Green Speakeasy Events | Sustainable Innovation

The Green Speakeasy events were created to give both faculty and graduate students throughout the University the opportunity to meet and learn about each other’s research areas, with the goal of encouraging future collaboration and interdisciplinary work. If you have ideas for future speakers, please share them with us at mcsi@pitt.edu.

Upcoming Green Speakeasy Events

Green speakeasy flyer

MCSI is pleased to announce its first Green Speakeasy of the 2024-25 academic year, "Regenerative Solutions Respecting Planetary Boundaries"! As the final installment in our Speakeasy Research Series, this panel will discuss research and education initiatives at Pitt that help define and support the environmental limits within which humanity can safely and equitably operate.

Faculty, staff, and graduate students are invited to RSVP to join us for this event, which will take place in 102 Benedum Hall on Tuesday, September 17 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM. Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

RSVP for Regenerative Solutions Respecting Planetary Boundaries

Past Green Speakeasy Events

Click on each accordion to learn more about our previous Green Speakeasy events.

Research Series: Resilient Ecological Systems (May 7, 2024)

Speakers discussed ongoing and recent projects focused on understanding how living systems can achieve resilience by responding and adapting to human impacts.

Moderators:

Corinne Richards-Zawacki, Biological Sciences
Justin Kitzes, Biological Sciences

Speakers:

Tia-Lynn Ashman, Biological Sciences
Mason Heberling, Science of Botany, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Shishir Paudel, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Patrick Shirey, Geology and Environmental Science
Martin Turcotte, Biological Sciences
Emily Wanderer, Anthropology

Research Series: Sustainability and the Arts (April 22, 2024)

Speakers discussed how sustainability and environmental concerns (and triumphs!) impact the creative practices of Pitt faculty. Enjoy seeing and hearing some of the art pieces in person.

Moderator: Sarah Moore, Film and Media Studies

Speakers:

Tony Balko, Film and Media Studies Program
Adam Hebert, Film and Media Studies Program
Aaron Henderson, Department of Studio Arts
Delanie Jenkins, Department of Studio Arts
Eric Moe, Department of Music
Elise Ryan, Department of English

Research Series: Thriving Futures (March 26, 2024)

This discussion centered on the needs and future aspirations of individual communities to support and promote sustainable regional change.

Moderator: Dr. Tina Ndoh, Public Health

Speakers:

Jane Cleary, Citizens' Environmental Association of the Slippery Rock Area (CEASRA)
Lisa Freeman, Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse
Laura Kuster, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP)
Ruby Velasco, Grounded Strategies

Research Series: Environmental Discourse (Feb. 20, 2024)

A Pitt research cluster focused on creative, critical, curatorial, communicative, and political dimensions of sustainability research and challenges.

Moderator: Ruth Mostern, History

Presenters:

Matthew Burton, School of Computing & Information
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs
Michael Goodhart, Political Science
Steven LeMieux, English
Tomas Matza, Anthropology
Sarah Moore, Film & Media Studies
Abigail Owen, CMU, Environmental & Sustainability Studies
Cassie Quigley, Education
Stephen Quigley, English
Noah Theriault, CMU, Environmental Humanities
John Walsh, French & Italian

Community Partnerships and Tackling Regional Water Challenges (Jan. 23, 2024)

How can the university be a part of solving the challenges facing our region and support the efforts of communities and organizations fighting for change? Join the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory and three local NGO leaders for a panel discussion about the complexities of university and community partnerships, the value of engaged research, and opportunities for future cooperation.

Moderator: Jonathan Burgess, Director, Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory

Panelists:

Chavaysha Chaney, Advocacy and Health Policy Manager, Women for a Healthy Environment
Heather Hulton VanTassel, Executive Director, Three Rivers Waterkeeper
Jason Beery, Director of Applied Research, UrbanKind Institute

Grounded Justice (Oct. 5, 2023)

How might we imagine our collective environmental justice futures in Pittsburgh and beyond? In this panel, we will engage in generative discourse with four extraordinary women of color environmentalists in the Pittsburgh region, to explore possibilities for inter-dependent, earth-oriented, and radically just ways of being in community and in nature.

