[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - December 8, 2013
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Dec 8 11:47:51 PST 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
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) Events
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index
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Monday, December 9
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12pm "Manipulation of Day-ahead Electricity Prices through Virtual Bidding"
12:30pm Climate Implications of the United States' Oil and Gas Boom
4pm Can Combat Exposure Explain Trends in Veterans Disability Compensation?
4:30pm What can we and others learn from email metadata?
6pm Climate Action Plan Community Kickoff Meeting
7pm "The Accidental Chemist"
7pm Reanimation, an Ongoing Performance
7pm VES Student Film/Video and Animation Screenings
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Tuesday, December 10
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12pm Science & Cooking Fair
12:30pm Time Trade Circle Orientation
12:30pm Re-Thinking Intellectual Property Rights Models for the Poor
12:30 pm Environmental Sustainability and the Human Experience
2pm Bayonne Revisited: Water Partnerships One Year Later
2:30pm Delegating Responsibility to the Market: How Competition Shapes Fairness Perceptions
4pm Public Spending and Economic Activity: Quasi- Experimental Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities
5pm MIT Big Data Challenge Meetup
6:30pm Remote Collaboration at Google: Overcoming the Tyranny of Distance
7pm The Silk Road Ensemble: Performance and Discussion
8pm Nerd Nite Boston 10 Year Anniversary & Winter Soul-stice
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Wednesday, December 11
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edX Datajam 2013
12pm "Ancient Lessons for a Sustainable Future in the Fire-Prone Southwest US"
12pm MASS Seminar - Peter Haynes (University of Cambridge)
3pm HarvardX Town Hall - Longwood Medical Area
3:30pm Draping Materials: Polymer-Nanoparticle Ribbons, Helices, and Fabrics
4pm Five Principles for Convergence of Knowledge, Technology, and Society
4pm Chemomechanics of 'Wet' Materials in the Built Environment
4pm Presentation and Jazz Performance: [schwarzes rauschen] for Orchestra
5:30pm Time Machines: A Conversation With Photographer Stanley Greenberg
6pm How Does Thoreau Matter? Environmentalism and the Changing American Landscape
6pm 3rd Annual 10 in 1 StreetTalk
6:30pm Gaining Ground: Documentary Screening and Pizza
7pm Evolution in a Toxic World
7pm Bunker Hill and the Crisis of Leadership in Revolutionary America
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Thursday, December 12
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8:30am MIT Water Summit
12pm Crowd Sourced Mapping for Open Government
1pm FAS Eco Citizens Meeting
1pm Sharing Economy Conference: Boston
3:30pm MoocDB: Taming MOOC Big Data while Fostering Collaboration in Online Education Research
4:30pm The "Snowden Affair": Intelligence and Privacy in a Wired World
7pm Urban Films: My Brooklyn (2012)
7pm John Cavanagh: Visions for a New Economy
7:30pm Report from Warsaw (COP-19) and New Insights on Creating an Operational Rating System for Homes
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Friday, December 13
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9am Evolving Landscape and Regulatory Framework for Solar PV in Massachusetts and California
5:45pm Shoot a Rhino? Film Screening of The White Rhino: A Conservation Success Story
6:30pm The Overview Effect: Environmental Awareness and the Changing Blue Marble
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Sunday, December 15
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12:30pm Christmas Bird Count Bird Walk
12:30pm Carbon Exchange Tax Forum
3pm 3rd Annual Silk Road Concert
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Tuesday, December 17
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12pm Transportation System Resilience, Extreme Weather, and Climate Change
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
An Open Conversation about Internet Communications Privacy with Ladar Levison
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/an-open-conversation-about-internet.html
The Oldest Pianist (and Holocaust Survivor) in the World
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/05/1260269/-The-Oldest-Pianist-and-Holocaust-Survivor-in-the-World
Unknown Auschwitz Satyagraha
http://youtu.be/XAio8jsAoRE
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Event Details
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Monday, December 9
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"Manipulation of Day-ahead Electricity Prices through Virtual Bidding"
Monday, December 9, 2013
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Lunch will be provided
with Chiara LoPrete, HUCE Fellow
ETIP/Consortium Energy Policy Seminar Series
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
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Climate Implications of the United States' Oil and Gas Boom
Monday, December 9, 2013
12:30-1:45p
Tufts, Cabot 702, The Fletcher School, 170 Packard Avenue, Medford
Michael Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations
Hosted by CIERP's Energy, Climate, and Innovation Program's Research Seminar Series
A light lunch will be served (first come first served).
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Can Combat Exposure Explain Trends in Veterans Disability Compensation?
Monday, December 09, 2013
4:00p–5:30p
MIT
Speaker: Kyle Greenberg (MIT)
TBA
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop
For more information, contact: Economics Calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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What can we and others learn from email metadata?
Monday, December 9
4:30pm
MIT, Building 32, G4 Lounge, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Daniel Smilkov
Immersion (https://immersion.media.mit.edu) is a web tool that combines, analyzes and visualizes your email metadata. The tool was launched online in July, 2013 and was very well received, spanning over 200 news articles internationally and getting over 800,000 unique visitors in just 2 months. Over 170,000 people donated their email metadata for research purposes leaving 4.7 billion email headers.
This talk will give an technical overview of the tool and well as some initial results from analyzing this massive dataset in order to get some insights about email usage patterns and human communication in general.
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Climate Action Plan Community Kickoff Meeting
Monday, December 9, 2013
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (EST)
Boston Natural Areas Network, 62 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-action-plan-community-kickoff-meeting-tickets-9420961349
You are cordially invited to the 2014 Climate Action Plan update community kickoff meeting.The Climate Action Plan, which is updated every three years, will include a robust year-long public engagement process culminating in publication of the plan by the end of 2014. The City is committed to making the Plan community-owned and community-driven. This kickoff meeting will explain our engagement process to key community and non-profit stakeholders around the city with the goal of getting your input and support for how we can best reach as many Bostonians in the next year as possible.
