[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Apr 8 17:40:12 PDT 2012
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most
Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston
area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events
email gmoke at world.std.com
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Tracking Radiation from Fukushima http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/04/1080795/-Tracking-Radiation-from-Fukushima
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Monday, April 9
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Towards understanding the atmospheric circulation response to
anthropogenic forcing
Monday, April 09, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: David Thompson (Colorado State University)
MIT Atmospheric Seminar Series (MASS)
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly
seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research
concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g.
societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take
place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate
students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors,
post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by
graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with
individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs
certainly participate.
MIT Atmospheric Seminar Series
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/mass-seminar-david-thompson-colorado-state-u
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact:
Daniela Domeisen
mass at mit.edu
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Public Access To Federally Funded Research: Copyright And Other Issues
April 9, 2012
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West A, Harvard Law School, 1585
Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The panelists will be Mark Seeley, Senior Vice President and General
Counsel of Elsevier, and Peter Suber, Faculty Fellow at the Berkman
Center for Internet and Society. The discussion will be moderated by
Jonathan Hulbert, University Attorney at Harvard and Vice-Chair of the
Committee on University Intellectual Property Law.
This event will be webcast live. Click the video link below at 12:00PM
ET on Monday, April 9, 2012 to view.
Does mandating free online access to papers resulting from federally
funded research violate the Copyright Act or treaty obligations? A
distinguished pair of panelists will discuss this question, in the
context of the broader policy issues raised by such open access
mandates. They will consider the pending Federal Research Public
Access Act, as well as the National Institutes of Health Public Access
Policy.
The event will be free to the public. Dial-in access will be
provided, as well as online access. Further information on access
will be posted at http://apps.americanbar.org/dch/comadd.cfm?com=PT040200&pg=2
.
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"Current Practices and Future Opportunities: Managing Produced Water
in the Marcellus"
Monday, April 9, 2012
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK
Street, Cambridge
Featuring Meagan Mauter, Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
and Consortium for Energy Policy Research
Contact Name:
Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at harvard.edu
------------------------------
Revolutionary Doctors: How Cuba and Venezuela are changing the
world's conception of health care*
Mon. Apr. 9.
12:30 pm
Kresge 213, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue,
Boston
a talk by author Steve Brouwer
Lunch will be provided.
Free and open to the public. For visitor passes email jacob.bor at gmail.com
Facebook event<http://www.facebook.com/events/414443405248278/?context=create
>
Organized by the Health Roots Student Group at the Harvard School of
Public Health
About: Drawing on long-term participant observations as well as in-
depth research, author and journalist Steve Brouwer tells the story of
the innovative and inspirational health care programs pioneered in
Cuba and being adapted to the needs of Venezuela today. Unlike the for-
profit system of health care in the United States, the Cuban and
Venezuelan models aim to provide free care for the entire population,
particularly in poor rural and urban areas. For nearly a decade,
thousands of Cuban medical personnel have focused on delivering
primary, secondary, and preventive care while at the same time
training the Venezuelan doctors who will one day replace them. These
new physicians are receiving a thorough medical education while
continuing to live in and serve their own communities; many of them
hope to one day join the ranks of Cuba?s international medical
brigades that are spreading revolutionary approaches to health care in
many parts of the
world. These models are not without their challenges, however, and
Brouwer gives a nuanced account of how Venezuela and Cuba are fending
off capitalist and imperialist influences that are openly hostile to
any alternatives to profit-driven, market-based health care.
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The Grand Energy Transition: Natural Gas - The Bridge Fuel to Our
Sustainable Future
April 9, 2012
4:00-5:30 p.m.
Kennedy School of Government, L-140/Goodman (HKS), 79 JFK Street,
Cambridge
Free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
Add to Outlook | Add to Google Calendar | Add to Yahoo Calendar
Speaker: Robert A. Hefner III, Author of The Grand Energy Transition
Description: Join us for a discussion with Robert Hefner, who will
introduce clips from the new film, "The Grand Energy Transition",
based on his 2009 book, followed by a moderated panel discussion with
Mr. Hefner and:
Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Leonardo Maugeri, Research Fellow, Geopolitics of Energy Project
Rasmus Myklebust, Harvard Kennedy School, MPA ‘12
The GET, is an analysis of how the world is moving from unsustainable,
solid and liquid energy sources of our past to clean, sustainable
gaseous energy sources – sources that may shape America’s future.
Hefner describes how to accelerate the transition to the sustainable
energy gases of natural gas, wind, solar, and hydrogen that can
eliminate the civilization threatening consequences of continued coal
and oil consumption.
Hefner argues that shifting U.S. energy infrastructure to natural gas
will enhance energy security, stimulate the U.S. economy, reduce CO2
emissions by over 200 million tons annually, and eliminate much of the
pollution in major metropolitan areas, reduce related health costs,
and restore America's global leadership in energy and climate.
The GET is written and directed by Emmy Award-winner Greg Mellott, and
produced by Academy Award-winning co-producer of The Godfather Part
II, Gray Frederickson.
Speaker Info: Robert A. Hefner III is Founder and Owner of GHK (a
private natural gas company headquartered in Oklahoma City). He
pioneered ultra-deep natural gas exploration and production. GHK led
the development of innovative technology needed to successfully drill
and produce many of the world's deepest and highest pressure natural
gas wells - setting many industry world records along the way. In the
1970s, Hefner was a leader in the industry's successful efforts to
deregulate the price of natural gas. These technological and political
accomplishments led to the development of vast new domestic natural
gas resources.
Contact: ENRP Program Coordinator
Environment and Natural Resources Program 79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Harvard Kennedy School
Email: enrp at hks.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-495-1351
Fax: 617-495-1635
Url: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/project/43/environment_and_natural_resources.html
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Fracking and Shale Gas: Analyzing the Risks and Opportunities
Monday, Apr 9, 2012
4:00pm until 7:00pm
Boston University, School of Education, 2 Silber Way (130), Boston
Speaker(s): Susan Tierney, Energy Specialist
Shale gas and hydraulic fracturing are all over the news. What’s
really happening with this resource, its development, the impacts, the
risks and opportunities, the responses? Please join Susan Tierney,
Managing Principal at Analysis Group, as she shares her views on shale
gas. A member of the Shale Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy
Advisory Board and the policy leader of the recent National Petroleum
Council’s study on natural gas, Sue will talk about the issues – in
terms of energy markets, environmental and community impacts, economic
development, regulatory trends, and other points of view.
Speaker Biography: Susan Tierney, a Managing Principal at Analysis
Group, is an expert on energy economics, regulation and policy, with a
focus on the electric and gas industries. She previously served as the
Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. DOE, and in Massachusetts
was Secretary for Environmental Affairs and Commissioner at the
Department of Public Utilities. She is a member of the Secretary of
Energy Advisory Board (and its Shale Gas Subcommittee), and chairs the
Advisory Council of the National Renewable Energy Lab. She is a
director of the World Resources Institute; Clean Air Task Force; the
Alliance to Save Energy; Clean Air – Cool Planet; and EnerNOC. She
previously chaired the Board of Directors of the Energy Foundation,
the Policy Subgroup of the National Petroleum Council’s study of the
North American natural gas resources, co-chaired the National
Commission on Energy Policy, and taught at the University of
California at Irvine and at MIT. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees
in regional planning at Cornell University.
Open to General Public
Admission is free
More Info http://www.sra-ne.org/
Contact School of Public Health Department of Environmental Health
John Douglas
johnd at bu.edu
617-638-4620
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Nationwide Water Use by Thermoelectric Cooling Systems
Monday, April 09, 2012
4:15p–5:15p
MIT, Building 3-333, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Timothy Diehl, United States Geological Survey
SPEAKER BIO
Tim Diehl has been a hydrologist in the Tennessee Water Science Center
of the U.S. Geological Survey since 1989. His current main research
areas are water use by thermoelectric power plants and its potential
response to climate change, and erosion and sediment transport due to
land disturbance. He has also studied woody debris in streams, the
evolution of wetlands in aggrading alluvial systems, and the complex
relations among floodplain vegetation, floods, channel configuration,
and floodplain deposition. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering,
M.S. in Environmental Studies, and B.S. in Botany from the University
of Wisconsin in Madison.
ABSTRACT
Thermoelectric power generation withdraws more water than any other
economic sector in the US. While the thermoelectric share of national
water consumption is an order of magnitude smaller, it competes
directly with irrigation and other uses in arid basins. Existing data
on thermoelectric water use is incomplete and of inconsistent quality
despite federal reporting requirements. Proposed changes in federal
regulation of once-through cooling systems have awakened interest in
estimation of thermoelectric water consumption even where water is
abundant. In its compilation of US water use for 2010, the USGS will
resume publishing estimates of water consumption at thermoelectric
plants after dropping them in 2000. At the same time, we will put
estimates of water withdrawal at these plants on a firmer analytical
footing. We are using a hierarchy of methods to make efficient use of
the available data, which varies widely from plant to plant.
