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
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
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Index
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2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit - A multi-day event that advances the Miyawaki method of afforestation in the Northeast U.S.
Day 1: Thursday, July 24, 12 - 4:30 pm ET
Day 2: Friday, July 25, 9 am - 2 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-northeast-miniforest-summit-registration-1378024742099
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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/
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Surging Energy Demand and Flexibilities from Data Centers
Thursday, July 24
1:00 - 2:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall Room 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTZuM1zo47NVjJKk6s5XnjQ5IvWFB_jYf48k0DX-_HBDS8_Q/viewform
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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
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Making the case for soil health monitoringJoin the second session in the series "Envisioning the future of soil health monitoring", hosted by the Soil Association.
Friday, July 25
5:30 - 7am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-the-case-for-soil-health-monitoring-tickets-1411884337059
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Rethinking grid stability in Southeast Asia: learning from the Iberian blackout
Tuesday, July 29
5:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://agora-thinktanks-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Livt31WnSyC4e2uCAkDf7g#/registration
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Building-integrated PV in Europe
Tuesday, July 29
9am EDT [2:00 PM - 3:00 PM BST, LONDON | 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CEST, BERLIN | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EEST, ATHENS]
Online
RSVP at https://www.pv-magazine.com/webinars/building-integrated-pv-in-europe/
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Safe, healthy, resilient homes: Wildfire resilience
Tuesday, July 29
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/safe-healthy-resilient-homes-wildfire-resilience/
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A Church Of And For The Poor
July 30 - August 19
Online
This course doesn't have any live sessions. You can participate according to your own schedule.
RSVP at https://bostoncollege-stm.catalog.instructure.com/courses/185732/enrollment/new
Cost: $30
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Systems Change in Global Energy Systems
Wednesday, July 30
10:00 - 11:00am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/7/systems-change-global-energy-systems#register
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How Forgiveness Changes You and Your Brain
Wednesday, July 30
1 - 2pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-forgiveness-changes-you-and-your-brain-tickets-1431860034909
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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
https://www.huri.harvard.edu/event/emily-channell-justice-displacement-emplacement-and-reintegration-idp-experiences-2014-2021?occ_id=0
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The Spoon that Shaped an Artist’s Journey
Wednesday, July 30
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=9CL6b2hFBUGtQy461HJpVzuBFVIk0WtBt3InCF_n4ulUQkpDU0s0WEhWRElJTlBBU0tFRUtJN1NXVC4u
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MIT At the Center of the War on Gaza: A Report from MIT Activists
Wednesday, July 30
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://secure.everyaction.com/vHsKm_THb0uRvaVWPHYRsQ2
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From Colorado, for Colorado: The Homegrown Tech Ready to Tackle Landfill Methane
Thursday, July 31
1:00-2:00 p.m. MT
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-from-colorado-for-colorado/
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MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday, August 1
8 p.m.
MIT, Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA, 02139
Sustaining Our Beautiful Planet
Jonathan Dove, Gaia Theory
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6 in A minor
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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
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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
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AI and your health care data
Wednesday, August 6
12:30 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The Studio, Kresge Building, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_40G5875MTAenFD8
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Marguerite Holloway: Take to the Trees
Friday, August 8
7pm EDT
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street Brookline, MA 02446
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Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change 2025
Saturday, August 8
8:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://members.futureearth.org/events/125653
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When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
Monday, August 11
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
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Public AI Summit
Wednesday, August 13, 12 p.m. – Thursday, August 14, 2025, 3:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-hk6h6wV_ywjN1VFzYLGsv_Q4urcpD0Y34YV0XdBTEu9i4g/viewform
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The Time is Now: How and Why Local Governments Should Shape the Energy Systems of The Future
Wednesday, August 13
4:00 - 5:00pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/8/time-now-how-and-why-local-governments-should-shape-energy-systems-future#register
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JFK Assassination Records: Key Takeaways
Wednesday, August 13
7 - 8pm
JFK Library, Smith Hall, Columbia Point Boston, MA 02125
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jfk-assassination-records-key-takeaways-tickets-1419393868269
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Developing National Nuclear Infrastructure – Tools, Milestones, and Practical Support
Thursday, August 14
04:00 in Eastern Time (US and Canada) [10:00—11:00 Paris Time]
Online
RSVP at https://www.iea.org/events/developing-national-nuclear-infrastructure-tools-milestones-and-practical-support
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How to Report on the Green Transition and Critical Minerals
Tuesday, August 19
12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XDazwZiESXyqmd3IdGi1tw#/registration
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Living Between Worlds—with Courage, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday, August 20
3pm EDT [12pm PDT]
Online
RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvf-mvrD8qGNUBS287pVRGQr77bUBhKQF4#/registration
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Aquatic Robots: Engineering the Future of Ocean Science
Wednesday, August 20
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
SwissnexBoston420 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://swissnex.org/boston/event/new-horizons-for-ocean-science/
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Climate Change Futures: Choosing Creativity Over Anxiety
Wednesday, August 27
6 - 8pm EDT
The Foundry, 101 Rogers Street Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-futures-choosing-creativity-over-anxiety-tickets-1459037082189
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The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding
Thursday, September 4
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
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The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine
Friday, September 5
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
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Events
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2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit - A multi-day event that advances the Miyawaki method of afforestation in the Northeast U.S.
