Thursday, September 22, 2016

An Open Forum to mark in your agenda:
Greening the Global (and Massachusetts) Economy
with Dr. Robert Pollin
Co-director, Political Economy Research Institute and Professor of Economics, UMass Amherst 
Author: Greening the Global Economy (M.I.T. Press)
WHEN: Wednesday, October 5 7pm – 9pm
WHERE: Cambridge Friends Meeting House
5 Longfellow Park (off Brattle Street out of Harvard Square)
Come hear Robert Pollin lay out his economic plan for how we can meet the carbon reduction targets that will actually avert climate catastrophe, generate vast numbers of new jobs and protect those employed by fossil fuel energy companies.
Great things are happening in Massachusetts. And across the country. Are they enough to stop catastrophic climate change? How would we know? What would be required to actually bring about success?
Is it possible to prevent climate change as long as the U.S. engages in constant war and preparation for war? The U.S. Pentagon with its wars, bases and weaponry is the largest single producer of carbon emissions on the face of the earth. And a major goal of these wars is to protect the constant expansion of the global economy and the fossil fuel energy system that powers it.
In addition to Dr. Pollin’s talk/discussion we will have a brief presentation on how climate and anti-war activists can connect their issues
And Emily Kirkland of 350MA will join us to discuss important climate initiatives and opportunities for action this fall.
More Info: 617-354-2169, info@masspeaceaction.org

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Monday, May 9, 2016

Earth Day Eco-event with Senator Tarr



Senator Bruce Tarr joins Earth Day Eco-event
$1,000 solar electricity donation to Action, Inc. & Premier of new TV show, Ecolibrium


April 26, 2016 (Gloucester, MA) Senator Bruce Tarr joined the Earth Day event on April 22nd at the Cape Ann Community Cinema. Gloucester resident John Livermore presented Action, Inc. with a donation of $1,000 of clean solar electricity for two of their clients. Livermore created the first renovated home in Massachusetts, and one of the first in the U.S., to produce more energy than it uses. Livermore donated the “banked” electricity, from the credit on his family’s National Grid electric account, to help two local families in need. 

Renovating homes to be energy producers is a powerful tool in our national toolkit to reduce carbon pollution and achieve climate goals. Livermore says, “We are thrilled to be able to show that homes can be renovated to be net energy producers, that can contribute positively to their community. We are honored to make this donation to Action to help support the great work they do here in Gloucester every day.” 

“We hope that John’s generous example will set a precedent for other net positive energy innovators, working toward the creation of an ‘electricity bill credit bank’ that could help out low-income families while also helping to combat the effects of climate change,” said Action, Inc.’s Vice President for Energy Services Elliott Jacobson.

“This donation will go a long way to help two families who, like so many others on Cape Ann, face the high cost of living in this area and struggle to keep up with basic needs like housing, heating, and food expenses,” said Action, Inc. Executive Director Peggy Hegarty-Steck. “Action works with families facing hardships every day, and we’re very appreciative of the support we receive from community members like John.” 

Event participants had the opportunity to view the first episode of the new TV series, Ecolibrium. This dynamic show shares stories of sustainability found across the greater Boston area, and the first 20-minute episode is about the Livermore’s net positive energy home in Gloucester. The show is produced by award winning filmmaker, Margo Attaya and hosted by Dr. Paul J. Wolff III, a celebrated educator and eco-entrepreneur. Ecolibrium is produced in association with Wincam (Winchester Cable Access Media) and provides viewers with insight and information about cutting-edge projects, inventions, businesses, community-based outreach, activism, technologies and entrepreneurial ventures associated with sustainability.

Livermore is launching a non-profit organization, Healthy Home Healthy Planet (H3P), whose mission is to empower people to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their quality of life. For more information about H3P, and to see the 10-minute video on the Livermore family’s innovative renovation of their 1970’s Gloucester home - and their quest to eliminate their energy bills and carbon footprint - please visit www.HealthyHomeHealthyPlanet.org, and see them on Facebook and YouTube.

John Livermore, Executive Director
John@HealthyHomeHealthyPlanet.org
(978) 325-1701

John Livermore presents Elliott Jacobson of Action Inc. with a solar electricity donation of $1,000

Left to right, Peggy Hegarty-Steck, John Livermore, Senator Bruce Tarr, Elliott Jacobson,
Rita Carvalho and the Action Inc. team


Premier of Ecolibrium TV, covering dynamic sustainability stories around Greater Boston

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A Student's Journey With Food

My Spring Food Journey by Johan Arango


EMR 110: The EMR of Food:
How Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights Are Parts of the Food We Eat
If you feel like having pizza for dinner, you can either use an app on your cellphone or make a call to get it delivered. It’s very easy and there’s really no need to think too much about all the activities that take place to get that piece of pizza to your door on time, with the right ingredients, and safe to be consumed.


