The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University

Climate change is contributing to longer and more intense #wildfire seasons. So what does more wildfire smoke mean for our #health? What can people do to protect themselves? Learn more from Loretta Mickley, a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences:

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of moderating a Harvard University Climate Action Week panel with some of the world's best climate journalists -- Hannah Fairfield (NYT), Tristan Ahtone (Grist), Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post) and Jason Margolis (Boston Globe). We talked about best practices, the challenges that lie ahead, how different newsrooms can create engaging, impactful climate stories, and more. Happy to now share the full recording. Thanks to David Trilling from The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for co-organizing this great discussion. https://lnkd.in/eAhGjGHX

Headed back to the Harvard University campus? Check out "freecycling" events on Thursday August 22nd and Thursday August 29th to drop off unwanted, usable items and browse for new items. More details here, courtesy of the Harvard Office for Sustainability: https://bit.ly/4dPDzH1 #sustainability #campus #harvard

Happy #WorldHoneyBeeDay! 🐝🌼 Today, we celebrate the vital role these little pollinators play in protecting biodiversity. Follow the Harvard Smith Campus Center's beehive journey here: https://lnkd.in/esBYisJn

Heading to #ClimateWeekNYC? Join Harvard on September 24th for a day of panels and networking! Register here: https://bit.ly/4dlAe2O 📢 1:00 PM Panel: Time to Think About Solar Geoengineering? Featuring: ➡️ Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of "Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future" and "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History," Journalist, and Visiting Fellow at Williams College ➡️ Holly Jean Buck, Salata-Harvard Radcliffe Institute Climate Justice Fellow, Harvard University; Assistant Professor, Department of Environment and Sustainability, University at Buffalo; Author of "After Geoengineering" ➡️ Dan Schrag, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology; Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering; Co-Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Harvard University. 📢 3:00 PM Panel: Rising Methane: Opportunities for U.S. Action. Featuring: ➡️ Daniel Jacob, Vasco McCoy Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Harvard University ➡️ Carrie Jenks, Executive Director, Environmental & Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School 📢 4:00 PM Panel: Is it Already Too Hot to Work? Featuring ➡️ Reema Nanavaty, Director, Self Employed Women’s Association ➡️ Caroline Buckee, Professor of Epidemiology, and faculty-lead of the Salata Institute South Asia Climate Adaptation Cluster, Harvard University ➡️ Sharon Block, Professor of Practice; Executive Director, Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard Law School ➡️ Moderated by Satchit Balsari, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and of Global Health and Population; Director, Harvard Mittal Institute Climate Platform 🎉 Join us from 5:30 - 7:00 PM for a networking reception featuring Salata Institute Director and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, Jim Stock. Connect with leading climate experts, policymakers, researchers, and industry professionals dedicated to advancing sustainability and climate solutions.

I am delighted to be returning to Harvard University to teach again this fall. Learn more about the class here: https://lnkd.in/eyvppYsz My course will be offered at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in the Department of Urban Planning and Design with open cross-registration. Last spring, we had a great crew of students from many degree programs including public policy, urban planning, public administration, real estate, public health, architecture, international development, and more. In my course, students will focus on understanding the work of climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities, with particular emphasis on equity and implementation. They will also get regular mentorship and coaching, reflect on their plans for a meaningful climate-focused career, and develop their own personal theory of change for how to advance climate action in their field of interest. A major component is a student-directed, faculty-advised project to support exploration of a specific climate topic - and a potential climate career. Previous projects have focused on low-income solar deployment, energy-efficient redevelopment of public housing, university decarbonization strategies, workforce development for building retrofits, climate-informed economic analyses, community-driven climate migration, public-private adaptation financing, equity-centered building decarbonization, and more. They will also have an opportunity to hear from leading practitioners, including - Brian Swett, Chief Climate Officer of the City of Boston. Brian is charged with spearheading the Mayor's bold agenda on climate action throughout the City while advancing Boston's commitment to sustainability, resilience, and environmental justice. Bryan Garcia, President and CEO of the Connecticut Green Bank. The “green bank model” is demonstrating how smarter use of public resources can attract more private investment in the green economy – reducing energy burden on families and businesses, creating jobs in local communities, increasing the deployment of clean and resilient energy, improving public health, and confronting climate change. Gustavo Quiroga, Executive Director of LISC Massachusetts. Gustavo joined LISC Boston in December 2023 after more than 15 years of leadership across private and public sectors leading community-focused real estate, economic development, and sustainability initiatives. Maggie Super Church, Director of Policies and Programs, Massachusetts Community Climate Bank, at MassHousing. Super Church leads the development and implementation of financing solutions for single-family and multi-family housing that advance the Commonwealth's building sector decarbonization goals. I will remain in my current full-time role at EPA, while I take on this part-time role at Harvard - and look forward to being back on campus each Friday this fall. #harvard #climate #equity #mit