Day 1: Thursday, July 24, 12 - 4:30 pm ET
Day 2: Friday, July 25, 9 am - 2 pm ET
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-northeast-miniforest-summit-registration-1378024742099
The 2025 Northeastern Miniforest Summit is a multi-day event that advances the adoption of the Miyawaki method of afforestation in the Northeast U.S.
Through a bus tour of Massachusetts miniforests and two days of virtual programming, participants in this summit will unpack the Miyawaki method, share knowledge with peers, and connect to an expansive community of miniforest practitioners.
Agenda:
Overview of Bio4Climate's Miyawaki Forest Program
The Miyawaki Method: Past, Present, Future
Stories from the Field: Miniforests in Cities, Schools, and Farms in Northeast
Story Share Circles & Networking (Breakout Rooms)
From Asphalt to Miniforest: Transforming Impervious Surfaces
Using the Miyawaki Method to Empower Agroecology and Food Forestry
At its heart, this summit seeks to cultivate community, curiosity, openness to experimentation, and a sense of hope—amplifying the transformative power of working with, rather than against, the web of life—from root to canopy.
This event is organized by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. For more information about the summit, visit us online or email us at miniforests@bio4climate.org.
What is the Miyawaki Method?
The Miyawaki Method of afforestation—pioneered by Dr. Akira Miyawaki—creates fast-growing, dense, diverse, and multilayered miniforests composed of native trees and shrubs in as little as 1,000 sq ft through expedited ecological succession and soil preparation. As a scalable, nature-based solution, these miniforests cool urban spaces, support biodiversity, manage stormwater runoff, and strengthen communal resilience, among other benefits.
About Biodiversity For a Livable Climate
For more than a decade, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate has worked to raise awareness about the vital role of biodiversity and nature-based solutions in regulating the Earth's climate. In 2021, we collaborated to bring the Miyawaki Method to the Northeast by planting the region’s first miniforest. Since then, we’ve helped establish seven miniforests across Massachusetts.
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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.
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Surging Energy Demand and Flexibilities from Data Centers
Thursday, July 24
1:00 - 2:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall Room 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTZuM1zo47NVjJKk6s5XnjQ5IvWFB_jYf48k0DX-_HBDS8_Q/viewform
A Harvard-China Project Research Seminar with Yi Wang, Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong
Abstract: Driven by the rapid growth of AI models such as GPT and DeepSeek, data center energy demand is rising sharply. While the surging energy demand is placing further pressure on the supply-demand balance of renewable energy systems, exploring the spatial and temporal flexibility of workloads within data centers becomes increasingly essential in supporting the supply-demand balance. In this seminar, we will first focus on forecasting the continuously increasing power consumption of data centers to provide a basis for decision-making. We will also discuss how to model and utilize data center flexibility to help integrate renewable energy while balancing supply and demand. This can be achieved through various approaches like the coordination of multiple data centers, optimal large model training, and participation in demand response programs.
Please RSVP your attendance to the talk
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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.
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Making the case for soil health monitoringJoin the second session in the series "Envisioning the future of soil health monitoring", hosted by the Soil Association
Friday, July 25
5:30 - 7am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-the-case-for-soil-health-monitoring-tickets-1411884337059
Making the case for soil health monitoring
Part of the “Envisioning the future of soil health monitoring” series for AI4SoilHealth, hosted by Soil Association.
Why does soil health monitoring matter? What are some of the latest tools scientists are developing to make it easier? And what ambitions do policy makers have for monitoring frameworks of the future? Sign up to this free webinar to join leading experts to discuss these topics and learn more about the future of soil science.
The webinar will bring together the perspectives of farmers, policy makers and scientists on soil monitoring practices, and ground key concepts in the current EU farming and land use landscape. The panel will discuss the value of soil monitoring from three vital perspectives: on-the-ground practice, scientific research, and policy development.
Join:
Karen Fisher, farming advisor, Soil Association
Nils Broothaerts, policy specialist, EU Soil Observatory, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Fatemah Hateffard, soil scientist, Stockholm University
“What’s exciting is the shift from reactive to proactive land management. With emerging technologies like AI, in-field sensors, and geospatial tools, we now have the ability not just to benchmark soil health, but to build predictive insights that help anticipate local challenges like drought, flooding or nutrient loss.”
Karen Fisher, Soil Association
This webinar series for AI 4 Soil Health explores how AI, open data and new research is transforming soil health monitoring and management across Europe.
Find out more about the AI 4 Soil Health project: https://ai4soilhealth.eu/about
What to Expect?
Learn why soil monitoring matters from the perspectives of both farmers and policy makers, through hearing from Karen Fisher, Farming Advisor at the Soil Association and Nils Broothaerts, Scientific Project Officer for the EU Soil Observatory, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
Hear from soil scientist Fatemeh Hateffard of Stockholm University about the indicators we measure in the ground and the new technology, including spectroscopy and beyond, being used to do so.
