A Pale Blue Dot under Pressure: Climate Change, Justice, and Resilience in Our Rapidly Warming World
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.
Harvard Radcliffe Institute gratefully acknowledges the Mike and Nina Patterson Catalyst Fund for Climate, which is supporting this event.
#radclimate
Climate Opportunities in US and around the World, but Not Enough Action (Harvard Gazette, 10/25/22)
Radcliffe Launches Five-Year Focus on Climate Change with Symposium of Interdisciplinary Scholars (Harvard Crimson, 10/25/22)
Event Videos
WELCOME
- Edo Berger, codirector of the science program at Harvard Radcliffe Institute; professor of astronomy, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
FRAMING REMARKS: CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACTS
- Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter, New York Times
- Discussant: Dustin Tingley, professor of government, Harvard Faculty
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES 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)
- J. 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
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
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
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
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
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
