Past Events

Drought warnings in Massachusetts are a stark reminder that we are part of a global climate system where warming trends are accelerating. Is there something we can learn from adding a global lens to our local and regional mitigation efforts? Danielle Dolan, Deputy Director of the Mass Rivers Alliance, and Beth Lambert, Director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, will join Slovakian hydrologist and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Michal Kravcik in conversations about our connection to the global water crisis. Dr. Kravcik will introduce the new water paradigm, which explains the role of small water cycles and the importance of restoring them in urban, agricultural and forest settings to prevent drought and floods, and to cool the planet. **Resources** [United Nations Environment Program: Foresight Brief](https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/36619/FB025.pdf?mibextid=onnTyB&fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR1Fba0-vIPYTWyP_pwMI9NhSeAgf-MmI3z6JQI0TJg2d2LJlG5rzCFGO6Q) [Explore your rivers](https://www.massriversalliance.org/explore-your-rivers) [Drought Fact Sheet](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xb2SC4TeUGPFGsc_9hbUQcYYr9x4GjZB/view)

Even in an era of extravagance – wealth, glamour, and greed – some women stand out by virtue of their family, their treasure, or their talent. Join us for a presentation by two authors whose celebrated works reveal the lives of women in the Gilded Age. It was the era in which many wealthy Americans were married off to foreign aristocrats: the beautiful heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt joined in a loveless marriage to become the savior and head of Blenheim Palace, outside London. Mrs. Frank Leslie, head of lucrative publishing empire, was as impactful in her time as the Rockefellers and Carnegies, yet her story of success and scandal has been forgotten--until now. Don’t miss hearing from authors Laura Thompson and Betsy Prioleau and moderator Esther Crain about the women who glittered most brightly in Gilded Age--their experiences as daughters, wives, trend-setters, and entrepreneurs.

For almost 30 years, Dr. Philip Landrigan and other distinguished scientists appealed to the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos and widely used pesticides known to impair brain development. The link between chlorpyrifos and brain disorders such as autism and ADHD was well known for years, but the manufacturers of this toxin were able to block efforts to ban chlorpyrifos. Dr. Landrigan explains the effects of this toxin, and also scientists’ decades-long effort to protect pregnant women, children, and farm workers and communities. This struggle has raised the question: Who does the Environmental Protection Agency protect: industry or the public?

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”. ---------- Bibliography: The Future Is Fungi: How Fungi Feed Us, Heal Us, and Save Our World By Michael Shu Lim and Yun Shue Thames and Hudson Fantastic Fungi: Expanding Consciousness, Alternative Healing, Environmental Impact // Official Book of Smash Hit Documentary Hardcover – Illustrated, August 27, 2019 Introduction by Paul Stamets Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World By Paul Stamets Ten Speed Press (2005) Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures By Merlin Sheldrake Random House (2021) Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest By Suzanne Simard Allen Lane (2021)

Pandemic-weary and frustrated by the lack of equitable representation in government, women are challenging the status quo in Massachusetts politics. In this a bold conversation about political culture and public policy, leaders of a diverse group of women’s organizations gather to chart a new course. GBH News reporter Saraya Wintersmith leads a discussion with panelists, asking, What do we need our state’s government to do differently? How do we create a more equitable Commonwealth? Our featured guests include: * Sasha Goodfriend, Executive Director of MassNOW * Diana Hwang, Founder and Executive Director of the Asian American Women’s Political Initiative * Dr. Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Director of the UMass-Boston Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy * Dawne Shand, President of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus * Rosario Ubiera-Minaya, President and Executive Director of Amplify Latinx * Saraya Wintersmith, moderator.

WorldBoston’s annual State of the State Department is an opportunity to consider the U.S. State Department and American diplomacy within the context of U.S. national interests. This year’s program focuses on Public Diplomacy, and its relevance in a time of global challenges to democracy. For this discussion of Public Diplomacy, we are delighted to feature Stacy White, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional and Cultural Exchanges at the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Farah Pandith, Fellow of the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, former first Special Representative to Muslim Communities at the U.S. Department of State; and bestselling author of How We Win: How Cutting Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat.

For this Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning historian, also a proud Texas native and descendant of Texas slaves, the story of Juneteenth has special resonance. "On Juneteenth" presents the saga of a frontier defined as much by the slave plantation owner as the mythic cowboy, rancher, or oilman. Celebrated for her research and revelations in her prize-winning book "The Hemingses of Monticello", Annette Gordon-Reed now tells a tale closer to home. The Texas native combines her own scholarship with a personal and intimate reflection of an overlooked holiday that has suddenly taken on new significance. In "On Juneteenth" she writes, “it is staggering that there is no date commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.” Yet Texas, the last state to free its slaves, has long acknowledged the date of June 19, 1865, when US Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed from his Galveston headquarters that slavery was no longer the law of the land. Don’t miss Gordon-Reed’s discussion with Lisa Baldez about her research process, her childhood in Texas, and the circuitous path to national recognition of the Juneteenth holiday. Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. Author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family", she lives in New York and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lisa Baldez is Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. Her research and published works examine the prospects for finding common ground between left-wing and right-wing women in the U.S. and around the world. This event is presented in the American Inspiration Author Series in partnership with the Boston Public Library, the State Library of Massachusetts, and GBH Forum Network.

The issue of migration to the United States from Latin America has overshadowed the war on drugs, which has been underway for decades with little signs of progress. What are the roots and the bureaucratic logic behind today's dominant drug policies in Latin America? Is it time to reconsider punitive drug policies that disrupt supply chains and punish drug possession? Join WorldBoston at the Boston Public Library for the latest installment in the Great Decisions series, focusing on "Drug Policy in Latin America" and featuring Dr. Evan Ellis Research Professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.

In this evening of conversation, Karen Brooks Hopkins, president emerita, Brooklyn Academy of Music will discuss her 36 years at the world-famous cultural institution. A page-turning look behind the scenes of America’s oldest performing arts center, BAM … and Then It Hit Me is filled with stories and photographs of artists and icons—Princess Diana, Ingmar Bergman, Chuck Davis, David Byrne, LL Cool J, among others—along with hands-on practical advice on fundraising and leadership. The book is a paean to the glory of the arts and the evolution of Brooklyn: in Karen’s words, “the coolest neighborhood on the planet.” Through personal stories and raw reflections, tales of glamour and of grit, Karen looks back upon her career’s twists of fate, the total failures, and great triumphs along the way. Hopkins’s view of arts as a critical driver for the post-pandemic economy and her emphasis on diverse partnerships could be a blueprint for Boston and beyond. This evening’s conversation is moderated by Myriam Cyr, artistic director, Puntuate4 with a special introduction by Kelvin Dinkins, Jr., executive director, American Repertory Theater, (A.R.T.), Harvard University.

New York Times Bestselling Author and Princeton professor Dr. Glaude in conversation with Boston Public Library President David Leonard will confront our nation’s history, shedding new light on the complexities of race and democracy. One of the nation’s most prominent scholars, Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. is an author, political commentator, public intellectual and passionate educator who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. His writings, including Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, and his most recent, the New York Times bestseller, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for our Own, takes a wide look at Black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States and the challenges we face as a democracy. In his writing and speaking, Glaude is an American critic in the tradition of James Baldwin and Ralph Waldo Emerson, confronting history and bringing our nation’s complexities, vulnerabilities and hope into full view. Hope that is, in one of his favorite quotes from W.E.B. Du Bois, "not hopeless, but a bit unhopeful."