by gmoke
Sun Aug 14th, 2022 at 07:15:01 PM EST
I make it a practice to post only positive news about the environment and the climate; however, I can't get past this recent news:
"Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink due to levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS that exceed the latest guidelines, according to a new study by Stockholm University scientists."
Source: https:/phys.org/news/2022-08-rainwater-unsafe-due-chemicals.html
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are known as "forever chemicals" as they degrade so slowly in the natural environment. They were made for packaging, shampoo, and makeup. ("Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" and the least cost alternative to make more profit.) PFAS now are everywhere, so persistent and ubiquitous that they will "never disappear from the planet."
The guidelines for exposure to PFAS have changed as we've discovered more about their level of toxicity. They accumulate in the body over time and can lead to problems with fertility, obesity, developmental delays in children, and prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, among other things. However, "PFAS levels in people have actually dropped `quite significantly in the last 20 years' and `ambient levels (of PFAS in the environment) have been the same for the past 20 years'".
In addition:
"A new [2020] study estimates that more than 1,000 tons of microplastics from the air - equivalent to more than 123 million plastic water bottles - rain down onto protected areas in the western U.S. each year."
Source: https:earthsky.org/earth/microplastic-rain-western-us
What have we done to the rain? What are we doing to ourselves and all the living world?
by gmoke
Sun Jul 31st, 2022 at 12:47:50 AM EST
Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - August 2022
*Index
**Conferences
Decolonizing and Regrowing Our Food Systems
Friday, August 5 - Sunday, August 7
----
TEDxBoston Traction
Monday August 15
----
**Lecture Series
Flourish Fiction Summer Workshop Series 2022!
Open Feedback Workshop
August 3
End-of-Summer Showcase
August 24
----
How to Cover the Climate Crisis -- and Fight Disinformation
August 8 - September 4
**Events
*
Continued Conversations: Indigenous Land Rights with Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Monday, August 1
------
Project Carbdown: ERW MRV - Dirk Paessler, Carbon Drawdown Initiative
Tuesday, August 2
------
World Sustainability Collective - Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases Remova
l
Tuesday, August 2
------
Informational webinar on Environmental Justice Data Fund Grants
Wednesday, August 3
------
Debating Eco-Socialist Futures
Wednesday, August 3
------
EPA Environmental Justice Outreach Session: General Issues
Wednesday, August 3
------
Bridging the Great American Divide
Wednesday, August 3
------
Engineering Solutions for Earth's Oceans presented by STEMSpark
Thursday, August 4
------
EnergyBar August 2022: Summer Rooftop Networking
Thursday, August 4
------
A Half-Built Garden: Ruthanna Emrys in conversation with Ada Palmer
Thursday, August 4
------
Cool: Women Leaders Reversing Global Warming
Friday, August 5
------
Reclaim Rock City Free Community Fair!
Saturday August 6
------
Deep Dialogue Part 2 on weatherizing and electrifying heating in our residential buildings
Monday, August 8
------
The Rise of Eco-Fascism - Lowell Bliss
Tuesday, August 9
------
Building Business Resilience in the Climate Change Era
Wednesday, August 10
------
A Global Energy Revolution: Blueprint for a Prosperous, Zero-Carbon Future
Thursday, August 11
------
CLF Boston Reuse: Highlighting Circular Materials Innovation
Thursday, August 18
------
Carbofex: Biochar at Scale - Founder and CEO Sampo Tukiainen
Tuesday, August 23
------
Embedding sustainability in governance, structure and culture
Wednesday, August 24
------
Wetlands, mangroves and global warming!
Wednesday, August 24
------
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
------------------
by gmoke
Sun Jul 10th, 2022 at 04:36:04 PM EST
This Brattle Group study (https:/www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/grid-enhancing-technologies-shown-to-double-reg
ional-renewable-energy-capacity-according-to-study-by-brattle-consultants) found that in Kansas and Oklahoma Grid Enhancing Technologies [GETs] could double renewable energy generation on the grid, paying for themselves in just six months.
Rocky Mountain Institute describes Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) (https:/rmi.org/ferc-could-slash-inflation-and-double-renewables-grid-upgrades) as
"Dynamic Line Ratings
Adjusting the carrying capacity of transmission lines based on real-time measurement of ambient conditions
Transit analogy: real-time adjusted speed limits
"Advanced Power Flow Controls
Hardware solutions that push power away from lines with capacity constraints and pull power to lines with spare capacity
Transit analogy: railroad switching stations that direct trains to free tracks
"Topology Optimization
Software solutions that automatically route power flows around congested areas
Transit analogy: re-uniting drivers around traffic"
As Pogo said, "We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities;"
but then
Pogo also said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
by gmoke
Mon Jul 4th, 2022 at 03:19:02 AM EST
From Edwin Black's book, Internal Combustion, about the Milwaukee Road, an electric rail system:
"Sometimes electrified railways seemed to defy the laws of perpetual motion. For example, when the brakes were applied or the train traveled down a slope, the engine actually returned electricity to the grid. Regenerative braking and similar power returns helped the engines pay for themselves. In some mountain ranges, if timed correctly, a heavy downhill train could actually regenerate enough electricity to the grid to power another train passing it uphill. Thus both trains would travel in a minuet of seemingly energy-free motion. That might have seemed to violate the laws of physics, but not the rules of General Electric's wondrous workhorses, which were designed to observe this maxim: It is better to give than receive when it comes to electrical power. Those engines lasted not for years but for decades. Their endurance was measured in millions of miles. They were monumental vehicles that created economic prosperity and environmental balance everywhere they rolled."
Regenerative braking on electric trains is a technology that is over a century old.
Today, Fortescue Williams, a hard rock mining company, operates an "Infinity Train" in Australia that never needs charging using this idea. Eventually, they want to make all 54 of the trains "Infinity Trains."
https:/www.fmgl.com.au/in-the-news/media-releases/2022/03/01/fortescue-williams-(wae)-settlement-po
wers-development-of-world-first-infinity-train
https:cleantechnica.com/2022/05/31/an-electric-train-that-never-needs-charging-its-real
https:/inhabitat.com/mining-company-adopts-electric-trains-that-never-need-recharging
by gmoke
Sat Jul 2nd, 2022 at 02:50:25 AM EST
*Index
**Lecture Series
Announcing our Flourish Fiction Summer Workshop Series 2022!
Prompt Generation Workshop - July 6, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
Infinite Hope: Imagining a Better World - July 20, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
Open Feedback Workshop - August 3, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
End-of-Summer Showcase - August 24, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
----
Heat Pump Water Heaters- Builders share their experience
Tuesday, July 12
----
The Storage Opportunity: Customer Demand, Market Reform, and Technology Innovation
Thursday, July 21
**Events
*
Conservative [UK] solutions to air pollution * Webinar and Q&A
Monday, July 4
Boston Climate Tech Social 2.0
Wednesday, July 6
BE+ Building Tech Forum 2022
Thursday, July 7
Circular Economy Boston Kick-Off Meeting
Thursday, July 7
EAP Lab: Floating Wetlands
Saturday, July 9
Energy After War: How Ukraine Affects Us All
Tuesday, July 12
Ecological Protection
Friday, July 15
EPA National Environmental Justice Community Engagement Call
Tuesday, July 19
Extreme Heat Boston
Wednesday, July 20
Patti Poppe: Navigating PG&E through Climate Disruption
Thursday, July 21
Worlds of Gray and Green: Mineral Extraction as Ecological Practice
Wednesday, July 27
UVA's Opening Reception: Inspiring Change for the Climate Crisis
Thursday, July 28
EnergyBar August 2022: Summer Rooftop Networking
Thursday, August 4
----------
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
------------------
by gmoke
Wed Jun 22nd, 2022 at 06:09:51 PM EST
from The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen
Mineola, NY: Dover, 1994 [originally published 1899] (ISBN 0-486-28062-4)
(page 49) So, those offices which are by right the proper employment of the leisure class are noble; such as government, fighting, hunting, the care of arms and accoutrements, and the like, - in short, those which may be classed as ostensibly predatory employments.
