Center for the Environment

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January 2009
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Happy Green New Year!
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Tuesday, 6 January 2009. 7 p.m. Water-insoluble Neurotoxins from Cycas micronesica Recreate the Spectrum of Guamanian Neurological Diseases. Dr. Paul Yarowsky, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at University of Maryland School of Medicine. His talk will focus on the relationship of Cycas micronesica, the people on Guam, and human degenerative diseases. Cathy Kerby Room (Room CE-340), Smithsonian. Institution, National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution
Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C.

Notes: Use the Constitution Avenue entrance; wait to be escorted up. As usual, light refreshments will be served prior to and after the presentation. Free, open to the public. http://www.botsoc.org/
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Thursday, 8 January 2009. 7 p.m. Bioblitzes West and Northeast. Mr. Gary Hevel, Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution. Entomological Society of Washington. Rose Anthropology Room of the Natural History Building.

Notes: Free, open to the public. For further information, see: http://www.entsocwash.org/default.asp.
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Tuesday, 27 January 2009. 7:30 p.m. Botany Committee. Winter Fruits, Berries, Seeds, and Pods.
Native trees, shrubs, and forbs provide an abundance of fruits, berries, and seeds that support a wide variety of wildlife throughout the winter months. Botany Committee members will give a presentation on the wealth of native plants throughout the state that produce fruits, berries, and seeds that last into winter. Using live material, we will discuss identification techniques, as well as habitat requirements and distribution in the state. We will also discuss their importance to wildlife. Maryland Native Plants Society.

Note: For more information see http://www.mdflora.org/events/monthlymeeting0901.html.
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Thursday–Friday, 29–30 January 2009. Mr. John Stewart (GU College 2008) (jstewart@greencorps.org, 214-707-0340) will be at GU recruiting students for Green Corps (www.greencorps.org). If you are an interested student, please contact him.
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February
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Tuesday, 3 February 2009. Evolution of Asian-North American disjunct plants. Dr. Jun Wen, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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Wednesday–Friday, 4–6 February 2009. Green Jobs Expo. Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C. The GU CFE will have an information booth on Green Street, part of the Expo with about 30 organizations from WDC. Some exhibitors are recruiting for employees.

Note: For more information: http://www.greenjobsconference.org/site/c.rvI3IiNWJqE/
b.3820537/k.BE92/Home.htm. The Marriott Wardman Park hotel is about 500 feet from the Woodley Park metro stop.
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Thursday, 6 February 2009. Entomological Society of Washington.

Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://entsocwash.org/
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Thursday, 12 February 2009. Darwin Day. A celebration of Charles Robert Darwin’s 200th Birthday.

12:15–1:05 p.m. 262 Reiss, GU. Is Extinction Really Forever? Convergent Evolution and the Limits of Natural Selection. Talk by Professor Russell Powell, GU Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Dr. Russell Powell received his B.A. in philosophy (summa cum laude) from Binghamton University (1999), his Juris Doctor (cum laude) from NYU Law School (2002), and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University (2008). At Duke, he wrote a dissertation on contemporary problems in macroevolutionary theory. Before returning to graduate school to work toward his Ph.D., Dr. Powell worked as an attorney in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, where he specialized in mass tort and product liability litigation. Russell’s academic interests are wide-ranging and highly interdisciplinary: he has published in areas ranging from political philosophy and philosophy of science to philosophy of law and bioethics. Currently, Russell is working on the evolutionary biological implications of genetic engineering technology, in addition to the metaphysical and ethical dimensions of extinction. Both of these projects engage problems in bio-environmental ethics with the conceptual tools of philosophical biology. The overarching goal of Russell’s research is to explore the evolutionary biological future of humanity and the ways in which human technology can shape it, for better and for worse.

2–5 p.m. Darwin’s birthday cake and cupcakes, and contests for fun in the Sellinger Lounge, Leavey Center, GU.

Evolution film: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. (Cosponsored with the Department of Biology, GU Bookstore, Sigma Xi Scientific Fraternity, STIA)

Note: Free, open to the public.
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20 February. Deadline for sending polished first drafts of student papers for the GU Journal of the Environment (GUJOE) to CFE Intern William Georgia via e-mail (baseballfan95@gmail.com). See the Research part of this Website for more information.

27 February – 2 March 2009. Powershift ‘09. www.powershift09.org/splash More than 10,000 young leaders from across the country will convene for Power Shift '09 in Washington, D.C. to demand that the President and Congress pass a bold climate and energy policy that prioritizes renewable energy, green job creation, and an aggressive cap on carbon emissions. The early registration deadline is February 1, so take a moment now and contact me, Earth Day Network campus organizer, at mclaren@earthday.net or 202 518-0044.

