[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - April 14, 2013
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Apr 14 13:35:25 PDT 2013
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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Solar Garden: Overwintering Kale
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/10/1200848/-Solar-Garden-Overwintering-Kale
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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index
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Monday, April 15
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
11am Tumblehome Learning Science Book Fair & Book Talk Series
12pm "Agriculture and
air pollution –
an ammonia perspective"
12pm "Getting Electricity Prices Right: New Approaches to Scarcity Prices"
12:15pm "Corporations in the Scientific and Political Life of Early Modern England"
4pm Climate Change: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?
4-m "Why is Antarctic sea ice expanding while the Arctic sea ice is retreating rapidly?"
5pm The Food-Water-Energy Nexus and the Challenge to Sustainability
5:30pm The Life Aquatic: Representing the Oceans in Documentary Film (1940-1970)
6pm A Tour of the Cambridge Water Purification Facility
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Tuesday, April 16
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
11:30am Resilience, Adaptability, and Sustainability of the Built Environment Workshop
12pm University Endowments and Universal Owners: The Sustainability Challenge
12pm Raising the Bar
12pm "Anthropogenic Change and the Fate of Pollination Services."
12pm "What's Your Action Tank Strategy? Bridging Policy and Direct Service."
12:30pm Work here: have a voice and change the world. Are employees at the Googles and Facebooks of the world able to enforce that promise?
4pm Mathematics at Google
4pm The Prospects for a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East
4pm An Evidence-Based Toolset to Capture, Measure, Analyze & Assess Emotional Health
4pm MISTI Foreign Film Night: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
5pm Lives of the Mind: A Conversation with Howard Gardner and Steven Pinker
6:30pm Forecasting the Future: Can Ecologists Predict the Fate of Plant and Animal Populations?
6:30pm Refresh Boston: Design Museum Boston
7pm Grassland Restoration: Reversing Global Warming While Meeting Human Needs
7pm Film Screening: "YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip"
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Wednesday, April 17
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
7:30am Sustainability Breakfast Meetup: Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter
11:30am Earth Day Fair at Harvard Law School
12pm Modeling Supply Chain System Structure to Trace Sources of Food Contamination
12pm [MIT Energy Club] Energy 101: "Nuclear - Producing Energy from Nuclear Waste"
12pm Preparing for Climate Change and the Rising Tide
12pm Will Climate Change Take Away Our Tequila?
1pm Delivering Green: Three Case Studies in Carbon-Efficient Logistics
1pm Bio-Inspired Design of Battery Membranes and Electrodes
3:30pm HKS Discussion on Grassroots Movements
4pm "A Voting Architecture for the Governance of Free Driver Externalities, with Application to Geoengineering."
4pm Some Aspects of the Runaway Greenhouse, Reconsidered
4:30pm Industrial Farm Animal Production in America
5pm Future of Energy: "Our Shared Destinies Within the Planet’s Boundaries"
6pm *Bob Moses and Kendra Lara: Empowering Youth Through Education: An Intergenerational Objective
6pm Nerd Night Book Talk: Frankenstein's Cat
6pm What High School Science Should Have Been
7pm The Future of Print in the Digital Age
7pm Shadow Lives
8pm Climate Education Meeting - How is our state progressing toward its climate goals?
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Thursday, April 18
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
12pm FAS Monthly Environmental Movies/Brown Bag Lunch Series
1pm Community Gardens: Turning Vacant Lots into Urban Assets
1:30pm Digital Public Library of America: Launch Event
3pm Renewable Energy Futures to 2050: Current Thinking
3pm Volunteer Day with City Sprouts
4pm Perihuman Aerosol Science: UFP, SVOCs, and the Indoor Microbiome
4pm Film: Addicted to Plastic with Filmmaker Ian Connacher
4pm Obama's "War on Terror" at Home and Abroad
4:30pm Cleantech Open Northeast Business Briefing
5pm Size Is Only Half the Story: Valuing the Dimensionality of BIG DATA
6pm Neuroimaging of Religious Experience
6pm 2013 Annual John R. Freeman Lecture- Hurricane Storm Barrier Design and Operation
6:30pm Whose Choice Is Death?
6:30pm The 1st Ahmad Tehrani Lecture: John Wardle, Exaggeration: John Wardle Architects
7pm Obama's "War on Terror" at Home and Abroad
7pm Bitter Seeds - a documentary on GM seeds and farmers' suicides in India
7pm Urban Films: Flag Wars (2003)
7pm Frankenstein's Cat: Book Talk by Author Emily Anthes
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Friday, April 19
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
8am Connecting the Dots: Pathways to a New Economy
12pm Black Carbon: Bounding and Beyond
12pm A conversation and Q&A with Sir David King and Erika Karp
1pm Science of Food
1:30pm “The Energy Box”
2pm THE NEXT GENERATION OF POLICIES FOR SCALING UP RENEWABLE ENERGY
5pm Final Presentations and Project Displays of Rethink Relief Conference (www.rethinkrelief.com)
7pm Singing For The Planet: Songs Against Climate Change
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Saturday, April 20
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
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Sunday, April 21
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
7:30am Migratory Bird Walk
10am Social Innovations Symposium
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Monday, April 22
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12pm Flexibility in Engineering Design
12pm "Evaluating Licensing Agreements for Technology Diffusion at the U.S. National Labs"
3:30pm Smart Classrooms and Knowledge Communities: New Pedagogical Models and Technology Architectures for 21st Century Learning
4pm Sustainable Fisheries in a Changing Climate: On Cod and Coral Reefs
4pm Miller Lecture: The Research University in the Digital Age
4:15pm Climate Changes and Water Resources: The Case of Taiwan
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Tuesday, April 23
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12pm Energy Sufficiency: New Approaches to Saving Energy in an Era of Climate Constraints
4pm Future Industrial Requirements for Power Semiconductor Technology
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Event Details
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Monday, April 15
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
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Tumblehome Learning Science Book Fair & Book Talk Series
Monday, April 15th, Patriots Day
11am-3pm
First Parish Church, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
A “Best Science Writers” discussion panel will feature three Boston area writers & educators; amongst them are two Pulitzer Prize winners and two National Medal of Science award winners.These writers will discuss how they translate complex research for the general public and other topics of interest to them.
Dr. Edward O. Wilson is one of the world’s most distinguished scientists. He is aHarvard Biology Professor Emeritus, researcher, theorist, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winnerand someone who has turned his passion for insects into a best-selling novel, The Ants. He won the National Medal of Science in 1976 and was named one of “America’s 25 Most Influential People” by TIME Magazine in 1996. Dr. Wilson will release a new book in mid-April, Letters to a Young Scientist.
Amy Dockser Marcus, lives in the Boston area and is a health and science reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She writes frequently about the challenges that patients with rare diseases face in driving research and drug development, citizen science, and collaborations between scientists, and patients. Her work has won many awards, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting for a series of stories about cancer survivors.
Dr. Sallie (Penny) Chisholm is an MIT Environmental Sciences professor best known for her research on ocean phytoplankton and how it influences marine policy & management. She received the National Medal of Science in a White House ceremony in February 2013, and has co-authored two award-winning picture books including Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life in the hopes that it will educate people, both young and old, about photosynthesis and its crucial importance to our world.
The panel will be moderated by the first Pakistani woman string theorist, Dr. Tasneem Zehra Husain. She will soon be releasing her first book, Only The Longest Threadswhere each chapter is written in the voice of a scientist as he/she reflects on a groundbreaking theoretical development which has recently led (or is leading) to a paradigm shift in Physics
The “Writing a Science Mystery Adventure” panel features both local and national writers and educators in a discussion about the art of writing a science mystery adventure.
Ben Carey is a journalist and reporter on psychology and science for the New York Times. In his two mystery adventures for middle schoolers, Poison Most Vial and The Unknowns, kids use science or mathematics to solve the mystery and save those they love.
Gary Braver is the pen name of Dr. Gary Goshgarian, an award-winning professor of English at Northeastern University where he teaches courses in fiction writing and popular culture. He has taught fiction-writing workshops throughout the U.S. and Europe. Gary is the author of eight critically acclaimed suspense novels including Tunnel Vision andFlashback.
Michael Erb is a PhD candidate in atmospheric science at Rutgers University. His middle-grade weather mystery, Kelvin McCloud and the Seaside Storm, recounts the story ofa13-year and his uncle who investigate a wealthy banker’s death in a hailstorm.
The panel will be moderated by physician, educator and author Dr. Pendred (Penny) Noyce, co-founder of Tumblehome Learning, a transmedia publishing company that helps kids imagine themselves as young scientists or engineers through exciting mystery and adventure tales. Her books include The Desperate Case of the Diamond Chip and The Vicious Case of the Viral Vaccine.
The “Science in Science Fiction” panel also features local and national writers and educators in a discussion about topics such as the accuracy, nature, and kinds of science portrayed in science fiction and how science fiction can motivate interest in science.
Maria Sosa is the Project Director for the Science & Literacy for Health Project and the Editor-in-Chief of Science Books & Films at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Education Programs in Washington, D.C. She serves on several advisory boards related to libraries and children's science books.
Dr. Sidney Perkowitz, professor of physics at Emory University, GA has pursued research on the properties of matter and has written more than 100 scientific papers and books. He has conducted many presentations about science to non-scientists and haswritten for the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and the Encyclopedia Britannica. His book Hollywood Science discusses the portrayal of science in more than one hundred films, including science fiction, scientific biographies, and documentaries.
Dr. Debbie Chachra is an Associate Professor of Materials Science at Olin College of Engineering, where she teaches and does research in a range of fields, including engineering design, education and materials science (including studying plastic made by bees). She writes and speaks widely on materials science, design and the future, including participating in the transatlantic Thrilling Wonder Stories event, writing for Warren Ellis’s site, and being interviewed for the New Inquiry. She also is behind the “Daily Idioms, Annotated” Tumblr of words and ideas.
The panel will be moderated by semiconductor inventor/entrepreneur and Tumblehome Learning co-founder Barnas Monteith. Monteith is the most recent Chair of the Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair and a member of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, as well as an author for Tumblehome Learning’s inaugural Galactic Academy of Science series including The Furious Case of the Fraudulent Fossil.
All in one place, all on one day: extraordinary panel discussions, author book signings, sciencepicture book read-alouds for children in a room of their own, science books for all ages and kits for sale, and on-going Augmented Reality (AR) demonstrations. AR is an exciting new interactive computer-generated view of a physical, real-world environment on your iPad, iPhone or other hand-held device with graphics, sound and video.
Tumblehome Learning is a Massachusetts transmedia company that helps kids imagine themselves as young scientists or engineers and encourages them to experience science through adventure and discovery. This is donewith exciting mystery and adventure tales as well as fun experiments carefully designed to engage students from ages 8 and up. Each book comes with a set of physical and ultimately online activities that allow readers to reproduce and extend the science they read about. Tumblehome Learning was formed in 2010 by a group of dedicated STEM activists, writers, and software and curriculum developers. More information athttp://tumblehomelearning.com
The Cambridge Science Festival – April 12-21, 2013 Be Curious! The Cambridge Science Festival is an annual celebration showcasing the leading edge in science, technology, engineering, art, and math. A multifaceted, multicultural event every spring, the CSF makes science accessible, interactive and fun! Ten days and nights of events during public school vacation week means there’s something for everyone. Check out the Robot Zoo at our Family Science Carnival; “Party for the Planet” at the Franklin Park Zoo on Earth Day; tour bridges spanning from Cambridge to Boston (and wear comfortable shoes!); laugh along with us as comedians try to guess what experts are researching in some of the more obscure scientific fields. Learn more at www.CambridgeScienceFestival.com.