Ask your questions to Karen, Nils and Fatemeh through a live Q&A.
What is the relevance of soil monitoring for farmers, researchers and policy makers?
The EU "Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive", agreed in April 2025, is the first of its kind to set legal standards for assessing and improving soil health across member states. Its goal is for all EU soils to reach a healthy condition by 2050, supporting broader environmental targets like the European Green Deal.
But why is soil monitoring making its way up the agenda?
Across the EU and UK, significant areas of soil are under pressure – from everything from compaction to loss of organic matter – and the effects aren’t always visible until productivity declines or flooding worsens.
Soil biology, encompassing microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, is fundamental to nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and overall soil fertility.
Robust soil health data, derived from consistent measurement practices, provides policymakers with the evidence. This evidence is needed to create stronger, more targeted agricultural and environmental policies that are inclusive of soil and ultimately deliver meaningful impact for people, food, and the environment.
Who Should Attend?
Policy makers and civil servants who are engaged in soil-related strategies, projects, or regulatory initiatives.
Research leaders and scientific experts involved in soil monitoring programmes, Living Labs and the development of research and innovation policy recommendations.
Practitioners and innovators working on soil health and using or testing new monitoring approaches.
Stakeholders from civil society, NGOs, and grassroots movements with an active interest in soil health.
Private sector representatives contributing to or benefiting from soil health innovations.
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Rethinking grid stability in Southeast Asia: learning from the Iberian blackout
Tuesday, July 29
5:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://agora-thinktanks-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Livt31WnSyC4e2uCAkDf7g#/registration
A webinar in collaboration with the Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy in Southeast Asia (CASE) project, where we present key lessons from the recent Iberian blackout and explore what they mean for power system stability in the Southeast Asian region. Learn how Southeast Asia can strengthen grid resilience while accelerating the clean energy transition.
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Building-integrated PV in Europe
Tuesday, July 29
9am EDT [2:00 PM - 3:00 PM BST, LONDON | 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CEST, BERLIN | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EEST, ATHENS]
Online
RSVP at https://www.pv-magazine.com/webinars/building-integrated-pv-in-europe/
Building-integrated PV (BIPV) presents a compelling opportunity for Europe’s cities and towns to reach their net-zero targets. But is this opportunity being seized? Join pv magazine for a special Webinar exploring topics such as the latest cell and colored module technologies for BIPV applications, regulatory and policy challenges for the sector, potential for growth, the latest research and development, and the importance of engaging architects and the construction sector to facilitate project deployment.
Building-integrated PV (BIPV) presents a compelling opportunity for Europe’s cities and towns to reach their net-zero targets. But is this opportunity being seized?
Our panel of industry experts will share their expertise on the European BIPV market and give our audience an insight into their individual areas of focus, from colored module design to average project cost.
Nabih Cherradi and Büşra Yılmaz Depondt, both leading members of the Integrated PV working group at the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP), will talk us through the agency’s work on spreading awareness of BIPV for policymakers and regulators.
As a businessman and technologist with years of leadership experience in the PV sector, Cherradi will provide an update on the Europe market, from advanced markets like Switzerland to nations where BIPV is held back due to external factors.
Plus, Yilmaz Depondt, as CTO of Dutch-based colored BIPV module specialist KameleonSolar will speak about the science behind making buildings beautiful, taking us through the advantages and disadvantages of the various design techniques available on the market and how different players can create urban works of art with a dual function of producing clean energy.
Becquerel prize winner 2016, Prof. Christophe Ballif, renowned for his pioneering work in high-efficiency PV technologies, will give us an overview of the top research and development trends for BIPV, including the status of thin-film versus crystalline silicon, perovskites’ potential, lightweight technologies, and more topics he and his teams at EPFL’s PV and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory (PV-Lab) and the CSEM Sustainable Energy Center, both in Neuchâtel, Switzerland are researching.
Dieter Moor will tell us about the practical difficulties preventing more BIPV deployment in Europe. From its base in Austria, Moor’s consultancy company Arconsol works to bridge the knowledge gap between the various stakeholders involved in BIPV projects, from architects and the construction industry to tender organizers and local authorities. Moor will argue the importance of integrating PV into the building envelope from the get-go to ensure more chance of projects being successful in the long term.
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Safe, healthy, resilient homes: Wildfire resilience
Tuesday, July 29
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
And online
RSVP at https://www.brookings.edu/events/safe-healthy-resilient-homes-wildfire-resilience/
Wildfires are becoming more frequent, destructive, and complex—placing increasing numbers of homes and communities at risk. On Tuesday, July 29, Brookings Metro and Economic Architecture will host the second event of the Safe, Healthy, Resilient Homes series, an in-person discussion on how structural innovations are transforming wildfire resilience in the United States.
This event will bring together leaders advancing both cutting-edge technologies and community-based strategies to reduce wildfire risks at the magnitude this moment demands. From early detection systems to neighborhood-level mitigation to new frameworks for fire-adapted communities, the conversation will cover how emergency response models can be complemented with systems that prioritize long-term safety, resilience, and equity.
