[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - July 14, 2013

Sun Jul 14 10:27:19 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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City Agriculture Links List
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/10/1222664/-City-Agriculture-Links-List

Renewables in Extreme Climates
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/12/1223079/-Renewables-in-Extreme-Climates

Larger Scale Renewable Energy Systems (Bigger than Household)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/13/1223345/-Larger-Scale-Renewable-Energy-Systems-Bigger-than-Household

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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index

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Monday, July 15
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12pm  Applying Systems Thinking to World Hunger: Seeking Solutions in Agriculture, Food Production, and Sustainability
3pm  "Computers to Help with Conversations: Affective Framework to Enhance Human Nonverbal Skills."

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Tuesday, July 16
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12:30pm  Information Flows in Online Court Records: Tailoring Rules for Transparency and Privacy
4pm  Tech, Drugs & Rock n' Roll 2013
4pm  Learn from the experts in Startup Marketing Labs!
6pm  Food Day Planning Meeting
7pm  GreenPort Forum:  Cambridgeport Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment:  Let Your Voice Be Heard
7pm  Innovation Café #1: "Making Stuff: Wilder"

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Wednesday, July 17
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7:30am  Sustainability Breakfast Meetup
6pm  2013 Midsummer Nights' Science Lecture Series - Exploring the genome's "dark matter": What the frontiers of genomic research are revealing about cancer

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Thursday, July 18
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11am  Food Day Organizing Meeting
5pm  "Storage and monitoring (geological, ocean, terrestrial), geologic sequestration of CO2"
6pm  Japanese Lantern Festival in JP

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Friday, July 19
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8:30am  Creative Mornings 

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Monday, July 22
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7pm  The Green Neighbors Solar Talk

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Tuesday, July 23
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9:30am  How to Assemble a PV module in the Jungle
2pm  Media Lab Conversations Series: IDEO's David and Tom Kelley in Conversation with Joi Ito
6pm  Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #13 (NERD)

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Event Details

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Monday, July 15
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Applying Systems Thinking to World Hunger: Seeking Solutions in Agriculture, Food Production, and Sustainability
July 15, 2013
Noon – 1 p.m. EDT
Webinar
RSVP at https://mit.webex.com/mit/j.php?ED=227203197&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Hank Roark, senior staff systems engineer and researcher, Deere & Co., and SDM alumnus

Systems thinking offers possibilities for simultaneously addressing the increasingly urgent and interrelated issues of world hunger and sustainability. This approach can help categorize complex components, such as:
global population, which is projected to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050
agricultural production, which will likely need to double—largely in the same land area—to provide enough food, fuel, and fiber for all
technological, business, and socio-political challenges that will need to be overcome to sustainably satisfy human needs

This webinar will discuss how to use a systems framework to categorize these components. Sample issues to be explored include:
water productivity improvements
value chain challenges in sugar production
ways to identify the many intersecting engineering systems involved using a socio-technical approach

One goal of the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series is to frame methodologies and ways of thinking about issues that attendees can apply in any domain. In addition, this webinar is designed to spark attendees' interest in agriculture, food production, and sustainability.

About the Speaker
Hank Roark has almost 20 years' experience working for large corporations and startups. Most recently, his work and passion have focused on applying systems thinking to address the food needs of the world's growing population. Previous experience includes leading multinational software product development teams, cofounding two companies, and providing consulting services in global finance, telecommunications, and travel and leisure. He has an S.M. from MIT SDM in engineering and management and a B.S. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

About the Series
The MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar 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.

Register for this meeting at
https://mit.webex.com/mit/j.php?ED=227203197&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Once the host approves your request, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting.

To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link:
https://mit.webex.com/mit/j.php?ED=227203197&RG=1&UID=0&ORT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

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"Computers to Help with Conversations: Affective Framework to Enhance Human Nonverbal Skills."
Monday, July 15, 2013
3:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: M. Ehsan Hoque, Thesis Defense
Human nonverbal behaviors are subtle, fleeting, and often contradictory. Is it possible for computers to not only sense, translate and interpret human nonverbal behaviors, but also help us improve these behaviors? This thesis presents a computational framework and a user-centric evaluation to answer that question.