Contact: Pat Monteith 617-438-3145
pat at tumblehomelearning.com
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"Agriculture and
air pollution –
an ammonia perspective"
Monday, April 15, 2013
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Haller Hall, Geo Museum 102, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
Fabien Paulot, Harvard University
Food production is forecasted to double in the next 40 years to meet growing food demand. The resulting increase in agricultural emissions will likely have adverse effects on human and ecosystem health. Here I focus on ammonia (NH3) emissions, to which agriculture contributes 80%. I first present a new “top-down” estimate of NH3 emissions derived from adjoint inversion of observed ammonium wet deposition fluxes. Then I show that a newly developed detailed “bottom-up” inventory of agricultural NH3 emissions can successfully reproduce many of the seasonal and geographical features of the “top-down” NH3 emissions. Finally, I use this inventory to estimate the effect of US agricultural exports on air quality.
Environmental Sciences & Engineering Special Seminar
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"Getting Electricity Prices Right: New Approaches to Scarcity Prices"
Monday, April 15, 2013
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
William W. Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy
ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar Series
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
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"Corporations in the Scientific and Political Life of Early Modern England"
Monday, April 15, 2013
12:15pm - 2:00pm
Pierce Hall, Room 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Henry Turner, Rutgers, Radcliffe Institute
Abstract: This talk provides an overview of a book on the history of corporations in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, from Thomas More to Thomas Hobbes. It introduces the variety of activities for which corporations might be formed; it situates the corporation, as both an institution and an idea, in the history of political thought and in the history of technology, using it to offer some provisional definitions of these two domains of activity and to examine how they condition one another. If time allows, the paper will also take up the idea of "fiction" in the classical and early modern periods, esp. in relation to theater, to see if it can usefully be viewed as a quasi-technological category.
Biography: Henry S. Turner is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where he specializes in the history of theater, literary theory, and intellectual history, especially the history of science and of political thought. He is the author of The English Renaissance Stage: Geometry, Poetics, and the Practical Spatial Arts, 1580-1630 (Oxford, 2006), of Shakespeare's Double Helix (Continuum, 2008). He is the editor of The Culture of Capital: Property, Cities, and Knowledge in Early Modern England (Routledge, 2002), co-editor of a special issue of Configurations on "Mathematics and the Imagination," and co-editor of the book series "Literary and Scientific Cultures of Early Modernity" (Ashgate Press). His essays have appeared in Shakespeare Quarterly, Renaissance Drama, ELH, and Isis, among other venues; he is spending the 2012-13 academic year at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study on an ACLS Burkhardt Fellowship. More information and downloads of his essays can be found at www.henrysturner.com. Members of the STS Circle may be particularly interested in "Lessons from Literature for the Historian of Science (and Vice Versa): Reflections on 'Form'" Isis 101.3 (2010): 578-89.
STS Circle Lecture
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/
sts at hks.harvard.ed
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Climate Change: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?
WHEN Mon., Apr. 15, 2013, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Institute of Politics, Littauer 275, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics' Fellows & Study Groups Program
SPEAKER(S) Sen. Tim Wirth, Spring 2013 IOP Visiting Fellow
CONTACT INFO Eric_Andersen at hks.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.iop.harvard.edu/climate-change-where-are-we-now-and-where-are-we-going
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"Why is Antarctic sea ice expanding while the Arctic sea ice is retreating rapidly?"
Monday, April 15, 2013
4:00pm
Haller Hall, Geo Museum 102, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
Agassiz Lecturer Dr. Cecilia Bitz from the University of Washington
Abstract: Antarctica sea ice is thought to mostly disappear each summer and is therefore known as first-year sea ice, while the Arctic is thought to have about half first-year and half multi-year sea ice. However, this year, for the first time in the satellite era, the Antarctic has more multi-year ice than the Arctic. Both hemisphere are experiencing record sea ice cover - but of the opposite sign. How is this possible? I will present hypothesis to explain this conundrum and discuss what is known and what needs further study.
EPS Colloquium Series
Reception to follow at Hoffman Lab 4th floor
Contact Name: Sabinna Cappo
scappo at fas.harvard.edu
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The Food-Water-Energy Nexus and the Challenge to Sustainability
WHEN Mon., Apr. 15, 2013, 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Peter P. Rogers, Gordon McKay Research Professor of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University; moderated by Joanna Aizenberg
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8600
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2013-peter-p-rogers-water-lecture
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The Life Aquatic: Representing the Oceans in Documentary Film (1940-1970)
Monday, April 15, 2013
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Cabot Room, Center for European Studies, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Featuring Franziska Torma, Center for European Studies Visiting Scholar
Chaired by Marc Redlich, Director of the American Council on Germany – Boston Chapter
Sponsored by the Center for European Studies and the American Council on Germany
https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/#/events/789
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A TOUR OF THE WATER PURIFICATION FACILITY
Monday, April 15
6 to 7:30 pm
Water Purification Facility front door, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge
Come learn where your tap water originates, how it is purified to make it safe and tasty for drinking and cooking, and the role Fresh Pond plays in the process. Members of the Cambridge Water Department staff will describe the process, answer your questions, and give a tour of the building.
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Tuesday, April 16
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Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
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Resilience, Adaptability, and Sustainability of the Built Environment Workshop
WHEN Tue., Apr. 16, 2013, 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
WHERE Loeb House, 17 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Real Estate Academic Initiative at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) David Barron, Harvard Law School
Andreas Georgoulias, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Heather Henriksen, Office for Sustainability at Harvard
Kevin Kampschroer, U.S. General Services Administration
John Macomber, Harvard Business School
Kiel Moe, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Richard Peiser, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Lynn Richards, Environmental Protection Agency & Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Holly Samuelson, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Jay Wyper, Hines
Ann Yoachim, Tulane University & Harvard University Graduate School of Design
COST Free; registration required
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.events.harvard.edu/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x164446b4d6
CONTACT INFO 617.496.1570, henshall at gsd.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.reai.harvard.edu/resilience-adaptability-sustainability-built-environment
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University Endowments and Universal Owners: The Sustainability Challenge
WHEN Tue., Apr. 16, 2013, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Belfer, Weil Town Hall, Lobby Level, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) James Hawley, professor, School of Economics and Business Administration; and director, the Elfenworks Center for the Study of Fiduciary Capitalism, Saint Mary’s College of California; senior research fellow, Initiative for Responsible Investment
NOTE Frontline with Faculty Series: http://hausercenter.harvard.edu/1876/spring-2013-frontline-with-faculty-series-2/
LINK http://hausercenter.harvard.edu/2222/april-16-university-endowments-and-universal-owners-the-sustainability-challenge/
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Raising the Bar
April 16, 2013
12:00 – 1:00PM
Online, RESVP at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/993927974
Energy Efficiency in LEED v4
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based, market-driven program that provides third-party verification of green buildings. From individual buildings and homes, to entire neighborhoods and communities, LEED is transforming the way built environments are designed, constructed, and operated. Continuously developing and being upgraded, the next version of the LEED rating system is known as LEED v4 and is set to come into effect in mid to late 2013. This update will open up LEED to a wider range of building types and manufacturing industries, delivering the benefits of green building up and down the supply chain. It will advance environmental footprint issues, like climate change, and encourage optimization of energy and water use. Join us to learn more about the evolution of the LEED rating system and the role that energy efficiency plays in the upcoming version.
Chris Schaffner, P.E., LEED Fellow is a professional mechanical engineer registered in Massachusetts, California, and Vermont. Chris has been a member of the USGBC faculty since 2001, training more than 9,200 building industry professionals in the LEED rating system. He is a member of the USGBC's Curriculum Committee, and is on the Energy and Atmosphere Technical Advisory Group (TAG). In 2005 he founded The Green Engineer, Inc., a sustainable design consulting firm specializing in solutions to design, build, and operate buildings with improved energy efficiency and reduced impact on the environment (http://www.greenengineer.com/). The firm has a technical staff of eight LEED-Accredited Professionals. The expert team brings to the table experience and perspective from a variety of backgrounds including engineering, architecture, construction, planning, development, and public policy.
Coming next: On Tuesday, April 23 don't miss "Energy Sufficiency: New Approaches to Saving Energy in an Era of Climate Constraints" with Chris Calwell, Senior Research Fellow, Ecova. Register now and join us on Tuesday, April 23 from 12-1 PM EST.
The Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) is pleased to present Blueprint for Efficiency, our fourth annual webinar series on energy efficiency, which will continue to emphasize the latest opportunities for energy efficiency. Through presentations from leaders in the corporate, nonprofit, and public-private arenas, we will explore energy efficiency through the lenses of behavior, policy, finance, and technology. Webinars are free and open to the public. Each presentation is recorded and available through Yale University's iTunesU channel.
COST: Free
ORGANIZER: Blueprint for Efficiency
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"What's Your Action Tank Strategy? Bridging Policy and Direct Service."
Tuesday, April 16
12 p.m.
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Speaker Series with Alan Khazei, founder and chief executive officer of Be the Change, Inc.; co-founder of City Year and adjunct lecturer at HKS.
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"Anthropogenic Change and the Fate of Pollination Services."
Tuesday, April 16
12 pm
Harvard: Herbaria Seminar Room, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Rebbeca Irwin
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Work here: have a voice and change the world. Are employees at the Googles and Facebooks of the world able to enforce that promise?
April 16
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2013/04/whitney#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30pm ET.
with Berkman Fellow, Heather Whitney
Companies like Google and Twitter and Facebook are thought to provide some of the most envied work environments on the planet. These employers promise not only tons of "perks" but the opportunity to work collaboratively on incredibly important, intellectually challenging, and cool problems that matter. These employers also promise employees a real voice in the company through things like weekly all-hands where employees can ask top level executives tough questions and a generally flat corporate structure. These are high trust, high cooperation, open work environments and studies have shown they pay off -- employees work harder and companies do better.
But should employees be worried that their trust in their employer, so purposefully cultivated, has been built on promises that are more illusion than enforceable promise? What happens when employees, enticed by these dream-like environments and promises of doing good, see their employer make choices that appear anything but? From unilateral and dramatic changes in working conditions (e.g. taking away work from home being only a recent example) to normatively-laden business decisions (e.g., entering oppressive regimes and handing over user data to them, using software patents offensively [or not], or evendonating money to political candidates employees ideologically oppose), are these employers holding up their end of the bargain? Are employees really getting a voice that commands employer response?
Some in the labor movement think these employers create nothing more than a mirage, that like the now-prohibited company unions of the past, these employers work to ensure workers feel a sense of ownership and voice but, when push comes to shove, have nothing the company cannot just as easily take away. Others, including many who work at these companies, disagree. This talk will outline the debate and try to make headway towards some answers.
About Heather
Heather Whitney is a Berkman fellow and J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School, where she heads up Submissions for the Journal of Law and Technology. Heather received her B.A., summa cum laude, from UCLA in Philosophy (spending much of her time thinking about the intersection of ethics and emerging technologies). Prior to law school, she worked on Google’s Global Ethics and Compliance team for three years. During law school, she’s worked at the Federal Trade Commission, Jenner & Block's Washington D.C. office, and on Facebook's global policy team. She is currently writing an article examining whether we should rethink the ban on company unions, particularly in work environments like Google.
