In this opening program for her Radcliffe exhibition, the artist Alia Farid will discuss her newly commissioned artwork Talismans (Kupol LR 3303). Crafted from petroleum-based plastics and thus freighted with the geopolitical and climate implications of this material’s manufacturing, Talismans (Kupol LR 3303) sets her ancestral stories against the backdrop of global events.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Join us for a live, virtual event to hear from Harvard faculty about the possible implications of the 2024 U.S. elections. Speakers will address U.S. and global climate policy, the outlook for corporate climate action, and more. Register now and submit a question for the speakers!
Speakers include:
Jim Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University (moderator)
Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School
Peter Tufano, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School
Trained in anthropology and education, Gabrielle Oliveira works at the intersections of migration, education, family, and childhood studies. At Radcliffe, she will write her third book, which will focus on how migrant children conceptualize climate change, land loss, and mobility in schools in Venezuela and Brazil.
Sabine R. Huebner is a professor of ancient history at the University of Basel in Switzerland whose project at Harvard Radcliffe Institute aims to craft a groundbreaking monograph on third-century Roman Egypt, exploring the dynamic interplay of climatic shifts, political upheavals, and socioeconomic transformations during a pivotal era. Drawing on a rich tapestry of sources—including literary works, papyri, numismatics, epigraphy, and a variety of paleoenvironmental proxies—this ambitious study seeks to unveil new insights into the complexities of this transitional period in one of the Roman Empire’s critical regions.
CSSL provides an opportunity for Harvard students to work together with other students from across the University’s Schools on sustainability projects, to connect and network with sustainability leaders (including faculty, and administration), and to provide feedback and recommendations on Harvard’s sustainability initiatives.
Register by Wednesday, July 3 deadline! Through a series of talks and poster presentations, the workshop aims to promote research exchange of scholars from multiple disciplines and of diverse regional expertise on the status and dynamics of climate resilience studies, as well as to generate policy-relevant knowledge regarding climate resilient development pathways in Southeast Asian countries.
Ermias Kebreab, world-renowned animal scientist and chair of the United Nations Technical Working Group on Feed Additives, will explore methane mitigation strategies that emphasize both global and region-specific targets for addressing the climate crisis. He will also discuss cutting-edge advances in livestock science, with a focus on genetic selection, microbial engineering, and early-life interventions.
Plants have long been deemed passive organisms with “hardwired” or “inflexible” behavior. However, a growing body of empirical research reveals that plants exhibit cognitive capabilities traditionally attributed to animals. And yet, controversies over these scientific findings have recently intensified.
In this talk, Paco Calvo will reflect on the current challenges faced by the field of plant signaling and behavior, including risks of underdelivering and strategies to avoid biases that may lead to overinterpreting results. This talk aims to spark multidisciplinary dialogue around the question of plant cognition and event sentience, and to foster renewed scientific curiosity into the rich cognitive landscape of green companions.
About Paco: Paco Calvo is a renowned cognitive scientist and philosopher of biology, known for his groundbreaking research in the field of plant cognition and intelligence. He is a professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, where he leads the Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINT Lab), focusing on the study of minimal cognition in plants. Calvo’s interdisciplinary work combines insights from biology, philosophy, and cognitive science to explore the fascinating world of plant behavior, decision-making, and problem-solving.
