[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - July 20, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jul 20 10:55:02 PDT 2014
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
Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, July 21
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5:30pm Pfizer Cambridge Collaborative Innovation Events: Professor George Church of HMS, "Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine”
6pm Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Milkweed Planting & Kick-off!
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Tuesday, July 22
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12:30pm Uncovering Algorithms: Looking Inside the Facebook News Feed
1pm Current and Emerging Uses for Wikipedia in Research
5:30pm Aqua Talks
6:30pm Digital Evolution on Steroids: From Crowdfunding to Social Networks
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Wednesday, July 23
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12pm Reducing Farmland Conversion: State Land Use and Protection Policies
6pm New VR Hardware and Demos
7pm Panel: Why diversity matters in online journalism
7pm BCAN story of struggle
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Thursday, July 24
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12pm Addressing Climate Change through Community Engagement and Behavior Change
12pm MIT Water Club Lunch and Learn: IBM’s Smarter Water
12pm HEET Race to Solar Workshop
4pm Silicon: The Most Perfectly Engineered Material
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Friday, July 25
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8:30am Innovation Breakfast
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Saturday, July 26
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10am Google Glass Hits the Road: Next stop, Boston
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Sunday, July 27
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Cambridge Jazz Festival
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Tuesday, July 29
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12:30pm Democratizing Ideologies and Inequality Regimes in Digital Domains
1:30pm DNA Origami meets Single Molecule Fluorescence
6pm Boston Green Drinks - July Happy Hour
6pm Tasting Summer: Health, Fresh and Local Food
7pm Mainstreaming Torture
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
The German Energiewende and Its Impact
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-german-energiewende-and-its-impact.html
Through MIT’s Nuclear Goggles
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/20/1315194/-Through-MIT-s-Nuclear-Goggles
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Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, July 21
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Pfizer Cambridge Collaborative Innovation Events: Professor George Church of HMS, "Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine"
Monday, July 21
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
Pfizer Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge (Corner of Portland and Albany street)
RSVP: This is an invitation only event. To confirm your attendance please RSVP at
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pfizer-cambridge-collaborative-innovation-events-professor-george-church-of-hms-personal-genomics-tickets-11494354925
Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine
Join Pfizer Cambridge at our new residence for a fascinating evening led by Professor George Church, Harvard Medical School, followed by a networking reception with key partners in our new Cambridge residence; Boston-Cambridge big pharma and biotech, members of the venture capital community, renowned researchers, advocacy groups and Pfizer Cambridge scientists and clinicians.
Agenda:
5:30-6PM Registration/Gathering (please arrive by no later than 5:45PM EDT with a government issued ID to allow sufficient time for security check)
6-7PM Welcoming remarks by Cambridge/Boston Site Head and Group Senior Vice-President WorldWide R&D, Dr. Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos
Keynote speaker: Professor George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
7-8PM Networking reception
8PM Event ends
This May, Pfizer Cambridge sites are integrating and relocating our research and development teams into our new local headquarters at 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. The unified Cambridge presence represents the opportunity to interlace Pfizer’s R&D capability in the densest biomedical community in the world, to potentially expand our already existing collaborations and to embark on forging possible new connections. These events will further drive our collective mission and passion to deliver new medicines to patients in need.
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Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Milkweed Planting & Kick-off!
Monday, July 21
6 to 7:30pm
Lusitania Meadow, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge
The monarch butterfly is now endangered worldwide, but we can take action to stop the decline, starting here. Join the effort to protect monarchs at Fresh Pond - starting with the habitat they depend on! We'll plant the milkweed monarch caterpillars need to thrive in preparation for the arrival of 28 caterpillars Reservation staff will be raising for release in August. Learn more about the project at www.cambridgema.gov/Water/freshpondreservation. For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or 617-349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Tuesday, July 22
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Uncovering Algorithms: Looking Inside the Facebook News Feed
Tuesday, July 22
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/07/sandvigkarahalios#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/07/sandvigkarahalios at 12:30pm ET
Christian Sandvig, University of Michigan; Karrie G. Karahalios, University of Illinois; and Cedric Langbort, University of Illinois
Our online lives are organized by computer algorithms that select and recommend advertisements, search results, news, and online social interactions. These algorithms are often closely-guarded secrets kept by Internet companies, but researchers, users, and the public might legitimately need to know how these algorithms operate. In this talk we will use the Facebook news feed as an example to ask: How do we go about knowing these algorithms from the outside? This includes a discussion of potential research designs that investigate algorithms and also research on how users think about these algorithms.