We have a food system that excels at being convenient.


That convenience may make that system into an invisible web that we increasingly grow unaware of and could easily completely ignore.
Food systems can be very hard to understand ,especially when you start asking yourself what really happens from seed to fork. Whether is health interests, religious beliefs, economic prospects, human rights concerns, or any other reason, some of us start navigating this complex journey.


This journey may start by reading a book in the summer, followed by a series of documentaries in the fall. Through the winter, you follow the posts that your foodie friend has been publishing on Facebook, and when it’s finally spring, you go on Pinterest to get ideas to start your garden. At this point, in an already advanced level of Food Inc. inspired paranoia, you have decided that a garden is the only way you can have total control of the food you consume.


As a result of this personal search for answers, this spring I was led to the EMR of Food classroom. EMR stands for Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights. And as the name of the class states, it goes into a search on how ethnicity, migration, and rights are parts of the food we eat. I found out about this class through the Food Literacy Project at Harvard, and as you can imagine from what EMR stands for, we embarked on an extensive and exciting journey.  
First, we discussed local and global food politics. We read about the power of local initiatives to bring access to healthier foods to marginalized communities. We also read about the struggle of African American farmers in the United States, and how difficult is to have a financially sustainable farm in this country. In one of our books, we had a chance to go over general aspect of food politics, and we discussed the current need for a national food policy.


We dedicated one week to bananas and their complex reality. We love them and eat a lot of them, however, there’s a sad history behind those bananas that persist up to this date. After a week of going through the bittersweet history of bananas, we took a trip to Taza Chocolate.


Sidenote: Our trip to Taza was delicious! You should go!
After four weeks, the class was always highly involved with our discussions, the readings, and the everyone of us had a valuable insight that created an amazing academic experience.


This enthusiasm was always steady and every week everyone was eager to be part of the discussion. As a matter of fact, we always ran out of time. It felt like we couldn’t get everything off our chests and had to stop right at the peak of our discussion. Therefore, we had to share our thoughts and stories with our classmates on our online group.


In our following weeks, we explored the systematic structure behind agribusiness and immigration to subsequently go over food culture and food choices.  I don’t want to go over all the content in this article, especially because I want to highly encourage you to be part of this class.


As you can see, we had a broad coverage of topics in agriculture and food production that are strongly related to sustainability.  
We often think of sustainability when we reduce the use of energy and water in our buildings. Other people may think of solar panels. Some may quickly think of fuel and cars.


Yes, those things are part of sustainability but it doesn’t stop there.
Workers’ rights and human rights are part of sustainability.


Transparency is part of sustainability.


Food trade policies have a strong impact on achieving sustainability.


Providing healthy foods to our kids in schools, that’s sustainability!
By the way, did you know that pizza is considered a vegetable in school lunch plans because it has tomato sauce?


Have you ever wonder where to get a food product that is affordable, healthy, that doesn’t harm the environment, that is fair to the farmers and everyone involved in the production chain?
That in my mind is the definition of a sustainable product.
Whether is edible or not.


Perhaps, it’s really hard to find it right now.


Perhaps, a lot of people are opposed to it because is not easy to achieve or because it goes against their economic interests.


Change is difficult but this is our job and commitment as students and future professionals in the field of Sustainability.


We wouldn’t be part of this program if we didn’t believe change is possible.
For those students or members of our Harvard community who are interested in food systems, I encourage you to join this joyful stimulating academic adventure with Dr. Tessa Lowinske Desmond.  

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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Chef by Day, Sustainability Student by Night

Ploy Khunisorn, Director of Event Management of the Harvard Extension Environmental Club, is completing her Master’s Degree in Sustainability in this May at the Harvard University Extension School. She is the founder of Ploy’s Kitchen cooking show and also the Program Manager for the culinary arts, music, science, history, contemporary issues, literature, and writing programs at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE). She is working on her Consulting with Clients for Sustainability Solutions Capstone as her capstone track to complete the degree. She is offering a new class, “Sustainability 101” this summer at the CCAE as part of the consulting project. She is creating the Sustainability series, “Sustainability in Your Own Backyard: Let’s Go Green.” The series included Sustainability 101, Backyard Agriculture: Experience from Homegrown 30, Building A Small Raised Bed for Gardening, Growing Fresh Herbs, and Cooking with Fresh Herbs. She is going to expand more sustainability hands-on courses for the fall. She is also working with the Farmers’ Market at Harvard to offer a collaborative cooking class to raise awareness about local food and local community. "I passionately love cooking and creating new recipes for fun and delicious dishes," says Ploy.
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Job and Internship Postings As of April 6, 2016