(123) The leisure class is the conservative class.
... The office of the leisure class in social evolution is to retard the movement and to conserve what is obsolescent. This proposition is by no means novel; it has long been one of the commonplaces of popular opinion.
(152) Moreover, the ostensible serious occupation of the upper class is that of government, which, in point of origin and developmental content, is also a predatory occupation.
(153) It is only the high-bred gentleman and the rowdy that normally resort to blows as the universal solvent of differences of opinion.
(157) It is noticeable, for instance, that even very mild-mannered and matter-of-fact men who go out shooting are apt to carry an excess of arms and accoutrements in order to impress upon their own imagination the seriousness of their undertaking. These huntsmen are also prone to histrionic, prancing gait and to an elaborate exaggeration of the motions, whether of stealth or on onslaught, involved in their deeds of exploit.
... Except where it is adopted as a necessary means of secret communication, the use of a special slang in any employment is probably to be accepted as evidence that the occupation in question is substantially make-believe.
(165) From the evidence already recited it appears that, in sentiment and inclinations, the leisure class is more favourable to a warlike attitude and animus than the industrial classes.
(184) The predatory habit of mind involves an accentuated sense of personal dignity and of the relative standing of individuals. The social structure in which the predatory habit has been the dominant factor in the shaping of institutions is a structure based on status. The pervading norm in the predatory community's scheme of life is the relation of superior and inferiors, noble and base, dominant and subservient persons and classes, master and slave. The anthropomorphic cults have come down from that stage of industrial development and have been shaped by the same scheme of economic differentiation, - a differentiation into consumer and producer, - and they are pervaded by the same dominant principle of mastery and subservience.
(234) In point of derivation, the office of government is a predatory function, pertaining integrally to the archaic leisure-class scheme of life. It is an exercise of control and coercion over the population from which the class draws its sustenance.
by gmoke
Wed Jun 1st, 2022 at 04:23:09 PM EST
*Index
**Conferences
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
MA Solidarity Economy / Worker Co-op Festival & Gathering
Saturday & Sunday, June 4-5
The Pulitzer Center's 2022 Annual Conference
Interconnected: Reporting the Climate Crisis
June 9 - 10
Eurekafest!
Wednesday, June 15
**Lecture Series
Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas & Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid
Friday, June 10
Portable Heat Pumps - Low Cost Supplemental Heating and Cooling
Wednesday, June 22
**Events
*
Webinar: Get All the 𝚍̶𝚒̶𝚛̶𝚝̶ SOIL on Soil Conservation in Urban Agriculture
Wednesday, June 1
Boston MA Budget Hearings on American Rescue Plan Act Funds
Wednesday, June 1
Countdown: An Evening with Alan Weisman
Wednesday, June 1
Wanjira Mathai on Sustainable Development and the Power of Women
Tuesday, June 7
Commonwealth Kitchen Food Show
Thursday, June 9
Right to a Healthy Environment: Symposium
June 9, 2022
Ukraine and beyond: Lessons in refugee education
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on key issues in refugee education
Tuesday, June 21
Climate Change, Our Youths, and Mental Health
Monday, June 27
Education meets the metaverse: The promise and the worry
A Brookings-Yidan Prize event on the future of education in the 21st century
Tuesday, June 28
--------------
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
------------------
by gmoke
Sun May 1st, 2022 at 07:49:44 PM EST
------
Index
------
------------
Conferences
------------
Tuesday, May 3
Graduate workshop: Data-driven environmental economics research from the EPA
Thursday, June 2 - June 3
Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium
--------------
Lecture Series
--------------
Tuesday, May
CAN WE RESIST THE HIJACKING OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA & BEYOND?
Cambridge Forum (https:/www.cambridgeforum.org?cat=3)
Friday, May 13
Building Climate Resilience in Transportation Systems
MIT Mobility Forum, (http://mmi.mit.edu/events)
Wednesday, May 11
Networking on the Trails: Mass Audubon's Climate Initiatives
Climate Adaptation Forum (https:/climateadaptationforum.org/events)
Friday, June 10
Market (Redesign) Pathways to a Decarbonized Grid; and Weaning Buildings Off Fossil Gas
NE Restructuring Roundtable (http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp)
------
Events
------
Monday, May 2
Mandating Climate Disclosures: Impacts on Sustainability and Financial Markets
Bazaar of Ideas: Moving Stuff Around
Wednesday, May 4
The Power of Protest: A Film Screening: The Boys Who Said No!
Thursday, May 5
Net Zero MA.: Legislation + Energy Sources for Achieving 2050 Climate Goals
Summit: Inventing the Future of Money
Environment, Ethics and Embodiment: Buddhist Approaches to Climate Change
Friday, May 6
Improving climate models with hybrid AI approaches
Saturday May 7
Fayette Park plant swap
Wake up the Earth Festival
Monday, May 9
Circular Economy for Sustainable Development: The Role of Land, Fuels, and Manufacturing
Tuesday, May 10
American governance: The way forward
Energy Companies and the Energy Transition: Transforming the Organization
Manufacturing the Clerical Predator: How the Catholic Hierarchy Creates and Maintains a Culture of Abuse
Friday, May 13
Carbon Neutral Geothermal Building In the Hudson Valley
Tuesday, May 17
Securing the Future of Agriculture
Wedneday, May 18
NECEC Emerging Trends Series: Deploying Climate Solutions
A Changing Planet Seminar: Seasonal rainfall over Eastern Africa and the Tropics: Trends, Climate Models and Projections
Thursday, May 19
Climate Conversations: Adaptation in Agriculture
The End of the Petrostate - How Electrification will Reshape the World
Friday, May 20
Bringing Together Varied Communities, As in the Covid Pandemic and Climate Change
Wednesday, May 25
MA Attorney General Climate Debate
----------------
These kinds of events are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
by gmoke
Fri Apr 22nd, 2022 at 01:29:53 AM EST
Preface: I originally wrote this a couple of decades ago, based upon my experiences working with a traveling energy show in the 1970s and 1980s and my own experiments with public displays of renewable energy at farmers' markets (https:/www.dailykos.com/stories/2005/8/21/140257-). I rewrote it for a new venture, Flourish Fiction which is trying to fill the need for "more hopeful stories to awaken imagination and help inspire the next generation of climate solutions." It is also published there at https://flourishfiction.substack.com/p/mister-franklins-folks?s=r
This is one way to imagine how to change the climate conversation in one growing season.