About Christian
Christian Sandvig is Steelcase Research Professor and Associate Professor in Communication Studies and at the School of Information at the University of Michigan, where he specializes in research investigating the development of Internet infrastructure and public policy. His current research involves the study of information infrastructures that depend upon the algorithmic selection of content. Sandvig’s work has examined such topics as wireless Internet design and use, expanding broadband access, the difference between rural and urban Internet users, and the role of government in the provision of broadband service.
About Karrie
Karrie Karahalios is an associate professor in computer science at the University of Illinois where she heads the Social Spaces Group. Her work focuses on the interaction between people and the social cues they emit and perceive in face-to-face and mediated electronic spaces. Her work is informed by communication studies and visualizations of social communities. Of particular interest are interfaces for public online and physical gathering spaces such as twitter, chatrooms, cafes, parks, etc. Research projects range from studying tie strength between people to encouraging vocalization through visualization. A major theme in the work is to create interfaces that enable users to perceive conversational patterns that are present, but not obvious, in traditional communication interfaces.
About Cedric
Cedric Langbort is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and a member of the Information Trust Institute and the Decision and Control Group of the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois. Langbort is a game theorist whose research focuses on distributed decision and control theory and its application to large-scale public infrastructures and “smart” infrastructures. His previous work investigated game theoretic approaches to cyber-security.
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Current and Emerging Uses for Wikipedia in Research
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 14N-132, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
"Well, actually..." you begin when the topic of Wikipedia's accuracy comes up in conversation. If you've found yourself in this position, come share ways you have effectively used Wikipedia in your own research or in consultation with students and professors. Learn how to use complementary applications to guide you to valuable library resources. Join the discussion on the future of Wikipedia and the information landscape.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Stacey Snyder
ssnyder at mit.edu
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Aqua Talks
Tuesday, July 22
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Central Wharf Co. 160 Milk Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/aqua-talks-tickets-12193482033
Join the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and Cambrian Innovation for a casual gathering of friends and colleagues working together in the Massachusetts water innovation industry. Become part of the growing movement to establish the Commonwealth as a fertile environment for the development and expansion of innovative water technologies!
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Digital Evolution on Steroids: From Crowdfunding to Social Networks
Tuesday, July 22
6:30 p.m.
Program followed by networking reception
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.aftau.org/steroids
With Dr. Ohad Barzilay
A tour through new advances in online innovation and entrepreneurship. A member of the Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration's renowned faculty at TAU, Dr. Barzilay's focus is technology management and information systems. A three-degree alumnus of Tel Aviv University, he's worked at several influential high-tech companies, most recently Google. His research employs state-of-the-art techniques — big data, machine learning, and econometric methods — to explore at the dynamics of online communities, social networks, crowdsourcing, and crowdfunding.
For more information, call Meredith Waltzer at 646.277.2099 or email mwaltzer at aftau.org.
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Wednesday, July 23
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Reducing Farmland Conversion: State Land Use and Protection Policies
Wednesday, July 23
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM EDT
Webinar
RSVP at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/805526234
Space is limited.
While the 2012 Census of Agriculture shows a slight uptick in New England land in farms, it also shows a troubling 10 percent drop in cropland acres in the region since 2007. New and established farmers alike cite access to affordable farmland as one of their primary challenges. Reducing farmland conversion and keeping farmland in farming is vital to the region’s environment and economy.
