[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - Janauary 8, 2017
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jan 8 10:24:18 PST 2017
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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Index - Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings. Keep scrolling, please.
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Monday, January 9
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12pm Day Against Denial
6pm Open Project Night: Boston
6:30pm The (sometimes messy) science of communicating science
7pm 23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement
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Tuesday, January 10 - Friday, January 13
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ComputeFest 2017 //Computational & Data Science Workshops
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Tuesday, January 10
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12pm Examining Black Feminism in the Digital Era
2pm Technological Improvement, Regulatory Avoidance, and the Case of Ride-hailing Services
2:30pm Creating Scientific Figures with Adobe Illustrator
6pm Meet the Deep Government Expert Who Knows How to Fix the MBTA in 5 Steps
6pm NATASHA LAMB: PUSHING THE ENVELOPE OF SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM
6pm Boston New Technology January 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT73
6:30pm The Vital Role of Seagrass in Marine Ecosystems
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Wednesday, January 11
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2pm Fusion energy and MIT's pathway for accelerated demonstration with high-magnetic field tokamaks
2:30pm Equilibrium Shifts, Model Uncertainty and Global Games
4pm Defense R&D and the Military-Industrial Complex: Science and National Priorities
6pm The Thermal Resonance of Massive Buildings
6pm Mass Innovation Nights #94 - Sembler at Draper Labs
7pm Citizenship as Foundation of Rights
7pm The Case Against Sugar
7pm Normalizing Denial
7pm Urban Gardening Series: Naturalistic Gardening
7pm Earthquakes in the Central and Eastern United States: Before and After Fracking…
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Thursday, January 12
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9am Do You Really Need Social Media for Your Business?
1pm xTalk: US Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell launches Higher Education Technology Policy Brief
2pm News, Opinion, and the Importance of the Medium
2pm The Alchemy of Creativity with Chip Sullivan
5pm Future of Water: 2017 - What does a Trump Administration mean to the US water sector?
6:30pm Citizen Journalism Info Session
6:30pm Progressivism During Trump: What's Next?
7pm Public Art 3D Printed
7pm Anthony W. Marx (New York Public Library): Beyond Gutenberg: Access in the 21st Century
7pm Cartooning the Landscape: Art, Nature, Consciousness
7pm Democratic Socialists of America, Boston and the Dollars and Sense Collective present: The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel
7pm Anarcho-Syndicalism Today
7pm The Next Four Years: Organizing Followup
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Friday, January 13
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12pm Starr Forum: The White Ribbon
5:30pm Green 'Up Launch Event
7pm Ignite Craft Boston 2017
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Saturday, January 14
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9am Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist's Lens
1pm Designing Games to Affect Social Change
6:45pm Something CoffeeHouse Open Mic
7pm Solidarity Fundraiser for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe #NoDAPL
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Sunday, January 15
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5:15pm Intellectual Snob Meetup: Global Warming: Boston/ Cambridge Local
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Monday, January 16
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11:30am Martin Luther King Day of Service Commemoration and Service
6pm Design Thinking / MIT Solve Challenge with OpenIDEO Boston Chapter
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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
Turn Red States Blue with Green Energy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/07/1618082/-Turn-Red-States-Blue-with-Green-Energy
Folding the Red Into the Black: Developing a Viable Untopia for Human Survival in the 21st Century
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/folding-red-into-black-developing.html
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Monday, January 9
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Day Against Denial
Monday, January 9
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Boston Common, Park Street, Boston
The climate is changing, and anyone who denies it shouldn't be in the White House Cabinet. On January 9th, people in all 50 states will send a message to every US Senator: reject Donald Trump's reckless climate denying cabinet nominees. With speakers, music and skits, we'll tell our Senators to fight Trump's Climate Denial Cabinet, and ask our Governor to speak out for a sane climate policy. This event is organized by 350Massachusetts for a Better Future: http://350mass.betterfutureproject.org/
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Open Project Night: Boston
Monday, January 9
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM EST
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street - 15th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-project-night-boston-tickets-30296179689
Are you interested in co-creating a better Boston? Please join us at Impact Hub Boston for our next Open Project Night! We're opening our space the first Monday night of each month for you to host small events, co-work, network, trade skills and get involved with projects that change Boston for the better.
At Open Project Night you can:
Network with local people who share an interest in a better Boston, Cambridge, and beyond. Imagine together, share opportunities to get involved, and trade skills.
Work on existing local project ideas or come to work on your own (post-its and white boards provided, laptops are not).
Host your event or meeting in one of our meeting spaces (one is for up to 15 people, others are 4-6 comfortably).
Our January 9th Open Project Night will feature the following open workshops/discussions/events for you to join :
An opportunity to get involved with the public education working group from SURJ (Stand Up for Racial Justice) Boston.
A design workshop for the first Venture Cafe themed around social impact work in Boston.
A discussion/workshop on strengthening democracy through citizen journalism.
A constructive feedback session for pitch practices with local entrepreneurs who don't otherwise have access to workspace to work on their projects
A continued Democracy conversation and brainstorm around projects and actions to take in this new post-election reality.
An open networking table for people to connect and find projects they are passionate about.
FAQ’s:
Do I need to have a project of my own to come along?
No, not at all! Just come along if you:
are keen to meet different people in your area who care about making Boston a better place.
want to brainstorm how your local street, library, or housing system might be different
want to work together with others to make changes happen in your area
want to find out about volunteering and work opportunities
want to find volunteers or recruits for your project
are running something like a neighbourhood garden, a friends of library group or an early-stage business and want a space to host events and meetings
What should I bring?
Materials you need to workshop / present your project
Your ideas & inspirations
A collaborative spirit to work with new + old friends
A snack to share, if you can! We’re believers of food as love, and sharing as caring.
Know someone who would be interested?
Open Project Night is free and open to everyone. Send this link their way!
When is it?
Open Project Night is held one Monday night per month (typically the first Monday, except Federal Holidays) at Impact Hub Boston, from 6.00pm to 10.00pm.
The next few are scheduled for January 9th, February 6th and March 6th.
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The (sometimes messy) science of communicating science
Monday, January 9
6:30-8:30pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville
Are you interested in learning more about what the field of science journalism looks like from the inside? Panelists from the Boston-based publication STAT will discuss what led them to a career in health and science journalism, as well as the challenges and value of investigating and reporting in this field. Small group discussions will follow the panel, so you’ll have a chance to ask questions and bring up topics you want to discuss. Members of the panel will represent a broad range of careers within science journalism, including reporting, editing, social media, marketing, multimedia, and graphic design.
About STAT (from statnews.com): STAT is a new national publication focused on finding and telling compelling stories about health, medicine, and scientific discovery. We produce daily news, investigative articles, and narrative projects in addition to multimedia features. We tell our stories from the places that matter to our readers – research labs, hospitals, executive suites, and political campaigns.
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement
Monday, January 9
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes former Human Rights Watch associate KERAMET REITER—assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine—for a discussion of her book, 23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement.
About 23/7
Originally meant to be brief and exceptional, solitary confinement in U.S. prisons has become long-term and common. Prisoners spend twenty-three hours a day in featureless cells, with no visitors or human contact for years on end, and they are held entirely at administrators’ discretion. Keramet Reiter tells the history of one “supermax,” California’s Pelican Bay State Prison, whose extreme conditions recently sparked a statewide hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners. This book describes how Pelican Bay was created without legislative oversight, in fearful response to 1970s radicals; how easily prisoners slip into solitary; and the mental havoc and social costs of years and decades in isolation. The product of fifteen years of research in and about prisons, this book provides essential background to a subject now drawing national attention.
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Tuesday, January 10 - Friday, January 13
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ComputeFest 2017 //Computational & Data Science Workshops
WHEN Tuesday - Friday, Jan. 10 -13, 2017
WHERE Harvard, Northwest Building B1 Level, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Information Technology, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS) at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
COST Free and open to the public.
TICKET INFO Registration required.
CONTACT INFO iacs-info at seas.harvard.edu
DETAILS ComputeFest is an annual two week program of knowledge- and skill-building activities in computational and data science. This year's workshop topics include Tableau/Data Viz, MATLAB, Deep Learning, R, SQL, and Python (data science track).
LINK http://computefest.seas.harvard.edu/workshops
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Tuesday, January 10
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Examining Black Feminism in the Digital Era
Tuesday, January 10
12:00 pm
Harvard, Pound Hall, Room 101,, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2017/01/Gray#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2017/01/Gray at 12:00 pm
with Berkman Klein Fellow, Kishonna L. Gray
It is important to examine the digital manifestations of misogynoir – or what it means to be a Woman of Color existing in the hegemonic spaces of digital technology. But our conceptual frameworks fail to capture the everyday practices that Women of Color exhibit online. Black Digital Feminism is useful to not only examine the structures influences practices, but also tools that have been implemented to resist such hegemony.
