Daily Archives: October 21, 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – The Boston Urban Gardening Book Group

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The next meeting of the Boston Urban Gardening Book Group will take place Tuesday, November 15, from 5:30 – 7:30 in Academic Building Number 3, Room 130, at Roxbury Community College.  Sponsored by the Boston Gardeners Council and The Roxbury Community College Service Learning Garden Project, the discussion will center on The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe. ForeWord Reviews says: ” In The Resilient Gardener, scientist and author Carol Deppe offers readers an inspiring approach to gardening. For many, gardening is a hobby-a source of solace and an experiment in self-sufficiency. Gardens are designed to offer up good things during good times-handfuls of bulbous tomatoes after weeks of careful watering, weeding, and monitoring for invading insects, for example. But what happens when gardeners-along with the rest of society-face uncertain times?

Uncertain times, caused by an unstable economy, changing weather patterns, or personal injury, result in an expanse of time when the “garden suffers because people have other priorities.” With this premise in mind, Deppe introduces the concept of resilient gardening. In Deppe’s world, gardening transcends the world of leisurely pursuit and transforms into an act of empowerment.

In twelve intensely detailed chapters, The Resilient Gardener empowers readers with the knowledge they need to design, build, and maintain gardens that can withstand intense hardship and thrive despite periods of complete neglect. The first half of the book marries the practice of gardening with emerging global issues, such as climate change, increasing attention to weight control, and the rise of food allergies. Readers must first achieve a firm grasp of how these issues intersect with the process of gardening in order to fully benefit from the hands-on guidelines provided later in the book. Deppe’s analysis is thorough; her research delves deep. By discussing the interaction between gardening and prevalent world issues, she establishes gardeners as hubs of sustainability and survival, their individual efforts producing movements of resilience that can benefit society as a whole.” For more information contact Stephanie Bostic at sb2178@gmail.com, or Karen Chaffee at karen@bostonnatural.org.

Wednesday, November 9, 6:00 pm – How Much Can Trees and Forests Slow Global Warming?

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Much research and debate in the scientific community is devoted to the question the impact forests have on in the capture or sequestration of carbon dioxide, the primary gas that causes the climate-warming “greenhouse effect.” Are more forests the key to slowing the rate of rising global temperatures or is it too optimistic to think they can capture enough of the world’s CO2 emissions to solve the problem? Hear two of Harvard’s most active climate researchers tackle this question from different perspectives, atmospheric chemist Steven Wofsy and forest ecologist Andrew Richardson, on Wednesday, November 9, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Part of the Challenges and Choices lecture series. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.