
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/hic/climate-biogeoscience-and-health-transformative-science-to-real-world-action/

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Reimagine Buildings: Biomaterials
Friday, December 6
11:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-carbon-storgae-b3f44f40-d113-4d94-95f2-77075b92c892/registration
Cost:  $49

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Bounty by Fire: The Anishinaabe Legacy of Human-Mediated Fire Regimes on Drummond Island, Michigan
Friday, December 6
4pm to 5:30pm
Online
RSVP at https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvd-ihrDkuHdLsmsJDR_Som34oaHXivbMI#/registration

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Online dialogue: COP29 post-match analysis
Monday, December 9
4:30am - 6am EST [10:30 CET ending at 12:00 CET]
Sweden and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.se/e/online-dialogue-cop29-post-match-analysis-tickets-1079179347479

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TEDxMIT
Saturday, December 7
MIT Stata Center, Building 32, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA
RSVP at https://tedx.mit.edu/register-tedxmit-dec7-2024

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A New Narrative: Transforming Climate Education
Monday, December 9
12 - 1pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-new-narrative-transforming-climate-education-tickets-1082917959769

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Mind the Regulatory Gap: Breaking Down RMI’s New Report on How to Enhance Local Transmission Oversight
Monday, December 9
2-3 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-mind-the-regulatory-gap/

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On the Housing Crisis: A Discussion with Jerusalem Demsas
Monday, December 9
4 PM – 5:30 PM ET
BU, Kenmore Room (Room 916), One Silber Way, Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/ioc/2024/11/07/on-the-housing-crisis-a-discussion-with-jerusalem-demsas/

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Leah Stokes: 2024 Schneider Award Winner
Monday, December 9 
9PM EST [6:00 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-12-09/leah-stokes-2024-schneider-award-winner
Cost:  $5 - 20

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Kelman Seminar Series: International Norms and Islamic Principles: Exploring Commonalities for Peacebuilding
Tuesday, December 10
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8R2avN6UTsau11cSHXQ9QA#/registration

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Building Our Clean Energy Future, Together
Tuesday, December 10
10-11 a.m. MT | 12-1 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/building-our-clean-energy-future-together/

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Antisemitism on Campuses: Reports From Faculty at Major American Universities
Tuesday, December 10
1 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge

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Geothermal's New Frontier: Considerations and Opportunities for Responsible Development of the Next Generation of Technologies
Tuesday, December 10
3:00 - 4:00pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/12/geothermals-new-frontier-considerations-and-opportunities-responsible-development#register

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Colin Kahl, Stanford University/US Government
Wednesday December 11
12-1:30pm
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ

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Eco-Intelligence: Leveraging Al Chatbots for Climate Action and Advocacy
Wednesday, December 11
5 - 6pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eco-intelligence-leveraging-al-chatbots-for-climate-action-and-advocacy-tickets-1090001567029

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Criminal Justice Reform & Resistance in the Civil Rights Era and Beyond - a panel discussion
Seminar African American History Online Event
Wednesday, December 11
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/criminal-justice-reform-resistance

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Climate Technology
Wednesday, December 11
6 - 7:30pm EST
Boston Public Library, Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-decisions-with-dr-emily-reichert-climate-technology-tickets-953912436777

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The future of election reform
Thursday, December 12
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-future-of-election-reform/

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Former FERC Chair Keynote; Panels on Future Grid Scale Clean Energy Options and Transportation Electrification
Friday, December 13
8:45 am-12:30 pm (Networking over breakfast refreshments 8:15-8:45 am)
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Blvd 17th Floor Boston, MA 02210
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/12-13-2024-new-england-electricity-restructuring-roundtable-tickets-1042398902177
Cost:  $0 -$110

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Building Muslim Climate Justice Movement
Tuesday, December 17
6 - 7:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-muslim-climate-justice-movement-tickets-1088976501029

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IRI@CCSR Climate and Forecast Briefing
Wednesday, December 18
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/835198946

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Monthly overview of IRI's Global Seasonal Climate Forecasts and ENSO status and forecast.
Wednesday, December 18
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
Online 
RSVP at https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/

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Future Aquatic Invaders of the Northeast: How Climate Change, Human Vectors, and Natural History Could Bring Southern and Western Species North
Wednesday, December 18
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://necasc.umass.edu/webinars/future-aquatic-invaders-northeast-how-climate-change-human-vectors-and-natural-history

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Net Zero - Zero Carbon Deadline
Saturday, December 31
6:59pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/net-zero-tickets-146172268189

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Events
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Networks: From Cross-Border Propaganda to Mutual Legitimation
December 2
Online
9am EST [3:00 - 4:30pm CET]
Online
RSVP at https://www.gmfus.org/event/russias-illiberal-networks-cross-border-propaganda-mutual-legitimation

The successful transnationalization of illiberal networks has become a prominent feature of European and transatlantic politics. Over the past 15 years, the relationship between Russia and illiberal Western actors has grown deeper and more strategic. The Kremlin has leveraged these connections to amplify its influence, employing shared narratives and mutual-legitimation strategies to strengthen its position domestically and internationally. Following a brief period of superficial distancing after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, most pro-Russian illiberal actors in the EU have kept and even increased their ties with Moscow. 

This discussion will explore how narratives originating from Russia are recontextualized and used for legitimation purposes in the political discourses of European countries. The panel will also look at the cases of Austria and Hungary, identifying the mechanisms, narratives, and processes that drive the propaganda exchanges between the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), the regime of Viktor Orbán, and the Kremlin, and highlighting the asymmetry of these relationships. The conversation will also contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex transnational connections between illiberal actors, their cross-border learning processes, and the need for collaborative international efforts to combat disinformation and the transfusion of illiberal and authoritarian politics as well as to uphold democratic values.

Research conducted in the framework of the AUTHLIB (Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response) project provides an important contribution to understanding these dynamics and thus to the forging of effective strategies to counter the influence of coordinated illiberal narratives and propaganda efforts across Europe.

For more information, please contact Zsuzsanna Végh (ZVegh@gmfus.org).
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan policy organization committed to the idea that the United States and Europe are stronger together.

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Using Facebook-Based Surveys to Assess Climate Concern and the Micro-Foundations of Climate Adaptation Governance in Small-Island Developing States
Monday, December 2
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://cpree.princeton.edu/events/2024/using-facebook-based-surveys-assess-climate-concern-and-micro-foundations-climate

In-person attendance for Princeton University ID holders (no RSVP req); Other guests RSVP to ccrosby@princeton.edu; Livestream on MediaCentral

Sara Constantino, Assistant Professor, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Sara Constantino is an assistant professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability in the Department of Environmental Social Sciences and a visiting research scholar at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. She has an interdisciplinary background at the intersection of economics, psychology, and environmental policy. Her research focuses on understanding the interplay between individual, collective, institutional and ecological factors, including how they shape preferences, decisions, and resilience to extreme events or shocks and how they mobilize or impede efforts to address climate change. Prior to starting at Stanford, she was an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University and an associate research scholar at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Before this, she was a senior research fellow in guaranteed income with the Jain Family Institute, a founding editor at Nature Human Behavior, and a research coordinator with the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from McGill University, a master’s degree in economics from University College London, a Ph.D. in cognitive and decision sciences from New York University, and a postdoc focused on environmental policy, politics and decision-making at Princeton University.

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a proliferation of cross-national surveys measuring public attitudes about climate change impacts and solutions around the world. However, these surveys rarely include the small-island states and territories that represent some of the world’s most climate-exposed populations yet bear virtually no responsibility for climate change. A crucial question facing these countries concerns the financing and management of adaptation projects. We report results from a large-sample, quota-matched survey (N=20,026) fielded in 56 small-island states and territories. Overall, we find widespread awareness and concern about the threat posed by climate change and sea-level rise, but wide variation in attributions of responsibility for climate adaptation. Surprisingly, we find significant demand for foreign oversight of local adaptation projects—a finding that diverges from the literature on foreign aid, which suggests that recipient-country publics are skeptical of influence from international organizations and foreign governments. Yet, preferences for oversight and management of climate-related aid might differ, in part due to the asymmetric distribution of responsibility or causing climate change. We use a series of experiments to examine public preferences over the management of local adaptation programs and assess whether preferences are distinct for climate adaptation projects as compared with traditional aid projects.

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Leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle climate change
Monday, December 2
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
The Brookings InstitutionFalk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/leveraging-artificial-intelligence-to-tackle-climate-change/

Recent years have brought rapid advances in artificial intelligence technologies, expanding the capabilities of AI systems to applications in numerous new fields. At the same time, many countries around the world have experienced increasingly serious effects of climate change, in particular in the form of extreme weather events. As these two trends develop in parallel, a range of new opportunities and challenges related to AI and climate change are starting to emerge. On the one hand, AI could help mitigate the climate crisis, helping researchers find cheaper alternatives to decarbonize our economy and aid assessment of exposure to climate risks. On the other hand, the increased demand for energy due to AI data centers is impacting efforts to decarbonize our energy systems.