In this talk I will cover the details of current USGS methods for
water-use estimation, including tracking uncertainty, and comment on
potential changes to EIA forms. I will also examine the location and
magnitude of disparities between reported water-use data and estimates
derived from generic water-use coefficients.
Refreshments will be served prior to the seminar in room 3-339a at 4pm.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): RGD Lab
For more information, contact:
Jeff Hanna
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Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance
Monday, April 09, 2012
4:30p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-276, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Arvind Subramanian
MIT China Forum
The China Forum is part of a broader MIT effort to look at new ways of
fostering ties with China. The Forum was created by the MIT-Greater
China Strategy Group, which is charged with identifying new
initiatives and collaborations with China over the next 20 years.
In his new book, Arvind Subramanian presents the following
possibilities: What if, contrary to common belief, China's economic
dominance is a present-day reality rather than a faraway possibility?
What if the renminbi's takeover of the dollar as the world's reserve
currency is not decades, but mere years, away? And what if the United
States' economic pre-eminence is not, as many economists and
policymakers would like to believe, in its own hands, but China's to
determine? Subramanian's attempt to quantify and project economic and
currency dominance leads him to the conclusion that China's dominance
is not only more imminent, but also broader in scope, and much larger
in magnitude, than is currently imagined. He explores the profound
effect this might have on the United States, as well as on the global
financial and trade system.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT-China Program, MIT China Forum
For more information, contact:
Sean Gilbert
253-5068
china at mit.edu
---------------------------------
Wikicity: How Web-Enabled, Citizen-Driven Initiatives are Redesigning
the Urban Interface
WHEN Mon., Apr. 9, 2012, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Piper Auditorium, GSD Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Loeb Fellowship at the GSD
SPEAKER(S) Moderated by Aaron Naparstek and Jean Brownhill Lauer
Guests: Mike Lydon, Street Plans Collaborative
Aurash Khawarzad of Do:Tank
Ben Berkowitz, CEO, SeeClickFix.com
Erin Barnes, CEO, loby.org
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO syoung at gsd.harvard.edu
NOTE This session explores how web-enabled, citizen-driven "tactical
urbanism" concepts are changing the way we plan, design and program
urban public space.
LINK http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/loeb-fellows-wikicity.html
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ACT Lecture | Muntadas - Projects and Protocols: Conventions on Art
and Technology
Monday, April 09, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-001, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Muntadas, Professor of the Practice, MIT Program in Art,
Culture and Technology, Cambridge
Muntadas'work addresses social, political and communications issues
such as the relationship between public and private space within
social frameworks, and investigates channels of information and the
ways these may be used to censor or promulgate ideas. His projects are
presented in different media such as photography, video, publications,
the Internet, installations, and urban interventions. Muntadas has
received numerous awards and grants, and his work has been exhibited
extensively at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee d'Art
Contemporaine, Montreal; Berkeley Art Museum; the Museo de Arte
Moderno, Buenos Aires; the Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo, Brazil; the VI and
X editions of documenta, Kassel; the Whitney Biennial of American Art,
New York; and the 51st Venice Biennial. Most recently, he exhibited at
NCCA in Moscow, Russia, The Bronx Museum, and his show Muntadas: Entre/
Between, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid,
runs through March 2012.
Web site: http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures/2012-spring/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to the public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, MIT Program in Art, Culture
and Technology, School of Architecture and Planning
For more information, contact:
Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act at mit.edu, clauraa at mit.edu
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Tuesday, April 10
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Urban Computing: Using City Dynamics to Tackle the Biggest Challenges
in Urban Spaces
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
10:00am - 12:00pm
MIT Media Lab, E14-240, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Yu Zheng (Microsoft Research Asia)
The rapid progress of urbanization on earth leads to modern cities,
which provide people with a comfortable life; but urbanization is
followed by big challenges, such as traffic jams, increasing
population, energy consumption, and pollution. Urban computing is
emerging as a concept where every sensor, device, person, vehicle,
building, and street in the urban areas can be used as a component to
probe city dynamics to further enable city-wide computing for coping
with these challenges. Urban computing aims to enhance both human life
and urban environment smartly through a recurrent process of sensing,
mining, understanding, and improving. Urban computing also aims to
deeply understand the nature and sciences behind the phenomenon
occurring in urban spaces, using a variety of heterogeneous data
sources representing city dynamics, such as traffic flows, human
mobility, geographic data, environment, energy consumption,
populations, and economics. This presentation will substantiate the
concept of urban computing with some concrete systems and technology
tackling the most challenging traffic problems in a city. Details of
these research projects can be found onhttp://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/urbancomputing/default.aspx
.
Biography: Dr. Yu Zheng is a researcher from Microsoft Research Asia.
He is a enior member of IEEE and ACM. His research interests include
trajectory data mining, location-based social networks, and urban
computing. He has published or presented over 50 papers in
international conferences and journals, such as SIGMOD, SIGKDD, AAAI,
ICDE, WWW, Ubicomp, IEEE TKDE, and ACM TWEB. These papers have been
featured by top-tier press such as Technology Review and New
Scientist. He has received three best paper awards from UIC'10, ACM
SIGSPATIAL GIS'11, and ADMA'11 as well as a best paper nomination from
Ubicomp'11. He has published two book chapters and edited one book as
an editor-in-chief. He has been invited to over 30 prestigious
international conferences as a chair or program committee member,
including KDD, Ubicomp, IJCAI, ACM SIGSIAPTAL, PAKDD, and SSTD. He is
also an editorial board member of four international journals and a
frequent invited speaker. He has received three technical transfer
awards from Microsoft and 20 granted/filed patents. In 2008, he was
recognized as the Microsoft Golden Star. He joined MSRA in July 2006
after receiving his PhD in communication and information systems from
Southwest Jiaotong University. Homepage: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/yuzheng/
.
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White House Burning
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Simon Johnson and James Kwak
Please join us on April 10, from 12 to 1 p.m. in Wong Auditorium,
E51-115 for a lively discussion with Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz
(1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship, and co-author James Kwak,
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut School of Law, at the
launch of the book tour for White House Burning: The Founding Fathers,
The National Debt, And Why it Matters to You (Pantheon, April 2012).
The discussion will investigate topics such as:
* Does the U.S. face a fiscal crisis? What are the real dimensions of
this crisis, and which issues are exaggerated by the current debate?
* What measures are needed to stabilize or reduce the US debt-to-GDP
ratio? Is there any chance that such steps will soon find political
support?
* How and when exactly did the US lose its long tradition of fiscal
responsibility? Will we find our way back to policies consistent with
that tradition--or is some form of US default inevitable?
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT COOP BOOKS, Office of the External Relations and the
Politics & Policy Club
For more information, contact:
Michelle Fiorenza
fiorenza at mit.edu
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Long-range Planning for Transportation: The Future Freight Flows Project
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
12-1pm
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Dr. Chris Caplice, Executive Director of MIT Center for Transportation
and Logistics, leads this seminar on Future Freight Flows as part of
the Transportation at MIT and the MIT Transportation Club Spring 2012
Transportation Seminar Series.
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From Super PACs to Miku: Politics of Media in the 21st Century
WHEN Tue., Apr. 10, 2012, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Bowie-Vernon Conference Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737
Cambridge Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Ian Condry, associate professor of comparative media
studies, MIT
Moderator: Theodore C. Bestor. Reischauer Institute Professor of
Social Anthropology, and chair, Department of Anthropology, Harvard
University
COST Free
CONTACT INFO xtian at wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/schedule/schedule.htm
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All You Need is Love (and a manager, an accountant, & a web designer)
Making it as a Musician in an Increasingly Networked World
Tuesday, April 10, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/04/thomson_mckeown
#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast
and archived on our site shortly after.
Future of Music Coalition's Kristin Thomson and Berkman Fellow Erin
McKeown
This should be a glorious time for independent musicians. Technologies
like digital music stores, streaming services and webcasting stations
have greatly reduced the cost barriers to the distribution and sale of
music, and a vast array of new platforms and services — from blogs to
Bandcamp to Twitter feeds — now help musicians route around middlemen
and connect directly with fans.
While they’re more in control than ever, newly empowered musicians now
find themselves juggling dozens of career-related responsibilities,
from booking their own shows to composing witty tweets. How are
today’s musicians balancing it all and, even more critical, how have
these changes impacted their earning capacity?
On April 10, join Future of Music Coalition's Kristin Thomson and
Berkman Fellow Erin McKeown as they discuss the changing landscape for
musicians and music fans. Drawing on data collected through FMC’s
groundbreaking Artist Revenue Streams project, a multi-method, cross-
genre examination of musicians' and composers' revenue streams in the
US, the talk will focus on how musicians are managing their assets,
building teams and allocating their time in this increasingly
networked world.
