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 (http://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
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
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Index
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Small Island States in an Uncertain Global Economy
Monday, September 29
10:00 am - 11:30 am
BU, Building 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor, Metcalf Trustees Ballroom, Boston, 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/small-island-states-in-an-uncertain-global-economy-tickets-1618571985379
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Local to Global: Jordan’s Road to COP30
Monday, September 29
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8EFicCNmRdWsWdM4nZ2uNw#/registration
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Aligning Evidence for Impact: Disaster Research in an Era of Federal Retrenchment
Monday, September 29
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Princeton, 300 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ
And online
RSVP at https://cpree.princeton.edu/events/2025/aligning-evidence-impact-disaster-research-era-federal-retrenchment
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New England’s Evolving Grid: An Overview of ISO New England's 2024 Economic Study
Monday, September 29
1:00PM - 2:30PM
Online
RSVP at Webex: https://iso-newengland.webex.com/iso-newengland/j.php?MTID=m712488b832520e4584616256b104810d
Meeting Password: EconStudy2025!
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Countdown to COP30: What’s at Stake -- Justice & Global Action
Monday, September 29
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Online
Livestream at https://events.columbia.edu/cal/event/eventView.do?b=de&calPath=/public/cals/MainCal&guid=CAL-00bbdb7c-992d8a18-0199-2f2056d5-00003653events%40columbia.edu&recurrenceId=
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Criminalizing Compassion: Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties
Tuesday, September 30
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/fuWieqfnQYizfF2nmN3LlA#/registration
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Integrating Decarbonization and Resilience Strategies for Commercial Real Estate Success
Tuesday, September 30
1:00pm-2:00pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/3fhuc2i2632v7
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Women Leading at Climate Week: Reflections on AI, VCMs, the OBBBA & Scope 2 Protocols
Tuesday, September 30
1:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/climate-week-nyc-2025/
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How to Be Bold, The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage
Tuesday, September 30
3 – 4:15 p.m.
Harvard Business School, Spangler Auditorium (lower-level Spangler/051), 117 Western Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://events.hbs.edu/event/how-to-be-bold-the-surprising-science-of-everyday-courage-by-ranjay-gulati-hybrid-event#
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The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters
Tuesday, September 30
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Harvard Science Center, Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/christine-webb Cost: $0 - $34.00 (book included)
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Great Decisions | International Cooperation on Climate Change
Tuesday, September 30
6 - 7:30pm EDT
NonProfit Center, 89 South Street Boston, MA 02111
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-decisions-international-cooperation-on-climate-change-tickets-1492028420169
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Of Lights in Dark Places: A conversation on theater, politics, and community in Germany and the US
Tuesday, September 30
7:15pm to 8:30pm EDT
MIT, Building W9, 345 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA 02139
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/of-lights-in-dark-places-tickets-1676472888539
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How Federal Data Manipulation and Removal Threaten Journalism and Public Trust
Wednesday, October 1
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_s5CZm_8TTBqLgr_PpDKOPw
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NRDC's Fight For Our Climate Future
Wednesday, October 1
12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
RSVP at https://nrdc-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_haUsaaaHS1ycBymlkb0JLQ?eml_id=437624#/registration
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AI Innovations at Harvard
Wednesday, October 1
2 – 6 p.m.
Harvard Business School, Spangler Center #051 (Spangler Auditorium, lower level), 117 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Tlb9CUK_IUOPLbjkgvhjXHGJoxJhtSxIu4S_h71rPAxUM05aR09BUDlOU0VCRUQ0WFNFOU1GVDk2Mi4u
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Energy Innovation on Main Street
Wednesday, October 1
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Muckley Bldg, 1 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
RSVP at https://luma.com/8s1o01so
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This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web
Wednesday, October 1
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/tim-berners-lee Cost: $12 - $40.00 (book included)
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Extraction
Wednesday, October 1
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-10-01/thea-riofrancos-ben-tarnoff-extraction
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Flow Like Water: Non-Profit Work in the Environmental Field
Thursday, October 2
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-8Ys5YFoTnKa9hqIXEr6zQ
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HLS Beyond Presents: Non-Cooperation & Protest in the Trump Era
Thursday, October 2
12:20 pm - 1:20 pm
Harvard Law School, Langdell Hall; 232/233 Langdell, 1545 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWk4hzmyRud5ADUBp_RlvsVEV5k6fAAdopzvIE3lj9iV4Xwg/viewform
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False Narratives/False Urgency: Unpacking the Links Between AI and EJ
Thursday, October 2
12:30 PM – 1:15 PM EDT (GMT-4)
Online
RSVP at https://yaleconnect.yale.edu/ycej/rsvp_boot?id=2306533
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How to Use Community Solar to Cut Costs and Meet Climate Targets
Thursday, October 2
1:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/community-solar-cut-costs-meet-climate-targets/
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American Politics and the New World of Media ft. Jon Favreau
Thursday, October 2
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@HarvardIOP/streams
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Collateral Consequences Series: How Climate Change Threatens Democracy
Friday, October 3
12:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/uJxjUY3HQk2U5jKcvBw6Lw#/registration
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Food and Democracy: From Policy to Plate
Friday, October 3
5 - 8:30pm EDT
Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-and-democracy-from-policy-to-plate-tickets-1545644055979
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SCREENING: Design for Our Lives: Tanzania x Uganda x MIT D-Lab
Friday, October 3
6:00pm to 9:30pm EDT
MIT, MIT Welcome Center, 292 Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-for-our-lives-tanzania-x-uganda-x-mit-d-lab-tickets-1664777106139
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Local to Global: Türkiye’s Road to COP30
Monday, October 6
11:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ixQYWhRzRqaO_CxtCogGPg#/registration
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The Uncomfortable Truths of Public EV Charging
Monday, October 6
12:00 PM - 12:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SESTIA4&_gl=1*nc9zs0*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
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Climate change: Seeking bipartisan solutions during turbulent times
Monday, October 6
2 – 2:45 p.m.
The Studio, 10th Floor, Kresge Building, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9mHYchLTaUe3eey
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We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
Monday, October 6
7:00pm (doors open at 6:15pm)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/jill-lepore Cost: $45.00 (book included)
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People, heat and health: heat exposure and health risks in low income communities
Tuesday, October 7
8AM EDT [1.00 PM - 2.00 PM BST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/events/2025/cch-seminar---ray-nakanjako.html
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Handbook on Sustainable Ocean Plans: Launch of the Practitioners’ Guide
Tuesday, October 7
3:00 - 4:00pm BST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/10/handbook-sustainable-ocean-plans-launch-practitioners-guide
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Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It
Tuesday, October 7
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1591235180259
Cost: $10 - $35.00 (book included)
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Science, trust, and the future of our planet
Tuesday, October 7
6:00pm to 7:00pm EDT
MIT, 455 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventzilla.net/e/science-trust-and-the-future-of-our-planet-2138685271
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Nature’s Price Tag: The Economic Cost of Nature Loss
Wednesday, October 8
10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://ceres-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/5317562229627/WN_GMTfP-H0TEKb7cvWm3g6Eg#/registration
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Food Systems and the Impacts of Climate Change
Wednesday, October 8
11AM-12PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://hriainstitute.org/event/food-systems-climate-change
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MIT Reads: On Disinformation and Democracy with Lee McIntyre
Wednesday, October 8
5:00pm to 6:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-disinformation-and-democracy-with-lee-mcintyre-tickets-1602607826149
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Eco-Consciousness in the Lives of Enslaved Black Women
Wednesday, October 8
7 - 8:30pm EDT. Doors at 6pm
BC, Gasson Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue Newton, MA 02467
—————
HONK! U Symposium: Celebrating 20 Years of Street Music Activism
Thursday, October 9
9AM
Tufts, Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
RSVP at https://honkfest.org/2025-festival/conference-2025/
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No One Left Alone: A Story of How Community Helps Us Heal
Thursday, October 9
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/liz-walker-no-one-left-alone-tickets-1591589931329
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Be the Change Workshop: What Is Mutual Aid and How Do We Practice It?
Sunday, October 12
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Porter Square Books, Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140-1413
RSVP at https://portersquarebooks.com/form/rsvp-be-the-change-workshop-mutu
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MIT Materials Day 2025 Symposium and Poster Session
Tuesday, October 14
8am - 5pm EDT
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, Building W16, 48 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/materials-day-2025-symposium-and-poster-session-registration-1635326929869
Registration Deadline: September 29, 2025
Cost: $0 - $100
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AI for Climate Science seminar series: AI for (sub)seasonal forecasting - boosting predictability and understanding teleconnections
Tuesday, October 14
8AM - 9:30a, EDT [14:00 - 15:30 CET]
Online
RSVP at https://iiasa.ac.at/events/oct-2025/ai-for-climate-science-seminar-series-ai-for-subseasonal-forecasting-boosting
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How Journalists Can Use Scraping Tools for Environmental Stories
Tuesday, October 14
12pm EDT [4:00 PM TO 5:00 PM UTC]
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter.org/event/how-journalists-can-use-scraping-tools-environmental-stories
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Driving Action for Biodiversity, Water, and Forests: Insights from Brands
Tuesday, October 14
12:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/driving-action-for-biodiversity-water-and-forests/
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Leading from Strong Ground
Tuesday, October 14
7:00pm
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/leading-from-strong-ground-with-brene-brown-tickets-1571799748359
Cost: $35.98 - $46.65 [book included]
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4WARD.earth Climate Connect: Monthly Global Sustainability Networking Call
Wednesday, October 15
12:00pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4wardearth-climate-connect-monthly-global-sustainability-networking-call-tickets-1475592479829
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The Making of National Interest
Wednesday, October 15
12:00pm to 1:30pm EDT
Online
Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/@mitsecuritystudiesprogram5272/streams
—————
The Science of Sustainable Giving: How Empathy and Generosity Support Health and Flourishing
Wednesday, October 15
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 H6t5untington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6hPMAV8B8flld0a
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Environmental Storytelling for a Changing Planet
Thursday, October 16
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Jj27sWB2QI6uwFK8lPwAcA#/registration
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War, Climate Crisis and the Economy: Transition Security Project Launch
Thursday, October 16
1 - 2pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/war-climate-crisis-and-the-economy-transition-security-project-launch-tickets-1642710664819
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Protect or Prepare? Crop Insurance and Adaptation to a Changing Climate
Thursday, October 16
2:30pm to 4:00pm EDT
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
—————
Jake Tapper: Race Against Terror
Thursday, October 16
7:30pm
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.wbur.org/events/1031579/race-against-terror-jake-tapper
Cost: $10 - $50
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Planning for New Towns: An International Symposium on Abundant Housing and Adaptive Zoning
Friday, October 17
9AM – 3PM
Tufts, Sophia Gordon Hall, Room 100, 15 Talbot Avenue, Somerville, MA 02144
RSVP at https://www.linkedin.com/events/aninternationalsymposiumonabund7351295658781237251/
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Indigenous Boston Harbor
Saturday, October 18
12:30 - 5:30pm EDT
Fox Point Pavilion and Boat Dock, UMass Harborwalk Park Boston, MA 02125
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indigenous-boston-harbor-101825-tickets-1568204043509
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HBS Climate Symposium 2025
Sunday, October 19
8am - 6:30pm EDT
Harvard Business School, 117 Western Avenue, Boston, MA 02163
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hbs-climate-symposium-2025-tickets-1482276893089
Cost: $11.50—$48.25
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Exxon Mobil's Approach to the Energy Transition
Monday, October 20
12 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 414AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/exxon-mobils-approach-energy-transition
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Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement
Monday, October 20
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brandon-m-terry-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1657311205429
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required) - $37.19 (book included)
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Photography, Art and Activism
Tuesday, October 21
12:30-1:45 p.m.
Poetry Center, 3rd Floor, enter through 2nd Floor Sawyer Library, 73 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
And online
RSVP (Zoom only) at https://suffolk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_u57dhoIBRXqN9ZCZX2CqZA#/registration
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Panel Discussion: How Social Values Inspire Climate Innovation
Tuesday, October 21
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard Divinity School, Cader Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_40Yxz5xAI9vKjbM
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How Dangerous Are Autonomous Nuclear Systems?
Wednesday, October 22
12:00pm to 1:30pm EDT
Online
Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/@mitsecuritystudiesprogram5272/streams
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Making What Matters
Wednesday, October 22
5:30pm to 7:00pm EDT
MIT, Building E14: Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-what-matters-tickets-1676095880899
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The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide
Wednesday, October 22
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elaine-scarry-quinn-slobodian-and-brandon-m-terry-on-boston-review-at-50-tickets-1693591029359
Cost: $25.00 (book included)$12.00 (admission only)
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Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship
Wednesday, October 22
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bruce-schneier-and-nathan-e-sanders-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1665663276699
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required) - $31.82 (book included)
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Protecting Global Oceans in the Anthropocene
Thursday, October 23
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Diy8I2qzRSGyj2DQG85PSQ#/registration
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A Proposal for a Climate Grand Bargain Based on Local Climate Damages
Thursday, October 23
4 - 6:30pm EDT. Doors at 3:30pm
Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, 808 Commonwealth Avenue Brookline, MA 02446
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-proposal-for-a-climate-grand-bargain-based-on-local-climate-damages-tickets-1648488456349
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The Science of Hurricanes and Climate with Kerry Emanuel
Thursday, October 23
6:30 - 7:30pm
New England Aquarium, Simons Theatre, Central Wharf, Boston, MA
And online
RSVP at https://dlc.alumgroup.mit.edu/s/1314/bp19/interior.aspx?sid=1314&gid=1380&pgid=66761&content_id=74136
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The Art of Food and the Science of Cooking
Thursday, October 23
6pm Presentation
7pm Reception
More information at https://www.catalystconversations.org/
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Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature
Thursday, October 23
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140-1413
RSVP at https://portersquarebooks.com/form/rsvp-alyssa-battistoni-at-psb-ca
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Road to COP 30: Africa Speaks - Our Realities, Priorities, and Demands
Monday, October 27
9:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KKxOyZGTSM6LP_KPV4F2Bw#/registration
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Building a Clean, Equitable Energy Future: Where Do We Go From Here?