New in Nature Medicine: "Last year, Harvard Medical School voted to approve a climate curriculum theme, becoming one of the first universities in which this topic will be embedded into all four years of its regular clinical curriculum.." “We are walking through all of the curriculum and ensuring that there’s a climate framework in every class,” says Gaurab Basu of Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the article. “When they talk about asthma, for example, we make sure we’re talking about air pollution. When they talk about malaria, we make sure they understand how global warming will impact the distribution of mosquito-borne illnesses.” Read more about Harvard Medical School's breakthrough climate curriculum efforts and the broader trend of climate in medical education in this recent Nature Medicine article: https://lnkd.in/e9-CtnCD

“Everybody spontaneously broke into a cheer," says Steven Wofsy, Harvard University, recalling the MethaneSAT launch. Syris Valentine and Naveena Sadasivam illustrate the data revolution ahead with GHGSAT, Carbon Mapper, MethaneSAT and others. Read more Grist 👇 https://lnkd.in/degdPX6U

Interested in urban EV charging? Please vote for our @SXSW panel proposal, “Charging into the Future.”  The panel will feature Oslo’s Sture Portvik, Austin’s Cameron Freberg Freburg, and L.A.’s Michael Samulon on their cities’ work to make public charging easy and spur EV adoption.    Public voting accounts for 30% of the SXSW panel selection process--ensuring that the panels will interest large audiences.  Anyone can support the “Charging into the Future” session by casting a vote at the top right corner (below SIGN IN) at https://lnkd.in/e7SbaWYD before August 18. Voters will need to create an SXSW account or sign in if they have one. Voting is open through August 18. #SXSW #EV #ClimateChange

On International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we're revisiting two insightful panel discussions from Harvard Climate Action Week: In one session, titled "The Importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge," leaders discussed how two of the New England Tribal Nations, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, work to preserve and protect the natural resources of their communities through their resource management offices and traditional practices. “Native American tribal members are stepping up and serving ourselves in the [Environmental Justice] realm by holding land in trust…. this is what Native Land Conservancy is doing,” said Leslie Jonas, who serves on the nonprofit’s board of directors as treasurer. “If we don’t have space, land, and water for our children and our culture, we can’t transmit our culture [to the next generations].” Watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/ef77XvNb In another session, titled "Indigenous Leadership in Raising Global Climate Ambition," Indigenous leaders from Gwich’in, Saami, and Swinomish tribes delved into the intricate ways in which these communities are affected by climate change and highlighted their potential to spearhead equitable solutions. "To the South of the Gwich'in Nation, we have depended for 14,000-plus years on king salmon. We haven't been able to fish... on the Yukon river for the last four or five years because of the collapse of the king salmon fisheries," said Evon Taa’ąįį Peter, Board Member of Gwich'in Council International. "That's a major cultural resource but also a part of our food security." Watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/ePbM7p7t #IndigenousPeoplesDay #IndigenousPeoples