_____
Mister Franklin's Folks began when a small group of people decided to bring a solar fountain to the local farmers market. A solar electric panel pumped water up from a tub into a little fountain that would splash and spray. The brighter the sunshine, the higher the water would go. Children loved to turn it on and off with their shadows, jumping into and out of the sunlight, making the water dance and themselves laugh. Older kids asked questions, and so did some of the adults. "What's it for? How does it work? Why are you doing this? So what?"
The exhibit was labeled "Solar Fountain/Wishing Well" and some coins lay at the bottom of the tub. Nearby, there was a table under the shade of an umbrella where one of Franklin's Folk sat with a collection of books, pamphlets, leaflets, cards, and stickers, along with a big can labeled "Donations." The van parked behind them was full of working models and public experiments, product demos, and testing equipment. They shared guides with anyone who wanted them. For a small donation.
Each week, from Memorial Day to the week before Thanksgiving, throughout the farmers' market season, they'd be there. Each week, they'd set up a little solar fountain and present a different example of solar ingenuity and practical power. When they said power to the people, they meant it.
They said, "A south-facing window is already a solar collector and we can show you how to use it. A south-facing porch is even better. It can become a sunspace or greenhouse and you can grow food all year long."
They provided designs and projects that began by caulking and sealing a window and ended with a complete one-room HVAC and electrical system for daily and/or emergency use.
"A few inches of solar panel, a hand or foot powered generator, and a set of rechargeable batteries is a perpetual source of personal electrical power. You can have power as long as the sun keeps shining and can turn the handle or push the pedal when it isn't. You can have power as long as the batteries hold a charge. And when the batteries die, recycle the old ones and buy some new. That is, unless we've changed to capacitors, flywheels, or fuel cells by then."
by gmoke
Fri Apr 15th, 2022 at 01:25:16 AM EST
Boston University organized a talk on how Phoenix, New York, and the State of California are planning for extreme heat the other day.
https:/www.bu.edu/ioc/2022/03/02/bridging-the-research-policy-divide-lessons-from-cities-tackling-e
xtreme-heat
https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UGVX8bs1I
As NOAA Weather Service reports, "More Americans die from heat every year than from all other extreme weather events combined."
Daphne Lundi, Deputy Director for Social Resiliency of NYC Mayor's Office of Resiliency, spoke. Hurricane Sandy was a wake-up call for the city and thus it has developed a long-term heat resiliency plan as part of their overall sustainability efforts. The city's approach is "If we're in the 2080s and we're going to have triple the amount of extreme heat days, what are we doing now in terms of our buildings, in terms of our land use policy to get us to a better place decades from now."
NYC has been developing Cool Neighborhoods since 2017 including ideas like
Shading and tree canopies
White rooms or reflective surfaces like "cool roofs"
Cooling centers
Report available at https:/www1.nyc.gov/assets/orr/pdf/Cool_Neighborhoods_NYC_Report.pdf [pdf alert]
They are constantly leading building preparedness and understanding of heat risk so that people know the tools available before a heat wave happens.
NYC also has building energy standards and the Office of Resiliency works on necessary legislation and regulation. For instance, they are now looking at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program [LIHEAP] in relation to cooling as well as heating, which is where the bulk of funding goes.
by gmoke
Mon Apr 4th, 2022 at 01:22:36 AM EST
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them. These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows whether such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency
https:/zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
------------
Conferences
------------
Migration Summit
Monday, April 4 - April 29, 2022
Virtual Event
The Migration Summit 2022, organized by the MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT), Na'amal, Karam Foundation and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL), is a month-long global convening designed to build bridges between diverse communities of displaced learners, universities, companies, nonprofits and NGOs, social enterprises, foundations, philanthropists, researchers, policy makers, employers and governments around the key challenges and opportunities for refugee and migrant communities. The Migration Summit in April 2022 will explore this year's theme "Education and Workforce Development in Displacement" through virtual and in-person events hosted by participating partners around the world.
Visit https:react.mit.edu/migrationsummit to register and to read the full event description.
----------------
Living Climate Futures
Friday, April 22 - April 23
MIT Campus, Various Locations
Living Climate Futures culminates in a two-day symposium of events and activities, April 22-23.
Some events are open to the public and require Tim Tickets (see FAQ).
Others are for the MIT community (preference to students) and community partners only.
Full Description: https:/livingclimatefutures.org
Friday, April 22
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Virtual visit with Chicago high school student activists
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Indigenous Earth Day at MIT
Saturday, April 23
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Environmental Justice + Climate Resilience Tours
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Community Partner Panel Discussion + Youth Forum
(all details subject to change - sign up for each event in Eventbrite to get updates)
----------------
TEDxMIT
Saturday, April 23
Stata Center
https:tedxboston.com/upcoming-events
_____
MIT Sloan New Space Age Conference 2022
Friday, April 29
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Building E14 - 6th Floor, Cambridge
Tickets now available: http://newspaceage.org/
Cost: $10 - $175
A student-led event at MIT Sloan.
MIT's Astropreneurship & Space Industry Club is proud to host the seventh annual New Space Age Conference as a platform to advance growth of the private space industry. 2022 speakers will discuss new technologies and services being implemented to close the business case for the emerging space economy. Join students, academics, and industry professionals to learn more !
_
____
2022 Hybrid Interfaith Summit - Together in Climate Chaos; Interfaith Solidarity for Climate Resilient Communities; an Interfaith Summit on How to Respond to Climate Change
May 1
4pm-6pm
zoom and in person
Native American Indian Center of Boston, 105 South Huntington Avenue, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130. You have a choice of either attending in-person, or virtually on zoom.
RSVP at https:/us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElc-yqqTgjEtBaSf15bzUUptAuOCnu5Hzw
In the wake of the National Climate Assessment and UN report in 2021 on the projected serious consequences of unchecked climate change, interfaith leaders from the greater Boston area will come together with Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) to host the fourth annual interfaith summit.
This now abbreviated summit will focus on the role of faith communities in helping their community members build resilience, whether from future climate impacts such as floods, extreme heat, and severe storms, or more immediate concerns like a pandemic. We will shall share knowledge on the types of changes we are already seeing and can expect to see in the Northeast, discuss practical ways congregations can prepare themselves and their surrounding community, and discern together how our spiritual practices could help sustain not only our efforts, but also our souls, hearts, and minds, as we engage in this most critical mission.
There will be an optional half-hour of networking from 6:00pm-6:30pm on the same zoom line that participants are encouraged but not mandated to attend.
_____
Lecture Series
--------------
Real Organic Book Club
https:www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends
We are pleased to announce the first several dates for our 2022 Real Friends book club:
Paul Hawken, May 5, 6pm EDT
Anne Bikle, June 2, 6pm EDT
David Montgomery, July 7, 6pm EDT
Vandana Shiva, to be announced
Dan Barber, to be announced
Providing you with the opportunity to engage with these prominent Real Organic board members is just one of the ways we would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our work. The book club meetings should be fun and interesting. It will be a chance to talk with these important thinkers about their work.
