Events

    Soil to Foil: Aluminum and the Quest for Industrial Sustainability

    Location: 

    Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online or at Haller Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge

    In Soil to Foil (Columbia University Press, 2023), Saleem Ali tells the extraordinary story of aluminum. He reveals its pivotal role in the histories of scientific inquiry and technological innovation as well as its importance to sustainability. He highlights scientists and innovators who discovered new uses for this remarkable element, ranging from chemistry and geoscience to engineering and industrial design. Ali argues that aluminum use exemplifies broader lessons about stewardship of nonrenewable resources: its seeming abundance has given rise to wasteful and destructive...

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    2023 Science and Cooking Lecture Series

    Location: 

    Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Harvard Science and Cooking Public Lecture Series returns in 2023! The lectures pair Harvard professors with celebrated food experts and renowned chefs to showcase the science behind different culinary techniques. The series, organized by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is based on the Harvard course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter”.

    All talks will be on Mondays at 7 pm E.S.T. and will take place in the Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford St., Cambridge...

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    Climate Policy in Action: A Conversation with Nat Keohane

    Location: 

    Online or at Harvard Kennedy School, 79 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge,

    Professor Henry Lee will conduct a fireside chat with Nat Keohane, the president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, former Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate in the Obama White House, and an alum of the political economy and government doctoral program at Harvard.

    They will discuss recent progress in the U.S. climate policy space (including the Inflation Reduction Act and U.S. participation in international climate agreements), and the actions that must be taken to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

    ...

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    Climate, Health & Equity: Toward a Sustainable Future

    Location: 

    Spangler Center, Harvard Business School Campus

    Climate change is actively harming human health — not in some distant future, but now, in communities around the globe. The more we understand these harms, the better we can confront and overcome them. That’s the goal of this symposium.

    We’re bringing together leading scientists, policy makers, and activists to examine our most urgent challenges and explore the most promising solutions. The audience will include professionals from a wide array of disciplines engaged in issues of climate, health, and environmental justice. We expect the afternoon to inform and inspire, to spark...

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    Energy Policy Seminar: Carolyn Fischer on "Overlapping Policies with Tradable Performance Standards"

    Location: 

    Online or at Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 414AB, 1 Eliot St., Cambridge

    Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Carolyn Fischer, Research Manager of the Sustainability and Infrastructure Team in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Fischer will give a talk on "Overlapping Policies with Tradable Performance Standards: Insights from Emissions Trading in China." Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.

    ...

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    The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy with Gina McCarthy

    Location: 

    Online or at Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center, 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

    Join us for "The Future of Climate Action: A Conversation with Gina McCarthy".

    Speakers:

    • Gina McCarthy, the first-ever White House National Climate Advisor and former US EPA administrator.
    • James Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability, Harvard University; the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University.

    Chair:

    • Melani Cammett, Center Director; Harvard Academy Senior Scholar (on leave 2022–2023). Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of...
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    Energy Policy Seminar: Jahi Wise on "The Outlook for the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund"

    Location: 

    Online or at Harvard Kennedy School, Wexner 434AB, 1 Eliot St., Cambridge

    Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Jahi Wise, Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Acting Director for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Wise will give a talk on "The Outlook for the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund." Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.

    ...

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    Tanner Lectures with Margaret Redsteer | Lecture 2: Barriers to Transforming Climate Dialogues

    Location: 

    John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, 3 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Margaret Redsteer's Tanner Lectures, "Climate Futures and Structural Paradigms," will draw on her experiences working with local Indigenous communities to adapt to a changing climate and will consider what has been left out of narratives about the challenges we face.

    This lecture will focus on how the historical implementation of policies led to significant failures and to current attitudes about reform of land use practices.

    ...

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    Tanner Lectures with Margaret Redsteer | Lecture 1: On Resilience: A Capacity to Absorb Disturbances and Shocks

    Location: 

    John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, 3 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Margaret Redsteer’s Tanner Lectures, "Climate Futures and Structural Paradigms," will draw on her experiences working with local Indigenous communities to adapt to a changing climate and will consider what has been left out of narratives about the challenges we face.

    This lecture will be centered around what defines resilience and why tribal communities are among the most resilient and yet very vulnerable to climate change.

    ...

