Daily Archives: August 30, 2015

Wednesday, September 9, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Fire and Ice

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High in the Himalayan valley of Zanskar in northwest India sits a village as isolated as the legendary Shangri-La. Long fed by runoff from glaciers and lofty snowfields, Kumik–a settlement of thirty nine mud brick homes–has survived and thrived in one of the world’s most challenging settings for a thousand years. But now its people confront an existential threat: chronic, crippling drought, which leaves the village canal dry and threatens to end their ancient culture of farming and animal husbandry. Fire and Ice weaves together the story of Kumik’s inspiring response to this calamity with the story of black carbon. Black carbon from inefficient fires–the particulate residue that makes soot dark–is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. It’s also a key ingredient of the air pollution that public health experts regard as humanity’s greatest environmental health risk worldwide: soot-laden smoke from household hearth fires and outdoor sources combine to kill over seven million people around the world every year. Jonathan Mingle describes the joys and struggles of daily life in the Zanskar Valley, where villagers are buffeted by powerful environmental and economic forces, while also tracing black carbon’s dark fingerprints outward from Kumik and around the world. Mingle investigates its impacts on snow, ice, and water from Mt. Everest to California, and the silent health epidemic it fuels from New York to New Delhi.  For more information visit www.portersquarebooks.com.

Wednesday, September 9, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Nature Walk with Clare Walker Leslie

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Join Clare Walker Leslie, author of The Curious Nature Guide, for a North Cambridge nature walk. The walk leaves the Porter Square Bookstore, 25 White Street in Cambridge at 5 pm, and returns in time for a 6:00 reception at the store.

With dozens of simple prompts and exercises, best-selling author, naturalist, and artist Clare Walker Leslie offers adults of all ages an invitation to step outside for just a few minutes a day, reignite the sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world, and discover the peace and grounding that can be found by connecting to nature as part of daily life. Using photography as well as the author’s own illustrations, The Curious Nature Guide invites readers to start at home, using all of their senses to notice the colors, sounds, smells, and textures of the trees, plants, animals, birds, insects, clouds, and other features that can be observed right outside their doorstep, no matter where they live. Prompts range from suggestions to note one daily exceptional nature image to learning to identify cloud types and the weather they bring, or creating a record of nature spottings on daily walks with the dog.

Clare Walker Leslie is a nationally known wildlife artist, author, and educator. She has been connecting people of all ages to nature using drawing, writing, and observation of the outdoors for more than 30 years. Her other books include the bestsellers Keeping a Nature Journal and The Nature Connection, as well as Nature Journal and Drawn to Nature. For more information visit www.portersquarebooks.com.