About Kishonna
Kishonna L. Gray (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is currently a MLK Visiting Scholar in Women & Gender Studies and Comparative Media Studies/Writing. She is also the Founder of the Critical Gaming Lab at Eastern Kentucky University. She is expanding on the work created here to develop new initiatives surrounding Equity in Gaming (www.equityingaming.com). Her work broadly intersects identity and new media although she has a particular focus on gaming. Her most recent book, Race, Gender, & Deviance in Xbox Live (Routledge, 2014), provides a much-needed theoretical framework for examining deviant behavior and deviant bodies within that virtual gaming community. Her work has been featured in outlets such as the Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, Bulletin of Science, Technology, & Society, New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, Information, Communication, & Society, among others. Her work has also been featured in the LA Times, Paste Magazine, Engadget, The Guardian, BET, and Blavity. She’s a featured blogger and podcaster with “Not Your Mama’s Gamer” (http://www.nymgamer.com/). She also actively blogs on her own websites at www.kishonnagray.com and at http://lachezbippy.kinja.com/. Follow her on Twitter @KishonnaGray and the Equity in Gaming Initative at @equityingaming.
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Technological Improvement, Regulatory Avoidance, and the Case of Ride-hailing Services
Tuesday, January 10
2:00p–3:30p
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Sara Ellison (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Economics IAP
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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Creating Scientific Figures with Adobe Illustrator
Tuesday, January 10
2:30p–4:30p
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge
Sera Thornton, Digital Learning Fellow, MITx Biology
Visual aids are one of the most important tools we have in communicating our research to others, be it in a publication, a talk, or a class. In the first hour, learn how to efficiently use Adobe Illustrator to make and edit figures, and work on your own figure during the second hour. Geared towards beginners, but all levels welcome ??? we may have some tricks you don???t know yet! Please bring a laptop with Adobe Illustrator installed and working, and an idea or figure to work on.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Biology
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Meet the Deep Government Expert Who Knows How to Fix the MBTA in 5 Steps
Tuesday, January 10
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Central Bistro, 34 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-deep-government-expert-who-knows-how-to-transform-bostons-t-into-a-success-well-love-tickets-30967531721
Cost: $0 – $20
Hear Guest Speaker Charlie Chieppo, a "Deep Government" expert on how to Fix the MBTA in 5 Steps
Meet Some of the Most Connected and Engaged People in Boston. (like you).
You'll connect for good with trustworthy professionals in a way that no other group offers at our monthly Rotary Club meeting.
And you'll get to meet and hear Charlie Chieppo who has been widely interviewed in the Boston Globe, BostInno, the Boston Herald, WBZ, NECN and WBUR for his report Transforming the T: How MBTA Reform Can Right Our Broken Transportation System.
You'll hear The (At Least) 5 Steps We Can Take to Transform the T.
Did you know that the MBTA has $9 billion in debt? And that it has a $7.3 billion backlog in maintenance costs?
Our "Deep Government " expert Charlie Chieppo will recommend how to fix that.
Why do we say he is "Deep Government?"
Chieppo appears regularly on WGBH television’s Greater Boston, WGBH’s Boston Public Radio and WBUR’s RadioBoston. For several years, Chieppo's columns appeared regularly in The Boston Herald. Other publications in which his work has been featured include The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Governing, Education Next, USA TODAY, Washington Times, Providence Journal, Nashville Tennessean and CommonWealth magazine.
During Governor Mitt Romney's administration Chieppo served as policy director in Massachusetts’ Executive Office for Administration and Finance. He led the Romney administration's successful effort to reform the commonwealth's publicconstruction laws, helped develop and enact a new charter school funding formula, and worked on a variety of public employee labor issues such as pension reform and easing state restrictions against privatization.
Previously, he directed the Shamie Center for Better Government at Pioneer Institute. While employed by Pioneer, Chieppo served on the MBTA's Blue Ribbon Committee on Forward Funding
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NATASHA LAMB: PUSHING THE ENVELOPE OF SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM
Tuesday, January 10
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Cambridge Innovation Center - Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, 5th Foor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/natasha-lamb-pushing-the-envelope-of-shareholder-activism-tickets-30206656924
Cost: $8 - $12
BASG returns from its winter break on January 10th with a guest speaker and topic sure to ignite your 2017 and to appeal to your activist side. If you haven't yet heard of or read about Natasha Lamb, Managing Partner of Arjuna Capital, in the many media segments covering her progressive work, now is your chance to hear it from her directly. Natasha will present to BASG on the evolution of shareholder activism highlighting key efforts such as her shareholder campaign for gender pay equity and her 2014 landmark negotiation with Exxon Mobil that led to the company’s first public report on global warming and carbon asset risk.
About Our Speaker
Natasha Lamb, Managing Partner, Arjuna Capital
Natasha integrates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into Arjuna’s investment process while engaging major corporations to improve their performance through shareholder advocacy. Previously, Natasha was Vice President, Shareholder Advocacy and Corporate Engagement, and an Equity Analyst at Trillium Asset Management. Natasha has been profiled in Forbes and the Boston Globe, while her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, as well as on NPR and CNN. In 2016, Natasha received the Upstart Business Journal Upstart 100 Award and the Aiming High Award from Legal Momentum for pioneering a shareholder campaign on gender pay equity. Her 2014 landmark negotiation with Exxon Mobil led to the company’s first public report on global warming and carbon asset risk. Natasha is a trustee of The Food Project and Chairman of the Crane Institute of Sustainability, host to the Intentionally Designed Endowments Network. She teaches sustainable investing at Pinchot University and holds an M.B.A in Sustainable Business from Pinchot. Natasha received her B.A. cum laude from Mount Holyoke College.
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Boston New Technology January 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT73
Tuesday, January 10
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Akamai Technologies, 150 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/236315049/
Akamai staff will be escorting attendees from the lobby up the stairs to the first floor, where you'll find our check-in table. Type the first few letters of your name on the screen and tap your name to print your name tag.
Free event! Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community!
Each presenter gets 5 minutes for product demonstration and 5 minutes for Q&A.
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The Vital Role of Seagrass in Marine Ecosystems
Tuesday, January 10
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
Barnabas Daru, Ph.D., Research Fellow in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Seagrasses are fundamental to the health of marine ecosystems, providing food and shelter to many organisms. Because of the dual impact of climate change and ocean pollution, many seagrass varieties are dying off. This loss in turn affects the many marine species that depend on the grasses. Dr. Daru explains the vital role of seagrasses in maintaining marine life, and how different seagrass varieties vary in the ability to adapt to changing ocean environments around the world. This area of research is very important in the urgent effort today to save marine biodiversity.
Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
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Wednesday, January 11
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Fusion energy and MIT's pathway for accelerated demonstration with high-magnetic field tokamaks
Wednesday, January 11
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 1-190, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Zach Hartwig
This talk will introduce the key concepts of producing clean, safe, and carbon-free electricity from magnetic fusion energy. It will review the present state of fusion energy research and then introduce MIT's proposed pathway to use high-field superconducting magnets to achieve fusion energy at smaller unit size, at lower cost, and on a timescale relevant to climate change.
Web site: http://www.psfc.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact: Paul Rivenberg
617-253-8101
rivenberg at psfc.mit.edu
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Equilibrium Shifts, Model Uncertainty and Global Games
Wednesday, January 11
2:30PM-04:00PM
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Muhamet Yildiz, Professor of Economics
I will present some recent research on global games with an application to causes of equilibrium shifts in dynamic coordination games. I will introduce rank beliefs (i.e. conditional expectation of players' own percentiles) and describe the central role they play in the analyses of global games. Using rank beliefs one can extend the risk-dominant selection results in global games literature to arbitrary type spaces (including multi-dimensional type spaces that are common in practice). With model uncertainty, under canonical global games setup, rank beliefs take a specific shape. In that case, small shocks to the fundamentals shift the equilibrium to a latent solution. Consequently, one can identify the kind of shocks that are effective--in shifting to a "bad equilibrium" as in crises or shifting to a "good equilibrium" as in recovery.
Sponsor(s): Economics
Contact: Beata Shuster, E52-439A, 617 253-8883, BSHUSTER at MIT.EDU
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Defense R&D and the Military-Industrial Complex: Science and National Priorities
Wednesday, January 11
4:00 pm
MIT, Building 4-163, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Lecturer: Subrata Ghoshroy, Research Affiliate, Science Technology & Society group, MIT Subrata Ghoshroy is a former Congressional Science
Fellow and Member of the Professional Staff of the House Armed Services Committee, and member of Massachusetts Peace Action Wednesdays at 4 PM-5:30 PM MIT Room 4-163
Free and open to the public
1/11: Defense spending, Congress, and the M-I Complex
1/18: The universities and the Pentagon
1/25: Defense R&D: Decline in Innovation and Lost opportunities
2/01: Screening of the award-winning documentary Why?
