These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them. This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency
http://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
———
Index
———
Financing Nature: Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Nature-Based Solutions
Wednesday, June 25
9:30 - 11:00am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/6/financing-nature-unlocking-investment-opportunities-nature-based-solutions
—————
Renewing the Mandate: What’s at Stake in the Upcoming UN Vote on SOGI [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity]
Wednesday, June 25
10 – 11 a.m.
Online
RSVP at harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j0Rq
—————
Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet
Wednesday, June 25
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kate-marvel-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1367434927679
Cost: $5 - $31.88 (book included)
—————
The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves
Wednesday, June 25
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
Press Briefing: Climate, the Big Beautiful Bill and You: The Jobs/Projects at Risk Near You
Thursday June 26
noon to 1:15pm US Eastern Time
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1617501939363/WN_e8XO2ULvT12atz-sRCiaSA#/registration
—————
Let’s Talk About Energy: Demystifying the Energy Landscape
Thursday, June 26
1 - 2:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-energy-demystifying-the-energy-landscape-tickets-1363570298469
—————
Understanding data centre electricity use in the AI era
Friday, June 27
4am - 5:30am EDT [10:00—11:30 Paris Time]
Online
RSVP at https://meetoecd1.zoom.us/meeting/register/dNwUc5fuRvOuvfqclKHy2A#/registration
—————
Policy Report Launch: Financing the Green Transition
Monday, June 30
5am EDT [11am - 12pm CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.uni-wh.de/en/financing-the-green-transition-increasing-bankability-phasing-out-carbon-investments-and-funding-never-bankable-activities
—————
CLEANR | Innovative and Equitable Climate Action Keynote Address
Monday, June 30
9am - 10am EDT [12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PDT]
Online
RSVP at https://campusgroups.uci.edu/law/rsvp_boot?id=1940255
—————
Post-SB62 debrief: insights from the Bonn Climate Change Conference and reflections on the road to COP30
Tuesday, July 1
8am - 9:15am EDT[14:00 CEST - 15:15 CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.se/e/post-sb62-debrief-insights-from-bonn-and-reflections-on-the-road-to-cop30-tickets-1414681774269
—————
How Sustainability Enhances Community Benefit and Resilience
Wednesday, July 2
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nam-how-sustainability-enhances-community-benefit-and-resilience-tickets-1394936525699
—————
China energy transition and climate status in numbers
Wednesday, July 2
9am - 10:30am EDT [15:00 – 16:30 CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://agora-thinktanks-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OuFJ9A3ESJi12zVqfXnFdQ#/registration
—————
Financing and Scaling Net-Zero Carbon and Resilient Buildings
Wednesday, July 2
9:00 - 10:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/7/financing-and-scaling-net-zero-carbon-and-resilient-buildings#register
—————
Advancing the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels in Third-Generation National Climate Plans
Thursday, July 3
8:00 am - 9:00 am ET
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NzY3SexgTe6a7TIsLl8LWw#/registration
—————
Atoms for Peace at the Time of War: Lessons from the Frontlines of Ukraine
Wednesday, July 9
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
—————
Overheating Risk and Adaptation - Policy dialogue
Thursday, July 10
6 - 8am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/overheating-risk-and-adaptation-policy-dialogue-tickets-1370849009289
—————
Water & Climate
Thursdays, July 10, 17, 24 & 31
12:00 noon & 7:00 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/water-and-climate/registration-for-water-and-climate/
Cost: Early Bird Price = $97 — until May 31; Full Course Price = $145
—————
Trump, Tech and “the Nerd Reich”
Monday, July 14
3pm EDT [6:00 PM PDT]
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/2025-07-14/gil-duran-trump-tech-and-nerd-reich
Cost: $10 - $25
—————
Committeemen: Local Government and the Popular Politics of Revolution
Monday, July 14
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/Committeemen-Local-Government-and-the-Popular-Politics-of-Revolution-virtual----Program
—————
The Price of Our Values: The Economic Limits of Moral Life
Monday, July 14
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
The Hard Work of Hope: A Memoir
Tuesday, July 15
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
Living Between Worlds—with Courage, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday, July 16
12 pm EDT [3:00 PM PDT]
0nline
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvf-mvrD8qGNUBS287pVRGQr77bUBhKQF4#/registration
—————
Accountability and Social Media Engagement of Charitable Organizations in Ukraine during the War
Wednesday, July 16
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
—————
Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language
Wednesday, July 16
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
Climate Change: A Solutions Approach (webinar)
Thursday, July 17
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-a-solutions-approach-webinar-registration-1336969454629
—————
Climate & Preparedness - Climate, Readiness, Solidarity & Rights for All: United Actions For a Just & Regenerative Future
Friday, July 18
12 - 3pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-preparedness-tickets-151339499517
—————
Old Materials, New Climate
Saturday, July 19
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Jamaica Plain Public Library, 30 South Street, Jamaica Plain MA 02130
—————
Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival
Monday, July 21
6:00pm (Doors at 5:30)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-s-gardiner-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1376356753099
Cost: $0 - $31.82 (book included)
—————
What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything
Tuesday, July 22
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
When Soft Power Turns Hard: Cancel-Culture Controversy During the Russian-Ukrainian War
Wednesday, July 23
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
—————
A policy plan for clean heat in Scotland In A sustainable future
Thursday, July 24
7am - 8am EDT [12:00 – 13:00 BST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.nesta.org.uk/event/a-policy-plan-for-clean-heat-in-scotland/
—————
A Year with the Seals: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sea's Most Charismatic and Controversial Creatures
Thursday, July 24
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
—————
Displacement, Emplacement, and Reintegration: IDP Experiences, 2014-2021
Wednesday, July 30
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
—————
Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights
Monday, August 4
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
—————
Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life
Tuesday, August 5
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
———
Events
———
Financing Nature: Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Nature-Based Solutions
Wednesday, June 25
9:30 - 11:00am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/6/financing-nature-unlocking-investment-opportunities-nature-based-solutions
As nature-related financial risks become increasingly material and urgent, financial institutions face mounting pressure to align investment strategies with environmental resilience and long-term sustainability. With over 50% of global GDP highly dependent on nature, ecosystem degradation and climate-related disasters now pose systemic threats to asset performance and economic stability.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) offer a critical pathway to mitigate financial risk, unlock sustainable growth, and support the transition to a nature-positive global economy. However, despite their potential, private sector investment in NBS remains limited—hampered by perceived risks, small ticket sizes and challenges to scalability.