Together, we will explore how to align markets, public safety, and housing policy to protect lives, livelihoods, and the built environment in the face of escalating wildfire threats. Online viewers can submit questions via email to events@brookings.edu
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A Church Of And For The Poor
July 30 - August 19
Online
This course doesn't have any live sessions. You can participate according to your own schedule.
RSVP at https://bostoncollege-stm.catalog.instructure.com/courses/185732/enrollment/new
Cost: $30
3-Week Course Overview
“The poor you will always have with you” (Matt 26:11). Jesus’s words are as true as ever with today’s volatile economies and extreme financial inequality. In pursuit of a 21st Century Christian discipleship, join a guided conversation focused on the many faces of poverty. Explore the biblical and theological roots of the Church’s continuing commitment to the poor, evaluate several proposals about ways to respond to poverty, and converse with others about what it means to be a Church of and for the poor. This course uses the issue of C21 Resources The Poor: What Did Jesus Preach? What Does the Church Teach? edited by Rev. Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M.
Topics
Week 1 - Introduction to the course
Week 2 - The Many Faces of Poverty
Week 3 - How We Respond in the Face of Poverty
Special Features
This course includes:
Study aides that guides participants through the assignments;
Weekly questions for discussion and reflection; and
Resources page for further study.
All CSTM Online: Crossroads Courses Include These Features
Participants have access 24 hours/7 days a week to the course's password-protected web site.
Each participant belongs to a small Community for Conversation and faith sharing guided by a facilitator.
The course site is usually available to participants at least three months after the course has ended.
An orientation in how to navigate the web site is always available.
Technical assistance is easy to contact and prompt in returning a message.
A Certificate of Active Participation is awarded to those who post at least three messages of substance for each week of content.
Additional Materials Needed
All materials are included in the course. View this issue of C21 Resources, "For the Poor: What Did Jesus Preach? What Does the Church Teach?" If you prefer to have a hardcopy of C21 Resources, request one from The Church in the 21st Century Center at church21@bc.edu.
Time Commitment
A participant can expect to spend an average of approximately 3-4 hours each week. This commitment includes both the assigned reading and interaction online.
This course doesn't have any live sessions. You can participate according to your own schedule.
Content Scholars:
This issue of C21 Resources was edited by Rev. Kenneth Himes, O.F.M., associate professor of theology at the Boston College Theology Department.
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Systems Change in Global Energy Systems
Wednesday, July 30
10:00 - 11:00am EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/7/systems-change-global-energy-systems#register
Accelerating the shift to clean electricity. Decarbonizing industry. Electrifying transport. Improving the efficiency of buildings. Transforming the energy systems that our world depends on is essential to meeting global climate goals and building a more just, equitable future.
Join Systems Change Lab on July 30 at 10 AM EDT (4 PM CEST) for an interactive training exploring systems change in global energy systems — and where progress is needed to transform power, transport, industry and buildings.
In this session, we’ll demonstrate how to use our platform, providing data and insights to better understand how changes in energy supply and demand are unfolding globally. We will discuss how systems change can accelerate the clean energy transition and the importance of interconnected solutions. Our experts will also highlight the state of progress and key gaps across power, transport, industry and buildings.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about Systems Change Lab and the shifts needed to transform global energy systems. Register now!
Opening Remarks:
Jennifer Layke, Global Director, Energy, WRI Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition
Speakers:
Joel Jaeger, Senior Research Associate, Systems Change Lab
Neelam Singh, Senior Associate, Systems Change Lab
Leandro Vigna, Data Partnerships and Outreach Manager, Climate Watch
Irene Berman-Vaporis, Head of Communications, Systems Change Lab (moderator)
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How Forgiveness Changes You and Your Brain
Wednesday, July 30
1 - 2pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-forgiveness-changes-you-and-your-brain-tickets-1431860034909
Forgiveness can be a powerful tool for emotional healing—but it’s also one of the most complex processes to support in clinical work. What does the science tell us about how forgiveness works in the brain? And how can mental health professionals help people move toward it in ways that are safe, empowering, and grounded in their lived experiences?
Join us for an illuminating one-hour conversation with Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith, a child clinical psychologist specializing in trauma and racial identity development and a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center, and Dr. Melike M. Fourie, a neuroscientist and expert on the brain science of empathy and forgiveness. Together, they’ll explore what happens in the brain when we forgive, why it matters for mental health, and how to translate these insights into therapeutic practice. Moderated by Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Science Director at the Greater Good Science Center.
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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
RSVP at https://www.huri.harvard.edu/event/emily-channell-justice-displacement-emplacement-and-reintegration-idp-experiences-2014-2021?occ_id=0
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.
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The Spoon that Shaped an Artist’s Journey
Wednesday, July 30
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=9CL6b2hFBUGtQy461HJpVzuBFVIk0WtBt3InCF_n4ulUQkpDU0s0WEhWRElJTlBBU0tFRUtJN1NXVC4u
SPEAKER(S) Wallace Chan
A broken spoon. A burning kiln. A world reborn. In this intimate lecture, jewelry master Wallace Chan reflects on his childhood poverty, the symbolism of porcelain, and the years of trial that led to his invention of the Wallace Chan Porcelain—five times stronger than steel. More than a story of innovation, this is a meditation on silence, failure, memory, and the mysterious alchemy that turns fragility into strength.