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The Thermal Resonance of Massive Buildings
Wednesday, January 11
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artscience-talks-le-lab-salmaan-craig-engd-tickets-30331139254
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Mass Innovation Nights #94 - Sembler at Draper Labs
Wednesday, January 11
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Draper, 555 Technology Square, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mass-innovation-nights-94-sembler-at-draper-labs-tickets-30496951202
Start the year off right and join us for this cool technology focused event with Draper's startup-focused Sembler Officehosting and sponsoring. We will have it all -- robotics, a pressure sensor tool for prosthetic and protective gear, a device to disable smartphones while driving and so much more! We will have ten products in all to showcase along with two products from Wentworth Institute of Technology's Accelerate. We are looking forward to our first ever event with Draper in Cambridge on Wednesday, January 11th 2017 at 6pm.
Don't miss it -- Wednesday, January 11th 6pm-8:30pm for Mass Innovation Nights #94
Draper's Sembler Office empowers your vision by leveraging Draper’s extensive resources and 80+ years of expertise in solving the world’s toughest engineering problems.
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Citizenship as Foundation of Rights
WHEN Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Poetry/Prose
SPEAKER(S) Harvard Faculty Event with Richard Sobel
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Karen Porter
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
DETAILS Discussion - "Citizenship as Foundation of Rights" explores the nature and meaning of American citizenship and the rights flowing from citizenship in the context of current debates around politics, including immigration. The book explains the sources of citizenship rights in the Constitution and focuses on three key citizenship rights - the right to vote, the right to employment, and the right to travel in the US. It explains why those rights are fundamental and how national identification systems and ID requirements to vote, work and travel undermine the fundamental citizen rights. Richard Sobel analyzes how protecting citizens' rights preserves them for future generations of citizens and aspiring citizens here. No other book offers such a clarification of fundamental citizen rights and explains how ID schemes contradict and undermine the constitutional rights of American citizenship.
LINK www.thecoop.com
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The Case Against Sugar
Wednesday, January 11
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning science journalist GARY TAUBES, the bestselling author of Why We Get Fat, for a discussion of his latest book, The Case Against Sugar.
About The Case Against Sugar
From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening exposé that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick.
Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.
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Normalizing Denial
Wednesday, January 11
7 PM
3 Church Street, Cambridge
The climate science debate is heating up – join the discussion.
Bill McKibben, author, educator, founder of 350.org
Dr. Gretchen Goldman, Research Director, Center for Science and Democracy
Tim DeChristopher, climate activist
Zahra Hirji, science writer and reporter for InsideClimate News
Moderated by Wen Stephenson, author and writer, The Nation
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Urban Gardening Series: Naturalistic Gardening
Wednesday, January 11
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Cambridge, Main Library, 449 Broadway, Lecture Hall, Cambridge
Some prefer the pomp and precision of a formal landscape, while others enjoy gardens inspired by nature. Learn how to take inspiration from the mountains, rivers, and fields of New England and create beautiful, naturalistic gardens. Dan Jaffe will cover every topic from plant selection and layout to sustainable practices.
This class is part of our Urban Gardening Series a set of classes designed to help city dwellers grow healthy, sustainable, and beautiful urban gardens. Led by Society staff in partnership with the Cambridge Conservation Commission, these free classes take place at the Cambridge Public Library (449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA).
Other sessions in this series include:
Planting Basics
Putting Your Garden to Bed
Native Edibles
Plants for the Winter Garden
Pests of Urban Gardens
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Earthquakes in the Central and Eastern United States: Before and After Fracking...
Wednesday, January 11
7:00 to 9:00 PM
Weston Observatory, Boston College, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 381 Concord Road, Weston
Seating is limited and reservations are required.
Please call (617) 552-8300 to reserve space.
Presented by: Alan Kafka, Ph.D., Director of Weston Observatory and Hannah Chambless, Graduate Student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College
Light refreshments will be served.
Colloquium Series at Weston Observatory
col·lo·qui·um
1. Informal meeting for the exchange of views.
2. Academic seminar on a broad field of study, usually led by a different lecturer at each meeting.
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Thursday, January 12
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Do You Really Need Social Media for Your Business?
Monday, January 12
9am until 11am
Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston
The Harvard Ed Portal, in partnership with SCORE Boston, is proud to host a free workshop and information session on social media for your business.
Social media can be an amazing resource for attracting customers, but how do you sort through the seemingly endless options to find the best ones to market your business? Do you really need social media in the first place? And if you do, how do you keep social media marketing from taking up every spare moment of your time? Join us for an overview of social media marketing concepts, options, and strategies.
Online registration information will be available soon. For more information, contact Jim Barrows at jim_barrows at harvard.edu
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xTalk: US Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell launches Higher Education Technology Policy Brief
Thursday, January 12
1:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building 3-333, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Speakers:
Ted Mitchell, Under Secretary of Education
Joseph South, Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education
Members of the Technical Working Group who contributed to the Supplement, including Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology will be releasing "Re-imagining the Role of Technology in Higher Education: A Supplement to the National Education Technology Plan".
Please join Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell for a discussion of the plan's recommendations for colleges and universities, and the wider higher education ecosystem. The Supplement explores the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education and the role technology can play in ensuring that the system meets our nation's equity goals of access, affordability, and completion of high-quality programs. Emerging practices and policy implications drawn from the document will also inform the conversation.
Talks: Digital Discourses
The xTalks series provides a forum 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: https://odl.mit.edu/news-and-events/events/us-under-secretary-education-launches-higher-education-technology-policy
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): xTalks: Digital Discourses, Office of Digital Learning, US Department of Education
For more information, contact: Molly Ruggles
617-324-9185
xtalks-info at mit.edu
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News, Opinion, and the Importance of the Medium
Thursday, January 12
2:00p–3:30p
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Sara Ellison (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Economics IAP
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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The Alchemy of Creativity with Chip Sullivan
WHEN Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, 2 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Weld Hill, Arnold Arboretum, 1300 Centre Street, Roslindale
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Classes/Workshops, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and The Garden Conservancy
SPEAKER(S) Charles (Chip) H. Sullivan, Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley
COST $55 general; $45 member of cosponsoring orgs; $35 student
TICKET WEB LINK https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1580&DayPlannerDate=1/12/2017
TICKET INFO 617-384-5277
DETAILS Author of Drawing the Landscape, and most recently, Cartooning the Landscape, Chip Sullivan will present a series of exercises to help the participant find their own individual sources of intuition, inspiration and imagination to elevate ones perception of the environment. We will explore the creative process using such techniques as dream mapping, creative biorhythms, visual note taking, journals and sketchbooks and the sequential narrative.
LINK www.arboretum.harvard.edu
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Future of Water: 2017 - What does a Trump Administration mean to the US water sector?
Thursday, January 12
5:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
CIC, 50 Milk Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/future-of-water2017-what-does-a-trump-administration-mean-to-the-us-water-sector-january-12th-2017-tickets-29321820354
Cost: $25 – $39
Join NEWIN, BeCause Water and our industry sponsors on January 12th for a panel discussion with leaders from water-investment, water-policy, water-technology and water-services as we discuss the Future of Water: 2017.
President-elect Donald Trump has outlined a twenty-eight point 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again. He identifies it as a contract between himself and the American voter, reinforcing that that plan will restore honesty, accountability and change to the US political system. A full outline of the 100 day play can be read at this NPR source. Some of these points are directly related to the future of investment in water-innovation and water-infrastructure.
January 21st 2017, the Trump administration will begin actions to protect American workers and to introduce and drive passage of broader legislative measures. Two components of the twenty-eight point plan are directly and indirectly related to water:
1) Trumps plan intends to cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure
2) Through the American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
On November 8th, the US Electoral College voted for this 100-day plan - join us as we discuss the details of what, who, how and when.
Agenda:
5:00 to 5:30 – Registration and networking
5:30 to 5:45 – Introductory remarks: Marcus Oliver Gay, Executive Director of NEWIN
5:45 to 6:45 – Panel Discussion
6:45 to 7:30 - Networking
Speakers
Philip Ashcroft: Adviser to PE firm Buckthorn Capital, Formerly municipal water services Veolia.
Reese Tisdale: President BlueField Research, formerly IHS Markit
Jim Cabot: President Cabot Strategies, Formerly Director of Strategic Planning, Technology and Policy with the US EPA
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Citizen Journalism Info Session
Thursday, January 12
6:30PM
CCTV, 438 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Are you passionate about community? Are you concerned about your rights and the rights of others? Are you concerned about social justice, the environment, housing, development, education, or mainstream media?
Become a citizen journalist in Cambridge -— and get paid for it! Your articles and videos will be published to NeighborMedia.org, the citizen journalism site of Cambridge Community Television.
Learn more when you attend the NeighborMedia info session on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at CCTV, 438 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Contact 617-401-4007 or frank at cctvcambridge.org to learn more.
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Progressivism During Trump: What's Next?
