New Student Book Forum
"Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future" by Elizabeth Kolbert
Monday, August 22
The book chosen for the New Student Book Forum Class of 2026 is "Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future" by Elizabeth Kolbert. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity’s transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? The 2022 Helen and Philip Brecher New Student Forum took place during New Student Orientation on Monday, August 22nd.
The Caterpillar Lab @ Brandeis
In collaboration with the Environmental Studies Program
Tuesday 9/13, 1-5pm, and Friday 9/16, 11am-3pm
Location: Fellows Garden/ SCC Atrium
Photo credit: Forrest Shimazu '23
The Caterpillar Lab set up displays on campus during the peak of caterpillar season to discover, discuss, and delight in our backyard pollinators! From caterpillars and adult moths or butterflies to the parasitoids and predators who rely on them! Students spent the afternoon with large, charismatic caterpillars, microscopic leaf-eaters, and knowledgeable caterpillar naturalists to explore the whole story of insects, plants, and biodiversity in our green spaces. Students may never look at an insect - or their garden - the same way again!
Climate Concerns: Eco-Anxiety Support Group (fall session)
Climate distress is real. How do we take care of ourselves while we worry about and fight climate change? This fall, the Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) will be offering this group to allow students to share concerns and build personal empowerment while strengthening community ties to combat despair, inaction, and eco-anxiety. This group is open to all Brandeis students.
Sojourn Theatre Residency: Year of Climate Action / A Devised Participatory Performance
In collaboration with the Department of Theater Arts
September 23-24, 2022
Using the Year of Climate Action as a point of inspiration and frame of reference, the Department of Theater Arts will bring Sojourn Theatre to Brandeis to collaborate with Brandeis Students during a two-week residency from September 11-24, 2022. Students will work with two Sojourn Theatre Artists to create Year of Climate Action / A Devised Participatory Performance, Brandeis Students working in collaboration with Sojourn Theatre. The work will be created in collaboration with Sojourn Theatre Artists using a variety of techniques Sojourn Theatre uses to create their signature performances using a "best practice model" for arts-based civic dialogue. Each 20-30 minute presentation will be followed by an audience discussion facilitated by Sojourn Theatre Artists and Brandeis students.
In conjunction with this event, the Department of Theater Arts is hosting drop-in workshops to make giant recycled puppets each day from September 13-15.
Local Environmental Justice In Action
Talk & panel discussion with Maria Belen Power
Hosted by the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Part of the Laura Goldin Lecture Series on Climate Change, Health and Social Justice.
September 28, 2022, 12 - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch begins at 12pm, virtual program begins at 12:30pm
Maria Belen Power is the Associate Executive Director of GreenRoots, a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea and surrounding communities. Maria Belen oversees GreenRoots’ environmental justice campaigns and supports the work of the organizing team. She represents GreenRoots in the Green Justice Coalition of the Greater Boston Area as well as national movements for environmental and climate justice. Maria Belen was appointed by President Biden to serve on the newly established White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), which advises the executive branch on all issues related to environmental and climate justice.
Maria Belen's talk will be followed by a panel discussion on questions of environmental & climate justice with alumni from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, including Heather McMann, Executive Director of Groundwork Lawrence.
Indigenous People's Day
Theme: Indigenous Climate Justice
Sponsored by the Brandeis Office of Sustainability, Brandeis Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Brandeis Women Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Monday, October 10, 2022
12:00-2:00pm
ICC Patio (RSVP requested to help reduce food waste)
Join us for a powerful discussion on Indigenous Climate Justice by Jean-Luc Pierite President, North American Indian Center of Boston followed by an interactive Round Dance. Lunch will be provided, which will include authentic Native American dishes
A Very Brief History of Sustainability
Co-sponsored by the Center of German and European Studies
Thursday, October 13, 2022
12-1:30 pm EST
Zoom Webinar (registration required)
Join us for a conversation with Professor Annette Kehnel, author of "Wir Konnten auch Anders. Eine Kurze Geschichte der Nachhaltgkeit" (We Could Do Things Differently. A Brief History of Sustainability). Pre-modern history is full of inspiring and amazing examples that are ripe for rediscovery. And we urgently need them as today’s challenges – finite resources, the twilight of consumerism, growing inequality – are pressing. History teaches us that there are alternatives to the status quo and its leading doctrine. Growth and returns were not always the measure of all things; we acted and lived differently, and we could do so again.
6:30-7:30pm, International Lounge (Usdan) & webinar
From Knowledge to Action: About the Psychology of the Climate Crisis
Co-sponsored by the Center of German and European Studies
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
12-1:30 pm EST
Zoom Webinar (registration required)
The scientific facts about the climate and ecological crisis have been known for a long time, and yet societies have not been able to take action at the necessary scale. In this lecture, Lea Dohm presents the psychological mechanisms beneath the insufficient action, and possible strategies to respond in a healthy way. She also shows how people in Germany are organizing in order to move towards a societal transformation towards a more just and sustainable future, and what everyone, but especially those in the health professions can contribute.
