Center for Health and the Global Environment:
Recent
News
04.09.09The Center's new book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity was reviewed in the April 9th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Patz J. Review: Sustaining Life How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2009; 360(15): 1578-1579.
03.20.09Center Director, Eric Chivian and Center Research Associate, Aaron Bernstein, were quoted in an article on Anderson Cooper's 360 Blog on CNN.com titled "This one's for the bird brains." The Center's new book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity was also mentioned in the piece.
03.20.09The Center's new book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity was reviewed in the March 20th issue of the journal Science.
Mindell D. Review: Humans Need Biodiversity. Science. 2009; 323(5921):1562-1563.
03.13.09Sustaining Life was mentioned in a piece on Anderson Cooper's 360 Blog on CNN.com titled Killing me would not be in your interest.
 03.15.09The Center presented the 2009 Global Environmental Citizen Awards to Her Majesty Queen Noor and Edward Norton in New York City.
Click here for event overview.
Photo: Heather Waraksa
03.12.09Center faculty member Jim McCarthy is being honored with The Harvard Foundation 2009 Scientist of the Year Award for his "outstanding work in climate science and marine biology, as well as his discovery of the disappearance of ice in a vast expanse of the polar Arctic," according to a piece in The Harvard Gazette. Read the full article here.
02.12.09Dr. Eric Chivian and Rev. Richard Cizik spoke at Harvard Divinity School during a lecture titled God and Global Warming: Scientists’ and Evangelicals’ Common Voice about their discovery that scientists and evangelical leaders share a profound reverence for life on Earth and a deep sense of responsibility about working together to protect it.
11.19.08Center Research Associate, Aaron Bernstein, co-authored a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled "The Importance of Biodiversity to Medicine." Read an excerpt on JAMA's website.
Bernstein AS, Ludwig, DS. The Importance of Biodiversity to Medicine. JAMA. 2008;300(19):2297-2299.
 11.19.08The Center hosted a public lecture titled Covering the Environment in a New Media World featuring some of the most effective ‘new media’ communicators who will share their best practices and visions for the digital future as it relates to delivering quality environmental journalism and communication.
Panelists included:
Bill McKibben, 350.org, Middlebury College
McArthur, Free Range Studios
David Ledford, Wilmington News Journal
Brick Thornton, MediaGems
10.21.08Eric Chivian and a small group of Harvard faculty briefed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government today about environmental and global health issues.
08.22.08Eric Chivian and Cristian Samper, Director of the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, had a private meeting with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe to discuss issues of biodiversity loss and human health. This discussion led to a Cabinet meeting the next day to review Colombia's environmental conservation efforts.
08.29.08 Read Paul Epstein's blog titled "Global Warming Raises Outbreaks of Disease" published on Basil &
Spice. His piece was also syndicated to Reuters US, Rueters UK and The Pulse Journal.
08.13.08 Paul Epstein spoke at a conference sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization in Brasilia, Brazil. The conference website is in Portuguese. The translation of the linked website can be found below:
Theme:
Protecting Health from Climate Change
Document:
Climate change – Health consequences and healthy solutions
Summary:
Presentation on the theme “Climate change – Health consequences and healthy solutions” by Paul Epstein, M.D., M.P.H., associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment of the Harvard Medical School, the 13th of August 2008.
Session held in Brasilia, capitol of Brazil, in the auditorium of the Pan American Health Organization (OPAS in Portuguese)/World Health Organization (OMS), with participation from the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment.
05.02.08Center Director, Eric Chivian and Vice President for Governmental Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, Richard Cizik were named together in Time Magazine's 2008 list of the world's most influential people. Read about their partnership on Time's website.
04.30.08Covering a Changing Climate: The Media Challenge - A public lecture featuring noted journalists and editors including:
Bill Blakemore, ABC News
Heidi Cullen, The Weather Channel
Steve Curwood, Living on Earth
Cornelia Dean, The New York Times
Kevin Klose, National Public Radio
David Ledford, Wilmington News-Journal.
WATCH THE LECTURE (Realplayer)
Part 1 | Part 2
The lecture focused on the role of the media in covering climate issues, how it can be most effective and the challenges of keeping pace with the science of a changing environment. Download the event flyer.