Thursday, January 12
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST
First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain, 633 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/progressivism-during-trump-whats-next-tickets-30573168169
Learn from organizations that are fighting back for progressive values locally and nationally! When core progressive principles like the defense of civil liberties, women's rights, anti-racism, protection of immigrants, and respect for our climate and future are at risk, Jamaica Plain can take action. Hear from leaders in:
NAACP Boston
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Planned Parenthood
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition (MIRA)
Boston Climate Action Network (BCAN)/Boston 350
We are particularly thrilled that Tanisha Sullivan, the new President of the NAACP Boston will be joining the panel. Don't despair over the direction of our country; help change it by acting with these organizations that have worked for us through good times and bad, and need our support more than ever in the next four years. We look forward to seeing you in January!
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Public Art 3D Printed
Thursday, January 12
7-8PM
Artisan’s Asylum, 10 Tyler Street, Somerville
Cost: $0 - $10
Hear Chris Templeman of Templeman Automation and Happy Workhorse talk about upcoming collaboration with New American Public Art to install a public art piece on the Rose Kennedy Greenway to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.
More information at http://artisansasylum.com/speaker-series/
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Anthony W. Marx (New York Public Library): Beyond Gutenberg: Access in the 21st Century (Lecture)
Thursday, January 12
7:00pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, Boston
RSVP at https://tickets.gardnermuseum.org/public/
Cost: $5-$15
Tickets are required and include Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, members free (must reserve in advance), college students $5.
Digital technology now enables us to imagine providing the full content of any book to anyone, anytime. Libraries can and should ensure that this becomes a reality, with the goal to unleash an explosion of learning and creativity.
Join us for this program with speaker Anthony W. Marx, President of the New York Public Library.
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Cartooning the Landscape: Art, Nature, Consciousness
WHEN Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Weld Hill, Arnold Arboretum, 1300 Centre Street, Roslindale
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Environmental Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and The Garden Conservancy
SPEAKER(S) One of the singular talents in landscape design, Chip Sullivan has shared his expertise through a seemingly unusual medium that, at second glance, makes perfect sense--the comic strip. For years Sullivan entertained readers of Landscape Architecture Magazine with comic strips that ingeniously illustrated significant concepts and milestones in the creation of our landscapes. These strips gained a large following among architects and illustrators, and now those original works, as well as additional strips, are collected in a new book, Cartooning the Landscape.
COST $20 general; $10 member of cosponsoring org; Free student
TICKET WEB LINK https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1581&DayPlannerDate=1/12/2017
TICKET INFO 617-384-5277
DETAILS In this lecture, Chip Sullivan's ecological narrative aims to provide a map to help one find his or her way back to a world of wonder, imagination, and mystery. Chip provides a visual tour of a variety of unique landscapes and gardens throughout history while exploring the use of optical device to perceive the landscape in new ways.
LINK www.arboretum.harvard.edu
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Democratic Socialists of America, Boston and the Dollars and Sense Collective present: The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel
Thursday, January 12
7 PM
Encuentro 5, 9A Hamilton Place, Boston (Near Park St. T)
Discussant: Autumn Beaudoin of Dollars and Sense
Disconnecting Adam Smith the economist from Adam Smith the moral philosopher has led to tragic distortions that have profoundly shaped our global economic system, as well as a complete misrepresentation of what Smith meant by a "free market."
"The Wealth of Nations: A New Gospel", part of documentary series on capitalism, shows how a misinterpretation of Adam Smith has led to
distortions that have tragically shaped our global economic system. The underpinnings of contemporary capitalism lie in an ideology born in the 19th century; one which privileges greed over other equally deep-seated human drives. Smith did not favor a completely unregulated free market - in fact, he thought it would be disastrous.
The film features interviews with Noam Chomsky, economist Ha-Joon Chang, and Smith biographer Nicholas Phillipson, as well as archival footage of free market ideologues such as Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman.
Autumn Beaudoin believes that educating individuals about their personal finances is the first step in creating awareness around the ways in which
the current capitalist financial industry is exploitative of the individual. In their role on the Dollars and Sense collective, Autumn directly engages in creating awareness of the necessity to change our current political and economic systems of oppression.
Film courtesy of Icarus Films.
Questions? Call (617) 702 2186, or email webmaster at dsaboston.org
Democratic Socialists of America
http://dsausa.org http://dsaboston.org @Boston_DSA
https://www.facebook.com/BostonDSA/
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Anarcho-Syndicalism Today
Thursday, January 12
7:00 p.m.
The Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge
Jon Bekken
Anarcho-syndicalism*(also referred to as revolutionary syndicalism) is a theory of anarchism which views revolutionary industrial unionism or
syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and, with that control, influence broader society.
Syndicalists consider their economic theories a strategy for facilitating worker self-activity and as an alternative co-operative economic system with democratic values and production centered on meeting human needs.
Jon Bekken is the editor of /Anarcho-Syndicalist Review/, an independent syndicalist magazine, published since May 1, 1986 (originally as /Libertarian Labor Review/). ASR is an independent forum for non-sectarian, critical, informed and constructive discussion of
anarcho-syndicalist theory and practice.
Sponsored by the Boston Labor Support Committee - (617) 625-9070
Note: the Democracy Center is not wheelchair accessible.
Editorial Comment: I like Kropotkin’s idea of voluntary association as a social organizing principle. Seen it work time after time.
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The Next Four Years: Organizing Followup
Thursday, January 12
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge
More information at http://masspeaceaction.org/event/the-next-four-years-organizing-followup/
Save the date for an organizing meeting to follow up on the ideas raised at The Next Four Years conference at Simmons College on December 3. Read a report on the conference, view pictures at http://bit.ly/2gFpHFV and http://bit.ly/2h4zbI5, and watch the video recording at http://bit.ly/2h4hWK
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Friday, January 13
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Starr Forum: The White Ribbon
Friday, January 13
12:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
The White Ribbon is a 2009 black-and-white German-language drama film written and directed by Michael Haneke. It darkly depicts society and family in a northern German village just before World War I and, according to Haneke, "is about the roots of evil. Whether it's religious or political terrorism, it's the same thing."
The film premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 where it won the Palme d'Or, followed by positive reviews and several other major awards, including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film also received two nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2009: Best Foreign Language Film (representing Germany) and Best Cinematography (Christian Berger).
Part of the MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP)
Co-sponsored by MIT Germany, MIT France, and MIT Language Conversation Exchange (LCE)
For more information or accessibility accommodations please contact starrforum at mit.edu.
Web site: https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-white-ribbon
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT-France Program, MIT-Germany Program, Center for International Studies, MIT Language Conversation Exchange (LCE)
For more information, contact:
253-8306
starrforum at mit.edu
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Green 'Up Launch Event
Friday, January 13
5:30 PM
Harpoon Brewery, 306 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/CarbonNeutralCommunity/events/236009174/
Join us for a new year of sustainability discussions and social fun!
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Ignite Craft Boston 2017
Friday, January 13
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EST
MIT Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ignite-craft-boston-2017-tickets-29379991345
Craft, Community, and 5-Minute Talks
Ignite Craft Boston is an Ignite event with a crafty crowd. If you had 5 minutes on stage to talk about your crafty passion in Boston, what would you say? What if you only got 20 photos or visuals, and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world, folks have been putting together Ignite events to show their answers.
For more about this event please visit Common Cod Fiber Guild's website at: http://www.commoncod.com/ignite/
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Saturday, January 14
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Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist's Lens
WHEN Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Exhibitions
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Museum of Natural History
COST Price of General Admission
TICKET WEB LINK http://hmnh.harvard.edu/plan-your-visit
TICKET INFO $12 general/$10 Seniors and Students/$8 Children
CONTACT INFO 617-496-1027
hmnh at hmsc.harvard.edu
DETAILS We live in a time when an alarming array of plants and animals struggle to even exist in a world that is increasingly dominated and altered by an exploding human population. Showcasing the work of artist Christina Seely, in collaboration with Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris of The Canary Project, this exhibition presents a provocative and powerful new perspective on the biodiversity extinction crisis. Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist’s Lens uses special photography techniques, lighting and sound design, and specimens carefully chosen from the collections of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology to generate an exchange between the viewer and animal kingdom and evoke empathy with our “next of kin.”
LINK http://hmnh.harvard.edu/exhibitions
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Designing Games to Affect Social Change
Saturday, January 14
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST
MIT, Building E15 on the 3rd floor, Comparative Media Studies / Writing suite, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/designing-games-to-affect-social-change-tickets-30443927607
Due to the current events, many of gamers have been asking how they can be more involved in affecting positive change in our new political climate. You can volunteer for worthy causes, you can contact your representatives, and you can design a game.
Games are unique mediums for story-telling. We love them because they are immersive and because they are interactive. Those same qualities allow them to have potent qualities in delivering a social message.
We'll present some games that have been successful in this regard, talk about common pitfalls serious game designers encounter, start the ball rolling on having you design your own game to make a statement and have a positive impact on your society.
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Something CoffeeHouse Open Mic
Saturday, January 14, 7-9pm
Sign in at 6:45
7-9pm
Unity Somerville, 6 William Street, (corner College Avenue) 3 blocks from Davis Square, Somerville
Cost: $5, free refreshments
Come to our open mic night and share your talent or be an entertained audience.