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Mathematics at Google
April 16th 2013, Tuesday
4:00pm-5:30pm
MIT, Building 32-124, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Refreshments served
Javier Tordable
Abstract: There is a wide variety of mathematics used at Google. For example Linear Algebra in the PageRank algorithm, used to rank web pages in search results. Or Game Theory, used in ad auctions, or Graph Theory in Google Maps. At Google there are literally dozens of products which use interesting Mathematics. These are not just research prototypes, but real Google products; in which Mathematics play a crucial role. In this presentation, I introduce several applications of Mathematics at Google. I begin with a detailed explanation of search on the web and PageRank. Then I show a dozen examples of Google products and the corresponding Mathematics that are used. The presentation has an extensive list of links and references. And it's available in English and Spanish.
Speaker’s Biography: Javier Tordable graduated from the University of Valladolid, Spain with degrees in Computer Science (Ingeniero Superior en Informática) and Mathematics (Licenciado en Matemáticas). He joined Google in 2008 and works currently in Google Seattle.
Please contact Ruby Fu (rubyfu at mit.edu) for any questions.
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The Prospects for a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Noam Chomsky, MIT
Nuclear Arms Control in the Middle East and South Asia
Professor Chomsky, widely acknowledged as one of America's leading public intellectuals, will discuss nuclear weapons in the Middle East and the prospects for a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, nuclear weapons continue to be at the center of debates that dominate international relations today. Yet, the search for a world without nuclear weapons remains as elusive as ever.
Thousands of strategic nuclear weapons remain in the arsenals of the US and Russia and hundreds of tactical nuclear weapons are still deployed in Europe without any rationale. The presence of nuclear weapons real or perceived threaten peace in other parts of the world.
Web site: web.mit.edu/sts
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): SHASS Dean's Office, HASTS
For more information, contact: Randyn Miller
617-253-3452
randyn at mit.edu
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An Evidence-Based Toolset to Capture, Measure, Analyze & Assess Emotional Health
Tuesday, April 16 2013
4:00PM to 5:00PM
Refreshments: 3:45PM
MIT, Building 32-D463 (Stata Center - Star Conference Rm), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ted Hill, Ph.D. Candidate and Dr. Pierre Dumouchel, Professor and Chairman, École de technologie suprieure (ETS), Université du Quebec
In this talk we will describe an evidence-based web toolkit that captures a patient’s emotional state, expressiveness/affect, self-awareness, and empathy during a daily fifteen second telephone call (crafted with dynamic CCXML and VoiceXML), and then accurately measures and analyzes these indicators of Emotional Health based on emotion detection in speech and multilevel regression analysis. The emotion set (Neutral, Happy, Sad, Angry and Anxious) was selected to cover depression, anger, and anxiety that are associated with mental health disorders and substance abuse. Happiness is a key indicator of “Quality of Life”. Longitudinal analysis can provide evidence of the effectiveness of psychotropic medication, psychotherapy, and substance abuse rehabilitation. Trend analysis can provide empirical insight and accelerate the interview process during monthly assessments by overburdened physicians and psychotherapists. Crisis intervention can be triggered on conditions including the detection of isolation from unanswered calls, or consecutive days of negative emotions.
8,376 momentary emotional states were collected from 113 participants in three groups: Opioid Addicts undergoing Suboxone treatment, the General Population, and members of Alcohol Anonymous. Gaussian Model Mixtures (GMMs) were trained for the Universal Background Model (UBM) and then adapted for each emotion. An overall accuracy of 62% was achieved. To improve accuracy, crowd-sourced majority vote (MV) classifiers were fused to the GMM classifier. Multilevel statistical analysis of fused emotion classifier results indicate statistically significant differences in Emotional Truth, Expressiveness, Self-Awareness, and Empathy across group, gender, and language.
Host: Najim Dehak, MIT CSAIL
Contact: Marcia Davidson, 617-253-3049, marcia at csail.mit.edu
----------------------------
MISTI Foreign Film Night: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
4:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building E25-111, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Theodore C. Bestor
Discussion with special guest Theodore C. Bestor, Reischauer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology and Japanese Studies and Director, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese studies, Harvard University
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is the story of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef. He is the propietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appreances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded the prestigious three-star Michelin Guide rating, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro's sushi bar.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT-Japan Program, Foreign Languages & Literatures, Anthropology, ISA
For more information, contact: Griselda Gomez
252-1483
gomezg at mit.edu
----------------------------
Lives of the Mind: A Conversation with Howard Gardner and Steven Pinker
WHEN Tue., Apr. 16, 2013, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Lecture
BUILDING/ROOM Other
CONTACT NAME Mind/Brain/Behavior Graduate Student Committee
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Mind/Brain/Behavior Graduate Student Committee
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
NOTE Topics include:
Human intelligence
Education & the Arts
Big Ideas on the Mind
Kinds of Psychology
Presented by the Mind/Brain/Behavior Graduate Student Committee. Free and open to the public.
---------------------------
Forecasting the Future: Can Ecologists Predict the Fate of Plant and Animal Populations?
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Free, but registration requested https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1182&DayPlannerDate=4/16/2013
Elizabeth Crone, Population Ecologist, Harvard Forest
Population ecologists study plant and animal populations in essentially the same way that insurance actuaries assess risks about human populations: they track births and deaths of different plant and animal species, and use these patterns to predict how these species will respond to changes in habitat management, climate, and more. However, there is much less data about most species than about humans, and environmental planners often want longer-term forecasts than insurance companies. Elizabeth Crone will describe how plant ecologists monitor populations and collect demographic information. She will also speak about successes and failures in forecasting the futures of different plant populations, and describe how ecologists go about the science of fortune-telling.
This program is offered in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Fest
Contact Name: Pamela Thompson
pam_thompson at harvard.edu
-------------------------------
Refresh Boston: Design Museum Boston
4/16/2013
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Microsoft New England R&D Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://refreshboston.org/rsvp/
Description: Refresh Boston welcomes the founders of Design Museum Boston for our April event.
Sam Aquillano & Derek Cascio, founders of Design Museum Boston, will talk about what it takes to create and run a decentralized collection of exhibits across the Boston area, why they started the museum, and where it's going next. They'll also show some behind the scenes planning for Street Seats, an exhibit opening in late April.
----------------------------
Grassland Restoration: Reversing Global Warming While Meeting Human Needs
Tuesday, April 16
7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Avenue (corner of Magazine Street and Putnam), Cambridge
Allan Savory, an internationally known restoration ecologist, recently gave an electrifying talk to a packed lecture hall at Tufts. People were on their feet after hearing how grazing animals can restore grasslands while pulling carbon out of the atmosphere, replenishing scarce water resources, and increasing global food supply. Now local climate activists Adam Sacks and Jim Laurie are bringing this work to the Northeast. Come hear about our best chance to address the climate emergency and what we can do to promote this effort. Join us!
Jim Laurie is a restoration ecologist, nature philosopher, and teacher. Some of his best friends are dung beetles, methanotrophs (ask him), worms and fungi.
Adam Sacks has been a climate activist since the turn of the millennium. He's been studying Holistic Management since Jim introduced it to him in 2007, and sees it as the only thing that has a reasonable chance of turning our excess carbon into new life.
Information about the Savory Institute at http://www.savoryinstitute.com
Greenport Forum: GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Wineman at steven.wineman at gmail.com
--------------------------
Film Screening: "YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip"
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
7:00pm - 9:30pm
Emerson College, Paramount Center, Bright Family Screening Room, 555 Washington Street, Boston
The Emerson College Bright Lights series presents a screening:
YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip
With director Ben Evans
50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in crisis, three friends hit the road - with hope, humor…and all of their trash - to explore America (the good, bad, and weird) in search of innovators tackling humanity's greatest environmental challenges in this award-winning docu-comedy. Featuring Bill McKibben, Wes Jackson, Will Allen, Janine Benyus, Joel Salatin, David Orr, and music by Ben Sollee, Mark Geary and more.
Co-Sponsored by the Emerson College Department of Communication, Sciences and Disorders, the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Iwasaki Library, the President's Sustainability Committee, and Student Life.
http://www.yert.com/
Contact Name: Anna Feder
Anna_Feder at emerson.edu
-------------------------
Wednesday, April 17
-------------------------
Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
----------------------------
Sustainability Breakfast Meetup: Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM (EDT)
Pret A Manger, 185 Franklin Street, Post Office Square, Boston
RSVP at http://nibaprilbreakfast-es2005.eventbrite.com/
Event Details
Join us for the first of a new series of informal breakfast meetups to get sustainability professionals together for networking, discussion and moral support. It’s important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good!
So come, get a cup of coffee or a bagel, support a local business and get fired up before work so we can continue trying to change the world.
This is an evolving event so your input and participation is more than welcome. Please share any thoughts or ideas with events at netimpactboston.org.
-------------------------------
Earth Day Fair at Harvard Law School
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
11:30am - 1:30pm
Holmes Field, Harvard Law School, 1545 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
A fun, engaging event to bring the HLS community together and get everyone thinking about environmental issues. A chance to celebrate HLS sustainability successes, let student groups, offices, and local businesses share what they’re doing, and engage the community!
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Modeling Supply Chain System Structure to Trace Sources of Food Contamination
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
12:00-1:00pm
MIT, Building E40-298, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Abby Horn
ESS Doctoral Seminar Series
-------------------------------
[MIT Energy Club] Energy 101: "Nuclear - Producing Energy from Nuclear Waste"
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 56-114 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Jacob DeWitte
Nuclear waste in the US contains more energy than 600 billion barrels of oil. This talk will discuss nuclear reactor technologies that can tap into this tremendous energy resource.
Energy 101 Lectures series
The Energy 101 lectures aim at presenting an overview of various topics in the energy field. These lectures are open to everyone and require no prior knowledge.
Open to: the general public
Cost: none
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact: Jonathan Mailoa; Michelle Park
jpmailoa at mit.edu; mpark15 at mit.edu
----------------------------
Preparing for Climate Change and the Rising Tide (a brown bag lunch program): Conservation Law Foundation & The Boston Harbor Association
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
Conservation Law Foundation, 62 Summer Street [entrance on Otis Street], Boston
RSVP at http://bostonrisingtide2013-es2005.eventbrite.com/
Last Fall, Hurricane Sandy brought devastating wind, waves, and storm surge to the coasts of New York and New Jersey. Sandy proved to be the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic and the second costliest in US history. With climate change, the era of bigger storms, rising seas, and warmer temperatures is upon us. What can we do in Boston today to make our communities more resilient to the likely events of tomorrow?
Pack your lunch and join TBHA’s Julie Wormser and CLF’s Sue Reid for a lively discussion and examination of:
climate change impacts in New England and coastal flooding vulnerability analyses for Boston Harbor,
state policies on climate change and mitigation measures underway, and
adaptation options.
Presenter - Julie Wormser, Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association
Host – Sue Reid, CLF Massachusetts Director
**Space is limited. Please register in advance. Light refreshments provided. Please feel free to bring your lunch to the talk.**
Background:
In February, TBHA released, “Preparing for the Rising Tide,” a report assessing Boston’s vulnerability to coastal flooding and reviewing various time-phased preparedness plans and mitigation measures for Boston Harbor. Read the report here: http://tbha.org/preparing-rising-tide-report
----------------------------
Will Climate Change Take Away Our Tequila?
