Archived Events
2022
Gopal Patel: Faith, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration
February 08
In Person
Gasson Hall, Rooms 100
Rewilding Planet Earth Presents:
Gopal Patel: Faith, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration
Gopal D. Patel is a faith-based environmental activist, campaigner and consultant. For more than a decade he has spearheaded the development of environmental initiatives engaging religious communities and leaders in India, East Africa, Europe and North America. He is Co-Founder and Director of Bhumi Global, a non-profit organization that works to educate and mobilize Hindu communities globally for environmental action. He is co-chair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council and is a member of the Advisory Board to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. He also serves as an Advisor to number of interfaith and environmental initiatives, including the WWF Beliefs and Values Programme, the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Born and raised in the England, he currently lives in the New York City Metro Area.
Billion Oyster Project
March 01
In Person
Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, 107
Rewilding Planet Earth: Billion Oyster Project
Billion Oyster Project is a nonprofit organization on a mission to restore oyster reefs to New York Harbor through public education initiatives. Together with the local community, Billion Oyster Project has planted 47 million oysters across 12 acres and 15 reef sites across New York Harbor, engaging more than 8,000 New York students and 10,000 volunteers to date. Founded on the belief that restoration without education is temporary, and observing that learning outcomes improve when students have the opportunity to work on real restoration projects, Billion Oyster Project collaborates with public schools. The crew designs STEM curriculum for NYC schools through the lens of oyster restoration, and engages Urban Assembly New York Harbor School students in large-scale restoration projects, collects discarded oyster shells from 75 NYC restaurants, and engages the local community in the stewardship of their local marine environment.
Pete Malinowski grew up farming oysters with his parents and siblings on the Fishers Island Oyster Farm. His passion for the environment and education led him to the New York Harbor School, where he founded the school’s Aquaculture and Oyster Restoration Programs and spent five years as a teacher. Pete serves as a Co-chair of the Governor's Shellfish Restoration Council and sits on the Mayor's Waterfront Management Advisory Board. Pete spends as much of his free time as possible on the water or in the woods with his three children Adrian, Maxwell and Daisy.
Nalini Nadkarni: Tapestry Thinking: Weaving Diverse Human Communities with Nature
March 16
Virtual
Tapestry Thinking: Weaving Diverse Human Communities with Nature with Nalini Nadkarni
Part of the Rewilding Planet Earth Series
Known as the “Queen of the Forest Canopy,” Nadkarni has explored rainforest canopy biota around the world for four decades. These diverse treetop communities provide critical ecological functions for ecosystem processes, but are vulnerable to negative effects of human activities such as forest fragmentation and climate change. Nadkarni raises awareness for the need to protect and restore forests by incorporating insights of human communities from sectors that lie far outside of academic science. She has created long-term collaborations with faith-based groups, artists, rap singers, corporations, and people who are incarcerated, and weaves their values and knowledge into the enhancement of nature on our planet. This “tapestry thinking” – the intentional connection of multiple ways of knowing -- can be applied to inspire restoration of all ecosystems at local, regional, and global scales.
Paul Hawken, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in one Generation
April 19
Virtual
Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in one Generation with Paul Hawken
Part of the Rewilding Planet Earth Series
Paul Hawken is an entrepeneur for ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce, and consults with heads of state and CEOs on climatic, economic and ecological regeneration. He has appeared on numerous TV shows, including the Today Show, Talk of the Nation, Bill Maher, CBS This Morning and others. Additionally, he has written nine books, including six national and NYT bestsellers: Growing a Business, The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, Drawdown, and Regeneration.
His latest book, Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, was published by Penguin RandomHouse September, 2021, his sequel to Drawdown. He is the founder of both Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration (regeneration.org). Project Regeneration is the world’s largest, most complete listing and network of solutions to the climate crisis.
David Meshoulam: Trees as Boundary Objects: Growing Boston’s Urban Forest for Equity, Justice, and Resilience
April 27
Hybrid
245 Beacon Street, Room 107
Part of the Rewilding Planet Earth Series
David Meshoulam co-founded Speak for the Trees in 2018 and now serves as its Executive Director. He holds a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a Senior Fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program, and is co-chair of the Urban Ecology Collaborative.
Speak for the Trees, Boston, exists at the intersection of environmental justice, racial and social equity, public health, and climate change and works to improve Boston’s urban forest through plantings, education, and advocacy. Speak for the Trees recognizes that the inequities of tree canopy coverage found in Boston have a long and complicated history tied to systemic racism, and works at the community level to develop a shared-vision for a sustainable future for all.
Ecowomanist Spirituality in a Time of Climate Change
October 04
Virtual
Free virtual event - Register here
In this lecture, Dr. Melanie Harris, professor of African American studies, Wake Forest University, introduces the conceptual frame of ecowomanism. Ecowomanist spirituality opens the mind, body and heart to awareness of the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, most especially communities of color. It highlights the importance of intersectional race-class-gender analysis and recovers contemplative practices that can help us more deeply connect to the sacredness of earth as a form of earth care. Dr. Harris leads us in earth-honoring faith practices of mindfulness, inviting us to deeply reflect on our own relationship with the earth and our views on earth justice as social justice.
Rewilding Champion: Carolina Morgado
October 04
Virtual
Rewilding Chile:
Legacy of Tompkins Conservation
Carolina has been part of Tompkins Conservation Chile for almost 30 years, which has allowed her to work closely with Douglas Tompkins, conservationist and founder of the North Face, since its creation.
She played a central role in donating land from Tompkins Conservation to the State of Chile, a worldwide conservation milestone, as it was the largest donation in history from a private party to a State. This allowed the creation of seven national parks and the expansion of three others.