The Power Shift '09 summit kicks off on Friday, February 27 with a press conference featuring a number of youth leaders, and culminates on Monday, March 2, with a civic action gathering on Capitol Hill where thousands of youth will flood the halls of Congress to lobby their representatives. The four-day summit will also include panels and workshops, a green career fair, legislative briefings and activist trainings.

GU’s EcoAction is sponsoring a group to go to the Power Shift Conference,
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March
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Tuesday, 3 March 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Grasses and Their Flowers. Elizabeth A. (Toby) Kellogg, Department of Biology, University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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Wednesday, 4 March 2009, 6 p.m. Direct Action and Research Training (DART) in the Career Education Center, Leavey Center to discuss careers in the field of community organizing, and to schedule interviews with students interested in empowering their communities and working for social change.
Contact: Sunil Joy, DART Network, 785-841-2680, email: sunil@thedartcenter.org, www.thedartcenter.org
www.thedartcenter.org
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Thursday, 5 March 2009. Entomological Society of Washington. Dr. Sonja J. Scheffer, SEL, USDA-ARS. Life history and phylogenetics of the galling flies — Fergusoninidae (Diptera), America’s newest fly family.

Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://entsocwash.org/
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 7:30–9 p.m. Climate Change and Its Impact in Northern Virginia. Dr. Chris Pyke, Director of Climate Change Service for CTG Energetics, Inc. Huntley Meadows Park Visitor Center, 3701 Lockheed Blvd., Alexandria, VA 22306. For more information, see www.fodm.org. Free, open to the public.

Dr. Pyke is an author and editor of the report Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay: State-of-the-science Review and Recommendations (http://www.chesapeakemeetings.com/CheMS2008/papers/W1_Pyke-etal_Climate-Change-CB_Final-Paper.pdf), commissioned by the US EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program. The report covers current understandng of the issues and consequences regarding protecting and restoring the Bay which is in poor ecological condition. The report provides a starting point for a wide-ranging discussion of opportunities for action at state, local, and personal levels.
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Monday, 16 March 2009, 7–9 p.m. ICC Auditorium. 17th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital at GU. Belonging (52 minutes), Disappearing Frogs (12), and Galapagos Evolving (7) hosted by Ms. Jasmina Bojic of the United Nation's Association Film Festival. (Cosponsored with the Department of Biology, Environmental Film Festival, GU Bookstore, Outdoor Education, and STIA).

Notes: The whole Festival runs from 11–22 March 2009 in many venues in the WDC Area (http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/). Free, open to the public.

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20 March 2009. First day of spring. Have you thanked a green plant today?
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Thursday, 26 March 2009, 12:15–1:05 p.m., 262 Reiss Science Building, GU.

Dr. Daniel Gruner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology, University of Maryland. Evolutionary & ecological constraints on food web structure.

Notes: Prof. Gruner is a terrestrial community ecologist with active projects in diverse ecological field systems, using a variety of analytical and synthetic tools. Generally, Prof. Gruner researches the dynamics of multispecies interactions within food webs and the maintenance of biodiversity in ecological communities and ecosystems. Prof. Gruner seeks to understand spatial patterns of community structure, the factors that promote or impair local persistence and species coexistence, and the interplay among food-web trophic structure and ecosystem processes such as nutrient limitation and cycling. Prof. Gruner investigates these topics primarily using arthropods in terrestrial ecosystems, but works in soils and in treetops, with organisms from nematodes through birds through herbaceous plants, and in both temperate and tropical regions. Finally, Prof. Gruner believes it is important to apply basic science to address problems concerning biological invasions, pest management, and conservation.

Contact: Department of Biology, 202-687-6247.
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Thursday, 26 March 2009. 7:30 p.m. Long Branch Nature Center, 625 S. Carlin Springs Rd., Arlington, VA. Washington Area Butterfly Club.

Professor Edd Barrows, Director of the Georgetown University Center for the Environment.

What Lives in Nippon? What Yukiko Ueno Won’t or Can’t Tell You.