On December 2, 2024, the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings and Duke University will host an event exploring these important topics at the intersection of climate change and AI. The event will feature a keynote fireside chat followed by two expert panels exploring the role of AI in climate change.

Viewers can join the conversation and ask questions in advance by emailing events@brookings.edu or on X @BrookingsEcon using the hashtag #AIandClimate.

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Zero Fuel Bias Energy Codes
Monday, December 2
3:30-5 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-zero-fuel-bias-energy-codes/

Zero Fuel Bias Energy CodesA Safe, Effective Path to Promote Electric Heat Pumps in New Buildings A growing number of cities and states are eager to make meaningful progress on decarbonizing buildings to achieve climate targets, enhance quality of life for all residents and businesses, and improve energy efficiency. New construction poses an irreplaceable opportunity to build smart from the start: it is the most cost-effective time to improve efficiency and helps prepare the workforce to decarbonize existing homes and businesses. To do this, leaders need policies that make zero-emission new construction the norm while avoiding legal pitfalls, especially regarding the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA).

In 2023, a surprising federal circuit court decision introduced a new interpretation of EPCA and halted one of the most ambitious city climate policies in the country, Berkeley’s all-electric new construction ordinance. As a result, in Berkeley and throughout all eight states in the Ninth Circuit, governments are now limited in how they can require all-electric new construction. While many tools to advance building decarbonization remain for Ninth Circuit jurisdictions, and the decision does not limit city or state action in other circuits, the risk of similar legal challenges has caused concern in some jurisdictions.

To help cities and states successfully advance zero-emissions new construction for commercial and residential properties with confidence, RMI and the Public Health Law Center have collaborated to release the Energy Code Safe Harbor Toolkit.

What is the Toolkit? The Toolkit comes in two parts:
Zero Fuel Bias Code Overlays for commercial and residential new construction codes: Adoptable code language designed to add fair, objective, low- and zero-emissions compliance options to the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code and ASHRAE 90.1-2022.
An issue report that describes how energy codes work, why EPCA matters, how today’s model codes fall short of what’s possible, and how the Code Overlays take steps toward a climate-friendly code.

Join the Zero Fuel Bias Energy Codes webinar to learn more, including:
What the Berkeley lawsuit means — and doesn’t mean — for building decarbonization in communities across the United States.
How the Zero Fuel Bias Code Overlays reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively under federal law.
Why your jurisdiction should consider adopting Zero Fuel Bias codes now.
Support available from RMI and the US Department of Energy for code adoption.

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Unlock 3 Keys to Resilience in a Changing Climate
Monday, December 2 
8 - 9:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unlock-3-keys-to-resilience-in-a-changing-climate-tickets-1082700138259

Are global crises leaving you gripped by fear and despair? It's time to transform that energy into impactful action.
Join Our Transformative FREE Masterclass, and discover the powerful role you can play in shaping a resilient world, and be part of the transformative change.

What You'll Learn:
Groundbreaking climate science insights
The crucial impact of elephants on ecosystems
Practical Steps for bold action and impactful change
Why Attend?
Empower yourself with knowledge
Connect with like-minded changemakers
Ignite hope and drive solutions for a sustainable future

Secure your place today and step into a future of possibilities.
I'm honoured to have been among the first batch of Canadians to be trained by one of the fiercest climate champions, Al Gore, Founder of The Climate Reality Project. My Masters's thesis was called Connecting the Dots - TV News Media & Climate Change exposing the abysmal media coverage of this grave existential threat to humanity. As a biologist, former primetime news anchor for the ABC/ CBS affiliate in Bermuda, and with three decades of reporting on health and environment, I not only understand the science, but also how to breakdown the scientific jargon and explain it in simple language, making it easily accessible and influencing the public perception of environmental issues.

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Bridging Knowledge Systems: Co-Producing Sustainable Ocean Plans with Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge for Equitable Ocean Governance
Wednesday, December 4
09:00-10:30 EST [2:00 - 3:30pm GMT] 
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/12/bridging-knowledge-systems-co-producing-sustainable-ocean-plans-indigenous

The world's ocean is facing unprecedented challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss. Traditional approaches to ocean management have often overlooked a critical resource: the deep, multi-generational knowledge held by Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities. This wisdom offers unique insights that could significantly bolster our ocean conservation and management strategies.

The new report, "Co-producing Sustainable Ocean Plans with Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge Holders," commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel), presents a transformative approach to ocean governance. It makes a compelling case for co-producing Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs) with Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge (ITK) holders, offering a pathway to more effective, equitable, and culturally appropriate ocean management strategies.
This webinar will present the groundbreaking report, exploring how co-producing SOPs with ITK holders can enhance biodiversity conservation, improve ecosystem resilience, and create more sustainable resource management practices. Drawing from diverse case studies and the collaborative efforts of ITK holders, scholars, and researchers, the report's authors and Ocean Panel representatives will share insights on key recommendations and practical pathways for implementation. These strategies are applicable to countries at all stages of SOP development - from initial scoping to implementation and updating.

Speakers:
Tom Pickerell, Global Director, Ocean Program and Head of Ocean Panel Secretariat, WRI
Mia Strand, Ocean Nexus Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa
Gunn-Britt Retter, Head, Arctic and Environmental Unit of the Saami Council, Norway
Ken Paul, Wolastoqey Nation at Neqotkuk, Canada
Yara Costa, Artist, Filmmaker, Storyteller, Mozambique
The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Deputy Director for Climate and Environment, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, USA
Andrew McMaster, Director, International Oceans Policy for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canada
Jacqueline Uku, Principal Research Scientist, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute & Ocean Panel Expert Group Co-lead (Moderator)

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We Can’t Get There from Here: Carbon, Climate and the Call to Wonder
44th Annual Schumacher Lecture with Paul Hawken and Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé
Wednesday, December 4
11am EST
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DVBXT_ljSdq0UVKQD4YZcg#/registration

The 44th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lecture will feature Paul Hawken and Báyò Akómoláfé in conversation. This virtual event will be hosted and moderated by Alex Forrester, Board Member of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and Co-Founder of Rising Tide Capital. The date is December 4th at 11:00AM EST. Registration is free.

Báyò invites us all into the conversation with the following:
Two tourists on a backroad in Ireland stop to ask a crofter leaning against his stone fence, “Can you tell us how to get to Dublin?” The farmer nods, looks far down the road to his left, then swivels and does the same to the right. He turns back and says, “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here.” When through their quizzical glances and smiles they ask why, the crofter replies, quite simply, “You can’t get there from here.”

In this theoretically significant Irish joke, “here” and “there” might be seen as more complicated than their frequent usages might suggest they are. Today, in the ways institutions and climate activisms around the world articulate planetary problems, seek out solutions, and imagine futures beyond our troubling moments, one might say they are actively attempting to move from ‘here’ to ‘there’. The problem, however, with drawing a straight line between ‘here’ and ‘there’ lies in the occlusion of what ‘here’ is – and what ‘there’ signifies.

‘Here’ is not just location; it is a cosmovision of humanity’s place in the universe – a story about what ‘we’ can do, what ‘we’ can achieve, what ‘we’ are accountable to, and what the world around ‘us’ is doing. It is the myth of mastery, a paean to our divinity, and the launchpad for our many attempts to leave the material behind and escape into the transcendent. ‘There’, on the other hand, often marks our hopes for a different kind of world, one in which the deleterious events that characterize the Anthropocene are no longer the order of the day. One might say that ‘There’ is our hope for arrival.

But in a relational world that moves, sighs, and sings, prospects of neat arrivals hint at our faithfulness to world-denying performances, which force an aesthetic of emergency, of technobureaucratic mastery, and of reductionistic applications.

What happens when cartography and the institutional certitudes that produce neat maps buckle under the weight of something else? When north is no longer north, south no longer below, and ‘here’ – the prestigious mark of our positionality – becomes slushy and begins to misbehave?

Paul and Báyò want us to appreciate a planet composed of flows, a world too dense and invested and animated for uncomplicated departures and exclusive arrivals. A world marked by errant lines, not static points. Through their investigations of indigenous traditions, they suggest that the ways we are being summoned to practice care in a time of endings and fire are exactly how the fire keeps burning. When Báyò Akómoláfé insists in his writing that “we are coming down to earth, and we will not arrive intact”, he challenges the ableist trajectories that centralize human actors as masters and background ecologies as passive stages inscribed with human drama.