She has directed the Patagonia Parks Route project. This initiative consists of a territorial vision of conservation in Chilean Patagonia that promotes economic development through tourism as a consequence of conservation, enhancing the value of the national parks.
Today Carolina Morgado is Executive Director of Fundación Rewilding Chile, a legacy of Tompkins Conservation.
Halfway to Earth Day
October 22
In Person
In partnership with EcoPledge, BC Environmental Studies and WE Tree Boston, the Schiller Institute is hosting the first annual Halfway to Earth Day event!
This is a volunteer opportunity to plant trees in the West End of Boston
Interested in joining EcoPledge to make Boston greener? Please email westji@yilunjianshe.com for more information.
Frances Moore Lappé, Aligning with the Earth: What Will it Take?
November 15
In Person
Fulton Hall, 511
Presented by Rewilding Planet Earth
Beginning with her own awakening to the roots of hunger and ecological devastation she shares her journey of asking the question behind the question--that is, until she got to the biggest of all: Why are we, such a bright species, creating together a world that as individuals none of us would choose? She captures in dramatic data and images of the waste, destruction, hunger, and ill health built into our dominant food and agricultural systems.
She emphasizes, however, dramatic stories illustrating the power of our “mental maps” either to blind us or to enable us to see possibility. She shares stories of more democratic rules and practices bringing to life an underappreciated, global transformation holding the promise of ecological health and human thriving for all.
Frances Moore Lappé: Aligning with the Earth; What Will it Take?
November 15
In Person
Beginning with her own awakening to the roots of hunger and ecological devastation she shares her journey of asking the question behind the question--that is, until she got to the biggest of all: Why are we, such a bright species, creating together a world that as individual none of us would choose? She captures in dramatic data and images of the waste, destruction, hunger, and ill health built into our dominant food and agricultural systems. She emphasizes, however, dramatic stories illustrating the power of our “mental maps” either to blind us or to enable us to see possibility. She shares stories of more democratic rules and practices bringing to life an underappreciated, global transformation holding the promise of ecological health and human thriving for all.
Susan Chomba: Will Ongoing Grand Restoration Schemes Reverse or Accelerate Biodiversity Loss?
December 01
Virtual
Dr. Susan Chomba is the Director of Vital Landscapes at the World Resources Institute (WRI). She leads WRI Africa’s work on forest protection and landscape restoration, food systems transformation, water and governance. She is a scientist with extensive research and development experience in more than 20 countries on the continent. Susan is a global ambassador for the Race to zero and Resilience under the UN High-Level Champions for Climate Action. She serves on advisory boards of several organizations and has received several global recognitions for her work, including being named as one of Global Landscapes Forum’s ‘16 Women Restoring the Earth’ in 2021 and one of the top 25 women shaping climate action globally by Greenbiz.
Virtual Webinar | Registration Required
2021
The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet (Michael Mann & Living on Earth)
February 04
Virtual
In The New Climate War, renowned climate scientist MICHAEL MANN shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet.
Join STEVE CURWOOD, host of the nationally-syndicated public radio show Living on Earth, for a virtual conversation with Mann about his new book in collaboration with Boston College's Environmental Studies Program
Transitional Justice and Indigenous Peoples: Justice and Reparation for Multiple Life Systems
February 17
Virtual
(En español abajo)
With:
- Belkis Izquierdo Torres, judge for the Chamber for the Acknowledgment of Truth, Responsibility and the Determination of Facts and Conduct of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Colombia
- Lieselotte Viaene, Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)
In the Colombia Peace Accords, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) has recognized indigenous territories as victims of armed conflict in several of its legal decisions. These groundbreaking decisions invite the human rights and transitional justice communities to deeply rethink their conceptualization of human life, since they recognize that human beings are not the only living beings who can be damaged and violated - with the rights to justice and reparation in the context of the transitional justice processes.
Event co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies program, the Biology Department, and the Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology program at the Lynch School.
Spanish to English translation will be provided.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belkis Izquierdo Torres is an indigenous Arhuaca lawyer. She has a law degree from the National University of Colombia, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration with emphasis on governance and public policy from the Superior School of Public Administration in Colombia. She is currently a judge for the Chamber for the Acknowledgment of Truth, Responsibility and the Determination of Facts and Conduct of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP, in Spanish), and coordinator of the Ethnic-Racial Commission of the JEP, in Colombia. She has worked as assistant judge in the Superior Judiciary Council, as advisor to the President of Colombia, as consultant to the UN Development Program and as a legal consultant for various public and private organizations.
Lieselotte Viaene is a Belgian anthropologist with a PhD in Law. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), and is the Principal Investigator of RIVERS - Water/human rights beyond the human? Indigenous water ontologies, plurilegal encounters and interlegal translation (2019-2024), financed by the European Research Council (ERC). As human rights practitioner, she worked, among others, at the Office of United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in Ecuador (2010-2013) were she was responsible for the areas of collective rights and transitional justice. For more than 15 years she has collaborated with indigenous people in Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Perú on themes of transitional justice, intercultural human rights, legal pluralism and the rights of indigenous people.
RIVERS project website: www.rivers-ercproject.eu
Register for Zoom link either at the red Register button in the event listing, or at http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jQSEDOsuSheqgQjEBJ4iGA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
En español:
Justicia transicional y pueblos indígenas: justicia y reparación de múltiples sistemas de vida
En Colombia, la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP) ha reconocido en varias decisiones legales territorios indígenas como víctimas de conflicto armado. Estas decisiones innovadores invitan a la comunidad de justicia transicional y de derechos humanos repensar profundamente su conceptualización de la vida de los seres, ya que reconoce que no sólo los seres humanos tienen la posibilidad de existir, siendo dañados y violado y ser objeto de reparación en el contexto del proceso de justicia de transición.