Web site: http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2013/07/15/ehsan-hoque-thesis-defense
Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Media Lab
For more information, contact:  Jess Sousa
events-admin at media.mit.edu 

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Tuesday, July 16
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Information Flows in Online Court Records: Tailoring Rules for Transparency and Privacy
July 16
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett St, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2013/07/nissenbaum_hood#RSVP
The event will be recorded.

Sophie Hood and Helen Nissenbaum, Information Law Institute at NYU
Open access to judicial records is one of the hallmarks of United States courts.  Although not absolute, there has long been a presumption that anyone may access court records.  Prior to the adoption of electronic records, however, most records were left in "practical obscurity," limiting the dissemination, availability, searchability, and resistance to erasure of the information within those records.  As in other contexts, the adoption of information technology has provoked various responses: on the one side, open-access advocates urge increased access and free flow; on the other, privacy advocates urge increased restraint and protection.  We aim not to weigh in on this debate, but to explore whether new information technologies might be deployed to enhance both transparency and privacy.

As a model for structuring tailored rules, we propose context-relative informational norms, defined in the theory of contextual integrity. These prescribe information flows on the basis of actors (sender, recipient, subject), information type, and transmission principles. Although entrenched informational norms serve as defaults, novel flows – e.g., those enabled by digital technologies – can trump these if they are more effective at serving the ends, purposes, and values of a context in question. “Old” media did not realistically allow for rules with this many variables, but electronic media, through such means as tagging and indexing, can support more nuance.  Detailed permissions specifying not only “open” or “seal”, for example, but specifying which parts are open, to whom, and under what conditions, with an eye to promoting ends, purposes, and values, need not diminish transparency – indeed, they may even increase it – even as they protect privacy robustly. As proof of concept, we are designing an empirical study of RECAP, the archive of federal court records “freed” from PACER, in which selected records will be marked up to make them more flexibly available to granular, machine-implementable rules of flow. 

About Sophie Hood
Sophie Hood is a research fellow in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and in the Information Law Institute at New York University. Her work examines issues at the intersection of new media technologies and adjudication. Her most recent research focuses on privacy and publicity in online court records. She is also studying how the publication of court opinions affects data-driven legal research, lawyering, and even the path of the common law. Sophie has previously studied the effect of new technologies on the media industry at Harvard Business School. She graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Comparative Literature and received her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, Sophie served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

About Helen Nissenbaum
Helen Nissenbaum is Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, and Computer Science, at New York University, where she is also Director of the Information Law Institute. Her areas of expertise span social, ethical, and political implications of information technology and digital media. Nissenbaum's research publications have appeared in journals of philosophy, politics, law, media studies, information studies, and computer science. She has written and edited four books, including Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life, which was published in 2010 by Stanford University Press. The National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Ford Foundation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator have supported her work on privacy, trust online, and security, as well as several studies of values embodied in computer system design, including search engines, digital games, facial recognition technology, and health information systems.

Nissenbaum holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University and a B.A. (Hons) from the University of the Witwatersrand. Before joining the faculty at NYU, she served as Associate Director of the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.

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Tech, Drugs & Rock n' Roll 2013
Tuesday July 16th, 2013
4:00PM to 8:00PM EDT
Ziskind Lounge, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e76zqw5acf6e149e

Boston University's Office of Technology Development announces the 4th annual Tech, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll networking event.  

This is a unique event where we celebrate innovation in a high energy fashion. The atmosphere encourages interaction between the business and science communities to build lasting relationships that lead to innovative collaborations.

The Innovator of the Year Award will be announced by Boston University Provost Jean Morrison.

In addition, there will be exhibits by various applied and translational research centers.

This year's musical entertainment will be provided by
Brendan James, an emerging singer/songwriter who specializes in folked-based piano music. For more information, visit his website at http://www.brendanjames.com/

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Learn from the experts in Startup Marketing Labs!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Microsoft NERD New England Research & Development Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Area-Startup-Marketing-Meetup/events/124056122/

Our first Startup Marketing Labs event will have experts on hand from different areas of startup marketing, including branding, PR, inbound marketing, automation, and other interesting topics. Together, we'll explore our marketing challenges and exchange advice on how others have tackled them successfully.

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Food Day Planning Meeting
July 16
6:00-7:30 pm
45 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge (The Democracy Center)

Food Day is a national campaign for healthy, affordable, and fairly produced food, and it’s back and stronger than ever!