A reception will follow in the galleries of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where the brooch Metamorphosis, created by Chan, is on display.
Advance registration is required.
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MIT At the Center of the War on Gaza: A Report from MIT Activists
Wednesday, July 30
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://secure.everyaction.com/vHsKm_THb0uRvaVWPHYRsQ2
Activists in the MIT Coalition for Palestine expose the direct relationships between their university, the Israeli military, and American companies who service it. They discuss the remarkable work the MIT community is doing for Gaza under intense duress.
Mila Halgren is a postdoctoral associate in MIT’s Brain & Cognitive Sciences Department and organizer with the MIT Coalition for Palestine. She’s one of many scientists working to end MIT’s military research for the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Richard Solomon is a Ph.D. student at MIT where he studies political economy and Middle East politics. He’s a member of the MIT Coalition for Palestine, Boston DSA and a union steward for United Electric Local 256.
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From Colorado, for Colorado: The Homegrown Tech Ready to Tackle Landfill Methane
Thursday, July 31
3pm EDT [1:00-2:00 p.m. MT]
Online
RSVP at https://rmi.org/event/webinar-from-colorado-for-colorado/
Colorado has emerged as a leader in methane monitoring — bringing solutions to market that improve air quality, protect public health, create jobs, and advance the state’s climate goals.
As Colorado considers new landfill methane standards later this summer, please join us for this one-hour webinar showcasing the homegrown technologies that can help landfill operators across the state cut methane pollution. Speakers include Colorado-based solution providers, Grand Valley Instrumentation, LongPath, Project Canary, and Scientific Aviation, as well as experts from RMI.
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MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday, August 1
8 p.m.
MIT, Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA, 02139
Sustaining Our Beautiful Planet
Jonathan Dove, Gaia Theory
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6 in A minor
George Ogata, Music Director and Conductor
Admission is free and open to all. Be sure to arrive early to secure your seat!
Celebrate the beauty of our planet and our shared responsibility to protect it with an evening of unforgettable music. Join us on Friday, August 1, as the MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra returns for its 26th season, led by Music Director and Conductor George Ogata.
Proudly sponsored by MIT Professional Education, this year’s event features powerful works by Jonathan Dove and Gustav Mahler in a moving tribute to the natural world. Don’t miss this special summer tradition, brought to life by the breathtaking talent of musicians from MIT and the Greater Boston area.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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AI and your health care data
Wednesday, August 6
12:30 – 1:15 p.m.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The Studio, Kresge Building, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_40G5875MTAenFD8
SPEAKER(S) Deborah DiSanzo Eldracher, President, Best Buy Health; Instructor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Daichi Hayashi, Alice Ettinger - Jack R. Dreyfuss Chair and Professor of Radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine; Radiologist-in-chief, Tufts Medical Center
Dusadee Sarangarm, Chief Medical Information Officer, University of New Mexico Health
MODERATOR
Meredith Rosenthal, Interim Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Drawing on research and real-world applications, this panel of physicians and health care executives will explore the transformative impact of AI on health care delivery, research, and policy—and address critical questions around data privacy and protection. Panelists will share their experiences integrating AI into workflows such as diagnostics, patient monitoring, and clinical decision-making, shedding light on both the promise and challenges of AI in health care.
Register for free to submit your questions.
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Marguerite Holloway: Take to the Trees
Friday, August 8
7pm EDT
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street Brookline, MA 02446
Take to the Trees: A Story of Hope, Science, and Self-Discovery in America's Imperiled Forests
An empowering journey into the overstory with the arborists and forest experts safeguarding our iconic trees.
Journalist Marguerite Holloway arrives at the Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop as a climbing novice, but with a passion for trees and a deep concern about their future. Run by twin sister tree doctors Bear LeVangie and Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll, the workshop helps people—from everyday tree lovers to women arborists working in a largely male industry—develop impressive technical skills and ascend into the canopy. As Holloway tackles unfamiliar equipment and dizzying heights, she learns about the science of trees and tells the stories of charismatic species, including hemlock, aspen, Atlantic white cedar, oak, and beech. She spotlights experts who are chronicling the great dying that is underway in forests around the world as trees face simultaneous and accelerating threats from drought, heat, floods, disease, and other disruptions.
As she climbs, Holloway also comes to understand the profound significance of trees in her relationship with her late mother and brother. The book’s rousing final chapter offers something new: a grander environmental and arboreal optimism, in which the story of trees and their resilience meshes with that of people working to steward the forests of the future, and of community found among fellow tree climbers. A lyrical work of memoir and reportage, Take to the Trees sounds the alarm about rapid arboreal decline while also offering hope about how we might care for our forests and ourselves.
Marguerite Holloway has written about the environment and science for publications including the New York Times, The New Yorker, Audubon, Wired and Scientific American, where she was a long-time writer and editor. She is a professor and the Director of Science and Environmental Journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She lives in New York City.