La presentación será en español con traducción simultánea a inglés disponible.
Para inscribirse y recibir el enlace al webinar de Zoom, introduzca sus datos al siguiente enlace y se le enviará: http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jQSEDOsuSheqgQjEBJ4iGA
Sobre las oradoras:
Belkis Izquierdo Torres
Abogada indígena Arhuaca de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, con Maestría en Administración Pública y énfasis en gobernabilidad y políticas públicas de la Escuela Superior de Administración Pública. Actualmente es Magistrada de la Sala de Reconocimiento de Verdad y de Responsabilidad y Determinación de Hechos y Conductas de la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz ( JEP) y Coordinadora de la Comisión Étnica-Racial de la JEP. Se ha desempeñado como magistrada auxiliar del Consejo Superior de la Judicatura, asesora de la Presidencia de la República de Colombia, consultora del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo y asesora jurídica de diferentes entidades públicas y privadas.
Lieselotte Viaene
Antropóloga con PhD en Derecho (Bélgica), Profesora del Departamento de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (España) e Investigadora Principal del proyecto RIVERS- Agua/Derechos humanos, ¿más allá de lo humano? Ontologías indígenas del agua, Encuentros plurilegales, Traducción interlegal (2019-2024), financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC), el programa de excelencia de la Comisión Europea. Trabajó también, entre ellos, en la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los Derechos Humanos en Ecuador (2010-2013), donde estuvo a cargo de los áreas de derechos colectivos de los pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes, y la de justicia transicional. Desde hace más de quince años ha colaborado con pueblos indígenas en Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala y Perú en temas de justicia transicional, derechos humanos interculturales, pluralismo jurídico y derechos de los pueblos indígenas.
Sitio web del proyecto RIVERS (RÍOS): http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jQSEDOsuSheqgQjEBJ4iGA
Challenging Environmental Racism: Stressful Landscapes, Toxic Exposures, and What One BC Student is Doing About It
February 23
Virtual
Join Dr. Richard M. Mizelle, Jr., Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, and Mr. Adin Henderson for a moderated discussion about environmental racism. The event will be co-moderated by Laura J. Steinberg, Seidner Family Executive Director, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, and Conevery Bolton Valencius, Professor, Department of History.
The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society
Panelist Bios
Dr. Mizelle is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Houston, and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History. Living, working, and even playing in stressful environments takes a significant toll on the bodies of minorities in this country. Dr. Mizelle's talk will focus on stressful landscapes that must be constantly navigated and the experience of disease and illness that vulnerable groups face from toxic exposure.
Dr. Jones is Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education (College of Engineering and Architecture) and Professor and Chair (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) at Howard University. She will be speaking about Flint, Michigan water contamination, toxic landfills, and environmental justice regulations.
Mr. Henderson is a senior in the Environmental Studies program at Boston College. He is the Co-President of the Black Student Forum as well as the AHANA+ Outreach Coordinator for the Student Admission Program. Throughout his time at Boston College, he has combined his advocacy for racial justice with his academic pursuit of environmental issues towards fighting for environmental justice.”
Global Conversations: Youth-Driven Movements for Climate Justice
February 24
Virtual
We invite you to join a conversation between students from Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia and Boston College students interested in environmental justice. Discuss and learn about environmental justice issues in both Colombia and the US and what young people can do.
Please register for this conversation by clicking here.
Global Conversations is a new initiative, started in Fall 2020, that connects Boston College students via videoconference with other university students from around the world to discuss a range of issues that matter to you, and that you choose. Please see the project page on the International Studies website for further details.
This event is co-sponsored by the International Studies program and the Environmental Studies program.
Lauret Savoy: Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
March 17
Virtual
Tracing memory threads Lauret Edith Savoy’s life and work: unearthing what is buried, re-membering what is fragmented, shattered, eroded. A woman of African American, Euro-American, and Native American heritage, she writes about the stories we tell of the American land’s origins and the stories we tell of ourselves in this land. Her books include Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape; The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity and the Natural World; Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology; and Living with the Changing California Coast. Trace won the 2016 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and the 2017 ASLE Creative Writing Award. It was also a finalist for the 2016 PEN American Open Book Award and Phillis Wheatley Book Award, as well as shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and Orion Book Award. Lauret is the David B. Truman Professor of Environmental Studies and Geology at Mount Holyoke College, a photographer, and pilot. Winner of Mount Holyoke’s Distinguished Teaching Award and an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, she has also held fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University. Lauret is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Lauret Savoy will give a lecture based on her book Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape. A provocative and powerful mosaic that ranges across a continent and across time, from twisted terrain within the San Andreas Fault zone to a South Carolina plantation, from national parks to burial grounds, from “Indian Territory” and the U.S.-Mexico Border to the U.S. capital, Trace grapples with a searing national history to reveal the often unvoiced presence of the past. This lecture will be followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A.
Cosponsored by the History Department and Environmental Studies Program.
*Please note this is a virtual event. Register here: http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_txU5308FTHCZCIVPloqBbg
Constitutional Environmentalism and Environmental Justice
April 28
Virtual
Climate Constitutionalism Series:
Constitutional Environmentalism and Environmental Justice
with Barry E. Hill
Adjunct Professor of Law at Vermont Law School, and a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute, Former Director of the Office of Environmental Justice at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a leading authority on systemic environmental inequities
Free and open to the public
Dr. Kinari Webb, MD, Guardians of the Trees
October 05
Virtual
Part of Rewilding Planet Earth Series
Virtual talk with PRX Living on Earth
Kinari Webb, MD, is the founder of Health In Harmony, an international nonprofit dedicated to reversing global heating, understanding that rainforests are essential for the survival of humanity, and a cofounder of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI). Dr. Webb graduated from Yale University School of Medicine with honors and currently splits her time between Indonesia, international site assessments, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Guardians of the Trees is her debut.