In the same vein, Paul Hawken refuses to villainize carbon as the ingredient of demise. Instead, opening his new book (Carbon: The Book of Life), he writes:
“Carbon moves ceaselessly through the four realms—the biosphere, oceans, land, and atmosphere. It flows in rivers and veins, soil and skin, breath and wind. It is the narrator of lives born and lost, futures feared and imagined. It is the courier coursing through every particle of our existence… Carbon’s dance of life does not take sides; it is never right or wrong. It is a timeless path that endlessly unwinds before us…When discussing carbon, people refer to atoms instead of magnificence, physics rather than sentience. Life is a flow, a river, not isolated components. The flow of carbon provides better stories, other ways to see, visions of possibility different than the disjointed and chaotic narratives that engulf us.”

For Paul and Báyò, the belief that with good intentions, supreme effort, institutional coherence, and philanthropic benevolence, we could move from ‘here’ to ‘there’, obscures too much. Leaves out too much. It misses how ‘here’ is already a postponement of ‘there’. It misses the wonder along the way, the idea that these times aren’t asking us to travel from ‘here’ to ‘there’, but from ‘here’ to here. 

A call to wonder is a call to get lost, to lose our way.
There’s a joke in there, somewhere.

Join us in this public lecture, the 44th in the E. F. Schumacher Annual Lecture series, as authors Paul Hawken and Báyò Akómoláfé investigate through conversation an errant world that flows beyond the solutionism and imaginaries of justice that have incarcerated our organized responses to climate loss.

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#Stoprussia: Weaponizing Social Media for Foreign Support
Wednesday, December 4
12-1:30pm
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ

Roya Talibova, Harvard University
MIT Security Studies Program more information at https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2024/stoprussia-weaponizing-social-media-for-foreign-support

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Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood (RSM Speaker Series)
Wednesday, December 4
12:30 PM–1:30 PM
Online
RSVP at https://rebootingsocialmedia.org/events/politics-of-falsehood/

How can we effectively talk about truth? How are misinformation campaigns being addressed across the globe? 
The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Johan Farkas to discuss contemporary political struggles over how we define what’s true and what’s false, based on the 2nd edition of Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood. The conversation will explore how fake news has impacted recent historic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and present both a critique of prominent current solutions to the spread of disinformation as well as potential democratic alternatives.
This event will be fully virtual and moderated by Applied Social Media Lab Senior Director

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Environments for Health and Happiness: A Seminar with Dr. Joe Allen
Wednesday, December 4
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/event/environments-for-health-and-happiness-a-seminar-with-dr-joe-allen/

SPEAKER(S) Dr. Joe Allen, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
On Wednesday, December 4th, from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12, please join us for the second installment in our Environments for Health and Happiness Seminar Series. This event will feature Dr. Joe Allen, Associate Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health. Dr. Allen is also director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, and coauthor of Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Can Make You Sick—or Keep You Well.

CONTACT INFO centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu

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Democracy’s next act: How to build resilience around the world
Wednesday, December 4
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
Online 
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/democracys-next-act-how-to-build-resilience-around-the-world/

In a recent New York Times/Siena College Poll published October 27, 2024, a significant majority of Americans expressed grave concerns over the health of U.S. democracy. There are similar concerns and frustrations in democracies around the world. Responding to these concerns and taking steps to strengthen democracy is critical as political landscapes shift, polarization deepens, and challenges abound around the world.   

On December 4, join the Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) project at Brookings for an event to mark its first anniversary featuring a conversation between leading international experts who will discuss how to bolster democratic resilience, prevent democracies from backsliding, address increased political polarization, examine foreign threats, and restore people’s confidence in government around the world.  Viewers can submit questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via X (Twitter) at @BrookingsGov by using #GlobalDemocracy. 

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A Revolutionary Woman: Elizabeth Freeman and the Abolition of Slavery in the North 
Wednesday December 4
6:00 PM  –  7:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/A-Revolutionary-Woman-Elizabeth-Freeman-and-the-Abolition-of-Slavery-in-the-North---Program

At the end of the American Revolution, Elizabeth Freeman was an enslaved widow and mother living in Massachusetts. Hearing the words of the new Massachusetts state constitution which declared liberty and equality for all, she sought the help of a young lawyer named Theodore Sedgwick, later Speaker of the House and one of America's leading Federalist politicians. The lawsuit that she and Sedgwick pursued would bring freedom to her and her daughter, as well as thousands of other enslaved people. After leaving her enslaver's family to work for the family of Theodore Sedgwick, she effectively became the foster mother to his seven children when his wife Pamela became a chronic invalid, enabling Sedgwick to pursue his political career. Join us online as author Donna Tesiero details Elizabeth Freeman's life and the far-reaching influence of her battle for freedom.

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How We Reclaim the Internet
Wednesday, December 4 
8:30pm ET [5:30 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RVSP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-12-04/jeff-jarvis-how-we-reclaim-internet
Cost:  $10 - $52

The internet stands accused of dividing us, spying on us, making us stupid, and addicting our children. In response, the press and panicked politicians seek greater regulation and control, which some fear could ruin the web before we are finished building it.

Jeff Jarvis is convinced we can have a saner conversation about the internet. Examining the web’s past, present and future, he says that many of the problems the media lays at the internet’s door are the result of our own failings. The internet did not make us hate; we brought our bias, bigotry and prejudice with us online. That’s why even well-intentioned regulation will fail to fix hate speech and misinformation and may instead imperil the freedom of speech the internet affords to all. Jarvis says that once we understand the internet for what it is—a human network—we can reclaim it from the nerds, pundits, and pols who are in charge now and turn our attention where it belongs: to fostering community, conversation,and creativity online. 

Join us as he comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs and discusses these issues, raised in his new book The Web We Weave. 

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Trees & Forests
Thursdays, December 5, 2024 – January 30, 2025
12 noon -or- 7 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/trees-and-forests/registration/
Cost:  $5 - $160 

Trees & Forests is an eight week online course (Dec 5 – Jan 30) that explores the many benefits and wonders of our trees and forests, as well as the threats they face. 
We will study Trees & Forests from four angles: Wildlife, Wildfires, Water Cycles and Climate Change.

Did you know? 
Forests are home to 80% of land-based species, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
We have lost 16% of our forests since 2002, according to Global Forest Watch.
Forests are essential in addressing climate change, not only because they absorb carbon, but because they nurture our water cycles.

We have every reason to preserve our forests. But we need more people who understand our forests, how they work and the threats to them.

We need to understand:
How our forests work as ecosystems
How our forests absorb carbon
How our forests cool our climate by casting shade
How our forests cool our climate by causing water to evaporate
How a forest acts as a sponge, absorbing rainfall, so as to prevent both flooding and drought
How a forest differs from a tree plantation

More information at https://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/trees-and-for

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Interrogative Design Symposium
Thursday, December 5 – Friday, December 6
MIT, Building E15-001, ACT Cube, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK6PddR-9mg28UcCNrMQ2jOKT0lRgWT5tDfOUJsgH7Q8Ak9g/viewform

The Interrogative Design Symposium is organized as a celebration of the artistic and intellectual legacy of Krzysztof Wodiczko, ACT’s Professor Emeritus, with the launch of the book Interrogative Design, edited by ACT alumnus Ian Wojtowicz (SMACT ’12) and published by the MIT Press.
The Symposium examines the role of art and design in activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse through the production of critical questions.
These events are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.

Thursday, December 5
6pm
Book Launch of Interrogative Design with the MIT Press and the MIT Press Bookstore
Introductory remarks by Dean Hashim Sarkis of the MIT School of Architecture + Planning
Book presentation by the editor, Ian Wojtowicz (SMACT ’12)
A keynote conversation with Krzysztof Wodiczko, an audience Q+A, and a book signing
Friday, December 6
12:30pm
Panel 1: Body Scale
Focusing on themes such as Cultural Prosthetics, Ethics of Technology, Realism, and Interrogation. The panel will feature Kelly Dobson, Sohin Hwang, and Marisa Morán Jahn (SMVisS ’07), along with Sara Hendren and Warren Sack serving as moderators.
2:30pm
Panel 2: Civic Scale
Focusing on themes such as Trauma, Memory, Monuments, Public Space, and Participation. This panel will feature Ian Wojtowicz (SMACT ’12), Doris Sommer, Pelin Tan, Gediminas Urbonas, Zenovia Toloudi, and Malkit Shoshan, along with Dora Apel and Mark Jarzombek serving as moderators.
About Interrogative Design:
A timely collection that shows how design can animate public space and catalyze democratic processes through vital discussion and public engagement.
“Design thinking” emphasizes the production of solutions after a period of research. By contrast, interrogative design focuses on activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse through the production of questions. A notable contribution to the fields of critical design and media art, interrogative design traces its development to Krzysztof Wodiczko and his 1990s public art projects, documented in the book Critical Vehicles.