Moderators:

Beatrice Dias, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, Learning, and Leadership
Cassie Quigley, Professor of Science Education

Panelists:

Ariam Ford, Executive Director, Grounded Strategies
Ebony Lunsford-Evans, Founder, Farmer Girl EB; Executive Director, Out of the End, Inc.
Alyssa Lyon, Director, Black Environmental Collective
Roberta Mendonca De Carvalho, Professor, Urban Studies

Green Speakeasy Research Slam (Feb. 22, 2023)

Moderator: Todd Reeser, Chair, Humanities Council

Slammers:

Drew Armstrong, History of Art & Architecture
Daniela Fargione, Italian
Aaron Henderson, Studio Arts
Zach Horton, English
Apala Kundu, English
Ruth Mostern, History
Leopold Mvuezolo, French
Vicky Shen, History
John Walsh, French
Molly Warsh, History

Presented by Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and the Humanities Council

Changing Energy for Good (Feb. 22, 2022)

Changing Energy for Good:
Scaling an Equitable Energy Transition with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
Sundaa Bridgett-Jones, Chief Partnerships & Advocacy Officer, The Rockefeller Foundation

Launched at COP26, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is made up of philanthropic, multilateral and development finance institution and government partners committed to accelerated and scaling equitable energy transitions in low- and middle-income countries. This talk shared how the Alliance aims to unlock $100 billion in public and private capital to tackle three human problems simultaneously: Access, Climate, and Jobs.

Presented by Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Office of Sustainability

Food Shot (Oct. 19, 2021)

Food Shot:
Launching Moonshots for Better Food
Sara Eckhouse, Executive Director, FoodShot Global

FoodShot Global brings together a powerful partnership of world-class, mission-aligned venture funds, banks, corporations, foundations, universities, and nonprofits. Their leadership provides a long-term vision for our global food future, and works collaboratively with partners to invest in that future.

Co-hosted by Honors College Dean Nicola Foote, MCSI Assistant Director David Sanchez, and Sustainability Coordinator Nick Goodfellow

Earth Month Teach-In (April 13, 2021)

Earth Month Teach-In:
Leveraging Research to Inform Calls to Action

Join seven influential women who are advancing sustainability by discovering connections and building opportunities toward a healthier future.

Melissa Bilec, Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation
Jessica Burke, Public Health
Emily Elliott, Geology & Environmental Science
Shannah Gilliam, Homewood Children’s Village
Mary Ohmer, Social Work
Carla Ng, Engineering
Kay Shimizu, Political Science

Watch a recording of the Earth Month Teach-In session on YouTube

Sponsored by Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

Pitt Deans Talk Sustainability (March 16, 2021)

Pitt Deans Talk Sustainability:
Countering Climate Change, Forging Sustainability the Pitt Way

Ann Cudd, Provost, University of Pittsburgh
Carissa Slotterback, Dean, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Maureen Lichtveld, Dean, Graduate School of Public Health
Amy Wildermuth, Dean, School of Law

Watch a recording of the Deans Talk on YouTube

Asia—the Planet's Battleground for Climate Change (Feb. 16, 2021)

Asia—the Planet's Battleground for Climate Change
Divya Nawale, International Research Associate, Asian Development Bank

One of Asia's top 20 sustainability women of 2020, Divya Nawale (GSPIA /16) currently works with Asian Development Bank on clean energy and energy programs across Southeast Asia. She also serves as an advisor for the nonprofit Nirmaain back home in India where she has launched a climate action program that envisions engaging 10 million people in the coming decade. In this talk, Divya will talk about her journey from SPIA to the Arctic and the Antarctic, and back to the tropics of Asia, and her experiences of how the battleground of Asia is fighting climate change while embracing sustainable development. Read more in Pitt Magazine: Earth Wise.

Co-hosted by Center for Sustainable Business, Graduate School for Public and International Affairs, and Pitt Sustainability

Making the Invisible Visible (Nov. 19, 2020)

Making the Invisible Visible: Developing Hyperlocal Air Monitoring Networks to Better Inform Policy Development and Enactment
Dr. Harold Rickenbacker, Manager, Clean Air and Innovation Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Hosted by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

Adapting to Climate Change (Oct. 15, 2020)

Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned Relocating an Alaskan Village
Donald Antrobus, Village Infrastructure Protection Program Manager for the Denali Commission
Joel Neimeyer, P.E., retired Federal Engineer

Hosted by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

Responsible Investment for a Sustainable World (Sept. 24, 2020)

Responsible Investment for a Sustainable World
Tom Croft, Executive Director, Steel Valley Authority, and Managing Director, Heartland Capital Strategies Network

Hosted by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and the Center for Sustainable Business

Pitt and Water Resources (Feb. 25, 2020)

Pitt and Water Resources: Building University-wide Capacity to Meet Water Sustainability Challenges
Emily Elliott, Director at the Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education & Outreach
Dr. Dan Bain, Associate Director
Dr. Eitan Shelef, Associate Director

Co-hosted by the Pitt Office of Sustainability and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

Environmental Protection in the Trump Era (Oct. 16, 2019)

Environmental Protection in the Trump Era: the Staining of Science, Economics and Legal Analysis
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Amy Wildermuth, Dean, School of Law

Co-hosted by the Pitt Office of Sustainability and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

Green Computing (April 4, 2017)

Green Computing: Saving Energy In and Through Computing
Daniel Mosse, Professor, Computer Science