George Monbiot, Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life
October 13
Virtual
Part of Rewilding Planet Earth Series
Virtual talk
Moderated by Min Song
George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. His best-selling books include Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life and Heat: how to stop the planet burning; his latest is Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan, and has made a number of viral videos. One of them, adapted from his 2013 TED talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed on YouTube over 40m times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, that he co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 60m times. George is working on a new book, to be published in 2022, about how to feed the world without devouring the planet.
Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
December 01
Virtual
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. Kimmerer lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin and is the author of scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild.
Robin Wall Kimmerer will give a lecture based on Braiding Sweetgrass, followed by a moderated conversation and audience Q&A. Of Braiding Sweetgrass, Milkweed Editions writes: “Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world.”
Cosponsored by the Environmental Studies Program and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department.
Please note this is a virtual event. Register here: http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IcplBwmITzOrur5hmt1jow
2020
Amitav Ghosh: Embattled Earth: Commodities, Conflict and Climate Change in the Indian Ocean
February 12
In Person
Gasson Hall, Room 100
Amitav Ghosh's writing, which includes nine novels and six works of nonfiction, has been translated into over 30 languages and appeared in publications like The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The New York Times. His most recent publications include The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) and Flood of Fire (2015), the concluding novel of his Ibis trilogy. Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates, and he is the first Indian English-language writer to earn the Jnanpith Award for his outstanding contributions to literature. He has taught at Dehli University, Columbia University, Queens College, and Harvard University. His latest book, Gun Island, is due to be published in 2019.
Presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and cosponsored by the Asian Studies Program, Environmental Studies, the History Department, and the English Department, and with the support of an Institute for the Liberal Arts Major Grant Award.
The Race of Our Lives: Confronting and Solving the Global Climate Crisis
February 24
In Person
Gasson Hall, 100
A discussion between some of the leading business and scientific thinkers on how we tackle climate change.
A recording of the event can be viewed here.
Moderator:
- Juliet Schor, Professor, Sociology Department, Boston College
Panelists:
- Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development, Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and Former, Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute
- Jeremy Grantham, Chief Strategist Officer & Co-Founder of GMO; Founder, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment
- James Hansen, Director of Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University’s Earth Institute; Former Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies
ONLINE EVENT: Screening of L'eau est la Vie (Water is Life): From Standing Rock to the Swamp
April 16
In Person
This film and presentation by the filmmaker will be conducted online via a Zoom meeting due to the coronavirus situation. The meeting link will be sent out, with instructions, shortly before the event date. To receive it, register with your email address at the red register button in the event listing, or at tinyurl.com/WaterisLifeRSVP.
If you would like to submit a question for consideration to be addressed by Sam Vinal in the Q&A session ahead of time, please send to humanrights@yilunjianshe.com with "Water is Life question" in the subject. Thank you.
With filmmaker Sam Vinal, for film commentary and Q&A.
L’EAU EST LA VIE (WATER IS LIFE): FROM STANDING ROCK TO THE SWAMP follows water protector Cherri Foytlin as she leads us on a no nonsense journey of Indigenous resistance to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP) in the swamps of Louisiana. At the film’s opening, viewers are introduced to the Atchafalaya Basin, which was once a Maroon colony--a critical hub of Indigenous and black resistance. Cherri recounts her first-hand experience with the environmental destruction caused by the BP oil spill and how it devastated a local crawfisher man and his way of life. This event caused Cherri to take a hard look in the mirror and ask herself--how did I contribute to this and what can I do to change it? It’s in that moment that the fire of resistance is ignited and Cherri’s life takes a sharp turn. This seed grows into the L’eau Est La Vie Indigenous resistance camp led by a council of Indigenous women, including Cherri Foytlin and Anne White Hat. As the documentary unfolds, we get an on the ground glimpse into the 100+ non-violent direct actions that laid the base for the strongest resistance in Louisiana history.
RSVP at tinyurl.com/WaterisLifeRSVP
Co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies program, the Biology Department, the BC Global Health program, and the Sociology Department.
Part of BC's Green Week.
Run time: 24 minutes
Light refreshments to be served.
Webinar: The Indian Ocean as One of the Great Frontiers in Oceanography
May 27
Virtual
As a part of its Indian Ocean Current programming, the McMullen Museum welcomes scientists Sujata Murty and Caroline Ummenhofer from the Department of Physical Oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for an overview of how the Indian Ocean affects climate in surrounding countries. This virtual webinar will focus on rainfall and extreme events such as droughts and floods. Murty and Ummenhofer will discuss changes over recent decades in the Indian Ocean with particular attention paid to the role of corals as natural climate archives that can provide a long-term context for recent unusual ocean conditions. Their lecture will showcase key oceanographic and climate research methods that will help to address future changes expected in a warming Indian Ocean climate.
The Indian Ocean basin and its surrounding regions that are home to more than a third of the world’s population are particularly vulnerable to human-induced climate change. Yet the Indian Ocean remains one of the great frontiers of oceanography: few long-term measurements of Indian Ocean conditions exist; this severely limits our ability to predict future changes in a warming world.