To support financial institutions in navigating these challenges and seizing the opportunities, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has published a new guidebook tailored to the financial sector: Financial Sector Guidebook on Nature-Based Solutions Investment: Aligning Investment With Impacts and Showcasing Examples.
This webinar convenes leaders from across the NBS finance ecosystem to explore how financial institutions can identify, evaluate and scale investments in nature. Panelists will share practical insights, real-world examples, and strategies to overcome persistent barriers and accelerate capital flows toward nature.
Key questions to be addressed by panelists:
How have institutions addressed challenges such as small ticket sizes and limited bankability in NBS investments?
What innovative financing instruments are emerging?
What opportunities exist for private financial institutions to invest in nature-based solutions?
What further actions are needed to mobilize greater volumes of private capital toward NBS?
Speakers:
Rekia Foudel, Founder & Managing Partner, Barka Fund
Dinara Akhmetova, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, World Bank
Diako Makhmalbaf, Director ESG Solutions, HSBC
Helen Ding, Head of Restoration Economics for the Global Restoration Initiative, World Resources Institute
Gabrielle Nussbaum, Senior Manager, Sustainable Landscapes and Nature-Based Solutions, World Resources Institute (Moderator)
—————
Renewing the Mandate: What’s at Stake in the Upcoming UN Vote on SOGI [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity]
Wednesday, June 25
10 – 11 a.m.
Online
RSVP at harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j0Rq-tbrTDedDVYvTTP59Q
SPEAKER(S) Gabriel Galilm, UN Programme Manager, ILGA World
Ignacio Saiz, Former Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights
Jean Freedberg (moderator), Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, Carr-Ryan Center
In what is shaping up to be a close vote, the UN Human Rights Council will soon decide whether to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). This will be the third time the mandate has come up for renewal since its creation in 2015, and the outcome will significantly impact future UN engagement on SOGI issues. Join us for a timely and focused webinar that breaks down the technical aspects of the renewal process, the roles played by various UN member states, and what’s at stake in the weeks ahead. With expert analysis from advocates and others with deep understanding of the process, this session aims to demystify the process and spotlight how civil society can respond.
Offered through the Carr-Ryan Center’s Global LGBTQI+ Changemakers Network as part of our Online Program for LGBTQI+ Advocacy and Leadership.
Registration is required.
CONTACT INFO emmacosta@hks.harvard.edu
—————
Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet
Wednesday, June 25
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kate-marvel-at-the-brattle-theatre-tickets-1367434927679
Cost: $5 - $31.88 (book included)
Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome Kate Marvel—climate scientist and one of the premier science communicators working today—for a discussion of her new book Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. She will be joined in conversation by Miriam Wasser—senior reporter with WBUR's climate and environment team.
—————
The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves
Wednesday, June 25
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes John Sanbonmatsu—author of The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute—for a discussion of his new book The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves. He will be joined in conversation by Frances Moore Lappé—leading researcher and author in the field of food and democracy policy, and author of Diet for a Small Planet.
About The Omnivore's Deception
Offers the most powerful case yet for ending our exploitation of animals for food.
Millions of Americans see themselves as "conflicted omnivores," worrying about the ethical and environmental implications of their choice to eat animals. Yet their attempts to justify their choices only obscure the truth of the matter: in John Sanbonmatsu’s view, killing and eating animals is unethical, regardless of whether they are "free range" or factory farmed. Shattering the conventional wisdom around the meat economy, he reframes the question of animal agriculture from one of "sustainability" to one of existential and moral purpose, presenting a powerful case for the total abolition of the animal economy. In a rejoinder to Michael Pollan and other critics who have told us that we can have our meat and our consciences, too, he shows why "humane meat" is always a contradiction in terms.
The Omnivore’s Deception provides a deeply observed philosophical meditation on the nature of our relationship with animals. Peeling back the myriad layers of myth, falsehoods, and bad faith that keep us eating meat, the book offers a novel perspective on our troubled relations with animals in the food economy. The problem with raising and killing animals for food isn't just that it's "bad for the environment,” but the wrong way to live a human life.
A tour de force of moral philosophy and cultural critique, The Omnivore's Deception will change the way we think about meat, animals, and human purpose.
—————
Press Briefing: Climate, the Big Beautiful Bill and You: The Jobs/Projects at Risk Near You
Thursday June 26
noon to 1:15pm US Eastern Time
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1617501939363/WN_e8XO2ULvT12atz-sRCiaSA#/registration
Join Poynter and Covering Climate Now for a quick tour through the data landscape to help you tell the local story about the renewable energy tax credits on the chopping block on Capitol Hill
Upcoming event: June 26, 2025
Join Poynter and Covering Climate Now for a quick tour through the data landscape to help you tell the local story about the renewable energy tax credits on the chopping block on Capitol Hill. Many wind, solar, battery, and EV-related projects tied to incentives in the US Inflation Reduction Act are at risk, particularly across the southeastern US. We’ll show you how to zero in on the action in your area with just a few clicks.
Our data guide will be Tom Taylor with Atlas Public Policy. Politico’s E&E News Scott Waldman will give us the political lay of the land in Washington.
—————
Let’s Talk About Energy: Demystifying the Energy Landscape
Thursday, June 26
1 - 2:30pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-energy-demystifying-the-energy-landscape-tickets-1363570298469
Join the Alliance for Climate Transition for a four-part series led by Shalaya Morissette, exploring how diverse businesses and communities can thrive in the clean energy transition. Each session breaks down key parts of the energy economy—from utilities and procurement to workforce and policy.
June 26 – Let’s Talk About Energy
August 20 – Beyond the Grid
October 23 – Kilowatts to Careers
November 20 – Watts Next?
The ACT Energy Equity Series is designed to equip diverse suppliers, workforce leaders, and community partners with the knowledge and tools needed to participate in and shape the clean energy transition. Through a four-part series led by Shalaya Morissette, the events will demystify energy systems, unpack utility procurement processes, highlight workforce and business opportunities, and explore emerging policies that impact equitable access to the energy economy.
This kickoff session provides a baseline understanding of the current energy landscape in Massachusetts and the broader region. Shalaya and ACT partners will explain the clean energy transition, the role of utilities, and the business opportunities accompanying the shift to net zero. Attendees will learn about power generation, distribution systems, and state climate goals that are shaping procurement needs.