This is one of the fastest growing national food movements and our kick-off meetings across Massachusetts have been bringing together folks from many sectors, because like you, they care about our food system.

This is round 3 for community meetings and the excitement and participation level is exceeding last year, great collaborations and lots of networking! (new dates and locations below)

The 3rd annual Food Day will take place on October 24, 2013 and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources is coordinating the statewide organizing and we’re beginning our organizing with you!

What happened on Food Day 2012?

Last year, Massachusetts led the country with the number of events (over 500). We were blown away by the level of engagement and diversity of varied activities throughout Massachusetts, including community potlucks, food drives, compelling food discussions and forums held at universities, as well as activities held at over 200 schools, and participation as well as official proclamations by Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino.

Check out our newly released Food Day 2012 Report for highlights of what was accomplished here in Massachusetts and around the country. The report has many ideas to share and/or borrow! And for those who “do this every day”, Food Day is a great opportunity to build on the current work you and local organizations do—just on a bigger “stage”, as part of a growing network, to reach more Massachusetts residents!

Why Food Day?

Food Day aims to transform the “American Diet”. It’s Time for America to Eat Real! All Americans—regardless of their age, race, income or geographic location—should be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet related conditions.

Food Day Priorities:
Promote safer, healthier diets
Support sustainable and local farms
Reduce hunger and increase access to healthy food
Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers

Food Day 2013 planning meetings are bringing together last year’s participants, as well as new partners, to brainstorm and share ideas for you or your group’s participation on October 24 (or the days around it).Your participation at these planning meetings will help us shape the Food Day 2013 campaign.

The kick-off meetings will address how you want Food Day to take place locally; ways to build off last year’s activities, identify key groups and priorities to target, and how your organization can use Food Day to promote your current work for a sustainable food system in Massachusetts. Get involved and make a difference!

Dorchester : July 18- 11:00am-12:30pm, 25 Leonard St. Dorchester, MA 02122 ( St. Ambrose Family Inn)
Transportation: Fields Corner MBTA or Parking off of Dickens St., behind St Ambrose Church)

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GreenPort Forum
Cambridgeport Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment:  LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
7 PM
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, corner of Magazine St and Putnam Avenue, Cambridge

The first step to make Cambridgeport more resilient and adaptable to climate change is to understand how we are vulnerable or resilient in terms of impacts resulting from increased temperatures, more intense storms, and storm surge flooding associated with sea level rise. The City of Cambridge is looking at impacts on people, infrastructure, public health, and the local economy. The City is undertaking a climate change vulnerability assessment, which will run to the end of 2013 and serve as the foundation for a climate change resilience and adaptation plan.

Greenport is holding this public workshop presented by city staff, to solicit feedback from the Cambridgeport community.

GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Morr-Wineman at steven.wineman at gmail.com

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Innovation Café #1: "Making Stuff: Wilder"
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
7:00pm
Middlesex Lounge, 315 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/186312674869121/

Hey there CafeSci Boston!!
Exciting news! Starting in July, we're hosting the first of a series of "Innovation Cafés." These cafés are specifically designed around the content of a brand new season of NOVA's "Making Stuff." The four new episodes (Faster, Colder, Wilder, & Safer) explore concepts in engineering and high-tech innovation breakthroughs, and are set to air starting in October of 2013!

CafeSci Boston veteran Peter Girguis returns in July to start us off right! This time, he'll discuss the incredible power of microbes. They can use and produce a tremendous number of chemical compounds, and now it turns out they can even produce electricity! Could microbes be the answer to our energy crisis? Can we mimic their abilities and produce enough clean, renewable energy for us all? It's an Innovation Café around Making Stuff: Wilder, and it's coming to CafeSci Boston this month!

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Wednesday, July 17
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Sustainability Breakfast Meetup
Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter
Wednesday, July 17, 2013 
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM (EDT)
Pret A Manger, 185 Franklin Street, Post Office Square, Boston
RSVP at http://nibjulybreakfast-es2.eventbrite.com

Join us for our fourth informal breakfast meetup of 2013 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 sustainable 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.