------
Events
------
PAOC Colloquium: Ecological and evolutionary responses to global change across realms
Monday, April 4
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
https:/mit.zoom.us/j/99605116338#success
Malin Pinsky (Rutgers)
The same ecological and evolutionary processes operate across land and sea, and yet ocean life survives in a dramatically different fluid environment. The ocean is, in effect, a 1.3 sextillion liter water bath with muted thermal variation through time and space, limited oxygen, and intense convective and conductive processes. In this talk, I will trace some of the consequences for evolution, physiology, population dynamics, and conservation at sea, including striking contrasts and similarities to patterns on land. I will present evidence that marine animals live closer to their upper thermal limits than do species on land, that marine species have responded faster to temperature change, and that species can but do not universally evolve in response to rapid environmental change. Finally, I will discuss some of the unique conservation challenges these dynamics create for ocean life and potential solutions through proactive ocean planning and by harnessing evolutionary rescue for climate resilience.
About This Event
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Contact paoc-colloquium-comm@mit.edu for more information and Zoom password.
--------------
How Do We Think about Population in the Anthropocene?
Monday, April 4
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
RSVP at https:www.eventbrite.com/e/alison-bashford-how-do-we-think-about-population-in-the-anthropocene-re
gistration-252378048537
Alison Bashford explores first how modern (post c. 1780) population changes have entered discussion on the Anthropocene. Second, she asks how historians specifically, might (not should) begin to answer this question, with attention to both accelerating global net population growth and local population decline. She considers the `Anthropocene' (not, say, `climate change'), since the former is an historical as well as a geological phenomenon, and, it turns out, a familiar one.
Alison Bashford's work traces the fortunes and trends of historical work on global population from the mid-twentieth century into the era when the Anthropocene was named. The catastrophic register of `the population bomb' era, including its connection to ecological sciences and then environmentalist politics, is the immediate antecedent to political responses to the Anthropocene crisis. That much we already know. Here Allison Bashford explores how and why `population' went from center-stage to off-stage. Discussion of population growth and `population control' became highly charged and then became almost unspeakable. For better or worse this was a remarkable success story of and for `critique': of health systems, of political economy, of Cold War geopolitics, variously via feminist studies, race and postcolonial studies, via Marxism and left science studies from the 1970s onwards. After and in the light of that impact, she asks how or whether `population' might productively be considered via a `postcritique' humanities and social sciences, not least bringing historians into that conversation.
Event Speakers
Alison Bashford, Laureate Professor in History at the University of New South Wales
Response by Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University
Chaired by Maureen Raymo, Co-Founding Dean of the Climate School at Columbia University
----------------
Delivering on Net Zero
Tuesday, April 5
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
RSVP at https:harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LIzv_Hu7Rr2bFiUg3rYJBg
SPEAKER(S) Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
----------------
Getting Off Russian Gas: Implications for Germany and Europe
Tuesday, April 5
5:30 - 6:15pm CEST
RSVP at https:email.gmfus.org/s/4434c98e8e6db288802f00e67ddb3141db242047
Jacob Kirkegaard
Moderator: Sudha David-Wilp
External Speaker: Prof. Dr. Veronika Grimm
Before Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, allies warned Germany of the risks associated with energy dependence on Russia. Now, Germany and other EU member states are hurriedly seeking ways to replace Russian fossil fuels. In his Zeitenwende speech, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a "responsible, forward-looking energy policy," but economic concerns already threaten to thwart his vision. What would be the economic effects for Germany and Europe if they wean themselves off Russian gas sooner rather than later? To discuss this question and more, we will speak with economic experts Veronika Grimm and Jacob Kirkegaard in this month's edition of #TransatlanticTuesdays. Next month, we will cover the military pillar of the Zeitenwende speech.
If you have any questions, please contact Callie Starn at CStarn@gmfus.org.
----------------
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows whether such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency
https:/zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
------------
Conferences
------------
Migration Summit
Monday, April 4 - April 29, 2022
Virtual Event
The Migration Summit 2022, organized by the MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT), Na'amal, Karam Foundation and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL), is a month-long global convening designed to build bridges between diverse communities of displaced learners, universities, companies, nonprofits and NGOs, social enterprises, foundations, philanthropists, researchers, policy makers, employers and governments around the key challenges and opportunities for refugee and migrant communities. The Migration Summit in April 2022 will explore this year's theme "Education and Workforce Development in Displacement" through virtual and in-person events hosted by participating partners around the world.
Visit https:react.mit.edu/migrationsummit to register and to read the full event description.
----------------
Living Climate Futures
Friday, April 22 - April 23
MIT Campus, Various Locations
Living Climate Futures culminates in a two-day symposium of events and activities, April 22-23.
Some events are open to the public and require Tim Tickets (see FAQ).
Others are for the MIT community (preference to students) and community partners only.
Full Description: https:/livingclimatefutures.org
Friday, April 22
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Virtual visit with Chicago high school student activists
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Indigenous Earth Day at MIT
Saturday, April 23
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Environmental Justice + Climate Resilience Tours
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Community Partner Panel Discussion + Youth Forum
(all details subject to change - sign up for each event in Eventbrite to get updates)
----------------
TEDxMIT
Saturday, April 23
Stata Center
https:tedxboston.com/upcoming-events
_____
MIT Sloan New Space Age Conference 2022
Friday, April 29
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Building E14 - 6th Floor, Cambridge
Tickets now available: http://newspaceage.org/
Cost: $10 - $175
A student-led event at MIT Sloan.
MIT's Astropreneurship & Space Industry Club is proud to host the seventh annual New Space Age Conference as a platform to advance growth of the private space industry. 2022 speakers will discuss new technologies and services being implemented to close the business case for the emerging space economy. Join students, academics, and industry professionals to learn more !
_
____
2022 Hybrid Interfaith Summit - Together in Climate Chaos; Interfaith Solidarity for Climate Resilient Communities; an Interfaith Summit on How to Respond to Climate Change
May 1
4pm-6pm
zoom and in person
Native American Indian Center of Boston, 105 South Huntington Avenue, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130. You have a choice of either attending in-person, or virtually on zoom.
RSVP at https:/us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElc-yqqTgjEtBaSf15bzUUptAuOCnu5Hzw
In the wake of the National Climate Assessment and UN report in 2021 on the projected serious consequences of unchecked climate change, interfaith leaders from the greater Boston area will come together with Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) to host the fourth annual interfaith summit.
This now abbreviated summit will focus on the role of faith communities in helping their community members build resilience, whether from future climate impacts such as floods, extreme heat, and severe storms, or more immediate concerns like a pandemic. We will shall share knowledge on the types of changes we are already seeing and can expect to see in the Northeast, discuss practical ways congregations can prepare themselves and their surrounding community, and discern together how our spiritual practices could help sustain not only our efforts, but also our souls, hearts, and minds, as we engage in this most critical mission.
There will be an optional half-hour of networking from 6:00pm-6:30pm on the same zoom line that participants are encouraged but not mandated to attend.
_____
Lecture Series
--------------
Real Organic Book Club
https:www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends
We are pleased to announce the first several dates for our 2022 Real Friends book club:
Paul Hawken, May 5, 6pm EDT
Anne Bikle, June 2, 6pm EDT
David Montgomery, July 7, 6pm EDT
Vandana Shiva, to be announced
Dan Barber, to be announced
Providing you with the opportunity to engage with these prominent Real Organic board members is just one of the ways we would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our work. The book club meetings should be fun and interesting. It will be a chance to talk with these important thinkers about their work.