WHEN Wed., Apr. 17, 2013, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South S-250 DRCLAS Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
SPEAKER(S) Erick de la Barrera, Antonio Madero Visiting Scholar, DRCLAS, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO rachelmurray at fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/node/1871
----------------------------
Delivering Green: Three Case Studies in Carbon-Efficient Logistics
April 17, 2013
1:00pm - 02:00pm EDT
Webinar at https://mit.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=mit&service=6&rnd=0.07662577252266523&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmit.webex.com%2Fec0606l%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26confViewID%3D1190306196%26%26%26%26siteurl%3Dmit
Logistics is a leading source of carbon. Nearly 6 percent of the greenhouse gases generated by humans come from the flow of products to consumers.
Reducing these emissions takes more than setting goals; it requires clear, measurable initiatives that hit sustainability targets while delivering lower costs and higher service levels.
Three companies, Boise Inc., Caterpillar Inc., and Ocean Spray, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the MIT Center for Transportation (MIT CTL), have completed carbon-reduction projects that meet these goals. The results are now available in three compelling case studies.
MIT CTL invites you to hear these stories by attending our next webinar, Delivering Green: Three Case Studies in Carbon-Efficient Logistics, on April 17th, 2013, at 1pm EST, the third event in MIT CTL’s Advances in Supply Chain webinar series. Learn how these companies slowed the growth of logistics-related emissions through mode shifting, load consolidation, and network redesign – and captured cost savings as well as service improvements.
Dr. Edgar Blanco, MIT CTL, will be joined by EDF’s Jason Mathers, Ross Corthell from Boise, Kristine Young from Ocean Spray, and Zena Onstott from Caterpillar to share their insights from these projects.
MIT CTL Advances in Supply Chain Management Webinar Series
REGISTER NOW and join us for a unique perspective on capturing the benefits of low-carbon logistics.
More information at http://ctl.mit.edu/events/mit_ctl_ascm_delivering_green_three_case_studies_carbon_efficient_logistics
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Bio-Inspired Design of Battery Membranes and Electrodes
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2013
1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115
Speaker: Brett Helms, Staff Scientist, The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Abstract: In this seminar, Brett Helms will discuss his approaches to assembling membranes and electrodes for next generation energy storage devices. Every component of an energy storage device - from its membrane to its electrodes - should achieve directional flow of matter, ions, electrons, or energy while operating under an electrochemical potential. His group's long-term goal is in the development of a modular materials platform that enriches our understanding of these transport phenomena through precision assembly of conductive networks with specific architectures. In the case of ion-selective membranes, biological ion channels provide a long sought-after battery-relevant context for achieving high flux, good selectivity, and regulated transport based on channel sizes, solvation, ion-coordination and potential gating. A significant first step along this line has been reported by him toward the fabrication of mechanically robust, yet flexible sub-nanometer porous thin films with vertically aligned channels and well-defined pore chemistries. In the case of electrode materials, hierarchical organization of active species engaging in mixed ion and electron transport are key elements in their bio-inspired design.
Host: Neel Joshi, Core Faculty member, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Contact information:
jermaine.reid at wyss.harvard.edu
------------------------
HKS Discussion on Grassroots Movements
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
3:30pm
Harvard Kennedy School, Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Join Senior Lecturer on Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Marshall Ganz, for a discussion on grassroots movements.
-----------------------------
"A Voting Architecture for the Governance of Free Driver Externalities, with Application to Geoengineering."
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Room L-382, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge
Martin Weitzman, Harvard University
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
For further information, contact Professor Stavins at the Kennedy School (495-1820), Professor Weitzman at the Department of Economics (495-5133), or the course assistant, Jason Chapman (617-496-8054), or visit the seminar web site: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k89370
----------------------------
Some Aspects of the Runaway Greenhouse, Reconsidered
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Professor Ray Pierrehumbert, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago
EAPS Department Lecture Series
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/lectures
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Jacqui Taylor
617-253-2127
-------------------------------
SSRC Seminar: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
4:30p–5:30p
MIT, Building E25-111, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Bob Martin, Senior Policy Advisor, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future
Every year between 8 and 9 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food in the U.S. This industrial-scale production system is unsustainable. Bob Martin will outline the associated threats to public health, the environment, animals, and rural communities.
Bob Martin is a senior policy advisor at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for a Livable Future. Formerly he was a senior officer at the Pew Environment Group and Executive Director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. In 2008 the Commission released "Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America". The report recommended solutions to problems caused by concentrated animal feeding operations in the areas of public health, the environment, rural communities, and animal welfare.
Web site: http://ssrc.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
For more information, contact: Keeley Rafter
(617) 253-0477
ssrcinfo at mit.edu
-----------------------------
Future of Energy: "Our Shared Destinies Within the Planet’s Boundaries"
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
5:00pm
Harvard, Science Center D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; currently Senior Scientific Advisor to UBS; Chancellor of the University of Liverpool; Chairman of the Futures Cities Catapult; Director of Cambridge Kaspakas; and Adviser to President Kagame of Rwanda.
Sir King serves as Chair of the UK National Oceanography Advisory Board; as Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation; and as NED of Midatech Limited.
He was the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2000 to 2007. During that time he raised the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. He created an in-depth futures process which advised government on a wide range of long term issues, from flooding to obesity. He served as Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, 2008 – 2012, Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University, 1993 – 2000, and Master of Downing College Cambridge 1995 – 2000.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991; Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002; knighted in 2003; made “Officier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honeur” in 2009.
Contact Name: Lisa Matthews
lisa_matthews at harvard.edu
---------------------------
*BOB MOSES AND KENDRA LARA*
Empowering Youth Through Education: An Intergenerational Objective
Wednesday, April 17th
6pm
Community Change, 14 Beacon Street #605, Boston
The second event of our Anti-Racist Leadership in Action! Series
KENDRA LARA AND BOB MOSES will be continuing our series with a conversation about the effects of racial inequalities in the education system. Collaborating across generations, they will discuss the impact of their work in education and what they have learned about empowering youth to make systemic change.
BOB MOSES, recipient of our Lifetime Achievement award, was director of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) where he revitalized and led several organizations in their efforts to eliminate Jim Crow in the 1960's. Bob also has a PhD from Harvard in W.V.O. Quine's philosophy of mathematics and is founder and President of the Algebra Project, Inc., which uses mathematics as an organizing tool for a Quality Public School Education (QECR) for all students.
KENDRA LARA, recipient of our Emerging Leader award, is a young activist engaging in self-directed studies at Goddard College, focused on developing alternative curriculum for young people who are affected by the trauma of community-based violence and structural oppression. She is also a co-founder of the Beantown Society, a youth program based in Jamaica Plain, with a mission to unite youth in Boston across race, class, culture, and neighborhood to end youth violence.
A $5 donation to benefit Community Change is suggested.
*Please RSVP** by email to kelly at communitychangeinc.org*
--------------------------------
Nerd Night Book Talk
April 17
6pm
Zuzu , 474 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge
Tickets are $5 at http://frankensteinscat-es2005.eventbrite.com/
Emily Anthes is this salon’s featured science writer. The evening kicks off with a social hour, allowing nerds to mix and mingle with one another. Immediately following are a few words from Emily regarding her new book, Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts. Q+A and conversation with Emily and one another to follow her remarks.
This event is brought to you in collaboration with the Museum of Science and the Cambridge Science Festival. F
----------------------------
What High School Science Should Have Been
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building N51, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Remember that awful biology class where you had to memorize a million Latin names? Did you struggle to balance chemistry equations and swear never to do that again? MIT scientists will share their most memorable moments from high school science class and then describe how those lessons continue to shape their research careers! Tonight, allow yourself to flash back to high school, but this time with friends, acquaintances, and drink, to share those science experiences with good humor.
Free admission. Recommended for older teens and adults. Cash bar for ages 21+.
Web site: http://mit.edu/museum/programs/festival.html#417
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo at mit.edu
------------------------------
The Future of Print in the Digital Age
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
7:00p–8:30p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speakers: David Carr, Seth Mnookin, and Ta-Nehisi Coates
David Carr writes the Media Equation column for the Monday Business section of the New York Times that focuses on media issues including print, digital, film, radio and television. He also works as a general assignment reporter in the Culture section of The Times covering all aspects of popular culture. Carr blogs regularly at Media Decoder.
For the past 25 years, Carr has been writing about media as it intersects with business, culture and government.
Seth Mnookin is a former baseball and political writer who now co-directs MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a 2012-2013 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Scholar at MIT and a senior editor at The Atlantic where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle.
Web site: http://cms.mit.edu/events/specialevents.php#041713
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies, Co-sponsored by Comparative Media Studies/Writing, its Graduate Program in Science Writing, and the MIT Program in Science Technology and Society
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cms at mit.edu
-----------------------------
Shadow Lives
Wednesday, April 17
7pm
Cambridge Forum
First Parish Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
British journalist and playwright Victoria Brittain reveals the unseen side of the "9/11 wars:" their impact on the wives and families of men incarcerated in Guantanamo, or in prison or under house arrest in Britain and the US. Her newest book, Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror, shows how these families have been made socially invisible and a convenient scapegoat for the state in order to exercise arbitrary powers under the cover of the "War on Terror". What is our unquenchable thirst for security doing to our tradition of human rights and civil liberty?
http://www.cambridgeforum.org
-------------------------
Climate Education Meeting - How is our state progressing toward its climate goals?
Wednesday, 17 April, 2013
08:00 PM - 09:30 PM
Arlington Senior Center, 27 Maple Street, Arlington
In 2008 Massachusetts passed two major pieces of climate related legislation. The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) required the state to set 2020 and 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets and develop a plan to hit those targets, and the Green Communities Act (GCA) greatly accelerated energy efficiency work in Massachusetts and created the Green Communities Program incentivizing Massachusetts cities and towns to go green.
Steven Clarke, Assistant Secretary for Energy, will be speaking on the Climate Plan/Global Warming Solutions Act andLisa Capone, Deputy Director of Green Communities at DOER, will be speaking on the Green Communities Act.
Attendence is free, light refreshment served. All are welcome.
----------------------
Thursday, April 18
----------------------
Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
---------------------------------
FAS Monthly Environmental Movies/Brown Bag Lunch Series
Thursday, April 18, 2013
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Harvard, Mallinckrodt 102, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Join us for screenings of the most inspiring TED talks on a variety of environmental topics. Every 3rd Thursday of the month.
Contact Name: Gosia Sklodowska
gosia_sklodowska at harvard.edu
--------------------------------
Community Gardens: Turning Vacant Lots into Urban Assets
Thursday, April 18, 2013
1pm EST; 12pm CST; 11am MST; 10am PST
FREE WEBINAR: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/559250846?utm_source=SCN+InBox+e-Newsletter
Eileen Horn, Sustainability Coordinator, City of Lawrence, Kansas
This free one-hour webinar features the Common Ground Program, a community gardening and urban agriculture program created by the city of Lawrence, Kansas
In the winter of 2011, the city surveyed its vacant and underutilized properties, identified appropriate sites for agriculture and made these sites available through an application process for citizens. During the 2012 growing season, five pilot sites were opened to the public through partnerships with neighborhood associations, nonprofit organizations and schools. The five sites include two neighborhood community gardens, a youth-focused garden in a city park, a community orchard for free picking, and a market farm coordinated by college and middle school students. In exchange for receiving a free license for use of city property, each applicant created a community benefit plan for their project.
In this webinar, Eileen Horn, sustainability coordinator for the city of Lawrence, will describe the project goals, community benefits, lessons learned, funding sources and partnerships that went into the Common Ground Program.
---------------------------------
Digital Public Library of America: Launch Event (2-days)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
1:30 PM
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston
Note: Use the 230 Dartmouth Street entrance!
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Cambridge-Moveable-Feast/events/112526492/
This is a two-day event.