About
Kristin Thomson is a community organizer, social policy researcher,
entrepreneur and musician. She is co-owner of Simple Machines, an
independent record label, which released over seventy records and CDs
from 1991-1998. She also played guitar in the band Tsunami, which
released four albums from 1991-1997 and toured extensively. In 2001,
Kristin graduated with a Masters in Urban Affairs and Public Policy
from the University of Delaware. She has been with the Future of Music
Coalition since 2001 and has overseen project management, research and
event programming, including Future of Music Policy Summits from
2002-2007. She currently lives near Philadelphia with her husband
Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, and their son, where she also
plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken.
Erin McKeown is an internationally known musician, writer, and
producer. With 7 full length albums, 2 EPs, and numerous soundtracks
to her credit, she has spent the last 10 years crafting a reputation
as an original musical voice and compelling live performer. Lately,
she has added mentor and activist to her list of accomplishments. At
Berkman, she will work to connect the worlds of policy, art,and
technology while considering questions about how to make a creative
life a viable vocation.
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SUSTAINABILITY AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Tuesday, April 10
2:00 – 5:00 pm (followed by reception)
Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy St. room 112, Cambridge
Please join Harvard faculty, students, and alumni for a hands-on
exploration of Harvard’s work with respect to sustainability and the
built environment, hosted by the Graduate School of Design. This is an
opportunity to foster new connections among faculty, to identify
curriculum and research opportunities for students and to explore ways
academic research can help the University and community adapt to
climate change.
The primary goals are to 1) share what faculty are doing in
sustainability, particularly with respect to buildings, campuses,
cities, and landscapes; and 2) learn how Harvard might be a test bed
for research and teaching related to energy and climate impacts on
infrastructure.
This pointed and interactive program involves a short plenary, three
breakouts led faculty, and closing synthesis of the workshop.
------------------------------
Iran: Domestic Politics, Sanctions, and the Drumbeats of War
April 10, 2012
4:30-6:30pm
MIT, Building E51-395, Tang Center, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Professor Ali Banuazizim, Director, Program in Islamic Civilization
and Societies, Boston College
The escalating threats of an Israeli and/or U.S. military strike
against Iran if it crosses the "red line" of weaponizing its nuclear
program--or even if it develops the "capability" for doing so--has
hindered more measured analyses of the efficacy, legality, costs, and
potentially catastrophic consequences of such a "war of choice" by the
U.S. and its allies. Also lost in much of the ongoing saber-rattling
on both sides of this conflict are assessments of the debilitating
impact of the current, or soon-to-be-imposed, sanctions on the Iranian
economy. The Islamic Republic's highly fractious domestic politics--
still reeling form the massive post-presidential-election uprisings of
2009, the widely publicized charges of large-scale official corruption
that have further undermined the legitimacy of the theocratic regime,
and Iran's increasing regional and international isolation comprise
yet a third set of factors that help determine the country's response
to international pressures to curb or abandon its nuclear ambitions.
It will be argued that, while the above considerations, combined with
concerns about the Islamic Republic's flagrant violations of human
rights and suppression of all forms of political dissent, may well
justify the continued imposition of economic sanctions, they militate
strongly against the use or the threat of use of force by outside
powers.
----------------------------
Radcliffe Institute Water Series: "A Right to Safe Water?"
WHEN Tue., Apr. 10, 2012, 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10
Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences,
Lecture, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Michael Kremer, Gates Professor of Developing Societies,
Department of Economics, Harvard University
COST Free
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8600
NOTE Each year, 1.6 million children worldwide die from diarrheal
disease. Many of these deaths, says Michael Kremer, could be prevented
by effective water treatment, as occurred in the United States in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2010, the General Assembly of
the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council recognized a human
right to water and sanitation. Yet standard procedure among many
organizations in the field is to rely on user fees to cover
maintenance and recurrent costs of such service. Kremer will analyze
the case for such fees—from a rights-based perspective, from a health
cost-effectiveness perspective, and from a public finance perspective—
in light of empirical findings on the health impact of water treatment
and on the psychology and economics of preventative measures against
communicable disease. He will discuss the financial and institutional
steps that would be needed to create near-universal access to safe
drinking water.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar_2012kremer.aspx
----------------------------
Knox Lecture Series in Engineering Ethics: Ethical Issues in Energy
Supply: The Troublesome Case of the LNG Facility in Everett, MA
Thursday, April 12, 2012
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM (ET)
51 Winthrop Street, Medford
RSVP http://knoxlecture.eventbrite.com/
Speaker: David O’Connor, Sr. VP for Energy & Clean Technology at ML
Strategies (Previously Commissioner at MA Division of Energy Resources)
Several million people in Massachusetts depend on the liquefied
natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Everett, MA for their
electricity and space heating needs. Situated in Boston Harbor, the
Everett tanks hold natural gas that has been cooled to hundreds of
degrees below zero. An invaluable energy source, the facility also
presents a significant danger. LNG, when turned to gas, is highly
flammable and burns with a ferocious intensity, much hotter than a
normal fire.An accident or a terrorist strike that breaches one of the
tankers or a tank would initiate a fire that could cause widespread
loss of property and human life. Public officials and activists have
tried for years to eliminate the need for the Everett facility.
Why was this facility constructed where it is in the first place? Did
the original designers and builders and regulators foresee the risks
that are now so obvious? What are the ethical responsibilities of the
owners of the facility, the government that regulates it, and the
consumers who use its energy? What energy policies and public
processes should be pursued to avoid creating such a dilemma in the
future?
Reception to follow lecture.
About David O’Connor
Senior Vice President for Energy & Clean Technology
David helps energy and technology companies expand their markets and
accelerate their growth. With deep knowledge of the energy industry
and environmental issues, David helps these companies shape emerging
public policies to their advantage. His clients include companies that
deliver energy efficiency services, develop wind, biomass and other
renewable power plants, install transmission and smart grid
technologies, and bring new low-carbon fuels and offsets to the
marketplace.
David has been a leader and problem-solver in the public and private
sectors for more than 30 years. Most recently, he served as the
Massachusetts Commissioner of Energy Resources during the tenures of
five Governors, from 1995 through 2007. Under his leadership,
Massachusetts began a historic movement to expand the use of clean
energy. He implemented the first-ever standards for renewable energy
use and renewable certificate trading in New England. He was a member
of the Massachusetts team that negotiated the first-ever multi-state
agreement known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to
limit emissions of climate-changing carbon from power plants.
About The Knox Lecture Series in Engineering Ethics
The Knox lecture Series in Engineering Ethics, established by an
engineering alumnus, is named in honor of Associate Engineering Dean
Kim Knox. The new series, administered by the Tufts Gordon Institute,
will focus on engineering ethics, technology policy and social
justice. High profile engineering leaders will address topics ranging
from intellectual property and privacy to the ethical implications of
evolving fields such as genetics, nanotechnology, climate change and
sustainable development.
----------------------------------
The Rise of China and American Power
Tuesday, April 10
7 pm
First Parish (Unitarian Universalist), 3 Church Street, Harvard
Square, Cambridge
Joseph Nye of the Harvard Kennedy School examines the future of
American relations with China. As China has become a more powerful
player in the Pacific, how has it projected its strength? How have
strategic alliances among its neighbors changed in response to China’s
growing economic and military might? What does the Obama
administration’s new emphasis on the Pacific mean for the future of
American relations with China?
Cambridge Forum http://www.cambridgeforum.org/
-------------------------------
How to Keep Your News Site Sticky
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
7:00 PM
Boston Globe, 135 Morrissey Blvd., Dorchester
RSVP at http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/events/55343912/?a=me1p_grp&eventId=55343912&action=detail&rv=me1p&rv=me1p
It’s a lot of work to capture audience share. And once you have those
hard-won readers, you want them to stay – not click away. Our panel
will discuss tools that can help make a news site more “sticky.” From
embedding third-party content on the fly to adding community and real-
time social media activity to the news page, we’ll learn some
potential digital answers to enhanced reader engagement.
Our panel:
Ziad Sultan is the founder/CEO of Marginize, entrepreneur in residence
at Longworth Venture Partners, and mentor at Oasis 500. Prior to this,
he was a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group and consultant
at Ernst & Young. He earned Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science and an undergraduate degree from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his graduate studies
focused on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Signal Processing.
About Marginize: Marginize is a browser plugin that augments every
page on the Web with a sidebar enabling users to see what the world is
saying about the page on Twitter, Facebook and Buzz, and interact with
each other through comments and check-ins. In the words of client Wade
Roush at xconomy: “It's exciting to me as a Web journalist, because it
has the potential to reunify social media conversations with the
objects of those conversations, such as news articles.”
Sean Creeley is the co-founder Embed.ly Inc. Previously a senior
developer with Optaros and Web application developer at Intel, he also
did consulting work for various clients, including The Washington
Times. Creeley says he’s “just a developer that decided to start a
company.”