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Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change 2025
Saturday, August 8
8:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https://members.futureearth.org/events/125653
The third Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change (GIYSCC) will be held 9 August 2025, circling the Earth across three 8-hour time zones in 24 hours (00:00 GMT - 24:00 GMT) on the United Nations International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, hosted by Future Earth with Science Diplomacy Center™ coordination. This global dialogue builds on GIYSCC 2024, and the inaugural GIYSCC 2023.
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Introduction to Nature Monitoring in the City
Saturday, August 9
2 - 3:30pm EDT. Doors at 1:50pm
Somerville Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Avenue Somerville, MA 02143
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-nature-monitoring-in-the-city-tickets-1297435968909
Join Earthwise Aware (EwA)'s participatory scientists. We'll guide you through monitoring phenology and biodiversity, including insect activity at our sites. These observation events contribute to biodiversity and climate science while enjoying the outdoors in our beautiful garden. No expertise required – beginners are welcome!
The Growing Center will be our gracious host, and we look forward to spending quality time together exploring its habitats and inhabitants. In preparation for such a wonderful opportunity, we invite you to read our short Acknowledgement of Biodiversity, Land, and People. Thanks!
To record with us, install a few free apps to get started. We use smartphones as data recording tools. If you don't have a smart device, don't worry – we'll pair you with someone who does. Here are the apps: EwA Survey projects » Instructions– install our app platform, then search for and join EwA Pheno Lite and EwA Buggy.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE DO NOT BE A NO-SHOW!!! Our offerings are free and frequently waitlisted, so if you cannot attend, please tell us a few days before the events so we can give your spot to another person who wants to participate. Thanks for your understanding and courtesy!
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When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
Monday, August 11
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Jordan Thomas—wildland firefighter and cultural anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara—for a discussion of his debut book When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World. He will be joined in conversation by Ieva Jusionyte—professor of anthropology at Brown University, former Harvard Radcliffe and Fulbright fellow, and author of the award-winning ethnographies Threshold and Exit Wounds.
About When It All Burns
A hotshot firefighter’s gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season.
Eighteen of California’s largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term “megafire” to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.
In When It All Burns, wildland firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots—the special forces of America’s firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on earth. Thomas viscerally renders his crew’s attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity’s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war—and what can be done to change it back.
Thomas weaves ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into a riveting narrative about a new phase in the climate crisis. It's an immersive story of community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.
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Public AI Summit
Wednesday, August 13, 12 p.m. – Thursday, August 14, 2025, 3:30 p.m.
Online
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-hk6h6wV_ywjN1VFzYLGsv_Q4urcpD0Y34YV0XdBTEu9i4g/viewform
SPEAKER(S) Arvind Narayanan, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University
Kathy Pham, Fellow & Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University
Anna Mills, English Instructor, College of Marin
Maha Bali, Professor of Practice, American University in Cairo
A dynamic, two-day virtual AI Summit for the general public to hear from leading experts about the latest AI developments, gain a clearer understanding of what these changes mean, and learn how we can leverage these tools in our everyday lives. This event is free, open to all, and designed to make AI approachable and relevant for you.
CONTACT INFO snewman@metalab.harvard.edu
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The Time is Now: How and Why Local Governments Should Shape the Energy Systems of The Future
Wednesday, August 13
4:00 - 5:00pm EDT
Online
RSVP at https://www.wri.org/events/2025/8/time-now-how-and-why-local-governments-should-shape-energy-systems-future#register
Local governments face increasing challenges in meeting their community’s clean energy goals while supporting affordable electricity and a reliable electric grid. Now more than ever, it is important for local governments to engage in the decision-making that establishes how our energy systems look in the future.
The story across the United States is one of the increasing challenges of delivering clean, affordable, and reliable electricity. These challenges include significant forecasted load growth, an aging electric grid, a transition to carbon-free generation sources, the introduction of new and digital technologies, an unclear and ever-changing federal policy landscape, and an inconsistent patchwork of state policies and electric utility regulations.
State electric utility regulators are fundamental to the decision-making process that determines electricity prices, generation sources, and grid upgrades. Unfortunately, electricity is at risk of becoming less clean, less affordable, and less reliable. Local governments have a critical role and responsibility to engage with their state electric utility regulators to shape the future of energy policy in their region. Local government voices can help ensure an equitable clean energy transition as a part of the evolution of the future electricity grid.
Join World Resources Institute in a series of discussions on why it is more important than ever for local governments to engage in energy-system decision-making. In this first webinar discussion, WRI will share current and upcoming trends for local governments to be aware of and strategies for getting involved. Speakers will also explore the key roles of local governments in engaging with regulators and utilities to protect ratepayers from burdensome rate increases while bolstering access to clean energy.