At the kickoff, we will also be handing out collateral, information packets, and resources to help spread the word and drive Bostonians to our virtual town hall, http://Engage.GreenovateBoston.org.
We look forward to your involvement in this important process. If you know of representatives of other environmental/green organizations in Boston that may be interested, or would like to send someone else from your organization, please forward this invite to them.
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"The Accidental Chemist"
WHEN Mon., Dec. 9, 2013, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Science Center Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SPEAKER(S) Jack Bishop, Cook's Illustrated, The Science of Good Cooking; Dan Souza Cook's Illustrated
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE The Science & Cooking lecture series runs weekly through the end of the fall semester. A full schedule, including the lecture topics, is available atseas.harvard.edu….
Each talk will begin with a 15-minute lecture by a Faculty member of the course, which will discuss one of the scientific topics from that week's class.
For a sample of what is to come, an archive of past talks (from 2010, 2011, and 2012) can be viewed at YouTube.com/Harvard
The popular public lecture series grew out of a collaboration between the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Alícia Foundation in Spain. A related Harvard College course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter," which will be offered to undergraduates for the fourth time in the fall of 2013, uses food and cooking to explicate fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering. Blending haute cuisine with laboratory research, the chefs and food experts teach alongside Harvard faculty members. In addition to lectures and readings, lab work is an integral part of the course, and students perform experiments on topics including heat transfer, viscosity and elasticity, and crystallization and entropy.
This year, for the first time, a version of the Science & Cooking course will also be offered through HarvardX, Harvard University's newest online learning initiative. Registration for SPU27x, the massively open online course (MOOC), is open now at harvardx.harvard.edu.
The Science & Cooking Lecture Series does not replicate the content of either the Harvard College course or the HarvardX online course; rather, these public events are simply meant to inform and inspire with a fresh perspective on culinary science. For more information, visit http://www.seas.harvard.edu/cooking
LINK http://www.seas.harvard.edu/cooking
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Reanimation, an Ongoing Performance
Monday, December 09, 2013
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-001, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Joan Jonas
In Joan Jonas's own words, Reanimation "is partly an homage to spiritual aspects of nature [...], but as glaciers are now melting, the work [...] reflects the present-day situation." The piece is based on the 1968 novel Under the Glacier by Icelandic writer Halld'r Laxness. Originally developed at MIT in 2010, the piece combines sound, video, sculpture, and drawing, and was shown for the first time in its finished form at Documenta 13 in 2012.
Joan Jonas, ACT Professor Emerita, is a pioneer of video and performance art. Her experiments in the 1960s and 1970s were crucial to the development of many contemporary art genres, from performance and video to conceptual art and theater. Her recent live web performance at Tate Modern continues her exploration of the relationship between new digital media and performance. At once introspective, narrative, and symbolic, Jonas's work weaves nonlinear narrative structures, poetry, mythology, and folk songs with themes such as memory, embodiment, and movement. Jonas has exhibited extensively including at the Venice Biennale and six times at Documenta. In 2009 she received the Guggenheim Museum's Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work is currently included in two shows in Sweden: Joan Jonas: Reanimation (Kulturhuset, Stockholm) and Theatrical Fields (Bildmuseet, Umea).
ACT Lecture - Experiments in Thinking, Action, and Form: Cinematic Migrations
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology, Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning
For more information, contact: Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act at mit.edu
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VES Student Film/Video and Animation Screenings
WHEN Mon., Dec. 9, 2013, 7 – 10 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Carpenter Center Lecture Hall, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Exhibitions, Film, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Visual and Environmental Studies
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617.495.3251
NOTE Video, film, and animation by students in fall semester VES classes.
LINK http://www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/ccva.html
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Tuesday, December 10
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Science & Cooking Fair
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
12:00pm to 3:00pm
Harvard, Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Students in SPU 27: Science & Cooking will show off their final projects.
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Time Trade Circle Orientation
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Greater-Boston-area-freegan-and-dumpster-diving-meetup/events/150691282/
I am not attending these (I am already a member) but I thought I'd post them FYI. These are orientations for joining the Time Trade Circle. (You have to attend one orientation to join.)
The TTC is an alternative economy where people trade services for hours, not money. All services are (more-or-less) valued equally, so each hour of work you do is an hour put in your account that you can then spend on someone else's services. Anyway, it being not about money, I thought TTC seemed like a freegan notion, so I thought I'd share here:
https://hourworld.org/bank/?hw=1079
These meetings will be led by Carol. Materials will also be available in Braille. Children are welcome. Please try to arrive on time!
Directions to the Cambridge Community Center
(Wheelchair accessible space):
From Central Square (on the T red line), walk out Western Avenue. There is a traffic light at Howard Street, and a small convenience store on the corner. Turn right. The Center is about 150' from there, on your left, at the corner of Howard & Callender: a large red building with stairs and a ramp in front.
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Re-Thinking Intellectual Property Rights Models for the Poor
December 10, 2013
12:30 pm 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/2013/12/boettiger#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30pm ET.
Sara Boettiger, Global Access in Action Project
We are depending on new technologies to meet the challenges ahead for our planet. Facing a growing population, resource constraints, climate change and a global food system under stress, we are pinning our hopes on new technology. But we don’t do a good job of leveraging our innovation systems to impact the poor. 780 million still lack access to clean water. 1/5 of humanity lives without electricity. 80% of sub-Saharan Africa is farmed with a hand-hoe. IPR is the fundamental driver of innovation, but donors, practitioners and policymakers are more divided than ever in their views on how IPR can be used to impact the poor. Sara Boettiger will discuss the need to re-think existing models (e.g. patent pools, clearinghouses, humanitarian use licensing), re-invent our research agenda and work to shift the international debate.