Monday, October 27
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001S8i1IAC&_gl=1*1xyr8js*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE3ODYkajMwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
—————
Rebuild or Relocate? Recovery after Natural Disasters
Tuesday, October 28
4:00pm to 6:30pm EDT
Building E52, E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
—————
Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That
Tuesday, October 28
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Harvard Science Center, Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nicole-c-rust-at-the-harvard-science-center-tickets-1681116758479
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required)- $31.82 (book included)
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The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Tuesday, October 28
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction and How to Overcome It
Wednesday, October 29
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/XcJuU4RnSwuZfK_RR3gRAw#/registration
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Regulating Social Media: America’s Global Communications Dilemma
Tuesday, October 29
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
Rubenstein Building - R-414-ab David Ellwood Democracy Lab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SPFpIAO&_gl=1*1mno2ia*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE4NzkkajYwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
—————
Losing Control of Campus Landscapes
Thursday, Octobet 30
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EDXfAMyATsOvhnBhYKP6tw#/registration
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Dig In! Implementation of Large Scale Beach Nourishment – Northeast Shore and Beach Preservation Association (NSBPA) & EBC Ocean and Coastal Resources Lunch & Learn Webinar
Thursday, October 30
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/#registration-details
Cost: $30 - $160
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The Climate Crisis and the Future of Infectious Diseases
Thursday, October 30
3 - 6:30pm EDT
Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Avenue Room 1750 Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-climate-crisis-and-the-future-of-infectious-diseases-tickets-1738302312009
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Antisemitism, an American Tradition
Thursday, October 30
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
Politics, Power, and Money: Steering the Future of Global Health
Monday, November 3
12:00pm to 1:00pm EST
MIT, Building E53-482, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeH9WBFLFe9OA1lEu2XkYjAjYP3wngbWkSr2jD13Yt5av7TOg/viewform
—————
Gentrification and the Built Environment: Research in the Suburbs of Washington, DC—A Talk by Professor Lung-Amam
Monday, November 3
12 – 1PM
Tufts
RSVP at justin.hollander@tufts.edu
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Reflections on U.S. Environmental Policy
Monday, November 3
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SQjlIAG&_gl=1*1trr8ri*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTIwNjAkajMyJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
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Jimmy Wales: The Seven Rules of Trust
Monday, November 3
3PM EDT [6:00 PM PST]
Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-11-03/jimmy-wales-seven-rules-trust
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Local to Global: Chile’s Road to COP30
Tuesday, November 4
9:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Uu2-m4TxRjCRT3YfyYQ7zg#/registration
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Yale Clean Energy Conference 2025
Thursday, November 6th, 2025, 8:00 AM EST — Friday, November 7th, 2025, 6:00 PM EST
Yale, Evans Hall, 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
RSVP at https://whova.com/web/XWqjCCBGXy2C1gRCcHMP@YRiM1s@44qHZ9tZUukl9DE%3D/
Cost: $0 -$150
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Our Probable Futures: Risk, Resiliency and Decision-Making in a Changing Climate
Thursday, November 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yBg0rmjlTmyWfYuvduzOtw#/registration
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Chat & Chowder | Climate Justice
Thursday, November 6
6 - 7:30pm EST
Foley & Lardner LLP, 111 Huntington Avenue Suite 2500 Boston, MA 02199
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chat-chowder-climate-justice-tickets-1428602912769
RSVP for Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zdAGQRuETAqZpzQL2Ge1BA#/
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Events
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Small Island States in an Uncertain Global Economy
Monday, September 29
10:00 am - 11:30 am
BU, Building 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor, Metcalf Trustees Ballroom, Boston, 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/small-island-states-in-an-uncertain-global-economy-tickets-1618571985379
José Ulisses Correia e Silva, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cabo Verde
Join us for a special event featuring His Excellency José Ulisses Correia e Silva, Fifth Prime Minister of the Republic of Cabo Verde. Since becoming the head of government in April 2016, Prime Minister Correia e Silva has led Cabo Verde along the path of sustained economic growth and critical political reform. Opening remarks by BU President, Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam.
This event is sponsored by the BU Global Development Policy Center, the African Studies Center, and the Pardee School of Global Studies.
Registration is required. Seats are limited.
Register by: 9/28/2025
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Local to Global: Jordan’s Road to COP30
Monday, September 29
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8EFicCNmRdWsWdM4nZ2uNw#/registration
Columbia Global Center Amman invites you to join us for a panel on how Jordan is navigating climate pressures through approaches to water security, integrated governance, and the implementation of climate commitments. This panel explores how resilience is being built under climate volatility, with lessons from global public health.
Speakers: Darby Jack, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (CUMC)
Shada El-Sharif, Founder and Senior Advisor, SustainMENA
Issa Awer, Project Manager, National Desalination Project – Amman Aqaba National Conveyance
Ahmad Hijazi, In-Country Facilitator, Jordan, NDC Partnership
Moderator: Krystle Cooper, Deputy Country Representative, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers. Each week, one of the Columbia Global Centers convenes an online event that looks at the big questions shaping local climate conversations and how they connect to global climate negotiations. Explore the full series and sign up for future events here: https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/road-cop30
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Aligning Evidence for Impact: Disaster Research in an Era of Federal Retrenchment
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As the world looks ahead to COP30 in Belém, Brazil (November 10–21, 2025), the Brazilian COP Presidency’s Mutirão Action Agenda urges global actors to rally around the Global Stocktake as a Globally Determined Contribution (GDC). This call emphasizes implementation, transparency, and inclusive governance.
In response, the Columbia Climate School launches Countdown to COP30—a dynamic series of virtual and in-person sessions showcasing Columbia’s interdisciplinary leadership. Each session will highlight actionable research, policy insights, and community engagement aligned with the six priority themes of the Mutirão Agenda. The series reflects Columbia’s deep commitment to equity, science-based decision-making, and global collaboration.
Join us for the kickoff event in the series:
What’s at Stake at COP30: Justice and Global Action
Moderator: Lisa E. Sachs (Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment)
Invited Panelists:
Kristina Douglass (Associate Professor, Columbia Climate School)
Sue Biniaz (Former Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, U.S. State Department)
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch (Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness)
Kalain Hossein (Journalist + Columbia Climate School ’25)
Discussion Focus:
This panel will provide a clear overview of COP30’s agenda and key priorities, examining how the Mutirão Action Agenda builds upon—or diverges from—COP29. Experts will explore the critical role COP30 can play in advancing climate justice and global action, and what’s needed to ensure outcomes are not only ambitious but also effectively implemented and sustained beyond the conference.
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Criminalizing Compassion: Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties
Tuesday, September 30
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/fuWieqfnQYizfF2nmN3LlA#/registration
SPEAKER(S) Ân Lê, Director of Policy and Research for the City of Boston
How far can care go before it’s considered a crime? This event explores how the federal statute 8 U.S.C. § 1324 can be used to intimidate individuals who support or live with undocumented immigrants. Though originally intended to target human smuggling, the vague definition of “harboring” allows immigration officials to threaten criminal charges against individuals asserting their constitutional rights. We’ll examine how agencies like ICE use this statute as a tool of coercion, blurring the line between enforcement and intimidation. The conversation will focus on the legal, social, and ethical consequences of criminalizing everyday acts of care and solidarity—and what this means for immigrant justice and civil liberties.
Speaker: Ân H. Lê, Director of Policy and Research for the City of Boston’s Equity and Inclusion Cabinet Community Conversation is an initiative for the GSD to informally engage with each other around topics that advance discussions about perspective, difference, and commonality.
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Integrating Decarbonization and Resilience Strategies for Commercial Real Estate Success
Tuesday, September 30
1:00pm-2:00pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/3fhuc2i2632v7
Join Greenbuild's newly released webinar, "Integrating Decarbonization and Resilience Strategies for Commercial Real Estate Success," on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025, at 1:00pm ET. This 60-minute session features industry leaders who will share how the intersection of decarbonization and resilience presents opportunities for maximizing client value and competitive advantage in commercial real estate.
Through real-world case studies and practical examples, the panel will demonstrate how integrating carbon reduction and resilience planning creates synergistic benefits that enhance building performance, reduce operational costs, and future-proof assets. Attendees will discover how climate-ready properties improve financial performance through higher asset values and reduced insurance premiums, while learning how emerging technologies like AI-powered risk modeling are revolutionizing the industry with scalable solutions that deliver measurable ROI.
*Webinar recording will be made available on the Greenbuild website.
Full description at https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/3fhuc2i2632v7
Featured Speakers:
Alan Scott, FAIA, LEED Fellow, LEED AP BD+C, O+M, WELL AP, CEM (he/him/his)
Director of Sustainability, Intertek Building Science Solutions
Alicia G. Silva, LEED Fellow, Leed BD+C, LEED ID+C, LEED O+M (she/her/hers)
Director and Founder, Revitaliza Consultores
Breana Wheeler, MIEMA, CEnv (she/her/hers)
Director of Operations - US, BREEAM USA (BRE)
Mike Williams, P.Eng., MSc, LEED AP (he/him/his)
Co-Founder and General Manager, ClimateFirst
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Women Leading at Climate Week: Reflections on AI, VCMs, the OBBBA & Scope 2 Protocols
Tuesday, September 30
1:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/climate-week-nyc-2025/
Join our all-women panel of sustainability experts as we unpack the most impactful insights from Climate Week NYC 2025. With standards and technologies evolving rapidly, staying informed is essential to making confident, future-ready decisions. We’ll explore how AI and digitalization are transforming climate strategies, the latest updates to the GHG Scope 2 protocol, and the policy shifts introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
We’ll also highlight innovations in energy efficiency, and discuss the evolving Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM)—including new collaboration among certification bodies to improve transparency and scale climate finance.
This fast-paced session will deliver actionable takeaways for organizations navigating ESG, clean energy, and net-zero goals—all through the lens of women leading the charge.
If you can’t tune in live, register to get the on-demand recording after the webinar.
Speakers
Erin Decker, Senior Director, Renewable Energy and Carbon Advisory Services, Schneider Electric
Jake Mitchell, Director, Climate Tech Innovation, Trellis Group
Mathilde Mignot, Director, Nature & Technology based Solutions, Schneider Electric
Vanessa Miler-Fels, Senior Vice President, Safety, Environment, Real Estate & Sustainability Schneider Electric
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How to Be Bold, The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage
Tuesday, September 30
3 – 4:15 p.m.
Harvard Business School, Spangler Auditorium (lower-level Spangler/051), 117 Western Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://events.hbs.edu/event/how-to-be-bold-the-surprising-science-of-everyday-courage-by-ranjay-gulati-hybrid-event#
SPEAKER(S) Ranjay Gulati, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Explore the science of everyday courage with HBS professor Ranjay Gulati, author of the new book How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage.
Drawing on gripping stories and research, Gulati examines what drives bold action—from sharing new ideas to standing up for what matters.
Whether you're leading through uncertainty, challenging norms, or seeking to live more boldly, this event offers practical tools and fresh inspiration for courageous living.
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The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters
Tuesday, September 30
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Harvard Science Center, Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/christine-webb Cost: $0 - $34.00 (book included)
About The Arrogant Ape
An impassioned celebration of humility before the living world that leads us to a new understanding of other species—and ourselves.
Darwin considered humans one part of the web of life, not the apex of a natural hierarchy. Yet today many maintain that we are the most intelligent, virtuous, successful species that ever lived. This flawed thinking enables us to exploit the earth towards our own exclusive ends, throwing us into a perilous planetary imbalance. But is this view and way of life inevitable? The Arrogant Apeshows that human exceptionalism is an ideology that relies more on human culture than our biology, more on delusion and faith than on evidence.
Harvard primatologist Christine Webb has spent years researching the rich social, emotional, and cognitive lives of our closest living relatives. She exposes the ways that many scientific studies are biased against other species and reveals underappreciated complexities of nonhuman life—from the language of songbirds and prairie dogs, to the cultures of chimpanzees and reef fishes, to the acumen of plants and fungi. With compelling stories and fresh research she gives us a paradigm-shifting way of looking at other organisms on their own terms, one that is revolutionizing our perception both of them and of ourselves.
Critiques of human exceptionalism tend to focus on our moral obligation towards other species. They overlook what humanity also stands to gain by dismantling its illusions of uniqueness and superiority. This shift in perspective fills us with a sense of awe and satisfies one of our oldest and deepest desires to belong to the larger whole we inhabit. What’s at stake is a better, sustainable way of life with the potential to heal and rejuvenate our shared planet.
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Great Decisions | International Cooperation on Climate Change
Tuesday, September 30
6 - 7:30pm EDT
NonProfit Center, 89 South Street Boston, MA 02111
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-decisions-international-cooperation-on-climate-change-tickets-1492028420169
Over the past 30 years, climate change has become one of the central global challenges of the modern era, one that has hugely important consequences for the livability of the planet.
Join us for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Kelly Sims Gallagher, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy. This program will feature an expert presentation, live audience Q&A, and time for networking and discussion with other globally-oriented participants.
The program will be live-streamed to Zoom from 6:00-7:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
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Of Lights in Dark Places: A conversation on theater, politics, and community in Germany and the US
Tuesday, September 30
7:15pm to 8:30pm EDT
MIT, Building W9, 345 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA 02139
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/of-lights-in-dark-places-tickets-1676472888539
Join Berlin-based curator and playwright Sasha Salzmann, Music and Theater Arts Section director and Theater faculty Jay Scheib, and Lecturer of German Emily Goodling for an open conversation on the place of theater in our contemporary world. From Germany’s state-supported stages to the evolving aesthetics of U.S. performance, the discussion will explore theater and performance as tools for social critique, community building, and political engagement. Reception to follow.
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How Federal Data Manipulation and Removal Threaten Journalism and Public Trust
Wednesday, October 1
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_s5CZm_8TTBqLgr_PpDKOPw
Federal datasets are one of the pillars of democracy. They underpin everything from health research and economic forecasting to climate science, disaster response, and watchdog journalism. Yet today, these essential resources face unprecedented threats: data removals, political interference, staff and contract cuts, and the quiet erosion of statistical capacity.
This panel brings together a powerhouse group of experts: a former federal statistical agency commissioner with inside knowledge of how government data is created and protected; a leading demographer recognized internationally for tracking disaster recovery and climate impacts; and a senior national data leader who has driven innovation in public-interest data across federal, local, and nonprofit sectors. Together, they will unpack the high stakes of the current moment.
Attendees will learn:
Why federal data matters for every beat, from health to the economy.
How political manipulation and removals of data are reshaping public understanding and news coverage.
Which protective measures keep some datasets resilient, and why others disappear without warning.
Why private-sector substitutes can’t fill the gap left by weakened federal systems.
Concrete strategies and resources journalists can use now to verify, preserve, and report on vulnerable datasets.
Panelists:
Denice Ross served as the U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the Biden administration, where she led the charge to use disaggregated data to drive better outcomes for all Americans. She collaborates with other federal data watchers to monitor the status of federal data at DataIndex.US and tell the story about how everyday Americans benefit from federal data at EssentialData.US.
Allison Plyer is Chief Demographer at The Data Center in New Orleans, and co-chair of the Census Quality Reinforcement task force. Dr. Plyer is past Chair of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC). She served on CSAC from 2015-2021 and as Chair from 2018-2021. Dr. Plyer is co-author of Pathways to Prosperity, developed in collaboration with the National Conference on Citizenship, which details both the impacts of climate change and the potential for federal investments to target the inequities these impacts create and compound.
Erica Groshen is Senior Economics Advisor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Research Fellow at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. From 2013 to 2017, she served as the 14th Commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and inflation. Before that, she was Vice President in the Research and Statistics Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her research has centered on jobless recoveries, wage rigidity and dispersion, and the role of employers in the labor market.
