Carbon MathWe have five times as much oil and coal and gas on the books of energy companies as climate scientists think is safe to burn. That was the takeaway from Bill McKibben's recent Rolling Stone article titled "Global Warming's Terrifying New Math." McKibben says it is his single most important ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, Free Members, $7 Students
Wireless sensor networks have huge potential to improve efficiency and quality of manufacturing operations, enable smart grid applications, and enable demand response/smart buildings, among other exciting applications. Ubiquitous sensor networks would allow two-way communication, real-time remote monitoring, and rapid response to changing conditions. Consider the difference between landline telephones and ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Green FridayThe Sierra Club's Northern Alameda County Group will be hosting its monthly zero-waste Green Friday Potluck.Energy lies at the very heart of the world we've built, but its role - and the consequences of our ever-growing thirst for it - is often invisible, misunderstood, or overlooked. We are now entering ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $2 donation suggested
November LASER Event - RescheduledEditor's Note: This event was incorrectly listed as occuring on 11/9. The correct date is Monday, 11/12. See this link for information.
Where: San FranciscoCost:
Houge Park Start PartyMeet with members of San Jose Astronomical Society for a Star Party, weather permitting.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Saturday, 11/10/12
Free Entrance Days in National ParksHere's an opportunity for a free visit to one of our country's 100 national parks which usually charge entrance fees! You can visit Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Pinnacles, Muir Woods, or another favorite national park at no charge on Veteran's Day weekend.
Where: Cost: Free
Free Public Hike at Pepperwood Preserve!Join us for a FREE general introduction to the natural history and land management of Pepperwood Preserve. This is a moderate 4-5 mile hike with an elevation loss and gain of about 750 feet. Participants should be in good health and able to hike over hilly terrain. All hikes are ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: FREE
Ecological Design Tour of EcoHouseGet inspired to manifest your sustainable dream house. Some of the bay area's finest designers and builders collaborated to create this example of a single family residence that boasts locally available, non-toxic materials, living architecture, greywater irrigation, rainwater harvesting, permaculture gardens, solar energy and more. See a short presentation of ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $15 General, $10 Members
Green FestivalJoin us at the nation's premier sustainability event, where you will see the best in green. Enjoy more than 125 renowned authors, leaders and educators; great how-to workshops; cutting-edge films; fun activities for kids; organic beer and wine; delicious vegetarian cuisine and diverse live music. Shop in our unique marketplace ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Hike Sonoma Mountain!Located on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain, SSU's Fairfield Osborn Preserve is a wonderful place to explore oak woodlands, shady fir forests, and a rare fishless perennial stream. Trained naturalists lead visitors on hikes with excellent panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and (for the adventurous) plenty of opportunities to observe and ...
Where: PenngroveCost: $3 per person. Cost goes toward education programs
Robert Ferguson Observatory-Public Solar ObservingSolar telescopes are set up so you can safely look at and listen to our favorite star, the Sun. Daytime Solar Observing is Free to the public. Handicapped Parking and wheelchair access are available at the observatory entrance.
Where: KenwoodCost: $8.00 parking. Observing is Free!
Science Smart Kids-Wintertime ScienceCome learn about the season of Winter and its affect on nature and animals. This workshop includes discussion on hibernation, food collection, hibernation and making synthetic snow to take home.
MSI takes to the tidepools for a treasure hunt of nature's beautiful intertidal secrets. We'll spend the evening taking advantage of the low tide to reach the outer edges of Pillar Point, and take in spectacular sunsets as we slowly retreat to shore. Will we find crabs, sea stars, eels ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $20 General, $10 members
San Mateo County Astronomical Society Star PartyThe City of San Carlos Department of Parks and Recreation and the San Mateo County Astronomical Society have open Star Parties twice a month.Reasons to AttendIf you have kids interested in space or planets bring them here for a real life view of planets, nebula, star clusters and galaxies.If you ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free
Star PartyJoin the Halls Valley Astronomical Group for a night of star gazing fun. Knowledgeable volunteers will provide you with a chance to look through high-powered telescopes and ask questions about the night sky. Meet at Halley Hill, across from campsite 22. Park entrance gate closes at 6:30pm. $6 vehicle entry ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Do The Math with Bill McKibbenBill McKibben and 350.org are going on tour across America to build the movement we need to face the crisis of climate change.Bill will be in Palo Alto to lay out the terrifying new math of climate change, explaining the incredible odds we face, and the difficult path we must ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $11.49
Robert Ferguson Observatory-Public Night Star PartyThe Observatory's three main telescopes are open for your viewing. Docents set up additional telescopes in front of the building, while presentations on astronomical topics are given in the classroom throughout the course of the evening. Friendly and knowledgeable docents are available to answer your questions. FAQs: ...When to arrive: We ...
Where: KenwoodCost: $8.00 per vehicle, $3.00 per adult.
Sunday, 11/11/12
Free Entrance Days in National ParksHere's an opportunity for a free visit to one of our country's 100 national parks which usually charge entrance fees! You can visit Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Pinnacles, Muir Woods, or another favorite national park at no charge on Veteran's Day weekend.