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JFK Assassination Records: Key Takeaways
Wednesday, August 13
7 - 8pm
JFK Library, Smith Hall, Columbia Point Boston, MA 02125
And online
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jfk-assassination-records-key-takeaways-tickets-1419393868269
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Fred Logevall discusses the history and context of recently declassified files relating to President John F. Kennedy. Earlier this year, in accordance with a Presidential directive and in an effort to maximize transparency, all records previously withheld for classification in the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection were released. Among the key takeaways from these National Archives papers are a deeper understanding of CIA operations in the early 1960s, particularly in Latin America, and new details about intelligence sources inside the Cuban government. Alan Price, director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, moderates.
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Developing National Nuclear Infrastructure – Tools, Milestones, and Practical Support
Thursday, August 14
04:00 in Eastern Time (US and Canada) [10:00—11:00 Paris Time]
Online
RSVP at https://www.iea.org/events/developing-national-nuclear-infrastructure-tools-milestones-and-practical-support
John Haddad, Representative for Nuclear Infrastructure Development at the IAEA, will present on how newcomer countries can develop the necessary infrastructure to consider nuclear energy and the IAEA’s milestone approach, a structured framework guiding countries from early energy planning through to nuclear readiness.
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How to Report on the Green Transition and Critical Minerals
Tuesday, August 19
12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://pulitzercenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XDazwZiESXyqmd3IdGi1tw#/registration
As the global shift toward clean energy accelerates, so does the demand for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earths, which are essential components in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels. But this transition comes with significant environmental, social, and geopolitical implications. This webinar will help journalists explore how to cover the green transition with nuance, uncover supply chain complexities, and investigate who benefits, and who bears the cost, of this mineral rush.
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Living Between Worlds—with Courage, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday, August 20
3pm EDT [12pm PDT]
Online
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.)
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Aquatic Robots: Engineering the Future of Ocean Science
Wednesday, August 20
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
SwissnexBoston, 420 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://swissnex.org/boston/event/new-horizons-for-ocean-science/
Hear from engineers and researchers at MIT and WHOI about how advances in robotics are unlocking new tools for understanding our oceans.
Oceans play a crucial role in supporting life on earth – regulating the climate, driving global weather systems, and harboring over 80% of Earth’s biodiversity. In an age of planetary crisis, understanding our oceans has never been more vital. Recent advances in robotics are expanding the frontiers of ocean science, offering new tools to explore, monitor, and understand marine environments with unprecedented precision and reach. This event brings together experts from both engineering and marine science to examine how robotic technologies can be designed and deployed to meet the specific and evolving needs of marine research.
Speakers include Raphael Zufferey, a Swiss engineer and recently appointed professor at MIT, whose work focuses aerial-aquatic bio-inspired robots; Dana Yoerger, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), with extensive experience in underwater vehicle systems; and Annette Govindajaran, Research Scientist at WHOI, Annette Govindarajan, Research Specialist at WHOI, whose research centers on integrating ‘omics, autonomous sampling, and robotic platforms.
Through presentations and a discussion, the speakers will explore current gaps in marine research infrastructure, the opportunities and limitations of robotic systems in ocean science, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between technologists and marine researchers.
Program
5:30pm – Doors open
6:00pm – Welcome remarks
6:05pm – Presentation & discussion
6:50pm – Q&A
7:05pm – Apéro
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Climate Change Futures: Choosing Creativity Over Anxiety
Wednesday, August 27
6 - 8pm EDT
The Foundry, 101 Rogers Street Cambridge, MA 02142
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-futures-choosing-creativity-over-anxiety-tickets-1459037082189
As our planet’s ecosystems face increasing disruption, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or even helpless. How might we respond with care, courage, and imagination? What if we leaned into our collective creativity to envision better possibilities?
Climate Change Futures is a 2-hour, hands-on workshop where you’ll explore how design can help us think differently about the future. Whether you're a designer, educator, student, community leader—or just curious—this session offers a welcoming, low-stakes space to engage your imagination and your values.
You’ll be introduced to speculative design—a creative practice that helps us ask “what if?” and imagine alternative futures. It’s not about predicting what will happen, but exploring what could happen to reflect on today’s challenges and uncover new possibilities. We’ll combine speculative design techniques to prototype objects from imagined futures—tangible artifacts that bring possible worlds to life. From new inventions to ritual objects, these playful methods help us explore “what if?” and build our collective capacity to face change with imagination and resilience.
Whether you're working in design, education, technology, community organizing, policy, or beyond, these techniques can offer fresh perspectives and creative ways for navigating complexity in your own context. You might be surprised by just how relevant this approach can be to your everyday life and work! You don’t need any design experience—just an open mind and a willingness to get creative.You’ll walk away with:
A beginner-friendly introduction to speculative design and futures thinking
A hands-on artifact from an imagined future, created in community
A hopeful, creative lens on climate and systemic change
This workshop is about learning through doing—and making space for joy, connection, and curiosityalong the way. Let’s explore what could be… together.
Agenda
6:00 // Opening
6:10 // Intros and Discussion on climate anxiety
6:30 // Activity on Experimental Futures and "The Thing From the Future"
7:00 // Activity on Design Fiction
7:30 // Showcase & Reflection
7:45 // HCD Lab Community time
8:00 // Dessert social @ Toscanini's Ice Cream
About the facilitators:
Ipsita Mallick is a Senior Experience Designer at John Hancock, where she helps teams navigate complexity with empathy, creativity, and care. With a background in architecture and service design, she focuses on human-centered solutions that bridge business strategy and social impact.