Moderator:
Naseem Miller is the senior editor for health at The Journalist’s Resource. She joined JR in 2021 after working as a health reporter in local newspapers and national medical trade publications for two decades. Immediately before joining JR, she was a senior health reporter at the Orlando Sentinel, where she was part of the team that was named a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist for its coverage of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting.
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NRDC's Fight For Our Climate Future
Wednesday, October 1
12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
RSVP at https://nrdc-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_haUsaaaHS1ycBymlkb0JLQ?eml_id=437624#/registration
The climate crisis has never been more serious: the Earth’s rising temperature is fueling more natural disasters, weather extremes, and environmental degradation than ever before. And yet, the Trump administration has shifted from ignoring the crisis to actively trying to revoke their own legal authority to combat climate change. NRDC’s top experts are hosting a virtual town hall to discuss the state of the climate crisis. They’ll cover what’s at risk if we lose this bedrock legal finding, called the endangerment finding, and how the escalating climate crisis poses a dire threat to our health and vulnerable wildlife. Join us for a roundtable discussion on the state of the climate crisis where our members will have the opportunity to pose questions to our experts about what’s at stake, what lies ahead, and how we can work together to stop it!
Notice: When you sign up for this webinar, you will be added to our email list so we can keep you informed with the latest action alerts and campaign updates.
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AI Innovations at Harvard
Wednesday, October 1
2 – 6 p.m.
Harvard Business School, Spangler Center #051 (Spangler Auditorium, lower level), 117 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Tlb9CUK_IUOPLbjkgvhjXHGJoxJhtSxIu4S_h71rPAxUM05aR09BUDlOU0VCRUQ0WFNFOU1GVDk2Mi4u
SPEAKER(S) Dean Tsedal Neeley
Professor Kelly Miller
Professor Gregory Kestin
Experts from HBS IT
Representatives from HBS Digital Transformation and the Center for Geographical Analysis
Part of Boston AI Week (September 26 – October 3), this event will bring together faculty, staff, students, and curious learners from across the Boston area to explore how AI is shaping teaching, learning, and research. The program will be kicked off by HBS Dean Srikant Datar, followed by a dynamic showcase highlighting the transformative role of artificial intelligence across the University.
The event will feature leading voices from across Harvard sharing their perspectives through engaging 30-minute talks. Speakers include HBS Senior Associate Dean Tsedal Neeley, experts from HBS IT, Kelly Miller, associate senior lecturer at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Greg Kestin, associate director of science education and lecturer on physics at Harvard University, as well as representatives from HBS Digital Transformation and the Center for Geographical Analysis. Together, they will offer a wide-ranging look at the opportunities, challenges, and innovations emerging in the AI landscape.
Refreshments and snacks will be available throughout the event, with a networking reception to follow
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Energy Innovation on Main Street
Wednesday, October 1
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Muckley Bldg, 1 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
RSVP at https://luma.com/8s1o01so
The hottest startup around is your local community.
For this Climate Salon, we're teaming up with Young Professionals in Energyand College to Climate to highlight innovations close to home. Whether you're on a college campus, founding a startup, or leading corporate innovation, this Salon seeks to highlight the movers and shakers who act locally and see their communities as a testbed for climate impact. What solutions are working, who is working on them, and how do you get involved? We'll highlight:
The ideas: Innovation on college campuses
The capital: Corporate community
The enablers: workforce development organizations
The projects: Pilots or innovations in your neighborhood
Thank you to our sponsor, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is the state’s economic development agency for clean energy and climatetech. MassCEC is dedicated to accelerating the growth of these industries across the Commonwealth to help meet climate goals, create jobs, and deliver long-term economic growth. We offer grants, flexible equity and debt investments, and other support for climatetech companies from their earliest stages through demonstration and commercial deployment of their technologies.
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This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web
Wednesday, October 1
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/tim-berners-lee Cost: $12 - $40.00 (book included)
About This Is for Everyone
A gripping account of the rise of the digital world and a crucial guide to the future of the internet—from the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Perhaps the most influential inventor of the modern world, Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a different kind of technologist. Born in the same year as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, he famously distributed his invention, the World Wide Web, for no commercial reward. Its widespread adoption changed everything—transforming humanity into the first digital species. Through the web, we live, work, dream, quarrel, and connect.
In this intimate memoir, Berners-Lee tells the story of his iconic invention, exploring how it launched a new era of creativity and collaboration while unleashing powerful forces that imperil truth and privacy and polarize public debate. With his trademark humor and candor, he recounts how he arrived at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, as a young engineer, and soon came up with the astonishing idea of adding hyperlinks to the then-nascent Internet. His goal was to unleash a wave of creativity and collaboration for the benefit of all—a goal he’s pursued to this day.
Peppered with rich anecdotes and amusing reflections, This Is for Everyone is a gripping, in-the-room account of the rise of the digital world. As the rapid development of artificial intelligence brings new risks and possibilities, Berners-Lee also offers a crucial guide to the decisions ahead—and shows how our digital lives can be reengineered for the sake of human flourishing rather than profit or for power.
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Extraction
Wednesday, October 1
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-10-01/thea-riofrancos-ben-tarnoff-extraction
Join us at Brookline Booksmith to celebrate the release of Extraction with author Thea Riofrancos, in conversation with Ben Tarnoff.Register for the event! RSVP to let us know you're coming! "Dazzling in the bold questions it asks.…An immense contribution." —Naomi Klein
An in-depth investigation into the growing industry of green technologies and the environmental, social, and political consequences of the mining it requires.
Lithium, a crucial input in the batteries powering electric vehicles, has the potential to save the world from climate change. But even green solutions come at a cost. Mining lithium is environmentally destructive. We therefore confront a dilemma: Is it possible to save the world by harming it in the process?
Having spent over a decade researching mining and oil sectors in Latin America, Thea Riofrancos is a leading voice on resource extraction. In Extraction, she draws on groundbreaking fieldwork on the global race for lithium. Taking readers from the breathtaking salt flats of Chile’s Atacama Desert, to Nevada’s glorious Silver Peak Range, to the rolling hills of the Barroso Region of Portugal, she reveals the social and environmental costs of “critical minerals.” In Washington, DC, and Brussels, she tracks the escalating geopolitics of green technology supply chains. And she takes stock of new policy paradigms in the Global South, where governments seek to leverage mineral assets to jumpstart green development. In the process, Riofrancos uncovers surprising links across history, from colonial conquest to the 1970s energy crisis, to our still uncertain green future.
While unregulated mining could inflict irreversible harm, Riofrancos offers optimistic proposals to transform the governance of mining while also reducing the sheer volume of global extraction. A rigorous and hopeful call to action, Extraction shares how we can harmonize climate goals with social justice—and set the planet on a course to ecological flourishing.
Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Previously, she has been an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard, and a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame, as well as holding research positions at institutions in Santiago, Chile and Quito, Ecuador. The author of Resource Radicals and coauthor of A Planet to Win, her articles have appeared in Perspectives on Politics, Cultural Studies, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, and her essays in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, n+1, and Jacobin, among other outlets.
Ben Tarnoff is a writer and technologist based in Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and has also written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and the New Republic, among other publications. He is the author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future and Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, forthcoming from Harper in 2026.
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Flow Like Water: Non-Profit Work in the Environmental Field
Thursday, October 2
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-8Ys5YFoTnKa9hqIXEr6zQ
Environmental work is like any other work, except it faces a lot more impediments, given the makeup of our economy. It will feel like swimming against the current. Have you noticed how water finds its way? What can we learn from water? As examples, Kannan will explain the impediments and resolutions in some Eastie Farm projects, whether it's about acquiring land as a grassroots community organization or building a greenhouse powered by an energy source unfamiliar to us, i.e. geothermal. The impediments faced range from the mundane (e.g.: permitting) to systemic and cultural ones (e.g.: hyper-individualism vs collectivism).
How to go after low-hanging fruit: Train the mind away from focusing on what’s hard
How to move in multiple directions simultaneously: Bust silos
How to start small: Fight that attraction to big
How to deal with the current system while changing it: Start where you are
How to sustain the work, through thick and thin: Shrink, don’t disappear
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HLS Beyond Presents: Non-Cooperation & Protest in the Trump Era
Thursday, October 2
12:20 pm - 1:20 pm
Harvard Law School, Langdell Hall; 232/233 Langdell, 1545 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWk4hzmyRud5ADUBp_RlvsVEV5k6fAAdopzvIE3lj9iV4Xwg/viewform
HKS political scientist and co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium, Erica Chenoweth, and Research Project Manager at the Nonviolent Action Lab, Soha Hammam, have been keeping track of when, where, and how civilian protests are occurring in the U.S in response to the major policy shifts introduced by the current administration. Despite popular perception, their research has shown that in contrast to the mass marches of 2017, protests are far more numerous and frequent but, given the current political realities, have also shifted to more powerful forms of resistance. Economic noncooperation – withholding labor power and purchasing power – appear to be a strategic and more viable method given uncertainty about the respect for First Amendment rights, the weaponization of government against political opponents, and the increasingly surveilled and high-risk nature of in person protest. Come learn about their current research in the context of democratic movements throughout the world which, they argue, is proving to be “savvy, diversifying and probably just getting started.”
Lunch will be provided. Registration Required.
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False Narratives/False Urgency: Unpacking the Links Between AI and EJ
Thursday, October 2
12:30 PM – 1:15 PM EDT (GMT-4)
Online
RSVP at https://yaleconnect.yale.edu/ycej/rsvp_boot?id=2306533
Across the U.S. and the world, the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) seem to be falling into a recognizable and unfortunate pattern: the brunt of new development being borne by disadvantaged communities already over-burdened by pollution and high energy prices.
Please join Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a leader in the fight to regulate AI, and Dr. Jon Koomey, one of the world’s leading experts in the energy and environmental impacts of tech, for a webinar exploring the real environmental and policy challenges posed by the rapid growth of AI.
Hosted by the Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ) and moderated by YCEJ Executive Director Michel Gelobter, the webinar will include time for attendees to dialogue and Q&A with the panelists. Join us to help create the science, solutions, and strategies needed to respond to this challenge.
Speakers
Michel Gelobter, Executive Director, Yale Center for Environmental Justice
Dr. Michel Gelobter is the inaugural Executive Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Justice. He’s had a diverse career in the private, public, government and non-profit sector with a core focus on innovation, climate change, energy, and social justice. Michel co-founded a number of environmental justice, water, and oceans organizations, founded the first consumer-facing climate software company, advised Google X’s sustainability portfolio of companies, and his government service has included a stint as a Congressional Black Caucus Fellow and Director of Environmental Quality for the City of New York. Michel helped originate and design the world’s first, economy-wide climate legislation (California’s AB32), and is the author of Lean Startups for Social Change: The Revolutionary Path to Big Impact.
Justin Pearson
Representative Justin J. Pearsonwas elected State Representative for District 86 in Memphis, Tennessee January 24, 2023. Tennessee Republicans soon after expelled him as one of the Tennessee Three when he protested their inaction following a tragic school mass shooting. Voters quickly reelected Pearson with 94 percent of the vote. Known for his oratory gifts, Pearson is a justice warrior and democracy champion who organizes, mobilizes and activates People Power. He co-founded Memphis Community Against Pollution in 2020, an environmental and climate justice nonprofit that defeated Big Oil and the Byhalia pipeline, a multibillion dollar project that threatened the Memphis Sand aquifer.
Jonathon Koomey, Koomey Analytics
Jonathan Koomey is president of Koomey Analytics and is one of the leading international experts on the economics of climate solutions and the energy and environmental effects of information technology. Dr. Koomey holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, and an A.B. in History and Science from Harvard University. He was a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for many years and has been a visiting professor/researcher at Stanford University, Yale University, and the University of California at Berkeley. For Fall 2025 he’s a visiting professor at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. He is the author or coauthor of more than 200 articles and reports and ten books, including Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving and Solving Climate Change: A Guide for Learners and Leaders.
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How to Use Community Solar to Cut Costs and Meet Climate Targets
Thursday, October 2
1:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/community-solar-cut-costs-meet-climate-targets/
In the past year, electricity prices have risen by 4.5% and are expected to continue exceeding inflation through at least 2026. In economic and political uncertainty, it is crucial to find innovative solutions to reduce expenses. Community solar offers a reliable way to achieve monthly savings on electricity expenses, even amidst rising costs and energy demand nationwide.
Key Takeaways:
Learn how a community solar business subscription works
Discover why community solar can save your company money
Learn how companies have benefitted from community solar initiatives
Explore how community solar can help clarify your annual environmental impact for your stakeholders
If you can’t tune in live, register to get the on-demand recording after the webinar.
Speakers
Eric LaMora, Vice President, Community Solar, Nautilus Solar
Jake Mitchell, Director, Climate Tech Innovation, Trellis Group
Mecca Turner, Senior Business Program Manager, Pepco Holdings Incorporated
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American Politics and the New World of Media ft. Jon Favreau
Thursday, October 2
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@HarvardIOP/streams
SPEAKER(S) Jon Favreau "Pod Save America" Host
Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for President Obama and host of the popular "Pod Save America" podcast, will discuss a range of issues related to American politics today. This in-depth conversation will touch on the state of American democracy; the future of the Democratic Party; and how the changing nature of news consumption impacts the political landscape.
*Please register with a valid Harvard email address to attend in-person. All JFK Jr. Forums are publicly livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
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Collateral Consequences Series: How Climate Change Threatens Democracy
Friday, October 3
12:00 PM
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/uJxjUY3HQk2U5jKcvBw6Lw#/registration
For our second session of the Collateral Consequences Series, join us for a panel discussion with Prof. Austin Beacham (Georgia Tech), co-author of “Climate Change, Political Conflict, and Democratic Resilience” (under review), Prof. Steven Brechin (Rutgers), author of “Will Democracy Survive Climate Change” (2023), and Prof. Sam Deese (Boston University), author of Climate Change and the Future of Democracy (2018) and co-editor of How Democracy Survives: Global Challenges for the Anthropocene (2023), on the challenges and opportunities that climate change creates for democracy and democratic structures around the world.
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Food and Democracy: From Policy to Plate
Friday, October 3
5 - 8:30pm EDT
Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-and-democracy-from-policy-to-plate-tickets-1545644055979
Agenda
5:00 PM
Welcome and Opening Remarks - Emily Broad Leib, Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation -Dean John C. P. Goldberg, Harvard Law School - Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank
Opening Fireside Chat: What Food Justice Demands NowModerator: Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank
Panel 1: Reclaiming Health Through Food Policy
Panel 2: Agriculture and the Climate Reckoning
Panel 3: The Right to Food in Practice
Closing Fireside Chat: Power, Policy, and the Path ForwardSenator Craig Hickman, Maine State Legislature Moderator: Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank
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SCREENING: Design for Our Lives: Tanzania x Uganda x MIT D-Lab
Friday, October 3
6:00pm to 9:30pm EDT
MIT, MIT Welcome Center, 292 Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-for-our-lives-tanzania-x-uganda-x-mit-d-lab-tickets-1664777106139
East African innovators shape the future of their communities with Creative Capacity Building trainings in partnership with MIT D-Lab.