Jewish Environmental Values and the Book of Genesis with Rabbi Winberg
October 19, 12-1 PM Beit Midrash (basement of Shapiro residence hall)Lunch from Milk Street Cafe
What does Jewish tradition say about environmental values? No prior knowledge or background is required. All are welcome to an open, welcoming space. Texts will be available in the original Hebrew and English translation.
Colonialism and Climate Crisis 
Sponsored by The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Thursday, November 10, 2022
12 - 1:30 pm Eastern Time (US)
Hybrid: Heller G04 or Zoom (registration required)
Prof. Aviva Chomsky will be giving a lecture entitled “Colonialism and Climate Crisis” based on her new book Is Science Enough? Forty Critical Questions.
Despite decades of international meetings, policy proposals, and scientific and technological advances, we can’t seem to do what we most need to do: lower the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the climate catastrophe. Science and technology alone can’t address the social and economic causes of the crisis. Prof. Chomsky argues that we must place global climate justice at the center of our project of lowering emissions and shifting to an economy based on the common good and human survival within the planet's limits.
Prof. Chomsky will be signing her new book after the talk.
Action Dinners with Brandeis' Climate Organizer-in-Residence
In collaboration with the Vic and Bobbi '63 Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation
October 13 and November 1, 15 & 30. Registration is required.
Are you interested in climate justice & policy? Have you ever wanted to learn how to advocate for climate action? Join for one or all of the dinners!
Eben Bein, the Massachusetts Field & Education Manager for Our Climate and Administrator for the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition, is Brandeis’ Climate Organizer-in-Residence this semester! As part of the residency, Eben will lead several trainings for students on how to advocate for the science-based, equitable, and intersectional climate justice policies we need.
Our Climate is a national organization that empowers young people to advocate for the science-based, equitable, and intersectional climate justice policies that build a thriving world.
Virtual Seminar Series on the Physics of Climate
Sponsored by the Brandeis Martin A. Fischer School of Physics and other Universities
Next seminar: Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Topic: "Whither Sea Ice?"
12:00 - 1:00 pm Eastern Time (US)
Zoom Webinar (register to access)
Brandeis Professor of Physics Albion Lawrence is co-organizing the American Physical Society (APS) Topical Group on the Physics of Climate monthly virtual seminar series on climate physics and variability. We hope that these seminars will introduce the physics community to various aspects of the climate system, the latest results, and the outstanding questions and challenges. The seminars will be hosted by APS through Zoom.
GPC Virtual Seminar Series Organizing Committee:
Pedram Hassanzadeh, Ching-Yao Lai, Albion Lawrence, and Tiffany Shaw
Lunch with an Environmental Lobbyist
Tuesday, Jan. 31
12:30 - 2:00 pm
How can YOU make a difference in climate policy? Learn the current state of play for environmental policy in Massachusetts, how ideas become laws, and where you fit in. Katharine Lange, Policy Specialist for the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, will share current challenges she's working on in the water world, and opportunities for students to speak up for rivers.
Join Prof. Hitchcock for a free lunch with Katharine Lange in the Faculty Club. Katharine works as the Policy Specialist for the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the rivers and streams of the Commonwealth. She's all in on climate action; she works directly with legislators to craft and advance state legislation to improve the environment and local climate resilience, and to increase funding to the state agencies who steward our lands and waters. Katharine attended the University of Connecticut for her BA and Master's of Public Administration, and worked on land conservation policy in Connecticut for two years. In 2020 she swapped her car for a bike and hasn't looked back.
Bird Strike Decal Design Competition
Art in the Year of Climate Change: Prevent Bird Deaths on Campus
Sponsored by Environmental Studies, Brandeis MakerLab, the Office of Sustainability, and Arts Engagement.
Since 1970, nearly 1 out of 3 birds in the US and Canada has vanished. Window collisions are one of the leading causes of bird deaths in the US, accounting for an estimated half a billion dead birds a year.
One way to prevent birds from striking windows is to reduce the reflective surface with a vinyl decal.
Bird strike “hot spots” can be found all across campus. To help mitigate our campus impact on birds, we want to feature your design on a campus building!
We invite Brandeis undergraduates to submit designs for a bird strike window decal. The winning design will be installed on Shiffman Humanities Center or Golding Judaica Center and unveiled during the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, April 21-30, 2023.
Deadline to apply: February 27, 2023
A prize of $200 will be awarded to the winning individual or team.
Learn more
Climate Concerns: Eco-Anxiety Support Group (spring session)
Thursdays, 11am (5 weeks, starts 2/2)
Climate distress is real. How do we take care of ourselves while we worry about and fight climate change? Join this reflective 5-week session to share concerns, discuss the emotional side to activism, and build personal empowerment while strengthening community ties to combat despair, inaction, and eco-anxiety. For more info, please contact Hadassah Margolis at hmargolis@brandeis.edu.
You may have already seen Cool Food Meals badges on our residential dining menus to help you choose climate-friendly dishes. Cool Food Meals have a low carbon footprint and help us meet our carbon reduction goals. Going forward, Cool Food Meal takeovers will happen in each dining hall every month. That means once a month at Usdan Kitchen and at the Farm Table/Kosher Table at Sherman, Cool Food meals will be featured by default. The locations of the takeovers alternate and are listed on the Brandeis Hospitality website in advance. Learn more about our commitment to Cool Food.