Nippon (Japan, Nihon), an Asian country of about 146,000 square miles (about the size of California), is in temperate and subtropical latitudes. Nippons’s habitats range from marine and lowland through alpine ones that harbor a highly diverse biota, including many endemic species making parts of Nippon biodiversity hotspots. Despite Nippon’s population of about 127 million Homo sapiens sapiens and loss of about 80% of its original native vegetation, Nippon fortunately still has at least 67,000 known species (excluding thousands of bacterial species). Regrettably, about 3% of these species are listed as threatened or endangered, including several butterfly species. This talk is a photo essay which concerns Nippon’s organisms from Archaea through Protista with an emphasis on plants and insects including butterflies.

Notes: Free, open to the public. Directions from Washington Beltway (495). Take VA exit 8 ono Route 50, drive north on Route 50 for about 5 miles, turn right onto Carlin Springs Road. The nature center is about 1/3 mile on the left behind a doctor's office building; the sign and driveway are just beyond the building (just before the building for those coming from Columbia Pike). Drive behind the building and down the wooded driveway. The location is in map 5647 A3 on ADC Northern Virginia map. (Cosponsored with the CFE and the Department of Biology)
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27 March 2009. National Student Day of Action to Fight Climate Change Injustice. Registration: http://vsa.vassar.edu/~operationdonation/.
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April
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Thursday, 2 April 2009. 7 p.m. Diptera of DelMarVA: Renewed Focus. Dr. F. Christian Thompson and Dr. Wayne Mathis, Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution. Entomological Society of Washington. Rose Anthropology Room of the Natural History Building.

Notes: Free, open to the public. For further information, see: http://www.entsocwash.org/default.asp.
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Friday, 3 April 2009. 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Green Square. Georgetown University is showcasing what many partners are already doing concerning sustainability at GU. There will be tables on Red Square adjacent to the Intercultural Center (ICC). The Biology table will have information about the Environmental Studies Minor, Environmental Biology Major, and Georgetown University Center for the Environment (CFE).
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Saturday, 4 April 2009. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Glover Archbold Park (Reservoir Road and 44th Street, NW). 21st Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.

Notes: GU Students will join over 10,000 volunteers working at sites in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
The event is hosted by the Alice Ferguson Foundation. For more information: http://www.potomaccleanup.org/trash_initiative/trash_cleanup.html. We'll provide you with gloves, bags, Starbucks coffee and Whole Food bagels, muffins, and pastries. There are a few steep slopes, and depending on the weather, it could be muddy in spots, so dress appropriately. There is plenty of on-street parking on Reservoir Road. A Life Magazine article from the 1960's shows Rachel Carson with her students in this part of Glover Archbold Park.
GU EcoAction looks forward to seeing students from American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and neighbors from Foxhall Village, the Palisades, and other neighborhoods. If you have questions, please contact Kent at wksla@aol.com. Everyone is welcome.
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Tuesday, 7 April 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Jamie Whitacre. Botanical Art in the U.S. Capitol. Burmidi’s Fruits and Flowers.

Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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Saturday, 11 April 2009, 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Biodiversity walk at Turkey Run Park, VA, led by CFE Director Edward M. Barrows.

Note: For details see http://www.botsoc.org/bswfieldtrips.html. We plan to meet at parking lot C1 at 9:30 a.m. A map of the Park, a vegetation map, and trip handout are available through http://www.botsoc.org/bswfieldtrips.html.
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12–18 April 2009. National Environmental Education Week 2009: Be Water Wise!
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Saturday, 18 April 2009, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Societies, Families, and Planet Earth: Exploring the Connections.
Four half-day panels examine Bowen’s concept of emotional process in society, with emphases on linkages among individuals, families, societal functioning, and environmental concerns/responsibilities. Sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family.
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Sunday, 19 April 2009, 12–8 p.m. Green Apple Festival. National Mall.

Notes: Free entrance. Activities, booths, food for sale.
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22 April 2009. 39th Earth Day. http://www.earthday.net/
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20–24 April 2009. Earth Week.

Note: This schedule is subject to last-minute changes. For the latest information from EcoAction, please see:
http://www18.georgetown.edu/explore/organizations/ecoaction/
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All week. Recycled notebooks, free plants, and green specials at UG and Leo’s. E-mail gu.ecoaction@gmail.com for more information.
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All week. Red Square. Georgetown Center for the Environment table regarding GU environmental programs and tobacco-smoking awareness.

Notes: Participate in a short, educational survey, sign up for a smoking-awareness list serve, and obtain information on GU ecological studies. Lets improve GU’s air! It’s high time.
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20–23 April 2009. Red Square. Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Awareness.

Notes: Stop by Red Square any day this week to learn about destructive mountaintop-removal coal mining and support legislative action! Washington, D.C., obtains much of its energy from this nature-annihilating process.
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21 April 2009. 662 Intercultural Center (ICC), Georgetown University. Colloquium: Nature and the Environment in Russian History.