MIT D-Lab invites you to a screening of the documentary film Design for Our Lives: Uganda × Tanzania × MIT D-Lab, directed by Lulu Tian '22, at the MIT Welcome Center on October 3. Doors open at 6 pm with the film screening at 7 pm, followed by a panel discussion.
About Design for Our Lives: Tanzania x Uganda x MIT D-Lab
The 45-minute documentary follows four stories of East African innovators:
Bernard Kiwia is Co-Founder of the Twende social innovation center in Arusha, Tanzania, and fondly known as the "Father of Rural Innovation in Tanzania." Bernard has been working with D-Lab staff and students since 2007.
Emilly Namwaya is Senior Creative Capacity Building facilitator at the NGO Kulika Uganda in Kampala. Emilly received her training as a CCB facilitator at a D-Lab training-of-trainers in 2024.
Harrison Asega is a South Sudanese resident of Rhino Refugee Settlement in Arua, Uganda is the founder of Smart Nuti Alarm, a motorcycle alarm system originally developed in a D-Lab Creative Capacity Building workshop.
Eric Kuley (CTO) and Johnson Jacka (Founder and Managing Director) of Greenfoot Africa in Arusha, Tanzania are developing Zelo, an electric cargo tricycle for transporting goods in urban areas.
These innovators have all participated in MIT D-Lab’s Creative Capacity Building program (with some having gone on to become CCB trainers), and all are affiliated with D-Lab’s current project Design for Second Life Innovations project, a collaboration with Twende, Kulika Uganda, and the Youth Social Advocacy Team – a youth-led refugee organization operating in the Rhino and Imvepi Refugee Settlements in Arua, Uganda.
Doors open at 6, screening and panel discussion at 7 pm.
More information at https://d-lab.mit.edu/news-blog/news/screening-design-our-lives-tanzania-x-uganda-x-mit-d-lab-october-3
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Local to Global: Türkiye’s Road to COP30
Monday, October 6
11:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ixQYWhRzRqaO_CxtCogGPg#/registration
This conversation explores Türkiye’s evolving role in the global climate arena as it prepares for COP30 and beyond. The discussion will highlight the country’s path from local climate challenges to international commitments, addressing the balance between energy needs, policy shifts, and sustainable development. Experts will share insights on how Türkiye can position itself as a constructive voice in global negotiations, while also reflecting on domestic progress, challenges, and opportunities in meeting climate goals. Moderator Virginia Page Fortna Harold Brown Professor of US Foreign and Security Policy Speakers Ümit Şahin, Climate Change Cluster Coordinator, Senior Scholar, Istanbul Policy Center Özlem Katısöz, Climate and Energy Policy Coordinator for Turkey, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe Levent Kurnaz, Director, Center for Climate Change & Policy Studies, Boğaziçi University
This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers. Each week, one of the Columbia Global Centers convenes an online event that looks at the big questions shaping local climate conversations and how they connect to global climate negotiations. Explore the full series and sign up for future events here: https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/road-cop30
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The Uncomfortable Truths of Public EV Charging
Monday, October 6
12:00 PM - 12:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SESTIA4&_gl=1*nc9zs0*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
In this Energy Policy Seminar, Elaine Buckberg, Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and the former Chief Economist of General Motors, will give a talk entitled "The Uncomfortable Truths of Public EV Charging." Buckberg will explore the realities of charging electric vehicles in public, from empirical work on highway charging data, to how much time it takes to charge in cities without a home charger. Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.
Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
Recording: The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel.
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Climate change: Seeking bipartisan solutions during turbulent times
Monday, October 6
2 – 2:45 p.m.
The Studio, 10th Floor, Kresge Building, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9mHYchLTaUe3eey
SPEAKER(S) Bob Inglis, Former Republican Congressman from South Carolina and Gina McCarthy, Former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Climate change poses an enormous threat to people worldwide. How can we most effectively address it? This program brings together Gina McCarthy, who led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama, and former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis for a dynamic conversation. They will discuss the merits of regulatory and free market solutions and explore opportunities to work across political divides. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to discover hopeful, pragmatic approaches to today’s most pressing environmental issues.
Register for free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
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We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
Monday, October 6
7:00pm (doors open at 6:15pm)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.harvard.com/event/jill-lepore Cost: $45.00 (book included)
About We the People
From the best-selling author of These Truths comes We the People, a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era.
The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world but also one of the most difficult to amend. Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of history and law, explains why in We the People, the most original history of the Constitution in decades—and an essential companion to her landmark history of the United States, These Truths.
Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding—the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions—We the People offers a wholly new history of the Constitution. “One of the Constitution’s founding purposes was to prevent change,” Lepore writes. “Another was to allow for change without violence.” Relying on the extraordinary database she has assembled at the Amendments Project, Lepore recounts centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to realize the promise of the Constitution. Yet nearly all those efforts have failed. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789, and thousands more have been proposed outside its doors, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. More troubling, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without recourse to amendment, she argues, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential or judicial fiat.
Challenging both the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation and the flawed theory of “originalism,” Lepore contends in this “gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past” that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. The framers never intended for the Constitution to be preserved, like a butterfly, under glass, Lepore argues, but expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution through an orderly deliberative and democratic process.
Lepore’s remarkable history seeks, too, to rekindle a sense of constitutional possibility. Congressman Jamie Raskin writes that Lepore “has thrown us a lifeline, a way of seeing the Constitution neither as an authoritarian straitjacket nor a foolproof magic amulet but as the arena of fierce, logical, passionate, and often deadly struggle for a more perfect union.” At a time when the Constitution’s vulnerability is all too evident, and the risk of political violence all too real, We the People, with its shimmering prose and pioneering research, hints at the prospects for a better constitutional future, an amended America.
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People, heat and health: heat exposure and health risks in low income communities
Tuesday, October 7
8AM EDT [1.00 PM - 2.00 PM BST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/events/2025/cch-seminar---ray-nakanjako.html
The Cabot Institute for the Environment and the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research invite you to the third in a series of Climate Change and Health seminars.
In this seminar, Dr Charlotte Ray and Ritah Pavin Nakanjako will speak about heat exposure and health risks in low income communities and the interventions and adaptions needed.
Dr Charlotte Ray - Controlled trials and tribulations of climate and health research: Developing and implementing community-based heat adaptations and interventions.
Dr Charlotte Ray is currently a Research Fellow in Equitable Energy Systems in the School of Electrical, Electronic, and Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol. She is a transdisciplinary social science researcher with an extensive track record of undertaking qualitative research methods, bridging academic disciplines and developing equitable, international partnerships across 15 countries worldwide. She has over 15 years’ experience working in both academia and international development. Her research sits on the interface of the soft and hard sciences, utilising the core question: How do you ensure that people remain at the heart of development and the energy transition? This question has continued to develop since her PhD where she investigated the livelihoods and integration strategies of refugees in The Gambia, West Africa, specifically addressing the access to socio-cultural and environmental resources and continues to lead research around the socio-cultural acceptability of emerging climate, energy and health interventions and incorporating local indigenous knowledge into both the design of technology and adaptation strategies.
Abstract
The impact of climate change and health is significant and the nexus between climate and health highlights intricate, intertwined yet beneficial connections which could prove transformational for human health. As a result, there have been a plethora of strategies and interventions to promote climate change adaptations to reduce the health risks posed by climate change. It is widely evidenced that development interventions (including climate and health related) often fail when the needs, aspirations and expertise of local communities are not taken into consideration. Even with the very best intentions, developing and co-producing community-based adaptations face methodological, implementation and sustainability challenges. Using examples from an ongoing heat adaptation cohort study, this talk will discuss the trials and tribulations of conducting climate and health research especially when working directly with communities and people themselves. We will discuss what heat interventions look like from health, climate and community perspectives, some of the methodological challenges faced and how they have been overcome. We will finally discuss how to ensure that future adaptations are equal, equitable and mutually beneficial for all the communities we work in.
Ritah Pavin Nakanjako - House Characteristics and Indoor Thermal Comfort In Africa.
Ritah is a PhD student focusing on the passive heat adaptation strategies in low-income communities in Africa; case study of Cape town (South Africa) and Accra (Ghana). She is keen on understanding the impact of house characteristics on thermal comfort and assessing the efficacy of low-cost passive adaptation interventions in reducing indoor temperatures in low-income community housing. Ritah is interested in relating climate risks with critical urban and rural systems, communication of climate science to grass root stakeholders, co-production of knowledge, community engagement and use of interdisciplinary tools for co-development of climate change solutions.
Abstract
The rapid urbanization in Africa has driven the expansion of informal settlements, characterized by high population density, unplanned infrastructure, and inadequate housing. These conditions exacerbate residents' vulnerability to elevated temperatures and extreme heat exposure, posing significant risks to health and heat-related morbidity and mortality. The study empirically analysed the performance and impact of housing characteristics on indoor thermal comfort in low-income houses across four communities: Ghana (Ga-mashie (Accra) and NkwantaKese (Kumasi)) and South Africa (Mphego (Thohoyandou) and Khayelitsha (Cape Town)). The findings revealed the extent of heat risks faced by local communities within different house typologies and informed the need for heat adaptation strategies and addressing housing infrastructure in low-income communities as a pathway to climate action.
Contact information
cabot-pgr@bristol.ac.uk
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Handbook on Sustainable Ocean Plans: Launch of the Practitioners’ Guide
Tuesday, October 7
3:00 - 4:00pm BST
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/10/handbook-sustainable-ocean-plans-launch-practitioners-guide
The ocean is under threat from the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. To address this, governments must commit to the protection and sustainable use of ocean areas under national jurisdictions. Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs) present a solution to achieving 100% sustainable ocean management. They provide a strategic, knowledge-based, and participatory framework that defines a long-term vision for ocean sustainability. SOPs serve as a comprehensive and holistic “umbrella” that unifies all ocean-related policies, governance, tools and mechanisms and helps align ocean policies with international frameworks and best practices.
This event will launch the Ocean Panel’s “Handbook on Sustainable Ocean Plans: A Practitioners’ Guide”. This new technical manual provides a step-by-step guide to creating an SOP, including:
Setting objectives and defining the scope of the SOP through coordination and collaboration
Financial planning and resource mobilization
Defining the baseline and analyzing potential future conditions
The building blocks of SOPs
Implementation and action planning
This event will include a presentation from the lead authors, detailing the contents of the handbook, before inviting Ocean Panel country members to discuss their own experiences in setting up their SOPs. All audiences are welcome, especially those practitioners responsible for the production of country development plans.
Participants
Julian Barbière, Marine Policy Head and UN Ocean Decade Coordinator, IOC-UNESCO
Marinez Scherer, COP30 Special Envoy for the Ocean
Nii Moi Thompson, Senior Advisor to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals Ghana
Salvador Vega, Head of the Oceans Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Moderator
Cynthia Barzuna, Deputy Director, Ocean Program, WRI
Learn more: oceanpanel.org | X: @OceanPanel
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Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It
Tuesday, October 7
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1591235180259
Cost: $10 - $35.00 (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes Cory Doctorow—blogger, journalist, activist, and author of more than thirty books—for a discussion of his new book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.
Enshittification: it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.
We’re living through the Enshittocene, the Great Enshittening, a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit. It’s frustrating. Demoralizing. Even terrifying.
Enshittification identifies the problem and proposes a solution.
When Cory Doctorow coined the term enshittification, he was not just finding a funner way to say “things are getting worse.” He was making a specific diagnosis about the state of the digital world and how it is affecting all of our lives (and not for the better).
The once-glorious internet was colonized by platforms that made all-but-magical promises to their users—and, at least initially, seemed to deliver on them. But once users were locked in, the platforms turned on them to make their business customers happy. Then the platforms turned to abusing their business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. In the end, the platforms die.
Doctorow’s argument clearly resonated. Once named, it became obvious that enshittification is everywhere, so much so that the American Dialect Society named it its 2023 Word of the Year, and was cited as an inspiration for the 2025 season of Black Mirror.
Here, now, in Enshittification the book, Doctorow moves the conversation beyond the overwhelming sense of our inevitably enshittified fate. He shows us the specific decisions that led us here, who made them, and—most important—how they can be undone.
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Science, trust, and the future of our planet
Tuesday, October 7
6:00pm to 7:00pm EDT
MIT, 455 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventzilla.net/e/science-trust-and-the-future-of-our-planet-2138685271
Join Whitehead Institute President and Director Ruth Lehmann, and former White House National Climate Advisor and United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, for a conversation about the role of science in informing sound policy, earning public trust, and providing the knowledge needed to protect the well-being of people and our planet.
For questions, email marysull@wi.mit.edu.
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Nature’s Price Tag: The Economic Cost of Nature Loss
Wednesday, October 8
10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://ceres-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/5317562229627/WN_GMTfP-H0TEKb7cvWm3g6Eg#/registration
In a new report based on a first-of-its-kind analysis, Ceres reveals that the five key drivers of nature loss have the potential to cost eight key sectors up to $430 billion per year, globally. This represents a cumulative loss of $2.15 trillion over the next five years, if left unchecked. And these estimates are conservative – primarily covering direct business operations rather than full supply chain risks. The report’s findings highlight the economic imperative for companies and their investors to act on nature to avoid the escalating financial toll of confronting the physical risks associated with nature’s decline. Join Ceres as we unpack these findings and showcase the financial risks that nature loss presents to companies and investors. Participants will: - Learn how nature loss presents a financial risk to companies, financial institutions, and the global economy - Understand how a companies’ sector shapes its risks from and dependencies on nature - Gain insight into how financial institutions can identify priorities in nature-related engagement
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Food Systems and the Impacts of Climate Change
Wednesday, October 8
11AM-12PM ET
Online
RSVP at https://hriainstitute.org/event/food-systems-climate-change
This free training will give participants an overview of the connections between food systems and climate change, along with frameworks and strategies to build resilience into food access work. We hope to see you there! Details below.
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MIT Reads: On Disinformation and Democracy with Lee McIntyre
Wednesday, October 8
5:00pm to 6:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-disinformation-and-democracy-with-lee-mcintyre-tickets-1602607826149
Join us for a conversation with Lee McIntyre, author of On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy, as part of our MIT Reads series.
On Disinformation is a powerful, pocket-sized citizen’s guide on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling American democracy. In On Disinformation, Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread, and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth.
This virtual event is free and open to all, but pre-registration is required.
Copies of the book will be available to borrow at the MIT Libraries or for purchase at the MIT Press Bookstore.
URL will be emailed closer to the event.
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Eco-Consciousness in the Lives of Enslaved Black Women
Wednesday, October 8
7 - 8:30pm EDT. Doors at 6pm
BC, Gasson Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue Newton, MA 02467
Tiya Miles, professor of history at Harvard and historian of race and slavery in the American past, joins the Lowell Humanities Series.