Where: Cost: Free
The Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association: Whale Watching with sanctuary naturalists! Whale Watching! Join our qualified captain and naturalist for a whale watch trip as we sail from the San Francisco Marina aboard the 56 ft. vessel "Salty Lady" to the waters around the Farallon Islands. We will search for humpback whales, dolphins, porpoises and sea birds such as albatross and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $125/person, discounts for minors and groups.
Green FestivalJoin us at the nation's premier sustainability event, where you will see the best in green. Enjoy more than 125 renowned authors, leaders and educators; great how-to workshops; cutting-edge films; fun activities for kids; organic beer and wine; delicious vegetarian cuisine and diverse live music. Shop in our unique marketplace ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Foraged Fruit ForeverA hands-on workshop to make unique, hyper-local preserves with neighborhood-foraged fruit. We'll roll up our sleeves to learn the secrets of time-shifting the season by balancing sweetness and acidity, experimenting with texture, and keeping our preserves… preserved!More info: http://www.facebook.com/events/478377495540458/ Sign up here: http://foragedpreserves.eventbrite.com
Experience the wildlife and natural beauty that make Younger Lagoon an exceptional local treasure on this docent-led tour to the lagoon and its beach habitat. Learn about the ongoing research and habitat restoration work that help this vital ecosystem thrive. Tour includes a short hike and is best suited for ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
Monday, 11/12/12
Free Entrance Days in National ParksHere's an opportunity for a free visit to one of our country's 100 national parks which usually charge entrance fees! You can visit Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Pinnacles, Muir Woods, or another favorite national park at no charge on Veteran's Day weekend.
Where: Cost: Free
Healthy Kids FestivalFor 100 years, Children's Hospital Oakland has been developing new ways to keep kids healthy! Join us in celebrating this milestone with activities where you can learn about nutrition, measure your heartbeat, and get the science behind the work of real doctors and researchers.
Design, build, and test solutions to real-world problems that today's engineers are also working to solve. Engage your creative brain and use a variety of materials to design, build, and test your own innovations.
Hydrogen Energy California is a project for converting fossil fuels to hydrogen in order to generate clean power and manufacture low-carbon fertilizer products. HECA will be one of the first industrial complexes combining a large, commercial scale power plant and a low-carbon footprint fertilizer manufacturing facility, while capturing the carbon ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
November LASER Event6:45pm-7pm: Socializing/networking.7pm - 7:25pm: Christina Mazza on "Trashed"Art made of garbage.7:25-7:50pm: Derek Sears (NASA) on "Sometimes Space Comes to Us: The Science of Meteorites"We will never understand these materials, so chock full of information, until we visit their sources.7:50-8:10: BREAKBefore or after the break, anyone in the audience currently working ...
Where: San FranciscoCost:
Tuesday, 11/13/12
The 5th Annual A. Richard Newton Global Technology Leaders Conference: Engineering Innovation by DesignFrom 3-D printers and flexible electronics to nanotech water filters and high-efficiency solar films, today's designers and engineers are taking a hands-on approach to invent products that meet real-world needs. At the 2012 Global Technology Leaders conference, you will meet researchers, industry leaders and even 'maker movement' enthusiasts who are ...
Climate Change Impacts in the Arctic Ocean Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is in rapid decline. This reduction in ice extent and thickness has resulted in a longer open water season and higher marine productivity. Until recently, phytoplankton blooms on continental shelves were thought to be restricted to waters free of sea ice.However, during the summer ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
History of MarinshipJoin Ranger Bill as he facilitates an in-depth discussion on the history of the Marinship Shipyard at the Bay Model built by the Bechtel Corporation at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt in March of 1942. Learn about the 93 ships built here during WWII.
Three Bodies: Rethinking Environmental Health and Food Production in a Mohawk CommunityEnvironmental health conditions tied to industrial contamination, as well as lifestyle related illnesses like diabetes, are two major health concerns facing many Native American communities. One such community is Akwesasne, a Mohawk nation downstream from one federal and two state Superfund sites, that has been the subject of over two ...
The global water crisis is real, and many parts of the world are on track to quickly reach "peak water." To conserve this critical resource without harming the economy or public health we must adopt new management techniques and policies. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and author of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free members
Louise Yarnall, Ph.D., senior research social scientist in the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International, will be discussing a study that involved prototyping a new assessment to track how well community college students are learning "big ideas" in the first two years of college and how well they ...
Outspoken musician and environmentalist Bernie Krause has been recording nature's vibrant chorus – hippo grunts, birdsong and even a tree's bursting cells – for decades. Author of The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places, he says "a complex and vital beauty emerges hearing ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members, $10 Students
Mushrooms and Climate Change: Fungi in a Changing WorldDr. Rytas Vilgalys' talk will be about our studies at Duke University in North Carolina on environmental mycology using molecular approaches. At his lab, research is focusing on sampling DNA directly from the environment using state-of-the-art technologies such as high-throughput sequencing, microarrays, and bioinformatics to study how microbial communities respond to ...
