Hear from Christine Gschwendtner, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Harvard University, focusing on sustainable energy systems, as she provides insights into promising strategies for integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into the electricity system upon mass adoption.
As the climate continues to change, discussions about climate policy also continue to evolve. Recognition of worsening climate impacts is giving rise to new conceptualizations of the problem and new proposals for managing and reducing risks. The recent report Reducing the Risks of Climate Overshoot from the Climate Overshoot Commission, chaired by Pascal Lamy, puts the notion of climate overshoot at the center of the debate, and recommends a number of actions, including related to solar geoengineering, to reduce the likelihood, magnitude, and duration of overshoot. Join us for this fireside chat featuring Pascal Lamy and Larry Summers, who will discuss the contents of this new report—including its treatment of solar geoengineering—in the context of preparations for the upcoming COP28 in Dubai and broader trends in climate policy and politics.
A presentation from 2023–2024 Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow Jennie C. Stephens
Jennie C. Stephens is the Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. She is the author of “Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy,” which argues that effectively addressing the climate crisis requires diversifying leadership and redistributing wealth and power to move toward a more integrated, holistic transformative climate justice approach.
At Radcliffe, Stephens is completing her book manuscript, provisionally titled “Climate Justice University: Another Education Is Possible,” which reimagines how higher education could accelerate transformative social innovation toward a more just, healthy, and stable fossil fuel–free future. The book proposes a paradigm shift to leverage the untapped potential of institutions of higher education to advance systemic social change to reduce growing health inequities, economic injustices, and climate vulnerabilities.
Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. It is also ubiquitous in the modern world, from aircraft to soda cans. Today, the efficiency with which we use—and reuse—aluminum is vital to addressing key environmental challenges and understanding humanity’s fraught relationship with the earth. In Soil to Foil (Columbia University Press, 2023), Saleem Ali tells the extraordinary story of aluminum.
Join a two-part event that aims to create a space for an overview of the intersection between climate change and gender—emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of its impacts in Latin America & the Caribbean—and to share efforts on how addressing gender disparities can enhance climate resilience, mitigation, and adaptation efforts.
Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Frances Moore, Associate Professor and the Hurlstone Presidential Chair in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California Davis. In a talk entitled "Synthesis of Evidence Yields Higher Social Cost of Carbon Due to Model Extensions and Uncertainties," Moore will present her recent research on the social cost of carbon in the context of U.S. government estimates and the recent proposed update from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Join us for a public screening of Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's extraordinary film "Wild Life"—a story of love, wildness, and restoration in Chili and Argentina. The film follows conservationist Kris Tompkins on an epic decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting.
A discussion will follow the screening. Special guests include Kris Tompkins and Chai Vasarhelyi in conversation with guest curator Geralyn Dreyfous and HDS writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams.
Saptarishi Bandopadhyay is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a faculty affiliate of the Science, Technology & Society Program at Harvard University, a research Fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University, and a Senior Fellow at Melbourne University Law School. Saptarishi holds a doctorate from Harvard University, LLMs from Harvard Law School and American University’s Washington College of Law, and a BALLB (Hons.) from the National University of Juridical Sciences, India. Saptarishi has received awards and fellowships from the Canadian Social Sciences and Research Council, the American Society for Legal History, the American Society for Environmental History, the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, and Brown University. Saptarishi’s writing has appeared in encyclopedias, edited volumes, and in legal and interdisciplinary journals.
The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and the Vice Provost Office for Advances in Learning present Harvard Speaks on Climate Change, a new series featuring Harvard faculty working on different dimensions of the climate challenge. In this upcoming session, Professor Kari Nadeau will delve into the critical intersection of climate and health. Her insights will shed light on the significance of this relationship, especially as we approach COP28, where the topic of health is being addressed for the first time. Professor and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability Jim Stock will host. This series is part of the collection of VPAL Signature Events and is co-sponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association.
Dusk in November is a perfect time to look and listen for Great Horned Owls, often heard calling throughout the Arboretum’s collections. Join Horticulturist Brendan Keegan to hear about the owls' breeding and nesting behavior, learn how to go owling ethically, and possibly hear and see a few owls as well.
Join this Energy Policy Seminar featuring Christine Gschwendtner, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program. Gschwendtner will give a talk on "Electrification of Heating and Transport: Uncovering the Pivotal Role of User Behavior."
