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Events at Smith

Conference: American Indians & Environmental Health
April 3, 2010
In an effort to raise awareness of environmental issues affecting Native American communities, Indigenous Smith Students and Allies (ISSA) is holding an all day conference featuring speakers on topics including the history of public health, social justice, and activism with an environmental spin, with a focus on indigenous women's health. -Andrea Smith (Cherokee); founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, whose work examines the intersections or race and gender, and environmental degradation, will speak on the history of environmental racism and its affect on indigenous women. -Katsi Cook (Mohawk); midwife and environmental activist, who worked on monitoring PCBs in women's breast milk and the clean up of the St. Lawrence River, will speak on her tribe's experience and her work as an activist against environmental degradation. -Alison Montgomery('10); Smith senior whose summer research examined possible methods of uranium remediation, and the potential application of the methods on the Navajo reservation. Join us for the past, present, and future of the environmental movement on Native American lands.
McConnell 103
1:00 pm

On the Ground in Haiti: The Role of NGOs in Rebuilding
April 6, 2010
The NGO sector makes up an important part of the economic, social, and political fabric in Haiti. This panel will explore how those actors operated before, during, and after the January 12 earthquake. The panel consists of non-governmental actors of all sizes. We are excited to welcome Coco McCabe, Senior Writer for Oxfam America, Melinda Miles '98 co-founder of KONPAY (Konbit Pou Ayiti), and Reverend Stephen Davenport III of St John’s Church, Glyndon MD, and Holy Trinity Music School in Port au Prince. Each panelist will give a presentation about their experience, followed by questions from moderators and the audience. Co-moderated by Dean of Religious Life, Jennifer Walters, and Leila Tamari '11. Small reception to follow, Seelye 207 This event is hosted by the Smith College Haiti Relief committee.
Seelye 106
4:30 pm

Green Team Meeting!
Every other Thursday throughout the semester
The Green Team is a coalition of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to fostering sustainability at Smith. We work to educate and support the campus community and the college's sustainability committee in the efficient use of finite natural resources. Our work touches many areas of Smith's operations, including construction, transportation, purchasing, materials use, energy use, and waste management. Join us! All are welcome.
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Campus Center, room 102
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Events Off Campus

New Frontiers in Earth System Science: Climate Change, Mitigation Options Unintended Consequences
April 5, 2010
Professor Jerry Melillo is the Director of the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. He specializes in the understanding the impacts of human activities on the biogeochemistry of ecological systems.
Paino Lecture Room, Amherst College
4:00 pm

Film Screening: The End of the Line: Where have all the fish gone?
April 7, 2010
On current trends, by the middle of this century there will be no fish left in the sea. The consequences are terrifying: millions will die, because fish is a staple part of their diet. THE END OF THE LINE tells the story of how this has happened, who is to blame and what we can all do about it. Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, the film, narrated by Ted Danson, has been called "The Inconvenient Truth about the Oceans". Matt Rigney, author of 'In Pursuit of Giants: One Man's Global Search for the Last of the Great Fish' will share his knowledge and experiences after the film.
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Amherst College, Cole Lecture Hall (aka the Red Room) in Converse Hall
7:00 pm

Sustainable Development of Rural Communities
April 8, 2010
Marty Strange is the Policy Director for the Rural School and Community Trust, a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen rural schools and communities. He was a founder of the Center for Rural Affairs in Walthill, Nebraska, and served as its program director for 23 years. His book, Family Farming: A New Economic Vision, is one of the leading critiques of industrial agriculture. Marty received Common Cause's Public Service Achievement Award and the Rural Sociological Society's Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award, and was named by a panel of scholars and journalists commissioned by the Lincoln Journal Star as one of the 100 people who most influenced the course of the state of Nebraska in the 20th century. He is a trustee of the Vermont Land Trust and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. This talk is being sponsored by the Mount Holyoke First-Year Seminar program, the Sustainable Development Nexus, and the Miller Worley Center for the Environment.
Kendade Hall Room 305, Mount Holyoke College
4:30 pm

Events at Smith

Lunch Panel: Past, Present, and Future Global Warming Solutions!
April 9, 2010
Come learn more about clean energy initiatives and legislation happening in Massachusetts, Northampton, and on campus! Panelists include: Stan Rosenberg- Massachusetts State Senator Dano Weisbord- Environmental Sustainability Director at Smith College Todd Holland- Five College Energy Manager Representatives from Northampton's Sustainability Committee Bring your lunch. Stay as long as you can! Hosted by MASSPIRG
Carroll Room, Smith College
12:00 pm

