Symposium features keynote by Jeffrey Sachs and panel discussions with faculty and students
What else can Tufts do to forestall climate change? Faculty and students will tackle this issue at a two-day symposium on the Medford/Somerville campus marking the university’s longstanding commitment to sustainability and setting the stage for future action.
“Climate Change: The Role of the University” kicks off Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m. in Room 104 of Pearson Hall with a keynote address by Jeffrey Sachs, the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University and director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Time magazine has twice named Sachs among the 100 most influential world leaders, and a survey by The Economist has ranked him among the world’s three most influential living economists of the past decade. His latest book is The Age of Sustainable Development (Columbia University Press, 2016).
The symposium continues on Friday, April 1, at 8:45 a.m. in Alumnae Lounge with welcoming remarks by Tufts President Anthony P. Monaco, followed by three panels: “Climate Research at Tufts University,” “Institutional Social Responsibility: Divestment and Other Actions,” and “The University After Paris.”
Panelists include faculty and students from the Fletcher School, the Friedman School, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, the Department of Economics, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Department of Biology.
Tufts was an early adopter of a green agenda. In 1990, Tufts President Jean Mayer convened 22 university presidents and chancellors from around the world at the Tufts European Center in Talloires, France, to sign the Talloires Declaration, a blueprint for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy into higher education teaching, research, operations and outreach. The document since has been signed by nearly 500 university presidents and chancellors in more than 55 countries.
The symposium is being sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Institute of the Environment in collaboration with Tufts Climate Action. For more information about the symposium and to register, visit http://www.tuftsenvironment.events/.