Musicians, poets, comedians and storytellers are encouraged to participate and all ages are welcome.
http://www.SomethingCofeeHouse.com
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Solidarity Fundraiser for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe #NoDAPL
Saturday, January 14
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Calvary United Methodist Church, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington
Arlington United for Justice with Peace is organizing a fundraiser event for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on Saturday January 14, 2017 (Doors will open at 7 PM) to aid in their struggle to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Join us for a Sing Along to Songs of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, and more! Performers: The Harmonators, Arc&Land, Chris and Quinn Eastburn, Anne Sandstrum and John Loretz, Liz Buchanan and Gordon
Find out more at http://masspeaceaction.org/event/sing-along-fundraiser-nodapl/
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Sunday, January 15
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Intellectual Snob Meetup: Global Warming: Boston/ Cambridge Local
Sunday, January 15
5:15 PM
John Harvard's Brew House, 33 Dunster Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/NerdFunBoston/events/235573507/
I'll be wearing a big black hat.
The past 14 months until last month were the warmest in recorded history.
I hosted a "fall colors" walking event in mid October but many of the leaves hadn't begun to "turn" yet. (Cold would trigger that). There is an explosion of the rabbit population in the Cambridge/ greater Boston area. A few days ago I saw a flock of seven turkeys grazing a lawn near Central Square, Cambridge.
Well this is going to turn against human beings, however, not in our lifetimes, maybe, and the policymakers are counting on that... not in their lifetimes.
Christmases are very rarely "white" anymore near here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h0otRDNjG4
The entire railway systems designed around Jamaica Pond, Spy Pond, and Fresh Pond "Ice Fields" in the nineteen hundreds were created around the incredibly lucrative market of "Ice Harvesting". Layers of ice many feet thick existed and there were shacks built on the ice and then there was a group of people who literally made these ice sections into territory. This ice was shipped all around the world. Obviously this was before refrigeration... it was kept fresh using hay and could last intact a year. Years later, there were ice deliveries.
http://www.cambridgehistory.org/discover/innovation/Ice.html
Obviously anyone who walks around these ponds will see there is no safely walkable ice anymore in the wintertime.
I lived in Geneva NY in the year around 1970 and we used to DRIVE on the ice then... I mean me and my dad. (well, he was a bit nuts). So this global warming is rapid, that was relatively recent.
I don't remember wearing a winter jacket or even needing boots last winter. Slush maybe... and then there was the global warming storm we all remember from two years ago... and as a result of all the workdays off, the baby boom nine months later...
The ice harvesters had a railway bed part of which is now the Minuteman Trail. PHOTO below: skating on the Boston Common-- no artificial ice pond--
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Monday, January 16
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Martin Luther King Day of Service Commemoration and Service
Monday, January 16
11:30am
Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, 838 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Enter at 13 Sellers Street
Martin Luther King asked 'What Have You Done For Others?'
Many Helping Hands of Cambridge
Event is free and open to the public
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Design Thinking / MIT Solve Challenge with OpenIDEO Boston Chapter
Monday, January 16
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
87 Wendell Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-thinking-mit-solve-challenge-with-openideo-boston-chapter-tickets-30921911269
How can new technologies including currencies like Bitcoin be used to price carbon emissions and greenhouse gases? / How do we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a way that is scalable, economical, and ethical?
Do you have an innovative idea for how to solve one of the world's greatest challenges? Are you an inventor, technologist, entrepreneur? Are you passionate about ensuring that solutions to these challenges are affordable, implementable, and can reach the world's most at-risk populations, no matter who they are or where they live? If so, Solve needs your ideas! Solve is an initiative of MIT aimed at developing and implementing real and lasting solutions to the world’s greatest challenges—from education and health to energy and inequality. Its mission is to solve world challenges by unearthing the best solutions to specific actionable challenges through open innovation, building and convening a community of private, public, nonprofit, and academic leaders to bring resources to bear, and supporting these solutions to become a reality by brokering partnerships between the Solve community members that drive real and lasting impact. By crowdsourcing solutions, Solve seeks to leverage the collective thinking and experience of people living in different communities around the world to surface fresh ideas that can be piloted and resourced in response to a series of specific prompt
If solutions are selected, finalists will be invited to pitch their solution at Solve at United Nations on March 7, 2017, which will bring together innovators with the most promising solutions to Solve’s Refugee Education, Carbon, and Chronic Diseases challenges to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. Solvers selected during Solve at United Nations will move on to join the Solve community and present their solutions to leaders from the private, public, nonprofit, and academic sectors at Solve at MIT in May 2017!
Check more details at : solve.mit.edu
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, January 18
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, January 18
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM EST
Pret A Manger, 101 Arch Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-30734218876
Join us every month for Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals for networking, discussion and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time between 7:30 and 8:30 am.
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Food-grade nanoparticles: Properties, applications, gastrointestinal fate, and potential toxicity
WHEN Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Building 1, Room 1302, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Inaugural Nanolecture Series
Harvard-NIEHS Nanosafety Research Center
Harvard School of Public Health
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nanosafety/
SPEAKER(S) David Julian McClements, Professor, Fergus Clydesdale Endowed Chair
Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
DETAILS Edible nanoparticles are increasingly being utilized by the food industry to enhance the nutritional attributes, safety, shelf life, appearance, and texture of foods. A wide range of inorganic (e.g., titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, zinc oxide, and silver) and organic (e.g., lipid, protein, and carbohydrate) nanoparticles is being used in these applications, which vary in their composition, physical state, shape, dimensions, aggregation state, and surface charge. There is concern from consumers, industry, and regulators about the potential risks associated with ingesting these food-grade nanoparticles. Consequently, a great deal of research is focused on understanding the gastrointestinal fate of different kinds of food nanoparticles, as well as their potential for causing chronic or acute toxicity. In this presentation, current knowledge about the potential gastrointestinal fate and toxicity of both organic and inorganic food nanoparticles is reviewed, with special emphasis on the lipid nanoparticles found in food-grade nanoemulsions. In particular, the importance of taking into account the nature of the food matrix and gastrointestinal conditions on the properties of food nanoparticles is highlighted. In the case of nanoemulsions, there are a number of potential risks associated with reducing the size of the lipid droplets that should be considered: alterations in the fate of bioactive agents within the gastrointestinal tract; enhancement of the bioavailability of undesirable hydrophobic substances in foods (such as pesticides and hormones); potential toxicity of some of the ingredients used in their fabrication (such as synthetic surfactants).
Biographical Sketch: David Julian McClements is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts. McClements received his Ph.D. in Food Science (1989) at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom) in ultrasonic spectrometry. He then did Post-Doctoral Research at the University of Leeds, University of California (Davis) and University College Cork (Ireland). In addition, he has published over 750 scientific articles in peer-reviewed, 12 patents, as well as numerous book chapters. Prof. McClements has previously received awards from the American Chemical Society, American Oil Chemists Society, Society of Chemical Industry (UK), Institute of Food Technologists, and University of Massachusetts in recognition of his scientific achievements.
LINK https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nanosafety/upcoming-nanolecture-series/
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Science Policy
Wednesday, January 18
1:30p–3:00p
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge
Alison Leaf, PhD, Hellman Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Julie McNamara, MSc, Energy Analyst with the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Daniel Pomeroy, PhD, Program Manager for MIT's Policy Lab
If you enjoy thinking about how science can improve the world, come learn about careers in science policy. Panelists will explain how science policy affects allocation of laboratory funding and how discoveries are translated into new technology and laws.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Biology
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Sustainability in the Lab - January Meetup
Wednesday, January 18
6:00 PM
Harvard Chemistry Department Center, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Lab-of-the-Future/events/235964863/
More details coming soon, but I can share that meetup planning is in the works for mid-January in the Harvard Sq area. The theme of this one will be "Sustainability in the Lab". Hope you can make it, RSVP to stay tuned!
Agenda:
6.00pm: Networking over pizza
6.40pm: Presentation #1: Quentin Gilly, Senior Coordinator, FAS Green Labs Program at Harvard University https://green.harvard.edu/bio/quentin-gilly
7:00pm: Presentation #2: TBD
8:00pm: party is over!
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Will Schwalbe - Books for Living
Wednesday January 18
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
Schwalbe invites us on his quest for books that speak to the challenges of living in the modern world. These span genres and centuries, and each can help us live our days more fully. Books for Living is a treasure for everyone who loves the question: “What are you reading?”
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Thursday, January 19
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Project Mapping Workshop with Sustainable Performance Institute
Thursday, January 19
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
50 Milk Street, "Homer" Room 18th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/project-mapping-workshop-with-sustainable-performance-institute-tickets-29117044865
Cost: $50 – $65
Despite lots of noise, integrative design is still a myth in most firms. Part of the blind-spot is that we keep looking at design process in the context of the project only, and not the organization – it’s culture, structure, systems and tools. What are the firm’s expectations? How effective is accountability? Does the commitment to sustainability manifest in all aspects of the firm?