Key Topics:
Clean energy definitions (solar, wind, battery storage, etc.)
Overview of utility operations and roles
State decarbonization targets and procurement pipelines
What diverse suppliers need to know to enter the sector
Speakers
Shalaya Morissette, Vice President of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at Walker-Miller Energy Services. In her current role, she leads efforts to advance equitable energy solutions and foster strategic collaborations within the clean energy sector. Previously, Shalaya served as the Chief of the Minority Business and Workforce Division at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she championed initiatives to support minority-owned businesses and underrepresented communities in the energy transition. With a rich background spanning utility safety compliance, education, and nonprofit leadership, Shalaya is a nationally recognized advocate for energy equity and workforce inclusion. Her commitment to creating inclusive pathways in the clean energy economy continues to inspire and drive meaningful change.
—————
Understanding data centre electricity use in the AI era
Friday, June 27
4am - 5:30am EDT [10:00—11:30 Paris Time]
Online
RSVP at https://meetoecd1.zoom.us/meeting/register/dNwUc5fuRvOuvfqclKHy2A#/registration
The IEA’s Digital Demand-Driven Electricity Networks (3DEN) Initiative, the IEA 4E TCP Efficient, Demand Flexible Networked Appliances (EDNA) and the Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance deployment (SEAD) initiativeare co-organising a webinar focused on the electricity use of data centres and the role of energy consumption data in enabling effective policy and planning. The session will begin with an overview of the latest IEA analysis on the links between artificial intelligence (AI) and electricity demand, followed by two technical presentations examining data availability and methodologies for assessing data centre energy use. These will include new research from EDNA on critical assessments of current energy modelling approaches and the development of a next-generation energy forecasting tool.
This webinar will explore three interrelated topics shaping the future of data centre energy use and digitalisation:
AI and electricity demand: scene setting from the IEA Energy and AI report
AI systems are rapidly being integrated into daily life and business operations, raising critical questions for energy systems. As AI adoption grows, so too does the electricity required to power data centres which are the physical backbone of AI. This session will present key findings from the IEA Energy and AI report that quantifies AI-related electricity demand and its potential growth, and identifies implications for energy security, emissions, and policy planning. The presentation will highlight why accurate and timely data is essential for understanding and responding to this emerging challenge.
Critical review of data centre energy estimates
There is a wide range of published estimates for current and future data centre electricity use, in some cases differing by a factor of 40. EDNA’s Data Centre Energy Critical Review presents a systematic analysis of over 100 studies and projections, identifying key drivers behind discrepancies in reported figures. It seeks to determine a plausible current range for global data centre electricity use, assess how past studies approached the task, and highlight best practices and pitfalls in data collection and modelling. This presentation will offer much-needed clarity for policymakers, researchers and system planners navigating a complex evidence base.
Total Energy Modelling for Data Centres
Complementing the critical review, EDNA will also present its Total Energy Model (TEM) 4.0, a novel bottom-up hybrid model designed to forecast energy consumption across different types of data centres and workloads, including AI. Rather than relying on conventional methods based on traffic or sales extrapolation, the TEM uses processor-based capacity and efficiency data, combined with region-specific deployment profiles. It segments demand across five global regions and distinguishes between traditional, cloud, hyperscale and AI-driven workloads, offering new insights into how digital infrastructure growth and policy interventions could shape electricity demand.
This session is designed for policymakers, energy analysts, digital infrastructure planners, and technology providers seeking to better understand and respond to the growing energy footprint of data centres in the AI era.
—————
Policy Report Launch: Financing the Green Transition
Monday, June 30
5am EDT [11am - 12pm CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.uni-wh.de/en/financing-the-green-transition-increasing-bankability-phasing-out-carbon-investments-and-funding-never-bankable-activities
Increasing bankability, phasing out carbon investments and funding 'never bankable' activities.
How can political decision-makers strengthen sustainable and climate-friendly investments - and at the same time effectively curb high carbon financial flows? The public launch event investigates this question and presents a policy report that summarises the results of a three-year research project on the matter. In the report, the authors analyse financial policy instruments that pave the way to the net-zero climate target, from increasing the bankability of green activities to promoting economically unviable but socially necessary activities and measures to end carbon-intensive investments.
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Joscha Wullweber.
Comments by Silke Stremlau, chairwomen of the last German government’s council for Sustainable Finance.
Moderation by Jan Schulte, free journalist and author of various articles on Sustainable Finance (e.g., for Berliner Tagesspiegel, DIE ZEIT and WirtschaftsWoche).
The event will be held in english.
—————
CLEANR | Innovative and Equitable Climate Action Keynote Address
Monday, June 30
9am - 10am EDT [12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PDT]
Online
RSVP at https://campusgroups.uci.edu/law/rsvp_boot?id=1940255
The UC Irvine Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR) brings together community leaders, researchers, agency staff, and members of the California State Legislature to consider the development of Climate Action Plans.
Keynote address by:
Veronica Eady, Vice President, Equity and Justice (fmr.), Resources Legacy Fund, Senior Deputy Executive Officer for Policy and Equity (fmr.), Bay Area Air District, Assistant Executive Officer for Environmental Justice (fmr.), California Air Resources Board
Webinar registration available for remote attendance–please select the appropriate registration option.
To request reasonable accommodations for a disability, please email centers@law.uci.edu.
—————
Post-SB62 debrief: insights from the Bonn Climate Change Conference and reflections on the road to COP30
Tuesday, July 1
8am - 9:15am EDT[14:00 CEST - 15:15 CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.se/e/post-sb62-debrief-insights-from-bonn-and-reflections-on-the-road-to-cop30-tickets-1414681774269
The SB62 climate meetings in Bonn mark a critical moment in this year’s international climate agenda, setting the tone and pace for negotiations leading up to COP30 in Belém. As part of the UNFCCC process, SB62 plays a key role in shaping how countries collaborate on urgent climate issues – including adaptation, which remains a cornerstone of climate justice and resilience for vulnerable communities.
Join this webinar organized by weADAPT for a focused debrief where key adaptation experts who participated in SB62 will unpack what happened in Bonn specifically around climate adaptation. What progress was made on the Global Goal on Adaptation, National Adaptation Plans, climate finance and more? Where did we see setbacks or stalling in negotiations? And most importantly, what must happen between now and COP30 to keep ambition and equity at the centre of the adaptation agenda?