About Sara
Sara Boettiger is Senior Advisor at Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and Assistant Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley. She is co-founder of four non-profits centered on the application of technology to meet the challenges of global poverty, including: PIPRA, Global Access in Action, GATD and AgPartnerXChange. Dr. Boettiger serves on World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils and is active in corporate governance, currently serving on the Board of the Planetary Skin Institute. Dr. Boettiger’s work focuses on: demand-driven innovation, public-private partnerships, commercialization strategies, intellectual property rights, and new product development principles applied to technologies for the poor. She has consulted for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, McKinsey & Company, and many others. She received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Agricultural and Resource Economics and publishes on the law and economics of intellectual property rights, innovation, and poverty.
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Environmental Sustainability and the Human Experience
Tuesday, December 10
12:30 pm
Harvard School of Public Health, Kresge 203, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Barton Seaver, Chef, Author, and Director of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment, will address issues of marine fisheries depletion and the negative effects on human health and community structures. Seaver will also talk about many of the solutions for improving the state of global fisheries while also maximizing the health benefits of increased seafood consumption.
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Bayonne Revisited: Water Partnerships One Year Later
Tuesday, December 10
2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific, noon Mountain and 1 p.m. Central)
RSVP at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/242689038?utm_source=SCN+InBox+e-Newsletter&utm_campaign=c82bd35a19-UWWebinar11-22-2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_11e7ac761c-c82bd35a19-188562049
This free, one-hour webinar will describe the progress made since United Water and global investment firm KKR signed a water partnership deal with Bayonne, N.J. in December 2012.
Many cities like Bayonne are seeking to limit water and sewer tariff increases while crumbling infrastructure and new regulatory requirements cause ever-increasing demands for capital improvements and spending. The ability to unlock value in existing water and wastewater assets to reduce outstanding indebtedness and/or fund new capital projects while also reducing operational costs, better managing risks, and securing long-term guarantees are among the benefits several other cities are considering by opting for alternative financing approaches. Learn what United Water’s solution has meant for Bayonne over the first year since the deal was closed.
This webinar will feature Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., an attorney representing the Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority, and Dan Sugarman, vice president of marketing & strategy for United Water.
Join us Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 11 a.m. Pacific, noon Mountain, 1 p.m. Central and 2 p.m. Eastern. (Please note your time zone!)
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Delegating Responsibility to the Market: How Competition Shapes Fairness Perceptions
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Christian Zehnder (Lausanne)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Organizational Economics
For more information, contact: Theresa Benevento
theresa at mit.edu
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Public Spending and Economic Activity: Quasi- Experimental Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E18-202, 50 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Elias Papioannou (London Business School)
Web site: https://economics.mit.edu/files/9357
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Macroeconomics Seminar
For more information, contact: Cherisse Haakonsen
econ-cal at mit.edu
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MIT Big Data Challenge Meetup
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM (EST)
MIT, Building 32-G882, Hewlett Meeting Room, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Come learn more about the Challenge and meet other students passionate about using big data for good!
Hear from and connect with:
Professor Sam Madden, CSAIL, co-Director MIT Big Data Initiative
Eugene Wu, CSAIL, Big Data Challenge team/Data expert
Kris Carter, Mayor's Office
Chris Osgood, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics
Curt Savoie, Principal Data Scientist, City of Boston
We will kick off at 5pm with short Introduction to the Challenge talking about Motivation and the Data. Followed by pizza, chance to ask questions and meet others working on the challenge. Learn about and discuss relevant MIT IAP session classes/tutorials being held in JAN 2014.
This will be an excellent opportunity to connect with other students, form teams, ask questions and learn about tools.
Free Pizza!!
So we know how many pizza's to order - register for Dec 10 meetup here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-big-data-challenge-meetup-tickets-9532175995
About the Challenge:
MIT Big Data Challenge: Transportation in the City of Boston
CHALLENGE WEBSITE: http://bigdatachallenge.csail.mit.edu/
OPEN: NOV 12 2013
END: JAN 20, 2014
PRIZES: totaling $10K
The first MIT Big Data Challenge launched November 12 2013 in partnership with the City of Boston and co-sponsored by Transportation at MIT focuses on transportation in downtown Boston. The challenge will make available multiple data sets, including transportation data from more than 2.3 million taxi rides, local events, social media and weather records, with the goal of predicting demand for taxis in downtown Boston and creating visualizations that provide new ways to understand public transportation patterns in the city.
The City of Boston is interested in gaining new insights into how people use all modes of transportation travel in and around the downtown Boston area. A critical imperative of Boston's Complete Streets Policy is to move all modes of transportation more efficiently and to use real-time data to facilitate better trip-planning between modes of transportation. With urban congestion on the rise, city planners are looking for ways to improve transportation such as providing people with more options to get from one place to another (walking, biking, driving, or using public transit) and by reducing and more efficiently routing vehicles in the city.
This Big Data Challenge provides a unique opportunity to analyze City of Boston taxi data and combine multiple data sets including social media, transit ridership, events data and weather data to effectively predict demand and better understand patterns in taxi ridership. We hope this will result in new insights for the City of Boston and the public that will improve transportation in the city (and ability to get a cab when you need one)!
Have questions about MIT BIG DATA CHALLENGE MEETUP? Contact BigData at CSAIL
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Remote Collaboration at Google: Overcoming the Tyranny of Distance
Tues, Dec 10
6:30pm – 9:00pm
Google Cambridge, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/demetrios-karis-discusses-remote-collaboration-at-google-overcoming-the-tyranny-of-distance-tickets-9257717081
Demetrios Karis
Abstract
It has always been difficult to collaborate effectively with distant colleagues, but can we now overcome these difficulties with new technology? In five studies carried out over a year, we studied remote collaboration within Google. Come hear why audio conference calls have completely disappeared and how “video portals” have emerged spontaneously. Distance still matters, but much less than it used to. I’ll explain what currently works well, the conditions that promote effective collaboration, whether travel is still required, and what problems remain.
Bio
Demetrios has been researching, designing, and evaluating consumer products and services for over 25 years. He helped design GTE Airfone and several speech-based systems, and then for ten years led the SuperPages.com user interface group at GTE Labs, where he established a program for developing a comprehensive understanding of the user experience. Demetrios also worked on smartphone user experience and mobile phone accessibility and established and led the User Experience team at the Verizon Wireless LTE Innovation Center. He has published dozens of articles in diverse areas, including autobiographical memory, cognitive psychophysiology, automation using speech recognition, human factors, and usability evaluation methodologies. Demetrios received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Cornell University. He is now an independent consultant, as well as a faculty member in Bentley University’s User Experience Certificate program.