Notes: For further information, please see http://dcrussianhistory.umwblogs.org/2009/04/07/april-21-colloquium-nature-and-the-environment-in-russian-history/
(Cosponsored by the Russian History Seminar of Washington, D.C.; Georgetown Institute for Global History; History Department of American University; Center for Eurasian; Russian, East European Studies at Georgetown University; and Georgetown University Center for the Environment)
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Tuesday, 21 April 2009. 6 p.m. Danish Embassy (3200 Whitehaven Street, NW).

Note: Join EcoAction and the European Club to listen to a panel of experts discuss upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen.
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Tuesday, 21 April 2009. 7 p.m. National Geographic Center (1600 M Street, NW). Food, Inc. (advanced screening).

Note: Join EcoAction to view this film. How much do you really know about the food you eat? Please RSVP to FoodIncthe filmDC@gmail.com by 17 April.
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Wednesday, 22 April 2009. Earth Day. 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Village C step area. Coca Cola Recycling Trailer: Give it Back

Note: Learn interesting facts about recycling, play games, and WIN PRIZES! Sponsored by Coca Cola.
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Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 3 p.m. Copley Formal Lounge. 2009: A New Beginning. Lecture by Mr. John Fahey, CEO of National Geographic, the magazine which has inspired people to care about the environment since 1888.

Notes: Mr. Fahey’s remarks will focus on the environment, sustainability, and his personal experiences as the CEO of The National Geographic Society. John Fahey is president and chief executive officer of the National Geographic Society and chairman of the executive committee of its board of trustees.
Notes: During his tenure Fahey has led an evolution of the National Geographic Society, including its entry into cable television with the National Geographic Channel, which airs in 34 languages and reaches more than 270 million homes in 166 countries, and the international expansion of National Geographic magazine, now published in 31 local-language editions. From 1989 until joining National Geographic Society, including its entry into cable television with the National Geographic Channel, which airs in 34 languages and reaches more than 270 million homes in 166 countries, and the international expansion of National Geographic magazine, now published in 31 local-language editions. From 1989 until joining National Geographic, Fahey was chairman, president and CEO of Time Life Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.
Reception afterwards.
(Cosponsored by the Department of Biology, Corp, EcoAction, Georgetown Center for the Environment, Georgetown University Lecture Fund, and Office of the Senior Vice President)
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Thursday, 23 April 2009, 8–11 p.m. Healy Corridor. Clothes Swap.

Notes: It’s time for spring cleaning! Want to get rid of old clothes, or find something new? Be eco-friendly
and eco-fashionable. Drop off clothing at Red Square, Snaxa, and Vital Vittles.
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Friday, 24 April 2009. Georgetown Day and Arbor Day.

Notes: Show your school appreciation and school pride by keeping our campus clean and beautiful! Recycle!
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Saturday, 25 April 2009, 2:30 p.m. Garden tour and picnic. Heyden Memorial Garden (Observatory grounds).

Notes: Join EcoAction after the picnic (food provided) and tour the site of the new student sustainable garden on Main Campus.
(Cosponsored by EcoAction, Georgetown University Center for the Environment, and GUSGI)
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Sunday, 26 April 2009, 2 p.m. Trip to the National Zoo.

Notes: Join EcoAction at the National Zoo. What Earth Week could be complete without Pandas?
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Wednesday, 22 April – Thursday, 23 April 2009. George Washington University's 3rd Annual Climate Action Conference. GW Jack Morton Auditorium of the Media and Public Affairs building located at 805 21st St., NW, Washington, DC, on the corner of 21st and H Streets, NW.
Questions? smpp@gwu.edu
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Thursday, 30 April 2009, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Conservation Partnering: Invasive Species Management as a Successful Watershed Protection Partnership. 9500 MacArthur Blvd., Bethesda MD 20817. Speakers and interactive groups. Information Susan Reines Robinson, 240-247-0912. ConservationTrainingRSVP@gmail.com. Free, open to the public.

Thank you for responding with your availability for the end-of-semester faculty reflection sessions. Your assignment is for Thursday, April 30th. Remember the meeting will take place from 11:30am-1:00pm. Lunch will be served.
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May
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Saturday, 2 May 2009. Virginia's first statewide Invasive Plant Removal Day. http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/invasives/index.html

Tuesday, 5 May 2009. 5:30–8:00 p.m. Program begins at 6:15 p.m. Café Scientifique. Sustainability and the Environment: Human Ecological Footprints and Global Environmental Sustainability. Panel: David L. Trauger, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus in Natural Resources Management and Associate Dean in the National Capital Region for The Graduate School; Gary R. Evans, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Visiting Professor in Natural Resources and former Director of the Natural Resources Distance Learning Consortium. The Front Page Restaurant, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA.

