Category Archives: Environment

Living On Borrowed Time

CF: Living On Borrowed Time

“And as the summer unfolded, it became evident that it’s not just smoke, and not just Canada. This has been the summer from climate hell all across the Earth, when it ceased being possible to escape or deny what we have done to our planet and ourselves” says Professor Michael Flannigan, of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, who has been studying the interaction of fire and climate for over 35 years. “Temperatures are rising at the rate we thought they would, but the effects are more severe, more frequent, more critical. It’s crazy and getting crazier.” NYT August 23, ’23

Following the most bizarre climatic summer on record, Cambridge Forum starts its new season by considering what our uncertain future holds, in a new series: Living on Borrowed Time.

The forum features Jeff Goodell, NYT bestselling author and contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Mike Flannigan, Research Chair for Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science.

Goodell’s latest book, The Heat will Kill You First presents a searing examination of the impact that rising temperatures will have on our lives and on our planet. Flannigan has been studying fire and weather/climate interactions including the potential impact of climatic change and lightning-ignited forest fires for over 40 years.

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Jeff Goodell is the author of six previous books, including The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, which was a New York Times CriticsTop Book of 2017.  He has covered climate change for more than two decades at Rolling Stone and is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.

Mike Flannigan is the Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University as well as the Science Director of the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science located at the University of Alberta.

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Doppleganger

Cambridge Forum is pleased to partner with Harvard Book Store for the launch of Naomi Klein’s latest book, Doppelganger.  The event will be recorded live in First Parish Church, on Mass. Avenue in Harvard Square for later CF broadcast with the support of GBH Forum Network. 

Award-winning author and Guardian columnist, Klein has departed from her usual topics with this newest book which enters more personal territory.  Doppelganger uses the fact that Klein has often been mistaken for author Naomi Wolf, as a jumping-off point to explore conspiracy theories and what Klein calls the “Mirror World”.  Klein looks at how “far-right movements feign solidarity with the working class, AI-generated content blurs the line between genuine and spurious, and new-age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers further scramble our familiar political alliances.”  Doppelganger explores “what it feels like to watch one’s identity slip away in the digital ether, an experience many more of us will have in the age of AI”.

Naomi Klein is the award-winning author of international bestsellers including This Changes EverythingThe Shock DoctrineNo Logo, and On Fire, which have been published in more than thirty-five languages. She is an associate professor in the department of geography at the University of British Columbia, the founding co-director of UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice.

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Plastic – Our Toxic Addiction

What can be done to break our toxic addiction to plastic, and to terminate its lethal global legacy?  

Recorded May 30, 2023

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The old adage about the “free lunch” fits plastic perfectly – there is no such thing. Yes, at first it was shiny, bright and inexpensive and seemed like it could be used for almost anything – until we got the price tag.  And now it might be too late to fix it. 

100 years down the road the world is discovering the myriad unintended consequences of plastic which far outweigh its cheap convenience.  Almost daily, scientific research brings us fresh horrors about plastic; it is no longer just turtles or whales choking on the stuff, now it has invaded us. Microplastics are in our blood, human breastmilk and even our brains. Little did we know that when we put plastic into medical devices and food packaging, it would leach into those syringes and water bottles causing dangerous health consequences intrinsically and extrinsically.   

Only 5% of plastic can be recycled so that means 95% is being dumped into our oceans, landfills and bodies at an unremitting pace.  To help us understand the scale of the problem and see what steps California and other countries are already taking with the Global Plastics Treaty we will speak to John Hocevar, Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign Director, Veronique Greenwood, a science journalist and essayist who frequently contributes to the New York Times and National Geographic and Dr. Roberto Lucchini is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Florida International University.  

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Beauty Or The Beast: The True Cost of ChatGPT?

Recent concerns about the long-term implications of artificial intelligence apps like Chat GPT have prompted journalists, academics and entrepreneurs to seek a temporary halt to the training of AIs saying “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity.” In this Forum, we consider the direct and also unseen impacts of utilizing a tool that has yet to be regulated or even fully understood.

Gary Marcus, scientist, entrepreneur and author of Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence we can trust is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU and hosts the podcast Humans versus MachinesJane Rosenzweig is Director of the Harvard Writing Center, freelance writer and author of Writing Hacks newsletter.  Wesley Wildman is a Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics + Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University. Andrew Kimble, Director of Online Lifelong Learning at BU School of Theology, will act as moderator. 

Recorded 4/25/2023

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New York Times: The Road to AI We Can Trust

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Fragile But Resilient

Daily we hear more dire news about the future of the planet and the grim survival prospects for animal populations.  Wildlife numbers have declined 20 percent over the last century with hundreds of species now extinct and there is much evidence of insect “apocalypses”, all exacerbated by climate change. Christopher Preston believes that all is not lost; there are some fragments of good news to note.

Preston, who teaches environmental philosophy at the University of Montana, has just written Tenacious Beasts, which looks at wildlife that are both defying the odds but also teaching us important lessons about how to share the planet. He is not sugar-coating the truth, he says, but highlighting recovery to provide hope not to provide soothing reassurances.  “Amid growing mountains of loss, some species have shown the tenacity to bounce back.”  Animal populations are still endangered of course but the evidence shows that wildlife are remarkably creative and adaptable.  Preston urges humans to reconsider animals in new ways that lets them live but acknowledges that we humans must change how we think, which is often harder than changing what wo do.  But changes in attitude are essential if we are to enable true recovery; the cost of doing nothing, will be the end for many species.  Preston hopes the book will provide a roadmap for a future in which humans and animals can once again coexist.

Christopher Preston’s essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Smithsonian and on the BBC website.  In addition to teaching at the University of Montana he is author of The Synthetic Age: Outdesigning Evolution; Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World.