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2013 Midsummer Nights' Science Lecture Series - Exploring the genome's "dark matter": What the frontiers of genomic research are revealing about cancer
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
6:00p–7:00p
Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, Auditorium (first floor), Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.cvent.com/events/2013-midsummer-nights-science/registration-5ab918d3c7ff4d9e9a42af10cedab3d9.aspx

Speaker: Levi Garraway
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, accounting for more than 9,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Finding its biological underpinnings - the triggers that allow cancer cells to divide indefinitely - is essential to understanding the disease and conceiving of potential treatments. Levi Garraway will discuss his recent work on the genes involved in melanoma growth, and will talk more generally about how genomic research is helping to reveal some of cancer's long-held secrets.

Web site: http://broad.io/midsummer
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): IS&T Computing Help Desk, Broad Institute
For more information, contact:  Monica Concepcion
(617) 714-7156
events at broadinstitute.org 

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Thursday, July 18
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Food Day Organizing Meeting
July 18
11:00am-12:30pm
25 Leonard Street, Dorchester, MA 02122 ( St. Ambrose Family Inn)

Food Day is a national campaign for healthy, affordable, and fairly produced food, and it’s back and stronger than ever!

This is one of the fastest growing national food movements and our kick-off meetings across Massachusetts have been bringing together folks from many sectors, because like you, they care about our food system.

This is round 3 for community meetings and the excitement and participation level is exceeding last year, great collaborations and lots of networking! (new dates and locations below)

The 3rd annual Food Day will take place on October 24, 2013 and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources is coordinating the statewide organizing and we’re beginning our organizing with you!

What happened on Food Day 2012?

Last year, Massachusetts led the country with the number of events (over 500). We were blown away by the level of engagement and diversity of varied activities throughout Massachusetts, including community potlucks, food drives, compelling food discussions and forums held at universities, as well as activities held at over 200 schools, and participation as well as official proclamations by Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino.

Check out our newly released Food Day 2012 Report for highlights of what was accomplished here in Massachusetts and around the country. The report has many ideas to share and/or borrow! And for those who “do this every day”, Food Day is a great opportunity to build on the current work you and local organizations do—just on a bigger “stage”, as part of a growing network, to reach more Massachusetts residents!

Why Food Day?

Food Day aims to transform the “American Diet”. It’s Time for America to Eat Real! All Americans—regardless of their age, race, income or geographic location—should be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet related conditions.

Food Day Priorities:
Promote safer, healthier diets
Support sustainable and local farms
Reduce hunger and increase access to healthy food
Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers

Food Day 2013 planning meetings are bringing together last year’s participants, as well as new partners, to brainstorm and share ideas for you or your group’s participation on October 24 (or the days around it).Your participation at these planning meetings will help us shape the Food Day 2013 campaign.

The kick-off meetings will address how you want Food Day to take place locally; ways to build off last year’s activities, identify key groups and priorities to target, and how your organization can use Food Day to promote your current work for a sustainable food system in Massachusetts. Get involved and make a difference!

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"Storage and monitoring (geological, ocean, terrestrial), geologic sequestration of CO2"
July 18, 2013 
5:00pm - 7:00pm 
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge

Presenter Ruben Juanes

More information at https://biology.mit.edu/about/events/open_co2_seminar_series_6

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Japanese Lantern Festival in JP
Thursday, July 18, 2013
6:00 PM
Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Jamaica Plain

The text below is from the web site: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/jamaica_plain/2013/06/15th_annual_lantern_festival_s.html
“A much-loved community event for Jamaica Plain, as well as Greater Boston, the Lantern Festival draws its inspiration from the Japanese [Buddhist] Bon Festival -- a celebration each year when a door opens to the world of their ancestors allowing loved ones to send messages to the other side,” the group said in an e-mail. “It is a time when neighbors come together to share stories, celebrate, and honor the memories of loved ones.”

"The festival will feature traditional Japanese dance from students of Showa Boston, Irish music from guitar and fiddle duo the Whiskey Boys, gospel music from Ron Murphy, and Grand Master Tsuji's Taiko drummers, the e-mail said.

Admission is free.

A key part of the ritual is sending out memorial lanterns on water. A $10 donation is requested per lantern.

Parking costs $10. Attendees are encouraged to use public transit and to also bring a flashlight."

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Friday, July 19
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Creative Mornings 
July 19, 2013
8:30 -10:00am
Microsoft NERD Center, Sampson and Paul Room, 1 Memorial Drive #1, Cambridge

Get inspired, before work.

