Past Events

Research is providing us with more and more proof that having friends is beneficial, if not essential, to good health. Many people are aware of the detrimental effects that social isolation and loneliness can have on physical and mental wellbeing, but fewer appreciate the advantages of keeping our important relationships close and personal. University of Oxford data shows that best friends’ physiology comes into synchrony – the rhythm of their hearts, body temperatures and hormonal responses match. Human touch also slows the heartbeat, lowers blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol. So our interaction with good friends actually keeps us alive and helps us live longer!

**Can Removing Policing and Prosecution of Traffic Violations Make Us Safer?** Long before the racial reckoning of 2020, discrimination in police traffic enforcement has been apparent, from the beating of Rodney King in 1991 to the death in police custody of Sandra Bland in 2015. Time and again, research demonstrates that traffic stops result in negative outcomes for Black and brown drivers. And as police enforcement increases, so have serious crashes and traffic fatalities. While many continue to argue that police enforcement and prosecution of traffic violations are necessary for public safety, a growing body of research shows otherwise—and suggests they may even make our communities less safe by overwhelming the criminal legal system, contributing to racial disparities in exposure to policing and prosecution, and eroding public trust. Join Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, and LivableStreets Alliance for a virtual panel discussion hosted by the GBH Forum Network. Expert panelists will discuss their new research on the role of policing and prosecution in traffic enforcement and answer audience questions. ## Research: [- Presumptive Declination and Diversion in Suffolk County, MA - Felix Owusu, March 2022 ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Taubman/RIGB/Presumptive%20Declination%20and%20Diversion%20in%20Suffolk%20County%2C%20MA.pdf) IMAGES: [“Police Pulled Someone Over” by bradleygee. Image Cropped and Blurred. CC BY 2.0.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/13951072@N00/4712654618) ["Traffic Light" by grendelkhan. Image cropped. CC BY-SA 2.0.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/98425334@N00/400428874)

Even as offices reopen and masks come off, one of the most ubiquitous disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic lingers: a profound change in the way we execute, imagine and feel about work. The initial shock of shutdowns and layoffs was followed by a robust rebound and -- a shortage of workers. Especially in the service sector, many never returned to jobs with uncertain hours, low pay and a heightened risk of COVID exposure. Across the economic spectrum people are taking stock of what matters most and reordering their priorities. People are not just changing jobs, but also the way work factors into their identity. “I don’t dream of work,” has become a popular social media hashtag, as has “I quit my job.” GBH News captured the stories and the spirit of this moment in our series [The Big Quit](https://www.wgbh.org/news/the-big-quit) , profiling local people who - by choice or circumstance - have made major changes during the pandemic. Join us virtually for a discussion moderated by Stephanie Leydon, Director of Special Projects at GBH News, with Leslie Forde, Founder and CEO of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, Mark Melnick, Director of Economic and Public Policy Research at the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Lauren Jones, Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable. Together they will examine what happens next in our state as the economy adjusts to changed expectations, new challenges and an empowered workforce.

Vested interests have the resources to distort public information about important issues such as climate change, fossil fuels, nuclear energy. Elliott Negin has been confronting artificial facts for years. In this discussion, he provides examples of disinformation and explains when to be suspicious and how to get the real facts.

Upon assuming office, President Biden proposed an ambitious equity agenda, designed to address systemic racial, gender, ethnic and economic disparities. One year into his Presidency, we will examine his record. He has made some historic picks to lead his Administration and nominated the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. However, even a much scaled down social spending bill—which would have delivered some of the most consequential investments in the social safety net since the New Deal—seems dead in the water. The Biden Administration’s efforts to address voting rights, immigration policy and economic inequalities have been stalled by a deeply divided Congress. GBH News Senior Reporter Phillip Martin leads a panel discussion to examine the present impact and future fate of Biden’s equity agenda, the fierce backlash, and how this is likely to influence voter enthusiasm in the midterms. This series builds upon Suffolk University’s historic mission of access, opportunity, and engagement with our alumni and the communities to which we belong. It’s sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies in collaboration with the Ford Hall Forum, The Washington Center and GBH’s Forum Network.