In this webinar, part of the ongoing New England Food Policy Project webinar series hosted by American Farmland Trust, Conservation Law Foundation, and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, we will highlight examples of state land use policies that are helping to stem the loss of productive farmland and encourage smart growth. We will also take a look at state farmland mitigation policies and where they are making a difference. Come with your thoughts and questions. Presenters will include Cris Coffin with American Farmland Trust, Jenny Rushlow with the Conservation Law Foundation, and Ken Payne with the Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer
Mobile attendees
Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet
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New VR Hardware and Demos
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
6:00 PM
hack/reduce, 275 Third Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/190420932/
Come join us for an evening of demos and play, and bring allyour toys, because we are looking for variety. We will have hardware like hand-trackers, a low-end corner cave, 3D scanners, and more. We also welcome the new games produced in the last hackathon, favorite demos and games produced elsewhere, and your favorite VR work, as always. If you are just interested and want to see stuff, please come on by and play too.
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Panel: Why diversity matters in online journalism
Wednesday, July 23
7:00 PM
WBUR, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/hackshackersboston/events/192588872/
Online news startups are popping up everywhere from legacy news organizations to new media companies, as digital entrepreneurs rethink how journalists report, promote, and present stories. But for all this digital innovation, these startups lag behind the times in one crucial area: their hiring choices.
In a much-discussed column in The Guardian, media pundit Emily Bell argued that startups, such as FiveThirtyEight, Vox.com, and First Look Media, perpetuated the status quo by hiring “clubhouses” of white men. As Bell wrote, “remaking journalism in its own image, only with better hair and tighter clothes, is not a revolution, or even an evolution.”
Gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and experience disparities remain in many online newsrooms, despite the widely accepted view that diverse staffs produce more well-rounded news coverage.
Join the Online News Association’s Boston group for a panel discussion about diversity in online newsrooms on July 23 at 7 p.m. at WBUR. Food and refreshments will be served.
About the panelists:
Michelle Johnson is Associate Professor of the Practice, Multimedia Journalism, Boston University. Johnson is a former editor for the Boston Globe and boston.com. For more than 15 years, she has conducted multimedia workshops for professional journalists and worked with student training programs for a variety of professional journalism organizations including the Maynard Institute, the Online News Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and UNITY. Johnson currently oversees Boston University News Service, a web-only award-winning news site which showcases work produced by BU’s journalism students.
Zuri Berry is a sports writer and producer for the Boston Globe's Boston.com, covering the New England Patriots. He also serves as the vice president of the Boston Association of Black Journalists.
Jeanne Brooks is the co-founder and director of News Disruptors, where she designs immersive community experiences that bridge personal and digital connections. She also works for WNYC on audience development and engagement. Previously the Digital Director at the Online News Association, she led the organization’s web, social and communications strategy and produced training programs for digital journalists, including spearheading conference programming and coverage for the acclaimed ONA13 event.
Caroline O'Donovan will moderate the discussion. O'Donovan is a staff writer at Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab, where she covers, media, technology and the future of the news business. As a Lab staffer, she's been heard on both NPR's All Things Considered and CBS radio. Previously, she was a fellow at Chicago Public Media, where she reported and produced stories in the Chicago area, as well as for American Public Media's Marketplace.
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BCAN story of struggle
Wednesday, July 23
7:00pm – 8:30pm
8 Lester Place, Jamaica Plain
Learn about story-based strategy, join some creative exercises in framing and narrative related to our work to stop expansion of gas pipelines in our communities and statewide. Briainstorm ideas for artwork we will collectively make for the upcoming Statehouse rally against the Kinder-Morgan pipeline proposal.
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Thursday, July 24
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Addressing Climate Change through Community Engagement and Behavior Change
Thursday, July 24
12pm
webinar
RSVP at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/870393638
featuring David Gershon of the Empowerment Institute
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MIT Water Club Lunch and Learn: IBM’s Smarter Water
Thursday, July 24
12pm
MIT, Building 1-150.
We are pleased to have Dr. Eoin Lane, an architect for IBM’s Intelligent Water smarter cities product, who will be speaking about the IBM Smarter Water platform.