Tiya Miles is the author of eight books, including four prize-winning histories about race and slavery in the American past. Her latest work is the biography Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People. Her 2021 National Book Award winner All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, was a New York Times bestseller that won eleven historical and literary prizes, including the Cundill History Prize and the Frederick Douglass Prize. All That She Carried was named a best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, The Atlantic, Time, and more. Her other nonfiction works include Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation, The Dawn of Detroit, Tales from the Haunted South, The House on Diamond Hill, and Ties That Bind. Miles has published essays and reviews in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and other publications, and she is the author of the time-bridge novel The Cherokee Rose, a ghost story set in the plantation South. She has consulted with colleagues at historic sites and museums on representations of slavery, African American material culture, and the Black-Indigenous intertwined past, including, most recently, the “Fabric of a Nation” quilt exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work has been supported by a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Miles was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she is currently the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.
Cosponsored by Boston College History Department, American Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Women’s Studies, Environmental Studies, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, and the Forum for Racial Justice in America.
All Lowell Humanities Series lectures are free and open to the public. Registration via Eventbrite is required for in-person attendance.
The Lowell Humanities Series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, Boston College's Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Provost's Office.
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HONK! U Symposium: Celebrating 20 Years of Street Music Activism
Thursday, October 9
9AM
Tufts, Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
RSVP at https://honkfest.org/2025-festival/conference-2025/
Twenty years ago, the first HONK! Festival was held in Davis Square, Somerville, as a celebratory public dissent. Today, street music—as practiced by brass bands to promote community-building, art, and activism—is more important than ever. This one-day event, which includes presentations, hands-on workshops, and skill-sharing, aims to bring together a community of scholars, band leaders, artists, activists, and others to explore and engage in innovative and practical applications of brass band and other forms of street music.
Editorial Comment: HONK! events continue throughout the weekend, ending with Oktoberfest in Harvard Square
Emma Goldman's said "If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution."
I believe the revolution IS dancing in the street and do it whenever possible (as wellas in the supermarket).
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No One Left Alone: A Story of How Community Helps Us Heal
Thursday, October 9
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/liz-walker-no-one-left-alone-tickets-1591589931329
An extraordinary account of a Black church that decided to give neighbors a space to share their grief, No One Left Alone provides a blueprint premised on a simple truth: the wounded heal best together.
As the first Black woman to anchor the Boston-area evening news, Liz Walker found herself in an industry that defined the neighborhood of Roxbury largely by violence. But when she became a pastor there, Walker grew close to households marked not only by trauma but by courage--including the family of Cory Johnson, a young father who was murdered. In the wake of their worst nightmare, the family reached out for help.
As Walker's congregation invited neighbors to gather, they created soft spaces for others' grief to land. There, in the stories told, the meals shared, the tears shed, and the silences kept, people found a space to receive their sorrow. Out of this ministry grew a grassroots trauma-healing program, one now being replicated across the country.
Through this groundbreaking book, begin to imagine what story-sharing groups might look like in your context. Face the disparity of grief that comes from racism and systemic inequality, and learn to confront legacies of harm. Discover the healing power of listening, as well as the art and skills of accompanying someone in pain. Further, grasp how caregivers, pastors, counselors, and other healers--many with their own wounds--can benefit from soft spaces too.
Marked by history and surrounded by violence and loneliness, we all long for healing. In the tradition of esteemed writers like Bryan Stevenson and Cole Arthur Riley, Walker writes about how community helps us transfigure trauma. There is nothing dramatic about listening to someone's story or sharing our own. But there is mystery here, and sacredness. No one has to be left alone.
Before she created the Can We Talk Program for Community Healing, Liz Walker was the pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a humanitarian focusing on women’s education in South Sudan, and a television journalist, the first Black weeknight news anchor in Boston. As Founding Director of the Can We Talk…Network, Rev. Walker has expanded her Roxbury-based model of transformative, healing trauma support to 15 replication sites in New England and around the country. Most recently, she traveled to the Middle East to train Christian leaders in creating a Can We Talk healing model in Palestine.
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Be the Change Workshop: What Is Mutual Aid and How Do We Practice It?
Sunday, October 12
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Porter Square Books, Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140-1413
RSVP at https://portersquarebooks.com/form/rsvp-be-the-change-workshop-mutu
In a time of abundant crises—from climate catastrophe to state violence and more—it can feel overwhelming to know where or how to act. Calls to “organize” or “build community” can sound vague. Mutual aid is one answer to those calls. It grounds us in the here and now, and reminds us that everyonehas something to contribute to our collective survival and liberation.
This month, join the Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville (MAMAS) study group in-person as we continue our collective learning around mutual aid: what it is, why it matters, and how we can begin, build, or deepen our practice. Mutual aid is not charity—it’s a political practice of showing up for one another, redistributing resources, and building the conditions for a more just and livable world.
Come to meet neighbors and discuss:
What is mutual aid?
What does mutual aid look like in action?
How can we plug in or find our people?
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MIT Materials Day 2025 Symposium and Poster Session
Tuesday, October 14
8am - 5pm EDT
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, Building W16, 48 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/materials-day-2025-symposium-and-poster-session-registration-1635326929869
Registration Deadline: September 29, 2025
Cost: $0 - $100
From offshore platforms to the interior of advanced electronics and high-performance vehicles, materials are constantly being pushed to their limits. The advancement of materials capable of withstanding extreme environments—such as high-rate deformation, shock loading, corrosive exposure, and intense thermal and mechanical stress—is a critical frontier in materials science and engineering. This symposium explores recent progress in the design, synthesis, and application of materials that exhibit exceptional durability, corrosion resistance, and structural reliability under such demanding conditions.
Speakers will share real-world challenges and solutions, offering insights into cutting-edge alloy development, composite behavior under impact, and dimensional stability in substrates and components. The program highlights innovations that are redefining performance expectations and fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration around materials that are engineered not just to endure—but to enable the technologies of the future.
The registration begins at 8:00 AM and the symposium begins at 8:50 a.m., followed by a student poster session, at 4:00 p.m.
See the event agenda here: https://mrl.mit.edu/materials-day-2025
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AI for Climate Science seminar series: AI for (sub)seasonal forecasting - boosting predictability and understanding teleconnections
Tuesday, October 14
8AM - 9:30a, EDT [14:00 - 15:30 CET]
Online
RSVP at https://iiasa.ac.at/events/oct-2025/ai-for-climate-science-seminar-series-ai-for-subseasonal-forecasting-boosting
AI for Climate Science Seminar Series
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) methods are becoming increasingly important in both science and society. In climate science - where complex biophysical and societal processes interact across diverse temporal and spatial scales, and datasets are often large, heterogenous and incomplete - AI and ML methods offer new powerful solutions.
Join us for the next session of the IIASA-wide seminar series, AI for Climate Science!
We are pleased to announce the next talk in the series, featuring Dim Coumou from Vrije Unversiteit Amsterdam.
Dim Coumou is Professor of Climate Extremes & Societal Risk at VU Amsterdam and co-founder of Beyond Weather. He is an expert on extreme weather events like heat waves, heavy rainfall, storms, hurricanes and droughts. With his team he pioneered the use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods to gain new insights into the underlying physics and to improve predictability of extremes. Coumou holds a PhD in Natural Sciences from ETH-Zurich (2008) and has worked for top-ranking climate institutes including the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (Sorbonne University, Paris). He authored over 100 publications, is a highly cited scientist (top 1%) and his work has been extensively covered by international media. Currently he leads project XAIDA which unites 16 European research institutes to develop and apply novel AI methods for extreme weather research. Dim is Chief Science officer at the start-up company Beyond Weather - which uses AI to create targeted seasonal-to-subseasonal forecasts for different societal sectors.
For online participation, a registration is necessary.Please note that the seminar is going to be recorded.
Title: AI for (sub)seasonal forecasting - boosting predictability and understanding teleconnections
Abstract: The increase in compute power and the amount of climate data available to us, enables us to study the climate system in exciting new ways. Massive datasets and new AI methods provide enormous opportunities for climate scientists but the challenge will be to create actual new knowledge from this deluge of data. How can we harvest new insights from all of this big data?
In my presentation I will discuss recently developed data science methods and how those can help in improving predictability and at the same time give us new insights into the climate systems. I will focus on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and Causal Discovery methods and their application in season to sub-seasonal (S2S) forecasting. I will present a range of studies, mostly from the XAIDA and EXPECT Horizon projects, that use AI methods, from rather basic approaches to advanced deep learning approaches like transfer learning of Foundation Atmosphere models.
These set of studies suggest that S2S predictability of extremes – particularly heat waves and droughts – have longer lead predictability than classically thought. Moreover, numerical weather prediction models seem to miss aspects of some of the associated teleconnection patterns. XAI methods can give us new physical insights on the sources of predictability and on teleconnection pathways. These studies illustrate that these advanced machine learning methods can not only improve predictability but also provide us new insights into climate teleconnections. This paves the way for accurate AI-based forecast systems, which are more needed than ever with extreme weather increasing around the globe.
The monthly seminar AI for Climate Science at IIASA will feature global experts in the field of AI and ML who will showcase the newest methodological advancements and applications in the field.
Through a series of invited talks, the seminar showcases cutting edge research with the aim of strengthening AI and ML expertise at IIASA and to foster external collaborations. Additionally, it serves as an institute-wide platform for discussions and knowledge exchange across programs and working groups to spark new ideas and innovations.
As an initiative from the ECE/ ICI Theme on Extreme Weather and Climate Dynamics, this seminar is designed for both experts already integrating AI and ML into their workflows and those eager to expand their knowledge in these fields.
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How Journalists Can Use Scraping Tools for Environmental Stories
Tuesday, October 14
12pm EDT [4:00 PM TO 5:00 PM UTC]
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter.org/event/how-journalists-can-use-scraping-tools-environmental-stories
Much of today’s most valuable environmental information is locked inside inaccessible websites and fragmented datasets. Web scraping empowers journalists to extract, organize, and analyze information at scale, turning scattered clues into compelling investigations.
This webinar will introduce scraping as a critical tool in the environmental reporter’s digital toolbox. You'll learn:
The basics of web scraping and ethical/legal considerations
How to collect large datasets from public websites
Real-world case studies: deforestation data, pollution records, permit databases
Tools and platforms to get started, with no coding experience required
Whether you're investigating government transparency or corporate greenwashing, scraping can supercharge your environmental reporting with data others overlook.
The speakers—composed of Pulitzer Center grantees, fellows, and partners—will be announced soon.
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Driving Action for Biodiversity, Water, and Forests: Insights from Brands
Tuesday, October 14
12:00 PM (ET)
Online
RSVP at https://trellis.net/webinar/driving-action-for-biodiversity-water-and-forests/
While guidance on corporate nature strategies is expanding, the path to meaningful nature action is unique to each business. Companies can invest time and resources to generate positive impacts across operations and supply chains, benefiting biodiversity, water and land. Join this webinar to learn firsthand from the trials and successes of three companies that have been investing in nature. Sustainable fashion brand Everlane has undertaken a nature risk assessment of its value chain and is now exploring sector-level collaborations to address nature impacts in the landscapes most at risk where raw materials are sourced, providing insights you can apply to your own nature strategy.
In this hour-long webinar, you’ll learn:
About the process for developing nature-positive projects and strategies
How to identify nature actions within existing climate portfolios
How to take incremental steps toward positive nature actions
Specific examples from companies who have lessons to share
If you can’t tune in live, register to get the on-demand recording after the webinar.
Alex Novarro, Director, Nature, Trellis Group
Colleen Corrigan, Senior Sustainability Advisor, Pure Strategies
Haley Menkis, Executive Director, Consultant, Sol de Janeiro
Katina Boutis, Senior Director of Sustainability and Sourcing, Everlane
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Leading from Strong Ground
Tuesday, October 14
7:00pm
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/leading-from-strong-ground-with-brene-brown-tickets-1571799748359
Cost: $35.98 - $46.65 [book included]
Join Brené Brown for a conversation on the lessons of daring leadership, the tenacity of paradox, and the wisdom of the human spirit.
In this exclusive virtual event, Brené Brown will discuss and take questions about her new book, Strong Ground. Ticket includes admission to the event and a hardcover copy of Strong Ground.
In her latest book, six-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown returns with an urgent call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership. In a time when uncertainty runs deep and bluster, hubris, and even cruelty are increasingly framed as acceptable leadership, Brown delivers practical, actionable insights that illuminate the mindsets and skill sets essential to reclaiming focus and driving growth through connection, discipline, and accountability.
Over the past six years, Brown, along with a global community of coaches and facilitators, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in 45 countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. In Strong Ground, she shares the lessons from these experiences along with wisdom from other thinkers. This is a vital playbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Z-ers entering and navigating turbulent work environments. It is also an unflinching assessment of what happens when we continue to perpetuate the falsehood that performance and wholeheartedness are mutually exclusive.
You will have the opportunity to submit questions when registering for the event. You will also have another opportunity to submit questions when the link to the virtual event is shared. Please note that only a selection of questions will be answered during the event.
Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She also holds the position of Professor of Practice in Management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. She is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers and the host of two award-winning podcasts. In 2024, she was named as the executive director of The Center for Daring Leadership at BetterUp. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie, and a weird Bichon Frisé named Lucy.
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4WARD.earth Climate Connect: Monthly Global Sustainability Networking Call
Wednesday, October 15
12:00pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4wardearth-climate-connect-monthly-global-sustainability-networking-call-tickets-1475592479829
Meet & network with global climate tech & sustainability startups, VCs, researchers & industry professionals across industry & sector!
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The Making of National Interest
Wednesday, October 15
12:00pm to 1:30pm EDT
Online
Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/@mitsecuritystudiesprogram5272/streams
Professor Soyoung Lee from Yale University at will speak at the MIT Security Studies Program's Wednesday Seminar.
Summary: Why do states and their citizens often fight over barren, seemingly worthless territories while not fighting over territories or issues that can be potentially more valuable? In this seminar, Professor Lee will discuss her book, which proposes a new theory of national interest to answer the puzzle. It argues that issues without clear economic value—such as barren lands—are more likely to be perceived as national interests precisely because they do not benefit any single domestic group. Since who benefits is unclear, politicians have an easier time framing such issues as benefiting the entire nation. This book draws on geospatial analyses of territorial claims, survey experiments, textual analyses of political rhetoric, and archival case studies to provide support for the theory. By showing how economic benefits can frequently become a liability in mobilizing unified support for conflict, this book challenges our conventional understanding of economic value in international relations and contributes to a new understanding of distributive politics and foreign policy. It also systematically unpacks how issue value in international relations is formed and deepens our insight into a core question in international relations: what states fight for and why.
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The Science of Sustainable Giving: How Empathy and Generosity Support Health and Flourishing
Wednesday, October 15
1 – 2 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB G12, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
And online
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6hPMAV8B8flld0a
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Sara Konrath, Director of the Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research
Join the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness for the second seminar in our Virtues for Well-being series, exploring how empathy and generosity contribute to health and flourishing. Renowned social psychologist Dr. Sara Konrath, Director of the Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research at Indiana University, will share insights from psychology, public health, neuroscience, and the 2025 World Happiness Report. This talk will examine how emotional, practical, and financial forms of giving not only benefit recipients but can also profoundly enhance the well-being of the givers. Dr. Konrath will offer practical, evidence-based strategies for sustaining generosity with intention and joy, guiding participants to reflect on their own giving practices and discover the science behind sustainable, meaningful care for others. This interdisciplinary seminar provides tools to foster both personal and community well-being through the transformative power of empathy and generosity.