We examine the nation’s top court and its power to determine the direction of a host of hot button issues. With the court's actions to leave an abortion law in place last fall, we look to what the public should expect in laws on privacy and reproductive rights this spring. As the court signals its willingness to reconsider precedents, we will look at what other laws may be up for grabs. Our expert panel will examine how the current court see issues like gay marriage, gun rights, and religion from various perspectives. Panelists: Gary Lawson, Boston University Law Professor Melissa Murray, New York University Law Professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman, Fordham Law School Professor Moderator: Michael J. Gerhardt, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence IMAGE CREDITS: [The U.S. Supreme Court” by Geoff Livingston. Image cropped and blurred. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/9397412@N06/32889246102) [“A protester against the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh outside the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota” by Lorie Shaull. Image cropped. CC BY-SA 2.0.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/11020019@N04/29600407857) "A protester against the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh outside the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota" by Lorie Shaull. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Suffrage100MA and GBH Forum Network present acclaimed historian and writer Martha S. Jones, who will discuss her book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (2020). In the book she recounts how Black women defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of these women — Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more — who were the vanguard of women’s rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals. Vanguard was selected as one of Time's 100 must-read books. Jones will be interviewed by Charlotte Golar Richie, a longtime Boston public servant and activist with a deeply held commitment to civil rights, racial equity and women’s political leadership. Fredie Kay, Founder & President of Suffrage100MA, will serve as moderator. [Link to Martha Jones' book](https://marthasjones.com/vanguard)

Methane is a greenhouse gas that is released by farming, mining, fossil fuel drilling, and by melting permafrost. For climate scientists, the increasing emissions are a major concern, and the 2021 COP26 emphasized the need to reduce atmospheric methane quickly. But reduction is a serious challenge. A potential solution has been developed by the Plata lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this discussion, Dr. Plata explains the serious challenge of methane emissions and an ingenious solution created in her lab: an inexpensive system using zeolite clays and copper. This solution is still in development, but is receiving a lot of attention. IMAGE CREDITS: [“Methane Leaking through the Cracks,” by NASA Earth Observatory. Image cropped. CC BY 2.0](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68824346@N02/7165132252) # Resources [It Might Be Time to Take Methane Removal Seriously](https://www.wired.com/story/it-might-be-time-to-take-methane-removal-seriously/) [A dirt-cheap solution? Common clay materials may help curb methane emissions](https://news.mit.edu/2022/dirt-cheap-solution-common-clay-materials-may-help-curb-methane-emissions) [How an ingredient found in cat litter could help fight climate change](https://www.fastcompany.com/90711976/how-an-ingredient-found-in-cat-litter-could-help-fight-climate-change) [Methane Leaks in New Mexico Far Exceed Current Estimates, Study Suggests](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/climate/methane-leaks-new-mexico.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20220325&instance_id=56747&nl=climate-forward&regi_id=74549671&segment_id=86590&te=1&user_id=555ee595e2e27c47f3dee1879dce3a3f)

The EcoRestoration Alliance grew out of the work of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. The Alliance is a rapidly growing global collaboration of scientists, thought leaders, conservationists, on-the-ground restoration practitioners and storytellers whose work challenges the prevailing view that reducing fossil fuel use at this late date can still result in the global cooling that we need. The Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) tells us that restoring biodiversity and healthy ecosystems must receive the full attention it has never had before as the path forward. The panel will focus on the global grassroots level movement, that is doing this work. The panel is composed by Alliance members who believe that ecosystem restoration can be done in a way that supports and empowers local communities. Healthy ecosystems like forests, grasslands, wetlands, and regenerative farmlands with year-round cover crops cool the biosphere and tame extreme weather. ### Resources: * [Biodiversity for a Liveable Climate's website](https://bio4climate.org/) * [Ecorestoration Alliance website](http://ecorestorationalliance.net) * [John D. Liu's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSZjfYQL8jk) * [Another link to John D. Liu's work](https://environmentaljusticetv.wordpress.com/?s=john+liu) * ['The Holy Grail of Restoration' by John D. Liu](https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/the-holy-grail-of-restoration/) * [Ecosystem Restoration Camps](https://ecosystemrestorationcamps.org/) * [Ilse Koehler-Rollefson's work](http://www.ilse-koehler-rollefson.com/ ) * [Other link to Ilse Koehler-Rollefson's work](https://www.pastoralpeoples.org/) * [Valer Clark's website](https://www.cuencalosojos.org/)

The newly released United Nations IPCC Report tells us we are at the point of no return with climate change, and that the situation is worse than they thought. It’s easy to see: wildfires, epic storms, floods, and droughts worsen each year. Combine that with rising sea levels, loss of species and the changing weather affecting our growing seasons, and the situation looks grim indeed. World leaders attending COP26 last November did not produce an international agreement to mitigate carbon emissions and turn the tide. Meanwhile, President Biden’s climate proposals have been stripped from his major legislative efforts, forcing him to resort to executive action, which has in turn been blocked by courts. Young people have had enough and are taking to the streets to protest while climate skeptics and lobbyists push harder for the status quo. What are the implications of this impasse? Environment Correspondent Carolyn Beeler leads a discussion looking into the science, policy and politics of the climate crisis now and what actions must happen next to pull us back from the brink.