In Interrogative Design, Ian Wojtowicz showcases this lineage with new writing from Wodiczko and a host of contributions from diverse and influential practitioners, including Rosalyn Deutsche and Antoni Muntadas. This book highlights the dynamism of interrogative design as it is practiced today.

Never has the need for work that provokes thoughtful discourse been more necessary, and this volume catalogs both the need and potential viable techniques. A consolidated collection on the legacy and the vital currency of interrogative design, this volume will delight practitioners with new material and serve students as a practical handbook.

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Webinar – Accelerating Green Ammonia: Purpose and Priorities
Thursday, December 5
10am EST [8-9 a.m. MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-accelerating-green-ammonia-purpose-and-priorities/

The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) and RMI are launching a new joint webinar series, “The Journey to a Green Ammonia Future,” to explore the drive toward sustainable ammonia production.

The first webinar in the series, “Accelerating Green Ammonia: Purpose and Priorities,” will take place on December 5th at 8 a.m. MST. It will cover market trends, technological roadmaps, and innovation shaping the industry’s priorities, with expert insights on this green transformation from co-hosts IFA and RMI.
SPEAKERS
JON CREYTS, CEO, RMI
PATRICK MOLLOY, Principal, RMI
ALZBETA KLEIN, CEO/Director General, International Fertilizer Association

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Climate in the Roman World
Thursday, December 5
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall Multipurpose Room, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TH3pwIRfSxm3C-ty07Fv0w#/registration

Many scholars believe that the Roman Climate Optimum (RCO) was central to the expansion of the Roman Empire. Similarly, some think climatic trends in the centuries after the RCO were in large part responsible for the Roman Empire’s decline and disintegration. This lecture seeks to nuance these differences in climate and society to highlight why broad climatic phases cannot by themselves be used as societal determinants.

Contact Sinet Kroch sinet.kroch@tufts.edu

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Towards a theory of Sustainable African Urbanism: institutional hybridity and urban sustainability in Ghana 
Thursday, December 5
12- 1pm EST
Yale, Burke Auditorium,m] 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT06511
And online
RSVP https://yale.zoom.us/j/92629487528?pwd=0qNSBhJ78GROBslW9v3hOhdlYCpxNO.1

Raphael Ayambire, PhD, University of Manitoba
This talk addresses the challenges and opportunities of urban sustainability in African cities through the lens of institutional hybridity. Drawing on empirical research in Ghana, I argue that the collision of customary and colonial institutions in post-colonial cities creates a mosaic of governance arrangements that simultaneously constrain and facilitate the effective implementation of sustainability policies. While institutional hybridity often complicates urban management, it can also provide opportunities for adaptation, resilience, and innovation in the face of resource constraints and the uncritical importation of ill-suited institutional models from the Global North. I propose that understanding and theorizing this institutional hybridity is crucial for developing a contextually grounded and transformative vision of ‘Sustainable African Urbanism.’ The talk will outline the key components of this nascent theory, discuss its implications for climate policy and practice, and highlight the potential of hybrid institutional arrangements to support more inclusive and effective urban sustainability transitions.

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Russia-U.S. Relations in 2025: Can Arctic Science Diplomacy Mend Strategic Fences?
Thursday, December 5
12:00pm - 01:15pm
Harvard, Belfer Building - Belfer 322 Salata Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge MA 02138
And online
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/russia-us-relations-2025-can-arctic-science-diplomacy-mend-strategic-fences

Masha Vorontsova
Marisol Maddox
Margaret Williams
Moderator:  Jennifer Spence

U.S. President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev smile at each other during their joint statement and news conference aboard the Maxim Gorky docked in Marsaxlokk Bay, Malta, Sunday, Dec. 3, 1989. During the Cold War era, cooperation in science offered a path toward warming relations.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. and European governments halted all scientific cooperation between federal scientists and their Russian counterparts. Most universities followed suit, abandoning 30 years of relationships and projects that informed climate science, environmental protection and industrial development. In the Arctic, the disruption comes at a time of intensifying climate impacts and major geopolitical tensions. 

During the Cold War era, cooperation in science offered a path toward warming U.S.-Russia relations. Join the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Davis Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies for discussion on whether – and how –  Arctic science diplomacy can be a useful approach toward improving relations once more.
Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be provided.

Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome on Zoom.
Recording: This event is on the record. It will be recorded and made available on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel.
Questions? Contact: Liz Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu)

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Yale Forest Forum Fall 2024 Speaker Series - What’s Next on Old Growth Policy: A Panel Discussion 
Thursday, December 5
12 PM – 1:30 PM EST (GMT-5)
Online
RSVP at https://yaleconnect.yale.edu/tfs/rsvp_boot?id=2286326

The National Old Growth Amendment (NOGA) has far-reaching implications for public lands management. Stemming from Executive Order 14072, this policy marks a shift in how the USDA Forest Service operates and addresses issues like forest resilience, climate adaptation, timber targets, Indigenous partnerships, local engagement, National Forest Planning, and the allocation of resources in the forest sector. In our final webinar for the Fall 2024 series on Mature and Old Growth, a diverse panel of forest sector leaders will discuss the implications of the NOGA, its possible future under a new administration, and what our priorities should be moving forward. Through varying lenses in the sector, this panel discussion will showcase the complexity of public lands policy in an era of compounding crises. 

Moderator: 
Jennifer McRae, USDA Forest Service Assistant Director of Public Engagement and Planning

Speakers:
Sara Kuebbing, Research Scientist at the Yale School of the Environment and Director of Research of the Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program
Zander Evans, Executive Director of the Forest Stewards Guild
Cody Desautel, Executive Director of Colville Tribes & President of the Intertribal Timber Council
Sam Evans, Senior Attorney and Leader of the National Forests and Parks Program, Southern Environmental Law Center

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Reckless Abandonment? Assessing how agricultural legacies impact the ecological & social functions of land
Thursday, December 5
1 - 2pm
UCSB1414 Bren Hall, Santa Barbara, CA
Online
RSVP at https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/84499323441#success with passcode land

Nākoa Farrant, PHD DISSERTATION DEFENSE
Advisor: Ashley Larsen
Committee: Dar Roberts, Carla D’Antonio
This defense will be presented in person. Join us in Bren Hall 1414 or watch online 

Agricultural expansion is often a driver of land use change, but in many places, agriculture is contracting, leaving millions of hectares of abandoned agricultural lands. My dissertation leverages methods from various disciplines and research frameworks to investigate how abandoned agricultural lands can be managed for ecological, social, and cultural benefits. I use unmanaged plantation lands in Hawaiʻi as a model system to study vegetation recovery and opportunities for strategic management following intensive cultivation across steep biophysical gradients. Chapter 1 examines where and when secondary vegetation on unamanged sugarcane fields recovers the structure, composition, and function of uncultivated reference ecosystems. After finding that time only accounts for some variation in vegetation outcomes, my second chapter uses econometric models to evaluate the role of landscape composition, biophysical conditions, and fire history as predictors of revegetation patterns on unmanaged sugarcane fields. My third chapter employs a two-eyed seeing approach that combines quantitative optimization models and themes from 20 expert opinion interviews with Indigenous and local community members to identify priority areas for recultivation, reforestation, and biocultural restoration on former plantation lands. Findings from these studies enhance our ability to not only predict how ecosystems recover following intensive cultivation but also elevate Indigenous and local perspectives in the stewardship of unmanaged agricultural lands as a multifunctional resource for ecological, social, and cultural goals.
BIO
Nākoa Farrant is from Paumalu, Oʻahu. He has participated in the restoration of loʻi kalo (irrigated taro fields) and loko iʻa (fishponds) across Hawaiʻi for 16 years. These experiences have motivated his research to investigate the design and implementation of culturally grounded, ecologically sustainable food systems in the dynamic modern context. He spends his free time surfing and restoring ʻāina.

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Rapid adaptation across climates in a synchronozied long-term plant evolution experiment; and why this matters for global species conservation targets
Thursday, December 5
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Harvard, Northwest Building, B101, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Moisés Expósito-Alonso, Assistant Professor of Global Change Biology, University of California Berkeley
Increased threats of climate change in the survival of plant species, has put a spotlight on evolutionary adaptive processes that could aid in short ecological timescales. Although the paradigm that genetic evolution is a slow process is breaking down with new genomic data of wild populations, long-term plant evolution experiments across climates that can test the speed of evolution or its predictability do not exist yet. Here we conduct a globally-distributed evolution experiment with the plant Arabidopsis thaliana in 32 outdoor experimental facilities called GrENE-net.org. Pooled whole-genome sequencing of >70,000 surviving plants across climates allowed us to detect clear signals of climate-driven rapid adaptation, map genetic loci involved in adaptation in different environments, and test the repeatability of adaptation. This work showcases the importance of understanding the genetic basis of environmental adaptation of species to anticipate the impacts of global change in nature, which I put in perspective with the current goals.

