Tag: Environmental
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Science & Tech
New species in an urban ecosystem (read: solar panel)
A new species of bacteria, one that makes its home on the relatively hot and dry surface of a solar panel, was discovered recently at the Arnold Arboretum, offering a lesson that nature’s reach extends even to the artificial.
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Campus & Community
A captain for our planet
Throughout her academic career — from Princeton University to University of Cambridge, and finally Harvard — Christina Chang, Ph.D. ’20, has worked toward a more sustainable world one invention at a time.
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Science & Tech
Arboretum gets a solar boost
The Weld Hill Solar Project, currently underway, is the Arnold Arboretum’s third and largest solar project and Harvard’s most ambitious sustainability initiative to date, with nearly 1,300 solar panels powering a 45,000-square-foot science laboratory and teaching facility in Roslindale.
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Campus & Community
Student projects turn campus into ‘living lab’
Five grants from the Harvard Campus Sustainability Innovation Fund were awarded for student research projects.
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Science & Tech
Gore sees progress on climate change
Former Vice President Al Gore brought a dose of optimism about climate change to Harvard on April 7, saying the problems are severe, but the solutions are emerging.
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Campus & Community
Environmental awareness grows from peer-to-peer
Students stay involved with sustainability on campus through REP — the Undergraduate Resource Efficiency Program — and its affiliates. REP helps students “educate their peers on issues such as energy, waste, water, food, and more through fun, personal, community-building events, competitions, and campaigns.”
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Science & Tech
Greening the electric grid with gas turbines
A new Harvard study pokes holes in the belief that huge quantities of storage will be needed before clean, renewable sources can make a significant dent in greenhouse-gas emissions from electricity generation.
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Nation & World
‘The most dangerous thing in the world is apathy’
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, spoke about love, environmental issues, and apathy to a capacity crowd at Harvard’s Memorial Church.
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Science & Tech
Warmth from the woods
At the 3,700-acre Harvard Forest, three wood-fired boilers are providing scientists with a new tool to expand their understanding of climate change, while generating sustainable energy as well.
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Science & Tech
Removing indoor pollution
A Harvard School of Public Health graduate and doctoral candidate in environmental health is one of the creative forces behind SolSource, a revolutionary, sun-powered grill designed specifically to reduce pollution inside rural houses.
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Science & Tech
Pitcher plants provide tipping point
New research out of the Harvard Forest offers insight on exactly when the tipping point occurs that can disrupt the intricate web of life in a lake.
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Campus & Community
Green incentive for going green
Two new initiatives are being rolled out by Harvard’s CommuterChoice Program this winter. The expanded benefits will offer bicyclists tax-free reimbursements for bike-related expenses, including purchase and repair, and will provide Emergency Ride Home services to faculty and staff commuters who do not travel by car.
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Science & Tech
Corn in a changing climate
Harvard researchers have concluded that omitting the adaptive ability of crops from assessments of potential damages from a warming climate could substantially overestimate losses to U.S. maize yields.
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Science & Tech
To clean up the mine, let fungus reproduce
Harvard-led researchers have discovered that an Ascomycete fungus that is common in polluted water produces environmentally important minerals during asexual reproduction.
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Science & Tech
Scaling a mountain of trash
With half of U.S. trash still going into landfills, discussions are ongoing about how to handle the nation’s waste, with recycling, composting, incineration, and reuse all part of the mix, says Samantha MacBride, who studies such issues.
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Campus & Community
Harvard Thinks Big: “It’s the End of the World as We Know it and I Feel Fine” – Daniel Gilbert
Our planet is on the brink of an ecological catastrophe and you are sitting calmly in Sanders Theatre. Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology tells us why.
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Campus & Community
More than just meat
Vegan Carol J. Adams speaks about meat eating as more than violence against animals, saying that it’s also often an expression of violence against women.
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Arts & Culture
‘Walden’ for the 21st century
In a lecture at the Harvard Divinity School, scholar Lawrence Buell examined the continuing relevance of Thoreau’s “Walden” and the importance of voluntary simplicity.
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Nation & World
Intersection of climate change and Christianity
A leader in the field of Christian theology and ecofeminism explores the role of religion in combating global warming.