On February 27th, three dozen students and Harvard affiliates gathered in the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics for a roundtable discussion with Eve Driver ‘20 and Tom Osborn ‘20, authors of What We Can’t Burn: Friendship and Friction in the Fight for Our Energy Future. Having met while attending Harvard College, Eve and Tom’s friendship developed amidst intellectual disagreements between the two regarding climate divestment initiatives. In a conversation moderated by Ari Kohn ‘26 and Safra Center Faculty Director Eric Beerbohm, the two shared the intellectually vital nature of their relationship with the Harvard community.

Eve and Tom began the discussion by describing why they think their friendship thrived despite ideological differences: trust. They elaborated on how they connected over the apolitical – that is, books, songs, classes, etc. – before delving into politics. Even then, the two focused on the many issues and policies upon which they did agree. Eve and Tom established a culture of authentic intellectual curiosity between them, through which they were able to open doors to more constructive conversations.

They concluded the discussion with a reminder that intragroup conversations are just as vital and revealing as intergroup conversations. For example, Eve and Tom both identify as environmentalists, but developed disparate understandings of environmentalism: Eve devotes herself more to policy and activism, while Tom chooses to cultivate change through enterprise. As such, they emphasized the importance of exploring discourse and disagreement within academia, which – being itself a sort of insular group – may not properly expose students to inter-disciplinary debate. Intellectual Vitality seeks to change that.

(February 2025)