About Embed.ly: Embed.ly allows developers to embed any URL through
one powerful API. Sites can automatically convert posted links into
embedded videos, images, rich media, RSS entries and article previews
from over 200 sites on the fly. Examples include rich-media
Foursquare check-ins, PDFs, Instagram photos, YouTube and Vimeo clips
and more. Embed.ly serves millions of requests a day to over 2,000
unique sites including Storify, New York magazine, AOL, Reddit,
Yammer, Bit.ly, Hunch and Tweetdeck.
And don't forget: the usual free cookies and coffee. ;-)
LOCATION: In the Globe's Link room. Plenty of parking in the Globe
lots. Also easy 5 min walk from the Red Line's JFK/YUMass stop.
-------------------------
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Poet Gary Snyder
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
7:00p–10:00p
MIT, Building10-250
Speaker: Gary Snyder
MIT'S Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies and PEN New England
Present Pulitzer-Prize Winning Poet Gary Snyder: To Read and Accept
PEN'S Thoreau Award.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
For more information, contact:
Rieb, Magdalena
617-253-4741
www-humanistic at mit.edu
------------------------
Wednesday, April 11
------------------------
“INNOVATIONS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE: SURFACES, MICROFLUIDICS, AND SOFT
ROBOTICS“
WHEN Wed., Apr. 11, 2012, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
WHERE RCC conference room, 26 Trowbridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Real Colegio Complutense & Education Office of
Spain-USA
SPEAKER(S) David Weitz, Applied Physics Department. Harvard
University; Laura Arriaga, postdoc at Weitz’lab (Harvard) &
Complutense University; Ramses V. Martinez, postdoc at Whitesides' lab
(Harvard) & IMDEA-Nanoscience; Professor Rodolfo Miranda, director of
IMDEA-Nanoscience. Madrid (Spain)
COST Free, open to the public
CONTACT INFO lina.arias at mecd.es
NOTE Session 2 of the U.S. & Spanish university partnership dialogue
series
--------------------------------
Revolutionary Leaders in Iran: Will Leadership Change Create
Opportunities for Peace ?
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Jeff Colgan, American University
SSP Wednesday Seminar
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program
For more information, contact:
617-253-7529
--------------------------------
Naomi Levine (Harvard) Seeing the forest AND the trees: Modeling
ecosystem-climate interactions
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
12:10p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The MIT Oceanography and Climate Sack Lunch Seminar Series is a
student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include
all research concerning climate, geophysical fluid dynamics,
biogeochemistry, paleo-oceanography/climatology and physical
oceanography.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Climate Sack Lunch Seminar
For more information, contact:
Dan Goldberg
3-2977
dgoldber at mit.edu
------------------------------------
Risk Sharing and Transaction Costs: Evidence from Kenya's Mobile Money
Revolution
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Tavneet Suri (MIT)
Web site: http://www.mit.edu/~tavneet/Jack_Suri.pdf
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Development and Environmental Economics Workshop
For more information, contact:
Theresa Benevento
theresa at mit.edu
----------------------------------
China Urban Development Discussion Series: Urban Public Finance in China
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
5:30p–7:00p
MIT, Building 9-354, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Roy W Bahl, Jr., Regents Professor Emeritus and Dean
Emeritus of the Andrew Young School at the Georgia State University;
Discussant: Visiting Professor Yu-Hung Hong, MIT Department of Urban
Studies and Planning
China Urban Development Discussion Series
China spends a greater percent of its public budget through
subnational governments than any other country in the world. It gives
little taxing powers to its subnational governments, leaving a large
vertical balance that is filled with a variety of intergovernmental
transfers. The present system was overhauled about 15 years ago to
address the problem of erosion of central government revenues. But
this reform left a number of important questions unresolved, including
the problematic assignment of expenditure responsibility, the absence
of a good mechanism for revenue mobilization at the subnational
government level, the incentives for provincial and local governments
to adopt a hard budget constraint, and the absence of a policy about
the financing of large urban governments. With respect to the latter,
there is no comprehensive policy about how to differentiate between
the public financing needs of large urban agglomerations and other
subnational governments. This presentation will track the development
of these problems since the last reform, discuss some of the research
that has evaluated the reform options, and discuss the "Chinese model"
in terms of the decentralization theorem and the practice that has
emerged in other countries. Please join us for more perspectives and
insights on this topic.
Please RSVP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Y5F8YQ. Complimentary
dinner will be served at 5:00 pm in 9-554; talk starts at 5:30 pm and
ends by 7 pm in 9-354.
Web site: http://dusp.mit.edu/cud/cud_series.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Graduate Student
Life Grants, China Urban Development
For more information, contact: Shan Jiang
shanjang at mit.edu
--------------------------------
Legatum Lecture: Education Entrepreneurship in India
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building E62-276, Sloan School, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ashish Rajpal, Founder and CEO, iDiscoveri
During the presentation Ashish Rajpal will talk about the success of
his entrepreneurial model, the transformative changes occurring in
education, and career opportunities available at iDiscoveri. Please
join us on April 11th!
Web site: http://legatum.mit.edu/content/1170
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship
For more information, contact:
Agnes Hunsicker
617-324-2768
legatum at mit.edu
---------------------------------
First They Came for the Immigrants?.. A Forum on Human Rights,
Constitutional Rights, Your Rights
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
6:30-8:30 pm
Cambridge Public Library Lecture Hall, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
With Nancy Murray, Director of Education, ACLU of Massachusetts
Melissa Gonzalez-Brenes, Chair, Cambridge Human Rights Commission
and featuring testimonies from people whose rights have been violated
by the Homeland Security Surveillance State.
Moderated by Cathy Hoffman, Cambridge United for Justice with Peace
In the aftermath of September 11, there have been dramatic and
chilling changes in government practices towards immigrant
communities, particularly the Latino and Muslim communities. These
changes have extended to those expressing dissent or protesting US
policies, and beyond.
The forum will feature speakers sharing personal testimony as well as
an overview of policy changes that are eroding basic constitutional
rights and
how the erosion of these rights for some has implications for us all.
--------------------------------
Revisiting Port Huron
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building E51-Wong, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Tom Hayden; Noam Chomsky
Tom Hayden is a political activist, politician, and author. His most
recent book is The Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics at
MIT (emeritus).
co-sponsored by CIS Starr Forum and Boston Review's Ideas Matter
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
starrforum at mit.edu
-----------------------
Thursday, April 12
----------------------
A Policy Perspective on China's Energy Efficiency
WHEN Thu., Apr. 12, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Tsai Auditorium, S010, CGIS South, Concourse Level, 1730
Cambridge St., Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science,
Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Asia Center, Energy Foundation, the
China Project at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SPEAKER(S) Xie Ji, deputy director general, Department of Resources
Conservation and Environmental Protection, China
-------------------------------
Supply chain design and the cost of greenhouse gas emissions
Thursday, April 12, 2012
4:15p–5:15p
MIT, Building E51-335, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Gérard Cachon
ORC Spring Seminar Series
The OR Center organizes a seminar series each year in which prominent
OR professionals from around the world are invited to present topics
in operations research. We have been privileged to have speakers from
business and industry as well as from academia throughout the years.
For a list of past distinguished speakers and their seminar topics,
please visit our Seminar Archives.
ORC Spring Seminar Series
Seminar reception immediately following the talk in room E40-106.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/orc/www/seminars/seminars.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Operations Research Center
For more information, contact:
Joline Ann Villaranda Uichanco, Yehua Wei, or Yuan Zhong
253-6185
uichanco at mit.edu, y4wei at mit.edu, zhyu4118 at mit.edu
----------------------------------
A Stretchy, Curvy Future for Electronics
Thursday, April 12, 2012
4:30p–5:30p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Prof. John A. Rogers, UIUC
Wulff Lecture
The Wulff Lecture is an introductory, general-audience, entertaining
lecture which serves to educate, inspire, and encourage MIT
undergraduates to take up study in the field of materials science and
engineering and related fields. The entire MIT community, particularly
freshmen, is invited to attend. The Wulff Lecture honors the late
Professor John Wulff, a skilled, provocative, and entertaining teacher
who inaugurated a new approach to teaching the popular freshman
subject: 3.091 Introduction to Solid State Chemistry.
Biology is curved, soft, and elastic; silicon wafers are not.
Semiconductor technologies that bridge this gap in form and mechanics
will create new opportunities in devices that adopt biologically
inspired designs or require intimate integration with the human body.
This talk describes the development of electronics that offer the
performance of state-of-the-art, wafer-based systems with the
mechanical properties of a rubber band, explains the underlying
principles in materials science and mechanics that enable these
outcomes, and illustrates their use in bio-integrated, 'tissue-like'
electronics with unique capabilities in mapping neural activity on the
brain and monitoring physiological status through the skin.