Speakers
María del Pilar Bueno Rubial, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, CONICET
Katy Harris, Senior Policy Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute
Lina Yassin, Researcher (climate diplomacy), Climate Change, IIED
—————
How Sustainability Enhances Community Benefit and Resilience
Wednesday, July 2
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nam-how-sustainability-enhances-community-benefit-and-resilience-tickets-1394936525699
This webinar will explore how environmental stewardship promotes health for communities from National Academy of Medicine
The NAM Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector (Climate Collaborative), through its Health Care Delivery and Policy, Financing, and Metrics Working Groups, is hosting a Building Momentum to Act on Health Care Decarbonization webinar series, focusing on sharing resources and building the momentum to act on health care decarbonization.
In the next webinar of the Health Care's Path to Decarbonization: Addressing Key Risks and Fostering Resilience Pathway, How Sustainability Enhances Community Benefit and Resilience, Todd Suntrapak (President and Chief Executive Officer, Valley Children's Healthcare), Eftitan Akam (Attending Physician, Boston Medical Center), and Ben Money (Senior Vice President, Population Health, National Association of Community Health Centers), joined by Jerry P. Abraham (Director of Public Health, Integration & Street Medicine at Kedren Community Health Center), will discuss how aligning environmental sustainability priorities with hospital charters, stewardship, and mission fosters employee engagement, retention and community trust, and highlight why hospitals need to have climate resiliency plans for their own operations and the communities they serve, among other related topics.
View the NAM Building Momentum to Act on Health Care Decarbonization Webinar Series page at https://nam.edu/product/building-momentum-to-act-on-health-care-decarbonization-webinar-series/ to learn more and sign up for our other webinars in the series.
—————
China energy transition and climate status in numbers
Wednesday, July 2
9am - 10:30am EDT [15:00 – 16:30 CEST]
Online
RSVP at https://agora-thinktanks-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OuFJ9A3ESJi12zVqfXnFdQ#/registration
Annual review 2024/2025 co-hosted by Agora Energy China and Agora Energiewende
Accounting for around one third of global carbon emissions, China plays a significant role in shaping the trajectory of global climate action. In 2024, China was responsible for more than half of the world’s increase in wind and solar capacity, demonstrating its central role in advancing the global commitment to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
This event marks the launch of a new slide deck, providing a detailed and data-driven analysis of China’s 2024/2025 energy and climate developments. The deck delivers key insights on emission trends and intensity, shifts in energy consumption and supply structure, sector-specific transformations, emerging trade-offs and policy signals and much more. By unpacking the numbers behind China’s energy transition and climate change, this analysis helps build a clearer picture of the country’s progress, the challenges ahead and the opportunities for impactful action – both at home and on the global stage.
Co-hosted by Agora Energy China and Agora Energiewende, this event brings together leading experts to walk through the key findings, explore their implications and discuss how data, transparency and collaboration can accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future.
PROGRAMME (15:00-16:30)
China Energy Transition and Climate Change Status Report 2024/2025
Overview: Prof. Kevin Tu, Managing Director, Agora Energy China
Carbon Emissions: Ms YANG Zhou, Associate Programme Lead China Regional Transition, Agora Energy China
Power Sector: Dr. YIN Ming, Programme Lead China Power, Agora Energy China
Industry Decarbonisation: Ms Isadora Wang, Associate Programme Lead China Industry, Agora Energy China
Commentaries
Ms Kim Malin Lakeit, Director International Cooperation, dena
Dr. MIAO Ren, Founder, Beijing Data Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. | CEO, Chinese Institute for New Energy System Co., Ltd.
Ms Camille Paillard, Energy Analyst, Renewable Integration and Secure Electricity Unit, International Energy Agency
Dr. YU Hongyuan, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Institute for Public Policy and Innovation Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies
Dr. ZHANG Xiaohua, Chief Representative, ClimateWorks Foundation China Office
We will publish the slides shown during the event afterwards.
We plan to record the event. The recording will be published shortly after the event.
The event takes place in English.
—————
Financing and Scaling Net-Zero Carbon and Resilient Buildings
Wednesday, July 2
9:00 - 10:30am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/7/financing-and-scaling-net-zero-carbon-and-resilient-buildings#register
Buildings account for nearly 40% of global energy consumption and a third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, climate finance for decarbonizing the sector remains limited, hindered by fragmented markets, long payback periods and a lack of scalable investment models. Hosted by WRI's All in for a Net Zero Built Environment initiative, this webinar will convene public and private sector leaders to explore practical strategies for accelerating financing and scaling net-zero carbon and resilient buildings.
The webinar will bring together key public and private stakeholders, including financing institutions and companies committed to building decarbonization, to explore their strategies for accelerating the transition to net-zero carbon and resilient buildings (NZCRBs). The session will give speakers opportunities to: 1) Discuss existing opportunities and challenges in financing and scaling up NZCRBs; 2) Showcase innovative financing and business models that are used for scalable NZCRBs; and 3) Foster cross-sector collaboration to accelerate the market transformation and scaling up NZCRBs.
This webinar will provide space for a diverse array of speakers to share insights on current progress, barriers and opportunities as well as innovative business models and financial instruments they're using to advance NZCRBs. Speaker presentations will be followed by a Q&A session, offering participants an opportunity for an interactive dialogue with practitioners.
Moderator:
Roxana Slavcheva, Global Lead for Built Environment, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Speakers:
Patricia Mijares, Sustainable Buildings Consultant, formerly with EcoCasa, Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF)
Jahamgeer S., Secretary, Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation
Autif Sayyed, South Asia Lead for Green Buildings, International Finance Corporation
Patricia Mijares, Sustainable Buildings Consultant
—————
Advancing the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels in Third-Generation National Climate Plans
Thursday, July 3
8:00 am - 9:00 am ET
Online
RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NzY3SexgTe6a7TIsLl8LWw#/registration
Ahead of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30), there is an urgent need for countries to deliver ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that implement the global stocktake outcome, including transitioning away from fossil fuels. However, research from the International Institute for Sustainable Development shows that past NDCs have largely not addressed transitioning away from fossil fuel production, raising the question of how this matter can be included in future NDCs.
Meanwhile, since COP 28, there have been significant changes in the global context of the clean energy transition. United States President Donald Trump has pledged to “drill, baby, drill,” and his tariffs have important implications for clean energy supply chains. In Europe, we have seen some retrenchment of the clean energy transition. However, it remains critical for the Global North to take the lead in the transition away from fossil fuels. In this changing context, this webinar will provide recommendations for strong implementation of the global stocktake outcome in NDCs.