Evening Schedule
6:30 – 7:00 Networking over pizza and beverages
7:00 – 8:30 Meeting
8:30 – 9:00 CHI Dessert and more networking!
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The Silk Road Ensemble: Performance and Discussion
WHEN Tue., Dec. 10, 2013, 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Horner Room, Agassiz House, 14 Mason Street, Cambridge (Radcliffe Yard)
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Concerts, Education, Health Sciences, Humanities, Music, Religion, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Silk Road Project
SPEAKER(S) Ensemble musicians and faculty (subject to change): Ryuichi Abe, Miguel Alonso Alonso, Sugata Bose, Elizabeth Segran, and Steven Seidel
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617.496.8888
NOTE The Silk Road Ensemble will be in residence at Harvard December 8-10, continuing an investigation from multiple perspectives of how rivers and cultures are interconnected. The ensemble will engage in discussions with Harvard faculty and students and develop three new musical pieces, which they will present for the public as works in progress at a performance and multidisciplinary conversation.
No tickets required; limited seating.
LINK http://www.silkroadproject.org/Events/Calendar/tabid/193/Default.aspx
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Nerd Nite Boston 10 Year Anniversary & Winter Soul-stice
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
8PM
Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
$10
Don’t miss the talk that started it all!
Chris Balakrishnan returns to Boston to present on brood parasitism in indigo birds.
Canada’s Greatest Know It All, Andrew Rader, talks about the technology of Star Trek.
Experience all-vinyl DJ sets from Claude Money and Athena Moore.
Photobooth! Yankee Swap! Surprises! Special Guests! And more!
More information at http://boston.nerdnite.com/2013/12/04/nerd-nite-boston-10-year-anniversary-party-winter-soul-stice/
Purchase advance tickets at http://americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/nerd-nite-boston-10-year-reunion-winter-soul-stice
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Wednesday, December 11
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edX Datajam 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:00 AM
to Thursday, December 12, 2013, 5:00 PM
edX Office, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Open edX, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the White House and the broader Open edX community, is sponsoring a DataJam to promote the Obama administration’s mission of advancing technology in education. For detailed information for how you can participate in the Datajam go to http://innovate.edx.org.
Event Agenda:
Day 1
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM - Location TBD
1:00 PM - 7:00 PM - edX HQ, 11 Cambridge
Day 2
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - edX HQ, 11 Cambridge
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"Ancient Lessons for a Sustainable Future in the Fire-Prone Southwest US"
Wednesday December 11th, 2013
Harvard, Putnam Lab, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
12:00 p.m.
a talk by Christopher I. Roos (Southern Methodist University)
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MASS Seminar - Peter Haynes (University of Cambridge)
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54 (the tallest building on campus)
MASS Seminar
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs certainly participate.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact: MASS organizing committee
mass at mit.edu
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HarvardX Town Hall - Longwood Medical Area
WHEN Wed., Dec. 11, 2013, 3 – 5 p.m.
WHERE TMEC Walter Amphitheater, 260 Longwood Avenue, Longwood Medical Area, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HarvardX
SPEAKER(S) Hosted by Rob Lue, faculty director of HarvardX, with reports from the field from Trudy van Houten (Anatomy) and Monica Wang (Health & Society)
COST Free. Open to all.
CONTACT INFO Meghan McCormack, HarvardX Staff Assistant, meghan_mccormack at harvard.edu
NOTE Harvard faculty members, instructors, and the teaching and learning community are invited to a HarvardX Town Hall meeting on course development and research that will take place in the Harvard Medical School/Longwood Medical area.
LINK http://harvardx-medical.eventbrite.com
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Draping Materials: Polymer-Nanoparticle Ribbons, Helices, and Fabrics
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
3:30p–4:45p
MIT, Building 4-237, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Prof. Alfred J. Crosby (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
MIT Program in Polymer Science and Technology (PPST) Polymer Seminar Series
PPST sponsors a series of seminars covering a broad range of topics of general interest to the polymer community, featuring speakers from both on and off campus. We invite the polymer community at MIT and elsewhere to participate. For further information, contact Professor Brad Olsen at bdolsen at mit.edu. All talks take place on Wednesdays.
Web site: http://polymerscience.mit.edu/?page_id=1267
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Polymer Science and Technology (PPST)
For more information, contact: Gregory Sands
(617) 253-0949
ppst-www at mit.edu
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Five Principles for Convergence of Knowledge, Technology, and Society
Wednesday, December 11
3:30pm coffee
4pm seminar
Harvard, Weil Town Hall room, Belfer Building, BL-1, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Convergence of knowledge and technology for the benefit of society is the core opportunity for progress in the 21st century, based on five principles: (1) the interdependence of all components of nature and society, (2) decision analysis for research and development based on system-logic deduction, (3) enhancement of discovery, invention and innovation through evolutionary processes of convergence that combine existing principles and competencies, and divergence that generates new ones, (4) higher-level cross-domain languages to generate new solutions and support transfer of new knowledge,e and (5) vision-inspired basic research embodied in grand challenges. It allows society to answer questions and resolve problems that isolated capabilities cannot, as well as to create new competencies, knowledge and technologies on this basis. Solutions are discussed for key societal challenges, including creating new industries and jobs, improving lifelong wellness and human potential, achieving personalized and integrated healthcare and education, and securing a sustainable quality of life for all
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Chemomechanics of 'Wet' Materials in the Built Environment
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 1-131, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Krystyn Van Vliet
Many materials used in physical infrastructure for transportation and fuel distribution are exposed to "wet" environments including water and ions. This exposure can be due to changes in humidity, processing steps that include water, and immersion in oceans. Here, we will discuss experiments and computations by which we have explored the coupling between chemistry and mechanics for two such materials: concrete and steel. In concrete, the binding phase of calcium silicate hydrates is a natural product resulting from mixing specific mineral phases with water; this water then plays an integral role in the structure and mechanical properties of that phase. In steel, water is not integral to the structure but can promote corrosion and biofouling that hasten fracture. Developing new tools to simulate and measure such processes in situ can improve the durability of exposed infrastructure, and our group collaborates with many others in academia and in industry to create and apply such tools. We will discuss how such approaches can connect to advanced manufacturing needs at the industrial scale.