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    Energy Policy Seminar: Hélène Benveniste on "Climate Mobilities: Empirical Evidence & International Policy Responses"

    Location: 

    Online or at Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 414AB, 1 Eliot St., Cambridge

    Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Hélène Benveniste, Environmental Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment and Harvard Kennedy School. Benveniste will give a talk on "Climate Mobilities: Empirical Evidence and International Policy Responses." Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.

    ...

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    Loeb Fellowship 50th Anniversary Symposium: Keynote by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

    Location: 

    Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium (48 Quincy St., Cambridge)

    Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities. She co-edited the bestselling climate anthology All We Can Save, co-founded The All We Can Save Project, and co-created the Spotify/Gimlet climate solutions podcast...

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    What Makes Chocolate "Good?"

    Location: 

    Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge

    The social and environmental values underlying artisanal chocolate production have become increasingly important in its marketing. Good taste is paramount, of course, but how does one measure "social goodness," and what additional value does it add for the consumer? Chocolate makers’ interests often diverge from those of cacao producers, and industry stakeholders have not clearly addressed these concerns. Carla Martin will examine the cacao-chocolate industry and highlight the often conflicting goals that can create gaps in social and environmental responsibility.

    A...

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    Civilizing the Internet of Things

    Location: 

    Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge,

    The Internet of Things (IoT) is a deeply interconnected ecosystem of billions of devices and systems that are transforming commerce, science, and society. IoT technologies can be used to disrupt, exploit, bias, bully, and intrude as well as to make our lives safer, more efficient, and more convenient. Join Francine Berman, Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in an exploration of the larger social and environmental ecosystem needed to develop an IoT that maximizes benefits, minimizes risk, and promotes individual protections...

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    The Peril and Promise of Solar Geoengineering

    Location: 

    Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Solar geoengineering research aims to reduce the impacts of global climate change. One possibility is to put aerosols into the stratosphere to alter Earth’s energy budget. This emerging technology entails risks and uncertainties, along with serious challenges to global governance. The greatest threat, perhaps, is that it will be used as a technical fix and encourage people to avoid the emissions cuts that are fundamental to curbing long-term climate risks.

    Lecturer David Keith will describe the simple physics underlying the climate’s response to stratospheric aerosols, the...

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    The Ancient Maya Response to Climate Change: A Cautionary Tale

    Location: 

    Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Ancient Maya civilization—known for its cities, monumental architecture, ceramics, hieroglyphic writing, and advanced understanding of mathematics and astronomy—suffered a major demise between the tenth and eleventh centuries. The causes continue to be investigated and debated. Paleoenvironmental research over the past twenty years has revealed that the demise coincided with a prolonged intensive drought that extended across the region, providing compelling evidence that climate change played a key role in the collapse of the Maya.

    In this lecture, Billie Turner will examine...

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    The Secret Lives of Roots

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

    The Arnold Arboretum is full of spectacular specimens from around the world that any visitor will appreciate. However, what they observe is only half the story. How a tree uptakes water and nutrients, stays grounded in place, stores energy, and sometimes even propagates itself, is all thanks to its roots. Join horticulturists Andrew Gapinski and Conor Guidarelli as they unearth these questions and more during an exclusive look into the extraordinary world of roots.

    ...

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    Saving Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys

    Location: 

    Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA

    James W. Porter, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia

    Coral reefs support more than a quarter of all marine life, yet many are critically endangered. In the Florida Keys, the once common elk horn coral (Acropora palmata) has experienced steep declines since the 1970s. Preliminary blame was attributed to global warming and coral bleaching, but in fact, a human bacterial pathogen associated with a wide range of serious infections was the culprit. James Porter will discuss how Key West residents are saving these reefs...

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    Dr. Yvonne Cagle

    Location: 

    Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, Room 105, 48 Quincy St., Cambridge

    Dr. Yvonne Cagle is a NASA Astronaut and Family Physician. In 2008, Dr. Cagle retired as a Colonel in the USAF where she served as a Senior... Read more about Dr. Yvonne Cagle

    Harvard HouseZero Typology Symposium

    Location: 

    Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, Room 105, 48 Quincy St., Cambridge

    The Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) retrofitted its headquarters, a pre-1940s house in Cambridge, MA, into a first-of-its-kind test case to demonstrate unprecedented levels of building efficiency and promote substantial shifts in the design and operation of existing buildings. Dubbed “HouseZero,” the project aims to prove that ultra-efficient retrofits can, indeed, be achieved...

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