A Pale Blue Dot under Pressure: Climate Change, Justice, and Resilience in Our Rapidly Warming World

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Climate change is one of the, if not the, most significant threats facing our planet today. It affects life on Earth in countless known, and many still unknown, ways—from atmospheric health to wellness; natural ecosystems to small businesses; global security to neighborhood food insecurity; and international policy to individual decision-making—while exacerbating underlying patterns of inequality. 

The Mike and Nina Patterson Science Symposium will explore these interconnected issues through sessions investigating global climate systems and climate disasters, public policy, health, climate justice and activism, and methods of adaptation and remediation.

Free and open to the public.

Harvard Radcliffe Institute gratefully acknowledges the Mike and Nina Patterson Catalyst Fund for Climate, which is supporting this event.

Join Us in Person

To attend in person, each individual will need to register.

Join Us Online

To view this event online, individuals will need to register via Zoom. For instructions on how to join online, see the How to Attend a Radcliffe Event on Zoom webpage.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing a link and password for this meeting.

Live closed captioning will be available for the webinar.

Program

9:15AM    
Welcome       

Edo Berger, codirector of the science program at Harvard Radcliffe Institute; professor of astronomy, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

9:30 AM             
Framing Remarks: Climate Change and Impacts    

Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter, the New York Times

Discussant: Dustin Tingley, professor of government, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; deputy vice provost for advances in learning, Harvard University 

10:15 AM       
Global Perspective and Climate Systems

Debra Roberts, cochair, Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and head, Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa)

James Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences and director of the atmospheric sciences program, University of Georgia

Moderator: Hong Yang, 2022–2023 William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Charles J. Smiley Chair Professor of Science and Technology, Bryant University

11:15 AM           
Break

11:30 AM       
Climate Justice and Activism

Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability, Union of Concerned Scientists

Autumn Peltier, global Indigenous rights and water activist; chief water commissioner, Anishinabek Nation (Canada)

Heather McTeer Toney, vice president, community engagement, Environmental Defense Fund

Moderator: Tamarra James-Todd, Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Reproductive Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

12:45 PM          
Lunch Break and Student Poster Session

2 PM
Welcome Back and Remarks

James H. Stock, vice provost for climate and sustainability, Harvard University; Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and member of the faculty, Harvard Kennedy School

2:10 PM
Health

Theresa Crimmins, research professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona; director, USA National Phenology Network

Amruta Nori-Sarma, assistant professor, Environmental Health Department, Boston University School of Public Health

Nick Watts, chief sustainability officer, National Health Service (United Kingdom)

Moderator: Aaron Bernstein, interim director, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; assistant professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

3:25 PM             
Break

3:40 PM             
Adaptation and Remediation

Klaus Lackner, director, Center for Negative Carbon Emissions and professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University

Lis Mullin Bernhardt, deputy head, Freshwater, UN Environment Programme

Sanjay Seth, former climate resilience program manager, City of Boston

Moderator: Somini Sengupta

4:55 PM          
Close of Program

Immaculata De Vivo, codirector of the science program, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School; and professor of epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Organizer

Harvard Radcliffe Institute