Demonstrations in humans and live animal models illustrate the
functionality offered by these technologies, and suggest several
clinically relevant applications.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
--------------------------------
The safeguarding of Venice and its lagoon:the MOSE System
Thursday, April 12, 2012
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Maria Teresa Brotto, Engineering Department Head, Consorzio
Venezia Nuova and Giovanni Cecconi, Head of Modeling and Forecasting,
Thetis Spa Venice
The MOSE--a series of mobile barriers that will protect Venice from
high waters--is Italy's largest public work and one that has huge
implications for other sites threatened by rising waters. The
engineers and scientists who conceived the project and are carrying it
out will describe its working and impact. The first barrier will
become operational in 2013.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT-Italy Program, MISTI, Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
ssferza
253-6982
italy at mit.edu
-----------------------------------
The Digital Edge: Exploring the Digital Practices of Black and Latino
Youth
Thursday, April 12, 2012
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Craig Watkins
CMS Colloquium Series
S. Craig Watkins studies young people's social and digital media
behaviors. He teaches at the University of Texas, Austin, in the
departments of Radio-Television-Film, Sociology, and the Center for
African and African American Studies. Craig is also a Faculty Fellow
for the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. He received
his PhD from the University of Michigan.
He is the author of three books, including The Young and the Digital:
What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime,
Anywhere Media Means for Our Future. He is a member of the MacArthur
Foundation's research network on Connected Learning.
Among other things his work in the network will include leading a team
of researchers in an ethnographic study of teens and their
participation in diverse digital media cultures and communities.
Working with an Austin-based game studio Craig is also developing a
game design workshop for young teens. The workshop will explore the
connections between digital media, game authorship, literacy, and
civic engagement.
Craig blogs for dmlcentral, the online presence for the Digital Media
and Learning Research Hub hosted at the UC Irvine campus, and the
HuffingtonPost. For updates on Craig's research visit his website,
theyoungandthedigital.com.
Web site: http://cms.mit.edu/events/talks.php#041212
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies
For more information, contact:
Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cms at mit.edu
---------------------------
Energy Necklace Workshop
Thursday, April 12, 2012
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Ave, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3033612617/esearch?srnk=199
Taught by studio2sustain
Where do ideas come from? How does innovation feel? How do you lead a
team through an innovation or design process? How do you mix mission
with business? Get out of your comfort zone and experience an intense
burst of innovation, design, leadership and collaboration. In this
hands-on interdisciplinary workshop, you will be part of a team
creating a sculpture laden with a message about sustainability - which
will then be featured in an exhibit at the i-lab! Studio2sustain
brings you their highly successful exercise which 900 Harvard Business
School students experienced as a Rapid Leadership Development Exercise
in the new FIELD curriculum. This exercise is not normally available
to the public.
This semester we will be checking registrations at the door. Please
have your registration available. If you have registered as a
student, please bring your student ID. If you do not have your
student ID, but have registered as a student, you will not be able to
participate in the event.
The Harvard innovation lab is a new and innovative initiative that
will foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities and deepen
interactions among students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of
the Allston and Greater Boston community. The i-lab will encourage
entrepreneurship and innovation across the University, bringing
together many cross-curricular interests, including Harvard College,
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Graduate School of
Education, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, the School for
Engineering and Applied Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.
-----------------------------------
The State of Human Rights: A Frederic G. Corneel Memorial Forum
Thursday, April 12, 6:30-8:00 pm
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street (corner of Milk St.),
Boston
with Rev. Dr. William Schulz and Dr. John Cerone, discussion moderated
by Dr. Jasmine Waddell
With myriad political, social, and economic changes across the globe
in the last decade, the public is eagerly questioning the effects on
our worldwide fight for human rights. Rev. Dr. William Schulz, CEO of
the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, discusses the United
States' recent progress in upholding human rights and which
geopolitical areas will soon need the most attention. Dr. John Cerone,
professor of human rights law and the U.S. member of the International
Law Association's (ILA) International Human Rights Law Committee,
delves into the UN's original intentions with the Millennium
Development Goals and the likelihood of fulfilling them by 2015.
Dr. Jasmine Waddell, visiting lecturer at the Heller School for Social
Policy and Management at Brandeis University, moderates their exchange
on critical steps to ensure these fundamental rights to all.
Further background information on the participants:
William F. Schulz is the President and CEO of UUSC, the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee, a nonsectarian organization that
advances human rights and social justice in the United States and
around the world. Previously, he served for 12 years as executive
director of Amnesty International USA. An ordained Unitarian
Universalist minister, Schulz is a former president of the Unitarian
Universalist Association. He has appeared frequently on radio and
television news and analysis shows and is the author or contributing
editor of seven books, including In Our Own Best Interest: How
Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All; Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the
Ruin of Human Rights; The Phenomenon of Torture; and The Future of
Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era.
John P. Cerone is a professor of law and Director of the Center for
International Law and Policy at New England Law School. Before joining
the New England faculty ion 2004, Cerone was executive director of the
War Crimes Research Office at American University Washington College
of Law, where he served as a legal adviser to various international
criminal courts and tribunals. As a practicing international lawyer,
Cerone has worked for a number of different intergovernmental and
nongovernmental organizations, including the United Nations, the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International, and the
International Crisis Group. He has extensive field experience in
conflict and post-conflict environments, such as Afghanistan, Kosovo,
Sierra Leone, and East Timor. Cerone is the US Member of the
International Law Association's (ILA) International Human Rights Law
Committee and is accredited by the United Nations to represent the
American Society of International Law (ASIL) before various UN Bodies.
He is an elected member of the International Institute of Humanitarian
Law.
Dr. Jasmine Waddell is an American- and British-trained comparative
institutionalist scholar who studies social vulnerability, social
exclusion and poverty in the US and the Global South. In addition to
her traditional academic work, Waddell served as the Senior Officer
for Research and Learning at Oxfam America. At Oxfam, she managed
major research reports on social vulnerability to climate change,
Black-Brown alliance building, measuring human development, and post-
Katrina recovery. A Rhodes Scholar, Waddell assessed the
implementation of social welfare policy in South Africa during
apartheid.
For more information,
contact Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University:
617-557-2007,www.fordhallforum.org <http://www.fordhallforum.org/> .
----------------------------
Geothermal and Renewable Energy in the Middle East - Oil and Falafel:
Why the MENA Region Needs an Energy Diet
Thursday, April 12, 2012
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Khaled Sabawi
Palestine Awareness Week 2012
Khaled Al Sabawi received his Bachelors of Applied Science, Honors in
Computer Engineer degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada. In
2006, Khaled travelled to the Palestine to install the first
geothermal system in the entire Middle East and North Africa. Shortly
after Khaled became the Founder and Presidential of MENA Geothermal, a
Palestinian company that has become a leading green energy business in
the region. MENA Geothermal is a two-time winner of the National
Energy Globe Award and has installed the largest geothermal system in
the Middle East at the American University in Madaba, Jordan. Khaled
was named "One of the World's Top Energy Entrepreneurs" by Global
Post. In late 2010, Khaled became the General Manager of UCI, MENA's
parent company, and the co-founder of UCI's TABO Development. Khaled
was a speaker at last year's TEDxRamallah and has spoken at McGill
University in Canada and Harvard University in the United States.
Web site: http://palestine.mit.edu/events/9/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Palestine at MIT, MIT Energy Initiative, MIT Energy Club,
ARCADE (Assisting Recurring Cultural Diversity Events), ASO
For more information, contact:
Wissam Jarjoui
palestine-contact at mit.edu
--------------------------------
Success by Starting Where You Are - the Story of HEET - Home Energy
Efficiency Team
Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; Presentation begins at 7:30 p.m
First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist; 3 Church Street,
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Audrey Schulman, activist, author and President of HEET
For the April Forum, we shift our focus from renewable energy to
energy efficiency and energy conservation. The story we will hear
started in a drafty old New England home...... and led to the
formation of HEET - Home Energy Efficiency Team, a non-profit
organization that is having a successful impact on saving energy.
HEET began its work in Cambridge in 2008, calling for volunteers to
help and learn through energy-upgrade work-parties, modeled on "barn
raisings". Their success has been recognized by awards from the EPA,
Massachusetts Climate Action Network, and the City of Cambridge.
Let this record of action....
160 buildings weatherized
4,970 CFL's installed/incandescent bulbs replaced
2,844 volunteers trained
...speak through its results:
1,785 metric tons of CO2 avoided
4 million gallons of water conserved
more than $500,000 saved in energy and water bills
HEET started off humbly, but seems to have tapped into a vast
renewable energy source - people power! Volunteers show up, pick a
task after hearing pitches from Team Leaders, get busy with hands-on
learning as they work, and wrap up with refreshments and socializing.
In a few short hours, they have made a positive impact to save energy,
learned skills that they can take home and teach others, and connected
to a motivated community.