Mechanics and Infrastructure
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Prof. Oral Buyukozturk
3-7101
obuyuk at mit.edu
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Presentation and Jazz Performance: [schwarzes rauschen] for Orchestra
WHEN Wed., Dec. 11, 2013, 4 p.m.
WHERE Knafel Center (formerly Radcliffe Gymnasium), 10 Garden Street, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Concerts, Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) David W. Sanford, 2013-14 Radcliffe Institute Fellow and associate professor of music at Mount Holyoke College
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617.495.8212
NOTE David W. Sanford will discuss his most recent orchestral composition in the context of several earlier pieces. The work is a reconciliation of the composer’s interests in the visually intoxicating atmospheres of groundbreaking cinematography and more traditional linear polyphony.
After his presentation, Sanford directs a concert by the Pittsburgh Collective, a 20-piece big band.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2013-david-w-sanford-fellow-presentation
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Time Machines: A Conversation With Photographer Stanley Greenberg
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
5:30p–8:30p
MIT, Building N51, 275 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Stanley Greenberg, Janet Conrad, Gary VanZante
Join photographer Stanley Greenberg, MIT physics professor Janet Conrad, and Museum curator Gary Van Zante, for a discussion about the Museum's newest photography exhibition, Stanley Greenberg: Time Machines. Learn about how photographer Greenberg approaches his work, what attracted him to nuclear and particle physics and other scientific subjects, and how his collaboration with an MIT physicist has led to an undergraduate writing project about his photographs. Attendees will be able to view the exhibit before and after the conversation.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Andrew Hong
617.324.7313
museuminfo at mit.edu
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How Does Thoreau Matter? Environmentalism and the Changing American Landscape
Wednesday, December 11
6 pm
Harvard Museum of Natural History, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Free and open to the public
Henry David Thoreau is widely viewed as an icon of the conservation movement and an early champion of America's pastoral landscapes. But do we read Thoreau accurately, or are we missing key parts of his message? What kind of landscape vision might Thoreau advocate were he living within today's complex environmental movement? Environmental historians Conevery Bolton Valencius, Brian Donahue, and ecologist David Foster will explore Thoreau's relevance to our lives today. Reception to follow discussion in the HMNH’s new exhibit, Thoreau’s Maine Woods: A Journey in Photographs with Scot Miller.
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3rd Annual 10 in 1 StreetTalk
Wednesday December 11, 2013
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST
Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e8hbt33iecb63a7f&oseq=&c=&ch=
Cost: $5
Come learn about innovative transportation research, start up ideas, and advocacy stories given by planners, students, consultants & engineers from around the Boston region. Hear ten, seven minute presentations from home and abroad.
Presentations:
12 day transportation fight inside the State House
How I convinced the MBTA to charter a train for the Midnight Marathon Ride
Discovering and growing a global bike culture at State Street
Connect Historic Boston
GreenRoutes: a vision for linked greenways in the urban core
North Bank Bridge from the engineer's perspective
Agile city, urban renewal for a networked world
Quantitative measurement of infrastructure changes on the Longfellow
Reclaiming neighborhood streets: Circle the City on Blue Hill Ave
Street design activism in Santiago, Chile
See list of presenters and affiliations at http://www.livablestreets.info/event/3rd-annual-10-1-streettalk
Contact Kara Oberg, LivableStreets Alliance
617-621-1746
kara at livablestreets.info
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Gaining Ground: Documentary Screening and Pizza
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
6:30p–8:30p
MIT, Building 7-341, AVT Long Lounge, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Come see a documentary on how Roxbury, a diverse Boston neighborhood, has built on a 25-year legacy of innovative community organizing.
"Gaining Ground" is an hour-long documentary, after which we'll have a Q&A and discussion session. Pizza and soft drinks will be served.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Office of the Dean for Graduate Education, DUSP
For more information, contact: Andy Cook
617-253-0100
andycook at mit.edu
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Evolution in a Toxic World
WHEN Wed., Dec. 11, 2013, 7 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, Jamaica Plain
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum
SPEAKER(S) Emily Monosson, environmental toxicologist and adjunct professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
COST $10 general; free for Arboretum members and students
TICKET INFO Students must call to register for free.
CONTACT INFO 617.384.5277
NOTE With pesticides in produce, mercury in fish, and flame retardants permeating our homes, the world has become a toxic place. But as Emily Monosson demonstrates in her groundbreaking book, Evolution in a Toxic World, it has always been toxic. When oxygen first developed in Earth's atmosphere, it threatened the very existence of life: now we literally can't live without it. According to Monosson, understanding life’s evolutionary response to environmental poisons and how rapidly or slowly life adapted to such threats can teach us a great deal about today's and tomorrow’s most dangerous contaminants.
LINK http://arboretum.harvard.edu
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Bunker Hill and the Crisis of Leadership in Revolutionary America
WHEN Wed., Dec. 11, 2013, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts Avenue at Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Cambridge Forum
SPEAKER(S) Nathaniel Philbrick
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617.495.2727, director at cambridgeforum.org
NOTE Nathaniel Philbrick, author of "Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution," shares a conversation with J.L. Bell on the bloody battle in Charlestown on June 17, 1775, which exposed leadership problems for both British and American forces and stirred up bitter arguments that echoed for decades. Even as the fighting took place, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia was choosing a new commander. What qualities did George Washington bring to the American army licking its wounds outside Boston?
