Fisher Fine Arts Library (220 South 34th Stree)
Hybrid In-person/Online Event: Please register here.

THE PENN PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES hosts this Futures Beyond Refining roundtable, featuring environmental artist AMY BALKIN, environmental scientist PETER DECARLO (Johns Hopkins), Grays Ferry community experts CHARLES REEVES and TAMMY REEVES, and NY Times Magazine reporter LINDA VILLAROSA. Balkin’s "Area of Interest" billboard-as-visual-essay provides the event's dramatic backdrop. The conversation, offered in person and online, will be moderated by Professor BETHANY WIGGIN, coordinator of the collaborative Futures Beyond Refining project, launched in the immediate aftermath of the Philadelphia refinery explosion in 2019.

Two years after the explosion, these speakers bring diverse reflections on how Philadelphia’s long history of refining is being remembered, remediated, redressed–or not. DeCarlo is an important voice urging the need then and now for more comprehensive air monitoring around refining infrastructure. Villarosa’s 2020 lead story, “Pollution Is Killing Black Americans: This Community Fought Back,” documented community-based work for environmental justice in the wake of refining. Balkin’s “Area of Interest” was created in response to community desires for a memorial to the losses incurred from refining. The Reeves family has worked over generations to ameliorate harms and create opportunities in a predominantly Black community directly next to the refinery’s old north yard. Now, the refinery lands, divided into eleven Areas of Interest, are undergoing remediation by legacy owner, Sunoco, and swift re-development by the site’s new owner, Hilco. Despite promises of “green” opportunities and a re-branding of the site as the “Bellwether District,” the developer intends to retain fossil fuel infrastructure. The site, adjacent to multiple residential areas, is ground zero for climate flooding in Philadelphia.

This moderated conversation intends to prompt consideration of how the refinery and its legacies will be remembered–and how we can learn from and act on them. The Kleinman Forum space offers a rare opportunity to showcase Balkin’s 14x48 ft. visual essay on Penn’s campus after its display along I-76.

In this time of accelerating climate change and rising carbon emissions, the need to address the inheritances of fossil fuel infrastructure is more important than ever.

Houston Hall (341 Spruce Street), Room 218
In-Person Event
Presented by the SNF Paideia Program.

Online Event: Please register here.

A CASI-Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture with Amb. SHYAM SARAN
Discussant: ASHLEY J. TELLIS (Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs & Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

Presented by CASI in partnership with the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, and Perry World House.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LONG HISTORIES, India and China are facing a challenge of managing their direct encounters across both their continental and maritime frontiers unmediated by intervening realms. As their economic and security profiles expand, their peripheries beyond their borders can become zones of positive engagement or, conversely, as zones of conflict and confrontation. Will the Asian century be a China-dominated space or could India and a cluster of other established and emerging Asian powers help create a multipolar space with a more loosely structured architecture? How can India manage its relations with China to orient Asia in that direction?”

SHYAM SARAN is a former Foreign Secretary of India and has served as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy For Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change. After leaving government service in 2010, he has headed the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a prestigious think tank focusing on economic issues (2011-17) and was Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board under the National Security Council (2013-15). He is currently Life Trustee of India International Centre, Member of the Governing Board of the Centre for Policy Research and of the Institute of Chinese Studies, a Trustee at the World Wildlife Fund (India) and Member of the Executive Council of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has recently published a book, How India Sees the World. Mr. Saran was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 2011 for his contributions to civil service. In May 2019, he was conferred the Spring Order Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan for promoting India-Japan relations.

Online Event

133 S. 36th Street, Room 250 (The Forum)
Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics
Please register here.

Join the five caucuses of the Penn Political Union (PPU) for a debate on the resolution, "President Biden should forgive up to $50,000 of student loan debt."

The PPU is unique among debating societies in encouraging participants to make heartfelt cases for policies they believe in to a politically diverse group of fellow students. Members can join one of five caucuses that span the political spectrum: Progressive, Liberal, Centrist, Conservative, and Libertarian. They can then take active roles in formal debates on important policy problems. At a time of political polarization and social-media bubbles, it is an opportunity to hone and challenge one’s own opinions, as well as make friendships “across the aisle” and cultivate the practices of civil discourse.

Food provided / Masks Required / Free and Open to the Public