------
Events
------
PAOC Colloquium: Ecological and evolutionary responses to global change across realms
Monday, April 4
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual Event
https:/mit.zoom.us/j/99605116338#success
Malin Pinsky (Rutgers)
The same ecological and evolutionary processes operate across land and sea, and yet ocean life survives in a dramatically different fluid environment. The ocean is, in effect, a 1.3 sextillion liter water bath with muted thermal variation through time and space, limited oxygen, and intense convective and conductive processes. In this talk, I will trace some of the consequences for evolution, physiology, population dynamics, and conservation at sea, including striking contrasts and similarities to patterns on land. I will present evidence that marine animals live closer to their upper thermal limits than do species on land, that marine species have responded faster to temperature change, and that species can but do not universally evolve in response to rapid environmental change. Finally, I will discuss some of the unique conservation challenges these dynamics create for ocean life and potential solutions through proactive ocean planning and by harnessing evolutionary rescue for climate resilience.
About This Event
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Contact paoc-colloquium-comm@mit.edu for more information and Zoom password.
--------------
How Do We Think about Population in the Anthropocene?
Monday, April 4
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
RSVP at https:www.eventbrite.com/e/alison-bashford-how-do-we-think-about-population-in-the-anthropocene-re
gistration-252378048537
Alison Bashford explores first how modern (post c. 1780) population changes have entered discussion on the Anthropocene. Second, she asks how historians specifically, might (not should) begin to answer this question, with attention to both accelerating global net population growth and local population decline. She considers the `Anthropocene' (not, say, `climate change'), since the former is an historical as well as a geological phenomenon, and, it turns out, a familiar one.
Alison Bashford's work traces the fortunes and trends of historical work on global population from the mid-twentieth century into the era when the Anthropocene was named. The catastrophic register of `the population bomb' era, including its connection to ecological sciences and then environmentalist politics, is the immediate antecedent to political responses to the Anthropocene crisis. That much we already know. Here Allison Bashford explores how and why `population' went from center-stage to off-stage. Discussion of population growth and `population control' became highly charged and then became almost unspeakable. For better or worse this was a remarkable success story of and for `critique': of health systems, of political economy, of Cold War geopolitics, variously via feminist studies, race and postcolonial studies, via Marxism and left science studies from the 1970s onwards. After and in the light of that impact, she asks how or whether `population' might productively be considered via a `postcritique' humanities and social sciences, not least bringing historians into that conversation.
Event Speakers
Alison Bashford, Laureate Professor in History at the University of New South Wales
Response by Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University
Chaired by Maureen Raymo, Co-Founding Dean of the Climate School at Columbia University
----------------
Delivering on Net Zero
Tuesday, April 5
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
RSVP at https:harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LIzv_Hu7Rr2bFiUg3rYJBg
SPEAKER(S) Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
----------------
Getting Off Russian Gas: Implications for Germany and Europe
Tuesday, April 5
5:30 - 6:15pm CEST
RSVP at https:/email.gmfus.org/s/4434c98e8e6db288802f00e67ddb3141db242047
Jacob Kirkegaard
Moderator: Sudha David-Wilp
External Speaker: Prof. Dr. Veronika Grimm
Before Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, allies warned Germany of the risks associated with energy dependence on Russia. Now, Germany and other EU member states are hurriedly seeking ways to replace Russian fossil fuels. In his Zeitenwende speech, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a "responsible, forward-looking energy policy," but economic concerns already threaten to thwart his vision. What would be the economic effects for Germany and Europe if they wean themselves off Russian gas sooner rather than later? To discuss this question and more, we will speak with economic experts Veronika Grimm and Jacob Kirkegaard in this month's edition of #TransatlanticTuesdays. Next month, we will cover the military pillar of the Zeitenwende speech.
If you have any questions, please contact Callie Starn at CStarn@gmfus.org.
----------------
by gmoke
Fri Apr 1st, 2022 at 03:31:37 AM EST
Treehouse with "green walls, facades and rooftops, plus water features, natural light, and ventilation strategies to green the traditional office building," winning an award from the World Green Building Council
https:/www.archdaily.com/974806/ronald-lu-and-partners-competition-winning-design-re-imagines-the-w
orkplace
https:inhabitat.com/biophilic-treehouse-imagines-a-greener-office-experience
Decarbonization During Predevelopment of Modular Building Solutions - report on modular low-income housing
https:/www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/81037.pdf
hat tip and article https:cleantechnica.com/2022/02/23/net-zero-energy-blok-by-blok-lower-emissions-costs-with-net-zer
o-energy-modules
McDonald's build UK's first "net zero" restaurant - including embodied carbon
https:/www.treehugger.com/mcdonalds-net-zero-restaurant-uk-5220187
Net zero tiny home on wheels
https:www.firstlightstudio.co.nz/ohariu-tiny-home
https:www.yankodesign.com/2021/07/09/this-tiny-home-on-wheels-is-solar-powered-net-zero-solution-d
esigned-by-an-actual-architect
https:/inhabitat.com/net-zero-tiny-home-on-wheels
New Zealand eco-lodge accepts the Living Building Challenge and is a net positive building
https:/www.campglenorchy.co.nz/about-us/sustainability
https:inhabitat.com/ecolodge-camp-glenorchy-net-positive
Cacao Eco Village in Ecuador will be 3D printed from cacao waste, the first of a planned global network of sustainable smart villages -- a carbon-neutral circular economy for the cacao industry
https:/valentinogareri.com/Cacao-Eco-Village
https:inhabitat.com/3d-printing-powers-carbon-neutral-cacao-village
https:/www.dezeen.com/2022/01/17/cacao-eco-village-valentino-gareri-atelier-eco-village-3d-printed
Solar Decathlon finalists, all 55 of them (Wentworth Institute of Technology is a finalist in 3 different categories)
https:/www.solardecathlon.gov/blog/archives/5989
Net zero energy prefabricated housing modules report from NREL, Wells Fargo, and Blokable
Article: https:www.nrel.gov/news/program/2022/blok-by-blok-lower-emissions-and-costs-with-net-zero-energy-m
odules.html
Report: https:www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/81037.pdf
hat tip Martin Voelker
The Independent - Austin, TX net energy neutral 58 story tower
http://www.rhodepartners.com/projects#/the-independent/
https:inhabitat.com/solar-helps-make-austin-tower-net-energy-neutral
Sunflower Village - 3D printed net zero community
https:/valentinogareri.com/Sunflower-Village
https:inhabitat.com/3d-printing-is-behind-plans-for-futuristic-sunflower-village
Fresco Motors proposes net positive energy campus
https:/www.frescomotors.com/campus
https:inhabitat.com/fresco-motors-unveils-futuristic-energy-positive-campus
House Zero - 3D printed net zero energy house
https:/www.iconbuild.com/housezero
https:inhabitat.com/this-net-zero-house-is-full-of-possibilities-for-the-future
by gmoke
Fri Mar 25th, 2022 at 01:59:35 AM EST
I just learned that Christopher Alexander, the principal writer and force behind A Pattern Language, died on March 17. This is to remember him, someone who made me see with a new focus.