Website: http://dp.la/get-involved/events/launch/
Schedule: http://dp.la/get-involved/events/launch/agenda/
On April 18-19, 2013, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) will celebrate the groundbreaking work of hundreds of librarians, innovators, and other dedicated volunteers in our collective effort to build the first national digital library. They invite you to join them at the Boston Public Library for this historic event.
Convened by the DPLA Secretariat at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and co-hosted by the Boston Public Library, the two-day DPLA Launch will include a brief working day on Thursday, April 18th, followed by a formal reception featuring presentations and a series of interactive exhibits showcasing content from their many partners, including the Digital Hubs and Europeana. On Friday, April 19th, the DPLA will convene a focused half-day plenary meeting highlighting the DPLA’s progress and potential.
Join them for interactive exhibits, the prototype launch, and more!
DPLA Launch Registration: Registration for the DPLA Launch is required and is free and open to all. We invite all those interested from the general public, the educational community, public and research libraries, cultural organizations, state and local government, the creative community, publishers, and private industry to join us.
We’ve had an amazing amount of interest in the various Launch festivities and have opened wait lists for the working meetings, launch reception, and public plenary.
Please note that we will offer remote participation for the Digital Hubs and Board working meetings (via Adobe Connect), and we’ll be livestreaming from the public plenary on April 19. We will record the presentations from the launch reception on April 18 and post them to the web shortly thereafter.
We hope to bring together a broad and diverse mix of participants, both individually and institutionally. Space at the DPLA Launch is limited, and although there are capacity constraints, we genuinely seek to welcome as many voices as possible through participation online via our webcasts and social tools.
-------------------------------
Renewable Energy Futures to 2050: Current Thinking
April 18, 2013
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Eric Martinot
The REN21 Renewables Global Futures Report provides a pioneering synthesis of the full range of credible possibilities for the future of renewable energy. The report is not one scenario or viewpoint, but captures the contemporary thinking of 170 leading experts from around the world, including CEOs and parliamentarians, as expressed in face-to-face interviews with the report author. The report also incorporates the results of 50 recently published and prominent energy scenarios by a range of organizations. Conservative projections show 15-20% global energy shares from renewables in the long-term to 2030 and 2050, about the same as the current share. High-renewables projections show shares in the 50-95% range. A range of integration options for electric power grids, buildings, industry, and transport are possible. Annual investment in renewable energy rose from $40 billion in 2004 to over $260 billion today, and several projections reach to $500 billion by 2020 and beyond, from new sources of finance. Strong future growth in national markets is projected from a range of policies and targets, with cases for the US, EU, Japan, China, and India. Projections for global technology markets show cost reductions, technology evolution possibilities, and multi-fold capacity increases. A series of "Great Debates" throughout the report frame current issues.
Category: lectures/conferences: science/engineering
Sponsored by: Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, MIT Energy Club
Admission: Open to the public
For more information: Contact Alli Gold
617-253-6017
alligold at mit.edu
http://globalchange.mit.edu/news-events/featured-events/event_id/537
---------------------------------
Volunteer Day with City Sprouts
Thursday, April 18
3–5 pm
Celebrate the spring by helping the local organization City Sprouts get their gardens ready for the spring. We’ll be weeding, digging, and helping clear the garden for the spring. This is a great organization to learn more about! CitySprouts introduces school gardens as a core element of children’s public school education. City Sprouts program serves public schools in Boston, Lynn, Gloucester, and the entire Cambridge Public School District. All are welcome! Email foodliteracy at havard.edu for event details.
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Perihuman Aerosol Science: UFP, SVOCs, and the Indoor Microbiome
Thursday, April 18, 2013
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: William Nazaroff, Daniel Tellep Distinguished Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Perihuman aerosol science addresses the physics, chemistry and microbiology of particles and gases in proximity to people. Such phenomena matter greatly in efforts to understand the health effects of air pollution. Because of the large scale of humankind, perihuman processes also matter for broader atmospheric concerns. The earth???s atmosphere has a mass of about 5000 exagrams (Eg). Each year humans breathe about 0.05 Eg, use 0.1 Eg to combust fossil fuels, and use about 5 Eg to ventilate buildings. This presentation summarizes some recent studies investigating air quality in the perihuman space. Such studies utilize a wide range of approaches, including field studies of aerosol exposure, biomonitoring, studies of the dynamics of semivolatile organic compounds, and DNA characterization of the indoor micro biome.
Environmental Sciences Seminar Series
Join us for a weekly series of EFM/Hydrology topics by MIT faculty and students, as well as guest lecturers from around the globe.
Join us for a weekly series of Environmental Sciences topics by MIT faculty and students, as well as guest lecturers from around the globe.
Web site: http://cee.mit.edu/events/318
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Ruth Yiu
3-7145
ryiu at mit.edu
-----------------------------
Film: Addicted to Plastic with Filmmaker Ian Connacher
Thursday, April 18
4 pm
Harvard Business School, Aldrich 111, Allston
Join Filmmaker Ian Connacher for a screening of his move "Addicted to Plastic."
The film will be followed by a discussion moderated by Professor Eccles.
---------------------------
Obama's "War on Terror" at Home and Abroad
THURSDAY, APRIL 18
4PM
George Sherman Union 320-21, Boston University
(RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/129013387285725/)
7PM: Science Center Hall E, Harvard University
(RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/323893554380414/)
INFO: contact at bostonsocialism.org
A Public Forum featuring RICHARD SEYMOUR
[NOTE: Seymour will also be speaking on his new book "Unhitched" the following evening at Community Church of Boston. See http://encuentro5.org/home/node/297 for details.]
The White House no longer uses the phrase "War on Terror" due to its association with the despised administration of George W. Bush. But while the euphemisms have changed for the better, the reality has changed for the worse: militarism, war, targeted assassinations, constant government surveillance, the scapegoating of Arabs and Muslims, the suppression of political dissent...all in the context of a global economic crisis that never stopped for working people--and never started for the rich.
How has the "War on Terror" continued and expanded under Obama? Why has the opposition of millions been unable to stop it? And what can we do now to stop it?
Featuring internationally-acclaimed socialist blogger and author
RICHARD SEYMOUR of Lenin's Tomb (http://www.leninology.com/); and
KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH of the International Socialist Organization.
Sponsored by: BU Anti-War Coalition; BU Students for Justice in Palestine; Harvard Socialists at GSAS; Haymarket Books; International Socialist Organization; United National Antiwar Coalition (Boston); Verso Books; Veterans for Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade; and others.
ABOUT RICHARD SEYMOUR
One of Britain's leading young radical intellectuals, RICHARD SEYMOUR is the principal contributor to Lenin's Tomb (http://www.leninology.com/), one of the UK's most popular blogs. A
regular columnist for the Guardian, Seymour is also the author four books, most recently "American Insurgents: A Brief History of American Anti-Imperialism" (Haymarket 2012) and "Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens" (Verso 2013, more at http://www.versobooks.com/books/1159-unhitched). He is a founding member of the International Socialist Network.
ABOUT KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH
A long-time anti-imperialist activist, KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH traveled to Iraq in 2004 and the Gaza Strip in 2009 with international solidarity delegations. His academic research focuses on the geography of the US military.
MORE INFORMATION
All events are free and open to the public. The BU event is supported in part by the BU undergraduate student fee.
Richard Seymour's books, plus other Verso and Haymarket titles, will be available for purchase. Cash and all major credit cards accepted.
If your organization is interested in sponsoring the event, please
email contact at bostonsocialism.org.
Flyer download link (8.5x11 PDF):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15121433/iso_seymour-forum.pdf
----------------------------------
Cleantech Open Northeast Business Briefing
Thursday, April 18, 2013
4:30 PM to 5:30 PM (EDT)
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Building E40-160, One Amherst Street, Cambridge
Join us with the MIT Clean Energy Prize at the MIT Enterprise Center to learn how Cleantech Open can help cleantech startups get going and growing!
With Special Alumni Guests:
Energy Sage, Save Energy Systems and Vecarius!
Are you an energy or environmental entrepreneur looking for ways to accelerate your startup, expand your cleantech network, and explore funding opportunities?
Join us for an intimate briefing to hear from the Northeast Region of the Cleantech Open business accelerator program and competition and learn more about how the program can help you grow your cleantech venture, or mentor entrepreneurs looking to solve our biggest environmental and energy challenges.
Come and ask questions of Cleantech Open staff and volunteers learn about the program and explore what the Cleantech Open can offer you, whether you are an entrepreneur, prospective mentor, or simply wish to learn more!
About the Cleantech Open
The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest accelerator, providing entrepreneurs and technologists the resources needed to launch successful cleantech companies. Cleantech Open’s mission is to find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges. The program provides a number of key activities; extensive mentoring, training, business clinics, access to investors and capital, numerous opportunities to showcase to the media and the public, and the competition itself. Since its inception in 2006, the Cleantech Open has awarded over $5 million in cash and services to support cleantech growth companies. The 727 participating companies of the Cleantech Open’s accelerator programs have raised more than $800 million in external capital.
------------------------------
Size Is Only Half the Story: Valuing the Dimensionality of BIG DATA
Thursday, April 18, 2013
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 4-231, 182 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Recent provocations (boyd and Crawford, 2011) about the role of big data in human communication research and technology studies deserve an outline of the value of anthropology, as a particular kind of big data.
Mary L. Gray, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research New England and Associate Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, will walk through the different dimensions of social inquiry that fall under the rubric of "big data". She argues for attending to different dimensions rather than scales of data, more collaborative approaches to how we arrive at what we (think we) know, and critical analysis of the cultural assumptions embedded in the data we collect. By moving from the "snapshot" of quantitative work to the "time-lapse photography" of ethnography, she suggests that researchers must imagine "big data" as an on-going process of modeling, triangulation, and critique.
Gray's current research includes work on ethnographically-informed social media research, compliance cyberinfrastructures in universities and their impact on emerging media research, online labour, and the importance of location and place in the context of mobile technologies. Her book Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America examined how youth in rural parts of the United States fashioned "queer" senses of gender and sexual identity and the role that media--particularly internet access--played in their lives and political work.
CMS Colloquium Series
Web site: http://cms.mit.edu/events/talks.php#041813
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cms at mit.edu
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Neuroimaging of Religious Experience
Thursday, April 18, 2013
6:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: P Monroe Butler
Psychological and Neuroscientific Foundations of Spirituality and Religion
An exploration of why some of us experience feelings of spirituality. What is the interplay of religion and child development? Why did religions come into existence? What do religious experiences look like neuroscientifically?
Part five of a six-part lecture series of the psychological and neuroscientific foundations of spirituality and religion.
Pizza provided before lecture.
Web site: http://ssomit.mit.edu/events.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Secular Society, The Baker Foundation
For more information, contact: Secular Society Exec
ssomit-officers at mit.edu
---------------------------
2013 Annual John R. Freeman Lecture- Hurricane Storm Barrier Design and Operation
Thursday, April 18, 2013
6:00p–9:00p
Reception: 6:00 PM/ Lecture: 7:00 PM
MIT, Building E51-Tang Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
2013 Annual John R. Freeman Lecture- Hurricane Storm Barrier Design and Operation
Around the world numerous hurricane or storm surge barriers have been constructed to protect areas deemed to be critical. With the recent impacts to the Northeast United States from Hurricane Sandy and to a lesser extent Hurricane Irene which made landfall a year earlier, concepts for providing flood protection to storm prone areas have been a national focus. This lecture will present a concept design of a barrier to protect a portion of Lower Manhattan, as well as provide information on the operation of two storm barriers that currently exist in the northeast. Various types of barricades utilized around the world and their effectiveness will also be presented.