Panellists from governments and international organizations will share their experiences and views on implementing the transition away from fossil fuels via third-generation NDCs, including how to make these plans fundable, and will reflect on how NDCs can facilitate a clean and just energy transition in emerging and developing economies. Panellists will also share what they expect to be contained in NDCs to be delivered by COP 30.
This webinar will be co-hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Development Programme.
—————
Atoms for Peace at the Time of War: Lessons from the Frontlines of Ukraine
Wednesday, July 9
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University
On February 24, 2022, the first day of Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine, armored vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Russian occupation of the plant, which would last thirty-five days, had begun. Only the dedication and resolve of Ukrainian personnel, who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days, spared the world a new Chernobyl accident. Meanwhile, a much more dangerous situation developed at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest such facility in Europe. Following an attack there in March 2022, the Russian military remains in control. In this lecture Serhii Plokhii discusses the challenges that the Russian takeover of the nuclear sites presents to the world. We must face up to a new reality: there has already been warfare at two nuclear sites, and others are vulnerable. The lecture is based on Plokhii’s most recent book, Chernobyl Roulette (2024).
LINK www.huri.harvard.edu/event/serhii-plokhii-atoms-peace-time-war-lessons-frontlines-ukraine?occ_id=0
—————
Overheating Risk and Adaptation - Policy dialogue
Thursday, July 10
6 - 8am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/overheating-risk-and-adaptation-policy-dialogue-tickets-1370849009289
We are pleased to invite you to a Policy Roundtable on Overheating Risk and Adaptation, jointly organised by the University of East London and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
As the UK experiences increasingly hot summers, overheating in homes is becoming a critical public health and housing challenge. In response, we are convening a select group of stakeholders including policymakers, public health professionals, community leaders, housing providers, and practitioners to explore how national and local strategies can better support overheating risk adaptation, communication, and community resilience.
We will share key insights from current research and facilitate a focused discussion on effective policy mechanisms, and practical solutions for protecting vulnerable populations.
You will have the opportunity to engage directly with policymakers and experts, shaping the future of UK preparedness and response to heatwaves.
—————
Water & Climate
Thursdays, July 10, 17, 24 & 31
12:00 noon & 7:00 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/water-and-climate/registration-for-water-and-climate/
Cost: Early Bird Price = $97 — until May 31; Full Course Price = $145
There’s a crucial piece missing from the climate conversation.
The planet has a built-in cooling system—through the cycling of water—and it’s one of nature’s most powerful, yet most overlooked, climate regulators.
We’ve already passed 1.5°C of warming. We’re beyond the safety zone. Now, we must not only prevent further heating—but also start cooling the planet using fast, affordable strategies that are proven to work!
This eye-opening course reveals how nature manages heat through water. Forests, grasslands, wetlands, and oceans are nature’s air conditioners—cycling water, forming clouds, generating rain, and releasing heat into space. When ecosystems are healthy, they keep the temperatures livable.
But human activities—like deforestation, pavement, and soil degradation—are shutting down these powerful natural systems. Here’s the good news—we can reactivate these vital cooling and hydrological cycles—starting right in our own yards and communities.
Join us for this course and discover:
How water, not just carbon, governs the planet’s temperatures
Why increasing plant cover can cool your community
Simple, affordable techniques already working around the world
The surprising role animals play in rehydrating the land
Why forests are more than carbon sinks—they’re climate stabilizers
Clear, practical steps to restore water cycles where you live
You already know the cooling power of water. Our bodies sweat on a hot day to cool down. All species and ecosystems work the same way—plants, trees, wildlife, people, wetlands, and oceans all help move heat and moisture through nature’s cycles—stabilizing Earth’s temperatures. Let’s harness that power—because nature can cool the planet, if we let it.
Uncover this essential part of Earth’s climate-regulating system—and learn how we can work with nature to restore a safe, livable future.
—————
Trump, Tech and “the Nerd Reich”
Monday, July 14
3pm EDT [6:00 PM PDT]
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/2025-07-14/gil-duran-trump-tech-and-nerd-reich
Cost: $10 - $25
The Bay Area is typically known as an incubator of left-of-center ideas. But in recent years, it has become known as the source of an ideology influencing the Trump administration, a belief system journalist Gil Duran describes as “tech facism.” In his newsletter “The Nerd Reich,” Duran looks at how controversial writers such as Curtis Yarvin—who has argued that the United States should be a “monarchy” run by a “CEO”—have shaped the views of some of Trump’s top advisors, like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, as well as vice-president J.D. Vance.
Duran, who formerly served as spokesman and political strategist for Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, joins us to talk about his reporting on this distinctive strain of Silicon Valley conservatism and its influence on local and national politics.
—————
Committeemen: Local Government and the Popular Politics of Revolution
Monday, July 14
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/Committeemen-Local-Government-and-the-Popular-Politics-of-Revolution-virtual----Program
Donald Johnson, North Dakota State University
Over the spring and summer of 1775, revolutionary committees in small towns and rural communities took charge of the revolutionary movement. In the chaos that followed the battles of Lexington and Concord, thousands of farmers, lawyers, ministers, shopkeepers, and artisans all over British North America reluctantly took up the reins of power in their communities. Exercising emergency civil powers, they established a rudimentary form of revolutionary government in place of the ousted colonial regimes. Local committeemen organized and equipped vast new revolutionary armies, collected taxes, drove out perceived enemies, and maintained what semblance they could of legal procedure. By the end of 1775, the local committees had succeeded in establishing a fragile but effective revolutionary authority that supplanted imperial government in all but a few isolated pockets of the thirteen now-former colonies.
—————
The Price of Our Values: The Economic Limits of Moral Life
Monday, July 14
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes David Thesmar—the Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics and professor of finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management—for a discussion of his new book The Price of Our Values: The Economic Limits of Moral Life.
About The Price of Our Values
Modern life is an exercise in discomfort. In the face of endless injustice, how much selfishness is permissible? How do we square suffering elsewhere with our hope to thrive at home? How does one strive for the greater good while guarding one's personal interests? The Price of Our Values argues that the answers to these questions are economic: by weighing our sense of the personal costs associated with the outer limits of our moral beliefs.
These tradeoffs—the want to be good, the personal costs of being good, and the points at which people abandon goodness due to its costs—are somewhat unsettling. But as economists Augustin Landier and David Thesmar show, they are highly predictable, even justified. Our values guide us, but we are also forced to consider economic costs to settle decisions.