LINK http://www.cambridgeforum.org
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Thursday, December 12
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MIT Water Summit
December 12th
8:30am - 6pm
MIT, Building NE25, Whitehead Institute, Five Cambridge Center, Cambridge
RSVP at http://mit.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event.aspx?id=294&cid=35&p=1
Free for MIT, $3 for other students, $10 for others
The MIT Water Summit is bringing together experts from industry, academia, government, and investment to discuss the challenges and cutting-edge developments in the water sector.
The all-day event will feature 4 panels:
Who Owns Water?
The Food-Water Nexus: The Buzz
The Water-Energy Nexus
Emerging Water Pollutants
Go to waterclub.mit.edu for more details.
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Crowd Sourced Mapping for Open Government
Thursday, December 12, 2013
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E25-401, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Micah Altman, Director of Research, MIT Libraries
This talk reflects on lessons learned about open data, public participation, technology, and data management from conducting crowd-sourced election mapping efforts.
Program on Information Science Brown Bag
Information Science Brown Bag talks, hosted by the Libraries Program on Information Science, consists of regular discussions and brainstorming sessions on all aspects of information science and uses of information science and technology to assess and solve institutional, social and research problems. These are informal talks. Discussions are often inspired by real-world problems being faced by the lead discussant.
Web site: http://informatics.mit.edu/event/crowd-source-mapping-open-government-brown-bag-talk
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Shaprio, Randi
shapiror at mit.edu
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FAS Eco Citizens Meeting
December 12, 2013
1-2PM
Harvard CGIS Knafel Cafe, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Every month, the FAS Green Program gathers green minded staff to talk about their ideas and hear about the latest sustainability events and campaigns.
Brown Bag Lunch encouraged.
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Sharing Economy Conference: Boston
Thursday, December 12, 2013
1:00 PM to 5:30 PM (EST)
MassChallenge Headquarters, 1 Marina Park Drive, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-economy-conference-boston-tickets-8741324537
Cost: $10.00
Schedule:
1pm: Businesses in the Sharing Economy
2pm: Advising and Investing in the Sharing Economy
3pm: The Future of Sharing
4pm: Networking and Drinks
This conference will join leaders from business, investment, government, and Universities for a day to discuss the new economic model of sharing in Boston and beyond. This collaborative approach introduces the idea that ownership and access are somewhat shared between corporations, start-ups, non-governmental organizations, and people. This results in new products, services, and businesses that can combine resources to enable more access, knowledge, tools, and in the end, more productivity. According to a recent report from Altimeter Group, an independent research firm based in San Mateo, California, the sharing economy is a $2 billion industry already with a project value of over $100 billion.
Speakers include:
Hubway General Manager: Emily Stapleton
WorkBar Inc. CEO: Bill Jacobsen
GearCommons.com Co-Founder: Mike Brown
City of Boston: Director of Emergent Technologies: Nigel Jacob
MIT: Denise Cheng
Tufts University: Julian Agyeman
People and Planet Holdings CEO: Shaun Paul
Boston Magazine: Janelle Nanos
Boston College: Sociology Scholar, Juliet Schor
These skilled speakers will discuss how business, service, education, and governance in Boston are each experiencing the effects of the Sharing Economy. We will ask for your questions as well as considering the following:
What are the benefits? Drawbacks? Obstacles?
With more flexibility in work hours, more time to explore places and experiences, less need for individual materials (when they can be shared), and better access to resources, data, knowledge, and tools, how will our economy shift?
How will the legal scene address the intricacies of sharing?
How does this fit into a sustainable future?
Are any industries not yet involved that would benefit?
Please join us. A chance to learn, discuss, and network with entrepreneurs, advisors, investors, and professors all involved in the new sharing economy.
Thanks to Sponsors: MassChallenge and Shareable.net!
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MoocDB: Taming MOOC Big Data while Fostering Collaboration in Online Education Research
Thursday, December 12, 2013
3:30p–4:30p
MIT, Building 4-231, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Una-May O'Reilly
How can we help every education researcher study the online course behavioral data captured from every course taught across the globe? How can we generate 1000's of analytic variables and 100's of visualizations from data corresponding to millions of events? What started as an effort to organize and analyze the 6.002x data from edX has now become "MOOCdb", a multi-institution effort converging to support multi-platform, open access, collaborative, online education research.
xTalks: Digital Discourses
This forum is sponsored by ODL (odl.mit.edu/events) with the purpose to facilitate awareness, deep understanding and transference of educational innovations at MIT and elsewhere. We hope to foster a community of educators, researchers, and technologists engaged in developing and supporting effective learning experiences through online learning environments and other digital technologies.
Web site: odl.mit.edu/events
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): OEIT- Office of Educational Innovation and Technology
For more information, contact: Mary Curtin
617-252-1981
oeit-all at mit.edu
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The "Snowden Affair": Intelligence and Privacy in a Wired World
Thursday, December 12, 2013
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E14-674, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
A panel discussion on Data Collection and the NSA
Moderating: Admiral William Fallon, former head of CENTCOM
Panelists: Susan Chira, Assistant Managing Editor, New York Times; Chas Freeman, American Diplomat, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Joel Brenner, former Senior Counsel at National Security Agency
More Details to come
Starr Forum
Web site:http://web.mit.edu/cis/eventposter_121213_snowden.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
starrforum at mit.edu
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Urban Films: My Brooklyn (2012)
Thursday, December 12, 2013
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 3-133, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Billed as "the real story behind the takeover of America's hippest city," the film follows director Kelly Anderson's personal journey, as a Brooklyn "gentrifier" seeking to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood along lines of race and class. Anderson moves to Brooklyn in 1988, lured by cheap rents and bohemian culture, but by the election of Michael Bloomberg in 2001 a massive speculative real estate boom is rapidly altering the neighborhood. She watches as an explosion of luxury housing and chain store development spurs bitter conflict over who has a right to live in the city and to determine its future. While some people view these development patterns as ultimately revitalizing the city, to others, they are erasing the eclectic urban fabric, economic and racial diversity, creative alternative culture, and unique local economies that drew them to Brooklyn in the first place. No less than the city's soul is at stake. A film by Kelly Anderson and Allison Lirish Dean. 85 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: urbanfilm.org
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: h Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu
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John Cavanagh: Visions for a New Economy
Thursday 12 December 2013
7:00pm to 8:30pm
First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street, Cambridge
RSVP on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/715601185119116/ or by email info at jamaicaplainforum.org (with the subject "RSVP for John Cavanagh forum")
A Conversation with John Cavanagh, Co-chair of the New Economy Working Group (http://www.ips-dc.org/NEWG) and Executive Director, Institute for Policy Studies
The current economic debate pits austerity against prime-the-pump economic growth. Neither approach addresses the extreme inequalities of wealth and the ecological limits to growth that our economy is facing.*What is the alternative vision of a new economy? What are the stages of how we get there? What is possible at the local level and where can we engage meaningfully at the national and global level?