For firms pursuing the AIA 2030 Commitment, your project delivery methodology can make or break success. How does a team measure its effectiveness? Does good collaboration yield better results? Is IP more than a kick-off charrette and "one-hit wonder"? Can IP be achieved in individual project teams if the overall firm culture and methodology isn’t aligned with it?
USGBC’s LEED program now recognizes the importance of integrated process with the new v4 IP credit, so more teams are paying attention to this, but will a LEED credit (again) cause more hoop-jumping without actually providing more value? 70% of a project's performance and impacts are decided in the first 10% of the process, so it's critical to get it right.
This workshop is a practical and applied look at how your firm can truly capture the value provided by institutionalizing IP - and getting the LEED credit follows naturally! Successfully implementing IP requires a clear, shared understanding of what integration means in your firm culture, how individuals in different roles participate and alignment with consultants around your project delivery objectives. Critical efforts happen beyond the project focus and require change management to help everyone feel comfortable.
This is a 100% interactive workshop where you will be guided through an exercise to deconstruct and remap your firms process, identifying along the way what organizational triggers need to be addressed so that integrative design is actually the bedrock of project management and not an elusive miracle achieved only with the most progressive clients.
You will gain strategies to help you truly embed IP into daily project management practices and participants leave with practical, actionable steps that will help you implement qualitative changes in your project delivery methodology the next day.
About the Presenter:
Barbra Batshalom is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Sustainable Performance Institute and past founder and president of the USGBC Affiliate in Massachusetts. She is an industry leader whose vision drives the organization's programs to transform the market from public policy to professional practice. Her work focuses on the intersection of systems, processes and culture. With a diverse background of fine arts, social psychology and 20 years in architecture and sustainability consulting, she brings a variety of skills to her work and a unique perspective engaging the human dynamics of decision-making and creative collaboration to technical work. She's an educator, public speaker and change agent that works with a wide range of governmental, institutional and private sector organizations to help them institutionalize sustainability and achieve measurable improvements in performance and profitability. SPI's green firm Certification is the first industry program to provide a framework for evaluating the capability of design and construction firms to deliver a consistent, high quality sustainability service and was adopted by HUD in 2011. SPI's Green Firm Boot Camp workshop program has been delivered to hundreds of firms nation-wide to help raise the bar on professional practice in the industry. Barbra teaches sustainable real estate development in Brandeis University’s International Business School. She has served on numerous boards, task forces and committees to help develop public and corporate policies for sustainability and teaches courses on change management for sustainability for professionals around the world.
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NECEC's Emerging Trends Series: Utility of the Future
Thursday, January 19
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EST
Brown Rudnick, 1 Financial Center, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nececs-emerging-trends-series-utility-of-the-future-tickets-30357354665
Cost: $0 – $50
NECEC’s Emerging Trends Series are networking and educational events that discuss hot topics, growing markets and emerging trends in the clean energy industry. Forums are hosted at NECEC Sponsor offices and free to NECEC Members and Sponsors.
This event will explore MIT's recently released study The Utility of the Future. This comprehensive study has sought to address the technology, policy, and business models shaping the evolution of the delivery of electricity services. It examines several possible scenarios of the future of the electricity sector in order to inform utilities, regulators, policy makers, and new market actors attempting to navigate a rapidly changing industry. It seeks to answer the following questions:
What key distributed energy technologies can disrupt the power sector?
How might distributed energy resources – such as solar panels or plug-in vehicles in garages – impact power system operations, markets, and regulations?
What business models may develop, and how will they successfully serve both upstream electricity market actors and energy consumers?
What impact could these new business models have on incumbent utilities, and what opportunities may exist for other industry sectors to capitalize on these changes?
How will regulation need to evolve to create a level playing field for both distributed and traditional energy resources?
What are plausible visions of the future of the power sector, including changes for incumbent utilities, new electricity service providers, regulators, policy makers, and consumers?
Speakers will include
Richard Tabors, Executive Director, Utility of the Future Project, MIT Energy Initiative
Jesse Jenkins, Research Team, Utility of the Future Project, MIT Energy Initiative
Tim Woolf, Vice President, Synapse Energy Economics
Paul Centolella, President, Paul Centolella & Associates
Janet Gail Besser, Executive Vice President, NECEC (moderator)
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Data, Dollars, and Algorithms: The Computational Economy
WHEN Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Science Center, Hall B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Conferences, Ethics, Information Technology, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS) at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
COST Free and open to the public; No registration required.
CONTACT INFO Email: info at seas.harvard.edu
DETAILS You buy lunch from a food truck and pay by waving your cell phone; before you’ve finished your sandwich, the transaction is posted to your bank account. This is an example of how computer technology lubricates the economy. At a deeper level, computation is also essential to many aspects of financial engineering—portfolio selection, risk management, high-speed trading, the design of new market mechanisms such as online auctions, and even algorithms for the donation and exchange of human organs. With BitCoin, money itself has become a computational object. And yet there remain pitfalls in economic life that algorithmic methods have so far failed to overcome. We still struggle to forecast and control macroeconomic cycles of boom and bust and to deal with inequities of wealth distribution. Merely measuring the state of the economy (productivity, employment, inflation) is slow and imprecise. Can abundant data and computational power play a role in improving this situation?
This symposium will explore how access to copious streams of data and powerful computing resources are transforming our understanding of economic activity—and how these same tools are changing the nature of the economy itself.
LINK http://computefest.seas.harvard.edu/symposium
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WEBINAR - Five Steps to Take Now to Build a Strategic Plan in a Changing Political Environment
Thursday, January 19
4:00 PM to 4:45 PM (EST)
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-five-steps-to-take-now-to-build-a-strategic-plan-in-a-changing-political-environment-tickets-30355841138
Cost: $27.37
As the dust continues to settle from the historic 2016 Presidential election, it's time to assess what you should do to prepare your company for the shifting political environment. Though uncertainty abounds about what direction the new administration will take in the education arena, there is no doubt that changes are coming. And while the ambiguity makes the idea of hunkering down an attractive one, it is important to remember that with change comes opportunity, and your company - in every department - needs to be prepared to act in the new environment. Hope is not a strategy, after all. If you're still searching for how to begin, this webinar will provide you with several key steps that you should be taking to survive in a changing political environment.
About the Speaker
Rita Ferrandino the Founder of Arc Capital Development has built a reputation as one of the most effective strategists and coalition-builders in the education community. She is a nationally recognized STEM education expert and authority on education policy and politics. Specialties: early-stage investment capital, create successful shareholder exits, revenue audits, hands-on business and operating experience. Dream-maker; Rain-maker; Fun-maker.
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Deep Learning Workshop - Part II
Thursday, January 19
5:00 PM
Anchor room, 121, 50 Milk Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/QuantUniversity-Meetup/events/236423980/
Interest in Deep Learning has been growing in the past few years. With advances in software and hardware technologies, Neural Networks are making a resurgence. With interest in AI based applications growing, and companies like IBM, Google, Microsoft, NVidia investing heavily in computing and software applications, it is time to understand Deep Learning better!
In this lecture, we will get an introduction to Autoencoders and Recurrent Neural Networks and understand the state-of-the-art in hardware and software architectures. Functional Demos will be presented in Keras, a popular Python package with a backend in Theano. This will be a preview of the QuantUniversity Deep Learning Workshop that will be offered in 2017.
See http://www.slideshare.net/QuantUniversity/deep-learning-70411004 for slides from Part 1 of the workshop. The code for this workshop is available in the Files section when you join the QuantUniversity meetup group
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Talks at Google - Real Social Change: Understanding the Data on How to Improve Communities
Thursday, January 19
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Google Cambridge, 355 Main Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talks-at-google-real-social-change-understanding-the-data-on-how-to-improve-communities-tickets-30254590294
We’ll look at new ways of using big data to assess quality of life and pinpoint social forces that might be underestimated. We'll also explore how these findings can both help foster - and stymie - innovation and high-quality jobs.
Panelists: Mario Small (Harvard); Scott Stern (MIT Sloan).
*This event is free of charge, but space is limited, so reserve your space today!
Google pairs up with Kara Miller, journalist and radio host of Innovation Hub, to bring you an exciting thought-leadership series in the heart of Kendall Square.
You're invited to join us in Google's Cambridge location to explore a wide range of themes from income inequality to new research on obesity with some of our region's brightest minds. Come at 5:30 for the networking reception, talks start promptly at 6pm.
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The Future of Legal Hacking. Is Artificial Intelligence the answer?
Thursday, January 19
6:30 PM
Suffolk University Law School, Sergeant Hall Function Room 1st floor, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-and-Cambridge-Legal-Hackers/events/236483134/
We are pleased to announce our 2017 Kick Off event on Thursday, January 19, 2017 together with our friends and legal innovators at Suffolk University Law School!
After a brief hiatus we are convening to set the agenda, get to know each other, and discuss the current developments and the future of legal hacking. Now more than ever there is a growing need for the technology to encourage and enable public participation in the political process. Access to justice through technology remains a hot topic. Is artificial intelligence the answer?