More information at https://oeb.harvard.edu/event/oeb-seminar-series-moises-exposito-alonso

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Risks of destabilization of the carbon cycle
Thursday, December 5
4pm to 5pm
Boston College, 245 Beacon Street, Room 501 (Schiller Institute Convening Space) Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
https://forms.gle/pQMXvX3WvTawLD959

Join us for a lecture titled "Risks of destabilization of the carbon cycle," featuring Philippe Ciais. Dr. Ciais is a leading authority in the fields of the carbon cycle and climate change.

This public lecture is intended for a broad audience and we encourage students, faculty, and staff from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to attend.
The lecture will take place on Thursday, December 5 from 4-5 PM, followed by a reception. 

Philippe Ciais is a senior researcher at Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Saclay, France, and author of more than 1200 peer-reviewed publications, cited 200,000 times (H-index: 204). He is among the top- 1% most-cited scientists in both Geosciences and Ecology, ranked the most productive scientist in the field of climate change, and in the top-5 influential authors. Over the last two decades P.C. worked on the terrestrial GHG fluxes. P.C. co-chaired the Global Carbon Project (GCP), an international organization coordinating the effort of 80 research institutions to quantify trends in the carbon cycle, and acted as Convening Lead Author of the IPCC in the 5th Assessment Report. P. C Is an Elected Member of the French Academy of Sciences and a foreign Elected Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Climate Change and Clean Energy
Thursday, December 5 
4-6 PM
BU, Kilachand Center Eichenbaum Colloquium Room (Room 101), 610 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Hosts: Professor Cutler Cleveland, Earth & Environment (CAS); Associate Professor Emily Ryan, Mechanical Engineering (ENG)
The fossil fuel energy system produced big gains in well-being but caused equally large impacts on the health of people and the planet; climate change is the most notable example. Ongoing research aims to understand the interconnections among energy, society, and the environment and to develop new technologies and policies to drive the transition to clean energy.

In this Research of Tap, we explore the problems of climate change and the energy system from multiple angles, including how energy affects local air and water quality, the new technologies required to ensure affordable and efficient clean energy, the effects of climate change and the energy system on society, and the role that business can play in transitioning to clean energy.

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Security and Resilience Speaker Series:  Climate Resilience Academy
Thursday, December 5 
6:00 pm. 
Northeastern, Renaissance_Park, 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=gcLuqKOqrk2sm5o5i5IV53F80AfBWgdCrlSTeI2yfzpURE1GU1FOSTBWTDVCMDJMTzZIUEY1MkJXQy4u&route=shorturl

Michael David Berkowitz, Executive Director, Climate Resilience Academy, University of Miami

Light refreshments will be provided.
Please reach out to Shannon Usher at s.usher@northeastern.edu with any questions.

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SFI Seminar: When Do Firms Oversell or Undersell Their Environmental Sustainability? with Gaku Morio (Hitachi America) & Isabella Yoon (University of Otago)
Thursday, December 5
7pm EST [4pm to 5pm PT]
Online
RSVP at https://events.stanford.edu/event/sfi-seminar-morio-and-yoon

Join SFI’s monthly seminar on the first or second Thursday of the month from 4:00 - 5:00 pm PT to meet our faculty and fellows and learn more about our ongoing research projects. We’ll cover innovative policy and financial mechanisms designed to rapidly decarbonize the global economy.

Up next on Thursday, December 5:
In this seminar, Gaku Morio and Isabella Yoon present the findings of their recent study. This study examines the disparities among corporate environmental sustainability as communicated, performed, and evaluated, using a natural language processing (NLP)-based tool.

They analyze responsibility reports from 293 publicly traded U.S. firms spanning from 2010 to 2021, along with their decarbonization performance and sustainability ratings, focusing particularly on the environmental score (ES). Their research explores corporate environmental communication (EC), which they also refer to as the "vocalness" of firms on climate topics, and its relationship with their environmental performance (EP). 

Their findings reveal significant discrepancies in how firms communicate their sustainability efforts, with firms tending to be more vocal when their EP is poor. Companies are more vocal about climate commitment and opportunities rather than about risks or reduction targets—the latter being areas that are relatively easy to verify. This observed discrepancy has become more pronounced since the Paris Agreement, although individual firms' adoption of such practices is less impactful. The analysis further suggests that while EC plays a minor but significant role in enhancing sustainability ratings when firms' emission levels are high, it does not fundamentally alter the relationship between EP and sustainability ratings unless firms become excessively vocal.

Gaku Morio is a Researcher at Hitachi America, Ltd. He received his M.D. in Engineering from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He is interested in natural language processing and applied machine learning, with emphasis on facilitating these technologies to the real-world business/industrial data.

Jungah (Isabella) Yoon joined the University of Otago (Department of Accountancy & Finance) as a Teaching Fellow in July 2023. Prior to this, she had been an integral part of the Department, serving as both a PhD student and a casual Teaching Fellow / tutor. Isabella possesses a deep-seated passion for finance education and additionally contributes as a member of the AKO teaching and learning committee within the department.

Isabella’s research centres on derivatives markets. She is a member of the Derivatives and Quantitative Finance Group and joined the Climate and Energy Finance Group in March 2023.

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Five Steps to a Sustainable and Peaceable Economy
Thursday, December 5
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://masspeaceaction.org/event/five-steps-to-a-sustainable-and-peaceable-economy-2/

Our current economic system is based on endless growth, despite the climate and human costs. Dr Schor will present steps we can take to shift to a more just and environmentally sustainable economy and draw out the implications of economic transformation on international conflict.

Juliet B. Schor is an American economist and Sociology Professor at Boston College. She has studied trends in working time, consumerism, the relationship between work and family, women’s issues and economic inequality, and concerns about climate change in the environment. Her books include The Overspent American, The Overworked American, After the Gig, and Born to Buy.

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Climate Mobilization Project:  Tending the Seeds of Survival
Thursday, December 5
7-9pm EST [4-6pm Pacific PST] 
Online
RSVP at https://secure.everyaction.com/_x-wqDomCkGwm9_hp6dldQ2?emci=a834ed8f-f9ac-ef11-88cf-6045bdfe8d29&emdi=b234ed8f-f9ac-ef11-88cf-6045bdfe8d29&ceid=15533

You're invited to process the election results, explore what's next for our movements and begin building a climate survival hub in your community in an interactive workshop.

When you join this event, you'll get to learn from leaders in the Palestine solidarity and Black liberation movements, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, and Survival Bloc who are piloting survival programs to build economic self-determination, disaster resilience, organized communities, and a national movement for our survival that can meet the challenges of this moment.

More information at  https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/

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Climate, Biogeoscience, and Health: Transformative Science to Real-World Action
Friday, December 6
10:00 am – 12:00 pm ET
Networking Lunch—12:00 – 1:00 pm ET
Boston University, Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Ave, Room 1750 (17th floor). To access the upper floors, please use the elevators near Saxby’s café.
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/hic/climate-biogeoscience-and-health-transformative-science-to-real-world-action/

This symposium will showcase leading research at the intersection of climate change, biogeoscience, and human health drawn from across Boston University with particular focus on research that is relevant, actionable, or directly connected to policy and practice. Participants will include BU faculty, staff, and students and selected external partners and guests. 

This event is organized & co-sponsored by Boston University’s Hariri Institute, BU Center for Climate and Health, URBAN – BU Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health, and the Biogeoscience program.

This event is open to everyone—we encourage anyone interested to join and participate.

Event Overview
10:00 – 10:20 am—Welcome & Opening Remarks
10:20 – 11:20 am—Lightning talks “Actionable Research in Climate, Biogeoscience, and Health across Boston University”
11:20 – 11:40 am—Panel discussion  “The stakeholder perspective: Opportunities and challenges in translating research into solutions”
11:40 – 11:55 am—Hariri Institute Focused Research Program (FRP) Wrap-up & Closing Remarks
12:00 – 1:00 pm—Networking Lunch
Lunch will be provided. 
Learn more about the Health Equity in the Wake of Continued Climate Change Focused Research Program. 
For questions in regards to the program, please email Casey Demarsico, at cdemarsi@bu.edu. 