A Pattern Language of Work
earlier version written in October 1997
There are 253 patterns Christopher Alexander et alia's A Pattern Language. There are over 30 that I identify as the patterns that make for human and humane work:
9 Scattered Work 19 Web of Shopping 32 Shopping Streets 41 Work Community 42 Industrial Ribbon 43 University as a Marketplace 46 Market of Many Shops 47 Health Center 61 Small Public Squares 80 Self-Governing Workshops and Offices 81 Small Services Without Red Tape 82 Office Connections 83 Master and Apprentices 85 Shopfront Schools 86 Children's Home 87 Individually Owned Shops 88 Street Cafe 89 Corner Groceries 90 Beer Hall 91 Traveler's Inn 92 Bus Stop 93 Food Stands 101 Building Thoroughfare 146 Flexible Office Space 148 Small Work Groups 149 Reception Welcomes You 150 A Place to Wait 151 Small Meeting Rooms 152 Half-Private Office 156 Settled Work 157 Home Workshop
These patterns can be roughly assembled into four groups - work, shopping, learning, and structure:
9 Scattered Work 41 Work Community 42 Industrial Ribbon 80 Self-Governing Workshops and Offices 81 Small Services Without Red Tape 148 Small Work Groups 156 Settled Work 157 Home Workshop
19 Web of Shopping 32 Shopping Streets 46 Market of Many Shops 47 Health Center 87 Individually Owned Shops 88 Street Cafe 89 Corner Groceries 90 Beer Hall 91 Traveler's Inn 92 Bus Stop 93 Food Stands
43 University as a Marketplace 83 Master and Apprentices 85 Shopfront Schools 86 Children's Home
61 Small Public Squares 82 Office Connections 101 Building Thoroughfare 146 Flexible Office Space 149 Reception Welcomes You 150 A Place to Wait 151 Small Meeting Rooms 152 Half-Private Office
by gmoke
Fri Mar 11th, 2022 at 05:11:01 AM EST
According to this carbon countdown clock (https:/www.mcc-berlin.net/fileadmin/data/clock/carbon_clock.htm), at the current rate (1,337 tonnes per second or 42.2 gigatonnes [Gt] per year), the most CO2 we can emit to stay below 1.5ºC rise (global average surface temperature is 1.2ºC above what it was in 1880 and the annual rate of change has doubled in the last 40 years) is 400 Gt, starting from 2020, and that carbon budget will be used up by about July/August 2029.
We are at 311 Gts left as I write (3/8/22).
To stay below the 2°C threshold, the carbon budget deadline is April/May 2047. No more than 1061 Gt of CO2 emitted between now and then if we want to stay below that temperature limit.
I'd like to think there are a whole bunch of wise, dedicated people backcasting from those dates and figuring out what we can do daily, weekly, monthly in the next 7 years and a few months, 25 years and a month or two so that we don't exceed those limits. If there is, I wish there'd be a more public conversation about it.
Maybe even an even an online all the time, open source simulation/conversation, a World Game (https:/worldgameworkshop.org) where those of us all who are for the benefit of all, as my friend the ethicist Milt Raymond would say, could play out the next 7-25 years repairing the climate damage our species has done and is doing, envisioning how "To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone," as R. Buckminster Fuller, the originator of the game, said.
Fuller also wrote, "Quite clearly, our task is predominantly metaphysical, for it is how to get all of humanity to educate itself swiftly enough to generate spontaneous behaviors that will avoid extinction."
How about a global online design workshop on a climate successful 2029 or 2047? Just as a thought experiment.
by gmoke
Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 at 04:46:41 AM EST
I met Ray Anderson in 1996 at a conference about The Natural Step (https:/thenaturalstep.org), an environmental action framework from Sweden. He had founded Interface (http://www.interface.com/US/en-US/homepage), a carpet tile manufacturer, in 1973 and built it into one "of the world's largest manufacturers of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications and a leading producer of commercial broadloom and commercial fabrics."
In 1994 he started the company on Mission Zero (https:www.interface.com/US/en-US/about/mission/Our-Mission), zero environmental impact by 2020 because, he said, his grandchildren started getting on him about environment, pollution, ecology. He listened, took a good, long look at what he was doing, and realized he was a pirate, robbing resources and giving nothing back but waste and indigestible detritus.
So he started the company on Mission Zero, the promise to eliminate any negative impact the company has on the environment by the year 2020. They did by 2019.
At that meeting in 1996, Anderson said that Interface was working on seven aspects: eliminating waste; eliminating emissions; renewable energy; closed loop recycling; resource efficient transportation (which may he thought might be the most difficult); and sensitivity - teaching sustainability (using the example of hiring a family therapist at the Interface factory to help keep workers from bringing problems at home to work [and vice versa?] and citing the resulting growth in production and morale); and finally, redesigning commerce. For Ray Anderson, the "prototypical company of the 21st century will take nothing from the Earth, do no harm, be just, and do well by doing good." It is interesting to note that the Hippocratic Oath is "First do no harm" and that the first precept of Buddhism, according to Gary Snyder, is "Do no unnecessary harm."
Now that Interface is living with zero negative impact it has launched its next mission, Climate Take Back, a net positive mission:
https:/www.interface.com/US/en-US/sustainability/climate-take-back-en_US
They intend to do it by
Live zero
Love carbon
Lead the industrial re-revolution
Let nature cool
Ray Anderson told us back in 1996, "I think the Earth needs a miracle. We can be that miracle."
He certainly was.
Ray Anderson wrote Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model (1998) and Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose: Doing Business by Respecting the Earth (2009) which was released as Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist (2011).
by gmoke
Mon Feb 28th, 2022 at 03:20:58 AM EST
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.
This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).
A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in making it happen, if it hasn't already been done.
If anyone knows whether such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.
Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
-----------------
Conferences
-----------------
Climate Implications of Computing & Communications Workshop
Thursday, March 3 - Friday, March 4
https:/www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-implications-of-computing-communications-workshop-registration-
243650744937
This workshop focuses on exploring initiatives that can potentially lower the climate impacts of the computing and communications sectors.
About this event
When you register for March 3rd, you will receive access to BOTHMarch 3rd and 4th virtual links, and be registered for both days.
This virtual two-day event (March 3 & 4) will feature discussions and opportunities for collaboration with MIT faculty and industry leaders during multiple sessions. The demand for computing and wireless communications technologies is expected to increase significantly, resulting in a considerable impact on the planet. The MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and MIT Schwarzman College of Computing are hosting a workshop to explore initiatives that could lower the climate impacts of the computing and communications (e.g. telecommunications) sectors.