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sponsored by the BSCES John R. Freeman Fund Committee and ASCE Environmental & Water Resources Institute Boston Chapter
For more information, contact: Freeman Lecture
617-253-8685
laurenm at mit.edu
------------------------------
Whose Choice Is Death?
Thursday, April 18
6:30-8 pm
Suffolk University Law School, Main Function Room, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
w/ Guy Maytal, M.D. and Marcia Angell, M.D.
moderator Jack Wrobel
With the vote on the physician-assisted suicide initiative coming down to a slim margin this past November, voters of Massachusetts appear torn. Is this dignity or playing God? Mercy or giving up too soon?
Does it give people who are suffering a way to control their own destinies, or people with hidden agendas a way to do away with the vulnerable? And how soon will this issue arise again in our state?
Jack Wrobel, Ford Hall Forum Vice President, moderates a debate that elucidates the issue from each side. Marcia Angell, M.D. (supporter for “Prescribing Medication to End Life” initiative) and Guy Maytal, M.D. (opponent to “Prescribing Medication to End Life” initiative) discuss facts, feelings, and unintended effects while the audience decides for themselves whether physician-assisted suicide should ever be Massachusetts law.
Further background information on the participants:
Marcia Angell, M. D., is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine on June 30, 2000. A graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, she trained in both internal medicine and anatomic pathology and is a board-certified pathologist. She joined the editorial staff of the New England Journal of Medicine in 1979, became Executive Editor in 1988, and Editor-in-Chief in 1999. Angell is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences, the Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society, and is a Master of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Guy Maytal, M.D. is an attending psychiatrist and director of the Psychiatry Urgent Care Clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital as well as Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He received his M.D. at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his internship, residency and fellowship at MGH. Maytal also completed a fellowship in Psycho-oncology and Psychosomatic Medicine at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He has been an active member of the MGH Optimum Care Committee since 2008 and cares for patients with cancer and life-threatening illnesses. His interest is in investigating the tension between medical paternalism and patient autonomy as well as ethical issues surrounding resource allocation.
Jack Wrobel is a retired Air Force officer and a retired Vice President at the consulting firm Shipley Associates. He holds a B.S. in Physics and an M.S. in Space Physics. Wrobel has served as a Selectman in Westford for nine years and is a is trustee of the J. V. Fletcher Library. He currently is a pro-bono Consultant for nonprofits. An advocate of “life long learning,” Jack has been member of the Ford Hall Forum since 1991 and now serves as a Vice President of the Forum.
Admission is free and open to all. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the Park St. MBTA Station.
For more information, contact Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University: 617-557-2007, www.fordhallforum.org.
--------------------------------
The 1st Ahmad Tehrani Lecture: John Wardle, Exaggeration: John Wardle Architects
Thursday, April 18, 2013
6:30-8:30pm
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: John Wardle, John Wardle Architects, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia; Adjunct Professor, Universities of Melbourne and South Australia
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture
For more information, contact: 617-253-7791
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Bitter Seeds - a documentary on GM seeds and farmers' suicides in India
Thursday April 18 2013
7-9:30PM
MIT, Building 4-163, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Followed by Q&A with director Micha Peled
Bitter Seeds explores the future of how we grow things, weighing in on the worldwide debate over the changes created by industrial agriculture. Companies like the U.S.-based Monsanto claim that their genetically modified (GM) seeds offer the most effective solution to feeding the world’s growing population, but on the ground, many small-scale farmers are losing their land. Nowhere is the situation more desperate than in India, where an epidemic of farmer suicides has claimed over a quarter million lives. Every 30 minutes one farmer in India, deep in debt and unable to provide for his family, commits suicide.
Bitter Seeds is the final film in director Micha X. Peled’s Globalization Trilogy, following Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town and China Blue. The films won 18 international awards, aired on over 30 television channels and screened in more than 100 film festivals.
Presented by the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia and Association for India's Development (MIT-Boston chapters)
Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/events/310885985704788/
Bitter Seeds - http://teddybearfilms.com/2011/10/01/bitter-seeds-2/
Alliance - http://southasiaalliance.org/index.htm
AID Boston/MIT - http://www.aidboston.org/drupal/
Free and Open to all
If anyone wishes to co-sponsor, please write to me - Umang Kumar - umkumar at gmail.com
--------------------------
Urban Films: Flag Wars (2003)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
What happens when black working-class families are faced with an influx of white gay homebuyers in their neighborhood? Filmed over four years, FLAG WARS is a clear-eyed look inside the conflicts that surface in one inner-city Columbus, Ohio, community. The film's as-it-is-happening verite style captures the raw emotions of unguarded moments between neighbors: the lesbian realtor who sells the area's Victorian homes; a new homebuyer who moves to the area to live openly as a gay man; two longtime residents who are in court because of new housing codes; and the judge who hears their cases. From porch conversations and family dinners to public hearings and street protests, FLAG WARS provides a rare and extraordinarily intimate account of the social and human consequences of capitalism and the pursuit of the "American Dream" told through the lives of residents in a community confronted by gentrification. Directed by Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras. Co-sponsored by MIT QuBE. 90 minutes.
Urban Planning Film Series
A mostly-weekly series showing documentary and feature films on topics related to cities, urbanism, design, community development, ecology, and other planning issues. Free.
Web site: http://www.urbanfilm.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu
-------------------------
Frankenstein's Cat: Book Talk by Author Emily Anthes
Thursday, April 18, 2013
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Emily Anthes
Come hear author Emily Anthes (MIT SM 2006) read from and speak about her new book "Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts".
Web site: http://sciwrite.mit.edu/events/emily-anthes-book-talk
Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Sponsor(s): Graduate Program in Science Writing, Comparative Media Studies
For more information, contact: Shannon Larkin
617-253-6668
sciwrite-www at mit.edu
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Friday, April 19
-------------------
Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
---------------------------------
Connecting the Dots: Pathways to a New Economy
Clark University New Economy Summit Team
Friday, April 19, 2013
8:00 AM to 7:30 PM
Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester
RSVP at http://neiclarkuniversity.eventbrite.com
We are pleased to announce that Clark University is one of fourteen university partners selected by the New Economics Institute (NEI) to host a free student-led summit. The NEI is supporting Clark graduate and undergraduate students to host a conference that prioritizes the well-being of people and the planet using new economy models and approaches. The New Economics Summit themed, “Connecting the Dots: Pathways to a New Economy” will be hosted Friday, April 19th, 2013 at Clark University.
The aim is to address how to develop pathways to a new economy for the City of Worcester by highlighting organizations and contributing stakeholders who are leading the way for this movement. This summit will provide an opportunity to engage the Clark and Worcester community of students, faculty, practitioners, and experts in an exchange of ideas, evidenced-based practices, and available resources.
The outline for the summit will include workshop sessions, panel discussions, and poster session display.
New Economy themes/workshops include:
The New Economy 101
Transforming Money, Alternative Banking Practices
Food and Environmental Justice
Buying Local, The Importance of a Thriving Local Economy
Alternative Business Ownership and Model for a New Economy
The Art of Documentary Filmmaking
Schedule of New Economy Summit - Clark University
8:00am-9:00am: Registration/Light-Breakfast
9:00am-9:55am: Introduction/Keynote Speaker Juliet Schor
10:00am-10:55am: Workshop Session 1
11:00am-11:55am: Workshop Session 2
12:00pm-1:15pm: Lunch/Poster Presentations
1:30pm-2:15pm: Moderated Panel Discussion
2:30pm-3:30pm: Closing/Keynote Speaker Karen Washington
3:45pm-4:30pm: Tea & Social Hour
6:00pm-7:30pm: Film: Bitter Seeds followed by Q&A with Filmmaker Micha Peled
FAQs
What is the New Economics Institute?
The mission of the New Economics Institute is to build a New Economy that prioritizes the well-being of people and the planet. More information can be found here:http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/
Is the summit free?
Yes, it absolutely is! Register today and bring along your friends for a full day of discussions and presenters!
--------------------------------
Black Carbon: Bounding and Beyond
Apr 19, 2013
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Tami Bond , Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Speaker Biography: http://www.hiwater.org/
Host: Adam Bateman
Contact: Brenda Mathieu
bmathieu at seas.harvard.edu
------------------------------
A conversation and Q&A with Sir David King and Erika Karp
Friday, April 19, 2013
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Harvard, Lower Common Room, Adams House, 26 Plympton Street, Cambridge
The Responsible Investment at Harvard Coalition is organizing a lunch event with Sir David King and Erika Karp.
Please RSVP to mdanto at college.harvard.edu so he knows how much food to order!
What: A conversation and Q&A with Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government, and Erika Karp, an investment researcher at UBS with a special interest in ESG investing.
Some more info on the speakers:
Erika Karp is Managing Director and the Head of Global Sector Research for UBS Investment Bank.[1] Erika chairs the UBS Global Investment Review Committee and manages a team of sector analysts and strategists around the world. She sits on the UBS Securities Research Executive Committee and the Environmental and Human Rights Committee of the UBS Group Executive Board. As a founding member of the UBS Executive Diversity Council, Karp is also a driving force behind UBS’ diversity agenda.
Sir David King was the Chief Scientific Adviser to H.M. Government under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Head of the Government Office for Science from October 2000 to 31 December 2007.[3] In that time, he raised the profile of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. In 2008 he co-authored “The Hot Topic” (Bloomsbury 2008) on this subject.[4] He is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association.
mdanto at college.harvard.edu
--------------------------------
Science of Food
WHEN Fri., Apr. 19, 2013, 1 – 4 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Museum of Natural History Courtyard, 26 Oxford Street; and Maxwell Dworkin Building, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Health Sciences, Lecture, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University, Cambridge Science Festival
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE Experience the connection between science and cooking, through interactive demonstrations and presentations by local chefs and researchers. For instance, How do microbes transform many of the foods that we eat? How do our brains control the way that we perceive food? How are chefs using modern ingredients to create novel textures in cuisine? Teams physicists, microbiologists, neuroscientists, and other scientists will work with restaurants and other food leaders to answer these questions.
LINK http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents/ScienceofFood.aspx
-------------------------------
“The Energy Box”
Friday April 19, 2013
1:30 – 2:30pm EDT
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
& online via WebEx at https://mit.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?service=1&siteurl=mit&nomenu=true&main_url=%2Fmc0806l%2Fe.do%3Fsiteurl%3Dmit%26AT%3DMI%26EventID%3D177202682%26UID%3D1365002717%26Host%3D98481f043f0a1f18%26FrameSet%3D2%26PW%3DNNWNkNmFlZWQ2
Daniel Livengood (PhD ’11), the inaugural recipient of the Daniel and Eva Roos Engineering Systems Dissertation Prize, will present an overview of his dissertation research, titled “The Energy Box,” an always-on background processor for automating home or small business energy usage. The Roos Prize recognizes a recent graduate of the ESD doctoral program “whose research the greatest contribution of original and generalizable scholarship to the engineering systems field of study.” For those who can’t make it in-person, we will also offer a live broadcast of the seminar using WebEx.
ESS alumni committee will host a special seminar/webinar to bridge current students and alumni from the Engineering Systems Division PhD program.