Recorded 3/15/2023

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Much Ado About Mushrooms

Recorded June 28, 2022

Fungi are perhaps the most underappreciated kingdom of the natural world. As billion year-old organisms they are masters of survival and integral to the development of life on Earth. Fungi are also remarkable chemists producing molecules that humans still can’t make in a lab, and scientists are only scratching the surface since there are an estimated 5,000,000 species of fungi, and we’ve only discovered about one per cent of them. 

One species that is attracting great attention is psilocybin mushrooms, which have been part of religious rituals for thousands of years. The Aztecs referred to these mushrooms as “God’s flesh” in homage to their believed sacred power. In 1957, Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist working for the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, isolated psilocybin from a mushroom and unleashed all sorts of interesting discoveries.  During the 60s, Sandoz sold psilocybin and LSD for research in medical trials, but the substances were soon outlawed after they became associated with Timothy Leary and the 60’s counterculture.

Well Psilocybin has been making a steady comeback within the medical community who  have conducted clinical trials showing remarkable success in treating patients with severe depression, anxiety and PTSD.  Many individuals speak of life-changing experiences during a single session and emerge with new-found awareness including author Michael Pollan, author of “How to Change your Mind”. 

GIULIANA FURCI is Chile’s first female mycologist who launched the Fungi Foundation in 2012 – the first NGO devoted to these organisms.

Giuliana Furci is Chile’s first female mycologist, who founded the Fungi Foundation, the first NGO in the world working solely for the protection and promotion of fungi, with offices in Chile and the USA.  Her work triggered the inclusion of fungi in Chilean environmental legislation and made it possible to assess the conservation status of over 80 species of fungi.  Furci has described several species of fungi and conducted mycological expeditions in close to 20 countries.

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The Soundtrack of the World

Naturalist Bernie Krause has dedicated his life to recording the sounds of wild soundscapes on all seven continents, around the world.  Krause captures sounds ranging from birdsong and the wind in the trees, to the tinier sounds of insects.  Over the past 50 years, Krause has witnessed evidence of multiple environments being radically altered by human influence, and the resultant soundtracks or “biophonies” reflect chaotic alterations due to stress. 

Krause’s current installation, THE GREAT ANIMAL ORCHESTRA has crossed the Atlantic and is now on display at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, where it will remain till spring 2022.

The Great Animal Orchestra is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the Fondation Cartier

Krause discusses his animal narratives and explain why he has dedicated his life to this work.  Joining the conversation is Jane Winchell, curator of Natural HIstory at the Peabody Essex Museum and co-curator of the Great Animal Orchestra exhibit at PEM.

Recorded 1/18/2022

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What I Learned In Prison

Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize-winning  journalist has been teaching classes in drama, literature, philosophy and history in the college-degree program offered by Rutgers University to inmates in the New Jersey prison system.  His latest book, OUR CLASS: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, is a haunting and powerful account of the voices trapped within a cruel penal system that too often defines their lives.

Recorded 11.16.2021

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After studying some of August Wilson’s plays, Hedges class at East Jersey State Prison decided to write their own play Caged which played to sold out audiences at The Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ and went on to be published.  In Our Class, Hedges chronicles the class’s grief and suffering, as well as their personal transformation in crafted detail, giving voice to those who our society often demonizes and abandons. 

Stephan Whitley is a former student and a successful graduate of Rutgers who was locked up in multiple New Jersey prisons and is now engaged in criminal justice reform work. 

The stink, the mice, the yelling. My time in solitary was the most savage moment of my life.

from Stephan Whitley’s essay at nj.com


Cambridge Forum’s purpose is to inform, explore, entertain and challenge preconceptions on a wide range of current and timeless subjects. Forums are recorded live with audience participation, and freely distributed to the world through NPR, GBH Forum Network, and CF podcasts.

Eco-Anxiety

Does the future plight of the planet keep you up at night?  Are you filled with a sense of doom regarding your future or the uncertain future of your children?  You’re not alone.  Young people are particularly susceptible to this mental anguish and Greta Thunberg, was one of the first of her generation to speak publicly of her eco-depression.

Canadian journalist Arno Kopecky and Professor Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behavior and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge, discuss some of the options we have available to us in responding to this huge global challenge, and they address the pessimism and hope attached to the outcome of the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow.

Kopecky, author of the THE ENVIRONMENTALIST’S DILEMMA: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis, asks if hope is naïve or indispensable. 

Marteau examines what is necessary in terms of our individual and collective behavior that will make change possible. Her recent paper in the British Medical Journal suggests ways we might reach net zero by 2050.

Climate Grief: The Emotional Toll of Climate Change

Recorded 12.2.2021

Eco-Anxiety

Cambridge Forum’s purpose is to inform, explore, entertain and challenge preconceptions on a wide range of current and timeless subjects. Forums are recorded live with audience participation, and freely distributed to the world through NPR, GBH Forum Network, and CF podcasts.

The Day The World Stops Shopping

What are we willing to give up in order to save the planet?  And what would happen to our economies and our lives if we seriously committed to consuming fewer of the Earth’s resources?  

Recorded 10/20/2021

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Canadian author of The Day the World Stops Shopping James MacKinnon is on a mission to get us to buy a lot less stuff but insists that even reducing our consumption by just 5% would make a big difference and we would barely notice the shift. 

J. B. MacKinnon teaches journalism at the University of British Columbia and makes documentaries.  He enjoys exploring the intersection between the wired and wild worlds, and lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Vincent Stanley from Patagonia, co-author of the The Responsible Company will join the conversation.   Stanley affirms that businesses should make useful, long-lasting products in a socially and environmentally responsible way.  What do you think?


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