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Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Cambridge Forum

Let Cambridge Forum change your mind....

Cambridge Forum hosts free, public discussions that inform and engage, so that people can better explore the varied issues and ideas that shape our changing world. CF broadcasts its live events via podcasts, weekly NPR shows and online presentations via GBH Forum Network on YouTube.

http://www.cambridgeforum.org

  • Are creepy crawlers and unwanted plants deserving of empathy as partners dwelling with us on earth? Fruit flies, dandelions, and crabgrass are the bane of many people and the target of numerous eradication efforts. In his compelling reassessment of the relationship between humans and the natural world, Hainze considers the fascinating and bizarre history of how these so-called invasive or unwanted pests and weeds have coevolved with humanity and highlights the benefits of a greater respect and moral consideration toward these organisms.
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Author and immigration lawyer Professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández in discussion about his book "Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants," which levels an attack on America's immigration detention policy. His talk is followed by a panel discussion with psycotherapist Greta Bro, immigration lawyer Leslie Ditrani, and researcher for Refugee and Migrant Rights, Denise Bell. Image: Book Cover
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at the Boston University, discusses his new book about the post-Cold war follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump. The forum is moderated by journalist Christopher Lydon, host of Open Source radio. How, within a quarter of a century, did the United States end up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well as the strangest president in American history? Image: Book Cover
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Cambridge Forum and the [Revels](https://www.revels.org/) present musicians Jake Blount and Libby Weitnauer, who perform and explore the history and roots of traditional music of Appalachia. The Appalachian Mountains south of the Mason-Dixon Line, is one of the birthplaces of American music: the mountains of southern Appalachia, where Native American, African American, and European traditions combined to foster an astonishing wealth of artistic expression. The forum celebrates the quiet of the mountains in the songs passed on by Appalachian musicians from generation to generation, and examines the ideas that resonate in this music that speaks of the natural world, the hardship, the dark and light in human relationships. Image: [Cambridge Forum Event Image](http://www.cambridgeforum.org/?tag=appalachia)
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Journalists Lauren Duca, known for her article “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” in Teen Vogue, and Martin Lukacs, author of "The Trudeau Formula" , discuss collective action and non-violent protest. They are joined by members of the climate action group Extinction Rebellion . Image: Pexels.com
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    Cambridge Forum
  • The annual revenue of Koch Industries is bigger than that of Goldman Sachs, Facebook, and U.S. Steel combined. Koch is everywhere: from the fertilizers that make our food, to the chemicals that make our pipes, to the synthetics that make our carpets and diapers, to the Wall Street trading in all these commodities. But few people know much about Koch Industries and that’s because the billionaire Koch brothers want it that way. Christopher Leonard, author of _Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America_, discusses the hidden role of Koch Industries in American life. Image: Book Cover
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Cows are big methane machines and not very efficient ones, and everyone agrees that we need to reduce our carbon footprint. As people are becoming better informed about choices and what they’re putting into their bodies, they are looking at the “costs” from a health perspective, for animals and for the environment. Changes are afoot. Who knew that Burger King would be offering the Impossible Whopper made from plant-based protein instead of meat? And veganism, which used to be a fringe-movement, has now morphed into a hip lifestyle. Scientists are already working on cell-based meat products which will be on sale to the public next year. To help us understand the issues, we have scientists, philosophers and businessmen. Dr. Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard is joined by Nina Gheihman, a sociologist at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and two entrepreneurs, Truman French and Tucker Pforzheimer, who are running a business, growing shiitake mushrooms on Martha’s Vineyard. Image: [Pexels.com](http://www.pexels.com/photo/ham-and-bacon-burger-2983098/)
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Protests in Hong Kong have escalated over the summer of 2019 with pro-Democracy demonstrators galvanized in response to the Chinese government’s crackdown. Cambridge Forum examines the situation both inside and outside mainland China with regard to human rights.Teng Biao, is a human rights lawyer attached to the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, at NYU and he is joined by Uyghur-American Salih Hudayar and activist Kyle Olbert, who discusses the challenges facing both the Chinese Communist party and the ethnic minorities who resist the Chinese policy of oppression which they say is being carried out under the guise of “counter-terrorism”. Image: [Voice of America](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Protesters_waving_the_Hong_Kong_colonial_flag_in_front_of_China_liaison_office_in_Hong_Kong_02.jpg)
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    Cambridge Forum
  • McIntyre traces the development of the post-truth phenomenon from science denial through the rise of “fake news,” from our psychological blind spots to the public’s retreat into “information silos.” Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. Image: Book Cover
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    Cambridge Forum
  • In _They Were Her Property_, Jones-Roger writes that women typically inherited more slaves than land, and that enslaved people were often their primary source of wealth. Not only did white women often refuse to cede ownership of their slaves to their husbands, they employed management techniques that were as effective and brutal as those used by slave-owning men. White women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment. By examining the economically entangled lives of enslaved people and slave-owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that forces us to rethink the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America. Image: Book Cover
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    Cambridge Forum