More information at Esdcommunity at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/esdcommunity
-------------------------------
THE NEXT GENERATION OF POLICIES FOR SCALING UP RENEWABLE ENERGY
CIERP 20th Anniversary Symposium
Convened in honor of CIERP Founder and Director William Moomaw
April 19, 2013
2:00 – 6:00 PM
Coolidge Room, Ballou Hall, Tufts University, 1 The Green, Medford
Registration required at http://fletcher.tufts.edu/CIERP20th/Registration
According to the Renewable Energy Global Status Report of 2012, renewable energy now accounts for 17 percent of global energy consumption, and of this total modern renewable energy technologies account for approximately half. More remarkably, renewables accounted for more than half of the capacity added to the electricity sector in 2011 and total renewable electricity capacity reached 1,360 GW. Renewable energy technologies are now among the fastest-growing with solar PV operating capacity growing 58% annually between 2006 and 2011 and wind power growing 26%. China recently emerged as the country with the greatest renewable power capacity in the world. These figures symbolize progress in the deployment of renewable energy technologies that was inconceivable to many only a decade ago. Beginning in the 1990s, government market-formation policies at the national and sub-national levels created strong incentives for renewable energy industries to invest in renewable energy technologies and enter favorable markets to sell their products. Many governments also supported research, development, and demonstration of renewable energy technologies as well. In a new Global Futures Report on renewable energy, different scenarios about the future are explored, and many of them rely upon developments in policy.
The main question for this symposium is: What is the next generation of policies that are needed to scale up renewable energy to the next level? Many related questions will be explored as well, such as:
How could renewable technologies be integrated into existing infrastructure: utility power grids, buildings, industry, and transport. Does integration require new policies and planning approaches?
Given that a global market has emerged for renewable energy technologies through the cumulative policies of national and sub-national governments, would there be any scaling-up benefit from policy coordination or even harmonization among governments?
How does scaling up renewable energy depend on significant improvements in energy efficiency?
Are capital constraints a major barrier to scaling up, and if so, is there a role for governments to play?
How can we balance large-scale renewable energy projects with decentralized, distributed projects?
How does public acceptance affect the scaling up of renewable energy technologies?
Editorial Comment: William Moomaw and CIERP have continued and burnished the environmental reputation and history of Tufts. Dr Moomaw is a respected climate scientist of international repute who practices what he preaches.
---------------------------------
Final Presentations and Project Displays of Rethink Relief Conference (www.rethinkrelief.com)
Friday, April 19th
5 – 6.30 pm
MIT N51 Building, 3rd floor, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The event is five-day design workshop that aimed at developing solutions that bridge the gap between short-term humanitarian relief and long-term sustainable development. Participants from around the world have come together at D-Lab to address this problem and will be sharing their work!
The event is free and open to the public.
Please join us and invite people for the final presentation.
------------------------------
Singing For The Planet: Songs Against Climate Change
Friday, April 19
7:00 pm
Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston
Warren Senders / Toni Lynn Washington / Dean Stevens
Three Of New England's Most Creative Singers Join Voices Against Climate Change
On Friday, April 19, three singers from diverse musical traditions will join together to draw attention to the global climate crisis. Featured artists are: singer-songwriter Dean Stevens, Hindustani classical vocalist Warren Senders, and Boston's "Queen of the Blues," Toni Lynn Washington. The music begins at 7:00 pm, at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. Tickets are $20; $15 students/seniors. All proceeds will go to the environmental organization www.350.org. For information, please call 781-396-0734, visit "Singing For The Planet" on Facebook, or go to the event website.
"Singing For The Planet" is the seventh concert in the "Playing For The Planet" series, conceived as a way for creative musicians to contribute to the urgent struggle against global warming. Because the climate problem recognizes no national boundaries, the artists represent musical styles from three different parts of the globe. While Stevens, Senders and Washington sing in different languages and genres, all are virtuoso performers sharing the core values of expression, emotion and honesty. And, of course, all three artists and their accompanists are committed to raising awareness of the potentially devastating effects of global warming. Their choice of beneficiary, 350.org, is focused on building global consensus on reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels - action which climatologists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic outcomes. It'll be an evening of great vocal music, full of exquisite melody, rhythm, emotion and expression - from three singers who are genuine masters of their craft.
Friday, 19 April, 2013
07:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Cost: $20 regular, $15 students & seniors
Event Contact Info Warren Senders
Email: warvij at verizon.net
Phone: 781-396-0734
Website: http://www.warrensenders.com/journal/?page_id=5725
----------------------
Saturday, April 20
----------------------
Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
--------------------
Sunday, April 21
--------------------
Cambridge Science Festival April 12-21
Too many events of interest to cover happening all over the city. Check it out for yourself at
http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents.aspx
----------------------------
Migratory Bird Walk
Sunday, April 21
7:30 to 9:30 am
Street end of Neville Place driveway, 650 Concord Avenue, Cambridge
Every bird walk is unique and an opportunity for surprises. Because birds are so highly mobile, we only can guess in advance what we might see and hear. At this time of year it might include a variety of migratory songbirds as well as waterfowl. Beginners are welcome. We have binoculars to lend and will show you how to use them.
----------------------------
Social Innovations Symposium
Sunday, April 21, 2013
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (PDT)
Tufts, Cabot Auditorium, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at ufts-sis-es2005.eventbrite.com/
$10 for non-Tufts students
Welcome to the first annual Tufts Social Innovations Symposium. We will be hosting a symposium at Tufts University April 21st 2013 featuring numerous speakers in the field of social entrepreneurship. From idea to execution, we hope to connect those interested with the means to execute their ideas.
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Monday, April 22
--------------------
Flexibility in Engineering Design
Monday, April 22, 2013
12:00p–1:00p
Location: Virtual, RSVP at http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_042213/webinar-neufville-engineering-design.html
Speaker: Richard de Neufville, , Ph.D., Dr. h.c. Professor of Engineering Systems and of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MIT System Design and Management Systems Thinking Webinar Series
This series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
FLEXIBILITY IN ENGINEERING DESIGN
Designed for those concerned with acquiring and implementing new products and systems, such as owners, managers, developers and engineers, this webinar will explain the concept of flexibility in engineering design, using non-technical language and many practical examples.
Professor de Neufville will cover:
the problems with predetermined forecasts and requirement sets;
the benefits of flexibility in engineering design and its role in developing products that can adapt to a wide range of uncertainties;
how flexibility in engineering design delivers value by reducing or eliminating downside risks, increasing access to upside opportunities, and ultimately producing overall win-win solutions and developmental strategies;
specific ways successful companies apply flexibility in engineering design, and;
a framework and next steps for applying flexibility in engineering design in your organization.
We invite you to join us!
Web site: http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_042213/webinar-neufville-engineering-design.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to all
Tickets: See URL above.
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design and Management (SDM) program
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
617.253.0812
lslavin at mit.edu
-----------------------------
"Evaluating Licensing Agreements for Technology Diffusion at the U.S. National Labs"
Monday, April 22, 2013
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Gabe Chan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group, Harvard Belfer Center
ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
------------------------------
Smart Classrooms and Knowledge Communities: New Pedagogical Models and Technology Architectures for 21st Century Learning
Monday, April 22, 2013
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM (EDT)
Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford
Jim Slotta, Associate Professor of Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), The University of Toronto
Abstract
This talk will present a recent theoretical model of collective inquiry called Knowledge Community and Inquiry, developed by Jim Slotta to guide the designs of complex collaborative inquiry curriculum for secondary science. Typical KCI designs are several months in duration, with students engaged in developing a shared knowledge base that serves as a resource for carefully scripted inquiry projects. In the past several years, Slotta and his team have advanced a sophisticated technology architecture called SAIL (Scalable Architecture for Interactive Learning) to provide scaffolding and real time analytic support for the sequencing of interactions amongst people, materials, tools and activities. This talk will review KCI and SAIL, then present three curriculum designs from current research projects.
Bio
Jim Slotta is an associate professor of education in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at The University of Toronto, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Education and Technology. He completed his doctorate in Cognitive Psychology with Micki Chi at the University of Pittsburgh (1997) and spent 10 years as a researcher and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, where he developed the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). In 2006, he established the ENCORE lab (http://encorelab.org), a team of talented students, designers and developers who investigate collaborative inquiry learning in formal (K-12) and informal (home, field and museum) settings. Recent funded projects have examined the use of embedded phenomena in elementary classrooms, distributed and ubiquitous learning in high school physics, and an immersive rainforest simulation for high school biology. Together, these projects examine how students can become a knowledge community, supported by technology, to enable inclusive participation and promote the growth of ideas.
Tufts STEM Education Lecture Series
Co-sponsored by the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach and Dept. of Education
Open to the public. All are welcome.
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Sustainable Fisheries in a Changing Climate: On Cod and Coral Reefs
Monday, April 22, 2013
4:00pm
Harvard School of Public Health, Kresge 204, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Join Jake Kritzer, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Environmental Defense Fund Oceans Team in New England for a lecture on Sustainable Fisheries.
The Atlantic cod, a New England icon and foundation of the first commercial fishery in the United States, is struggling to recover from a history of persistent overfishing. Although harvest management has undergone a significant transformation that is giving the population its best chance to grow in decades, rapid and uncertain changes in ocean temperature, chemistry, and prey species linked to global climate change present daunting new challenges. Still greater threats from a changing climate are being faced in the developing tropics, where coral reefs are especially vulnerable to sea level rise, warming waters, and acidification, and are also vital for food security. Efforts underway in Cuba to build ecological resilience in the face of climate change provide an illuminating case study in both solutions and barriers.
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Miller Lecture: The Research University in the Digital Age
Monday, April 22, 2013
4:00p–5:30p
MIT Faculty Club - Dining Room 5, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Lawrence Bacow, President Emeritus of Tufts and former MIT Chancellor
Lawrence Bacow, President Emeritus of Tufts and former MIT Chancellor, will present the talk, "The Research University in the Digital Age." This talk is co-sponsored by MIT Engineering Systems Division and Civil and Environmental Engineering. (Refreshments at 3:30)
The Charles L. Miller Lecture Series
Web site:http://esd.mit.edu/Headline/calendar/2013/042213millerlecture.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Stefanie Koperniak
skoperni at mit.edu
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Climate Changes and Water Resources: The Case of Taiwan
WHEN Mon., Apr. 22, 2013, 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE Knafel Building, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), 1737 Cambridge Street, Harvard University
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Environment in Asia Lecture Series
SPEAKER(S) Ts’ui-jung Liu, Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO lkluz at fas.harvard.edu
NOTE Water is essential to life and central to the welfare and sustainable development of society. The movement of the water cycle, also known as the hydraulic cycle, is sensitive to climate change. Ts’ui-jung Liu will give a general description of climatic conditions and water resources in Taiwan and then focus on climatic disasters caused by typhoons and droughts. She will discuss how people utilized water resources and produced wastewater, as well as controlled pollution, during these disasters. Based on historical experiences, Taiwan should devote more efforts to protect water sources, control water pollution, and promote water conservation. From a global perspective, a great challenge in the twenty-first century is how to provide enough food, clean water, sanitation, and health care for all the people in the world. The impacts of climate change on water resources are important issues that should be carefully considered.
LINK http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/event/liu-tsui-jung
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Tuesday, April 23
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Energy Sufficiency: New Approaches to Saving Energy in an Era of Climate Constraints
April 23, 2013
12:00 – 1:00PM
Webinar
RSVP at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/594582166
Chris Calwell, Senior Research Fellow, Ecova
COST: Free
ORGANIZER: Blueprint for Efficiency
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Future Industrial Requirements for Power Semiconductor Technology
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Refreshments at 3:45 p.m.
Speaker: Neil Rasmussen, Schneider Electric
The efficient generation, distribution, and end use of electrical power continues to be enhanced by power electronic systems. This talk is from the point of view of a major manufacturer of power conversion systems and addresses these issues: where is the technology good enough? Where are important improvements needed? What new industrial solutions will be enabled by improvements in power semiconductor technology?
