Renowned climate scientist and author Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is a leader in efforts to change the public climate crisis conversation by focusing on solutions that provide hope rather than despair.  How do scientists and journalists get the message across to the general public about opportunities to tackle the climate crisis that move beyond the current divisive environment? How can the media improve coverage of climate change to a broad audience? 

Dr. Hayhoe will share stories about how to overcome the psychological, societal, political and economic barriers that contribute to climate denialism and take positive actions based on shared values and concerns. 

Sponsors: This event is co-sponsored by the Environment and Natural Resources Program; the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy; the Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic Initiative; and the Climate, Energy, and Environment Professional Interest Council.

Attendance: This event is open to the public and hosted on Zoom. For those who cannot attend live, the seminar will be recorded and available to watch on this page.

Accessibility: Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Liz Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the session.

Registration: Please RSVP at the link below. Registration will remain open until the event begins.

Join us for a webinar, “From Doomsday to Hope: Covering Solutions to the Climate and Energy Crisis,” featuring two leading environmental journalists: Sarah Kaplan of The Washington Post and Sammy Roth of The Los Angeles Times. While much of the news coverage of climate change has focused on the immense global "gloom and doom" problems ahead, there is a new push in journalism to reach out to the public by featuring innovative solutions to the climate and energy crisis. Science journalist Cristine Russell, ENRP Senior Fellow, will moderate.

Sponsors: This event is co-sponsored by the Environment and Natural Resources Program; the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy; the Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic Initiative; and the Climate, Energy, and Environment Professional Interest Council.

Attendance: This event is open to the public and hosted on Zoom. For those who cannot attend live, the seminar will be recorded and available to watch on this page.

Accessibility: Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Liz Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the session.

Registration: Please RSVP at the link below. Registration will remain open until the event begins.

Is environmental justice finally getting more coverage, as media outlets address the disproportionate impact of serious environmental problems on communities of color, the poor and the marginalized?

Three leading journalists will discuss the challenges ahead in covering environmental and climate justice in the United States and around the globe: Somini Sengupta of The New York Times; Justin Worland of Time Magazine;  and Yessenia Funes of Atmos Magazine. Cristine Russell, ENRP Senior Fellow, will moderate.

While air, water, and toxic pollution hit vulnerable populations hardest, climate change will make the inequities even worse. The Biden Administration has promised to make environmental justice a key element of its sweeping federal climate agenda.

Environmental and climate justice reporting ranges from the polluted water of Flint, Michigan to the dirty air of New Delhi, bringing in-depth stories of the people most adversely impacted by where they live and work. Climate change, from extreme heat to increased flooding, will affect communities—and countries—least prepared to deal with the consequences.  The Black Lives Matter protests and COVID-19 pandemic have also been linked with concerns about environmental justice in terms of those populations at greatest health risk.

HKS Co-Sponsors: Belfer Center Environment & Natural Resources Program & Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy; Climate, Energy & Environment PIC (CEE-PIC): A student organization at HKS

In his first days in office, President Joe Biden put the global climate crisis on the country’s front burner, rejoining the Paris Accord and mobilizing his administration to tackle climate change at every level.

Two of the most experienced and respected national reporters in Washington D.C. will provide an inside look at how dramatically the climate beat has changed, contrasting the start of the Biden era with the challenges of covering the anti-climate agenda of the Trump Administration.  The panel will feature Juliet Eilperin, Senior National Affairs Reporter at the The Washington Post and Lisa Friedman, Climate Reporter at The New York Times. Science journalist Cristine Russell, ENRP Senior Fellow, will moderate.

Co-Sponsors: Environment & Natural Resources Program; Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics & Public Policy; Climate, Energy & Environment PIC (CEE-PIC): A student organization at HKS

Join the Environment and Natural Resources Program on Wednesday, November 18 for "Coalitions for Environmental Health and Justice: Lessons from the 2020 Roy Award." This panel-based event will celebrate Clean Water for Carolina Kids, the 2020 winner of the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership, and its mission to protect North Carolina's children from dangerous lead exposure.

We will begin with a brief award presentation, followed by a panel conversation with scientists, advocates, and public health professionals about the challenges in providing clean drinking water, and how to center science and justice in the work to protect children’s health.

This event will be hosted on Zoom and open to the public. Please register at the RSVP link below. All are welcome to attend and join the celebration!

Elizabeth Arnold, Chair and Professor of Journalism, University of Alaska, and former NPR national correspondent, will address new ways to improve climate change coverage. The national media continue to sound the alarm about climate change, but the gloom and doom narrative may fail to engage the public in a meaningful way.  A former fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Arnold documented a pattern of reporting that conveys a catastrophic vision with little in the way of how individuals, communities and governments are responding. After a decade of reporting from some of the most remote areas of the Arctic, Arnold advocates a solutions-focused approach to more effectively communicating climate change around the world.

The seminar will be moderated by Cristine Russell, ENRP Senior Fellow & HKS Adjunct Lecturer. It is sponsored by the Belfer Center's Environment & Natural Resources Program (ENRP), Arctic Initiative & SEE PIC: the HKS student interest group for Sustainability, Energy & Environment.

Please submit RSVPs via the link below.

Refreshments will be served.

Each year the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative sends a delegation of students to attend the world’s largest Arctic gathering, the Arctic Circle Assembly. This year, after a competitive application process, four students were selected to represent Harvard at the Arctic Innovation Lab. Come and hear their presentations before they leave for Iceland to pitch their ideas for a changing Arctic. 

Lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP to brittany_janis@hks.harvard.edu by October 2 to secure your seat.

Surgeon, writer, and public health researcher Atul Gawande discusses the state of public health with Belfer Center Senior Fellow and freelance journalist Cristine Russell and Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy David T. Ellwood. 

The event will be held in the JFK Jr. Forum from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public, but please note that floor seats will be reserved for Harvard ID holders. All seating is available on a first-arrive basis. Doors will close when capacity is reached

Location: Wexner building, Room 332

Join the Arctic Initiative and the Environment and Natural Resources Program for a seminar with journalist Elizabeth Arnold, former NPR Correspondent and current Shorenstein Center Fellow, and Alice Rogoff, publisher of ArcticToday.  Introduction by Arctic Initiative Co-Founder Halla Hrund Logadóttir & moderated by ENRP Senior Fellow Cristine Russell. The event is held in conjunction with Prof. Russell's class, IGA451M: "Controversies in Climate, Energy & the Media.

Wiener Auditorium, ground floor Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School

Should Harvard divest from fossil fuels to address the climate change crisis? A Harvard Kennedy School debate will address the arguments pro and con of a controversial global fossil fuel divestment campaign.