Climate Wise Women: A Conversation on Global Women's Response to Climate Change
April 12, 2010
In April 2010, four Climate Wise Women from the South Pacific Islands, Uganda and Biloxi, Mississippi will begin a 30-city, 18-country speaking tour in the Americas. These community activists can't wait for politicians and governmental negotiators to get it right on climate change. They want straight talk on what climate change is doing to women, children, families and communities around the world. This dynamic foursome will be presented in public conversation with high-profile academics, scientists, artists, religious leaders, urban planners, rural agriculture experts, government officials and local activists to share their experiences and put forward an agenda that can be acted on now to guarantee a safe, just and sustainable future for everyone on the planet. Joining the Smith College event as guest panelists are Giovanna Di Chiro, Research Associate at the Five College Women's Studies Research Center, and Jo Comerford, Executive Director of the National Priorities Project. Erin Ailworth, who covers the business of the environment for the Boston Globe, will moderate the discussion. The Climate Wise Women Americas tour will cover ten US cities, Toronto, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro in April. The project continues to Asia/ the Pacific in Fall 2010 and to Europe in Spring 2011. Supporting the Climate Wise Women project are former Irish president Mary Robinson and her foundation Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and the Smith College Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability whose team of student volunteers have implemented the Americas tour in conjunction with the Climate Wise Women.
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Weinstein Auditorium
7:00 pm

Climate Policy: Getting to the 2050 Reductions
April 15, 2010
with Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. EPA. In this capacity, she directs the EPA's policy on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. You heard the global perspective and personal narrative about climate change from the climate wise women event earlier in the week, now join us to hear from the country's expert on climate regulation and the U.S. response to climate change.
Neilson Library Browsing Room, Smith College
12:00 pm

Smith College Committee on Sustainability Meeting!
Every other Thursday throughout the semester
The Committee on Sustainability, whose members include students, faculty, and staff, is concerned with the best long-term use of finite natural resources and the college's impact on the local, regional and global environment. Read more at the web link provided.
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Campus Center 102
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Events Off Campus

Communicating Science Symposium
April 10, 2010
Keynote Speaker: Dr. James Hansen Wellesley College Energy & Environmental Defense invites you to our inaugural symposium on Communicating Science, featuring a keynote address by Dr. James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Additional guests include: Kim Bottomly, President of Wellesley College; Richard Miller, President of Olin College; Dan Grossman, print journalist and radio producer; David Chandler, science writer and environmental journalist; and Peter Thompson, founder of NPR environmental news program Living on Earth. The symposium will bring together students, educators, scientists, and journalists in a day of dialogue and idea-generation intended to promote future understanding and collaboration. Through panel discussions and interactive workshops, we will tease out the real-life challenges of communicating scientific research to politicians, media, and the public. Our discussions will focus on climate change as one of the most controversial and urgent problems facing the world today, but our speakers will share their expertise in scientific disciplines ranging from astrophysics to immunobiology. Over the course of the day, we seek to answer questions such as: • How do we ensure effective communication of science between academics, the media, policymakers, and the public? • How can we expedite policy while ensuring its base in sound science? • How much scientific certainty is necessary before policy can be implemented? • How do journalists honor their commitment to reporting both sides of an issue while clearly conveying a near scientific consensus? • Who is responsible for ensuring the accurate transmission of science to the public? Register for this FREE event at the website. Visit the website for detailed information on schedule, directions, speaker bios, and contact information. Contact wc.commsci@gmail.com with any questions about this event!
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Wellesley College
9:00 am to 6:00 pm

Lecture: "Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition due to Automobile Emissions...
April 13, 2010
on Forest N Cycling in a Coastal Watershed." Presented by Neil D. Bettez, Ph.D., Post Doctoral Fellow, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY. Refreshments offered before the lecture at 4 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Mount Holyoke Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies.
Mount Holyoke College, Cleveland L2
4:15 pm

Featured Event

Liberation Ecology: Shedding Disempowering Ideas to Create the World We Want
April 19, 2010
A lecture by Frances Moore Lappé Activist, author and co-founder of the Small Planet Institute Polar ice is melting even faster than scientists had predicted only a few years ago, and each year we’re losing forest that covers an area as big as Greece. In only a few years, the number of hungry people worldwide has grown by a fifth, which means that hunger now harms more than a billion of us. In this lecture, Frances Moore Lappé explains how we can make a planet-wide turn toward life if we break free of a mental map—a set of reigning but misleading ideas—that disempower us, taking us down, down, down and reinforcing feelings of despair. She will discuss why nothing is more important than examining these disempowering ideas and replacing them with evidence-based ways of seeing that energize us to engage. Frances Moore Lappé is a social change and democracy activist and author, and she is the co-founder of the Small Planet Institute. This lecture is part of the Neilson-Kahn Seminar and the LSS 100 course Issues in Landscape Studies. Immediately following the lecture, Ms. Lappé will sign copies of her two most recent books, Liberation Ecology: Reframing Six Disempowering Ideas that Keep Us from Aligning with Nature, Even Our Own and Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want.
Wright Hall, Weinstien Auditorium
4:30 pm

Events at Smith

Senior Project Presentations I: Environmental Science & Policy Program
April 20, 2010
Join us to hear the final project presentations from seniors taking EVS 300 Seminar in Environmental Science and Policy. Come for lunch and stay as long as you can.
Dewey Common Room
12:00 pm