Summary: In this talk Dr. Eoin Lane will detail how enterprise apps can be developed today using the IBM Smarter Water Platform. From this, a whole enterprise based app development ecosystem can be built to help address real world problems for the water industry such as water conservation and non revenue water (NRW). These apps follow a pattern of leveraging information from various sources such as the citizen as a sensor and the Internet of Things (IoT) of smart water sensors and meters, analyzing the information with advanced analytics, and visualizing the information and analysis in a contextual and situational aware environment. This pattern can yield powerful insights into the water network. In this talk Eoin will also examine this ecosystem more with a story about how multiple players can collaborate around this smarter water ecosystem.
Bio: Dr. Eoin Lane is the architect for the IBM’s Intelligent Water smarter cities product. Eoin has worked for IBM for over 10 yrs. He received his Ph.D in chemistry from University College Cork, Ireland in 1997. Eoin has 15 issued patents and over 50 patent applications and is the author of a over 20 online articles.
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HEET Race to Solar Workshop
Thursday, July 24
12pm to 1:30pm
Cambridge City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Cambridge
Through the Race to Solar program, eligible nonprofits can acquire a solar electric energy system for their school, house of worship, food pantry, community center, or other building owned by their nonprofit organization. Learn more about the Race to Solar program at the upcoming workshop and meet the solar and efficiency experts that can help your organization save energy and money. Please RSVP to attend the following workshop:
For more information about the program contact info at HEETma.org or call 617-HEET-350
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Silicon: The Most Perfectly Engineered Material
Thursday, July 24, 2014
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Takao Abe, Shin-Etsu Handotai
Lecture by recipient of 2014 Harry C. Gatos Prize
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, EECS
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Friday, July 25
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Innovation Breakfast
Friday, July 25
8:30 AM to 10:30 AM (EDT)
NGIN, 210 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovation-breakfast-at-ngin-tickets-12191137019
Our roving Innovation Breakfast series continues with a visit to NGIN, just outside of Cambridge's Kendall Square! We'll also be sharing tips on startup marketing, social media and free resources for entrepreneurs.
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Saturday, July 26
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Google Glass Hits the Road: Next stop, Boston
Saturday, July 26
10:00 am - 6pm
The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston
RSVP at http://goo.gl/m8s5GK
Google is bringing Glass, its new wearable computer created by the Google Glass team, to Boston on July 26th from 10am to 6pm. The public is invited to come try Glass, which is not yet widely available to consumers. Glass is a sleek and lightweight hands-free computer device encased in a titanium eyeglass frame that’s on when you need it and off when you don’t. From on-the-go maps to voice searches, video calls, photo sharing and more, Glass allows users to seamlessly interact with their technology without interrupting the flow of their everyday lives.
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Sunday, July 27
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Cambridge Jazz Festival
More information at http://cambridgejazzfestival.org/
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Tuesday, July 29
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Democratizing Ideologies and Inequality Regimes in Digital Domains
Tuesday, July 29
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/07/cottom#RSVP
This event will be webcast live on http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/07/cottom at 12:30pm ET
Tressie (McMillan) Cottom, Microsoft Research & PhD Student, Sociology, Emory University
Internet studies tends to conceptualize groups as collectivities anchored by shared ideas, interests, and information. Sociologists understand groups as also anchored by identity, social location, and power relationships. It's a tension between groups of affiliation versus ascription. The difference is meaningful for how we understand inequality across digital domains. How can we theoretically and methodologically understand both concepts of group in social media generally and specifically in a case study of informal learning spaces on Facebook and Twitter?
About Tressie
Tressie McMillan Cottom is completing her PhD in the Sociology Department at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
As a stratification scholar, Tressie considers what inequality means both experientially and empirically when corporations are people, supranational corporations like Facebook and Twitter shape the public square, and education is increasingly privatized. Her research primarily mines organizational arrangements and structural processes to better understand inequality across rapidly changing social domains. Her current work examines for-profit college credentials and inequality. She also has a developing research agenda that examines the political economy of emerging “new” media organizations.
