Upcoming HACE Events
HACE Book Club
Saturday, February 15, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET, Zoom
Clade, by James Bradley (2015)
The novel Clade (2017) weaves the story of Adam and Ellie and their descendants with lyrical descriptions of an ecosystem in collapse, possibly the most optimistic climate fiction out there.Clade tells the story of Adam and his descendants in a rapidly changing world. Adam Leith observes the summer solstice on a beach in Antarctica, while his partner, Elle, is in Sydney waiting for the results of her IVG. During her pregnancy, she discovers the magic of beekeeping.
Join the conversation and build your climate literacy!
To join the community and begin reading and reviewing together, please sign up here.
Questions? Contact hacebookclub@gmail.com.
Climate Action Project support and coaching session
Are you considering or working on a climate action project?
Would you like some coaching, resources and community support?
Please register here to join us, get energized and identify the next steps in your plan.
HACE Africa Virtual Networking Event
February 13, 12:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. WAT (West African Time), Zoom
Join other HACE members living in Africa or focused on African climate mitigation and adaptation for a virtual networking event. Register in advance for this event at this link.
Please share with those who you think would be interested!
HACE at the HAA SIG Showcase
Thursday, February 6, 1 - 2 p.m. ET, Zoom link provided on registration
Join us to promote Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment to the wider alumni community. Please share this event with other members who might be interested in joining us and connecting with prospective members!
Register in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
HACE Book Club
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
Raworth offers game-changing analysis and inspiration for a new generation of economic thinkers. She handpicks the best emergent ideas—from ecological, behavioral, feminist, and institutional economics to complexity thinking and Earth-systems science—to address this question: How can we turn economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive, into economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow? Simple, playful, and eloquent. Join us to start the New Year!
HACE Quarterly Onboarding Session
Come join HACE members for an orientation and networking session! Register.
The first 15 minutes of the session will be onboarding for those who want to learn about HACE and current volunteer opportunities. Then, we will organize 45 minutes of networking where you can meet fellow alumni working worldwide to confront the climate crisis and protect the environment.
Whether you are a new or old member, we’ll have something for you!
Climate and Mental Health
HACE kicks off its Climate and Health series with Climate and Mental Health, co-sponsored by Harvard Alumni for Mental Health (HAMH). This hybrid event will be followed by networking both online as well as in-person.
Register at this link for both online and in-person meetings. Please register by end of day on Tuesday Nov 12th for in-person events.
Online Zoom panel 6:00-7:00 pm ET
In-person in New York City at The Oyster Classroom at Pier 57, 25 11th Ave, Manhattan, New York (West 15th Street in Hudson River Park, between Little Island and Chelsea Piers); doors open 5:00 pm ET
In-person in Boston at Kresge 202a, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, Mass; doors open 5:30 pm ET
Panelists will present on climate change, impacts on mental health, and how to manage eco-anxiety and protect mental health from climate threats. Panelists include:
Christy Denckla, Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HSPH, who studies how adversity affects people’s mental health and well-being throughout their lives. Her recently published paper in Nature Mental Health, reviews the evidence for the mental health consequences of chronic, slow-onset climate change.
Criselle Penamante, Master’s candidate in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School, who investigates how climate change affects the mental health of workers and young people across various regions, and how social media can be leveraged to deliver mental health interventions in underserved communities in the Philippines.
Jacob Simon, a climate-focused writer, reporter and content creator, focuses on telling good stories about the environment to TikTok & Instagram. Jacob has collaborated with the UN, NRDC, EPA, DOT, and Clean Creatives, and was named one of the Climate Creators to Watch in 2024 by C-CHANGE at HSPH.
Become a HACE member to get announcements on upcoming events in the Climate and Health series including: decarbonizing the health sector, climate change and disability, patient-centered resilient health clinics, and climate change and reproductive justice.
HACE Annual Meeting
At the Annual Membership Meeting, you will meet other HACE members, be introduced to the HACE volunteer leadership team, and provide feedback on HACE’s direction for the year ahead.
Don’t forget to encourage your classmates and Harvard affiliates (we welcome most anyone who has had a Harvard email address - staff included!) to join HACE.