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Reimagine Buildings: Biomaterials
Friday, December 6
11:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-carbon-storgae-b3f44f40-d113-4d94-95f2-77075b92c892/registration
Cost:  $49

Reimagine Buildings: Biomaterials explores how to create healthy buildings that not only reduce carbon emissions but also sequester and store them. A joint effort between RMI’s HomebuildersCAN and Passive House Accelerator, this virtual event provides actionable insights to help developers create buildings that make a difference. Join RMI speakers below and other experts to learn how to create the healthiest buildings with the smallest carbon footprint.

SPEAKERS
CHRIS MAGWOOD, Manager, Carbon-Free Buildings
LINDSAY RASMUSSEN, Manager, Third Derivative

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Bounty by Fire: The Anishinaabe Legacy of Human-Mediated Fire Regimes on Drummond Island, Michigan
Friday, December 6
4pm to 5:30pm
Online
RSVP at https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvd-ihrDkuHdLsmsJDR_Som34oaHXivbMI#/registration

Share CBIKS Indigenous Sciences Speaker Series: Dr. Elspeth Geiger "Bounty by Fire: The Anishinaabe Legacy of Human-Mediated Fire Regimes on Drummond Island, Michigan”

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Online dialogue: COP29 post-match analysis
Monday, December 9
4:30am - 6am EST [10:30 CET ending at 12:00 CET]
Sweden and Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.se/e/online-dialogue-cop29-post-match-analysis-tickets-1079179347479

This year at COP29, countries will present their climate plans and mitigation efforts connected to the Paris Agreement. Climate finance will be a hot topic discussed by the negotiating countries.
The Mistra Geopolitics research programme is hosting this yearly, high-level dialogue to discuss the outcomes of the climate change negotiations held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

At this high-level dialogue, we will discuss whether the negotiations met the expectations of political leaders, scientists, civil society and youth organizations around the globe. What questions were left unresolved?

We are proud to present our distinguished panel members, guided by Mistra Geopolitics’ Director Björn-Ola Linnér:
Speakers:
Mattias Frumerie, Sweden’s Climate Ambassador and Head of Delegation to the UNFCCC at the Swedish Ministry of Climate and Enterprise, and member of the Swedish Climate Policy Council
Katherine Browne, Leader of SEI’s International Climate Risk and Adaptation Team and Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
Erik Kjellström, Professor of Climatology at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)
Mattias Goldmann, CEO of the Swedish 2030-Secretariat
Priyatma Singh, Researcher at the University of Fiji
Björn-Ola Linnér, Programme Director for Mistra Geopolitics and professor at Linköping University, will chair the dialogue.

Event contacts
Maria Cole / maria.cole@sei.org
Ylva Rylander / ylva.rylander@sei.org

Editorial Comment:  “Post-match” analysis.  Anyone for tennis?

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TEDxMIT
Saturday, December 7
MIT Stata Center, Building 32, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA
RSVP at https://tedx.mit.edu/register-tedxmit-dec7-2024

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A New Narrative: Transforming Climate Education
Monday, December 9
12 - 1pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-new-narrative-transforming-climate-education-tickets-1082917959769

For educators exploring climate education. Experts discuss barriers, solutions journalism & communication skills. Join us!

We’re excited to invite teachers to our first webinar in a series, hosted by the EYES Project. This event is organised for educators and other professionals in the education sector interested in embarking on or going deeper into their climate change education journey. 

The EYES project:
The Empowering Youth through Environmental Storytelling (EYES) project aims to advance climate change education in schools and other learning spaces worldwide by blending climate science and systems thinking with solutions-focused journalism. The project is a collaboration between The Climate Academy, News Decoder and Superfluous (an organisation working with young people in informal education spaces). 

Webinar highlights:
Discover effective strategies for climate change education that empower students to think systemically and communicate impactfully.
Gain insights into addressing barriers to climate change education, from limited resources to gaps in school curricula and lack of engagement.
Engage with a diverse panel of experts: an environmental educator and philosophy teacher, a climate journalist, and an NGO founder working on biodiversity conservation education.

Connect with a global community of like-minded educators and education professionals interested in advancing climate literacy. 
Learn about our project’s next steps and podcast release.

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Mind the Regulatory Gap: Breaking Down RMI’s New Report on How to Enhance Local Transmission Oversight
Monday, December 9
2-3 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-mind-the-regulatory-gap/

Over the past twenty years the amount Americans have been spending on transmission infrastructure has skyrocketed nearly five-fold, from $9.1 billion in 2000 (adjusted to 2019 dollars) to $40 billion in 2019. Recent RMI research has shown that the majority of the buildout in this period is of local transmission lines that escape scrutiny at the federal, regional, and state level.

This is both an inefficient use of customer dollars, as larger, regional lines create system efficiencies that support a stronger grid overall with expanded access to low-cost energy resources such as wind or solar power; and it persists without a check from regulators who are supposed to protect the affordability of the system.
RMI’s new report, Mind the Regulatory Gap: How to Enhance Local Transmission Oversight, explains how a regulatory gap is, in part, driving this shift in spending to local projects. In this webinar, RMI provides an overview of its report — along with potential solutions — followed by a moderated panel with guest experts, including Kent Chandler (R Street Institute), Anjali Patel (David Gardiner and Associates), and Greg Poulos (Consumer Advocates of the PJM States).

SPEAKERS
CLAIRE WAYNER, Senior Associate, RMI
KENT CHANDLER, Resident Senior Fellow, R Street Institute
ANJALI PATEL, Vice President for Clean Energy, David Gardiner and Associate
GREG POULOS, Executive Director, Consumer Advocates of the PJM States

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On the Housing Crisis: A Discussion with Jerusalem Demsas
Monday, December 9
4 PM – 5:30 PM ET
BU, Kenmore Room (Room 916), One Silber Way, Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.bu.edu/ioc/2024/11/07/on-the-housing-crisis-a-discussion-with-jerusalem-demsas/

We're excited to welcome Jerusalem Demsas of The Atlantic to campus for a discussion of her new book, On the Housing Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy. Demsas examines our country's housing shortage and how local democracies have become coconspirators in the anti-development aspirations of the very few at the hefty expense of the many. Katherine Levine Einstein, Boston University Initiative on Cities Urban-H Associate Director of Housing, will lead the discussion.

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Leah Stokes: 2024 Schneider Award Winner
Monday, December 9 
9PM EST [6:00 PM PST]
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-12-09/leah-stokes-2024-schneider-award-winner
Cost:  $5 - 20

SPEAKERS
Leah Stokes, Anton Vonk Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara
Greg Dalton, Founder and Co-host, Climate One

Climate One is delighted to present the 2024 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to political scientist Leah Stokes.
Leah Stokes is an expert in climate and energy policy. As both an academic and a mobilizer, she focuses on implementing policies that drive widespread decarbonization. Her rare ability to communicate complex information to academic audiences and the general public has established her as one of the most influential voices in climate action and clean energy policy. Recognized on the 2022 Time100 Next and Business Insider's Climate Action 30 lists, she also co-hosts the podcast “A Matter of Degrees.”
Join Climate One for this special in-person conversation with Leah Stokes, policy expert, climate communicator, and the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at UC Santa Barbara.

FORMAT
5:30 p.m. doors open & check-in
6–7 p.m. program
(all times Pacific Time)

About the Award
Established in honor of Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology, Climate One’s Schneider Award recognizes a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear, compelling fashion. Past winners include Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Ben Santer, Katharine Hayhoe, Robert Bullard, Jane Lubchenco, and Michael Mann.

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Kelman Seminar Series: International Norms and Islamic Principles: Exploring Commonalities for Peacebuilding
Tuesday, December 10
12 – 1 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8R2avN6UTsau11cSHXQ9QA#/registration

SPEAKER(S) Dr. Houda Abadi
Eldridge Adolfo
Mark Muller Stuart (KC)
The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution presents a virtual seminar with Dr. Houda Abadi, Eldridge Adolfo, and Mark Muller Stuart KC. The speakers will introduce a new dimension to contemporary peacebuilding using an innovative approach to establishing commonalities between international norms and the Islamic principles of peacebuilding, based a four-year research project.

CONTACT INFO ponevents@law.harvard.edu

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Building Our Clean Energy Future, Together
Tuesday, December 10
10-11 a.m. MT | 12-1 p.m. ET
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/building-our-clean-energy-future-together/

Cleaner air and water. New and growing job opportunities. Communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change. To realize this clean energy future, we must work together. Join Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group, and RMI Managers Taylor Krause and Ian Welch-Phillips for our December webinar. The discussion, moderated by RMI Trustee Martha Brooks, explores the importance of activating the next generation of climate leaders, and how these leaders are partnering to advance clean energy solutions around the world.