Come and hear the story of HEET, an inspiring tale of grass-roots
action! Hear about HEET's energy audit process. Learn about some
simple actions you can take to make your own home more energy
efficient. Share your energy-upgrade stories or questions. Join HEET
as a volunteer, or suggest a non-profit organization or house of
worship that could benefit from HEET's services.
The Boston Area Solar Energy Association http://www.BASEA.org
------------------------------
Waste Land
Thursday, April 12, 2012
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Dudley House (Lehman Hall) 3rd floor, 8 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
WASTE LAND follows artist Vik Muniz, as he goes from Brooklyn to
Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, on the outskirts of Rio
de Janeiro
http://www.wastelandmovie.com/
Contact Name: Hannah Lee
hannah at seas.harvard.edu
-------------------
Friday, April 13
-------------------
The New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable Presents:
Energy Efficiency in New England: Strengthening Core Programs While
Tackling New Frontiers
Friday, April 13, 2012
9 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
ACEEE's recently-released 2011 national energy efficiency rankings
places Massachusetts, for the first time, ahead of California as the
most energy efficient state in the U.S. Rhode Island and Vermont are
tied for 5th place, and Connecticut is in 8th place. But despite these
impressive achievements in energy efficiency, New England states
simply refuse to rest on their laurels. Instead, New England is
forging ahead in an effort to enhance core efficiency programs while
simultaneously exploring new ways to expand and deepen energy
efficiency's potential impact.
Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council and the state's
utility companies are preparing to file their next three-year energy
efficiency plans with the MA DPU. Connecticut's draft statewide
Integrated Resource Plan calls for a doubling in annual energy
efficiency spending, and considers allowing energy efficiency to
compete with renewables for part of its renewable portfolio standard.
Connecticut is also looking at innovative ways to finance energy
efficiency. Meanwhile in Vermont, Efficiency Vermont (the non-profit
that delivers Vermont's energy efficiency programs) is developing a
ten year plan to deepen energy efficiency in the Green Mountain state.
To discuss these exciting and timely developments in energy
efficiency, we are delighted to present:
Commissioner Daniel Esty, Connecticut Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection
Tina Halfpenny, Director of Energy Efficiency, Massachusetts
Department of Energy Resources
Jim Merriam, Director of Efficiency Vermont, Vermont Energy Investment
Corporation
Our second panel, "New Frontiers," explores several evolving energy
efficiency developments which, together, could potentially take
efficiency in new and important directions. Dr. Eric Winkler, Project
Manager for Demand Resources, ISO-New England, will discuss the latest
developments in the integration of energy efficiency into wholesale
markets, and ISO-New England's efforts to capture and represent the
region's energy efficiency promise accurately in its soon-to-be-
released load forecasting and regional planning report.
Greg Kats, Partner at Capital-E, and lead author of "Financing Energy
Efficiency Models and Strategies: Pathways to Scaling Energy
Efficiency Financing from $20 Billion to $150 Billion Annually," will
discuss this ground-breaking national study on alternative financing
for energy efficiency, which was funded by the Energy Foundation.
Steve Cowell, Chairman and CEO of Conservation Services Group, will
discuss efforts in New England (including pending legislation in
Massachusetts) to fund energy efficiency in oil and propane heated
buildings at levels comparable to buildings heated with natural gas
or electricity. Steve will also discuss other ways to push the
efficiency frontier in New England, while reflecting on the 25th
Anniversary of "Power to Spare: A Plan for Increasing New England's
Competitiveness Through Energy Efficiency,"a report that many credit
with spearheading energy efficiency efforts in New England.
Free and open to the public with no advanced registration
--------------------------------
HOW TO END A REVOLUTION? Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference
at Harvard University
Friday, April 13, 2012 at 9:00 AM - Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 5:30
PM (ET)
Mahindra Humanites Center at Harvard University, Thompson Room, Barker
Center 110, 12 Quincy St, Cambridge
RSVP at http://how-to-end-a-revolution-esearch.eventbrite.com/?srnk=243
Friday, April 13, 9.15 - 10.15am Keynote Address: Chibli Mallat, The
Middle East Revolutionary Earthquake: From the Right to Nonviolence to
the Right Not to Bother
10.30 - 12noon Session 1: Thinking and Writing the End of Revolutions
12.15 - 1.30pm Session 2: New Beginnings and Persistence of the Old
2.30 - 3.45pm Session 3: Winning the Public
4.00 - 5.15pm Session 4: Building and Constructing the End of a
Revolution
5.30 - 6.45pm Session 5: The Uncompleted Revolution: Europe 1848
Saturday, April 14, 9.00-9.45am Breakfast with Revolutionaries:
Interview with Syrian Activists
9.45 - 11.15am Session 6: Enacting the End: Constitutionalizing the
Revolution
11.30 - 1.00pm Session 7: The Conditions of Happy Endings
2.00 - 3.30pm Playback Theatre performance on "freedom" and discussion
3.45 - 5.15pm Concluding event, roundtable discussion on “new
beginnings”
WHY REGISTER?
All events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited,
however, and will be reserved for registered attendees for up to 15
minutes before the start of an event. Please bring your printed ticket
to claim your seat.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
How to begin a revolution is a question that has received much
attention from many great thinkers. The goal of the 2012
Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at the Mahindra Humanities
Center is to reverse that perspective and ask:
How to end a revolution?
The end of a revolution is not something inherently given, but a
process in the making that serves different perspectives and
interests. At the same time, the phase of transition characterized by
chaos and instability very often opposes and challenges the attempts
of making an end – from both a theoretical and a practical
perspective. Is an end of a revolution even possible if history is
understood as a constant process based on a linear definition of time
and temporality? What challenges does the idea of a leaderless
movement pose towards traditional views of political authority and
authorship? What happens when unity and cohesion break apart and many
different individual interests and powers evolve? What comes after the
revolution?
The ongoing revolutions and uprisings in the Arab world highlight both
the challenges of making a (constructive and collective) end, as well
as the significance and timeliness of these questions to be addressed
at the conference. Drawing upon contemporary and historical examples
like the Arab Spring and the French Revolution, we invite you to
examine the complex, multifaceted and mutable discourse that is shaped
by historians who define, politicians who declare, writers who narrate
and lawyers who legitimate the end of a revolution. In what violent
and non-violent ways have people tried to stop, use or influence a
revolution? Which strategies, tools and techniques are employed to end
a revolution and how are they determined by underlying concepts of
time, history and change? Through our collective inquiry – by
analysing how people deal and dealt with moments of transition and by
comparing their strategies, interests and narratives – our goal is to
better understand the phenomenon of social and political change. With
this approach we hope not only to expand the knowledge of revolutions
but also to develop new ideas and strategies that will potentially
prove to be practically important and relevant.
For more information, go to: http://isites.harvard.edu/revolution2012
----------------------------
From Concept to Legislation to Implementation: Congressional Action
on the Renewable Fuel Standard
Friday, April 13, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building 4-237, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Brent Yacobucci, Research Manager of the Energy and Minerals
Section of the Congressional Research Service
Energy & Environment Community Lecture/Discussion Series
In 2005 Congress established the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which
requires the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022, up
from about 4 billion in 2005. While most of the RFS targets are
currently being met, meeting future targets--especially for the use of
advanced biofuels from cellulose--will be a challenge. Despite the
federal mandate, many technology, cost, and regulatory barriers are
hindering its implementation. A key question is whether the RFS will
drive the development of new fuels, or whether the policy has gotten
too far ahead of technology?
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energy-environment at mit.edu
--------------------------------
Design and Computation Discipline Group Lecture Series - "What Art can
tell us about the Brain"
Friday, April 13, 2012
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 7-431, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Margaret Livingston - Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard
Medical School
Design and Computation Lecture series, Department of Architecture
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Architecture, Computation Group Events
For more information, contact:
Daniela Stoudenkova
danielas at mit.edu
------------------------------------
Sunlight-driven hydrogen formation by membrane-supported
photoelectrochemical water splitting
Friday, April 13, 2012
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Nate Lewis, Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Cal Tech
Hoyt C. Hottel Lectureship
The Hoyt C. Hottel Lectureship was established in early 1985 to
recognize Professor Hottel's contributions to the intellectual climate
of the Chemical Engineering Department, to the encouragement of
students over six decades, and to the foundation and direction of the
Fuels Research Laboratory. The lectureship is intended to draw eminent
scholars to MIT - preferably in the fields of combustion and energy
technology - for short periods of residency in order to stimulate
future generations of students. The inaugural Hottel Lecture was
presented in April 1985 by Professor Hottel himself.