There is at least as much underneath Paris as there is above it. The secretive members of the Paris Urban eXperiment, known internally as "The UX", have spent the last 30 years surreptitiously probing into this world - and improving it. A few years ago these underground hackers and artists ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $11.49
The Science Behind Taming the Deepwater Oil SpillFollowing unsuccessful attempts in May-June 2010 to contain the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and with the relief well not expected to be completed until September, plans were drawn up to install a capping stack on top of the Macondo well to shut the flow of oil. This strategy was not ...
Caroline Rodier is the Associate Director of the Urban Land Use and Transportation Center (ULTRANS) at the University of California at Davis. Her major areas of research include transportation and land use planning and environmental policy analysis. Her interests include the development and application of land use and transport models. ...
Today, machine learning (ML) methods play a central role in industry and science. The growth of the Web and improvements in sensor data collection technology have been rapidly increasing the magnitude and complexity of the ML tasks we must solve. This growth is driving the need for scalable, parallel ML ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Roundtable Discussion: Rethinking Systems to Promote SustainabilityA round table discussion with Food Shift director, Dana Frasz, Sasha Duerr of the Permacouture Institute, Brahm Ahmadi of People's Community Market and Eric Holt of Food First.https://www.facebook.com/events/358011640958543/
Crime.Com – Post Modern Criminal BehaviorThis talk begins with an overview of the role of crime in general, and digital crime in particular, in the shadow economies of the world. It illustrates this via a sequence of specific criminal activities that have been studied by the author. This talk will explain the latest digital crime ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
An Evening with Google's Executive Chairman Eric SchmidtSince joining Google in 2001, Eric Schmidt has helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, as well as ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost:
Black Holes: The End of Time or a New Beginning?While black holes are popularly associated with death and doom, astrophysicists increasingly see them as creators not destroyers. New research suggests that black holes play a major role in the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets. Dr. Blandford will summarize why scientists now think that black holes (of ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free ($3 parking)
Climate Change from the Biotic to the ExoticHow will climate change affect the flavor of wine? Are warming oceans responsible for the recent global jellyfish outbreak? Do we know how a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide will affect poison ivy, tobacco, or even sea anemones? Science blogger Minda Berbeco will talk about what climate research shows, and ...
Many of us, following in the tradition of "Sidewalk Astronomers", are active giving public star parties as part of the public outreach intent for our club. Lynn Anderson regularly promotes engagement with our local schools to provide star parties for their students and their families. These are our future ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: Free
Thursday, 11/15/12
Coho on the Brink- Brown Bag!Endangered coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) live in several of the coastal streams within the Golden Gate national Recreational Area and Point Reyes National Seashore. Though once abundant, their population numbers have plummeted over the past century, and they are now teetering on the brink of extinction along the central California ...
Since Fall 2002, the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering has hosted the Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium (SVLS). The Symposium hosts industry and technology leaders to talk about business and technology trends. It also features prominent leaders who discuss broader societal and political issues that shape our life and society.Speaker: ...
'Dive!' Film ScreeningDive! is an award winning documentary following a team of Los Angeles dumpster divers as they explore and expose the ever growing issue of food waste and its relationship to hunger. Room 132
Test the limits of your cerebral cortex on a night dedicated to brain power. Gather up a team and compete in a pub-style trivia showdown hosted by Brainstormers, or outsmart your friends in a game of oversized chess or checkers provided by homefrys. Explore the big questions in neuroscience-how our ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Latest Advances in Lung Cancer Screening and TreatmentLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. This talk will address new lung cancer screening guidelines for former heavy smokers as well as the newest approaches to lung cancer treatment including minimally invasive surgery, targeted medical therapies and highly precise radiation therapy.Panel: Bill ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Ray Kurzweil: Inventor, Futurist and Author of 'How to Create A Mind'For decades pioneering inventor and theorist, Kurzweil has explored how artificial intelligence can enrich and expand human capabilities. Now, he takes this exploration to the next step: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works, then applying that knowledge to create vastly intelligent machines.Drawing on the most recent neuroscience ...
American pikas are denizens of rocky talus and lava-flow habitats in mountain ecosystems across western North AmericaMountain environments, cauldrons of climatic harshness, exhibit sharp topographic, vegetative, and climatic gradientsPikas are providing scientists with a model for assessing species vulnerability to warming temperaturesAre other species and indicators in the animal kingdom ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
What Now? A Post-Election Panel on Politics and the EnvironmentThis conversation will focus on the implications of the election results on our environment, and features Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, former EPA regional administrator and current CA Water Resources Control Board Member Felicia Marcus and Earth Island Journal editor Jason Mark, and Michael Marx, Ph.D., Director, Beyond Oil Campaign, Sierra Club ...
Bird-watchers owe a hidden debt to history: the scientific study of birds took a specific route in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that dictated how birds were understood and enjoyed. For example, the ways that both common and scientific names were standardized caused a great deal of passionate ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5 General, Free Members
Everything ExplainedJoel Pomerantz presents a dozen or more secret windows into San Francisco's natural history and infrastructure.Editor's Note: The talk originally scheduled for this night, "Forgotten Landscapes: California 500 Years Ago" will be held in 2013.