RSVP here to join us virtually on Zoom at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, May 27.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
http://bccte.zoom.us/j/95443026890
Or iPhone one-tap :
US: +16468769923,,95443026890# or +13017158592,,95443026890#
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 646 876 9923 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782
Webinar ID: 954 4302 6890
International numbers available: http://bccte.zoom.us/u/akB9EmfHS
Sujata A. Murty received a BA in Geology and Biology from Oberlin College and a PhD in Oceanography from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She now holds a postdoctoral fellowship at Woods Hole. Sujata’s research uses coral climate archives and high-resolution ocean model simulations to examine past changes in climate and ocean systems throughout the Indo-Pacific, a region of the world particularly vulnerable to future climate change.
Caroline C. Ummenhofer received a BS in Marine Biology and Physical Oceanography from Bangor University and a PhD in Applied Mathematics, specializing in climate modeling, from the University of New South Wales. Since 2012, she has held a faculty position at Woods Hole. She won several awards, including the Eureka Prize for Water Research and Innovation by the Australian Museum, and the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal. Caroline’s research focuses on the water cycle and extreme events, such as droughts and floods, and their impact on human and natural systems around the Indian Ocean.
Please contact Rachel Chamberlain at rachel.chamberlain@yilunjianshe.com with any questions.
M Jackson: The Secret Lives of Glaciers
October 07
Virtual
Dr. M Jackson is a geographer, glaciologist, TED Fellow, and National Geographic Society Explorer. M earned a doctorate from the University of Oregon where she examined how climate change transformed people and glacier communities in Iceland. M is the recipient of many grants and awards, including three U.S. Fulbright grants and a U.S. Fulbright Ambassadorship. M currently serves as an Arctic Expert for the National Geographic Society, holds a Masters of Science degree from the University of Montana, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia. She has worked for over a decade in the Arctic chronicling climate change and communities, guiding backcountry trips and exploring glacial systems. Her 2015 memoir While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. Her 2019 book, The Secret Lives of Glaciers, explores the profound impacts of glacier change on the human and physical geography of Iceland. She is currently at work on her first novel.
Presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and cosponsored by the Earth & Environmental Science Department and the Environmental Studies Program.
*Please note that this is a virtual event. Register at the following link: http://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mBgB6DxnQXC9WKvxJfTABA
EESC Colloquium – Construction of a trans-crustal magma system in the Sierra Nevada, California
October 20
Virtual
Benjamin Klein, Postdoctoral Researcher, Boston College
"Construction of the Bear Valley Intrusive Suite, a trans-crustal magma system in the Sierra Nevada, California."
Do Well, Do Good Careers in Business
November 10
Virtual
Join a virtual panel of BC alumni and employers, moderated by BCF Career Coach Jabril, on Tuesday, November 10th at 6:00 p.m. to learn about social impact and public good careers in business that make a meaningful difference. Areas addressed will include ESG (environment, social, governance) and CSR (corporate social responsibility).
2019
Documentary screening of "The Human Element" directed by Jim Balog '74
March 29
In Person
Devlin Hall, 008
James Balog '74 will be on campus for a screening of his new film, "The Human Element." Mr. Balog has been a photographer for almost 40 years, focusing his work on one of the most important issues of our era: the human modification of nature. This innovative and visually stunning film will take a look at how humans interact with earth, air, fire and water.
Images of Changing Climates and Landscapes
April 25 – April 27
In Person
Higgins Hall, Atrium
Beyond BC: Images of Changing Climates and Landscapes
Exhibit on display in Higgin's Atrium Thursday, April 25th to Saturday, April 27th
Artist Talk: Higgin's Atrium at 12pm on Friday, April 26th
Alex Krowiak tells stories of change in people and their environment through photography. His exhibit features 12 photos that capture, in vivid detail, the ebb and flow of the natural world. At noon, on April 26th, Alex will walk participants through his process for nature photography and explore how visual art can help us all better understand the world in which we live.
A graduate of Boston College with a major in Biology and a minor in Environmental Studies, Alex's work has been featured in The New York Times, News Deeply, and BostInno, among others. Currently, Alex serves as a Certified Photo Instructor & Naturalist with National Geographic Expeditions and a Trip Leader with National Geographic Student Expeditions.
(Image: Originally published on 5.9.2017 in The New York Times.)
Mary Robinson: Climate Justice - Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future
September 11
In Person
Gasson Hall, 100
Mary Robinson served as president of Ireland from 1990–1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997–2002. Currently, she is Adjunct Professor of Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin. She is Chair of The Elders, a member of the Club of Madrid, and the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama. She sits on the advisory board of Sustainable Energy For All (SE4All) and also serves on the board of the European Climate Foundation. Between 2013 and 2016 Mary Robinson served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy in three roles; first for the Great Lakes region of Africa, then on Climate Change, and most recently as his Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate. Mary Robinson’s memoir, Everybody Matters, was published in September 2012 and her book, Climate Justice - Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, was published in September 2018.
Presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and cosponsored by the Environmental Studies Program and Earth and Environmental Sciences Department.
Additional resources for teachers and students here.
Shape Your Future: Energy, Climate Change & Human Rights
September 17
In Person
Devlin Hall, 110
Dr. Jim Hansen will speak in a new lecture series coming to you this fall from the Environmental Studies Program and other partners called Answering the Call: A Climate Justice Lecture Series.
Dr. Hansen, formerly Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he directs a program in Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions. Dr. Hansen is best known for his testimony on climate change in the 1980s that helped raise awareness of global warming.