The Price of Our Values is an economic reckoning with the universal unease of contemporary moral life. Wielding insights from the philosophical founders of the field, Landier and Thesmar provide frameworks for thinking about the place of values—justice, freedom, beauty— in the decisions of modern life. They do so in terms that seek to be consistent with both our good intentions and their limits.
—————
The Hard Work of Hope: A Memoir
Tuesday, July 15
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Michael Ansara—co-founder of Mass Poetry and longtime activist and organizer—for a discussion of his new memoir The Hard Work of Hope. He will be joined in conversation by Archon Fung—Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
About The Hard Work of Hope
The Hard Work of Hope takes you into the heady days of 1960s and 1970s activism, chronicling the hopes and strategies of the young people who created the movements that rocked the country.
Michael Ansara was on the front lines. In this fascinating memoir, he traces an arc of discovery: from the hope and moral clarity of the Civil Rights Movement to the ten-year struggle to end the war in Vietnam, with its sit-ins, marches, confrontations, and antiwar riots.
Ansara takes the reader into the minds of the activists detailing their successes as well as their mistakes. The Hard Work of Hope shows how he learned to become a more effective organizer and build the Massachusetts Fair Share organization. The book explores issues that remain urgent. How does a movement build support when large parts of the country are opposed to its goals? How do you connect with people who disagree with you? How do you build organizations that unite across racial lines? How can we make progress on the unfinished business of the hard work of hope?
—————
Living Between Worlds—with Courage, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday, July 16
12 pm EDT [3:00 PM PDT]
0nline
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvf-mvrD8qGNUBS287pVRGQr77bUBhKQF4#/registration
"New worlds don't just happen. We speak them into being…" Please join us for our sixth year of monthly conversations exploring how we might live, with both impact and serenity, in these strange times. If if was in doubt before, it's clear now: We live between old worlds and new—as we move from the fossil age to renewables, from linear take-make-waste economies to circular, from the post-war geo-political-economic order to a world of climate crisis and geopolitical instability—something that we can't yet name. Between working inside the structures and norms of modern life, and challenging them from "outside;" between working to help institutions adapt, and working to re-invent or replace them. Between tinkering at the margins and committing to reinventing everything. Between fear and hope, resignation and ambition, despair and courage. Gramsci called it "the time of monsters." Arundhati Roy was more hopeful: "Another world is not only possible, She is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
In these monthly calls, hosted by Gil Friend and Ken Homer, we explore the challenges of navigating the world of messes we've inherited and built—from climate and Covid to biodiversity and fascism to identity and pluralism—with grace, dignity, and power. “Because people are hungry for meaningful conversations that move worlds. Let’s have some!” (You can find our previous sessions—and other gems—on Gil's YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/3wKcE9z. If you like what you see, please Like and Subscribe!)
Who joins these conversations? Executives. Sustainability professionals. Investors. Activists. Entrepreneurs. Seekers. Up-and-comers. A poet or two. And you! And consider inviting someone who might enrich the conversation. (Maybe even someone who shares our concerns, but is different than you or me.)
—————
Accountability and Social Media Engagement of Charitable Organizations in Ukraine during the War
Wednesday, July 16
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Olga Lermolenko, Associate Professor, PhD, Nord University Business School, Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.
This talk examines the landscape of accountability in Ukrainian charitable organizations, with a focus on the impact of social media engagement during times of crisis. In Ukraine, 86% of the population has consistently engaged in charitable activities since 2022. In contrast, 64% of Americans made charitable donations in 2023. This high level of charitable engagement in Ukraine is notable, given the urgent need to fund the military and support those affected by the ongoing war. Social media has been extensively utilized for both charity fundraising and reporting/accountability. There’s a need to understand the dynamic interaction between the charity, its donors, and the broader public, emphasizing the role of dialogic accountability in maintaining transparency and trust. Using the Serhii Prytula Charity Fund as a case study, Dr. Iermolenko will analyze how the emotive power of accounting on social media can help charities foster meaningful conversations, improve decision-making, and ensure effective accountability.
LINK www.huri.harvard.edu/event/accountability-and-social-media-engagement-charitable-organizations-ukraine-during-war?occ_id=0
—————
Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language
Wednesday, July 16
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Adam Aleksic—founder and former president of the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society, and content creator posting educational videos as the “Etymology Nerd”—for a discussion of his new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.
About Algospeak
From “brainrot” memes and incel slang to the trend of adding “-core” to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We’re entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues. As a social media influencer, Aleksic is also intimately familiar with the internet’s reach and how social media impacts the way we engage with one another. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform language as we know it. Our interactions, social norms, and habits—both online and in person—shift into something completely different.
As Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through this new linguistic landscape, he also illuminates how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. From our use of emojis to sentence structure to the ways younger generations talk about sex and death (see unalive in English and desvivirse in Spanish), we are in a brand-new world, one shaped by algorithms and technology. Algospeak is an energetic, astonishing journey into language, the internet, and what this intersection means for all of us.
—————
Climate Change: A Solutions Approach (webinar)
Thursday, July 17
12 - 1pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-a-solutions-approach-webinar-registration-1336969454629
This class introduces climate change science and solutions, and what you can do locally to make a difference. It is inspired by the work of Project Drawdown, a solutions-focused approach to climate change, sharing both global and local perspective on the issue and its many solutions. In joining us for this 1-hour presentation, you’ll become more informed on small and large, successfully implemented solutions to slow and eventually stop the increase of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Participants will walk away with specific strategies they can implement in their own lives. Please register for this event ONLY at ufsarasotaext.eventbrite.com rather than any third party websites, as they are not affiliated with our classes and events. Once registered through Eventbrite, the system will send you a confirmation email.
—————
Climate & Preparedness - Climate, Readiness, Solidarity & Rights for All: United Actions For a Just & Regenerative Future
Friday, July 18
12 - 3pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-preparedness-tickets-151339499517
Website: https://cemtf.org
—————
Old Materials, New Climate
Saturday, July 19
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Jamaica Plain Public Library, 30 South Street, Jamaica Plain MA 02130
Listen to local author Susan Pranger discuss her new book, Old Materials, New Climate: Traditional Building Materials in a Changing World. This is an accessible guidebook to better understand historic materials, how they were traditionally made, how they survived the test of time, and how changes in climate are now impacting these old materials in new ways. Drawing on the work of experts in conservation, biology, chemistry and environmental impacts, this will be a useful resource for any homeowner, student, preservationist, architect or contractor interested in expanding their knowledge of materials and why they perform in the way they do.