John Cavanagh (http://jamaicaplainforum.org/2013/07/01/john-cavanagh/www.ips-dc.org/staff/johnc) is co-chair of the New Economy Working Group that has been articulating a framework for a transition to a new economy. John has a BA from Dartmouth College and a MA from Princeton University. He worked as an international
economist for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1978-1981) and the World Health Organization (1981-1982). He directed IPS's Global Economy Project from 1983-1997. He is the co-author of 10 books and numerous articles on the global economy, including Development
Redefined: How the Market Met Its Match (http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=187007) (2008, Paradigm Publishers), written with Robin Broad.
Come join us for this informal conversation with John on his visit to Boston.
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Report from Warsaw (COP-19) and New Insights on Creating an Operational Rating System for Homes
Thursday, December 12
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; Presentation begins at 7:30 p.m
First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
The march continues toward a new international agreement on economy-wide emissions-reduction commitments. Warsaw, in November, hosted the Nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Next stop: Paris, COP-21, in 2015, where the treaty will be concluded, as determined at Durban, COP-17, in 2011. According to plans, the treaty will be effective beginning in 2020.
Though it seems so far away in distance, time and accessibility to us, we are fortunate to have a firsthand report from Adam Greenberg, a locally-based attendee who served as a delegate for U.S. Youth for Sustainable Development. Who did he meet on his journey? What insight has he gained into the process? How has the experience inspired his continued commitment to environmental and social policy work?
Despite the big-picture, high-level view of the UNFCCC COP meetings, can we see a connection to our life, work and efforts?
Keith Burrows has delved into the data of Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). While the EIA employs site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for regional and national projections, Keith has seen a way to parse the numbers and apply simple models to arrive at operational ratings for single and multifamily residences. These models allows us to easily understand our energy use. As presented in last month's BASEA Forum, gaining a meaningful understanding of one's energy use leads to energy use reduction.
Come to this BASEA double-feature and help make the case for how our local action contributes to the global movement towards climate security.
Adam Greenberg is a Media Coordinator for 350 Massachusetts, works for an energy efficiency company, and recently returned from the COP-19 negotiations in Warsaw, Poland. He has conducted field work internationally, concentrating on environmental justice and peace studies. He worked on solar power legislation in New York and managed the Mass. Office of a solar company. He is an active writer and a graduate of Global College.
Keith Burrows is a recent graduate of Boston Architectural College's Master of Design Studies - Sustainable Design program. His thesis focused on the creation of an operational rating system for homes based on the benchmarking of Energy Use Intensity (EUI). He was awarded the Greene Master of Design Studies Award in Sustainable Design for his thesis work. Keith has a background in operations management and computer science and currently works as an information technology manager while continuing to advance the work started with his thesis.
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Friday, December 13
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Evolving Landscape and Regulatory Framework for Solar PV in Massachusetts and California
December 13, 2013
9 am to 12:15 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
Installation of solar PV in New England and other U.S. states has been accelerating rapidly in recent years-due largely to falling PV prices and favorable regulatory mechanisms. In Massachusetts, for example, Governor Patrick's PV target of having 250 MW installed by 2017 was met early this year (nearly 5 years ahead of schedule), inspiring the Administration to set a new, higher target of 1,600 MW installed by 2020! While PV has many benefits related to being a renewable resource that can produce electricity coincident with New England's summer peak, many wonder whether it can be procured at lower cost (i.e., with fewer subsidies).
Come join us as we take a close look at Massachusetts' evolving landscape and regulatory framework for PV. The timing is ripe, as DOER has recently commissioned a series of PV related studies on the PV market, the solar carve-out, and net metering-and is readying new draft regulations on the SREC market. Meanwhile these issues remain an area of keen interest and focus for the Massachusetts Legislature and diverse stakeholders.
We have an excellent panel to help us explore this important regional case study on PV in Massachusetts:
Commissioner Mark Sylvia, MA DOER
Sen. Ben Downing, Chair, MA Joint Committee on Telecom, Utilities, & Energy
Ron Gerwatowski, Senior VP, National Grid
Carrie Cullen-Hitt, Senior VP, State Affairs, Solar Energy Industries Association
To provide a counter-point, and seek lessons being learned from outside the region, we will begin the Roundtable with a presentation on California's evolving PV market and regulatory landscape by Nick Chaset, Special Adviser on Distributed Resources to Governor Brown and the California PUC.
Raab Associates Presents: The 138th NE Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
Free and open to the public.
No advanced registration!!
The presentations from our November 15th Roundtable, Natural Gas & Electricity Interface Challenges in New England can be accessed for free on our website at
http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp
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Shoot a Rhino? Film Screening of The White Rhino: A Conservation Success Story
WHEN Fri., Dec. 13, 2013, 5:45 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE 51 Brattle Street, 2nd Floor, Grossman Common Room, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Film, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Extension Environmental Club
DIRECTED BY Zig Mackintosh
COST Free and open to the public
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shoot-a-rhino-tickets-9086288333
CONTACT INFO heecpr at gmail.com
NOTE This exclusive South African film features some of the strongest voices for conservation in Africa including Ian Player, Bandile Mkhize, Mike Norton-Griffiths, and Michael t'Sas Rolfes.
