Tag Archives: 2022-2023

Events

GUNFIGHT: Is Healthy Gun Ownership Ever Possible?

Consider this tragic statistic: 64 Americans die by firearm suicide daily — that is one death every 22 minutes.

Ryan Busse, former executive at Kimber America, a major gun manufacturer and author of the book Gunfight talks about his battle with the gun industry which he says, has radicalized America. He is a senior adviser for Giffords, a gun violence prevention group led by Gabby Giffords, former Arizona congresswoman who was a victim of a mass shooting in 2011.

RYAN BUSSE, a former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America’s multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it has fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point.

As an avid hunter, outdoorsman + conservationist – all things that the firearms industry is built on – Busse chased a childhood dream to secure a successful career selling millions of firearms for Kimber America, one of America’s most popular gun manufacturers.

In 2020, disgusted by the gun industry’s abandonment of decency in favor of profit, Busse decided to quit the industry and end his 30-year career. Today, Busse provides consulting services to progressive organizations with the aim of undoing the country’s dangerous radicalization.

CF Gunfight 1
CF Gunfight 2

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Cambridge Forum Classics, Events, Podcasts

How Not To Kill Yourself

Suicide rates are rising at an alarming rate in America and the populations most at risk are no longer white middle-aged men, they are increasingly young people and minorities.  What societal ills might be fueling this tragic trend?

Clancy Martin is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.  He is also a happily married father of five children.  His latest book, How Not to Kill Yourself is a portrait of the suicidal mind – his own – and in it he provides both a personal account of the multiple attempts he had made to end his life but also the positive strategies he has devised to safeguard his future and that of others.

CLANCY MARTIN is the acclaimed author of numerous books on philosophy. A Guggenheim Fellow, his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Esquire, The New Republic,  and The Paris Review. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Ashoka University in New Delhi.

RORY O’CONNOR is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland and President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. 

O’Connor leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, one of the leading suicide and self-harm research groups and can be found on twitter (@suicideresearch).

He’s the author of When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do To Prevent It.

Recorded 6/14/2023

CF: How NOT To Kill Yourself 1
CF: How NOT To Kill Yourself 2

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Environment, Events, Podcasts

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

CF Plastic – Our Toxic Addiction 1
Plastic – Our Toxic Addiction 2
CF: Plastic: Our Toxic Addiction

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.  

Veronique Greenwood
John Hocevar
Roberto Lucchini

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Events, Podcasts

Challenging History: On The Streets Of Newtowne

CF – Challenging History: On The Streets Of Newtowne

Recorded 5/16/2023

What was Cambridge like back when it was called Newtowne and even before that?   A new history book, ostensibly for kids, aims to paint a more multi-dimensional view of the area charting its cultural influences and history starting back 10,000 years ago, when indigenous people farmed, fished and built communities there. The Massachusett tribe were the first documented humans known to have lived on this land.

Art Historian Suzanne Preston Blier, Harvard Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies has just published “The Streets of Newtowne: A Story of Cambridge, MA.” Blier, a Cambridge civic activist, serves as President of the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, a group she helped to found in 2017.

Joining her to help amplify our understanding of Newtowne’s diverse past are Nicola Williams, President of The Williams Agency, located in an historic building on Story Street. Once a boarding house run by former slave Harriet Jacobs, who self-published her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jacobs went on to become an abolitionist, activist and suffragette. Williams serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Network of Boston.  Also Sage Carbone, Community Programs Director for the Fenway Community Development Corporation.  Sage is a descendant of the Massachusett tribe and a resident of Cambridge, where she is active in the collective Cambridge City Growers which distributes thousands of seedlings to urban gardeners. 

Resource link: History Cambridge: May 10 Indigenous Voices: A Conversation with Sage Carbone and Dr. David Shane Lowry

Augmenting the historical discussion will be Daniel Berger-Jones, in the guise of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who delivered his famous “American Scholar” address in the church in 1837. This speech was referred to as America’s “Intellectual Declaration of Independence” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Suzanne Preston Blier
Nicola Williams
Sage Carbone

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Environment, Events, Podcasts

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 Machines.  Jane 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. 

Gary Marcus
Jane Rosenzweig
Wesley Wildman

Recorded 4/25/2023

CF – The True Cost of ChatGPT 1
CF -The True Cost of ChatGPT 2

New York Times: The Road to AI We Can Trust

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Events

Cartoonists, Racism, & Free Speech In A Threatened Democracy

What is the role of the cartoonist in today’s convoluted world?

Cartoonists, Racism & Free Speech

Is it poking fun at the powerful, parodying the absurdities of life or according to cartoonist Rob Rogers, acting as “a troublemaker”. He should know for when Rogers depicted Donald Trump too angrily, he was fired from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  So, stakes run high for picking up the artistic pen.

But while Rogers poked fun at Trump, Scott Adams embraced Trump’s world view.  Adams, whose “Dilbert” cartoon strip catapulted him to fame, recently courted controversy by describing Black people as a “hate group.” Consequently, more than 300 publications announced they would no longer be running Dilbert.  Critics say his politics crept into his art when he introduced a token Black character to represent his negative views on racial diversity, albeit with greater subtlety. 

Is there still a role for Adams in the world of cartooning and are there any topics that are off-limits? Do cultural norms and political climates affect what is acceptable to ridicule?  

Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for GBH News will act as guest moderator for this timely discussion which features three prominent cartoonists.