Notes: The restaurant is located near Ballston Metro on the ground floor of the NSF building. Parking is available under the NSF building or at Ballston Common Mall. Special 1/2 price burgers start at 5:30 PM. Please come early to order table service and socialize. Short presentation begins at 6:15 PM. followed by Q&A. No science background required—only an interest! Café Scientifique is free and open to the public. Register online here.

Scientists are monitoring global environmental trends of the human ecological footprint. Evidence that our species is exceeding Earth’s biocapacity has profound relevance for sustainability and prospects for sustainable development. This Cafe Scientifique will explore challenges of human ecological impacts and population overshoot for the future of civilization. Experts will discuss their observations and thoughts about these implications for the scientific community, policy makers and the general public.

2 June 2009. Café Scientifique. Oceans and Water.

Notes: The Netherlands is a country that historically is associated with water and the management of it. For survival, the Dutch had to be inventive and developed a highly sophisticated manner to live with water. Come hear a representative of the Dutch Embassy speak of their struggles and the help that they have been providing the U.S. after Katrina. For more information contact Kaye Breen, ballstonscience@yahoo.com or visit www.arlingtonvirginiausa.com/bsta.
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Tuesday, 5 May 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Pedro Acevedo. Caribbean Floristics.
Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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June
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Tuesday, 2 June 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Leslie Overstreet. The Botanist Catesby.
Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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July
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Tuesday, 28 July 2009. Mr. Joe Howard. Champion Trees of Maryland. Maryland Native Plant Society.
Note: For more information, please see http://www.mdflora.org/events/monthlymeeting0907.html.
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August
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Sunday – Friday, 2–7 August 2009. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 94th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America "Ecological Knowledge and a Global Sustainable Society."
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September
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Tuesday, 1 September 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Short talks by members.
Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/

Monday, 9 September 2009, 7:30 p.m.. CFE Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Jane Goodall. Gaston Hall, GU. Book signing, 8:30–9:30 p.m. (Cosponsored with the Department of Biology, Department of History, Department of Psychology, GU Bookstore, GU College, GU Graduate School, Jane Goodall Institute, Lecture Fund, Outdoor Education, and STIA).

Goodall Lecture Promotes Conservation and Peace
http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=44302

video of the lecture
http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/44302/?PageTemplateID=11

Bananas May Be Yellow, but Campus Sees Green
http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=44276
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Saturday–Sunday, 26–27 September 2009. The Catoctin Mountains: Maryland's Blue Ridge. Maryland Native Plant Society Annual Conference.
Note: For more information, please see http://www.mdflora.org/events/fall2009/fall2009conference.html.
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 7:30 p.m. Maryland Native Plant Society. Habitat Value of Natives: More Than Fashionable Flowers, Part II.
Note: For information, please see: http://www.mdflora.org/events/meetings.html.
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October
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Tuesday, 6 October 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Honey Bees, Satellites, and Climate Change. Joanne Nightingale, INNOVIM, LLC, Terrestrial Information Systems Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
(Co-sponsored with the GU Center for the Environment)
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Tuesday, 6 October 2009, 6–7 p.m., McGhee Library, ICC, GU. STIA Alumnus Dr. Kevin Anchlukaitis, a researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York, NY, will present the talk "A thousand years of human history and Asian monsoon variability from tropical tree rings.”