Environmental Studies Alumni Career Panel
October 09
In Person
McGuinn Hall, 521
Panel with 3-4 recent BC alumni in environmental careers
Problemizing Chinese Food: Tonic, Power and Culinary Knowledge in East Asia
October 10
In Person
McGuinn Hall, 121
With Dr. Chunghao Kuo
This lecture stresses four sorts of specific aquatic foodstuffs (Shad, Pufferfish, Soft-Shelled Turtle, and Milkfish) in East Asia to understand their culinary significance. The significance of Shad is closely associated with Shad tributary system and the gastronomic enjoyment in early Modern China. The examination of pufferfish in modern Japan brings students to realize the close culinary connection between traditional China and modern Japan. The discussion of soft-shelled turtle investigates four main factors—TCM principles, Taiwan’s evolving turtle-breeding system, colonial Japan’s aquatic policy, and the Team Ma phenomenon—shaped the significance of turtles in modern Taiwan. The discussion of milkfish explores the culinary relationship between Taiwan and the Dutch.
Dr. Chunghao Pio Kuo is currently an Assistant Professor at Taipei Medical University. He is a historian of modern East Asian history, specializing in food history, medical history, and animal history.
Is there a constitutional right to a safe climate? Juliana v. United States
October 24
In Person
Devlin Hall, 110
After becoming a mother, and realizing the greatest threat to her children and children everywhere was climate change, Julia Olson began focusing her work in that field and, in 2011, founded Our Children's Trust. In her capacity as Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel for Our Children's Trust, Olson is the litigator behind the groundbreaking litigation Juliana v. United States which asserts a Constitutional right to a safe climate on behalf of youth and future generations.
Julia Olson graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, with a J.D. in 1997. She worked for 15 years representing grassroots conservation groups, helping to protect the environment, organic agriculture, and human health. Julia is the recipient of the Rose-Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism and The Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism.
Environmental In(Justice) in the Americas: A Conversation from Puerto Rico and Honduras
November 13
In Person
Gasson Hall, 100
Join us for a live conversation with climate experts and farmers/ranchers in Puerto Rico and Honduras about the impact of more intense hurricanes and a changing climate on rural and urban livelihoods, agriculture, and human health. Learn about the grassroots efforts in these areas to adapt to new environmental stresses and to mitigate carbon emissions. The three-way conversation, using video links provided by the Global Engagement Portal, will be moderated by Professor Tara Pisani Gareau, Director of Boston College’s Environmental Studies and former Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras (1997-1999). Following the live conversation, participants are invited to discuss in small groups how the Boston College community connects to and responds to our American neighbors' experiences.
Sponsored by the International Studies Program, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Global Engagement Portal.
‘The Convenience Just Tastes So Good!’
December 04
In Person
Gasson Hall, 100
Profit, Public Health, and Ethics in Our Ongoing Desire for Bottled Waters
With Prof. Christiana Zenner
Christiana Zenner is Associate Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics in the Department of Theology at Fordham University, where she is affiliated faculty in Environmental Studies and American Studies. Her research into emerging and established fresh water ethics intersects with ecological theory, religious ecologies, developments in the earth sciences, and the ecological turn in Catholic social teaching. She lectures nationally and internationally on these topics and has provided analysis of contemporary topics in ecological ethics and religion and science in venues such as Public Radio International, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, The New Republic, the Washington Post, TED-Ed, MSNBC, and others. She is the author of the 2018 book, Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and Fresh Water Crises. Before earning her PhD from Yale in Religious Studies, she earned a BA from Stanford in Human Biology.
As part of PULSE’s 50th anniversary, Prof. Zenner will serve as
scholar-in-residence during the week of December 2 and guest lecture in each of the 16 PULSE core courses. As part of her residency, she is offering this public lecture.
Co-sponsors:
The Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Earth and Environmental Sciences Department
Environmental Studies Program
Theology Department
2018
Human Welfare & Global Citizenship, Former UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon
February 27
In Person
Robsham Theater Arts Center, Robsham Theater
Ban Ki-moon was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. His priorities have been to mobilize world leaders around a set of new global challenges, from climate change and economic upheaval to pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy and water. He has sought to be a bridge-builder, to give voice to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, and to strengthen the Organization itself.
One of the Secretary-General’s first major initiatives was the 2007 Climate Change Summit, followed by extensive diplomatic efforts that have helped put the issue at the forefront of the global agenda. Subsequent efforts to focus on the world’s main anti-poverty targets, the Millennium Development Goals, have generated more than $60 billion in pledges, with a special emphasis on Africa and the new Global Strategy on Women’s and Children’s Health. At the height of the food, energy and economic crises in 2008, the Secretary-General successfully appealed to the G20 for a $1 trillion financing package for developing countries and took other steps to guide the international response and protect the vulnerable and poor.
Green Careers Night
March 27
In Person
Corcoran Commons, Heights Room
Hear from alumni working in green and sustainability-focused careers.
Attending alumni represent a variety of organizations, including:
- Boston Building Resources
- Boston Public Schools
- Ceres
- Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
- Innox
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Synapse Energy Economics
- Zoo New England
This event is co-sponsored by BC Earth & Environmental Sciences Department, BCEEAN, and EcoPledge.
Jonathan F.P. Rose Lecture
April 04
In Person
Gasson Hall, 100
Jonathan F.P. Rose is a real estate developer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose work and advocacy focuses on creating more environmentally, socially and economically resilient cities. Rose is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the integration of environmental, social, and economic solutions to the urban issues facing us today. Mr. Rose has testified before U.S. Senate and House Committees on housing, infrastructure and environmental issues, and served as an Advisor to the White House Office of Urban Affairs.
Mr. Rose is the Founder and President of Jonathan Rose Companies, a real estate development company whose mission is “to develop communities that enhance opportunity for all.” The firm’s innovative work has won awards from a wide range of notable organizations including: the Urban Land Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects.