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Environmental Storytelling for a Changing Planet
Thursday, October 16
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Jj27sWB2QI6uwFK8lPwAcA#/registration
It’s clear that the climate crisis is dire, dramatic changes inevitable and already underway, and action inadequate despite decades of increasingly urgent warnings by climate scientists. Culture plays a critical role in shaping how we receive and respond to information, guiding action on the micro and macro scales. How can stories help us to navigate this changing planet? In this talk, Emily will explore the possibilities that interdisciplinary nonfiction storytelling can offer when just the facts fall short. How can braiding journalism, science, history, memory, and imagination create space for discovering or remembering other ways of being and acting in relationship to the earth? She will draw on her own writing on environmental contamination from nuclear weapons production and emerging work on responses to climate change, as well as examples from other boundary-crossing nonfiction writers.
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War, Climate Crisis and the Economy: Transition Security Project Launch
Thursday, October 16
1 - 2pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/war-climate-crisis-and-the-economy-transition-security-project-launch-tickets-1642710664819
As the climate crisis intensifies, the US and UK are opening the fiscal floodgates for their militaries. In the US, the first ever trillion dollar military budget funds a global police force while endless billions in military aid are handed to Israel for its genocidal assault on Gaza. At the same time, European states are expanding their militaries to meet an arbitrary spending target set by Washington.
The Transition Security Project will investigate the US and UK military industrial complexes, their political economy and the threats they pose to the climate transition.
Jointly founded by Common Wealth and the Climate and Community Institute, Transition Security Project will produce research to support organising from the ballot box to the shop floor. We will develop alternative approaches to security and collaborate with trade unions on just transition plans for the military industry.
Join us on 16 October as we launch our forthcoming work on the war economy, the climate impacts of war and the geopolitics of the climate transition with some of our leading collaborators:
Chair Laleh Khalili is Director of the Centre for Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, where she researches empire, extractivism and maritime trade. Her books include Sinews of War and Trade, Extractive Capitalism and Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine. Laleh is a fellow of Transition Security Project.
Speakers
Stephen Semler is the co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute, a think tank that works to align US foreign policy with working-class interests. He is an expert at Forum on the Arms Trade and writes for the Quincy Institute, Security in Context and his newsletter, Polygraph. Stephen is a fellow of Transition Security Project and the author of a forthcoming essay on the class politics of the military industrial complex.
Thea Riofrancos is Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, where she works on resource extraction, climate crisis and the global energy transition. She is the author of Extraction and Resource Radicals. Thea is Strategic Co-Director of Climate and Community Institute, which cohosts Transition Security Project.
Ilias Alami is Assistant Professor in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, where he writes about state capitalism, geopolitics, and the green transition. He is the author of The Spectre of State Capitalism and Money, Power and Financial Capital in Emerging Markets. Ilias is a fellow of Transition Security Project and the author of a forthcoming essay on AI, imperialism and resource conflicts.
Khem Rogaly, Patrick Bigger and Lorah Steichen from Transition Security Project will offer brief responses to each speaker before a Q&A session.
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Protect or Prepare? Crop Insurance and Adaptation to a Changing Climate
Thursday, October 16
2:30pm to 4:00pm EDT
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Marguerite Obolensky (Columbia)
Environmental and Energy Economics Seminar
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Jake Tapper: Race Against Terror
Thursday, October 16
7:30pm
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.wbur.org/events/1031579/race-against-terror-jake-tapper
Cost: $10 - $50
June 2011: A man fleeing the Arab Spring on a refugee boat surrenders himself to Italian authorities. He claims that, as a terrorist, he is responsible for the deaths of American soldiers. This unexpected surrender sets off an unlikely chain of events and one of the most significant, but little-known, cases in American history.
When federal prosecutors Dave Bitkower and Shreve Ariail get the call from the FBI that the Italians have known terrorist Spin Ghul in custody, they immediately recognize the stakes of the situation. Determined to deliver justice for the soldiers killed in combat, they must traverse the globe, uncovering facts and evidence from thousands of miles away on a remote battlefield in Afghanistan.
Through intense reporting and meticulous recreation, from the battlefield to the courthouse, “Race Against Terror” tells the story of a man radicalized to enact violence, of the courageous soldiers who risked their lives for each other and the diverse set of law enforcement, intelligence and military personnel who work tirelessly to stay one step ahead of disaster. In doing so, Tapper uncovers a gripping narrative history that reveals the true costs of the War on Terror and delivers a salient warning for the increasing threats we face to this day.
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Planning for New Towns: An International Symposium on Abundant Housing and Adaptive Zoning
Friday, October 17
9AM – 3PM
Tufts, Sophia Gordon Hall, Room 100, 15 Talbot Avenue, Somerville, MA 02144
RSVP at https://www.linkedin.com/events/aninternationalsymposiumonabund7351295658781237251/
This symposium will explore the potential of ‘new towns’ to address a range of housing affordability and community planning challenges, as well as new research methods and techniques for using adaptive zoning techniques in urban planning.
Most cities and towns in North America are zoned almost entirely as “single-family residential.” This means that when they are fully built-out every farm, field, and forest is developed. These communities will always be car-oriented, sprawling, and too low-density to support public transit.
However, this is not the only way: abundant housing advocates are increasingly coalescing around the need for “new towns,” large master-planned communities that can happen through adaptive zoning innovation. These new towns consider the range of transportation, water/sewer, electricity, waste, safety, education, and other infrastructures while allowing for the creation of places that are mixed-use, walkable, bikeable, and dense enough to support public transit.
This symposium will bring together creative thinkers from around the world who are advancing knowledge in these areas, helping to shape a new kind of planning and design practice—one that embraces innovative approaches to housing crises through community-based solutions.
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Indigenous Boston Harbor
Saturday, October 18
12:30 - 5:30pm EDT
Fox Point Pavilion and Boat Dock, UMass Harborwalk Park Boston, MA 02125
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indigenous-boston-harbor-101825-tickets-1568204043509
Indigenous Boston Harbor is a free boat tour of Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands, with a walking tour of Deer Island.
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HBS Climate Symposium 2025
Sunday, October 19
8am - 6:30pm EDT
Harvard Business School, 117 Western Avenue, Boston, MA 02163
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hbs-climate-symposium-2025-tickets-1482276893089
Cost: $11.50—$48.25
At the Crossroads captures a pivotal moment—where climate science, geopolitical tension, innovation, and economic power converge. The 2025 Climate Symposium brings together global thinkers, leaders, and activists to chart a path toward a climate-stable, equitable future.
With growing focus on resiliency, capital flows, and the ethical and financial implications of AI, panels will span clean energy, climate finance, corporate sustainability, biodiversity, and community justice—offering fresh frameworks and real-world insights.
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Beyond panels, the Pitch Competition will spotlight bold ventures at the intersection of climate and equity, while keynotes and curated networking will inspire action and spark lasting collaboration. This is your community. Welcome to the crossroads.
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Exxon Mobil's Approach to the Energy Transition
Monday, October 20
12 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 414AB, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
And online
RSVP at https://www.belfercenter.org/event/exxon-mobils-approach-energy-transition
SPEAKER(S) Vijay Swarup, Senior Director of Climate Strategy and Technology at Exxon Mobil
In this Energy Policy Seminar, Vijay Swarup, Senior Director of Climate Strategy and Technology at Exxon Mobil, will give a talk entitled, "Our Approach to the Energy Transition." His talk will examine energy’s critical role in advancing global progress. It will highlight how affordable, reliable energy continues to enhance quality of life and explore how accelerating policy and technology adoption can enable a successful transition to lower-emission energy solutions. Through cross-sector collaboration, we can meet rising energy needs while advancing shared climate goals.
RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
Editorial Comment: These kinds of events used to be open to the public but since COVID and a demonstration at the Kennedy School against an oil company executive at a similar seminar a few years ago, all non-Harvard people are excluded. This is an example of the closing of the public square and the retreat of academia from the public.
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Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement
Monday, October 20
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brandon-m-terry-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1657311205429
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required) - $37.19 (book included)
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Brandon M. Terry—John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Codirector of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research—for a discussion of his new book Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement. He will be joined in conversation by Danielle Allen—James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project-Learn at the Harvard Graduate School of Education—and Michael Sandel—Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University and the bestselling author of The Tyranny of Merit and Democracy’s Discontent.
About Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope
A landmark reinterpretation of the civil rights movement that challenges reductive heroic narratives of the 1950s and 1960s and invigorates new debates and possibilities for the future of the struggle for liberation.
We are all familiar with the romantic vision of the civil rights movement: a moment when heroic African Americans and their allies triumphed over racial oppression through courageous protest, forging a new consensus in American life and law. But what are the effects of this celebratory storytelling? What happens when a living revolt against injustice becomes an embalmed museum piece?
In this innovative work, Brandon Terry develops a novel theory of interpretation to show how competing accounts of the civil rights movement circulate through politics and political philosophy. The dominant narrative is romantic. This “arc of justice” narrative is found in popular histories, the speeches of Barack Obama, and even the writings of the liberal philosopher John Rawls. Despite being public orthodoxy, these romantic visions are exhausted and unpersuasive on their own terms. The breakdown of the authority of this history of justice has created space for a rival ironic mode, embodied in the political ideas of Afropessimism. While offering a sympathetic critique, Terry ultimately finds Afropessimist thought self-undermining and unworkable.
Instead, he argues, the civil rights movement is best understood in tragic terms. By challenging the attachment to triumphant pasts, Terry demonstrates that tragedy exemplifies what the civil rights movement has been and can still be. Provocative and original, Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope offers an optimistic political vision without naïveté, to train our judgment and resilience in the face of reasonable despair.
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Photography, Art and Activism
Tuesday, October 21
12:30-1:45 p.m.
Poetry Center, 3rd Floor, enter through 2nd Floor Sawyer Library, 73 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
And online
RSVP (Zoom only) at https://suffolk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_u57dhoIBRXqN9ZCZX2CqZA#/registration
A light lunch will be provided at 12:15 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public.
Drawing on a selection of his photographic series—each of which engages with social and political issues—Jan Banningwill discuss how his work “transcends traditional documentary photography.” He does so, first, through deliberate and thoughtful decisions regarding the visual representation of his subjects, where form is intrinsically shaped by content. Secondly, he will address his efforts to use his work as a vehicle for contributing to social change in various parts of the world. His engagement does not end with the publication, exhibition, or inclusion of his photographs in (museum or private) collections; rather, his work is often described as a form of “artivism,” a concept he will elaborate on in his presentation. Banning will be in conversation with Kevin Carragee, Emeritus Research Professor of Communication, Journalism & Media, Suffolk University.
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Panel Discussion: How Social Values Inspire Climate Innovation
Tuesday, October 21
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard Divinity School, Cader Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_40Yxz5xAI9vKjbM
As climate change accelerates, innovative technologies offer hope for mitigation and adaptation. Panelists from Harvard Divinity School and industry leaders will share their own pathway to the work of addressing climate change and discuss the social, environmental, moral, and religious implications of their approaches. Join us in this conversation about equity, justice, and how we can ensure that climate technology fosters a more sustainable future for all. Please register to attend at the link below.
With welcoming remarks by Marla F. Frederick, Dean of Harvard Divinity School, John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity, Professor of Religion and Culture (HDS), and Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Panelists:
Etosha Cave, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Twelve
Nikki Hoskins, MDiv ’12, Assistant Professor of Religion and Ecology
Kurt Keilhacker, MTS ’07, General Partner, Elementum Ventures
Moderated by Terrence L. Johnson, MDiv ’00, Charles G. Adams Professor of African and African American Studies, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), Director of Religion and Public Life
Etosha (Eee-tah-sha) Cave is the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Twelve, the carbon transformation company creating a future through electrochemistry. At Twelve, she supports the efforts in applying research in electrocatalysis to convert captured carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals, fuels, and products typically made from fossil fuels. Her discoveries have driven technology that can disrupt supply chains across industries including automotive, aviation, fashion, and consumer goods.
Etosha has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Department of Energy, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. She has spoken at the MARS Conference, Fortune Brainstorm, and Aspen Ideas Festival. In 2024, CNBC named her to its Changemakers list of women transforming business. Etosha holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Nikki Hoskins, MDiv ’12, is Assistant Professor of Religion and Ecology. Her work attends to Christian histories of colonial, racial, and environmental domination. Hoskins is completing a book manuscript, “Blackness Weathered: Decolonial Ethics for the Earth,” where she researches the religious and ecological practices of Black women in Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens, an area sociologists identify as one of the most egregious cases of environmental racism in the U.S.
Terrence L. Johnson, MDiv ’00, is Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), and director of Religion and Public Life. He weaves together African American religions, political theory, and American history to paint broad conceptual schemes for imagining religion, democracy, ethics, liberalism, justice, and freedom. He is the author of a number of books and articles including, most recently, Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue (2022, with Jacques Berlinerblau) Johnson is a faculty associate of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics and an inaugural Steven M. Polan Fellow in Constitutional Law and History at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.
Kurt Keilhacker MTS ’07 is a venture capitalist with over twenty years of experience in Silicon Valley and Paris. He also teaches MBA courses in AI strategy, analytics, and entrepreneurial finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the University of San Francisco. Previously, Kurt was an executive in tech and corporate finance in the U.S. and Europe. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MLA from Stanford, and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School. Kurt also serves on the Dean’s Council at HDS
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How Dangerous Are Autonomous Nuclear Systems?
Wednesday, October 22
12:00pm to 1:30pm EDT
Online
Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/@mitsecuritystudiesprogram5272/streams
Professor Michael Horowitz from the University of Pennsylvania will speak at the MIT Security Studies Program's Wednesday Seminar.
Summary: In this seminar, Professor Horowitz will address the question: are nuclear weapons useful for coercion, and, if so, what factors increase the credibility and effectiveness of nuclear threats? While prominent scholars like Thomas Schelling argue that nuclear brinkmanship, or the manipulation of nuclear risk, can effectively coerce adversaries, others contend nuclear weapons are not effective tools of coercion, especially coercion designed to achieve offensive and revisionist objectives. Simultaneously, there is broad debate about the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into military systems, especially nuclear command and control. We develop a theoretical argument that explicit nuclear threats implemented with automated nuclear launch systems are potentially more credible compared to ambiguous nuclear threats or explicit nuclear threats implemented via non-automated means. By reducing human control over nuclear use, leaders can more effectively tie their hands and thus signal resolve. While automated nuclear weapons launch systems may seem like something out of science fiction, the Soviet Union deployed such a system during the Cold War and the technology necessary to automate the use of force has developed considerably in recent years due to advances in AI.