Susan Pranger is a licensed Architect and LEED accredited professional with 40 years of experience in professional practice, 12 years as chair of the Boston Landmarks Commission, and over 10 years teaching in the Sustainable Design and Historic Preservation at the Boston Architectural College (BAC), an institution with a long tradition of combining education with practice. Susan has focused on preservation and adaptive reuse for most of her career as an Architect and Educator, gaining a fascination for historic buildings, and a deep respect for the owners, advocates, consultants, and craftsmen who ensure their survival.
—————
Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival
Monday, July 21
6:00pm (Doors at 5:30)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-s-gardiner-at-the-cambridge-public-library-tickets-1376356753099
Cost: $0 - $31.82 (book included)
Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Lisa S. Gardiner—science writer, geoscientist, educator, and author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change—for a discussion of her book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival.
About Reefs of Time
How fossilized reefs hold clues to the survival of corals in the Anthropocene
With rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification, and other problems caused by humans, there’s no question that today’s coral reefs are in trouble. As predictions about the future of these ecosystems grow increasingly dire, scientists are looking in an unlikely place for new ways to save corals: the past. The reefs of yesteryear faced challenges too, from changing sea level to temperature shifts, and understanding how they survived and when they faltered can help guide our efforts to help ensure a future for reefs.
Lisa Gardiner weaves together the latest cutting-edge science with stories of her expeditions to tropical locales to show how fossils and other reef remains offer tantalizing glimpses of how corals persisted through time, and how this knowledge can guide our efforts to ensure a future for these remarkable organisms. Gardiner takes readers on an excursion into “the shallow end of deep time”—when marine life was much like today’s yet unaffected by human influence—to explore the cities of fossilized limestone left behind by corals and other reef life millennia ago. The changes in reefs today are unlike anything ever seen before, but the fossil record offers hope that the coral reefs of tomorrow can weather the environmental challenges that lie ahead.
A breathtaking journey of scientific discovery, Reefs of Time reveals how lessons from the past can help us to chart a path forward for coral reefs struggling for survival in an age of climate crisis and mass extinction.
—————
What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything
Tuesday, July 22
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Jessa Crispin—author of Why I Am Not a Feminist, The Dead Ladies Project, and My Three Dads—for a discussion of her new book book What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything.
About What Is Wrong with Men
A hilarious, ambitious work of trenchant cultural criticism that traces the origins of today’s crisis of masculinity through . . . Michael Douglas’s oeuvre from the eighties and nineties
How to be a Man? That question—and all the anxiety, anger, and resentment it stirs up—is the starting point for a crisis in masculinity that today manifests as misogyny, nativism, and corporate greed; gives rise to incels and mass shooters; and leads to panic over the rights of women and minorities. According to Jessa Crispin, it is the most important question of our time, and the answer to it might be found in an unlikely place: the films of Michael Douglas.
In the 1980s, the rules for masculinity began to change. The goal was no longer to be a good, respectable family man, carrying on the patriarchal traditions of generations past. Not only was it becoming unfashionable, but increasingly difficult: the economic and political shifts—a slashed social safety net, globalization—made it harder to find a breadwinning income, a stable home life, and a secure place in the public sphere. So, then, how to be a man? From the early eighties to the late nineties, Michael Douglas showed us how: he was our president, our Wall Street overlord, our mass shooter, our failed husband, our midlife crisis, our cop, and our canary in the patriarchal coal mine. His characters were a mirror of our cultural shift, serving as the foundation for everything from the 1994 Crime Bill to Trump’s ultimate rise. With wry wit and wisdom, Crispin examines the phenomenon of the Michael Douglas character as a silver-screen seismograph registering the tectonic movements within our society that have fractured it in shocking ways.
Blending feminist arguments and pop culture criticism, Crispin uses the iconic roles of Michael Douglas, from Fatal Attraction to Wall Street to The Game, as a lens to explore men’s and our culture’s ongoing anxieties around women, money, and power. Ultimately, What Is Wrong with Men reveals that the patriarchy has now fully betrayed men, along with everyone else and shows how unpacking one of its most fervent icons can help us envision a pathway forward.
—————
When Soft Power Turns Hard: Cancel-Culture Controversy During the Russian-Ukrainian War
Wednesday, July 23
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Mykola Riabchuk, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies in Kyiv, Visiting researcher at the George Washington University
Russian aggression against Ukraine evoked nearly universal international condemnation but got much less unanimous response in more practical terms of political, economic, and other sanctions. Many countries refused to introduce any measures against the aggressor state. Culture appeared to be the most controversial field, where even the Western democracies, rather unanimous in their response to the Russian assault, failed to achieve any consensus on suitable measures and policies vis-à-vis the rogue state. While virtually nobody questions the need of sanctions against the specific persons and institutions that support the war, the wholesale rejection of Russian culture and cancelling of its iconic figures is often vehemently denied. The lecture will delve into the essence of these debates, trying to answer a fundamental question: To what degree and in which way a seemingly innocent, apolitical cultural ‘soft power’ contributes to the militant ‘hard power’ of the aggressor state during the war.
LINK www.huri.harvard.edu/event/mykola-riabchuk-when-soft-power-turns-hard-cancel-culture-controversy-during-the-russian-ukrainian-war?occ_id=0
—————
A policy plan for clean heat in Scotland In A sustainable future
Thursday, July 24
7am - 8am EDT [12:00 – 13:00 BST]
Online
RSVP at https://www.nesta.org.uk/event/a-policy-plan-for-clean-heat-in-scotland/
Share Scotland has made great strides in building large amounts of renewable energy generation. But despite this, 90% of households are still using fossil fuels to heat their homes.
There’s plenty of innovation happening in clean heat, but what policy changes do the Scottish and UK Governments need to make to ensure that Scotland meets its climate change targets, tackles fuel poverty and unlocks a clean heat future for the country?
With the 2045 net zero targets inching closer, the Heat in Buildings Bill due to pass through Scottish Parliament next year, a new Climate Change Plan required, and Holyrood elections coming up, there’s never been a more important time to act – and there’s no shortage of opportunities for change.