LINK www.harvardec.org
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The Overview Effect: Environmental Awareness and the Changing Blue Marble
WHEN Fri., Dec. 13, 2013, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Northwest Science Building B103, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Division of Continuing Education, Harvard Extension School
SPEAKER(S) Nicole Stott, current NASA astronaut; Ron Garan, former NASA astronaut; Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO alumni at dcemail.harvard.edu
NOTE In the follow-up to last year's Overview Effect event, this event will explore the implications of seeing the Earth's climate change over forty years of the "Blue Marble" - Earth as seen from space.
This event will be free and open to the public, but seating will be limited and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. This event will also be live-streamed online at alumni.extension.harvard.edu.
Ask questions of the panelist and discuss the event on Facebook and Twitter using #overvieweffect.
LINK http://alumni.extension.harvard.edu
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Sunday, December 15
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Christmas Bird Count Bird Walk
Sunday, December 15
12:30 to 2:30 pm
Meeting place given upon registration, contact Elizabeth Wylde at friendsoffreshpond at yahoo.com or call 617-349-6489 and leave your name and phone number.
This year, for the first time, our December bird walk will coincide with the National Audubon Society’s 114th annual Christmas Bird Count. Fresh Pond is important to the CBC because it is the only location where several of the diving duck species are found. We will join tens of thousands of other birders throughout the Americas who identify and count all of the birds they see on one specific day in one area. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations - and to help guide conservation action. We will use a telescope to look at waterfowl on Fresh Pond, and binoculars to see other birds. Beginners are welcome. We have binoculars to lend and will show you how to use them.
This event is FREE and open to the public. Children are welcome in the company of an adult.
Offered by Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation, December 2013
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Carbon Exchange Tax Forum
Sunday, December 15
12:30 – 2:30 pm
Cambridge Friends Meeting, 15 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
Massachusetts Carbon Exchange Tax: What is it? Will it make a positive difference?
Speakers: Senator Mike Barrett & Gary Rucinski, Chairman, Committee for A Green Economy.
Senator Barrett is sponsoring state legislation to establish the carbon exchange tax and the Committee is working on a ballot initiative. A light lunch will be served before the presentations.
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3rd Annual Silk Road Concert
WHEN Sun., Dec. 15, 2013, 3 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Yenching Institute, 2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Concerts
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Inner Asian and Altaic Studies and Association for Central Asian Civilizations and Silk Road Studies
COST Free with preregistration via Eventbrite
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.eventbrite.com/e/silk-road-music-concert-iii-tickets-9413192111
NOTE The third annual Silk Road Concert will feature music from Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Japan, and India. These musical styles and instruments are connected through the Silk Road over millennia. Light refreshments will be available after the concert.
Free admission with pre-registration via Eventbrite. Print out the free ticket and give it to the receptionist at the door.
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Tuesday, December 17
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Transportation System Resilience, Extreme Weather, and Climate Change
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
12:00 - 12:45 p.m., Eastern Time
55 Broadway, Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Gregg Fleming, Director, Center for Environmental and Energy Systems, U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe
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Upcoming Events
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Bruce Schneier, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
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Farm Hack Discussion
Wed 12/18
6pm
Community Teamwork, Board Room (2nd floor), 155 Merrimack Street, 2nd Floor Lowell, Massachusetts 01852
Register for this free event online at: http://farmhack-lowell.eventbrite.com
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/apitronics-farm-hack-new-entry-tickets-9275325749
The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, Farm Hack/Apitronics, and Lowell Makes invite you to an interactive dialog between farmers and those who want to help level the playing field for them and help support access to fresh, nutritious and sustainable local food.
Apitronics is a local start-up that is making wireless sensor and automation networks for agriculture better and more affordable. Louis Thiery and RJ Steinert, the company founders, are both board members of Farm Hack, an open-source community for resilient agriculture. As such, they are focused on helping diversified and regenerative farms become more efficient and productive. For more information, visit www.Apitronics.com.
Their systems are built on their own open-source platform encouraging tweaking and innovation on a farm level. The hardware is extremely flexible and designed for prototyping new ideas, but the most common applications include weather stations, field monitors, greenhouse alert systems and automation.
Lowell Makes is a non-profit community workshop and education center located in downtown Lowell, and is helping to organize this event as a way to extend the technical innovation being done by its members into the local farming community. For more information, visit www.LowellMakes.com.
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What are Social/ESG Indexes and How Do they Help Concious Investors ?
Thursday, December 19, 2013
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
The Friendly Toast, 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Sustainable-Responsible-Investors-Forum/events/152369092/
The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the FTSE 4Good Index and the MSCI ESG Indices... they all have different methods and criteria. Creating a portfolio that is aligned with your values and which has the right mix of risk and return can be tricky. Will making temporary compromises help to move corporations in the right direction? You can take a hard line and exclude most corporations, or work with good companies to move their policies toward a sustainable future. The indexes can help guide you in understanding your risk profile.
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Opportunity
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Sustainable Minds®, a Cambridge Innovation Center startup, has developed a cloud-based tool that makes it easier to “design greener products right, from the start.” Their Sustainable Minds software lets product designers explore, up front, the environmental impacts of design decisions throughout a product’s life cycle, from materials and manufacturing, to consumables and energy use, to end-of-life considerations such as recycling and waste. More info:http://ist.mit.edu/news/sustainable_minds
Subscriptions Available!
This year the Director of the Sustainability Initiative at Sloan signed up for 100 Sustainable Minds subscriptions. They’ve reserved 30 subscriptions for their courses; 70 are available at no cost to MIT community members. They hope that teams developing products for competitions around campus will jump on the chance to use the software. Contact Jason Jay (jjay at mit.edu) to inquire about the subscription.
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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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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
MIT Events: http://events.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Mass Climate Action: http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: s
High Tech Events: http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups: http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List: http://aacel.blogspot.com/
Boston Events Insider: http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
Nerdnite: http://boston.nerdnite.com/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list