Hong Kong
Associate Director - Advisory Services, BSR
Netherlands
Multiple jobs @ Ocean Hub
Rwanda - Kigali/Nyamata
Director of Operations, EarthEnable
DC, NYC, or SF
Executive Director, Change.org Foundation
DC or SF
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Manager, Sierra Club
CA - Davis or Sacramento
Field Representative, Endangered Species Coalition (Part-time)
CA - Claremont
Program Contractor, Claremont Energy Challenge
CA - Oakland
* A few openings @ MyDomino
* CEJA Green Zones Program Manager, California Environmental Justice Alliance
CA - San Francisco
* Sustainability Coordinator, Des Architects + Engineers
* Executive Assistant & Communications Coordinator, Pacific Community Ventures
* Associate Director, Advisory Services (Information Communications Technology), BSR
CA - San Rafael
Senior Planner - Waste Management Division, Marin County
CA - Stanford
Communications Manager, Stanford University - Woods Institute For the Environment
DC - Washington
* Program Assistant, Smithsonian ForestGEO Network
* Senior Program Officer - Forests, WWF
GA - Atlanta
Deconstruction Associate, Lifecycle Building Center
IL - St. Charles
Resource Analyst, Kane-DuPage Soil and Water Conservation District
MD - Baltimore
Sustainability Coordinator, Goucher College
MD - Silver Spring
Director of Development, Potomac Conservancy
MN - Lonsdale
Field Technician & Crew Leader, Prairie Meadows Native Seed
NJ - Egg Harbor Township
Solar Sales Consultant, Castle Energy
NJ - Princeton
Managing Director of Development, Climate Central
NM - Albuquerque
Impact Organizer, Impact
NY - NYC
* Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future US
* CSR Director, NBCUniversal
NY - Syracuse
Executive Director, Atlantic States Legal Foundation
South Carolina - Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, and Asheville
Solar Consultants, Sol2sun
SD - Rapid City
Operations Manager, Wild Idea Buffalo Company
WA - Vancouver
Logistics & Certifications Coordinator, Organic Products Trading Company
WI - Stevens Point
Assistant/Associate Prof. of Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Good Job Sites for Sustainability / Environmental roles as well as career (transition) advice


General Environmental Job Sites

Climate Change & Energy Job Sites
*Airtricity
*Alliance To Save Energy
*American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
*American Wind Energy Association
*BP Global
*British Energy
*Cambridge Energy Research Associates
*Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
*Center for Resource Solutions
*Chevron Corporation
*Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc.
*Clean Air-Cool Planet
*Clean Edge
*Climate Investment Network for Carbon Sequestration and Sustainable Energy (CINCS)
*Connecticut Clean Energy Fund
*Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison)
*Consumer Energy Council of America
*Cool Climate Change Jobs
*D&R International
*Duke Energy
*Ecofys
*Energy Trust of Oregon
*Environmental & Energy Study Institute
*Evolution Markets LLC
*ExxonMobil
*Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
*GE Energy
*Green Energy Jobs
*Iberdrola Renewables
*MidAmerican Energy
*National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
*New Energy Finance
*Northeast Utlities Systems
*Pacific Gas & Energy (PGE)
*Pew Center for Global Climate Change
*PPM Energy
*Professional Energy Jobs
*Shell
*The Climate Group
*The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
*Trexler Climate + Energy Services, Inc. (TC+ES)
*United Illuminating 

Conservation/Ecology/Natural Resources/Wildlife Job Sites


*Alaska Conservation Foundation weekly events on behalf of Alaska WomenÕs Environmental Network (AWEN), Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE), and Alaska Conservation Alliance (ACA)
*American Fisheries Society Job Board
*City Parks Alliance
*Conservation International
*Defenders of Wildlife
*Ducks Unlimited
*Earthwatch Institute
*IUCN The World Conservation Network
*Land Trust Alliance
*Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition Newsletter
*National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
*National Wildlife Federation
*Natural Resources Conservation Science
*NatureServe
*Piedmont Environmental Council
*Pinchot Institute for Conservation
*QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment
*Rainforest Alliance
*RARE
*Sierra Club
*Society for Ecological Restoration
*Soil and Water Conservation Society
*The Conservation Fund
*The Ecological Society of America
*The Nature Conservancy
*The Society for Conservation Biology
*The Student Conservation Association
*The Trust for Public Land (TPL)
*The Wildlife Habitat Council
*The Wildlife Society
*The Wildlife Trusts (TWT)
*Wildlife Conservation Society
*World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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