We are developing an artificial photosynthetic system that will only
utilize sunlight and water as the inputs and will produce hydrogen and
oxygen as the outputs. We are taking a modular, parallel development
approach in which the three distinct primary components-the
photoanode, the photocathode, and the product-separating but ion-
conducting membrane-are fabricated and optimized separately before
assembly into a complete water-splitting system. The design principles
incorporate two separate, photosensitive semiconductor/liquid
junctions that will collectively generate the 1.7-1.9 V at open
circuit necessary to support both the oxidation of H2O (or OH-) and
the reduction of H+ (or H2O). This work will demonstrate a feasible
and functional prototype and blueprint for an artificial
photosynthetic system, composed of only inexpensive, earth-abundant
materials, that is simultaneously efficient, durable, manufacturably
scalable, and readily upgradeable.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cheme/news/seminar.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Chemical Engineering Department
For more information, contact:
Melanie Miller
617-253-6500
melmils at mit.edu
---------------------------------
Arab Spring and its Impact on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Friday, April 13, 2012
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Leila Farsakh, Anat Biletski
Leila Farsakh, assistant professor of political science at University
of Massachusetts Boston and affiliate of CIS. Her area of expertise is
Middle East Politics, Comparative Politics, and the Politics of the
Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Anat Biletski, a professor in philosophy at Tel Aviv University and
Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, and an affiliate of CIS. She has
been a member of the board of B'tselem, an Israeli human rights NGO,
since 1995 and acted as chairperson from 2001 to 2006.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
starrforum at mit.edu
------------------------------
Second Fridays: Rivers of Ice
Friday, April 13, 2012
5:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Patrick Heimbach, Susan Murcott, Alister Doyle, Judy Layzer,
Kurt Sternlof, Laura Knott
Second Fridays
Jump-start your weekend at the MIT Museum during our monthly free
evening.
Featured Program: Rivers of Ice
The MIT Museum welcomes to you to the public unveiling of Rivers of
Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya. The MIT Museum
welcomes to you to the public unveiling of Rivers of Ice: Vanishing
Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya. Take a special opening day tour of
the exhibition with MIT faculty and staff knowledgeable about such
topics as glaciology, water rights, geology, and then join a fast-
paced discussion about how your exhibit experience was influenced by
your guide's scientific perspective.
Note: Doors open at 5:00, tours begin at 5:30, with discussion to
follow at 6:00 p.m.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:
Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo at mit.edu
------------------------------
"Food Movements Unite!”
Friday, April 13th
6-8pm
Austin East Room, Austin Hall, Harvard University. 1515 Massachusetts
Ave, Cambridge
Eric Holt-Gimenez, Will Masters, Saulo Araujo and local youth organizers
Please join us for a vibrant discussion of food justice, sovereignty,
movements, and politics on April 13. Eric Holt Gimenez, Executive
Director of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy,
will introduce his new book "Food Movements Unite!” A panel discussion
will follow with Eric, Will Masters (Tufts University), Saulo Araujo
(Grassroots International) and a youth organizer from Alternatives for
Community and Environment (ACE). The discussion will span the uprising
of food movements and politics, from the global to local perspectives.
We hope to see you there! Please share this invite with your community
via your social media, listserves and calendars.
Contact Caiti at caitihach at gmail.com if you have any questions.
-----------------------
Saturday, April 14
---------------------
East End House Community Cleanup & Environmental Fair
Saturday, April 14, 2012
10:00 AM
East End House, 105 Spring Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/cambridgerotaract/events/59397882/
We have an exciting upcoming event on the agenda! We are going to be
working with East End House to support them with their annual
community cleanup and environmental fair. This is a great opportunity
for us to meet and connect with community members who are served by
the East End House. We will be getting out into the community to help
clean up trash as well as working with kids on some sort of craft
activity with an environmental theme.
The activity with the kids is something that we can pretty much design
on our own. If you have an ideas as to what we can do, please share!
East End House will have a limited budget for the activity but if we
want to fund-raise a bit, the sky is the limit! The theme for the
event is environmental so any sort of craft or fun learning activity
that incorporates an environmental-spin is perfect!
Please RSVP here on Meetup or message me directly so I can provide EEH
an accurate headcount!
This should be a really fun event so please don't miss it!
---------------------------------
International Development Night @ the MIT Museum
Saturday, April 14, 2012
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Please join us for a fascinating expo and reception hosted by T&C and
MIT's International Development Initiative (IDI).This event is being
held in conjunction with the 2012 Harvard International Development
Conference and the MIT Sloan Africa Innovate Vision Talks Conference .
Refreshments will be served.
Web site: web.mit.edu/tac
Open to: the general public
Cost: n/a
Sponsor(s): The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, International
Development Initiative, MIT Sloan Africa Innovate Conference
For more information, contact:
Christina English
617-253-7707
cenglish at mit.edu
----------------------
Monday, April 16
----------------------
Challenges of Globalization: Economic Globalization: A Mini-Conference
Monday April 16
@ 2pm Keynote @ 7pm
irst Parish (Unitarian Universalist), 3 Church Street, Harvard Square,
Cambridge
During consecutive afternoon sessions, speakers explore the impact of
globalization of labor, capital, and markets on American workers,
investors, and consumers. Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and
Demos moderates the public discussion after each talk and the evening
keynote address.
2:00 pm Globalization of Labor: Is A race to the Bottom
Inevitable?
Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
3:00 pm Globalization of Capital: The Rise of the Multinational
Robert Scott, Economic Policy Institute
4:00 pm Globalization of Markets: Do Corporations Need American
Consumers?
Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect
7:00 pm The Globalization Paradox
Harvard's Dani Rodrik discusses effective responses to today's
globalized economy. How have nations used the forces of globalization
to their advantage in the past?
What options are available to the United States today?
This Program is funded in part by Mass Humanities.
Co-sponsored by Mullane, MIchael & McInnes, Counselors-at-Law
More information at http://www.cambridgeforum.org/
----------------------
Tuesday, April 17
---------------------
Visualizing Science: The Changing Arctic Ice
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum, 275 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Visualizing Science
A three-part evening series, featuring panel discussions with MIT
researchers about the power of images in science.
PART II - The Changing Arctic Ice
Explore the Arctic ice cap with photographer Chris Linder and Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist John Toole. See stunning
images from the pole, explore the latest data from deep beneath the
cap???s surface, and find out how such information can be used to
forecast global environmental change.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:
Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo at mit.edu
-----------------------------
My 5 Dinners with Ahmadinejad: Iran, Nuclear Weapons, the Middle East
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Buildling 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Jim Walsh, MIT Security Studies Program
A nuclear armed Iran? An Israeli military strike?
Facts and myths about Iran and its nuclear program will be discussed.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, The Technology and
Culture Forum at MIT, Global Zero
------------------------------
Nerd Nite
Tuesday April 17, 2012
8pm
Oberon in Harvard Square, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
(Note special night and venue!)
Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money
Advance tickets on sale: http://www.cluboberon.com/events/nerd-nite
Special Feature: Premier of the short film “Pie Heaven” by Aviv
Rubinstein
Talk 1. “Who needs friends when you’ve got Google? How Google is
reshaping our minds, relationships, and ideas about the self.”
by Adrian Ward
Talk 2. “Subatomic Screenwriting and The Psychology of the Moving
Picture”
by Aviv Rubinstein
More information at http://boston.nerdnite.com/
-----------------------------
Brand-Name Genes
Thursday, April 19
6:30-8:00 pm
McLaughlin Moot Court Room, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
with Attorney Lee Carl Bromberg and Dr. Robert Klitzman; moderated by
Dominick Ianno
Biotechnology in genetics is reaching heights that the average person
can barely imagine. But what are the effects of this unstoppable
science on individuals, the economy, and our society as a whole? If we
cannot abate the speed of innovation, how can we better control it or
at least mitigate the negative consequences? Attorney Lee Carl
Bromberg reveals the tactic of companies patenting genetic code, while
Dr. Robert Klitzman, author ofAm I My Genes?: Confronting Fate and
Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing, shares the stories of
real people whose lives were forever changed by genetic testing.
Dominick Ianno, Ford Hall Forum President and Pfizer's Director of
Public Affairs, US Northeast, leads us through a discussion of the
revolutionary and sometimes frightening future of genetics.
A book signing by Dr. Klitzman will follow the presentation.
Further background information on the participants:
Lee Carl Bromberg is a trial attorney who concentrates in the area of
Intellectual Property/Information Technology. He has successfully
handled a wide range of patent infringement actions, as well as
trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition cases in
high technology areas. Bromberg has been named a World’s Leading
Patent Litigator by IAM Patent Litigation 250, and has been recognized
as a Chambers USA “Leaders in their Field” lawyer for 2007–2012. He
has been named among the top 100 lawyers in Massachusetts, listed in
The Best Lawyers in America for intellectual property, and named as a
“Super Lawyer” in the field of intellectual property. He has received
one of the highest peer review ratings from Martindale Hubbell, based
on a survey of other lawyers and judges. Bromberg's patent
infringement practice on behalf of numerous national companies has
involved a wide array of technologies, including pharmaceuticals,
biotechnology, and recombinant DNA. He has served as a court-appointed
discovery master in patent litigation, has testified as an expert
witness on patent litigation, and led the Task Force that obtained
implementation of local patent rules in the Massachusetts federal
court. Bromberg has previously served as Clinical Associate Professor
of Law at Boston University School of Law and as the President of the
Boston Patent Law Association. He is currently a Fellow of the Boston
Bar Foundation and a board member of the Ford Hall Forum.
