Show Notes
Climate change and our broader ecological crisis pose a serious challenge to our basic social and political systems. A variety of styles of response to this scale have emerged. Some involve emphasis on centralized decision-making by experts, whether the “Green New Deal” scale national policies of states or by way of the returns-driven focus of institutional investors and asset managers. Others call for more distributed decision making, emphasizing market mechanisms like carbon taxes and offsets or the role of sub-national public entities in energy transition. The talk will present examples of each of these approaches and discuss the underlying implications and stakes for democratic life and institutions. Guest Speaker: Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University.
More from Public Affairs and Government
A fireside chat with Nasser Paydar, President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and former Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, the U.S. Department of Education and Linda Essig, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Baruch College CUNY. Organized and hosted by the Higher Education Administration Program at the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs.
Join us for a public lecture, organized and hosted by the Howard J. Samuels State and City Policy Center at Baruch College, on the causes and consequences of rising housing costs, by Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Dr. Glaeser will examine why housing has become increasingly unaffordable in major cities and what policy choices can and cannot do to address the housing crisis in urban centers including New York.
Spring 2026 Ackerman Lecture. Join Jelani Cobb, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School for this important lecture situates contemporary concerns over democracy, immigration, DEI, and higher education within their broader historical contexts.
How Major Change Happens in Urban Welfare Policies? Can New York City respond effectively to poverty and related problems? Mayors Lindsay, Giuliani, and de Blasio all sought major change in city welfare policy. When has big change been achieved and how did it happen? Thomas J. Main’s new book, Reforming Social Services in New York City: How Major Change Happens in Urban Welfare Policies (Cornell 2025), will be the springboard for a discussion of these issues.
Context Matters. Whether cultural, economic, political or environmental, contexts shape our work, our values and our strategies. Join our visiting nonprofit and community philanthropy scholar/practitioners as they share and reflect on their experiences from Peru, the Philippines, and Ukraine.