The Asian Monsoon is a dominant feature of global climate, influencing the lives of at least half of the world’s population. For instance, drought and famine in Asia in the late 19th century, associated with monsoon failure resulted in the deaths of perhaps 60 million people in India and China alone, and a political and economic legacy which is still reflected in modern geopolitics. I shall present a retrospective view of the Asian monsoon over the last 100 years, using tree rings from hundreds of sites all over Asia to reconstruct the climate of the past. My talk will incorporate the science of dendrochronology and the challenges of tropical tree-ring research, evidence for 'megadroughts' during important epochs of Asian history, and the potential causes of past and future variability in the monsoon.
(Co-sponsored with the GU Center for the Environment)
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Thursday, 8 October 2009, 7 p.m., Washington, D.C. Entomological Society of Washington
Note: For details, please see http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=72842242192&ref=mf
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Thursday, 15 October 2009, 4:30 p.m. 7th Floor Conference Room (ECR), ICC Building, Georgetown University. The American River from George Washington to George Bush. Professors Martin Doyle, 2009 Guggenheim Award Winner.
Description: Rivers have shaped and been shaped by national politics and swings in U.S. national economy. Rivers influenced our colonial settlement, drove Northern-Southern sectionalism and encouraged pork-barrel politics. More recently, rivers are at the center of environmental legislation. These waterways, perhaps more than any other natural resource or landscape feature, are the significant thread weaving through U.S. history. I will trace the history of river engineering and river policy in the U.S., from the Colonial Era through the present, and lay out what history tells us to expect from emerging issues such as Carbon Trading and the Obama Stimulus Package.
(Cosponsored with STIA)
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Friday, 16 October 2009, 8:15 p.m. Pawan Bhartia, Senior Research Scientist for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Air Quality in the Anthropocene Era: A Satellite Perspective.
Where: The John Wesley Powell Auditorium is adjacent to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008. The entrance is through the Club gate, the first right-hand entrance on Florida Avenue north of the intersection with Massachusetts Avenue, NW. The auditorium entrance is to the left of the gate. The Cosmos Club is within walking distance of the Dupont Circle Metro stop (Q Street exit), the Connecticut Avenue bus routes (L2, L4), and the Massachusetts Avenue bus routes (N2, N4).
Notes: Free, open to the public, refreshments.
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Monday, 19 October 2009, 4 p.m. Mortara Center. Structuring an Energy Technology Revolution. Professor Charles Weiss, Distinguished Professor of Science, Technology and International Affairs will talk about his book Energy Policy coauthored with William B. Bonvillian. Their book makes the case for the necessity of a federal program to stimulate innovation in energy policy, and thereby reduce the environmental and geopolitical costs of Americas addiction to fossil fuels. The authors’ proposal backs measures to stimulate private investment in new technology, but augments these with a revamped energy innovation system.
(Cosponsored with STIA)
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Wednesday 21 – Friday 23 October 2009. North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. Crystal City, Virginia.
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Thursday, 22 October 2009. 12 –1:05 p.m. Reiss Science Building 112, GU. Herbivory, plant invasion, and plant defense. John Parker, Terrestrial Ecology Principal Investigator for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC).
(Co-sponsored with the Department of Biology)
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Friday, 23 October 2009, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. GU ICC Galleria. Majors Fair.
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 7:30 p.m.. Maryland Native Plant Society. A Year of Botanical Exploration in Maryland and Vicinity.
Note: For information, please see: http://www.mdflora.org/events/meetings.html.
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Friday, 30 October 2009. GU Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Note: This meeting is open to Committee members.
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November
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Monday, 2 November 2009, 2 p.m. Climate Change and the Himalayan Glaciers. Dr. Kenneth Pomeranz, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine.
Place: Georgetown University's Mortara Center for International Studies, Mortara Conference Room, 1248 36th Street, NW. A reception will follow this talk. RSVP at www12.georgetown.edu/sfs/rsvp/index.cfm?Action=View&EventID=2621.

Climate change has begun to shrink the Himalayan glaciers that feed some of Asia's greatest rivers, such as the Yangzi, the Indus, the Ganges, the Bramhaputra and the Mekong, precisely the same time that several states are planning large projects that will increase demands on those rivers. Historian Ken Pomeranz exmines the environmental trends concerning the Himalayan-fed rivers and their political implications, with special attention to China and India. Dr. Pomeranz is the author of several works of modern Chinese history and of The Great Divergence (Princeton University Press, 2000) an award-winning examination of the origins of the modern world economy.
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Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 6–8 p.m. Arlington, VA. Cafe Scientifique: Science and Policy of Climate Change. Dr. Mario J. Molina (Ph.D., Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1995) will address how scientists measure the effect of human activities on the depletion of Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. He will also address how public policy might be used to prevent and repair future environmental damage to our fragile planet. Are Humans really causing irreversible damage to Earth’s environment? How do we know the damage is due to human activity and not some other source? What is the scope of the damage, and what are the repercussions for future human generations?

