Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
WINNER OF THE NORDIC:DOX AWARD 2022 Denmark, Greenland / 2022 Our most basic understanding of the origins of life was recently turned upside down when Greenlandic scientist Minik Rosing discovered the first traces of life on Earth in a small fjord near Isua, Greenland. His discovery predated all previous evidence by over 300 million years. Life began in Greenland. At the same time, its melting ice masses are disintegrating day-by-day, and scientists around the world agree that it could drown our entire civilization if it continues. Director Ivalo Frank’s new film is a tribute to a vast,...
Teen Saturdays! is designed for teens interested in Latino culture, history, and community. This spring, high school students are invited to free monthly workshops to explore and learn about the natural world of Latin America and contribute thoughts on making the...
Looking closely at nature can inspire a broad range of imaginative artwork, from abstraction and decorative work to illustration and cartooning. In this workshop, we will use a variety of examples from nature as inspiration, and then explore techniques for unleashing our creativity through the drawing process.
In the Whale is a feature-length film about, arguably, the greatest true fish story ever told. It's the account of a man, Michael Packard, who survived to tell the tale of being swallowed and then spit out by a whale.
A Q&A with filmmaker David Abel will follow the screening.
Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden St., Cambridge
Join the artist and educator Evelyn Rydz for an afternoon of conversation and collective artmaking within the exhibition Water Stories: River Goddesses, Ancestral Rites, and Climate Crisis, on view September 18–December 16, 2023.
The exhibition presents artworks that tell alternative stories of water experience in the context of climate change, while encouraging viewers to appreciate the multivalent meaning of water and their own relationship to it. Rydz has repeatedly observed the increasing impacts on natural and cultural ecosystems throughout her various field...
Harvard Divinity School, James Room (Swartz Hall), 45 Francis Ave., Cambridge
Join us for a public screening of Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhely and Jimmy Chin's extraordinary film Wild Life—a story of love, wildness, and restoration in Patagonia, Chile. The film follows conservationist Kris Tompkins on an epic decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting.
A discussion on the film will follow the screening. Special guests include Kris Tompkins and Chai Valarhelyi in conversation with guest curator Geralyn Dreyfous and HDS writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams.
A presentation from 2023–2024 Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow Jennie C. Stephens.
At Radcliffe, Stephens is completing her book manuscript, provisionally titled Climate Justice University: Another Education Is Possible (Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming), which reimagines how higher education could accelerate transformative social innovation toward a more just, healthy, and stable fossil fuel–free future. The book proposes a paradigm shift to leverage the untapped potential of institutions of higher education to advance systemic social change to reduce...
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge
What treasures are found in the Harvard University paleontology collections? Meet Harvard paleontologists to find out! See their favorite fossils, learn about their research, and ask them your questions.
Learn about local fossils and where to find them, see what new techniques and technologies are being used to study fossils, and hear about current research projects. Join us to celebrate National Fossil Day with short talks and table-top presentations for all ages.
Join Dr. Pablo Borboroglu, the 2023 Indianapolis Prize Winner for animal conservation, as he recounts his lifelong journey to save penguins. Dr. Borboroglu will highlight the challenges of conservation work, from protecting 32 million acres of ocean and coastal habitat to cofounding the Global Penguin Society, an international conservation coalition for the world’s penguin species. Hear about the risks and rewards he has experienced while trying to save penguins in some of nature’s wildest places.
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge
Celebrate the vibrant culture and natural history of El Salvador. Enjoy captivating folk dances by Grupo Torogoz and try hands-on activities including corn grinding and painting with cochineal insects. Go on a scavenger hunt and discover the rich heritage of animals, minerals, and artifacts from the region. Join an archaeologist for a live-streamed tour of Joya de Cerén, the Pompeii of Latin America. Take a break with Spanish Story Time, enjoy traditional Salvadoran cuisine (available for purchase), and enter a raffle to win a museum gift basket.
Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium (48 Quincy St. Cambridge)
Join the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a Sylvester Baxter Lecture featuring Kongjian Yu.
Kongjian Yu, DDes '95, is Professor and founding dean of Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape, and founder and design principal of Turenscape. Yu’s guiding design principles are the appreciation of the ordinary and a deep embrace of nature—even of its potentially destructive aspects, such as flooding. His projects have won numerous international design awards, including 14 ASLA Excellence...
Smith Campus Center Arcade, 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
Common Spaces welcomes you back to campus for fall semester! Come by to pick up your fresh flower for free! One flower per person, while supplies last.
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Join the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture on the longest day of the year—free of charge—to explore the galleries and new exhibitions at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, and the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.
Step outdoors to enjoy lively musical and circus performances, play mini-golf, and make a flower crown. Ice cream, mocktails, and snacks will be available to purchase from food trucks and vendors. Don’t miss out on this popular event for all ages...
Malkin Penthouse, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge
Are you a student or resident looking to plug into the climate space in Boston? Please join climate-passionate students, interns, residents, fellows, and faculty from across the Harvard health sciences schools and the affiliated hospitals for a welcome reception. At this event, you will have the opportunity to learn about the climate landscape at Harvard and find ways to plug in during your time in Boston. Refreshments will be served.
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge
Meet up-and-coming scientists and learn about questions at the forefront of research today in this series of short talks. Perhaps you’ll discuss how studying dog reactions help us learn about the evolution of social behavior? Maybe you’ll consider the regrowth of a microscopic worm after injury and what that can teach us about any animal cell. Will you look at how trees manage the tradeoffs of building woody tissue or look for geological evidence of Earth’s first billion years? Each Science Spotlight in the series will include several short research talks.
Online or at Knafel Center, 10 Garden St., Cambridge
What does climate change mean for our food systems? How do our food production and consumption habits contribute to the climate crisis? Speakers will explore the complex interplay of food and climate change, challenging and illuminating our unsustainable relationships with meat and water, soil and sea.
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge
Prepare and pose an iridescent frog-legged beetle specimen and mount it in a miniature environment of your creation, all enclosed within a three-inch glass dome. Materials are included but participants are encouraged to bring rocks, crystals, dried flowers, or other materials to further enhance their insect’s home.
Open to children with adult supervision and those ages 12 and up.
Joe Roman is a conservation biologist and researcher. In this lecture, he will examine how recent studies of animal ecology have changed our views of the role of marine vertebrates in ocean ecosystems through the lens of "postindustrial ecology"—a term he has coined for the transition from extractive industries to cultural and supporting services, such as ecotourism and recreational fishing.