EAST BOOTHBAY — Bigelow Laboratory begins its 2012 summer Café Scientifique series at 6 p.m. today with a talk by guest speaker Kathy Jacobs, director of the National Climate Assessment and assistant director for Climate Assessment and Adaptation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Her free talk, titled “The National Climate Assessment: First, the Good News,” starts at 6 p.m. on the main floor of the Boothbay Harbor Opera House, 86 Townsend Ave., in Boothbay Harbor. It is the first of nine Café Scientifique events scheduled this summer.

As director of the National Climate Assessment, Jacobs works with 13 federal agencies and hundreds of scientists and resource managers to evaluate the impacts of climate change on all of the regions and sectors in the United States. She also is the lead water science and climate adaptation expert in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House.

Café Scientifique talks are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2012 summer Café Scientifique program is available at www.bigelow.org.