For more information email kbreen@arlingtonva.us .
To register and obtain further information, please see http://www.arlingtonvirginiausa.com/index.cfm/7004?month=11 .
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Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Markku Miettinen. Scandinavian Fens and Bogs.
Notes: Free, open to the public, refreshments. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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Wednesday, 4 November 2009, 5–7 p.m. Leavey Center, GU. Career Education Center Climate Change and Energy Panel. Moderated by Professor Timothy Beach, Director, School of Foreign Service, Program in Science, Technology and International Affairs Program. Special guests are Ray Rivera, Director of External/Intergovernmental Affairs for Secretary Salazar, Department of Interior; Michael Martinez, Special Assistant, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture; Ryan Mulholland, International Trade Specialist in the Office of Energy and Environmental Industries, Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration Office; and Peter Roehrig, Special Assistant, Office of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Department of Energy.
Note: Open to the GU community.
(Cosponsored with STIA)
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Thursday, 5 November 2009, 12 noon – 1 p.m., McGhee Library, ICC, GU. Caribbean Environmental Histories from Pollen, Charcoal, and Other Proxy Data Sources. Professor Lisa Kennedy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
(Co-sponsored with the GU Center for the Environment)
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Thursday, 5 November 2009. The U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology is scheduled to hold the first congressional hearing devoted to geoengineering, a strategy to change features of the Earth’s environment to offset the warming effects of greenhouse gases. The AEI Geoengineering Project has been active for over a year.
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Monday, 9 November 2009, 9:30 – 10 a.m. (press conference), 10 – 11:30 a.m. (panel discussion). The Age of Bio(in)security: Science, Citizens, and the Future. The Appignani Bioethics Center (ABC), a project of the American Humanist Association, will hold a press conference and panel discussion to examine controversies in biomedical and environmental science and policy, including stem cell research, brain and cognition, and climate change technologies. The Appignani Bioethics Center welcomes two distinguished speakers to lead this discussion: Professor Jonathan Moreno, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (www.americanprogress.org) and Professor Andrew Light, Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress and Director of the Center for Global Ethics at George Mason University. The panel discussion will be moderated by Ana Lita, Ph.D., Director - Appignani Bioethics Center
For more details about the event please contact kfranz@americanhumanist.org or alita@americanhumanist.org; www.humanistbioethics.org; www.americanhumanist.org
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Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 12:15 p.m. Georgetown University's Mortara Center for International Studies, 1248 36th Street, NW. Tropical Swamps, Maya Civilization, and the Current Climate. Professor Timothy Beach, Director STIA.
More information: Professor Beach, beacht@georgetown.edu.
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Canceled due to illness. Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 7–8 p.m. (dinner, small McShain Lounge, McCarthy Building), 8–9:15 p.m. (presentation, large McShain Lounge). Three-time Emmy Award winner, National Geographic Film Director and Producer John Bredar will discuss especially his work on his new film Darwin's Darkest Hour ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darwin/ ). (cosponsored with the Hughes Scholars Program and Sigma Xi).
Note: Open to the GU community. Dinner is by RSVP only (ASAP to Professor Donoghue at mjv23@georgetown.edu)
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Friday, 13 November 2009. 3–4:15 p.m. Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace. A Lecture Hosted by the Department of Interior. Main Interior Building, 1849 C St., NW, Washington, DC 20240. Renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall will discuss the growing need for global approaches to conservation, as exemplified by the challenge of addressing climate change. Using the Jane Goodall Institute's unique TACARE program in Tanzania as an example, she will share her view of international conservation — what it takes to achieve long-term success and the critical role of local populations and youth. In addition, Dr. Goodall will speak about her new book, Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink, an inspiring tribute to individuals and organizations that have made a difference. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will make introductory remarks.
Note: RSVP recommended to Jessica Wahl, External/Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist, Jessica_Wahl@ios.doi.gov, 202-208-4826
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Tuesday 17 November – Wednesday 18 November, Washington, D.C. Carbon Economy Summit sponsored by the Economist. http://carboneconomy.economist.com/
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Tuesday 17 November, 4–6 p.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium of Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia Univerisity, Morningside Campus, New York NY. Choices for America's Economic Future. Annual Sachs Student Lecture with Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University.
Notes: This event is free and open to the public. To register, please go to www.earth.columbia.edu/events .
Contact: Office of Academic and Research Programs, ei-students@ei.columbia.edu
(Sponsored by the Earth Institute's Office of Academic and Research Programs)
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Thursday, 19 November 2009, 7 p.m., New South Film Screening Classroom. Screening and discussion of Producer and Director Chris Taylor's new documentary film Food Fight (2009) with Mr. Taylor and Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI). Food Fight examines how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th Century and how the California food movement has created a counterrevolution against big agribusiness. Featured interviews include Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Wolfgang Puck, and Congressman Ron Kind.
Notes: Open to the public. RSVP to Robin Stanton rcs56@georgetown.edu . For more information, see http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/
(Sponsored by Georgetown College Film and Media Studies Initaitive and the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance)
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Friday, 20 November 2009, 7 p.m. The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
The Age of Empathy. Influential author and Professor Frans de Waal. National Zoo Visitor Center Auditorium.