Preregistered survey experiments on an elite sample of United Kingdom Members of Parliament and two public samples of UK citizens provide support for these expectations, showing that, in a limited set of circumstances, nuclear threats backed by AI integration have credibility advantages, no matter how dangerous they may be. The findings Professor Horowitz will discuss in this seminar contribute to the literatures on coercive bargaining, weapons of mass destruction, and emerging technology.
Editorial Comment: What could go wrong?
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Making What Matters
Wednesday, October 22
5:30pm to 7:00pm EDT
MIT, Building E14: Media Lab, 75 AMHERST ST, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-what-matters-tickets-1676095880899
Making What Matters introduces Tony Fadell — inventor, entrepreneur, investor, and author of Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making — as MAD's inaugural Designer in Residence. Fadell, known for his creation of the iPod, iPhone, and Nest, will discuss how design decisions shape technology, daily life, and the futures we imagine.
This event is presented in partnership with the MIT Media Lab and is part of series of public events featuring Tony Fadell at MIT, such as MAD Reads, a discussion open to the public on Fadell's book.
SPEAKER
Tony Fadell, Engineer, designer, entrepreneur, and investor
Anthony “Tony” Fadell is an active investor and entrepreneur with a 30+ year history of founding companies and designing products that profoundly improve people’s lives. He founded Nest Labs, Inc. in 2010 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until 2016. Known as the “father of the iPod,” he joined Apple Computer Inc. in 2001 and, as the SVP of Apple’s iPod division, led the team that created the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first three generations of the iPhone.
Fadell has filed more than 300 patents for his work and was named one of Time's “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2014. In May 2016, Time named the Nest Learning Thermostat, the iPod and the iPhone three of the “50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time.” Fadell graduated with a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991.
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The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide
Wednesday, October 22
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elaine-scarry-quinn-slobodian-and-brandon-m-terry-on-boston-review-at-50-tickets-1693591029359
Cost: $25.00 (book included)$12.00 (admission only)
Harvard Book Store and Boston Review welcome Elaine Scarry—the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value at Harvard University—Quinn Slobodian—professor of international history at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University—and Brandon M. Terry—the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Codirector of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center—for a discussion celebrating Boston Review and their 50th anniversary issue The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide.
About The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide
The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide is Boston Review’s 50th anniversary issue. This milestone issue features many of our longtime contributors, including Robin D. G. Kelley, Vivian Gornick, and Elaine Scarry, and celebrates classics from our archive. In this issue, historian and Boston Review contributing editor Robin D. G. Kelley revisits Noam Chomsky’s landmark 1967 essay, “The Responsibility of Intellectuals,” published near the height of the Vietnam War. The essay’s dissident injunction—that those in privileged positions have a duty to “speak the truth and expose lies”—remains a powerful call to conscience, Kelley argues, but the anti-fascist and anti-colonial struggles of even earlier decades reveal its limits, and they show how to refuse and resist complicity in our own age of fascism and genocide. Political philosopher Martin O’Neill, Palestinian human rights lawyer Jennifer Zacharia, and historian David Waldstreicher expand on what this moment requires—of intellectuals, of journalists, and of us all.
Also in the issue, Vivian Gornick reviews Shulamith Firestone’s Airless Spaces, Elaine Scarry challenges the wisdom that Plato banished the poets, Brandon M. Terry interviews political scientist Cathy Cohen about social movements and the future of Black politics, Joelle M. Abi-Rached exposes the contradictions of the liberal international order over Gaza, Samuel Hayim Brody reviews three memoirs on the Arab Jewish world destroyed by colonialism, David Austin Walsh explains what Zohran Mamdani’s triumph means for the future of the Democratic Party, and Sandeep Vaheesan looks to the New Deal to assess the “abundance” agenda.
Plus, seven writers reflect on notable essays from our archive in a special anniversary feature:
Susan Faludi on Vivian Gornick and anti-feminism
Naomi Klein on William Callison + Quinn Slobodian and the global right
Jay Caspian Kang on Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and identity politics
Ryu Spaeth on Merve Emre and the personal essay
Lea Ypi on Joseph Carens and amnesty
Nathan J. Robinson on Noam Chomsky and U.S. foreign policy
Rick Perlstein on Elaine Scarry and democracy after 9/11
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Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship
Wednesday, October 22
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bruce-schneier-and-nathan-e-sanders-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1665663276699
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required) - $31.82 (book included)
About Rewiring Democracy
From the New York Times–bestselling author of The Hacker's Mind and Data & Goliath, an informative and wide-ranging exploration of how AI will alter every facet of democracy, and how to harness the technology to distribute rather than concentrate power.
AI is changing democracy. We still get to decide how.
AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.
In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy, security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders cut through the AI hype and examine the myriad ways that AI is transforming every aspect of democracy—for both good and ill.
The authors describe how the sophistication of AI will fulfill demands from lawmakers for more complex legislation, reducing deference to the executive branch and altering the balance of power between lawmakers and administrators. They show how the scale and scope of AI is enhancing civil servants’ ability to shape private-sector behavior, automating either the enforcement or neglect of industry regulations. They also explain how both lawyers and judges will leverage the speed of AI, upending how we think about law enforcement, litigation, and dispute resolution.
Whether these outcomes enhance or degrade democracy depends on how we shape the development and use of AI technologies. Powerful players in private industry and public life are already using AI to increase their influence, and AIs built by corporations don’t deliver the fairness and trust required by democratic governance. But, steered in the right direction, AI’s broad capabilities can augment democratic processes and help citizens build consensus, express their voice, and shake up long-standing power structures.
Democracy is facing new challenges worldwide, and AI has become a part of that. It can inform, empower, and engage citizens. It can also disinform, disempower, and disengage them. The choice is up to us. Schneier and Sanders blaze the path forward, showing us how we can use AI to make democracy stronger and more participatory.
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Protecting Global Oceans in the Anthropocene
Thursday, October 23
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Diy8I2qzRSGyj2DQG85PSQ#/registration
The oceans are 71% of our planet, and yet are still largely unexplored, especially in the deep and open oceans. New species are discovered on almost every deep-sea dive, and even with increased exploration efforts, we are still discovering massive underwater mountains, canyons, and other features. Yet, even with so much unknown, decisions cannot wait for discovery. In an era of global change, biological communities in even the most remote parts of our planet are feeling the impact of human societies and are vulnerable to depletion or extinction. To combat this, global targets for protection have set a goal of protecting 30% of oceans by 2030. In this talk, we will discuss how to explore the unexplored, and how to protect the unprotected.
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A Proposal for a Climate Grand Bargain Based on Local Climate Damages
Thursday, October 23
4 - 6:30pm EDT. Doors at 3:30pm
Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, 808 Commonwealth Avenue Brookline, MA 02446
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-proposal-for-a-climate-grand-bargain-based-on-local-climate-damages-tickets-1648488456349
The Boston University Global Development Policy Center is pleased to host the 2025 Paul Streeten Distinguished Lecture, featuring Professor Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Director of the Energy Policy Institute and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at the University of Chicago.
Professor Greenstone’s research, which has shaped policy in the United States and worldwide, addresses the global energy challenge of balancing reliable, affordable energy with public health protection and minimizing climate damages. His work has contributed to the U.S. government’s revised climate damage estimates, the creation of pollution markets in India, and innovative use of machine learning for environmental enforcement. As co-director of the Climate Impact Lab, he produces empirical estimates of local and global climate impacts. He also developed the Air Quality Life Index®, translating pollution levels into life expectancy, and co-founded Climate Vault, a nonprofit that leverages markets to reduce carbon footprints and spur carbon removal innovation.
In his lecture, A Proposal for a Climate Grand Bargain Based on Local Climate Damages, Professor Greenstone will present a bold new approach that harnesses localized measures of climate damages to create a practical framework for global cooperation on climate change.
This annual lecture honors the legacy of Paul Streeten (1917-2019), a founding figure in development economics and former Boston University professor, whose scholarship and policy engagement shaped the field of global development.
Registration is required. Limited seating.
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The Science of Hurricanes and Climate with Kerry Emanuel
Thursday, October 23
6:30 - 7:30pm
New England Aquarium, Simons Theatre, Central Wharf, Boston, MA
And online
RSVP at https://dlc.alumgroup.mit.edu/s/1314/bp19/interior.aspx?sid=1314&gid=1380&pgid=66761&content_id=74136
The Lorenz Center is pleased to present the 2025 John H. Carlson Lecture, in partnership with the New England Aquarium and the Lowell Institute.
FEATURING Professor Post-Tenure Kerry A. Emanuel
“Warmest climes but nurse the cruelest fangs.” So said Ishmael, the narrator of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, warning of the dangers of navigating the tropical seas. Why indeed do the most benign of Earth’s climates – the alluring subject of travel brochures and the dreams of winter’s sufferers – produce the most destructive storms on our planet? After reviewing the climatology of hurricanes and recounting how they have altered history, we’ll delve into such mysteries as why hurricanes are both violent and rare, how their beautifully coherent structures emerge from the benign but still chaotic background of tropical weather, and what physics govern their intensities, diameters, and tracks. We’ll then explore the fascinating and important question of how hurricanes respond to climate change, making use of observations, advanced models, theory, and newly emerging geological evidence of pre-historic hurricanes. Then we’ll end with an enigma: Do hurricanes alter climate?
In person at the Simons Theatre, Central Wharf, Boston
– OR – via live stream with pre-registration.
Please Register by October 21
Free and open to the public. Students and families welcome.
Doors open at 5:30 with exhibits from MIT students and climate scientists in the Simons Theatre lobby.
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The Art of Food and the Science of Cooking
Thursday, October 23
6pm Presentation
7pm Reception
More information at https://www.catalystconversations.org/
Catalyst Conversations presents: Artist Emily Eveleth in conversation with Physicist David Weitz
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Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature
Thursday, October 23
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140-1413
RSVP at https://portersquarebooks.com/form/rsvp-alyssa-battistoni-at-psb-ca
A timely new critique of capitalism's persistent failure to value nature
Capitalism is typically treated as a force for relentless commodification. Yet it consistently fails to place value on vital aspects of the nonhuman world, whether carbon emissions or entire ecosystems. In Free Gifts, Alyssa Battistoni explores capitalism's persistent failure to value nature, arguing that the key question is not the moral issue of why some kinds of nature shouldn't be commodified, but the economic puzzle of why they haven't been. To understand contemporary ecological problems from biodiversity collapse to climate change, she contends, we have to understand how some things come to have value under capitalism--and how others do not. To help us do so, Battistoni recovers and reinterprets the idea of the free gift of nature used by classical economic thinkers to describe what we gratuitously obtain from the natural world, and builds on Karl Marx's critique of political economy to show how capitalism fundamentally treats nature as free for the taking. This novel theory of capitalism's relationship to nature not only helps us understand contemporary ecological breakdown, but also casts capitalism's own core dynamics in a new light.
Battistoni addresses four different instances of the free gift in political economic thought, each in a specific domain: natural agents in industry, pollution in the environment, reproductive labor in the household, and natural capital in the biosphere. In so doing, she offers new readings of major twentieth-century thinkers, including Friedrich Hayek, Simone de Beauvoir, Garrett Hardin, Silvia Federici, and Ronald Coase. Ultimately, she offers a novel account of freedom for our ecologically troubled present, developing a materialist existentialism to argue that capitalism limits our ability to be responsible for our relationships to the natural world, and imagining how we might live freely while valuing nature's gifts.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alyssa Battistoni is assistant professor of political science at Barnard College. She is the coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, Boston Review, n+1, Dissent, The New Statesman, Jacobin, and New Left Review.
Katrina Forrester is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Government and Committee on Social Studies at Harvard University and the author of In the Shadow of Justice. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Guardian, n+1, Dissent, the Nation, and Harper’s. She is currently writing a book about social struggles over the state in the late twentieth century.
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Road to COP 30: Africa Speaks - Our Realities, Priorities, and Demands
Monday, October 27
9:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KKxOyZGTSM6LP_KPV4F2Bw#/registration
Africa is warming faster than the global average. Communities are already facing deadly heat, crop failures, hunger, and mass displacement. Yet, while the continent contributes the least to greenhouse gas emissions, it often pays the highest price. As the world prepares for COP30, African voices are demanding more—more accountability from industrialized nations, more ownership of policy at home, and more urgency in turning promises into action. This conversation will explore: - What climate challenges are most urgent in Africa? How do they connect to global negotiations? - What does “climate leadership” look like regionally and locally in Africa? Who is leading the charge? - What message is Africa sending to COP30? Speakers: 1. Collins Otieno, Climate Finance and Innovations Officer - Hivos, Kenya 2. Dr Sheila Obim, Executive Director - Alliance Science 3. Dr Godwin Opinde, Chairman/Lecturer - Environmental Compliance Institute/ Kenyatta University 4. Leah Adhiambo, Agripreneur - Ladel Agritech Ltd Moderator Dr. Lisa Dale, Director of the MA in Climate and Society Program and Lecturer in Climate - Columbia Climate School
This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers. Each week, one of the Columbia Global Centers convenes an online event that looks at the big questions shaping local climate conversations and how they connect to global climate negotiations. Explore the full series and sign up for future events here: https://tinyurl.com/4vu32453
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Building a Clean, Equitable Energy Future: Where Do We Go From Here?
Monday, October 27
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001S8i1IAC&_gl=1*1xyr8js*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE3ODYkajMwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
In this Energy Policy Seminar, Heather Boushey, Senior Research Fellow with the Malcolm Weiner Center's Reimagining the Economy Project, will give a talk entitled "Building a Clean, Equitable Energy Future: Where Do We Go From Here?" Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.
Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
Recording: The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel.
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Rebuild or Relocate? Recovery after Natural Disasters
Tuesday, October 28
4:00pm to 6:30pm EDT
Building E52, E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Shifrah Aron-Dine (UC Berkeley)
Environmental and Energy Economics Seminar
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Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That
Tuesday, October 28
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Harvard Science Center, Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nicole-c-rust-at-the-harvard-science-center-tickets-1681116758479
Cost: $0.00 (Free RSVP Required)- $31.82 (book included)
About Elusive Cures
A neuroscientist’s bold proposal for tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time—brain and mental illnesses
Brain research has been accelerating rapidly in recent decades, but the translation of our many discoveries into treatments and cures for brain disorders has not happened as many expected. We do not have cures for the vast majority of brain illnesses, from Alzheimer’s to depression, and many medications we do have to treat the brain are derived from drugs produced in the 1950s—before we knew much about the brain at all. Tackling brain disorders is clearly one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. What will it take to overcome it? Nicole Rust takes readers along on her personal journey to answer this question.
Drawing on her decades of experience on the front lines of neuroscience research, Rust reflects on how far we have come in our quest to unlock the secrets of the brain and what remains to be discovered. She shows us that treating a brain disorder is more like redirecting a hurricane than fixing a domino chain of cause and effect, arguing that only once we embrace the idea of the brain as a complex system do we have any hope of finding cures. Rust profiles the pioneering ideas about the brain that are driving research at the cutting edge to illuminate exactly how much we know about disorders such as Parkinson’s, epilepsy, addiction, schizophrenia, and anxiety—and what it will take to eradicate these scourges.