November Book Club
The Life of the Mind, by Christine Smallwood (2024)
The Life of the Mind is mordant and witty, inhabiting the abyss between what we think and what we do. Dorothy is an adjunct professor of English who teaches "Writing Apocalypse. She is directly affected by the starving of humanities departments, and is also keenly aware of the less material (for her, for now) but even larger threat of climate change. The environmental crisis might be worldwide, but Dorothy, like all of us, is endlessly trapped inside herself.
October Book Club
Karen Bakker’s final book, Gaia’s Web: How Digital Environmentalism Can Combat Climate Change is a riveting exploration of one of the central dilemmas of our time. Will AI accelerate environmental degradation, or enable us to restore biodiversity and regenerate the earth? Bakker researched the sound of living things and ways to interface with them, using digital innovation to create common governance with non-human species. She was aware that the generative AI market is creating insatiable demand for water and energy. Is it a devil’s bargain to refine AI as a new tool to repair the world?
Climate Week NYC HACE Social Event
Come join us for our third annual Climate Week NYC kick-off social and networking event organized by HACENYC working with HCNY Resilience & Adaptation SIG. This year, attendees interested in Climate and Health will be staking out a separate table at the event to connect. Rumor has it that we might be joined by some CUSPorganizers as well! Climate Week NYC is from September 22-29, 2024. The event takes place every year in partnership with the United Nations General Assembly and is run in coordination with the United Nations and the City of New York. Register here.
July Book Club
Book: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
The novel illuminates the realities of dealing with climate change and science in a rural Faith soaked community in contemporary Appalachia. It is set in the present day.
HACE New Graduates Networking Session
Register here.
This virtual networking event aims to connect recent graduates and job seekers with alumni who are already working in the climate and environment sectors. Join us for this invaluable opportunity to build connections, gain industry insights, and advance your career in climate and environment.
June Book Club
“It is now cheaper to save the world than destroy it,” writes Akshat Rathi, in Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age, which book club members voted to read in June. Register to attend June’s book club on Zoom.
HACE Summer Onboarding Session
Register here.
The first 15 minutes of the session will be onboarding for those who want to learn about HACE and current volunteer opportunities. Then, we will organize 45 minutes of networking where you can meet fellow alumni working worldwide to confront the climate crisis and protect the environment. Whether you are a new or old member, we’ll have something for you!
Harvard Climate Action Week
Register Now: Harvard Climate Action Week, June 10 – 14
Harvard University is hosting its second annual Harvard Climate Action Week from June 10 – 14th, and you are invited to attend! Register here.
Harvard Climate Action Week convenes leaders from government, business, healthcare, civil society, and academia to work together on climate solutions. Experts from across Harvard University and beyond will take part in sessions focused on policy, climatech, environmental justice and health, food systems, and more. Harvard Climate Action Week is hosted by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability’s Climate Action Accelerator.
Harvard & Radcliffe Reunion Meet-Up
Join fellow climate and environment alums during the Harvard and Radcliffe Reunions in this semi-structured networking meet-up session on Saturday, June 1, from 3:00-5:00 pm EDT.
Register here! Encourage your interested classmates to attend.
The meet-up will be held in Harvard Hall 101, Harvard Yard.
Learn more about the Shared Interest Groups Meetups here.
Harvard Alumni Day: Climate Conversations: How We Can Take Action
In-person event at the Gutman Conference Center, 6 Appian Way, at the HGSE Campus, Cambridge, MA.
The global climate crisis affects us all. Every class. Every profession. Every community. How can the Harvard alumni community use its skills and influence to make a difference?
This One Harvard event, organized by the graduate school directors of the Harvard Alumni Association with support from HACE, will gather alumni from across graduate schools to ask the question: what can we do to help our communities address the challenges of climate change? This interactive session will introduce you to alumni from different backgrounds and areas of expertise, to brainstorm discrete actions we can take to tackle the climate crisis. Join us to meet new friends, get creative, and start something that only a united Harvard alumni community can accomplish. Register here https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_787cedJ3TvnTDj8
Harvard Alumni Day: Climate Change: What’s Happening and What Harvard is Doing About It
In-person event at Askwith Hall in The Longfellow Building, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA.