We will explore the AI phenomenon in greater detail through a moderated panel featuring:
Dazza Greenwood, CIVICS.com, MIT
Warren Agin, Member, Swiggart & Agin LLC
Louie Balasny, Managing Director, Botkeeper
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Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say about Their Lives
Thursday, January 19
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Leigh Gilmore
In 1991, Anita Hill’s testimony during Clarence Thomas’s Senate confirmation hearing brought the problem of sexual harassment to a public audience. Although widely believed by women, Hill was defamed by conservatives and Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. The tainting of Hill and her testimony is part of a larger social history in which women find themselves caught up in a system that refuses to believe what they say. Anita Hill’s experience shows how a tainted witness is not who someone is, but what someone can become.
Why are women so often considered unreliable witnesses to their own experience? How are women discredited in legal courts and in courts of public opinion? Why is women’s testimony so often mired in controversies fueled by histories of slavery and colonialism? How do new feminist witnesses enter testimonial networks and disrupt doubt? Tainted Witness examines how gender, race, and doubt stick to women witnesses as their testimony circulates in search of an adequate witness. Judgment falls unequally upon women who bear witness, as well-known conflicts about testimonial authority in the late 20th and early 21st century reveal. omen’s testimonial accounts demonstrate both the symbolic potency of women’s bodies and speech in the public sphere and the relative lack of institutional security and control to which they can lay claim. Each testimonial act follows in the wake of a long and invidious association of race and gender with lying that circulates to this day within legal courts and everyday practices of judgment, defining these locations as willfully unknowing and hostile to complex accounts of harm. Bringing together feminist, literary, and legal frameworks, Leigh Gilmore provides provocative readings of what happens when women’s testimony is discredited. She demonstrates how testimony crosses jurisdictions, publics, and the unsteady line between truth and fiction in search of justice.
Leigh Gilmore, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Wellesley, is the author of The Limits of Autobiography: Trauma and Testimony, Autobiographics: A Feminist Theory of Women's Self-Representation, and coeditor of Autobiography and Postmodernism.
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Sustainable Socials with Green Cambridge!
Thursday, January 19
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Plug Cambridge, 618 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Green-Cambridge-Meetup/events/236259417/
Look for our banner!
Come and join Green Cambridge for our monthly meet-up!
We are a group of Cantabrigians dedicated to improving the environment and striving for sustainability. We'll be talking about all things green, giving run-downs on our community, advocacy and organizing work, and just getting to know one another.
Can't make it? We'll be repeating the event the third Thursday of every month! Plus, our organizing and planning meetings happen the first Thursday of every month.
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Together We Rise: A Counter-Inaugural Celebration of Resistance
Thursday, January 19
7 -11 PM
The Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Dorchester
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/together-we-rise-a-counter-inaugural-celebration-of-resistance-tickets-30518314099
Cost: $10
Join Together We Rise: A Counter-Inaugural Celebration of Resistance as we raise our voices for a more just, creative, & peaceful future. The one-of-a-kind event–to be held on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration–will include a procession to the theater, social justice art show, mobilization fair, and a call-to-action concert featuring a talented and inspiring set of performers including renowned musician Larry Watson. Additional performers to join the bill include spoken word poets, comedians, and authors.
Suggested donation of $10 for this all ages event. Doors open at 7. Concert starts at 8.
With the goal of inspiring people to take creative political action, Together We Rise will bring together over 1,000 attendees from across Boston to raise their voices for a more peaceful, just, and creative world. Visit togetherweriseboston.org for more information about the procession to the theater, recently added performers and artists, and sponsoring activist organizations.
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Friday, January 20
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Critical Race Theory and the Health Sciences
Friday, January 20
Boston University School of Law, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhI9M8cbaXOqVR9qWxztO0yBkzFUda-UBRLSecpnEi5vxbng/viewform
This symposium will explore the embedded nature of race in the health sciences and identify opportunities to disrupt and rethink these arrangements in pursuit of racial justice and health equity. We will examine the interconnected histories of science, medicine, and law that lead racial differences and disparities to be mistakenly understood and experienced as natural phenomena, obscuring their social, political, and economic determinants. We will also discuss the theoretical and empirical interventions that bring attention to the constructed nature of our racial imaginations in the health sciences. Additionally, the methodological challenges associated with developing intersectional approaches that do not obscure (and indeed support) the centrality of other identity standpoints—such as sex, gender, class, sexuality, and disability—when exploring race in health sciences research will be considered through the symposium presentations and discussions.
Organizers
Khiara M. Bridges (Boston University, School of Law and Department of Anthropology)
Terence Keel (University of California, Santa Barbara, Departments of History and Black Studies)
Osagie K. Obasogie (University of California, Berkeley, Joint Medical Program and School of Public Health)
Major Addresses by
Jay Kaufman (McGill University, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health)
Dorothy Roberts (University of Pennsylvania Law School)
Patricia Williams (Columbia University School of Law)
Conference Panelists
Aziza Ahmed (Northeastern University School of Law)
Ruha Benjamin (Princeton University, Department of African American Studies)
Deborah Bolnick (University of Texas, Austin, Department of Anthropology)
Chandra Ford (UCLA, Fielding School of Public Health)
Michele Goodwin (University of California, Irvine School of Law)
Jonathan Kahn (Mitchell Hamline School of Law)
Amani Nuru-Jeter (UC Berkeley, School of Public Health)
Alexandra Stern (University of Michigan, Departments of History, Women’s Studies, Obstetrics and Gynecology)
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Mathematics of Big Data
Friday, January 20
1:00p–2:30p
MIT Building 2-190, 2 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Jeremy Kepner
"Big Data" describes a new era in the digital age where the volume, velocity, and variety of data created across a wide range of fields
(e.g., internet search, healthcare, finance, social media, defense,...) is increasing at a rate well beyond our ability to analyze the
data. Many technologies (e.g., spreadsheets, databases, graphs, linear algebra, ...) have been developed to address these challenges.
The common theme amongst these technologies is the need to store and operate on data as whole collections instead of as individual data
elements. This class describes the common mathematical foundation of these data collections (associative arrays) that apply across a wide range of applications and technologies. Associative arrays unify and
simplify Big Data leading to rapid solutions to Big Data volume, velocity, and variety problems. Understanding these mathematical
foundations allows the student to see past the differences that lie on the surface of Big Data applications and technologies and leverage
their core mathematical similarities to solve the hardest Big Data challenges.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Mathematics, Department of
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Starr Forum Movie: Cache
Friday, January 20
12:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
Cache, titled Hidden in the UK and Ireland, is a 2005 French psychological thriller written and directed by Michael Haneke. Starring Daniel Auteuil as Georges and Juliette Binoche as his wife Anne, the film follows an upper-class French couple who are terrorized by anonymous tapes that appear on their front porch and hint at childhood memories of the husband.
Cache opened to acclaim from film critics, who lauded Binoche's acting and Haneke's direction. The ambiguities of its plot continue to attract considerable discussion among scholars; many have commented on the film's themes of "bourgeois guilt" and collective memory, often drawing parallels between its narrative and the French government's decades-long denial of the 1961 Seine River massacre. Cache is today regarded as one of the greatest films of the 2000s.
Part of the MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP)
Co-sponsored by MIT Germany, MIT France, and MIT Language Conversation Exchange (LCE)
For more information or accessibility accommodations please contact starrforum at mit.edu.
Web site: https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-cach%C3%A9
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT-Germany Program, Center for International Studies, MIT-France Program, MIT Language Conversation Exchange (LCE)
For more information, contact: 617-253-8306
starrforum at mit.edu
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Town Hall: Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States of America
Friday, January 20
4:00 pm
BU, 121 Bay State Road, Boston
Town Hall discussion with Pardee School faculty and students. Limited seating. First come, first served. Doors close when room capacity is reached.
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Resist Trump: Occupy Inauguration Boston!
Friday, January 20
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Boston Common, Parkman Bandstand, Boston
#ResistTrump! #OccupyInauguration! Trump?s victory in the presidential election was a profound shock to tens of millions of progressive workers, young people, immigrants, women, people of color, Muslims, and LGBTQ people across the U.S. As Trump's reactionary cabinet appointments have been announced and the list of targets of his administration has become clearer, there is enormous fear and anger in many communities. The reported plans to deport up to three million people, establish a registry for Muslims, criminalize dissent
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Saturday, January 21
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Boston Women's March For America (EVENT)
Saturday, January 21
11 AM - 3 PM
Boston Common, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1907531039490905/
On January 21, 2017, we will unite in Boston to march in solidarity with communities most affected by the hate, intolerance and acts of violence being perpetrated throughout the nation -- among many are communities of women, immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities.
We stand for religious freedom, human rights, climate
justice, racial justice, economic justice and reproductive justice. Together, we will send a message to our leaders and the world that the United States of America stands for values of human decency, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
ALL ARE WELCOME. This is a march for all of us. Our goal is that on the day after the Inauguration, people from Massachusetts and hundreds of thousands of Americans from other cities, towns and schools across the nation will march together.