Topics will include:
Algorithms and custom hardware for efficient computing
Wireless, networked, and distributed systems
Energy-efficient sources and delivery systems
Materials and hardware for new architectures
Confirmed speakers include:
Takashi Ando, Principal Research Staff Member, IBM Research
Ahmad Bahai, Chief Technology Officer, Texas Instruments
Bill Dally, Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President of Research, NVIDIA
Jeff Dean, Senior Vice President, Google Research and Google Health
Dario Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, IBM
Evgeni Gousev, Senior Director, Qualcomm
Helen Greiner, CEO, Tertill; Co-Founder, iRobot
Heidi Hemmer, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Verizon
Sam Naffziger, Senior Vice President, Corporate Fellow, and Product Technology Architect, AMD
Heike Riel, IBM Fellow, Head Science & Technology, Lead IBM Research Quantum Europe, IBM Research
MIT faculty participation includes:
Jesús del Alamo, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Joel Emer, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Song Han, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
David Perreault, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Vivienne Sze, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Bilge Yildiz, Nuclear Science and Engineering
EVENT AGENDA:
March 3 | Day 1 of Workshop
10:00 - 11:30: The climate impacts of computing and communications
Welcome: Anantha Chandrakasan, Dean of the MIT School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Moderator: Vivienne Sze, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Speakers: Dario Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research & Jeff Dean, Senior Vice President of Google Research and Google Health
11:30 - 11:45: Break
11:45 - 12:45: Algorithms for efficient computing
Moderator: Song Han, Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Speakers: Helen Greiner, Co-Founder of iRobot and CEO of Tertill & Evgeni Gousev, Senior Director, Qualcomm
12:45 - 1:00: Break
1:00 - 2:00: Custom hardware for efficient computing
Moderator: Joel Emer, Professor of the Practice in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Speakers: Bill Dally, Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President of Research of NVIDIA & Ahmad Bahai, CTO of Texas Instruments
March 4 | Day 2 of Workshop
10:00 - 11:15: Wireless, networked, and distributed systems
Moderator: Muriel Medard, Cecil H. Green Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Speaker: Heidi Hemmer, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Verizon
11:15 - 11:30: Break
11:30 - 12:30: Energy-efficient systems
Moderator: David Perreault, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Speaker: Sam Naffziger, AMD Senior Vice President, Corporate Fellow, and Product Technology Architect
12:30 - 12:45: Break
12:45 - 2:00: Hardware for new architectures
Moderator: Bilge Yildiz, Breene M. Kerr (1951) Professor in the Departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at MIT
Panelists: Jesús del Alamo, Donner Professor and Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT; Takashi Ando, Principal Research Staff Member, IBM Research; and Heike Riel, IBM Fellow, Head Science & Technology, Lead IBM Research Quantum Europe, IBM Research
------------------
Soil Carbon Storage: Combating Climate Change From the Ground Up
Friday, March 25
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM EDT
https:www.eventbrite.com/e/soil-carbon-storage-combating-climate-change-from-the-ground-up-registr
ation-253163929127
Cost: $0 - $70
Event Information
The Soil and Water Conservation Society Southern New England Chapter (SWCS SNEC) is proud to present our 2022 Annual Winter Conference.
About this event
Join soil scientists and environmental professionals from across New England on Friday, March 25th at SNEC's annual Winter Conference. We are very pleased to announce Dr. Rattan Lal as our keynote speaker. Dr. Lal is a globally renowned soil scientist whose research ranges from regenerative agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, soil restoration, natural resource management, and global food security. Lal received the Glinka World Soil Prize in 2018, the World Food Prize in 2020, the Good Will Ambassador of IICA in 2020, and the Padma Shri Award in 2021.
Dr. Lal will be joined by several presenters representing all angles of soil conservation who will dive into topics like blue carbon, carbon credits, regenerative agriculture, soil productivity, and climate change regulations and mitigation. Participants of this year's conference are eligible to receive continuing education credits and will also have the opportunity to network with other attendees. Secure your spot and register today! Email info@swcssnec.org if you have any questions.
Editorial Comment: Geotherapy not geoengineering, please
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2021/04/geotherapy-not-geoengineering-please.html
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Climate Change & Ethics : Where are we?
March 25 and 26
http://ethics.iit.edu/ClimateChangeEthics
https:www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-ethics-where-are-we-a-virtual-symposium-tickets-22537303
5817
A virtual symposium hosted by Elisabeth Hildt and Kelly Laas of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology.
In light of the slow progress being made to mitigate climate change, there is a need to reflect on the ethical considerations at play. How can ethics help structure the discussion and facilitate climate justice?
This symposium seeks to engage stakeholders in a debate around the ethical assumptions implicit in our discussions and actions around climate change.
This event will be held virtually, and there will be no charge for participation. To register, visit our Eventbrite site.
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Lecture Series
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Yale Energy Justice Speaker Series: Spring 2022
Mondays at 2:30 pm EST
https:cbey.yale.edu/programs/yale-energy-justice-speaker-series-spring-2022
This spring, the Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ) and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) are joining forces in an effort to raise awareness on energy justice and bring the voices of experts in the field to the public.
Join us on Mondays at 2:30 pm EST for this public speaker series exploring the multifaceted and exciting role of justice in the clean energy transition!
The Yale School of the Environment will host its inaugural Energy Justice course in the spring of 2022, co-led by Yale energy economics professor, Ken Gillingham, and by Yale law and environmental justice professor, Gerald Torres. The course will feature experts from industry, government, and non-profits. Through a collaborative approach, YCEJ and CBEY are making some course lectures and all guest speaker components of the course available outside of Yale as part of this speaker series. All are welcome to attend.
Energy justice refers to the goal of achieving equity in the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remedying social, economic, and health impacts on those disproportionately harmed by the way we produce and consume energy. This series will draw from multiple disciplines, including but not limited to law, sociology, anthropology, and economics, and will cover broad topics on policy and regulation, community advocacy, housing, transportation, labor, utilities, and more. Details will be added here as speakers and dates are confirmed.
Dates and registration links will be made available on this page as we go through the semester. You can see the current schedule below.
March 7 - Intersection of Energy Justice and Labor/Workforce Issues - Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council
March 14 - Energy Insecurity and Energy Justice: Two sides of a Coin - Diana Hernandez, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University
March 28 - Housing and Energy Justice - Donnel Baird, CEO of Bloc Power
April 4 - Energy Justice in Philanthropy - Danielle Deane, Director of Equitable Climate Solutions, Bezos Earth Fund
April 11 - Energy Justice and Public Health - Surili Patel, Vice President, Metropolitan Group
April 18 - Energy Poverty and Global Justice Issues - Narasimha Rao, Yale
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Negotiating at the Brink : How Does the World Solve the Climate Crisis?
March 3, March 10, March 17
https:www.eventbrite.com/e/negotiating-at-the-brink-how-does-the-world-solve-the-climate-crisis-ti
ckets-272491257687
To address the politics of climate change the UBC Centre for Japanese research hosts a 3-part series on COP26 and the environmental crisis
About this event
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges our world has ever faced, already devastating our environment, economy, and our health. The difficulty of addressing climate change is that it requires global coordination. World leaders have made attempts through conferences and accords but the proposed measures will not stop global temperatures from rising above 1.5 ℃--the limit set by the International Panel on Climate Change to avoid the worst effects of climate change. This has pitted climate activists who demand more robust climate governance against state actors who must balance environmental concerns with other political agendas. To address the politics of climate change, the Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research at the UBC Centre for Japanese research, in collaboration with the International Relations StudentAssociation (IRSA), will host a three-part series event in March.
Part 1: Climate Summit Legacy: Ambition and Unmet Goals, COP26 Retrospective [Remote: ZOOM ONLY]
March 3rd, 2022
12:30PM - 14:00PM PST / 15:30PM - 17:00PM EST
20:30PM - 22:00 PM UTC / 21:30PM - 23:00PM CET
March 3rd, 2022The first event will provide a critical evaluation of the outcomes of COP26, giving a multi-level analysis of implications, with a special focus on its impact on the Asia-Pacific region. This will be led by highly esteemed scholars and professors such as professor Michael Small, speaking of the strengths and weaknesses of the climate conference in creating a more sustainable future.