The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability invites you to join an interactive event with climate change experts at Harvard Alumni Day on Friday, May 31st from 3:00 – 4:00 PM. Hear from an expert panel of Harvard faculty about the latest climate change science and research and delve into what comes next. Panelists will share how Harvard's climate research and expertise are driving real-world climate solutions and provide an exclusive preview of discussions planned for Harvard Climate Action Week. Following the panel, a Q&A session will close the event with feedback from you, the Harvard alumni community, about the ways you would like to see Harvard University and the Salata Institute engage on critical climate and sustainability issues. Register here.
HACE Book Club
Book: Weather by Jenny Offill
Lizzie works in the university library and takes on a side hustle answering letters for the podcast Hell or High Water. The novel compresses her thinking about expectations, routines, and the challenges of writing hopeful responses to doomsday junkies, with a measure of black humor.
Climate Action Project support sessions
During this month’s session, we’re inviting prior participants of the Harvard Climate Action Training (HCAT) to share your experience and inform the review and possible revision of HCAT. What inspired you? What didn’t? Have you continued to use this information? Please join us! Register here!
Earth Week Networking Event
Join other HACE members to inform, celebrate, and find support for your climate actions.
Networking will be structured around industry and geographic-focused breakout groups.
Register here.
DC Earth Day Happy Hour
Join fellow DC area climate professionals for a networking happy hour in honor of Earth Day!
Lindi von Mutius, Director of the Salata Institute Climate Action Accelerator, will join us! Come meet your fellow climate and environment alums to find more support as you advance more individual and collective actions.
Monday, April 22
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Mission Dupont (upstairs loft)
HACE Book Club
Book: A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold's book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
Spring Onboarding Session
Come join HACE members for an orientation and networking session! The first 15 minutes of the session will be onboarding for those who want to learn about HACE and current volunteer opportunities. Then, we will organize 45 minutes of networking where you can meet fellow alumni working worldwide to confront the climate crisis and protect the environment. Whether you are a new or old member, we’ll have something for you!
Register here.
Spring Onboarding Session
Come join HACE members for an orientation and networking session! The first 15 minutes of the session will be onboarding for those who want to learn about HACE and current volunteer opportunities. Then, we will organize 45 minutes of networking where you can meet fellow alumni working worldwide to confront the climate crisis and protect the environment. Whether you are a new or old member, we’ll have something for you!
Register here.
HACE Book Club
Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, until, one morning, he doesn’t return. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato ― where she meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited. Years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home and begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron ― women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.
Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.
Personal Investment Event: Climate-Conscious Retirement Planning, Part 3
Personal Investment Event: Climate-Conscious Retirement Planning, Part 3
Thurs Feb 22nd, noon ET
Please join us for our third and final installation in the retirement planning series! Join us to learn about how you can take climate action with your 401(k), 403(b), Roth IRA, or other retirement plans. We will be joined by leadership from two additional innovative retirement solutions providers:, Eliza Arnold from Arnie and George Guerrero from Just Futures.
As a reminder, our previous event featured Timothy Yee from Green Retirement and James Regulinski of Carbon Collective. If you missed the first event or are interested in supporting socially-conscious, climate-conscious retirement planning in your workplace, email events@harvardclimate.com and we can share resources from our first event.
Please register and send questions in advance at the Zoom registration link. Please note that HACE does not provide financial advice or recommendations. This series has worked to expose attendees to different providers who can align fiduciary duty in retirement planning with social and environmental values.
Zoom link: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqd-uppjooE9Oqqwy0hLoIErBplhnyJVxx
HACE Book Club
The reality of runaway climate change is inextricably linked with the mass consumerist, capitalist society in which we live. And the cult of endless growth, and endless consumption of cheap disposable commodities isn't only destroying the world, it is damaging ourselves and our way of being. How do we stop the impending catastrophe, and how can we create a movement capable of confronting it head-on?
In Post Growth Living, philosopher Kate Soper shares a new vision of the good life, one that is capable of delinking prosperity from endless growth. Instead, she calls for a renewed emphasis on the joys of being, one that is capable of collective happiness not in consumption but by creating a future that allows not only for more free time, and less conventional and more creative ways of using it, but also for more fulfilling ways of working and existing. This is an urgent and necessary intervention into debates on climate change.
HACE Book Club
A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world's troubles.
There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.
In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef's boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.
Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, Land of Milk and Honey lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.