An alum of Carnegie Mellon’s Integrated Innovation Institute, Ipsita explores how design can support climate resilience and collective healing. She’s passionate about using imagination and participatory methods to move communities from climate anxiety toward agency and hope. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga, meditation, reading non-fiction, attending music festivals, spending time outdoors, and dreaming up DIY art projects.
Mary Chan is a design researcher at Product Insight, a product design and engineering firm. She enjoys designing for novel technologies like XR and robotics. Her previous experience has been in tech consulting, involving a wide variety of industries like healthcare, telecoms and consumer devices. Mary’s academic background in Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction has remained a core interest and has shaped her approach to research and design, combining empathy with scientific rigour.
Mary’s interest in enabling others to use their skills for social good has led her to get involved with a number of initiatives throughout her career, from organising free programming courses for underrepresented groups to co-leading a company-wide “tech for good” group.
Fariha Azhar works as an end-to-end UX designer at Great Gray. She discovered her passion for design through engineering, realizing that the best solutions emerge when technical possibilities meet human needs. With a Master's in Engineering Design from Penn State and experience as a Senior UX Strategist, she brings both analytical rigor and creative thinking to complex challenges.
Fariha has facilitated collaborative workshops with the goal of incorporating diverse perspectives to solve challenging problems. She's particularly motivated by how speculative design can be used as a tool to envision and prepare for a variety of futures, acting as a catalyst to important conversations. When she’s not interviewing users or designing, you can find her day dreaming or playing video games.
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The Right of the People
: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding
Thursday, September 4
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Osita Nwanevu—contributing editor at The New Republic and a columnist at The Guardian, writing about American politics and culture—for a discussion of his debut book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding. He will be joined in conversation by Ryan D. Doerfler—Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
About The Right of the People
In time for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, a bold case for reimagining the American project and making American democracy real—from a formidable new voice in political journalism.
Frustrated with our political dysfunction, wearied by the thinness of contemporary political discourse, and troubled by the rise of anti-democratic attitudes across the political spectrum, journalist Osita Nwanevu has spent the Trump era examining the very meaning of democracy in search of answers to questions many have asked in the wake of the 2024 election: Are our institutions fundamentally broken? How can a country so divided govern itself? Does democracy even work as well as we believe?
The Right of the People offers us challenging answers: while democracy remains vital, American democracy is an illusion we must make real by transforming not only our political institutions but the American economy. In a text that spans democratic theory, the American Founding, our aging political system, and the dizzying inequalities of our new Gilded Age, Nwanevu makes a visionary case for a political and economic agenda to fulfill the promise of American democracy and revive faith in the American project.
“250 years ago, the men who founded America made a fundamental break not just from their old country but the past—casting off an order that had subjugated them with worn and weak ideas for the promise of true self-governance and greater prosperity in a new republic,” Nwanevu writes. “With exactly their sense of purpose and even higher, more righteous ambitions for America than they themselves had, we should do the same now — work as hard as we can in the decades ahead to ‘institute new Government’ for the benefit of all and not just the few.”
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The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine
Friday, September 5
7:00pm
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Book Store welcomes Dr. Marschall Runge—Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan, dean of the Medical School, and CEO of Michigan Medicine—for a discussion of his new book The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine.
About The Great Healthcare Disruption
When the conversation turns to the disruptors that are transforming the healthcare industry, Dr. Marschall Runge leans in. In The Great Healthcare Disruption, Dr. Runge explores the disruptors that will be shaping the healthcare industry in the decade ahead and offers practical, targeted recommendations that professionals and healthcare consumers can use to prepare.
Discover the innovations transforming medicine—and the fight to make care more equitable, accessible, and effective.
In The Great Healthcare Disruption, Dr. Marschall Runge―cardiologist, researcher, and CEO of Michigan Medicine―offers a gripping, insider’s look at the forces rapidly reshaping American healthcare. From artificial intelligence and retail medicine to revolutionary gene therapies and next-generation obesity drugs, this is your essential guide to the most significant transformation in medical care since the discovery of antibiotics.
Inside you’ll explore:
The rise of Big Tech in medicine―how Amazon, Google, and other disruptors are redefining the patient experience
Breakthrough treatments and AI-driven diagnostics reshaping chronic disease management, behavioral health, and drug development
The hidden trade-offs of innovation―how cutting-edge care delivery models are improving outcomes while straining the systems meant to support them
Why traditional institutions must evolve―and how academic medical centers can remain vital in a tech-driven world
Hard truths about access, equity, and affordability―and what must change to make healthcare work for everyone
With rich storytelling, sharp insights, and practical solutions, Dr. Runge cuts through the complexity of modern medicine to offer a bold, balanced path forward.
Whether you're a healthcare professional, policy leader, or curious reader, The Great Healthcare Disruption is your guide to understanding―and shaping―the revolution already underway.