Rose is the author of The Well Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations and Human Behavior Teach us About the Future of Urban Life, published by Harper Wave in 2016. In the book, Rose champions the role of cities in addressing the environmental, economic, and social challenges of the 21st century.
Senior Thesis Poster Session
April 20
In Person
The fifth annual Senior Thesis Poster Session will feature thesis projects from 14 departments and programs in the social sciences, humanities, and cultural studies.
The State of Sustainability: Boston
April 24
In Person
Cushing Hall, 001
This panel discussion will examine the current status of sustainable
development in Boston through insights from professionals in the
fields of architecture, real estate development, climate change
mitigation and adaptation, and sustainability
Gina McCarthy, Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
October 23
In Person
Yawkey Athletics Center, Murray Room
US Environmental Policy: What Has Been Lost, What Can Be Gained
Gina McCarthy served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama, leading historic progress to achieve the administration’s public health and environmental protection goals and Climate Action Plan. In 2015, McCarthy signed the Clean Power Plan, which set the first-ever national standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing power plants, underscoring the country’s commitment to domestic climate action and spurring international efforts that helped secure the Paris Climate Agreement. During her tenure, EPA initiatives cut air pollution, protected water resources, reduced greenhouse gases and strengthened chemical safety to better protect more Americans, especially the most vulnerable, from negative health impacts. Internationally, McCarthy worked with the UN and WHO on a variety of efforts and represented the U.S. on global initiatives to reduce high risk sources of pollution.
McCarthy now serves as Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is Director of Harvard Chan’s Center for Health and the Global Environment.
Presented with Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies Program, International Studies Program, Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action, Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Jesuit Institute.
Jane Jacobs Lecture featuring Majora Carter on Sustainable Urban Development: Greening Communities
October 29
In Person
Fulton Hall, Room 511
Majora Carter is an urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation & successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training & placement systems.
After establishing Sustainable South Bronx and Green For All (among other organizations) to carry on that work, she built on this foundation with innovative ventures and insights into urban economic developments designed to help move Americans out of poverty.
Her long list of awards and honorary degrees include accolades from groups as diverse as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, Goldman Sachs, as well as a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. Her 2006 TED talk was one of the first 6 videos to launch their groundbreaking website. Majora is a Board Member of the US Green Building Council and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.
Majora embodies the American Dream. She has continually set new standards of excellence with projects in her South Bronx community, while expanding her reach nationally and internationally. Her philanthropic pursuits and business interests have all pointed toward greater self-esteem and economic potential for low-income people everywhere.
Presented with the Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action
2017
The Environmental Studies Program will be hosting a series of two talks by Prof. David Montgomery from the University of Washington.
First Talk
Tuesday, February 14 at 3:00 p.m., Gasson 305
Reception to follow in Devlln 201
David and his wife, biologist Anne Biklé, will speak on their 2015 book, The Hidden Half of Nature: the Microbial Roots of Life and Health. This book shows how breakthroughs in microbiology are leading to an understanding of the links between the health of our digestive systems and the soil from which the plants that nourish us grow. The event will be followed by a reception and book signing in Devlin 201.
Second Talk
Thursday, February 16 at 5:00 p.m., Higgins 300
Light Refreshments and book signing to follow in Higgins Atrium.
How the mystery of one of the Bible's greatest stories shaped geology: a MacArthur Fellow presents a surprising perspective on Noah's Flood. In Tibet, geologist David R. Montgomery heard a local story about a great flood that bore a striking similarity to Noah’s Flood. Intrigued, Montgomery began investigating the world’s flood stories and—drawing from historic works by theologians, natural philosophers, and scientists—discovered the counterintuitive role Noah’s Flood played in the development of both geology and creationism. Steno, the grandfather of geology, even invoked the Flood in laying geology’s founding principles based on his observations of northern Italian landscapes. Centuries later the founders of modern creationism based their irrational view of a global flood on a perceptive critique of geology. With an explorer’s eye and a refreshing approach to both faith and science Montgomery takes readers on a journey across landscapes and cultures. In the process we discover the illusive nature of truth, whether viewed through the lens of science or religion, and how it changed through history and continues changing, even today.
2016
“The Impact of Green Buildings on Cognitive Function: Merging Environmental Science with Health Science”
Monday, November 7, 2016
7:30 p.m., Stokes South 195
In this lecture, Joseph G. Allen, DSc, MPH (BC Class of 1998) of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will talk about the role of the environment through a health lens. He will discuss the role of the built environment on human health, the impact of green buildings on cognitive function, and chemicals of concern in the indoor environment. There will be time for discussion on these topics, as well as time to discuss public health as a career path and Harvard’s new Master of Public Health degree track that focuses on Sustainability, Health and the Global Environment.
“Science in the Courtroom: From Clarence Darrow to NCIS”
Friday, October 21, 2016
12:00 noon, Devlin 201
Marc Rollo ’87 and Bill Stack, Environmental Law Partners at Archer and Greiner, will address the role of “Science in the Courtroom.” Their presentation will demonstrate the connection between the legal process and several different scientific disciplines. Specifically, this will include a discussion of the unique and pivotal role of scientific evidence in proving claims in environmental litigation, and also a discussion of the criteria for admission of sound expert and scientific evidence and opinions at trial. Relatedly, the presentation will also include a discussion of the judge’s power as the “gatekeeper” to exclude “junk” science from a jury’s consideration of “junk” or “bad” science at trial.