Elusive Cures sheds light on one of the most daunting challenges ever confronted by science while offering hope for revolutionary new treatments and cures for the brain.
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The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Tuesday, October 28
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Jeffrey Rosen—New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness and president of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts the podcast We the People—for a discussion of his new book The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America.
About The Pursuit of Liberty
The bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness shows how the opposing constitutional visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton have defined our country for 250 years, influenced presidents from Washington to Trump, and continue to drive the debate over the power of government today.
In The Pursuit of Liberty, bestselling author and president of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen explores the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define—and divide—our country: Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. This ongoing tug-of-war has shaped all the pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery and southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Ronald Reagan’s and Donald Trump’s conservative push to shrink the size of the federal government.
Rosen also shows how Hamilton and Jefferson’s disagreement over how to read the Constitution has shaped landmark debates in Congress and the Supreme Court about executive power, from John Marshall’s early battles with Andrew Jackson to the current divisions among the justices on issues from presidential immunity to control over the administrative state.
More than ever, the clash between Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian ideals resonates today in our most urgent national debates over the question of whether modern presidents are consolidating power and subverting the Constitution—the very threat to American democracy that both Hamilton and Jefferson were determined to avoid. The Pursuit of Liberty is a compelling history of the opposing forces that have shaped our country since its founding, and the ongoing struggle to define the balance between liberty and power.
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The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction and How to Overcome It
Wednesday, October 29
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/XcJuU4RnSwuZfK_RR3gRAw#/registration
Speaker: James Kimmel Jr, lecturer in psychiatry at the School of Medicine and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies
In The Science of Revenge, Yale researcher and psychiatry lecturer James Kimmel, Jr., JD, explores revenge not just as a social or moral issue, but as a hidden, brain-based addiction driving much of human violence—from online hostility to mass shootings. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, history, and personal experience, Kimmel reveals how the desire for retaliation activates the brain’s reward system, much like drugs do. He examines the destructive patterns of revenge across individuals and societies and offers science-backed tools for breaking free from its grip, showing how forgiveness can literally rewire the brain and help heal individuals and communities.
Community Conversation is an initiative for the GSD to informally engage with each other around topics that advance discussions about perspective, difference, and commonality.
Editorial Comment: There are four basic human needs; food, sleep, sex, and revenge - Banksy
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Regulating Social Media: America’s Global Communications Dilemma
Tuesday, October 29
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
Rubenstein Building - R-414-ab David Ellwood Democracy Lab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SPFpIAO&_gl=1*1mno2ia*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTE4NzkkajYwJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
Social media platforms are in serious need of an intervention, as disinformation campaigns seek to disrupt societies, hate speech courses through networks around the world, and online mobs incite real-world violence. While the European Union has implemented its Digital Services Act and other countries have established new platform rules, the United States has remained critically indecisive, sitting on the sidelines as the race unfolds to develop policies for governing our modern Babel of networked communication. Drawing on the hundred-year journey of modern American communications regulation—from the creation of the FCC to Section 230 and beyond -- this talk argues for a new "response principle" that would establish a duty of care for platforms to take reasonable action when harms present themselves. Having unleashed considerable global risk while reaping vast economic benefit, the U.S. has both an obligation and opportunity to formulate a democratic alternative to Europe's regulatory model and China's surveillance-state approach. Prof. John Wihbey of Northeastern University will discuss ideas from his new book Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech – and What Comes Next (MIT Press.)
John Wihbey is an associate professor at Northeastern University, where he is a Faculty Co-Director of the Institute for Information, the Internet, and Democracy, and director of the AI-Media Strategies Lab (AIMES). He is author of The Social Fact(2019) and the new book Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech – and What Comes Next (MIT Press.) John has worked in news media and served as a consultant to technology companies, foundations, and government.
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Losing Control of Campus Landscapes
Thursday, Octobet 30
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EDXfAMyATsOvhnBhYKP6tw#/registration
This lecture examines the paradoxes of care and control in campus landscapes. Mark Bomford traces the tension between the ordered care of campus master planning and the improvisational care of grassroots agroecological experiment, showing how each constrained the futures that could be imagined. Using metaphors from Anna Karenina to Claude Shannon’s concept of informational entropy, he argues that sustainability emerges not from perfection but from surprise, multiplicity, and relational responsiveness. Case studies from the University of British Columbia and Yale demonstrate that when shared labor, student-centered pedagogy, and ecological complexity are foregrounded over metrics-driven control and efficiency, campuses can serve as laboratories for more just and adaptive futures. To “lose control” is not to embrace chaos but to resist foreclosure—to vivify the ecological and social futures of the university as open, relational, and delightfully, surprisingly weird.
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Dig In! Implementation of Large Scale Beach Nourishment – Northeast Shore and Beach Preservation Association (NSBPA) & EBC Ocean and Coastal Resources Lunch & Learn Webinar
Thursday, October 30
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Online
RSVP at https://ebcne.org/event/#registration-details
Cost: $30 - $160
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The Climate Crisis and the Future of Infectious Diseases
Thursday, October 30
3 - 6:30pm EDT
Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Avenue Room 1750 Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-climate-crisis-and-the-future-of-infectious-diseases-tickets-1738302312009
Dr. Nahid Bhadelia - Opening Remarks
Adil Najam, PhD - Panel discussion
Nate Grubaugh, PhD
Marissa Hauptman, MD, MPH, FAAP
Britta Lassmann, MD
Syra Madad, DHSc, MSc, MCP
Keynote - Senator Ed Markey
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Reception - Open to all attendees and speakers, join us for light refreshments, wine, and beer.
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Antisemitism, an American Tradition
Thursday, October 30
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Pamela S. Nadell—award-winning author who holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History and directs the Jewish Studies Program at American University—for a discussion of her new book Antisemitism, an American Tradition. She will be joined in conversation by Susannah Heschel—Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College.
About Antisemitism, an American Tradition
Jews experienced antisemitism the moment they landed on what would become the United States. When they first arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654, Peter Stuyvesant tried but failed to deport them. As historian Pamela S. Nadell tells in Antisemitism, an American Tradition, this was only antisemitism’s beginning on our shores, as negative European stereotypes about Jews rooted into American soil.
Compared with the Old World, with its expulsions, Inquisition, ghettos, and Holocaust, America’s Jews have a different history—but one where antisemitism, even if it has had fewer dramatic eruptions, is deeply embedded. Jews in America faced restrictions on holding office and getting financial credit. Universities set quotas to limit the number of Jews attending and businesses refused to hire them. Jews endured verbal and physical attacks, and their synagogues and cemeteries, continuing to this day, were vandalized and desecrated.
Antisemitism, an American Tradition investigates the depths of this fraught history and its recent manifestations: white nationalists chanting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a gunman murdering eleven worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue building.
Nadell also shows Jews responding to prejudice and hate. America’s Jews created advocacy organizations. They turned to the courts to safeguard their constitutional rights. They made common cause with allies to confront all types of hate. They even used their fists when needed.
At a time when prejudice, discrimination, and hate against Jews is flaring across the country, Antisemitism, an American Tradition argues that we must understand the past. This momentous work reveals how antisemitism—and resistance to that hatred—endures, representing not a rupture from America’s history, but a centuries-old legacy.
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Politics, Power, and Money: Steering the Future of Global Health
Monday, November 3
12:00pm to 1:00pm EST
MIT, Building E53-482, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeH9WBFLFe9OA1lEu2XkYjAjYP3wngbWkSr2jD13Yt5av7TOg/viewform
Recent years have highlighted the ubiquity of global health across diverse public interests. There is now indisputable evidence that health intersects all aspects of life—economic, social, and political. Public and private investments to address global health challenges are both essential and increasing. However, many barriers to progress stem not from a lack of resources, but from politics, policy, and power dynamics that dominate the global health landscape. Understanding these forces is critical to confronting some of the world’s greatest health challenges—whether climate change, vaccine policy, or poverty. Amid funding cuts, conflict, disinformation, and growing inequality, what responses can meet rising health challenges? What lessons and opportunities emerge—and how can research, innovation, and public service be harnessed to drive meaningful impact?
Vanessa Bradford Kerry, MD, MSc, is a critical care-trained physician, a nonprofit leader, and an associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she directs the Program in Global Health and Climate Policy in the Department of Environmental Health. She is the co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health (Seed), a nonprofit focused on strengthening health systems that has helped train over 47,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives in Africa. Dr. Kerry also serves as the Director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at Massachusetts General Hospital and as the World Health Organization’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health.
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Gentrification and the Built Environment: Research in the Suburbs of Washington, DC—A Talk by Professor Lung-Amam
Monday, November 3
12 – 1PM
Tufts
RSVP at justin.hollander@tufts.edu
Professor Lung-Amam’s talk will focus on her work on how marginalized communities navigate the forces of gentrification and displacement shaping their daily lives in the suburban context. Specifically, Professor Lung-Amam will discuss her findings in her recent book The Right to Suburbia: Combating Gentrification on the Urban Edge, which investigates how marginalized communities in suburban Washington, DC have battled patterns of uneven, racialized development. The goal of the discussion will be to highlight how suburban residents have fought for the ”right to suburbia”, which refers to residents’ right to remain in their communities and benefit from urban investment. On campus, this talk will encourage student populations to reflect on the impact of suburban gentrification on marginalized communities. Through this discussion, this event will engage audiences in new research that discusses current movements for social justice in the urban context, with a particular focus on marginalized communities’ agency.
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Reflections on U.S. Environmental Policy
Monday, November 3
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Rubenstein 414ab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA
And online
RSVP at https://hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registration?e=a4oPp000001SQjlIAG&_gl=1*1trr8ri*_gcl_au*MTMyNDMxMDk4MS4xNzU2MDYzNDY0*_ga*Njk3NTIyNjYuMTc1NTgwNTEzMw..*_ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NTg3NDQ2MTYkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTg3NTIwNjAkajMyJGwwJGgxOTA5ODYyNTk2
Al McGartland, the former Director of the National Center for Environmental Economics and lead economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will share his reflections on U.S. environmental policy in a fireside chat with Professor Joe Aldy. Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.
Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
Recording: The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel.
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Jimmy Wales: The Seven Rules of Trust
Monday, November 3
3PM EDT [6:00 PM PST]
Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California, 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 94105
And online
RSVP at https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-11-03/jimmy-wales-seven-rules-trust
In an age defined by disinformation, division, and deepening suspicion, one question looms large: How do we rebuild fundamental trust in one another?
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales offers an answer in his new book, The Seven Rules of Trust—a sweeping and deeply reflective look at how one of the internet’s most improbable success stories came to be. What began as a scrappy experiment built by strangers is now one of the most utilized sources of information, viewed 11 billion times in just the English language edition alone.
Wales says one of the first challenges the site faced was getting internet strangers to trust one another. There had to be an expectation of civility and fairness—and that others would be acting with good intentions. There had to be trust, and that’s something that needed to be cultivated, maintained, and scaled in communities across the globe.
How did Wikipedia do it? And how did Wikipedia leverage that trust to help it become an authority globally at the same time the public’s trust in so many institutions faded?
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Jimmy Wales as he explores what it takes to build institutions—and relationships—that last. In an era hungry for truth and connection, this dialogue offers a rare glimpse into the power of trust as a foundation for progress.
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Local to Global: Chile’s Road to COP30
Tuesday, November 4
9:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Uu2-m4TxRjCRT3YfyYQ7zg#/registration
Chile Leading environmental experts from Chile will discuss the country's most pressing climate challenges and how they connect to global negotiations in the lead up to COP30.
Speakers:
Maisa Rojas, Enviornment Minister
Joerg Schaefer, Columbia Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Research Professor and Founding Director of the trans-disciplinary Columbia-Catolica research and education program "The water crisis of Santiago”
Robert Currie, Director of Environmental Strategy at Azerta, lawyer who led the effort in writing Chile’s Climate Change Law
Francisca Quevedo, Youth Focal Point
Moderator: Andrea Obaid, journalist specialized in climate and science
This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers. Each week, one of the Columbia Global Centers convenes an online event that looks at the big questions shaping local climate conversations and how they connect to global climate negotiations. Explore the full series and sign up for other events here: https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/join-columbia-global-centers-road-cop30
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Yale Clean Energy Conference 2025
Thursday, November 6th, 2025, 8:00 AM EST — Friday, November 7th, 2025, 6:00 PM EST
Yale, Evans Hall, 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
RSVP at https://whova.com/web/XWqjCCBGXy2C1gRCcHMP@YRiM1s@44qHZ9tZUukl9DE%3D/
Cost: $0 -$150
A leading global forum for energy access, finance, technology, policy, and careers.
Join hundreds of attendees from countless sectors, organizations, universities, and industries for this flagship event in New Haven, Connecticut.
The annual CEED/FDCE Reunion is hosted throughout the Conference so program participants and completers can gather for special events and networking opportunities.
Get your tickets for the Conference and experience the keynotes, workshops, pitches, network-building activities, and lively discussion for yourself!
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Our Probable Futures: Risk, Resiliency and Decision-Making in a Changing Climate
Thursday, November 6
12 – 1PM
Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
And online
RSVP at https://tufts.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yBg0rmjlTmyWfYuvduzOtw#/registration
Climate change is here, and communities, industries, and businesses are confronted with more frequent and intense heat waves, volatile winter weather, and unfamiliar patterns of precipitation. These risks are exacerbated by the fact that everything in our society, from the built environment to cultural practices around the world, emerged and were designed around a past climate that no longer exists. As the global atmosphere rapidly approaches 1.5°C of warming and carbon emissions continue to rise, how can we navigate this reality, manage growing physical risks, and create systems, practices, and structures that are prepared for the future? In this session, Alison will explore these questions, learn how to apply world-class climate model data and maps, and build the climate literacy that is essential for everyone living and working in our society today.
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Chat & Chowder | Climate Justice
Thursday, November 6
6 - 7:30pm EST
Foley & Lardner LLP, 111 Huntington Avenue Suite 2500 Boston, MA 02199
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chat-chowder-climate-justice-tickets-1428602912769
RSVP for Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zdAGQRuETAqZpzQL2Ge1BA#/
Join us for this installment of our popular Chat & Chowder series, featuring the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University, Dr. Cass R. Sunstein. Dr. Sunstein will discuss his new book, Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World -- and the Future. Chat & Chowder programs are an excellent opportunity to engage with expert speakers and to network with other globally-oriented participants in an informal environment. Each event features a presentation, audience Q&A, dedicated time for networking, and (of course!) a selection of chowders and beverages.
Thanks to the generous support of The Lowell Institute, Chat & Chowder is now free of charge for all participants (Zoom live-streams remain free as well). We sincerely appreciate The Lowell Institute’s commitment to our mission, as well as the support of our venue, Foley & Lardner LLP.
Please consider helping sustain this work by making a contribution here.
This program will be streamed to Zoom from 6:15 to 7:15. To attend the program virtually, please register for the Zoom webinar here.