 03.20.08The official Premier of the Center's recently produced film Once Upon a Tide will be held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the Baird Auditorium at 6:30PM (The Museum is located at 10th & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC). The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with scientists and filmmakers including: David Elisco, Vice President and Mark Shelly, President, Sea Studios Foundation; Kathleen Frith, Assistant Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School; Paul Epstein, Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School; Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair in Marine Science, National Museum of Natural History; and Carl Safina, President, Blue Ocean Institute. The Museum's Associate Director, Elizabeth Duggal will give opening remarks. This event is free and open to the public. To learn more about hte fillm and view it online please visit the Once Upon a TIde website.
For more information about this event contact Natalie Wicklund at 617 384 8530 or Natalie_Wicklund@hms.harvard.edu.
02.21.08 Roger Ferguson, Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation (a Center Corporate Council Member), has been elected president of Harvard’s Board of Overseers for 2008-2009. Read about his election to the Board in The Harvard University Gazette.
02.05.08 Center Corporate Council member JPMorgan Chase was mentioned in a New York Times piece titled Utilities Turn from Coal to Gas, Raising Risk of Price Increase. The piece highlights an announcement by JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley about a policy to take future charges for carbon dioxide into account before agreeing to finance new coal plants.
02.03.08
Kofi Annan and Alice Waters were presented with the 2008 Global Environmental Citizen Awards in New York City.
01.21.08Center Associate Director Paul Epstein's Letter to the Editor titled "Clean Energy as Stimulus" was pusblished in The New York Times.
 12.10.07Center faculty member Jim McCarthy was invited to Oslo, Norway for the presentation of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He served as co-chair of the IPCC Working Group II, which had responsibilities for assessing impacts of and vulnerabilities to global climate change for the Third IPCC Assessment (2001).
Center Associate Director Paul Epstein will receive a certificate commemorating the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a contributing author to the IPCC Second Assessment Report. Paul was also a reviewer for the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports.
Center Advisory Board Member Bill Moomaw has also served on the IPCC in the following capacities: Lead Author, 1995 Industry and Industry, Energy and Transportation: Impacts and Adaptation; Convening Lead Author, IPCC 2001 Technological and Economic Potential for Emissions Reductions; Lead Author IPCC 2005 Introduction, Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Special Report; and Lead Author IPCC 2007 Energy Supply.
12.07
An interview with Center Advisory Board Member Carl Safina was published in the December issue of National Geographic in the Field Notes section.
10.31.07
Center Advisory Board Member Bob Fox was featured in a New York Times piece titled "Architects Go Green at the Office."
10.26.07
PBS Documentary: Friday, October 26, 2007 at 8:00PM on the Center’s recent trip to Alaska with Evangelical Leaders. Visit the NOW website on PBS for more information on the show, as well as to confirm the viewing time in your area by entering your zip code. This website also contains useful background information on the trip, as well as lessons learned on the journey by Eric Chivian and the Rev. Richard Cizik.
10.16.07
Center Director Eric Chivian's Letter to the Editor titled "On the Gore Effect: The Nobel and the Politics" was published in The New York Times and Paul Epstein's Op/Ed titled "Looking Back" was published in the The Boston Globe.
10.03.07
Center Director Eric Chivian's Letter to the Editor titled "Polar bears' loss is sciences' loss" was published today in The Boston Globe.
09.23-25.07
The Muddy River: Boston's Environmental Film Series. This exciting three-day event is co-hosted by the Center. Screenings will be shown at the Coolidge Corner Theatre and will cover three environmental topics: Food, Climate Change, and Ocean.
08.23.07
NEW! Read first-hand accounts about the Center's work and travels through our new Blog.
08.06.07
Center Associate Director Paul R. Epstein, traveled to Costa Rica to participate in a World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization workshop on climate change and health preparedness in the seven nations of Central America.
07.23.07
Associate Director Paul Epstein was featured on NPR's All Things Considered in a piece titled "Theories Tying Human Health, Climate Gain Ground."
07.05.07
Center Advisory Board Member Frank Nutter was quoted on NPR's Morning Edition in a piece titled "Insurance Firms Back Effort to Storm-Proof Homes."
06.07.07
Center Program Coordinator Meg Thomsen was chosen to deliver the commencement speech for the Harvard Extension School where she received her Master's degree in Government. She spoke on June 7, 2007 at the Extension School graduation ceremony.
05.24.07
Center Advisory Board Member Michel Nischan and Paul Newman were featured on ABC's Nightline discussing their work to help establish sustainable food communities.
05.22.07
Center Advisory Board Member Ray Anderson was profiled in The New York Times today in article titled "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet" by Cornelia Dean.