Barbara Brandon-Croft, the first black female syndicated cartoonist in America and author of a new book, “Where I’m Coming From: Selected Strips 1991-2005” says she drew cartoons because her voice needed to be heard.

“Kal” Kallaugher, the international award-winning cartoonist for The Economist magazine, whose career spans 45 years, two continents and 10,000 cartoons.

Dan Wasserman, from The Boston Globe will complete the trio.  Wasserman began cartooning for The Globe in 1985 and drew for the editorial page for 35 years; his work has been syndicated internationally since 1980.  In 1984, Wasserman was a finalist for the H L Mencken Human Rights Award for cartooning.

Recorded April 11, 2023

Cartoonists, Racism, & Free Speech 1
Cartoonists, Racism, & Free Speech 2

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Cambridge Forum classics

Bringing Healing To The Homeless

Bringing Healing to the Homeless
CF: Bringing Healing To The Homeless

Recorded 3/28/2023

Tracy Kidder’s, “ROUGH SLEEPERS” centers around one dedicated doctor and his mission to provide medical care to the homeless.  The book is a powerful account of the dedicated work of “Dr. Jim” O’Connell, a physician who founded Boston Health Care for the Homeless in 1985.

When O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency, the Chief of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital asked him if he would defer a prestigious fellowship to spend a year helping create an organization to bring health care to the homeless.  Dr. Jim took the job because he felt he couldn’t refuse, but that one year was to turn into a lifetime working with the homeless on the streets of Boston and in his Thursday Street Clinic at MGH.  Now in his 70s, Dr Jim is still captain of the “Street Team” who provide care for the city’s unhoused population – the people who sleep rough.

Rough Sleepers is the result of spending five years shadowing O’Connell’s work bringing medical care, socks, soup, humor and friendship to some of the city’s most endangered individuals.  Much as he did in his profile of Paul Farmer, Kidder explores how a small but dedicated group of people have improved and gladdened thousands of lives by facing one of America’s most difficult problems, rather than looking away.

Tracy Kidder graduated from Harvard and studied at the University of Iowa. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes. His books include

Mountains Beyond Mountains, Strength in What Remains, The Soul of a New Machine, House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends, Hometown and A Truck Full of Money.

Dr. Jim O’Connell is President of Boston Health Care and assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  He began fulltime clinical work with the homeless in 1985 when he became the founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which now serves over 13,000 homeless persons each year in two hospital-based clinics (Boston Medical Center and MGH) and in more than 60 shelters and outreach sites in Boston. 

O’Connell has received numerous awards, including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award in 2012 and he has collaborated with homeless programs in many cities in the USA and around the world, from London to Sydney. He is both an unsung hero to the homeless and the subject of Tracy Kidder’s latest book “Rough Sleepers”, which is the product of Kidder shadowing his work for 5 years.

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Environment, Events

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

CF Fierce & Resilient 1

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Search For Meaning

Forgetting & Remembering: What Can We Do About It?

Why do we remember certain things and forget others? Well research shows us that committing things to memory is far more complex than we imagine but so too is retrieving that information.

According to neurologist Andrew Budson and neuroscientist Elizabeth Kensinger, forgetting is a necessary part of the process and there’s nothing shameful about using memory aids. In their book “Why We Forget and How to Remember Better: the science behind memory” they outline the three different phases that must occur, in order for us to have access to past content. They suggest some useful tips for helping us improve our recall and also say that sleep is critical if we are to have long-term access to our stored information. Other factors like aerobic exercise, eating right, interacting socially and doing crossword puzzles are all good tools that will help keep brains healthy and maintain strong memories.

Recorded 2/28/2023

CF Forgetting and Remembering 1
CF Forgetting and Remembering 2

Andrew E. Budson, MD is Professor of Neurology at Boston University, Lecturer in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. His career combines education, research, and clinical care to help those with memory disorders. Budson is also the author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory.

Elizabeth A. Kensinger, PhD is now Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. She directs a research laboratory that investigates many aspects of human memory, including how emotion, stress, and sleep affect memory, and how memory strengths shift as adults age.

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Events

The 64 Year Climate Change Cover-Up

Big oil knew about greenhouse gases and their impact on climate change more than half a century ago – but instead of sharing the information, they lied and undermined its veracity. That’s according to a newly published book THE PETROLEUM PAPERS by investigative journalist Geoffrey Dembicki. The book documents how, as far back as 1959, renowned physicist Edward Teller warned Robert Dunlap and other oil executives, about the global impact that greenhouse gases would have on temperatures, melting ice caps, rising oceans and largescale environmental destruction. Even while Exxon’s own scientists were warning of the catastrophic effect that climate change would cause around the world, their executives were spending millions of dollars “trying to convince people the emergency wasn’t real”. 

Recorded 2/14/2023

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CF Climate Cover-Up 2

Geoff Dembicki is an investigative climate change journalist based in Brooklyn. His new book The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change, was named one of the 2022’s top 10 books by the Washington Post.

Alyssa Johl, Vice President, Legal for the Center for Climate Integrity will discuss the various litigation battles which are currently underway. Several State Attorney Generals and countries, including the Philippines, have taken law cases against oil companies for the damage inflicted by global warming. 

Delta Merner is lead scientist for the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She provides timely, scientific evidence to support legal cases that hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate-related damages. Merner reviews legal communications for scientific accuracy, and leads trainings for scientists working at the intersection of climate science and law.

What price can be levied on big oil for the damage they have caused to the planet and its populations – especially if they were aware of the impending threat?

Learn more:

Understanding climate change: knowledge vs belief

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