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DNA Origami meets Single Molecule Fluorescence
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan Circle, 5th floor, Boston
Speaker: Philip Tinnefeld, Ph.D., Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig
We used DNA origami as a biophysical tool to enhance single-molecule assays. The DNA origami serves as the molecular breadboard to arrange objects such as dyes and nanoparticles. Examples include the development of nanoscopic calibration rulers for 2D and 3D superresolution microscopy and DNA origami nano-adapters for bridging the gap between bottom-up chemistry and top-down lithography. Moreover, we arranged gold nanoparticles to create plasmonic hotspots that enable substantial increase of single-molecule fluorescence signals. In this context we present an approach to disentangle the different influences of metallic nanostructures on the radiative and non-radiative rates of single molecules.
Contact information:
alison.reggio at wyss.harvard.edu
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Boston Green Drinks - July Happy Hour
Tuesday, July 29
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Kingston Station, 25 Kingston Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-green-drinks-july-happy-hour-tickets-11863053713
Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community!
Keep sending feedback to Lyn at bostongreendrinks.com for ideas about speakers or content for the future and mark your calendar for drinks on the last Tuesday of every month. Also, if you RSVP and can't make it, e-mail us to let us know.
Boston Green Drinks builds a community of sustainably-minded Bostonians, provides a forum for exchange of sustainability career resources, and serves as a central point of information about emerging green issues. We support the exchange of ideas and resources about sustainable energy, environment, food, health, education.
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Tasting Summer: Health, Fresh and Local Food
WHEN Tue., July 29, 2014, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Allston Education Portal, 175 North Harvard Street, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Wellness/Work Life
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Allston Education Portal
COST Free
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tasting-summer-healthy-fresh-local-food-registration-12142238763
CONTACT INFO 617.496.5022
NOTE Learn to make smart decisions about healthy and delicious food! With this workshop, you will learn how to have more time for summer fun by cooking quick and simple recipes. Participants will discuss fresh and local options from the Harvard Farmers’ Markets, and review strategies to use these ingredients in budget-friendly meals. Don’t miss out on the tasty treats of summer! Led by Michelle P. Gallant, MS, RD, LDN, a licensed nutritionist with Harvard University Health Services.
LINK edportal.harvard.edu
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Mainstreaming Torture
Tuesday, July 29
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Book event with author Rebecca Gordon
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, July 30
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Gas Pipeline Rally
Wednesday, July 30
11:00 am- 1:00 pm
MA State House steps and across the Boston Common
Pipeline opponents from around the state gathering with any citizens and organizations who have been waiting to bring this issue to the State House.
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Finding your inner yeast: How do new traits evolve?
WHEN Wed., July 30, 2014, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Dawn Thompson
COST Free; registration required
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/finding-your-inner-yeast-how-do-new-traits-evolve-tickets-11976950381
CONTACT INFO events at broadinstitute.org
NOTE To understand human biology we must tackle an important question: how do we look at an organism’s DNA sequence – it’s genotype – and understand how it produces the organism’s traits and behaviors, or phenotype? Humans share a lot of genes with other organisms like dogs, apes, and even yeast. We have the same genetic toolbox, yet remain very different. These differences can be attributed to gene expression – when genes get turned on or off – that gets rewired over the course of evolution to produce new phenotypes. Dawn Thompson will discuss recent work that investigates how changes in gene expression have given rise to interesting phenotypes such as altered metabolism in cancer cells, and the production of ethanol by yeast (a development which has been fortuitous for baking!). These same principles can be applied to help unlock the secrets of our own evolution.
LINK http://www.broadinstitute.org/partnerships/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2014
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Thursday, July 31
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Exploring Boston’s Urban Forest
Thursday, July 31
Cost $15.00 but free if participants use the promo code TREES upon sign-up
RSVP at http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/exploring-bostons-urban-forest
How are our most important neighbors—our cities' trees—faring? Find out while exploring one charming city.
Urban forests are more than pretty: they mitigate climate change, improve psychological health, filter pollutants, and increase oxygen levels.