Dr. Robert Klitzman, Author & Associate Professor of Clinical
Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health, is the Director of
the Masters of Bioethics Program; the Director of the Ethics, Policy
and Human Rights Core of the HIV Center; a member of the Division of
Psychiatry, Law and Ethics; and co-founded and for five years co-
directed the Center for Bioethics. Klitzman has written seven books,
and numerous articles drawing on multi-disciplinary methods to examine
ethical, psychological and social issues in a variety of contexts in
medicine and psychiatry. Specifically, he has examined decision-making
concerning HIV disclosure, genetic testing, reproductive choices among
individuals at risk for genetic disorders, Institutional Review
Boards, and other topics.
Dominick Ianno, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University President, the
current Director of Public Affairs, US Northeast, in Pfizer’s Global
Sites Public Affairs group. Ianno began his Pfizer career in January
2008, joining the company in a newly-created position as Director of
Public Affairs in Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy, where he
managed media outreach strategy for the company’s interests on state
policy and legislative issues throughout the Northeast. Prior to
joining Pfizer, Ianno served four years as a Vice President at Gray
Media in Boston, providing political and business counsel to a wide
range of business, education, and political clients. He is a past
Executive Director of the Massachusetts Republican Party and worked as
a research and media operative for several statewide Republican
campaigns in Massachusetts. Ianno was named one of Politics and
Campaigns “Top 100 Massachusetts Influencers” in June 2010.
For more information on Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, visit www.fordhallforum.org
. Information about Suffolk University’s partnership with Ford Hall
Forum can be obtained by contacting Mariellen Norris, (617) 573-8450, mnorris at suffolk.edu
.
----------------------------
Spring Planting 2012 is coming up soon! Come out and learn how you can
grow food in your yard, on your porch and inside your home!
The Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc. and the Foundation for a
Green Future, Inc. will be hosting a FREE event on
Saturday, April 21, 2012
2:00 PM until 5:00 PM
Harambee Park (AKA Franklin Field) in Dorchester near the Perkins
Community Center at 155 Talbot Avenue.
There will be information tables, workshops and demonstrations on ways
that you can grow plants including food plants.
Workshops include:
Landless Garden: Build a garden in 2 square feet of space! Laurel
Valchuis.
The Landless Garden is an urban gardening method that uses a burlap
bag, gravel, sticks and soil. It only takes up 2 square feet of space
and can be placed almost anywhere there is sunshine including a porch,
roof, or even a parking spot. The materials are cheap, and at the end
of the season everything (sans gravel) can be composted. Come learn
how to build one of these gardens for your own space and enjoy fresh
veggies all summer!
Home composting with worms! Gerald Robbins.
Learn the basics of creating your own compost by feeding food scraps
to worms that you raise! The compost they provide is a great organic
fertilizer.
Container gardening tips and techniques! Massachusetts Certified
Master Gardener, Laurinda LeCain, and The Massachusetts Master
Gardeners Association
How to turn a 5 gallon plastic container into a self-watering
container garden". Easy, creative and inexpensive. We will take an
ordinary 5-gallon bucket that is usually available for free from many
sources and convert it into a self-watering container garden.
This event is free to the public. The presenters are all volunteers
who have great information to share with you and your families.
Live plants are beautiful, soothing, clean the air, provide oxygen and
can produce food for you as well.
Come and learn how to get green and leafy at home!
-----------------------------------
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program, the MIT Energy Club,
the MIT CSSA, and the MIT ETF presents:
Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation Reception
Please join us for a discussion of ongoing clean energy and electric
vehicle innovation and research at MIT and other local companies.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
5:00-7:00 p.m.
MIT-SUTD International Design Center, 265 Massachusetts Ave, MIT
Building, N52 3rd floor, Cambridge
This is a free event and open to the public. Refreshments will be
provided.
Please RSVP to: laurie at 1620associates.com or 508-479-8034
You can also register through eventbrite: http://mitevevent.eventbrite.com/
--------------------------------
NEW ENGLAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FORUM (NEEJF) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
SUMMIT
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Worcester, Mass (Location to be determined)
9:30—6:30 PM Registration Free / Food Provided
For the first time in New England, residents of low income communities
and communities of color, together with community organizers,
attorneys, public health and environmental professionals and
government officials will assemble for a one- day summit on
environmental justice. At the Summit attendees will share ideas,
learn from one another and plan future work to address environmental
and public health issues that especially affect low income communities
and communities of color. NEEJF is a collaboration of Alternatives
for Community and Environment, Connecticut Coalition for
Environmental Justice and Rhode Island Legal Services.
To register and for more information, please contact Steve Fischbach: neejforum at gmail.com
or 401-274-2652 ext.182
***********
-------------
Upcoming
-------------
***********
Indigenous Grandmothers: Planting Seeds for Seven Generations
Thursday, April 19
7 pm
Wellesley, Houghton Chapel, 106 Central Street, Wellesley
It is with a sense of gratitude and deep joy that we announce the Art
and Soul program at Wellesley College will be hosting three of the 13
Indigenous Grandmothers this spring. The Grandmothers will give a
talk at Houghton Chapel on Thursday, April nineteenth at seven p.m.
The theme of their talk will be Planting Seeds for Seven Generations:
Making Change. The Grandmothers will share their cultural treasures
and life experience, in support of our community’s exploration of an
ethics of wholeness, which can bring about a sustainable future for
the generations to come.
Originating from all four corners of the world, these 13 wise women
elders and medicine women first came together in 2004 at a peace
gathering. They represent a global alliance of prayer, education and
healing for our Earth, all her inhabitants and the next seven
generations. We are honored to host, as representatives of this
Grandmothers’ Council, Grandmothers Rita and Beatrice Long- Visitor
Holy Dance of the Lakota tribe and Grandmother Mona Polacca of the
Hopi/ Havasupai/Tewa tribe. This event is open to all, as an offering
to our circles of community. For more information about this event,
contact Ji Hyang at 781.283.2793
---------------------------------
Saturday, April 21st
9-12noon
for our first 2012 cleanup of Magazine Beach, Cambridge. This will be
part of the much larger 13th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup,
organized by the Charles River Watershed Association, Charles River
Conservancy, etc., etc.
If you would like an official Earth Day Cleanup t-shirt to wear that
day, please e-mail me your name, phone number and t-shirt size by this
Sunday, March 11th. Large youth shirts are available and adult shirts
in small, medium, large and extra large.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Shirts will be available, with
drinks and refreshments, at our table in front of the Riverside Boat
Club 4/21.
Cathie (Zusy)
Questions? Call 617-868-0489
-------------------------------
Weatherization barnraising at
The Friends Meeting House
Sunday, April 22nd from 1 to 5 pm
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
What a great way to celebrate Earth Day. You will be taught how to do
the work by experienced team leaders, while you learn how to lower
your own bills at home.
Sign up at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDRNLV9xOC00SVllOGdLd1dYdzMxU0E6MQ
#gid=0
*************
----------------
Opportunity
---------------
*************
CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is
offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for
solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining
out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are
available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out.
The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more
information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
-----------------------
Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by
having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera?
With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more
comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the
cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer
Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a
hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every
building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or
buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal
images of their property and an analysis online. The information is
password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images
and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building
owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their
images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says
"Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here"
to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will
be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help
you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to
do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money,
not to mention comfort).
---------------------
Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
-----------------------
HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor
Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to
Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass
Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on
your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or
call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living
Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the
services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home
Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call
HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
*********
-----------
Resource
-----------
Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green
Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for
sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
--------------------------------------------------
Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of
Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr
Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming
has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as
being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the
state’s residents say global warming will have very serious
consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age
group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused
by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and
Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to
believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left
unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge:
What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate
change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-
challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
----------------------------------------------------
The presentations from the recent Affordable Comfort National Home
Performance Conference are available online at
http://2011.acinational.org/downloadable_resources
Lots of good information from what some call the best energy
conference in the USA on Deep Energy Retrofits to Community Energy
Challenges with details on insulation, heat flow, energy metering,
ducting, hot water, and many, many other topics. If you are a
practical energy wonk, this should make your eyes light up.
--------------------------------------------------
Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track
your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while
controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly
email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
---------------------------------------
Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post
announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships,
programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles
or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's
food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take
place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food
system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food,
farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health,
environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of
organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on
week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let
everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of
subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and
other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
----------------------
Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation,
contact jmatthaei at wellesley.edu
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the
Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List http://aacel.blogspot.com/
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://sustainability.mit.edu/
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://pechakuchaboston.org/blog/
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list