Our July presenter is Gihan Amarasiriwardena of Ministry of Supply.
Free tickets will be available Monday, July 15th, starting at 7:00 AM.

Having studied Chemical-Biological Engineering at MIT and grown up as a Boy Scout and a collegiate long-distance runner, Gihan is passionate about performance apparel. He has worked for various research and product design firms including the Sports Technology Institute (UK) and IDEO and started his own outdoor clothing company, Ascendure Mountain Technologies. Amazed that performance materials hadn’t been used in formal wear, he sewed the first dress shirt prototype in his fraternity’s chapter room. An inventor at heart, Gihan strives to marry science with design and leads product and creative direction at Ministry of Supply.

Bringing Engineering & the Design Process to Fashion. Traditionally, the fashion creative process has been very linear with limited consumer and market engagement. At Ministry of Supply, they’ve challenged that by bringing lean product design and iterative engineering processes to create products that are both innovative and align with customer needs. At this CreativeMornings event, they’ll discuss their approach within the confines of a startup and their thoughts to date.

CreativeMornings is a monthly morning gathering for creative types. Each event includes a 20 minute lecture, followed by a 20 minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30am with the topic presentation starting at 9:00am and everyone taking off for work at 10am. CreativeMornings are free of charge!

There are chapters around the world including Zurich, LosAngeles, NewYork, San Francisco and now Boston! Follow us on Twitter (@Boston_CM) to be among the first to hear about upcoming events. Missed a previous event? Want to check out what chapters in other cities are up to? Videos are available oncreativemornings.com.

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Monday, July 22
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The Green Neighbors Solar Talk
Monday, July 22, 2013 
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
First Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
Cosponsors:   GNEC; Boston Climate Action Network; Foundation for a Green Future

Solar for the whole planet
1. Adventures in teaching solar as a cottage industry in the developing world!
2. Hands-on workshop learning to build solar panels in Dorchester.
3. Sustainable Development in Liberia. Send Dr. Komp to Liberia fundraiser.

Join the Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc. and our Guest Speaker Dr. Richard Komp (mainesolar.org & skyheat.org) world renowned solar expert; inventor and teacher for a talk on bringing solar technology to remote and not so remote parts of the world. With video, slides and more Dr. Komp will show how solar photovoltaic panels, and other devices, can be built anywhere, by anyone and improve the lives of people with no or poor access to the grid.

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Tuesday, July 23
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How to Assemble a PV module in the Jungle
Tuesday, July 23 and Wednesday, July 24, 2013
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Unity Sports and Cultural Club, 10 Dunbar Street, Codman Square, Dorchester
Costs:  $100.00 per attendee (discounted from the normal fee).
Reply or Call to hold your seat to Owen Toney:  otoney at comcast.net, (617) 427-6293

Dr. Richard Komp will show us ‘How to Assemble a PV module in the Jungle’. This is a two-day hands-on training where we will build a solar panel during the workshop. The solar panel will be donated to The Urban Farming Institute for their Aquaculture project on Lindsey Street in Dorchester. Attendees will also receive a piece of EVA to encapsulate their own solar panel when they make it.

Dr. Komp will teach his full month long training on solar PV in Liberia in October.

Please feel free to forward this email.

Please also consider making a tax-deductible donation to provide a scholarship for one of the non-profits or neighborhood folks who want to participate in our solar panel workshop.

To make a Tax-Deductible donation, or sponsor someone for the workshop go to: https://www.communityroom.net/   Find Green Neighbors – click on highlighted name – click on give button - Follow directions.

Or, mail a check made out to: 
The Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc.
281 Humboldt Avenue
Dorchester, MA 02121-2241

Owen Toney
Green Neighbors Education Committee, Inc.
281 Humboldt Avenue
Dorchester, MA 02121
(617) 427-6293
otoney at comcast.net

Editorial Comment:  Richard Komp has been doing solar as a cottage industry, teaching people how to make their own solar devices, around the world for over 30 years.  He has worked in every aspect of solar energy from the lab to the field, from advanced solar electronics to simple solar cookers.