Cities are made up of buildings and streets, but between and among human structures are thousands of trees that make up the urban forest. Earthwatch is collaborating with the arborist of the City of Cambridge, just across the river from Boston, to collect data to study and protect the 18,000 trees that make up the city's critically important urban forest.
You'll be trained in techniques for identifying species, measuring and observing individual tree samples, and uploading data via mobile apps. During the course of the day you'll work in groups, exploring Cambridge's urban forest and collecting data on the health, growth patterns, and impact on buildings and streets of individual trees.
You'll help build a growing database of information needed to understand how trees positively impact urban areas and what trees need to survive and thrive in stressful environments.
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Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Caterpillar Check-up & Release Prep
Thursday, July 31
1 to 3pm
Meeting Place: outside the Ranger Station, inside if raining, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge
Reservation staff are raising monarch caterpillars for release! These butterflies are very endangered and we're taking action to protect them (and help our local habitats) at Fresh Pond. Come see how the caterpillars are growing, learn how you can help, and prepare crafts for our big release in August! Learn more about the projectatwww.cambridgema.gov/Water/freshpondreservation. For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or 617-349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Mass Innovation Nights Reunion
Thursday, July 31
7:00 P.M.
200 Seaport Boulevard, Commonwealth Pier, Boston
RSVP at http://www.mcssl.com/SecureCart/ViewCart.aspx?mid=D95F4FEE-72AA-4912-9C02-D4692E2849F6&sctoken=e784d48ff4d7449883f7a385ac7370b2&bhcp=1
Cost: $20, click here to purchase tickets
More than 650 new products have launched with Mass Innovation Nights and it is time to get everyone back together again. This will be an exciting opportunity to catch up with your “classmates” and past MIN alumni as well as the many Mass Innovation Nights supporters. The alumni will get a chance to connect with each other and talk about their newest innovations while enjoying a cruise around Boston Harbor. We will also be making special announcements that night that you don’t want to miss and hosting some special guests! Don’t miss out.
Boston Event Guide is offering the cruise as part of their Summer Party Cruise Series.
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Friday, August 1
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Introduction to Programming with Imagination Toolbox - Family Friendly
Friday, August 1
9:00a–3:00p
MIT, Building 4-149, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-programming-with-imagination-toolbox-registration-11224654243
Cost: $25
Speaker: Daniel Wendel
In this fun, intensive, hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to program 3D games and/or science simulation models using StarLogo Nova, an online educational software tool with a graphical programming interface. If you have never programmed before, this workshop will be a great introduction. For people with prior programming experience, this workshop will provide you with experience in an easy-to-use, powerful programming tool to add to your repertoire.
Web site: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-programming-with-imagination-toolbox-registration-11224654243
Open to: the general public
Tickets: Eventbrite Registration Page
Sponsor(s): Scheller Teacher Education Program, The Education Arcade
For more information, contact: Carole Urbano
617-324-8217
curbano at mit.edu
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Saturday, August 2
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Organizing Meeting for the People's Climate March (NYC, September 21)
Saturday, August 2
5-9 PM
The Democracy Center, 45 Mt. Auburn Street Cambridge
RSVP at http://act.350.org/signup/boston_organizing_tour/?akid=4765.354267.GjP1oQ&rd=1&t=2
To meet local activists near you and create an organizing process that engages Boston in the People’s Climate March and creates meaningful new coalitions and connections.
Plans for the People's Climate March are already in full swing: last week, over 500 people came together from labor, faith, student, environmental justice, and community groups to talk about how to make the march historic. The room was alive with a sense of urgency: people from all walks of life in New York City are rolling up their sleeves to show just how big and diverse our movement has become.
The People's Climate March this September is one of our best chances to demand global action on the climate crisis -- and the first step towards making Boston part of that is coming to the community organizing meeting on August 2.
The meetings will deepen our local networks and draw connections between the People's Climate March and local campaigns -- making them both stronger than ever. We will talk about the march itself but also about lots of other things: organizing and recruitment, about how to be a bus captain and bring hundreds of people from your community to New York City, and ways to create art to make the day transformative.
