Sustainable Purchasing

The Salata Institute and the Harvard Alumni Association present Harvard Voices on Climate Change, a virtual series featuring Harvard faculty and fellows working on different dimensions of the climate challenge. This session features David Brooks, Haley Family Professor of Computer Science, and Gage Hills, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, both from the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As the demand for computational power grows, so does its environmental footprint. Professors Brooks and Hills will explore how advancements in computing can contribute to a more sustainable future. Join us to hear about emerging technologies, energy-efficient designs, and the role of interdisciplinary innovation in addressing climate challenges.

On Wednesday, March 5th, from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12 or online, please join us for the fourth installment of our Environments for Health and Happiness Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, Chief Science Officer at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child.

This program is the second in a pair of webinars to explore the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the musical traditions of New Orleans. In the 20th anniversary year of the storm’s devastating landfall in southeast Louisiana, leading performers, artists, and scholars will share their perspectives on art, music, and justice in the context of climate change. How have the performers’ music, practice, and community changed over the last two decades? Can future climate crises be occasions for artistic growth, reimagined community, spurs to social action, and new forms of solidarity? What lessons can New Orleans and its ever-evolving music teach the world about resilience and renewal?

Big Freedia will be joined in conversation with Lauron J. Kehrer (Western Michigan University), a scholar of race, gender, and sexuality in American popular music and Loren Kajikawa (The George Washington University), a scholar of rap and hip-hop, as well as race, gender, and politics.

The Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, invites you to join us in Cambridge or online for the 2025 Conference, Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment, February 7-8, 2025. The panels at this year’s conference highlight these essential topics related to Ukraine’s changing environment. Panels will address the current geopolitical landscape and the war’s impact on global issues such as food security; how Ukrainians have been at the forefront of establishing ecocide and environmental war crimes as part of Russia’s repertoire of genocidal tactics in Ukraine and how they might be prosecuted through legal mechanisms; the widespread notion of Building Back Better and the potential to incorporate sustainability standards in Ukraine’s current and future development; and the quickly-changing landscapes of data and technology and their roles in these reconstruction processes. The keynote lecturer is Jojo Mehta (Stop Ecocide International).

Join Big Chief Gerard (Bo) Dollis, Jr. for a conversation about music, community, and strength in the face of climate change, with a particular focus on Mardi Gras Indian traditions and performance. He will be joined in conversation by Emmett G. Price III, dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Join the Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment and the Harvard Alumni for Agriculture and Food shared interest groups to meet the newly appointed Ray A. Goldberg Professor of the Global Food System at the Harvard Kennedy School, Professor Wolfram Schlenker. Professor Schlenker studies the effect of weather and climate on agricultural yields and migration, how climate trends and the US biofuel mandate influences agricultural commodity prices, and how pollution impacts both agricultural yields and human morbidity. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors at Science. Please submit questions you would like to have asked here.

This talk will be a radical exploration of how higher education can advance transformative climate justice.

Amid the worsening climate crisis and intensifying inequities, higher education can play a powerful role in addressing the intersecting crises facing humanity. Institutions of higher education hold untapped potential to advance social justice and reduce climate injustices. However, universities are not yet structured to accelerate social change for the public good.

In Climate Justice and the University, Jennie Stephens, Professor of Climate Justice at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and a Professor at Northeastern University (currently on leave), reimagines the potential of higher education to advance human well-being and promote ecological health. She will be introduced by John E. Fernández, director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiaitve, and converse with Naomi Oreskes, the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.

Have you been holding onto a broken item in the hopes of repairing it? (Or perhaps found a nearly-working item at a Freecycle?) If so, come to our Fixit Clinic on Thursday, February 13th at the Cabot Science Library, between 12pm and 3pm.

It’s time for our annual toiletries drive to support the Cambridge YWCA! Help support the drive by donating unused and unopened toiletries, cosmetics, and menstrual hygiene products.

Our Freecycles have been so popular that we are hosting three this semester! The first one is in just under three weeks: January 28th. Bring any unwanted holiday gifts, and find something to re-gift to yourself! The Spring Freecycle dates are January 28th, March 11th, May 13th. We’ll be in the Harvard Commons in the Smith Campus Center, from 11am to 2pm on each date. If you haven’t been to a Freecycle before: bring your reusable goods you no longer need, and browse goods that others have brought. Check this page to keep track of Freecycle dates and to see others around campus, like HGSE’s in a couple weeks!