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Media Lab Conversations Series: IDEO's David and Tom Kelley in Conversation with Joi Ito
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
2:00p–3:30p
MIT, Building E14-300, MIT Media Lab, Third-Floor Atrium, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: David and Tom Kelley
MIT Media Lab Conversations Series
All talks at the Media Lab, unless otherwise noted, are open to the public. 
This talk will be webcast. Join the conversation on Twitter: #MLTalks 

Learn more about David Kelley 
http://www.ideo.com/people/david-kelley 
Tom Kelley 
http://www.ideo.com/people/tom-kelley

Web site: http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2013/07/23/media-lab-conversations-series-ideos-david-and-tom-kelley
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Media Lab
For more information, contact:  Jess Sousa
events-admin at media.mit.edu 

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Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #13 (NERD)
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft NERD New England Research & Development Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Bring ID and come to 1st floor
Price: $5.00/per person
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/BostonQS/events/121586872/

Please come join us on July 23rd for another fun night of self-tracking presentations, sharing ideas, and showing tools. If you are self-tracking in any way -- health stats, biofeedback, life-logging, mood monitoring, biometrics, athletics, etc. -- come and share your methods, results and insights.

6:00 - 7:00 pm DEMO HOUR & SOCIAL TIME
Are you a toolmaker? Come demo your self-tracking gadget, app, project or idea that you're working on and share with others in our "science fair for adults." If you are making something useful for self-trackers – software, hardware, web services, or data standards – please demo it in this workshop portion of the Show&Tell. Please let us know you will be bringing something to the Show&Tell, so we can be prepared for you.

7:00 - 8:00 pm QS SHOW&TELL TALKS
If you'd like to talk about your personal self-tracking story, please let us know in your RSVP or email me (JoshuaKot at gmail dot com), so we can discuss your topic and how much time you'll need. In your talk, you should answer the three prime questions: What did you do? How did you do it? What did you learn?

If you've never been to a meetup before, you can get a sense of what the talks are like from watching videos of previous QS talks.

8:00 - 9:00 pm MORE SOCIAL TIME & NETWORKING
Talk to the speakers, chat with new and old friends, ask other people what they're tracking, and generally hang out and have a great time.

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Upcoming
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SPI Roundtable: The Changing Role of Contractors as Sustainability Leaders
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM (EDT)
711 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://spi-july2013-roundtable-eanrecl.eventbrite.com

Contractors have the knowledge and expertise to radically shift the approach to projects but still often struggle to be part of early decisions. Equally, opportunities abound post-construction for occupancy optimization and contractors can play an important role there. Additionally, contractors are beginning to measure and track the carbon impacts of their work processes, which is a significant part of the environmental impact in the built environment. How can we shift how we work to optimize the input of construction experts and improve project performance? How can their leadership and innovation in carbon tracking benefit us all? Come to this Roundtable to discuss these issues and more!

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Unweaving the circuitry of human disease
Wednesday, July 24
 6-7pm
Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, Kendall Square, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.cvent.com/events/2013-midsummer-nights-science/registration-5ab918d3c7ff4d9e9a42af10cedab3d9.aspx

Manolis Kellis
Countless regions of the human genome have been mapped by genetic studies in recent years. Manolis Kellis will discuss these efforts to build high-resolution activity maps of gene and regulatory regions across hundreds of cell types. These maps are bringing the genome to life, revealing possible culprits in human disease, and revealing the circuitry likely responsible when the genome’s regulatory system goes wrong. Understanding these mechanisms is essential to the development of effective therapeutics.

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"Effect of CO2 on the ocean, especially effects of the pH change, changes in ocean carbonate chemistry since the Industrial Revolution, biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification and feedbacks to the Earth system"
Thursday, July 25, 2013
5:00pm - 7:00pm 
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge

Presenter Richard Zeebe

More information at https://biology.mit.edu/about/events/open_co2_seminar_series_7

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"Effect of CO2 on the ocean, especially effects of the pH change, changes in ocean carbonate chemistry since the Industrial Revolution, biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification and feedbacks to the Earth system"
July 25, 2013 
5:00pm - 7:00pm
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge

Presenter Richard Zeese
Open CO2 Seminar Series

The Sinskey lab (Department of Biology) is hosting an open seminar series on CO2. 
The complete series will feature different aspects of CO2 from 5 different research perspectives: 1) CO2 chemistry and the global carbon cycle; 2) Co2 in biological systems; 3) CO2 in the atmosphere; 4) CO2 in the oceans; 5) CO2 and its impact on politics and economics.