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Tuesday, August 5
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Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1
Tuesday, August 5
6:00pm - 9:30pm
First Church in Boston Unitarian Universalist, 66 Marlborough Street, Boston
Adam Jonas Horowitz shot his first film in the Marshall Islands in 1986, and was shocked by what he found there, in this former American military colony in middle of the Pacific Ocean. Radioactive coconuts, leaking nuclear waste repositories, and densely populated slums were all the direct result of 67 Cold War U.S. nuclear bomb tests that vaporized islands and devastated entire populations.
Twenty years later, Adam returned to these islands to make this award winning shocking political and cultural documentary exposé titled 'Nuclear Savage;' a heartbreaking and intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for dignity and survival after decades of intentional radiation poisoning at the hands of the American government. Relying on recently declassified U.S. government documents,devastating survivor testimony, and incredible unseen archival footage, This untold and true detective story reveals how U.S. scientists turned a Pacific paradise into a radioactive hell. Marshall islanders were used as human guinea pigs for three decades to study the effects of nuclear fallout on human beings with devastating results. Nuclear Savage is a shocking tale that pierces the heart of our democratic principles.
The film will be shown in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki on August 5 and 8 respectively.
In, May, the Marshall Islands sued the 9 nuclear weapons states, including the United States, in U.S. federal court as well as in the International Court of Justice, for failing to eliminate their nuclear arsenals as required by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. http://thebulletin.org/import-marshall-islands-nuclear-lawsuit7143
6:00pm Potluck
7:00pm Film screening begins
8:30-9:30pm Discussion
This event will also welcome the walkers participating in "Walking for Peace and Non-Violence" from July 30 through August 6, organized by New England Peace Pagoda.
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Opportunity
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Intern with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate!
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (BLC) is a nonprofit based in the Cambridge, MA area. Our mission is to mobilize the biosphere to restore ecosystems and reverse global warming.
Education, public information campaigns, organizing, scientific investigation, collaboration with like-minded organizations, research and policy development are all elements of our strategy.
Background: Soils are the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet. Restoring the complex ecology of soils is the only way to safely and quickly remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground, where it’s desperately needed to regenerate the health of billions of acres of degraded lands. Restoring carbon to soils and regenerating ecosystems are how we can restore a healthy hydrologic cycle and cool local and planetary climates safely, naturally, and in time to ensure a livable climate now and in the future.
Our Work: immediate plans include
Organizing the First International Biodiversity, Soil Carbon and Climate Week, October 31-November 9, 2014, and a kick-off conference in the Boston area, “Mobilizing the Biosphere to Reverse Global Warming: A Biodiversity, Water, Soil Carbon and Climate Conference – and Call to Action” to expand the mainstream climate conversation to include the power of biology, and to help initiate intensive worldwide efforts to return atmospheric carbon to the soils.
Coordination of a global fund to directly assist local farmers and herders in learning and applying carbon farming approaches that not only benefit the climate, but improve the health and productivity of the land and the people who depend on it.
Collaboration with individuals and organizations on addressing eco-restoration and the regeneration of water and carbon cycles; such projects may include application of practices such as Holistic Management for restoration of billions of acres of degraded grasslands, reforestation of exploited forest areas, and restoring ocean food chains.
Please contact Helen D. Silver, helen.silver at bio4climate.org for further information.
781-316-1710
Bio4climate.org
SharedHarvestCSA.com
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Climate Stories Project
http://www.climatestoriesproject.org
What's your Climate Story?
Climate Stories Project is a forum that gives a voice to the emotional and personal impacts that climate change is having on our lives. Often, we only discuss climate change from the impersonal perspective of science or the contentious realm of politics. Today, more and more of us are feeling the effects of climate change on an personal level. Climate Stories Project allows people from around the world to share their stories and to engage with climate change in a personal, direct way.
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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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Resource
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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 http://thesprouts.org/
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/events/calendar/
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/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
High Tech Events: http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
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