05.15.07
Center Advisory Board Member Robert Fox testified at a hearing held by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee titled “Green Buildings: Benefits to Health, the Environment, and the Bottom Line.” Read his testimony complete with graphics and illustrations here.
05.09.07
An effort to create an Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) was annouced today and will be initiated by Harvard and four partner institutions including, the Field Museum in Chicago; the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA; the Smithsonian Institution and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This unprecedented project aims to document every one of Earth's 1.8 million known species online. Center Faculty Member James Hanken will lead Harvard's EOL participation. Read the full story of the announcement in the Harvard University Gazette.
03.01.07
In March, the Center with The Buckminster Fuller Institute and Free Range Graphics, launched a flash animation short titled "The BioDaVersity Code," a spoof on The Da Vinci Code that encourages people to understand how human health depends on biodiversity. As of the end of April, the short has received more than a million hits. The short was co-sponsored by several organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Species Coalition, Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, Species Alliance, Threshold Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund. The Center has also created a "Take Action" page which is linked with the short and lists simple ways individuals can help protect biodiversity.
01.28.07
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales accepts the Center's Tenth Anniversary Global Environmental Citizen Award.
01.17.07
Press Conference: Leading Evangelicals, Scientists Launch Environmental Collaboration.
11.06
Scientific American names Swiss Re "Business Leader of the Year" in its December 2006 issue citing the Climate Change Futures report co-sponsored by Swiss Re and the Center.
09.27.06
Center Advisory Board member Michel Nischan is featured along with Paul Newman in The New York Times article He's Got the Salad Covered. Can He Serve You Dinner? by Kim Severson. The article highlights their new joint restaurant, The Dressing Room, in Westport, Connecticut.
09.06
JPMorgan Chase joins the Center's Corporate Council.
08.06Center Faculty E.O. Wilson published "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth."
06.26.06
Associate Director of the Center, Paul Epstein, is featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross in an interview titled "Links Between Illness and Global Warming?".
06.04.06
Associate Director Paul Epstein featured in the New York Times article Climate Change: The View From the Patio by Henry Fountain.
05.30.06
Associate Director Paul Epstein featured in the USA Today article Alaska the 'poster state' for climate concerns.
05.05.06
Associate Director Paul Epstein featured in the Washington Post article Climate Change Drives Disease To New Territory.
03.26.06
Gorman, C. How It Affects Your Health:Expect more risk of heatstrokes, asthma, allergies and infectious disease. Time Magazine.
03.06
Center Board Member Dan Barber nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. He was nominated in the category, American Express Best Chef: New York City.
02.15.06
Center Board Member Carl Safina is the 2006 recipient of the second annual George B. Rabb Conservation Award presented by the Chicago Zoological Society. On Wednesday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Safina spoke at Brookfield Zoo and described his latest book, Eye of the Albatross, which uses an albatross' story to explore the impact of humans on the ocean ecosystems. Read More.
02.13.06
Center Board Member Robert L. Pratt joins the Henry P. Kendall Foundation as Senior Vice President. He will head the foundation's New England climate change initiative. Read More.
02.02.06
The Center's October 2004 news conference on hurricanes and climate change was noted in Valerie Bauerlein's Wall Street Journal article Cold Front: Hurricane Debate Shatters Civility of Weather Science; Worsened by Global Warming? Sparts Are So Tempestuous, Sides Are Barely Talking; Charge of 'Brain Fossilization'.
01.31.06
The Center's breifing What is Science and How Can Science Most Effectively Inform Policy? was featured in a New York Times article by Cornelia Dean titled Where Science and Public Policy Intersect, Researchers Offer a Short Lesson on Basics.
12.07.05
All four of the Center's Corporate Council Members were recognized at the inaugural Low Carbon Leaders Awards. The Awards, supported by the Climate Group, were presented at a ceremony during the COP11/MOP1 meeting in Montreal. BP and 3M were honored as Low Carbon Leaders of the decade, J&J was named as the company making the greatest percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of any company worldwide in one year, and Swiss Re was honored as a Low Carbon Finance and Investment Leader. Read More.
09.29.05
Center Board Member Carl Safina and colleagues release a paper in Science arguing against weakening federal fisheries laws. Safina C, Rosenberg AA, Myers RA, Quinn TJ, Collie JS. U.S. Ocean Fish Recovery; Staying the Course. Science. 2005; 309:707-708.
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