On Thursday 24 July 12:00-13:00 BST, we’ll be convening experts to deep-dive into Nesta’s new report A policy plan for clean heat in Scotland, exploring how Scotland can unlock policy action and provide clear direction for the clean heat transition.
This online event will draw insights from the report to explore the solutions to several key questions:
How do we make clean heat affordable?
How do we deliver clean heat at scale?
How can we support households to ensure an easier, smoother switch to clean heat?
How do we phase out a reliance on fossil fuel heating?
Lastly, how do we prepare Scotland’s workforce for the clean heat mass market?
By addressing five critical areas, including policy outcomes and proposed actions for both Scottish and UK Governments, this event will provide policymakers in Scotland with a comprehensive and digestible framework that can accelerate the decarbonisation of home heating across Scotland.
Attendees will hear from the researchers behind the report. This includes Robin Parker and Marcus Shepheard, Mission Manager and Policy Manager respectively at Nesta’s sustainable future mission. Joining them will be an expert panel consisting of Gillian Campbell, Director at Existing Homes Alliance Scotland, Dr Matthew Lee, Senior Policy Officer for Energy at Citizens Advice Scotland, and Scott Sanford, Technical Services & Skills Manager at SNIPEF. The event will be chaired by Ashley Mclean, Policy Advisor for Nesta Scotland. More speakers will be announced at a later date. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A session, where you’ll get to put your questions to our panel.
This event is for Scottish policymakers, clean heat installers, net zero campaigners, and all those interested in a compelling, workable solution to the clean energy transition across Scotland.
—————
A Year with the Seals: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sea's Most Charismatic and Controversial Creatures
Thursday, July 24
7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA 02446-2908
Environmental journalist Alix Morris spends an eye-opening year getting to know these elusive, intelligent creatures, investigating the effects of their extraordinary return from the brink of extinction and how we can try to bring nature back into balance.
It might be their large, strangely human eyes or their dog-like playfulness, but seals have long captured people's interest and affection, making them the perfect candidate for an environmental cause, as well as the subject of decades of study. Alix Morris spends a year with these magnetic creatures and brings them to life on the page, season by season, as she learns about their intelligence, their relationships with each other, their ecosystems, and the changing climate.
Morris also gets to know all of the competing interests in the intense debate about the newly recovered seal populations in our coastal waters, from local fishermen whose catch is often diminished by savvy seals, to tribes who once relied on seal-hunting for food, clothing, and medicine, to seal rescue workers and biologists, to surfers and swimmers now encountering seal-hunting sharks in coastal waters. A Year with the Seals is a rare look at what happens when conservation efforts actually work, and how human tampering with ecosystems continues to have unexpected consequences. But it’s also a gripping adventure story of a journalist determined to understand seals and our relationship with them for herself.
Alix Morris is a science writer in midcoast Maine. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Smithsonian, Sierra Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Down East Magazine, and elsewhere, and she has graduate degrees in science writing from MIT and global health from Johns Hopkins.
Leila Philip is the author of award-winning books of nonfiction that have received national glowing reviews. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has also been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Philip was a contributing columnist at the Boston Globe and teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at the College of the Holy Cross, where she is a professor in the English Department.
—————
Displacement, Emplacement, and Reintegration: IDP Experiences, 2014-2021
Wednesday, July 30
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Harvard, CGIS-Knafel/North Building, 2nd Floor, Room K-262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
SPEAKER(S) Emily Channell-Justice, Director, Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
This lecture explores the question of how anthropologists must navigate the context of war to continue to do research. Dr. Emily Channell-Justice will describe the process of developing her current research on internal displacement in Ukraine since 2014, which was then disrupted by the full-scale invasion. She will discuss data sources and pose questions about ethical research during ongoing hostilities. The lecture will also explore the possibilities of collaborative work that may strengthen the research process and improve its conclusions. The discussion will focus on the main data set: 80 interviews with internally displaced Ukrainians from Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea, collected by a Ukrainian anthropologist between 2014 and 2016 and given to Dr. Channell-Justice to use for research. Dr. Channell-Justice will describe what these interviews reveal about the experience of displacement and doing research when circumstances do not allow for normal ethnographic data collection through long-term participant observation.
LINK www.huri.harvard.edu/event/emily-channell-justice-displacement-emplacement-and-reintegration-idp-experiences-2014-2021?occ_id=0
—————
Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights
Monday, August 4
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Alan Reuther—son of labor organizer Roy Reuther, nephew of famed labor leader Walter Reuther, and former lawyer and legislative director for the United Auto Workers—for a discussion of his new book Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights. He will be joined in conversation by CJ Barber—Executive Vice-President of UAW Local 1596.
About Roy Reuther and the UAW
This biography of Roy Reuther examines his tumultuous life, including the triumphs and tragedies in the labor and civil rights movements. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers activists may face as they confront entrenched societal powers. As the brother of famed labor leader Walter Reuther, Roy was a key figure in the historic Flint sit-down strike that gave birth to the United Auto Workers (UAW). He became the political director of the UAW and was deeply involved in struggles to pass civil rights legislation. This book explores his passion for increasing voter participation and his vow to help downtrodden farmworkers.
Many of the injustices that Reuther fought continue to plague America today. This book provides important context for the current efforts of workers to organize, for the Black Lives Matter movement, and for efforts to reform the filibuster rule and stop voter suppression. It shows how dedicated individuals can overcome enormous odds to win great victories for social justice and emphasizes the potential connections between the labor and civil rights movements, offering hope for a more just future.
—————
Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life
Tuesday, August 5
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Noah Giansiracusa—Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bentley University, Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, and the author of How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News—for a discussion of his new book Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life.
About Robin Hood Math
How the rich and powerful use math to exploit you, and what you can do to beat them at their own game.
Everything we do today is recorded as data that's sold to the highest bidder. Plugging our personal data into impersonal algorithms has made government agencies more efficient and tech companies more profitable. But all this comes at a price. It's easy to feel like an insignificant number in a world of number crunchers who care more about their bottom line than your humanity. It's time to flip the equation, turning math into an empowering tool for the rest of us.
Award-winning mathematician Noah Giansiracusa explains how the tech giants and financial institutions use formulas to get ahead—and how anyone can use these same formulas in their everyday life. You’ll learn how to handle risk rationally, make better investments, take control of your social media, and reclaim agency over the decisions you make each day.
In a society that all too often takes from the poor and gives to the rich, math can be a vital democratizing force. Robin Hood Math helps you to think for yourself, act in your own best interests, and thrive.