“Shrinking the Earth: The Rise and Decline of American Abundance”
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
4:00 p.m., McGuinn 121
Donald Worster has agreed to give a speech on his new book,“ Shrinking the Earth: The Rise and Decline of American Abundance.” The talk will be about a broad theme — the shift from the post Columbus sense of new world natural abundance (and economic growth) to the age of seeing a tiny, vulnerable Earth from outer space.
“40 Years of Exploration and Conservation in China and Beyond”
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
5:00 – 6:30 p.m., Stokes 195S
Dr. How Man Wong visits Boston College from Hong Kong to deliver this installment of the The Daniel C. Morrissey ’88 and Chanannait Paisansathan, MD Lecture Series in Asian Studies. He will discuss his career as an explorer and conservationist.
2015
New Rules for Climate Protection: Student and Citizen Action to Change the Future
Eban Goodstein, Bard University
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 5:00 p.m., Devlin 201
Dr. Eban Goodstein is an economist, author and environmental educator known for his work in the clean energy movement. Currently Director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, he holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Williams College and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. Goodstein directs two national educational initiatives on global warming: C2C and The National Climate Seminar.
Our Common Home: An Ethic Summons to Tackle Climate Change was held Monday, Sept. 28 – Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015.
“The Environmental Studies Program recently co-sponsored a conference exploring the implications of Pope Francis’s newly released encyclical on the environment and climate change, “Laudato Si' (Praised Be): On Care for our Common Home” over four days at Boston College. Distinguished speakers, including Cardinal Peter Turkson and Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), discussed how the moral voice of faith communities can offer distinct contributions to address climate change, as well as the national and international policy implications of the upcoming international climate conference (COP21) to be held in Paris, and theological considerations of the encyclical. Webcasts may be seen here. Read coverage of the conference at the from the following media outlets: BC Chronicle, National Catholic Reporter, NECN, Vatican Radio, Independent Catholic News, French financial daily newspaper Les Echos, AP via Washington Times, WCVB-TV News, Boston Herald.”
Our Common Home: An Ethic Summons to Tackle Climate Change
Monday, Sept. 28 – Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015
The Environmental Studies Program will co-sponsor a conference exploring the the implications of Pope Francis’s newly released encyclical on the environment and climate change, “Laudato Si' (Praised Be): On Care for our Common Home” over four days at Boston College. Distinguished speakers, including Cardinal Peter Turkson and Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), will discuss how the moral voice of faith communities can offer distinct contributions to address climate change, as well as the national and international policy implications of the upcoming international climate conference (COP21) to be held in Paris, and theological considerations of the encyclical.
Katharine Hayhoe
Texas Tech University
Respondent: Stephen Pope, Boston College
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Location: McGuinn Hall 121

Katharine Hayhoe is an associate professor in the department of Political Science at Texas Tech University and director of the university’s Climate Science Center. Her research focuses on establishing a scientific basis for assessing the regional to local-scale impacts of climate change on human systems and the natural environment. She serves as a scientific advisor to Citizen’s Climate Lobby, the EcoAmerica MomentUS project, the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, the Evangelical Environmental Network and the International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative. With her husband Andrew Farley, she is the author of A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions, and her work as a climate change evangelist was recently featured on the documentary series Years of Living Dangerously. She received a B.Sc. in physics and astronomy from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Co-sponsored by Boisi Center for Religion and Public Life, the Environmental Studies Program, and The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
2014
Public Lecture by Former Representative Bob Inglis of South Carolina
Tuesday, October 21, 7:00 p.m., Gasson 100
Bob Inglis, Executive Director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University and former member of the House of Representatives, will address free market solutions to energy and climate change policy. This event is co-sponsored by the College Republicans and the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.
‘Ubering On: Disappearing Jobs, the “New Economy,” and the Future of Work’ with Eban Goodstein
Wednesday, October 1, 5:00 p.m., Devlin 201
From the depths of the 2008 crash, the US has experienced yet another jobless recovery, with high unemployment sustained for one of the longest periods since the great depression. With the failure of the “old economy,” attention has focused on an IT-enabled New Economy variously modified as “sharing,” local, ”sustainable,” “idealist,” “mission-driven,” and “resilient.” This talk focuses on the forces driving the emergence of the New Economy, and assesses whether the new boss will be the same as the old boss.
Climate Smart: Artists Respond to Climate Change
Thursday, April 24
6:30 p.m., Devlin 101
Four artists and Frances Dubrowski ’70, Project Director of Honoring the Future, explored how artists are tacking the complex subject of climate change, pointing the way toward prepared, resilient, ‘climate smart’ communities.
Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Concord
Tuesday, April 1
6:30 p.m., Fulton 511
Dr. Richard B. Primack of Boston University addressed how evidence climate change at Walden Pond is supported both by scientific data and the work of Thoreau.
Sesquincentennial Symposium
Energy: From the Last to the Next 150 Years
Friday, October 25, 9:00 a.m.
The Heights Room, Corcoran Commons
This symposium will explore the science of energy generation and the politics and policies of energy use. Scientists today concur that human dependence on fossil fuels has changed our climate, particularly over the past 150 years. Some of our greatest challenges in the future will involve discovering new forms of energy, finding efficient routes to energy conversion, and developing national and global agreements on energy management. Massachusetts Senator Edward J. Markey ’68, J.D. ’72 and Dr. Susan Tierney, former Assistant Secretary for Policy in the U.S. Department of Energy and Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, will give keynote addresses.
Evening with Bill McKibben
Thursday, October 24
7:00 p.m., McGuinn 121
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, is a leading voice in the movement to take substantial steps to address climate change and is a well-known author of many books on environmental studies topics, including his two most recent, Oil and Honey and Earth. Co-sponsored by the Lowell Humanities Series and the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.