Please sign up on Facebook and share with all your friends and family.
*If you know people interested in marching in other communities across the country, please refer them to our national page: https://www.facebook.com/wmfa2017/
If you can: DONATE the money you would have spent going to DC- to non-profits and organizations that are working to better the lives of women and their allies.
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Sunday, January 22
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Botany Blast: Seeing Climate Change in Your Backyard
Sunday, January 22
2:30–3:30pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain
RSVP at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Policies.aspx
Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist, The USA National Phenology Network
Learn what you can do to help scientists in their studies of the effects of a changing climate on plants and animals. Alyssa Rosemartin of the USA National Phenology Network will speak about the science of the seasons and the power of citizen science initiatives, like Tree Spotters. Interested in improving communication between scientists, the public and decision-makers, she will discuss how phenological data informs natural resource conservation and national policy. Learn how to gather data and engage with the scientific method in support of science's key role in society. She will also discuss the history and future direction of the National Phenology Network and the importance of individual contributors.
Fee Free, registration requested
Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
Botany Blasts are designed to encourage citizen scientists (Tree Spotters) as well as recreational naturalists to look closely at the changing characteristics of trees that provide clues to their seasonal development and to consider a plant's role in its environment.
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Stories of the Forever War featuring readings from The Road Ahead: Stories of the Forever War
Sunday, January 22
6:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes local writers and veterans MAURICE DECAUL, TERESA FAZIO, COLIN D. HALLORAN, and LAUREN HALLORAN for a discussion of The Road Ahead: Stories of the Forever War, a short story collection that explores the aftereffects of the Iraq and Afghan Wars. Bestselling author BRIAN CASTNER, co-editor of The Road Ahead, will introduce and moderate the discussion.
About The Road Ahead
A decade has passed since boots first hit the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the war has not ended—only changed. Twenty-five diverse veteran voices reflect the changing face of combat and reflect the haunting realities and truths only fiction can reveal.
These masterfully crafted stories from writers who have served reflect the entire breadth of human emotion—loss, anger, joy, love, fear, and courage—and the evolving nature of what has become America’s "Forever War."
From debut writers to experienced contributors whose work has been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the New Yorker, this exceptional collection promises to be the definitive fictional look at the aftereffects of the Iraq and Afghan Wars, and will resonate with the reader long after the final page.
Including stories by: Elliot Ackerman, Benjamin Busch, Brandon Caro, Maurice Decaul, Teresa Fazio, Thomas Gibbons Neff, Aaron Gwyn, Alex Horton, Matt Robinson, Kristen L. Rouse, Chris Wolfe, Kayla M. Williams, Brandon Willitts, and many others.
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Monday, January 23
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On Growth and Form
Monday, January 23
11:00a–12:00p
McGovern Auditorium, located in Whitehead Institute, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Speaker: L Mahadevan
2nd talk in the series "Quantitative Biology"
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Biology
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The Economic State of the World
Monday, January 23
1:00p–2:30p
MIT, Building E51-315, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Olivier Blanchard (IMF)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Economics IAP
For more information, contact: economics calendar
econ-cal at mit.edu
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New financing models for funding fusion energy
Monday, January 23
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Andrew Lo, MIT Sloan School
The idea of fusion energy is nearly half a century old, yet we still seem far away from "ignition." One of the biggest hurdles is lack of funding. However, the recent announcement by Softbank of a $100 billion technology fund suggests that there *is* money available if we can create a financially attractive investment vehicle to commercialize fusion technology. In this talk, Prof. Lo will describe some of the necessary financial ingredients for launching such a fund.
Web site: http://www.psfc.mit.edu/events
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact: Paul Rivenberg
617-253-8101
rivenberg at psfc.mit.edu
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Tuesday, January 24
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Scientific Communication
Tuesday, January 24
1:30p–3:00p
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge
Joseph Caputo, MSc, Media Relations Manager, Cell Press
Julie Sollier, PhD, Scientific Editor, Cell Press
Megan Thielking, Reporter and Lead Writer, STAT
Lisa Welch, MSc, Medical Writing, DynaMed/EBSCO
If you enjoy talking about and explaining science, come learn about the diverse career paths in scientific communication including journal editors, medical writers, and journalists. Panelists will explain how a PhD can be advantageous in their field and how to transition from science to science writing.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Biology
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Data Visualizations that Bring Data to Life
Tuesday, January 24
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/data-visualizations-that-bring-data-to-life-tickets-30853183703
Through case studies and visuals, Julie Rodriguez and Piotr Kaczmarek, co-author of Visualizing Financial Data, demonstrate methods to communicate financial information in a visual context. The set of case studies provide a fresh take on data visualizations that contrast traditional uses of charts with new methods that provide more effective representations of the data to produce greater insights. Topics include:
How to communicate time-lapsed data to better understand the context of an event (e.g., how to incorporate details into the standard bar chart that provides perspective and creates awareness)
How to display multiple variables to analyze and compare attributes (e.g., how to compare the characteristics of a collection of entities to determine behavior, trends, and outliers)
How to show associations and links between datasets to understand the impact one value has on another (i.e., setting up these displays for better comparison and making them concise)
Rodriguez is Creative Director at Sapient Global Markets. She was previously employed at MathWorks and Fidelity Investments. She received her bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Carnegie Mellon University and her master’s degree in digital media from Harvard Extension School. She has patented her work in commodities trading and data visualizations for MATLAB and publishes industry articles on user experience and data analysis and visualization.
Piotr is an Associate Creative Director based in Sapient’s Boston office. He joined Sapient Global Markets in 2012 after more than 20 years career in designing of visual systems with a purpose of making abstract concepts and data accessible to users. Piotr has an extensive experience in the field of information architecture. He is experienced in many forms of interactive data visualizations, from elaborate analytical tools to simple but effective ways of delivering dashboard-level summaries. Piotr studied architecture at Warsaw university of Technology and holds a master's degree in industrial design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland.
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Opportunity
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CLIMATE SMART FARMING (BF 107)
January 17th to February 21st, 2017, webinars Tuesdays 6:30 to 8:00 PM EST.
An online course from the Cornell Small Farms Program
Develop an action plan for your farm to stay one step ahead of climate change.
The earth’s climate is always in flux, but today’s rate of change is far beyond what previous generations of farmers have had to face. In this six-week online course, learn to identify the key impacts on your farm, and how to develop a plan of action to both increase resiliency to extreme temperature and precipitation events, or short term drought, as well as strategies to reduce your farm’s greenhouse gas footprint.
Participants will learn from climate experts, educators, and fellow farmers on ways they can proactively approach challenges such as drought, flooding, summer heat stress, changing seasons, freeze risk, and heightened pest and weed pressures.
These practices are not only good for climate preparedness, but also help farms increase their bottom line by building soil health, reducing stress on animals, increasing energy efficiency and efficiency of farm inputs, and protecting crop yields.
Join Allison Chatrchyan and Jonathan Lambert of the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions, along with a number of guest presenters, who offer a range of perspectives and useful solutions to an increasing challenge.
LIMITED OFFER: For the 2017 offering only, attend this course for just $50!
More info and registration:
http://www.nebeginningfarmers.org/online-courses/all-courses/climate-smart-farming-bf-107/
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Discounted Solar for Somerville
As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.
The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.
Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.
Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.
"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.
Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.
"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.
Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less.
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions. It also saves money for residents.
Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule
For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:
Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville
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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
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
http://www.mapdwell.com/en/cambridge
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Hey Cambridge residents!
Did you know the City of Cambridge is trying to win the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize? It was created to develop a cleaner and more efficient energy future. Energy efficiency and conservation are the best ways to save energy and minimize environmental impact. In that effort, Cambridge is hoping all residents will get a no-cost energy assessment in order to make their homes more efficient and comfortable. Let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment
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
Again, let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment and someone will be in contact with you shortly to give you personally tailored contact information on how you can get your no-cost home energy assessment. Renters are also eligible!
Any action to save energy in the home will help Cambridge win this competition while protecting the environment. For additional ideas on how to save energy, please see the Cambridge Energy Alliance website at http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/interactivehome
Please share with your Cambridge friends and family and ask them to get a free energy assessment!
Want to be more involved? Become a neighborhood Block Captain! Block Captains help their community members sign up for and complete no-cost home energy assessments through the MassSave program. Our team will give you the tools and guidance needed to recruit neighbors to get an assessment and improve the efficiency of their homes. Participation is welcome at whatever level you are able to commit to.
If you are interested in becoming a Block Captain, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/blockcaptainsurvey and someone from the Cambridge Energy Alliance will be in contact with you shortly. If you know someone who might be interested, please let them know about this opportunity!
Questions? Contact jnahigian at cambridgema.gov
Cambridge Energy Alliance
http://www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit
@cambenergy
http://facebook.com/cambridgeenergyalliance
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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.
The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org
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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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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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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 27 and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
BASEN / Boston Solidarity Network Economy: http://ba-sen.tumblr.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 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://mitenergyclub.org/
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
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/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 12 PM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list