SPEAKERS
SIR RICHARD BRANSON, Chairman, Virgin Group
TAYLOR KRAUSE, Manager, US Program
IAN WELCH-PHILLIPS, Manager, Global South
MARTHA BROOKS, Development Chair, Board of Trustees

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Antisemitism on Campuses: Reports From Faculty at Major American Universities
Tuesday, December 10
1 – 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge

SPEAKER(S) DEREK PENSLAR, Harvard University
ALEXANDER KAYE, Brandeis University
JONATHAN GRIBETZ, Princeton University
AURICE SAMUELS, Yale University
MAGDA TETER, Fordham University
REBECCA KOBRIN, Columbia University
ANNA SHTERNSHIS, University of Toronto
JOSHUA TEPLITSKY, UPENN
DOV WAXMAN, UCLA

More information at https://cjs.fas.harvard.edu/calendar_event/antisemitism-on-american-campuses-reports-from-jewish-studies-faculty-a-symposium/
CONTACT INFO oaharoni@fas.harvard.edu

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Geothermal's New Frontier: Considerations and Opportunities for Responsible Development of the Next Generation of Technologies
Tuesday, December 10
3:00 - 4:00pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2024/12/geothermals-new-frontier-considerations-and-opportunities-responsible-development#register

Geothermal energy is an important source of clean heat and electricity that has been part of the U.S. energy mix for over a century. Next-generation geothermal technologies, made possible by recent drilling advances, can greatly expand the geothermal potential and provide an important source of clean firm power that is crucial to cost-effectively and reliably decarbonizing the grid.

This webinar will present findings from a new issue brief from WRI and will provide an overview of next-generation geothermal technologies, evaluate environmental risks and considerations, and provide policy options to responsibly develop these technologies. An expert panel will discuss the current landscape of next-generation geothermal and opportunities to grow the industry.

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Colin Kahl, Stanford University/US Government
Wednesday December 11
12-1:30pm
Online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5ooD8Ydk4vd83Ac8VNEoQ

This seminar will feature a moderated conversation with former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, focusing on geopolitics, technology, and defense issues at the intersection of practice and theory.

MIT Security Studies Program more information at https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2024/a-discussion-with-dr-colin-kahl

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Eco-Intelligence: Leveraging Al Chatbots for Climate Action and Advocacy
Wednesday, December 11
5 - 6pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eco-intelligence-leveraging-al-chatbots-for-climate-action-and-advocacy-tickets-1090001567029

Discover how AI chatbots can empower climate action and advocacy. Join us to explore tech-driven solutions for a sustainable future!

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Criminal Justice Reform & Resistance in the Civil Rights Era and Beyond - a panel discussion
Seminar African American History Online Event
Wednesday, December 11
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/events/criminal-justice-reform-resistance

Author: Kenneth Alyass, Harvard University
Say Burgin, Dickinson College
Comment: Simon Balto, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This panel will consider elements of the criminal justice system and forms of resistance in the Civil Rights era and the decades that followed. Say Burgin's work re-examines the relationship between civil rights activists and the system of cash bail in the 1960s. Historians have largely considered cash bail as a legal hassle, an obstacle that naturally arose as a consequence of civil disobedience. Aside from the “jail, no bail” practice of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), little attention has been paid to the questions of how activists critiqued and organized around bail. Yet, as Burgin's paper shows, SNCC innovated a range of strategies and understood bail as a very specific mechanism of racialized state repression. Kenneth Alyass examines the measures taken to create a “People’s Police Department" in Detroit in the post-Civil Rights era and the challenges to those reforms. 

Join the conversation at the African American History Seminar. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.

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Climate Technology
Wednesday, December 11
6 - 7:30pm EST
Boston Public Library, Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-decisions-with-dr-emily-reichert-climate-technology-tickets-953912436777

Join WorldBoston for a timely Great Decisions program on Climate Technology featuring the CEO of MassCEC, Dr. Emily Reichert.
Will the United States and other powerful countries approach current and future climate initiatives with an increased commitment to nationalism? Or could a growing spirit of international accord develop to confront the “common enemy” of climate change?

Join us for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of MassCEC and former CEO of Greentown Labs. This program will feature an expert presentation, live audience Q&A, and time for networking and discussion with other globally-oriented participants in the Newsfeed Café.

This program is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

The program will be live-streamed to Zoom from 6:00-7:00 PM. To attend virtually, please register here.As Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Dr. Emily Reichert leads MassCEC’s efforts to build a robust, internationally competitive clean energy economy in Massachusetts.

Before joining MassCEC in 2023, Emily served as CEO of Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, for nearly a decade. As the organization’s first employee and Chief Executive Officer, Emily spearheaded the rapid growth of Greentown Labs into a global center for climate technology innovation, based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Under her leadership, the organization grew from a grassroots group of startups sharing space in a warehouse in South Boston to a nationally and internationally recognized organization with operations in Massachusetts and Texas. Over her tenure, Greentown incubated hundreds of cutting edge climatetech startups who have raised more than $2 billion and created thousands of jobs in Massachusetts. Greentown Labs has evolved into a replicable model for governments around the world seeking to develop similar climatetech innovation ecosystems in their cities and countries over the past decade.

Emily started her career at Arthur D. Little as a Ph.D. scientist and progressed into R&D, business development and general management roles. Prior to Greentown Labs, she was the Director of Business Operations at the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry where she helped grow the angel-funded startup into a sustainable contract R&D business with a mission to minimize environmental impact of chemical products.

Emily has been appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s Economic Development Planning Council, the Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Advanced Energy Technologies. She currently serves as an Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative focused on promoting women leaders in the clean energy field.

She holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

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The future of election reform
Thursday, December 12
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-future-of-election-reform/

Election reformers suffered some problems in 2024 when ballot initiatives proposing open primaries and ranked choice voting lost in several states. These reforms had been proposed as ways to improve campaign discourse, empower independents, and elect more moderate candidates. States where ranked choice voting and open primaries were on the ballot either opposed the proposals outright or supported prohibitions on adopting the measures. While rationales differed, many opponents claimed ranked choice voting was too complicated, voters would be confused by the electoral mechanism, and the reform violated traditional voting practices of “one person, one vote.” This is despite evidence in places where ranked-choice-voting has been adopted that voters cast their ballots accurately, saw more civil discourse, and experienced more moderate governance. 

On December 12, join the Governance Studies program at Brookings for a webinar featuring election experts who will analyze the 2024 election ballot initiatives and discuss the lessons to be learned for future efforts at election reform.  Viewers can submit questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via X (formerly Twitter) at @BrookingsGov by using #ElectionReform. 

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Former FERC Chair Keynote; Panels on Future Grid Scale Clean Energy Options and Transportation Electrification
Friday, December 13
8:45 am-12:30 pm (Networking over breakfast refreshments 8:15-8:45 am)
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Blvd 17th Floor Boston, MA 02210
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/12-13-2024-new-england-electricity-restructuring-roundtable-tickets-1042398902177
Cost:  $0 -$110

This Roundtable will feature a Keynote by former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Rich Glick and will include panels on Future Grid Scale Clean Energy Options and Transportation Electrification, both of which are needed to meet New England and Northeast decarbonization requirements.
Moderator: Janet Gail Besser
Convener: Raab Associates, Ltd.
Host: Foley Hoag

Keynote by Former FERC Chair Rich Glick: 
"The Outlook for Clean Energy Policy - Post Election and Supreme Court Rulings"
Rich Glick, Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair, Principal, GQS New Energy Strategies

Clean energy and climate policy are at a major crossroads. The direction forward is unclear given recent Supreme Court rulings and the pending Presidential and Congressional elections, with the two parties’ starkly different views on what constitutes a safe, reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy future for the nation.

Nationally recognized energy expert and former FERC Chair Rich Glick will share his perspective on the outlook for future clean energy policy through a conversation with Dr. Jonathan Raab, Convener of the Roundtable (and former Moderator of the FERC-NARUC Joint Task Force on Transmission). They will explore the implications of recent Supreme Court rulings related to administrative agencies’ regulatory authority and what the outcome of the Presidential election and new make-up of the Senate and House could mean for clean energy and climate policy in the Northeast, nationally, and even globally.    

 Future Grid Scale Clean Energy Options for New England
Secretary Rebecca Tepper, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs 
Serge Abergel, Chief Operating Officer, Hydro-Québec (US)
Mason Emnett, Senior VP, Public Policy, Constellation 
Marianne Perben, Director of Planning Services, ISO New England  

While energy efficiency, flexible load, and distributed energy resources are important to achieving public and private clean energy goals, decarbonizing the electricity system will require substantial additions of non-carbon emitting resources to replace fossil generation and to meet electricity demand that is forecasted to approximately double by 2050 as transportation, buildings and industry electrify, and new electricity-intensive end uses, such as data centers, multiply.

