Open Classroom Spring 2013
Northeastern University
Open Classroom
Climate Change. Challenges. Solutions.
Wednesdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
January 9, 2013 through April 19, 2013
West Village F 020
Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Free and Open to the Public
Led by Matthias Ruth, Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Civil and Environmental Engineering; Joan Fitzgerald, Interim Dean, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and author of Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development (Oxford Univ. Press) and Douglas Foy, President of Serrafix Corporation and formerly President of the Conservation Law Foundation.
Climate change is back on the public radar screen, yet how we respond to it remains controversial. Among the questions we will address are: How much do humans influence climate change? To what extent will greenhouse gas emissions need to be curbed, and how? Or, is it too late to make a difference and should we begin to adapt to new climate conditions? What is the relative role of renewable and nuclear energy as clean alternatives to fossil fuels? How is the military responding to the threat of climate change? This course will explore these and many other questions about climate change - from the perspectives of science, technology, policy, law and ethics and through the voices of leaders from the research and practitioner communities.
Among our guest speakers are:
- Frank Ackerman, Senior Economist, Synapse Energy Economics, and a founder of Dollars and Sense Magazine. Served as director of the Stockholm Environment Institute’s Climate Economics Group. Speaking on the Mitigation of Climate Change.
- James Anderson, Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Principal Investigator of the Anderson Research Group on the Chemistry and Physics of Climate and Earth System Change at Harvard University. Speaking on the science of climate change.
- Molly Anderson, Partridge Chair in Food and Sustainable Agriculture Systems, College of the Atlantic. Speaking on Food Security and Climate Change.
- Larry Atkinson, Director, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative and the Samuel and Fay Slover Professor of Oceanography in the Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Old Dominion University. Speaking on Adaptation to Climate Change.
- Allen Biehler, Distinguished Service Professor of Transportation Systems and Policy at the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University and Executive Director of CMU’s University Transportation Center. Adjunct Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in the Engineering College at Carnegie Mellon University, and former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department Transportation. Speaking on Transportation and Climate Change.
- Armond Cohen, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force, founded and led the Conservation Law Foundation's Energy Project, was judicial clerk for the late
- Harlington Wood, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals, served on the Policy Subcommittee of the National Petroleum Council's 2011 North American Resource Development Review. Speaking on Geoengineering and Climate Change.
- Sonia Hamel, An advisor to governments and foundations on energy, transportation, and climate change policy. Past director of Air Policy and Planning in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and special assistant in the Office for Commonwealth Development. Speaking on Governance and Climate Change.
- Richard Lester, Japan Steel Industry Professor and Head, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Co-Chair, Industrial Performance Center at MIT. Speaking on Fracking and Fission.
- Mindy Lubber, President and founding board member of Ceres and director of Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk. Speaking on Economy and Business and Climate Change.
- Lewis Milford, President and founder of Clean Energy Group and the Clean Energy States Alliance. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. Speaking on Renewable Energy.
- Stephanie Pollack, Professor of Practice in Law and Public Policy, Associate Director, Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy. Speaking on Transportation and Climate Change.
- John Reilly, Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Center for Environmental Policy Research, Center for Environmental Policy Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Speaking on Food Security and Climate Change.