Discussant: Yves Tiberghien (Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research at the Institute of Asian Research)
Speakers:
Jennifer Allan (key UK expert on COP 26) (TBC)
Michael Small (expert on Global Governance and Climate policy)
Miranda Schreurs (expert on Japan/China and EU) (TBC)
Karolina Lagercrantz (IHEID Geneva, MA student)
Sandeep Pai (Senior Associate of Energy Security and Climate Change Program at CSIS)
Part 2: Global Leadership or Status Quo Proponent?: Japan at the COP 26[REMOTE: ZOOM ONLY]
5:30PM - 7PM PST / 8:30PM - 10:00PM EST; March 10th, 2022
10:30AM - 12:00AM JST; March 11th, 2022
The second event will focus on the Japanese environmental agenda. Japan has played a leading role in climate change policy in the past. However, after making some bold commitments toward carbon neutrality in 2050, Japan appears to play a more defensive role at COP 26. What are the key drivers behind climate innovation and the energy status quo inJapan? This panel brings together leading experts, civil society leaders, and a top political leader to discuss Japan's critical role in addressing the global climate emergency."
Speakers:
Dr. Hiroshi Ohta (Waseda University)
Dr. Masako Konishi (WWF Japan) (TBC)
Dr. Kameyama Yasuko (NIES Japan, Social System Division Director) (TBC)
Dr. Llewelyn Hughes (Crawford School of Public Policy, scholar on climate policy inJapan) (TBC)
Part 3: Future Paradigm for Climate Change Movement[HYBRID: ZOOM AND IN-PERSON]
5:30PM - 7PM PST / 8:30PM - 10:00PM EST; March 17th, 2022
9:30AM - 11:00AM JST; March 18th, 2022
The third event of the series will cover the normative considerations of the future of climate justice. We will primarily focus on young activists and students, as well as indigenous speakers who are involved in the climate movement, such as Anika Kurebayashi. They will address what climate justice means and what actions need to be taken to create a just future for our planet.
Moderator: Meghan Wise (UBC Climate Hub)
Anika Kurebayashi (Youth climate activist in Japan), Japan)
Eden Luymes (UBC Political MA candidate) (TBC)
Dr. Yolanda Lopez (Environmental Science Specialist and Maya Community Expert)
Detmer Kremer (Policy and Communications Officer, Protection Approaches)
Khelsilem Rivers (Council Chairperson of the Squamish Nation) (TBC)
'Qátuw̓ as Jessica Brown (Haíłzaqv Climate Action) (TBC)
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by gmoke
Mon Feb 21st, 2022 at 03:30:17 AM EST
This is a view from USAmerica where I see little discussion of the energy aspects of the Ukraine/Russia situation:
The impending (2/20/22) invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's Russia is, at least in part, an energy war. Certainly, he is using the methane Russia sells to the EU and neighboring countries as a weapon. Russia supplies a third to a half of the gas the EU burns and this is a strategic and economic fact that has to be taken into consideration by all sides. Thus, reducing Russian energy dependence (and increasing energy independence) would reduce Putin's leverage and could also reduce greenhouse gases, increase energy efficiency, save money on the costs of fuel while benefitting local, national economies as well. If done wisely.
If the worst case scenario plays out and EU and neighboring countries lose up to half their gas supply, we should remember that, for example, USAmerica produced about 92.9 quadrillion btu's in 2020 (and has been bouncing between 90-100 quads since the year 2000) but about two thirds of that energy, about 62.3 quads, is "rejected energy," does no useful work, is lost in transmission, distribution, friction, and systems inefficiencies. That's quite a lot of slack, even with Carnot efficiencies.
Source: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/energy/us/Energy_US_2020.png
by gmoke
Wed Feb 9th, 2022 at 06:44:52 PM EST
Boskone is the annual science fiction convention of New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) and the oldest science fiction/fantasy/horror [SF/F/H] convention in New England. Boskone is an entirely fan volunteers operation.
Boskone 59
February 18-20, 2022
Westin Boston Seaport District
$70 - $10
RSVP at https://boskone.org
Here are some of the talks and panels that caught my eye.
Friday, February 18, 2022
2:00 PM
VIRTUAL: Climate Change Mitigation
Arkady Martine, Karl Schroeder, Les Johnson (moderator), Thiago Ambrosio Lage, Vandana Singh
What real steps can we take to slow, then stop, the climate catastrophes already wrecking our civilization? Fossil fuel enthusiasts cheerfully propose humungo geoengineering experiments on the only planet we have: like injecting sulfur dioxide (a major pollutant) into the upper atmosphere for (temporary) cooling. (Opponents call for injecting fossil fuel executives into the atmosphere instead.) Will mega-scale investment in energy-efficient technology and renewables, plus planetary remediation of forests and oceans work instead? If not these, what? If not now, when?
VIRTUAL: New Ways to Think About Media Rights
Ada Palmer, Cerece Rennie Murphy, Cory Doctorow, Malka Older, Scott Drakeford (moderator)
Creatives have been conditioned to seek copyrights on everything they produce, attempting to tightly restrict their use. However, some non-copyright media rights approaches may still hold value for creators -- while also actually improving their share of the income generated by their work. We take a look at what these approaches may entail, and how they might mutually benefit creators, publishers/studios, and readers/viewers/fans.
3:00PM
VIRTUAL: OneHome: Experiencing the Sight of Earth as an Astronaut
Jean Pierre Goux
Astronauts in orbit have experienced a profound love for the Earth and felt that we all share one home. It is called the "Overview Effect" and it changed them forever. Using unique Earth images taken from 1 million miles away by NASA, the idea is to bring the overview effect to millions of people.
5:00 PM
VIRTUAL: Uplifting Dystopian Fiction?
Carrie Vaughn, Cory Doctorow, David McDonald, Kelly Robson, Sarah Pinsker (moderator)
Dystopias unfurl charts to navigate around real abysses -- social inequality, authoritarian governments, violence against minorities, scientific denialism, etc. Even at their darkest, moments of utopian bliss unveil themselves to push the story forward. Julia's love note to Winston in 1984; the poetry in Parable of the Sower; the power of friendship in the Broken Earth trilogy. What function do these serve in their stories? In this third year of the Plague, what other examples might bring us a little hope?
VIRTUAL: Facts Behind Folklore
Fran Wilde, Greer Gilman, Jane Yolen, Marie Brennan (moderator)
There is usually some authentic foundation to folklore -- a true story, a common belief, an insight into the human condition. This starting point becomes transformed through the storytelling process into the familiar tales we hear from parents or fairy tale books. How can we dig into these stories to find their center? How can we use that knowledge to craft stories that take on a life of their own?
7:00 PM
VIRTUAL: Apocalypse Now and Then: Pandemic-Inspired SF/F/H
D Burton, Faye Ringel (moderator), Henry Jenkins, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Tabitha Lord, Vandana Singh
How will the ongoing COVID-19 catastrophe inform apocalyptic fiction in our genres, moving forward? What will writers do with all their new material -- from greater knowledge of epidemiology to personal experiences of loss, sorrow, anger, fear, or determination to increased optimism or pessimism about the human future?