State policymakers, generators, developers, utilities, and system operators are analyzing and pursuing grid scale clean energy options on multiple fronts. Offshore wind presents New England with an unprecedented opportunity to be at the front of an energy pipeline. Can a multi-state approach reduce costs and better support development? Canadian hydro has been an important clean energy resource for New England for over three decades. Can we achieve greater value for both Canada and the US with bidirectional sharing of power? Nuclear is re-emerging as a potential non-emitting grid scale resource. How can we use existing nuclear and deploy emerging nuclear technologies to meet potential new demand, including from data centers? Grid-scale solar and massive deployment of various battery storage options will also be essential. And what is the relative potential and customer costs for all these options? 

This panel will speak to future grid scale clean energy options and opportunities: 
Rebecca Tepper, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, will discuss the Commonwealth’s approach to “going big” on offshore wind and the opportunities that partnerships with neighboring states present, as well as policy and program initiatives focused on solar, storage, and other clean energy resources, to achieve the Commonwealth’s clean energy and climate goals.  

Serge Abergel, the Chief Operating Officer of Hydro Québec (US) will describe the utility’s emerging strategy to focus on using its vast hydro resources to anchor bidirectional energy trades with the US and how this will deliver benefits on both sides of the border.  

Mason Emnett, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Constellation, will describe his company’s approach to restarting existing nuclear units with long term power purchase agreements (e.g., pairing Three Mile Island with Microsoft’s data centers) and other potential nuclear opportunities. He will also touch on the transitional role of Constellation’s gas facilities in New England.

Marianne Perben, Director of Planning Services for ISO-NE, has been leading the Economic Planning for the Clean Energy Transition(EPCET) study requested by the New England states, to assess the timing and cost of different paths to a clean energy future in New England, looking at balancing reliability, economic efficiency, and carbon-neutrality. 

Transportation Electrification  
Mary Powell, President and CEO, Sunrun 
Zeryai Hagos [INVITED], Deputy Director, Office of Markets and Innovations, NY DPS
Roger Kranenburg, VP, Strategy and Policy, Eversource  
Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis, Director, Energy and Environmental Economics

As transporting people and goods is essential to modern life, electrification of transportation is central to any and every plan to decarbonize the economy: from residential customers with light duty vehicles (aka cars), to fleets of medium duty vans and buses, to heavy duty freight. Because transportation electrification will entail a fundamental shift in a core sector of the economy, it will require coordination of multiple and complex elements of planning, policy, technology, infrastructure, and behavior to achieve ambitious federal and state carbon reduction goals and mandates. Significant and timely investment in the grid will also be needed to ensure that the electricity powering our transportation is readily available and accessible, affordable, and ultimately, carbon-free.  

This panel will explore promising initiatives aimed at answering key questions, including:
Should light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles be a priority, or should (and can) they be pursued simultaneously?  
Which efforts will realize the “biggest bang” or greatest carbon reductions for the proverbial “buck”?    
Can charging infrastructure be deployed in a way that supports the grid at the same time that it provides services to customers?
What programs, price signals, and/or rates do we need to put in place to promote intelligently-managed charging – and support V2G opportunities?
Given the integrated and interstate structure of the highway system, how can utilities and state policymakers coordinate across service territories and state lines?  

Mary Powell is the President and CEO of Sunrun, a national solar and storage company conducting a groundbreaking vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot in Maryland where customers are using their electric vehicles as storage to discharge power back onto the grid, essentially acting as dispatchable Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)/flexible load to meet electricity system needs and advancing transportation electrification at the same time.   

Zeryai Hagos, (invited) is Deputy Director of the Office of Markets and Innovations at the New York Department of Public Service. He will summarize New York’s current comprehensive approach to electrifying all vehicles (small and large), including innovations in proactive planning, mandates, upfront cost support, charging infrastructure development and managed charging, and rate design.    

Roger Kranenburg, Vice President, Strategy and Policy at Eversource, will describe the Northeast Freight Corridors Charging Plan (a joint effort of utilities and other partners), trends in light duty and fleet electric vehicle adoption, and the potential for downward pressure on rates as electricity consumption increases.  

Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis, Director, Energy and Environmental Economics will discuss E3’s recent analysis for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center of near- and long-term options for rate design that will support and encourage, rather than hinder, the transportation electrification needed to achieve the Commonwealth’s decarbonization mandates. He will also touch on E3’s national work on infrastructure to support electrification.

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Building Muslim Climate Justice Movement
Tuesday, December 17
6 - 7:30pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-muslim-climate-justice-movement-tickets-1088976501029

Join us for a Virtual Evening of Inspiration and Action

As the year comes to a close, Muslim Climate Watch invites you to our End-of-Year Fundraiser, a powerful evening dedicated to amplifying Muslim action and awareness for climate justice.

Featured Speakers:
Experts and thought leaders highlighting the urgency of addressing climate change through faith and community action.

Why Attend?
Support Climate Justice Initiatives – Learn about Muslim Climate Watch's impactful work and how your contributions make a difference.
Be Inspired – Hear from changemakers on the frontlines of climate advocacy.
Build Community – Connect with individuals passionate about environmental stewardship and justice.
Registration is free!  muslimclimatewatch.com/events
Let’s come together as a community to reflect, take action, and make a meaningful impact for the planet.

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IRI@CCSR Climate and Forecast Briefing
Wednesday, December 18
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/835198946

Online The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) @ the Center for Climate Systems Research presents its monthly climate forecast briefing. The seasonal and ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) forecasts are discussed in detail in this monthly briefing by Associate Research Scientist Azhar Ehsan. For more information, please visit: https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/

Recordings of the briefing are posted at https://iri.columbia.edu/enso
This meeting will be held in GISS, Armstrong Hall, Room 317
Zoom Link Information: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/835198946
Zoom ID: 835198946
Password: iriclimateContact Information
IRI Seminar
Seminar@iri.columbia.edu

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Monthly overview of IRI's Global Seasonal Climate Forecasts and ENSO status and forecast.
Wednesday, December 18
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
Online 
RSVP at https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) presents its climate forecast briefing. The IRI's seasonal and ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) forecasts are discussed in this monthly briefing by IRI climate scientist Azhar Ehsan. For more information, please visit: https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/
Recordings of the briefing are posted at https://iri.columbia.edu/ensoContact Information
IRI Seminar
Seminar@iri.columbia.edu


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Future Aquatic Invaders of the Northeast: How Climate Change, Human Vectors, and Natural History Could Bring Southern and Western Species North
Wednesday, December 18
4:00 pm
Online
RSVP at https://necasc.umass.edu/webinars/future-aquatic-invaders-northeast-how-climate-change-human-vectors-and-natural-history

Wesley Daniel
USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research CenterInvasive species are one of the greatest threats to U.S. biodiversity, and aquatic invasions have cost the global economy U.S. $345 billion in mitigation efforts, with the most significant percent of costs occurring in North America. Climate change is expected to facilitate the spread of invasive species, and further invasive species range shifts resulting from climate change have been identified as a major concern for natural resources managers. To address this issue, we created realistic future scenarios of freshwater aquatic invasive species established in the southern and western U.S. expanding into northeastern U.S. waterbodies utilizing stakeholders' inputs on priority invasive aquatic species. We utilized habitat suitability models based on life-history traits projected onto future climate conditions in the region and analysis of known pathways of spread, to develop risk scores for the spread and establishment of impactful aquatic invaders into the Northeast.  We assessed 93 freshwater aquatic taxa not established in the northeast study area (45 plants, 32 fishes, and 16 invertebrates) but established in neighboring western and southern regions of the U.S. based on stakeholder input and occurrence records. The forecasted habitat suitability maps and pathway risk analysis are informing risk-based assessments of the streams and lakes of the Northeast for each target species. 

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Net Zero - Zero Carbon Deadline
Saturday, December 31
6:59pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/net-zero-tickets-146172268189

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 report predicts change at a 2º temperature increase globally.
1.7 billion more people experience severe heatwaves at least once every five years. Seas rise—on average—another 10 centimetres.
Up to several hundred million more people become exposed to climate-related risks and poverty. The coral reefs that support marine environments around the world could decline as much as 99 percent. Global fishery catches could decline by another 1.5 million tonnes.

Human activities have already caused 1º of global warming which will keep rising no matter what we do. For limiting global warming to below 2°C CO2 emissions are projected to decline by about 25% by 2030 in most pathways (10–30% interquartile range) and reach net zero around 2070 (2065–2080 interquartile range).

Tickets to this event are free, but if you would like to give the cost of a club entry please consider donating to  climateemergencyfund.org