MTL Seminar Series
Web site: http://mtlweb.mit.edu/seminars/spring2013.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Microsystems Technology Laboratories
For more information, contact: Valerie Dinardo
253-9328
valeried at mit.edu
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Upcoming
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SUSTAINABILITY: PRACTICES AND POSSIBILITIES
3rd Massachusetts Sustainable Communities Conference
2nd Massachusetts Sustainable Campuses Conference
April 24, 2013
8am - 4pm
DCU Center, Worcester, MA
Conference details at http://masustainablecommunities.com
Register early and save at http://masccc.eventbrite.com
Cost: $45 to $75
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Shahnaz Husain: Pioneer and Entrepreneur
Apr 24, 2013
5:30pm
MIT, Building E62-223, 100 Main Street, Cambridge Sloan School of Management
Shahnaz Husain, Chairman & Managing Director, Shahnaz Husain Group of Companies
Shahnaz Husain's revolutionary business model and marketing approach is well-known throughout Asia. On April 24th, Shahnaz Husain will be at MIT to share the experiences and views of a female entrepreneur who has seen the growth of entrepreneurship in India, the increased role of female entrepreneurs, and the changing opportunities for people living at the bottom of the pyramid.
The dynamic growth of the Shahnaz Husain Group occurred concurrently with the rising economic strength of India, which gives Ms. Husain an insightful perspective on the role of entrepreneurship in emerging economies. While creating commercial success, Ms. Husain faced and overcame obstacles commonly encountered by female entrepreneurs working in low-income countries - experiences that provide her with a wealth of advice for female entrepreneurs. And in creating her business model, Ms. Husain offered employment opportunities to thousands of women who, for the first time, experienced the benefits of earning a wage. The empowerment of these women demonstrates the broad-based and positive impact of innovative entrepreneurship.
Co-hosted by the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
This lecture is open to the general public & free of charge.
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Dave Winer: Using HTML 5 as a platform
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
7:00 PM
Boston Globe, 135 Morrissey Boulevard, Dorchester
RSVP at http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/events/112470182/
Dave Winer, well-known in the developer world for evangelizing open standards in Internet technology, will talk the future of the web as a development platform and opportunities for developers to work together to keep it growing as an open medium. He will also talk about Little Outliner, the new browser-based notepad and organizer from his latest company, Small Picture.
Winer hopes this will be an interactive talk, with lots of comments and questions from people in the room.
Bio: Dave Winer is the founder of Userland Software, Living Videotext and most recently Small Picture. He was instrumental in the creation of RSS, XML-RPC, OPML and SOAP. He has blogged at Scripting News since 1997 (http://scripting.com), was a contributing editor to HotWired, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Technology in 2003-2004 and co-hosted the "Rebooting the News" podcast with Jay Rosen.
More on Dave:
Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Winer
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Lesley University Forum: Three Towns, One Forest
Imagine The Silver Maple Forest Forever
April 25, 2013
7:00pm
Lesley University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Home to 20 mammal and 90 bird species.
Environmental education center for youth.
Important floodplain forest in the Mystic River watershed.
Unique Boston area urban wilderness.
Forest is integral to largest city wetlands.
Provides balance against 1700 new housing units
Flood, storm, and climate change protection.
Conservation of Alewife herring spawning run.
Protects new, costly Cambridge storm water project.
Convened by Friends of Alewife Reservation, Green Cambridge and Lesley University
Expert speakers, a call to action!
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RGGI Amendments: Implications for New England & the Nation
April 26, 2013
9 am to 12:15 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
The New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable Presents:
Please join us to as we celebrate the beginning of Spring (no snow storm cancellation likely this time)! This Roundtable will consider the recent substantive amendments to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) including an agreement by our six New England states, along with New York, Delaware, and Maryland, to reduce the cap by approximately 45%!
We will review the various RGGI amendments and their rationales, and explore the implications for energy markets in New England and the nation as a whole. Our panel members were all actively and directly involved in the RGGI negotiations, and are well-poised to help us understand the changes and their implications for our region and the nation:
Commissioner Ken Kimmell, MA DEP (RGGI Secretary)
Commissioner David Littell, Maine PUC (RGGI Vice-Chair)
John Quinn, Senior Manager, Environmental Strategy, Exelon
Peter Shattuck, Director, Market Initiatives, Environment Northeast
Brian Jones, Senior Vice President, M.J. Bradley & Associates
Free and open to the public with no advanced registration!!
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Is Education a Civil Right?
<http://advancedleadership.harvard.edu/Portals/115252/docs/agenda_education_3.28.13.pdf>
Friday, April 26th, 1:30 to 4:30 pm
Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
On the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that education is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution, the United States faces the economic and social consequences of its failure to ensure educational opportunity for all. Education is widely considered an underpinning for social mobility, a means for narrowing income inequality gaps, and the basis for economic growth and competitiveness.
Since children and students of color suffer disproportionately, some have called education "the civil rights issue of our times." During our part of the Advanced Leadership Initiative's Think Tank, we will explore some innovative programs and policies that promise to increase opportunity and open doors for previously excluded and/or underserved students.
*This portion of the Think Tank is free and open to the public.*
Fridayy, 4/26
Agenda:
1:30 - 1:45 - Introduction to Legal Cases
Speaker: Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Harvard Law School
1:45 - 2:30 - Keynote Address: The State of Education as a Right Today
Speaker: Professor Kimberly Robinson, University of Richmond
2:30 - 2:45 - Break
2:45 - 4:30 - Preparing Students for a Diverse and Changing World:
Action, Innovation and Law in America's Public Schools
Moderator: Susan Eaton, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and
Justice, Harvard Law School
Panelists: Leticia Smith-Evans, Assistant Counsel, Education Practice Legal Defense Fund, NAACP; Willie Barney, CEO, Empowerment Network, Omaha, NE; Scott
Thomas, Executive Director, Magnet Schools of America; Gregg Roberts, World Languages Dual Immersion Specialist, Utah State Office of Education
This event is the Houston Institute's contribution to the YWCA's Stand
Against Racism <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001uxkkiA-55bOHbqPLxGac2lrVmqhcVkQRTXAyE_gmvz2fRTQsWVgsNcJfEX5V1WxKNy4d9zuB6G3F5lPakFjeWyc-A5-OQnkVz0jJ9HPG6fS4ji4Jbl9KeNg92cF-KikD> movement. Stand Against Racism is a national day of action to raise awareness that racism still exists in our communities and we cannot ignore or tolerate it. This year's Stand Against Racism will take place April 26-30, 2013. More than 165 Boston organizations have registered to date.
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MIT Sustainability Summit
Saturday, April 27 and Sunday April 28
MIT Media Lab (E14), 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
The fifth annual MIT Sustainability Summit has the theme of “empowering action” towards sustainability. This reflects the urgency of innovation, leadership, and change at numerous scales, from the individual to the firm and from the city to the world, in light of global environmental threats.
We intend for our attendees to leave feeling empowered to take action towards a sustainable future, either in their existing personal or professional context or in a new one. This is the motivation for showcasing multiple domains of action. We hope that germs of company, product, or project ideas spring from the panels and charettes, and new communities of action emerge out of the formal and informal conversations over the weekend.
Editorial Comment: A paid event ranging from $45 to $150 but may very well be worth it. Sunday is a design charette.
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Boston Quantified Self & IDEO: Health & Wellness Innovation Night
Thursday, May 2, 2013
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Avenue, Allston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/BostonQS/events/111251842/
These events fill up fast!
Boston Quantified Self & IDEO: Health & Wellness Innovation Night will feature researchers, entrepreneurs and companies who are leading the way to more personalized health and wellness using self-tracking systems. The evening will start with live product demonstrations showcasing cutting-edge innovation that is transforming health and wellness, followed by world-class speakers and finally a compelling panel discussion moderated by IDEO's Life Sciences Chief Strategist Rodrigo Martinez.
SCHEDULED SPEAKERS
Jonathan Farringdon - Director of Informatics, BodyMedia
Jaqueline Thong - Co-founder & CEO, Ubiqi Health
John Moore, MD - Doctor & Technologist, New Media Medicine (MIT)
If you are a designer, tech inventor, entrepreneur, journalist, scientist, health professional or user, please join us for an evening of inspiration packed with great speakers, demos, networking and more!
Boston Quantified Self would like to thank our event partner Harvard Innovation Lab for hosting this event at their amazing facility.
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Filling the News Gap in Cambridge and Beyond: Citizen Journalism
Saturday, May 4, 2013
9:00 AM
Cambridge Public Library Main Branch, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA
Register at http://citizenjournalismforum.eventbrite.com/ to attend this free half-day forum organized by Cambridge Community Television, Center for Civic Media/Comparative Media Studies at MIT, and the Digital Media Law Project and Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The Forum will explore the quickly expanding world of citizen journalism: how technology is fueling its growth, and how that growth is changing the way we see our world, enact change, and disseminate the news.
This forum is a must for both consumers and creators of local news content; journalists and media professionals;
independent and collaborative website owners; legal
professionals; and everyone who values local information, civic participation, and social justice.
Schedule:
9 am - 9:45 am: Coffee, Refreshments, & Registration
9:45 am- 10:45 am: Oases in the News Desert
11 am -12 pm: Newsgathering and the Law: Hot Topics for Citizen Journalists in Massachusetts
12:30 pm- 1:30 pm: The Most Experimental Storytellers: Citizen Journalists
Presenters to date:
Christopher Bavitz, Cyberlaw Clinic, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Joe Bergantino, New England Center for Investigative Reporting
Denise Cheng, MIT Center for Civic Media
Jeff Hermes, Digital Media Law Project, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Joanna Kao, The Tech
Marc Levy,Cambridge Day
Andy Sellars, Digital Media Law Project,
Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
David Schalliol, Gapers Block
CB Smith-Dahl, Oakland Local
Josh Stearns, Free Press
Saul Tannenbaum, NeighborMedia and Cambridge Happenings
Robert Winters, Cambridge Civic Journal
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Opportunity
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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!
Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
https://sites.google.com/site/somervilleyogurtcoop/home
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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.
Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.
This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.
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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, see
http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
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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).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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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.)
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Resource
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Cambridge Solar Challenge
We're working to get 100 solar-panel installations on residential roofs in Cambridge this summer.
Because of the scale of the project, we've managed to bargain with Next Step Living (the solar installer) to get a:
20% discount for Cambridge residents from May 1st until August 1st. (That's 20% below the state average price per watt installed.) The discount applies whether the solar is purchased outright or leased.
$300 donation to any nonprofit for any solar installations that result from their referral. So, if your church, preschool or other nonprofit persuades a family in its community to sign up for a solar evaluation, and the family ends up installing solar, the nonprofit will earn $300 for its sustainability needs (such as adding insulation, installing efficient lighting, creating a garden, etc.). In this way we double the amount of good we are doing.
You can easily look up your home's solar potential through MIT's solar map (http://www.cambridgema.gov/solar/). Then email us (heet.cambridge at gmail.com) to sign up for a free solar assessment with an expert.
If you are associated with a nonprofit and want to help sign up solar assessments to increase the renewable energy in Cambridge as well as earn money for your nonprofit, email us with questions or to get started.
We will happily attend events at your nonprofit in order to explain how solar works, figure out who has good solar potential and explain how it can save residents money.
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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
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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/
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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
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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/
Cambridge Civic Journal http://www.rwinters.com
http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html
http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list