Past Events

Researcher and author Timothy A. Wise explains why industrial agriculture (Big Ag) is more a threat to the planet and humanity than a solution to hunger.
Based on his book Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food, he explains numerous issues associated with corporate agriculture, including the impact of excess fertilizers, pest toxins, and GMOs. He also describes the best farming strategies that will feed the planet and help to restore global environment, economies and health.

Excess traffic is bad for residents, businesses, and visitors – while the city’s extensive transit network needs investment. Sound familiar?

After years of advocacy and planning, the Board of NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently approved the city's congestion pricing program to start June 30, 2024. With approximately 60% of 25,000 public comments showing support for the policy, the New York region looked ready for change. But on June 6, 2024, NewYork Governor Kathy Hochul has decided to shelve the plan indefinitely.

Should we consider congestion pricing in Massachusetts? What can we learn from New York? Is this an opportunity to spur investment in transit, put Massachusetts back on track to meet our climate goals, and create a more equitable region? How will Massachusetts be able to deal with any adverse impacts other cities have encountered?

Delve into one of the darkest chapters in human history as Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum provides historical facts and answers your questions about Auschwitz, the largest and most lethal Nazi concentration and death camp. More than 1,100,000 people were killed behind its barbed wire fences.

Michael Berenbaum is the Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, and a Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the American Jewish University. The author and editor of 24 books, he was also the Executive Editor of the Second Edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. He was Project Director overseeing the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the first Director of its Research Institute, and later served as President and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which took the testimony of 52,000 Holocaust survivors in 32 languages and 57 countries. His work in film has won Emmy Awards and Academy Awards. He has developed and curated museum exhibits in the United States, Mexico, North Macedonia, and Poland; and his award-winning exhibition Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away. has been seen in Madrid, Spain, Malmo, Sweden, New York, Kansas City, the Ronald Regan Library in California, and is now on view in Boston.


This event is presented in partnership with the Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. exhibit on view now at The Castle at Park Plaza in Boston.

Photos: (from top left clockwise to bottom left)
-A transport of Jews from Hungary arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Poland, May 1944
-Main entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. This photograph was taken some time after the liberation of the camp in January 1945. Poland, date uncertain.
-View of a section of the barbed-wire fence and barracks at Auschwitz at the time of the liberation of the camp. Auschwitz, Poland, January 1945.
-A transport of Hungarian Jews lines up on the ramp for selection at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in German-occupied Poland. May 1944.
Images provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

GBH Music, JazzBoston, and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra present a special tribute to Duke Ellington to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the iconic jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader's birth.

Join Cambridge Forum for a discussion about ageism considering the many factors that make this a global issue of importance. It is as much about how the elderly see themselves as it is about how society views them, according to Professor Andrew Scott, author of the new book, The Longevity Imperative.

Scott’s research focuses on the economics of longevity and ageing and is published in a wide range of leading academic journals. He has advised through a variety of roles a range of governments, institutions and companies. His award-winning book, The Hundred Year Life is a global bestseller having sold 1 million copies.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, attention on NATO has increased throughout the world. As its members prepare for the 75th NATO summit in early July, focus will intensify even more. In the U.S. we hear a lot of opinions about NATO, but how do Europeans feel about their security? The world will get key indicators of European political trends next month as 400 million people vote in European Parliamentary elections. Join us on the eve of these elections as the Consuls General of France and Germany discuss the future of NATO and the future of Europe.

GBH will host Outspoken Saturdays, a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists. Every first Saturday of the month, the series will be created in collaboration with spoken word artist Amanda Shea.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Note: This event was originally scheduled to take place at the GBH Studio at the BPL but due to their broken air conditioning, this event will now take place at GBH’s main studios in Brighton. Please find details below.

Location: GBH Studios, One Guest Street Brighton, MA 02135
Directions and parking: https://www.wgbh.org/foundation/where-we-are/brighton-studios
15 Guest Street Parking Ticket Validation: GBH will validate parking tickets for guests who park in the 15 Guest Street Garage. Please bring your ticket inside to the registration table when you arrive. Parking ticket validation will happen as guests arrive to the event.

Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy – even your safety. At the same time, big datasets could lead to huge advances in fields like medicine. In NOVA's Secrets in Your Data, host Alok Patel explores these issues on a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re shedding and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits – without compromising personal privacy.

Join NOVA at GBH for a screening of selected clips from Secrets in Your Data paired with a panel discussion featuring experts from the film. Following the program, we will host a catered reception in the Atrium.

NOVA's Secrets in Your Data premieres Wednesday, May 15, at 9/8c on PBS. Check local listings for details. It will also be available for streaming online and via the PBS video app.

Our panel for the evening will include:
Alok Patel — Moderator, Host of Secrets in Your Data, Physician, ABC News Medical Contributor
Matt Mitchell — Founder of Crypto Harlem, Hacker
Ramesh Raskar — Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab, Founder of the PathCheck Foundation
Hayley Tsukayama — Associate Director of Legislative Activism, Electronic Frontier Foundation

In today’s world, Artificial Intelligence’s implications are not yet fully understood, so how can we leverage this technology to ensure it serves us as an asset for all?

In this closing plenary session of the MIT Solve flagship event, solvers tell stories to help us understand how we use AI systems to help build a more stable, fair and delightful world.

With:
Hala Hanna, MIT Solve
Seth Dobrin, CEO Quantum AI and Nayeema Raza, host of Mixed Signals
Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab
Amr AboDraiaa. CEO Rology, Gatanjali Rao, UNICEF Youth Advocate, founder of Vervient Foundation & Michele Malejki. Global Head of Social Impact at HP
Smita Sharma, photojournalist and TED Fellow
Imara Jones, founder and CEO TransLash Media - Ayan Kishore - CEO Benetech, Danielle Forward, CEO and co-founder Natives Rising.
Devshi Mehrotra, CEO Justice Text

What if we focus on abundance and community? What if we focus on the journey to our destination rather than on whether we’ll get there?

MIT Solve welcomes solvers on its stage to present solutions on how to adapt to our changing climate, centering local and community needs. As Hala Hanna, Executive Director of MIT Solve, put it: "Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up, ready to take action with a determination to make it".

With Scooby Laposky, independent artist, Henk Rogers - Blue Planet Alliance and Julia Kumari Drapkin - ISeeChange, Sara Beery, MIT Professor, Rania Khalif, Inara and Ritu Raman, MIT with Alexander Dale, MIT Solve, James Newell - GSR Foundation, and Taita Ngetich - Synnefa.