Events

April 24 Salon: A Conversation with Elissa McLean & Andy Winter - Border Stories

We will continue exploring immigration issues by welcoming Elissa McLean and Andy Winter to share their work at the border and preview their upcoming podcast  ‘Border Stories’.  Elissa and Andy live in Putney but have been spending a lot of time on the border working with asylum seekers along the border wall near Sasabe, Arizona. Elissa founded and directs Express Fluency in Brattleboro and Andy runs Realizing Human Potential. Together they founded two expedition-based high schools and spent many years bringing high school students to the border to explore immigration from multiple perspectives. 

Join us for some dynamic conversation with your neighbors. Light refreshments will be served. No registration is necessary.

Dr. Alex More of UMass Boston

Dr. Alexander More’s research focuses on the impact of climate change on population and ecosystem health and the economy. Dr. More is author of several landmark studies of the impact of climate on pandemics and pollution, and an active contributor to the fields of environmental health, health economics, sustainability and planetary health. By using ultra-high-resolution climatic, epidemiological, ecological and archeoscientific records, Dr. More brings recent drastic environmental changes into a broader perspective, one that allows stark comparisons between current and past trends in temperature, pollution, pandemic disease, and extreme weather, all of which directly impact food production, human health, economic prosperity, and political stability.

Are Bans on Homeless Encampments Unconstitutional?

This Town Hall considers the best arguments for and against the rights of unhoused persons to sleep in public places. Should all cities be restricted from enforcing no-camping ordinances in public parks? Do homeless encampments injure residents who depend on access to green spaces? Does the 8th Amendment even pertain to this situation?
Participants will have a chance to explore this complex issue with their neighbors and in the company of the Constitution as part of our ongoing America 250 exploration.

The Sanctions Response to Russia

Dr. Abely is the author of The Russia Sanctions: The Economic Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (Cambridge University Press 2023). Her op-eds have appeared in The L.A. Times, The Hill, and other outlets. She has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and MarketWatch, among other outlets, and she has appeared on CBS 880, Boston Public Radio, Texas Public Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, and elsewhere. Prior to working in academia, she practiced international trade and sanctions law.

Nearly two years on, sanctions have achieved neither their supporters’ wildest dreams nor their greatest fears. Yet that does not make the sanctions insignificant or uninteresting. Indeed, they spotlight many of the central networks, conflicts, and trends that define our world today. Christine Abely’s new book, The Russia Sanctions, offers us a timely guide to the multitude of sanctions and responses that followed Russia’s invasion. After an introduction to the legal and historical underpinning of sanctions and a short account of the invasion’s first week, Abely, a professor at New England Law in Boston, guides us through a series of themed chapters that explore issues like financial sanctions, oil and gas, oligarchs, food insecurity, and sanctions enforcement. … [B]y providing a valuable guide to their intricacies, Abely’s book helps us understand how the sanctions’ very complexity reflects both the nature of globalization and the gaps in the international rule of law.

This is a free public event. (Although there is a suggested donation of $10, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.)