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Nerd Nite
Thursday, July 25, 2013!
6PM
Trident Cafe, 338 Newbury Street, Boston 
$13

WHAT IS A SUPERHERO? A Science Author Salon

Join us for a super awesome collaboration with the Museum of Science and Social Wines. Meet author Robin Rosenberg, PhD, ABPP, and chat with her about her new book, What is a Superhero?
Enjoy a tasting of super brews from a specially curated list of craft beers.
Select from menu items appreciated by mutants, aliens, armor-clad super-geniuses, thunder gods, and super-soldiers alike.
Use superior powers of conversation to socialize with some alter egos.
Snag a signed copy of What is a Superhero.

More information at http://boston.nerdnite.com/2013/07/02/science-author-salon-with-robin-rosenberg/

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Climate Demonstration at Brayton Point Coal Plant
Saturday, July 27
Sunday, July 28
Somerset, MA
Contact http://joinsummerheat.org/massachusetts/ to help shut down the Brayton Point plant.

We’ll meet and train for this action on Saturday, July 27, and then on Sunday, July 28th, more we’ll gather at Brayton Point, where we’ll send a simple message to Massachusetts’ Governor, Deval Patrick: this plant kills people, destroys communities, and must be closed immediately. Massachusetts could shut down the Brayton Point plant tomorrow and meet all of its additional energy needs through renewables and increased energy efficiency. So, let’s come together and make sure that a just transition is provided for the workers and communities—from West Virginia to Massachusetts—who have been bearing the burden of coal for so long.
Hundreds have signed up to join us already, and we need hundreds more. Add your conviction, your passion, and your voice, by joining in this event.

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Mass DEP regulatory hearings on GHG regs (RGGI and SF6)
Monday, 29 July, 2013
10:00 AM
Mass DEP Headquarters, One Winter Street, Boston

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is proposing two regulatory actions:
First, MassDEP is proposing amendments to the CO2 Budget Trading Program regulations (310 CMR 7.70). 310 CMR 7.70 implements the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in Massachusetts. The proposed amendments would implement program changes resulting from the 2012 RGGI program review. A public hearing on the proposed amendments will be held on July 29, 2013 at 10:00 AM. Please feel free to contact Bill Lamkin (william.lamkin at state.ma.us or 978-694-3294) if you have any questions about this proposal.
Second, MassDEP is proposing a new regulation titled Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas-Insulated Switchgear (310 CMR 7.72). Gas-insulated switchgear is used in high-voltage electrical applications. A public hearing on the proposed regulation will be held on July 29, 2013 at 2:00 PM. Please feel free to contact Will Space (william.space at state.ma.us or 617-292-5610) if you have any questions about this proposal.

The hearing notices, along with copies of the proposed regulations and background information, are available on MassDEP's web site at http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/massdep/news/comment/. The hearings will be held at MassDEP's Boston office (One Winter Street). Directions to the hearings can be found athttp://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/massdep/about/contacts/massdep-boston-office-hours-and-directions.html.
Written comments on either proposal may be submitted by mail or to climate.strategies at state.ma.us until 5:00 PM on August 8, 2013.

Event Contact Info
William Lamkin
Email:  william.lamkin at state.ma.us 

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Energy Exodus
August 28 to September 2, 2013
From Somerset, Mass To Cape Wind, Across the South Coast, MA

From August 28th to September 2nd, the Better Future Project will sponsor the Energy Exodus -- a march from the largest point-source carbon emitter in the North East to the site of the nation's first off shore wind farm. Whether for a single day or for the entire march, we hope you can join us on this six-day trek from Brayton Point to Barnstable, MA. By the end, with over 1,000 people participating, we will have demonstrated the strength of our movement and progressed toward the clean, safe future that we all deserve.

Let us know you're interested here: http://energyexodus.org/
Facebook: Energy Exodus: March from Coal to Cape Wind  https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/332490020213403/
Sponsored by: Better Future Project
http://www.betterfutureproject.org/

Contact Better Future Project
Email:  info at betterfutureproject.org 
Phone: (617) 299-0771 
Website: http://energyexodus.org

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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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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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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.

Contact http://www.heetma.com

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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/