Note: Free, open to the public.

What if our concept of "human nature," those characteristics and norms of human behavior, is utterly wrong? Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape and world-renowned primatologist, will examine human society through an evolutionary lens, drawing on the observations in his latest book, The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society. Using research from the fields of anthropology, psychology, animal behavior, and neuroscience, de Waal seeks to dispel the notion that nature, and by extension human society, is all dog-eat-dog. Instead, de Waal argues that Humans, much like elephants, dolphins, and other primates, are "group animals" with a well-developed capacity for empathy. Evil and conniving, or peace-loving and cooperative? With more than 30 years as one of the world’s leading cognitive ethologists and one of Time Magazine's World's 100 Most Influential People, Frans de Waal will explore these complexities of humanity, providing fodder for a discussion of society as we know it, showing that Humans are "hardwired for sympathy ... every human is destined to be humane."

6 p.m. Grab a drink from the cash bar and meet the author. Frans de Waal will also be available to sign copies of any of his books. The Age of Empathy will be available for purchase from 6–7 p.m. at the event. Parking is free, but we encourage you to take public transportation to the Zoo. All lectures are in the Zoo's Visitor Center auditorium. Enter the Zoo at Connecticut Avenue whether you walk or drive. If you drive, it is best to park in lot A, then follow the path to the right around the Cheetah Conservation Station toward Olmsted Walk. Turn right at the first entrance to the Visitor Center. In case of inclement weather such as a snow or ice storm, please check the Lectures page on our website to learn whether the program has been cancelled.
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Maryland Native Plant Society.
Note: For information, please see: http://www.mdflora.org/events/meetings.html.
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December
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Tuesday, 1 December 2009, 1–2 p.m., Baltimore City, MD. Down with King Coal: Rally for a Clean Energy Revolution. More information: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=130061&autologin=true
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Tuesday, 1 December 2009, 7 p.m. Botanical Society of Washington. Patricia Ford, President’s Address. Annual Banquet.
Notes: Free, open to the public. More information: http://www.botsoc.org/
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Friday, 4 December 2009, 1–2 p.m., GU ICC Auditorium. Energy Security and Climate Change: Path Forward, a talk presented by Mr. James Connaughton.
Note: Free, open to the public.

Mr. Connaughton is the former Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, the White House, from 2001–2009. In this capacity, he served on President Bush’s senior staff as senior environment, energy, and natural resources adviser, and as Director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy. Mr. Connaughton is currently the Executive VP, Corporate Affairs, Public and Environmental Policy, Constellation Energy. During his service with the federal government, Mr. Connaughton worked closely with the President, his Cabinet and the Congress to develop and implement climate-change, air-pollution and energy-security policies. Internationally, Mr. Connaughton helped establish a broad series of technology initiatives, the public-private Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate Change, and the Major Economies Leaders Meetings on Energy and Climate, in which he served as the President's personal representative. Prior to his public service, Mr. Connaughton was a partner in the environmental practice group at the law firm Sidley Austin, where he played a leading role in the development and implementation of the ISO 14000 series of international environmental management and performance standards. Mr. Connaughton is a native of Maryland, a graduate of Yale University and graduated second in his class, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Northwestern University School of Law. In 2008, Northwestern University honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award.
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Monday, 7 December 2009, 7:30 p.m., GU ICC 103. Mr. Woody Tasch, the founder of the Slow Money Alliance (http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/) will speak about his new book Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered. “Think about it: A million Americans contributing to a grassroots, non-profit seed fund supporting small food enterprises and building the nurture capital industry. . . . Is it typical philanthropy? No. Is it investing as we've come to know it? No. Is it achievable? Yes.
Notes: Free, open to the public.
(Co-sponsors are College Democrats, EcoAction, GU Lecture Fund, and GU Unconventional Eaters.)
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Monday, 7 December – Friday, 18 December 2009. United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark. http://en.cop15.dk/
Note: Several GU undergraduate students will attend this Conference.
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 6:30 p.m. Maryland Native Plant Society. Kensington Park Library.
Note: For information, please see: http://www.mdflora.org/events/meetings.html.
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Happy Holidays!