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

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.

---

Monday, October 24, 7:00 pm – The Tarball Chronicles

David Gessner eats, drinks, and talks his way into the heart of Gulf country, exploring the region’s birds, sea life, and ecosystems with the oceanographers, activists, and subsistence fishermen who call it home. Part absurdist travelogue, part manifesto, The Tarball Chronicles is overall a love song for the Gulf that asks one simple question: how much are we willing to sacrifice to keep living the way we do? Hear him speak at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge on Monday, October 24, beginning at 7 pm.

Gessner has written eight books and numerous essays about the wild world. He has been redefining what it means to write about nature for the last twenty years. He is the winner of a John Burroughs Award and has been selected for publication in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He founded the journal Ecotone and also published My Green Manifesto: Down the Charles River in Pursuit of a New Environmentalism in 2011. This event is free and open to the public, but please rsvp to ellen@portersquarebooks.com, or call 617-491-2220.

---

Monday, October 24, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Cooking Matters New Volunteer Training

Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters, nationally sponsored by the ConAgra Foods® Foundation and WalMart Foundation, is a groundbreaking nutrition education program that connects families with food by teaching them how to prepare healthy, tasty low-cost meals. Chefs and nutritionists volunteer their time and expertise to lead hands-on courses that instruct adults, teens and kids in getting the most nutrition on of a limited budget. Cooking Matters has reached more than 45,000 families across the country since 1993. For more information, visit www.cookingmatters.org/mass. We are always looking for cooking and nutrition instructors to teach our multi-session class series. Volunteer chefs work in partnership with nutritionists, using the lesson plans and recipes for each class provided in an established curriculum. Classes meet for two hours once a week for six weeks. Cooking Matters provides all materials needed for class, including curricula, cooking and teaching supplies, kitchen, and support staff. To learn more, call 617-774-1324 or email mdelgizzi@strength.org.  They host  New Volunteer Trainings at least once a month, with  two conveniently-located training sessions coming up, and are a three-minute walk from the No. Quincy T on the Red Line.

---

Saturday, October 29, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Decorative Copper for Your Garden

Is your garden or landscape lacking some special accents? This Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop, co-sponsored by the Worcester Center for Crafts, could be the answer as you hammer on copper and brass sheet and wire to craft some delightful, eye-catching leaves and flowers. Use these organic designs to create hooks, vines and other hardware to decorate your walls, trellises, railings and downspouts. Back home, you will be able to apply your new cutting, forging, riveting and soldering skills to fashion an unlimited variety of garden embellishments. Students need to bring their own leather work gloves, eye safety protection, tape measure, Sharpie marker and a bag lunch. All other tools and materials will be provided. John Stevens of Dancing Hammer Forge will instruct, and the class will take place in the Metals Studio at the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road in Worcester. Visit www.worcester.edu/wcc for directions. THBG members $130, non-members $140. Register at www.towerhillbg.org, or call 508-869-6111.

---

Friday, October 21, 7:00 pm – Wicked Bugs

In  her book Wicked Bugs, a darkly comical look at the sinister side of man’s relationship with the natural world, author Amy Stewart tracks down more than 100 of the worst entomological foes – creatures that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs. Ms. Stewart is the bestselling author of five books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world, including Wicked Plants. Her essays and commentaries have appeared on NPR, in the New York Times, and in Fine Gardening, where she is a contributing editor. Stewart is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the American Horticultural Society’s 2010 Book Award. She lives in Eureka, California, where she and her husband own an antiquarian bookstore.  Amy Stewart will make an appearance at Porter Square Books in the Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White Street, Cambridge, this Friday, October 21, beginning at 7 pm.  If you plan to attend this free event, call 617-491-2220, or email ellen@portersquarebooks.com.

---

Friday, November 4 – Sunday, November 6 – Orchid Show: A New England Rain Forest

Friday, November 4 – Sunday, November 6 will be the time to visit Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Massachusetts (not that it isn’t a good idea to visit anytime, but this weekend is very special.) An exciting orchid extravaganza, featuring gorgeous displays of blooming orchids with more than 12 commercial growers selling orchid plants and supplies, will take place Friday from 1 – 5, Saturday from 9 – 5, and Sunday from 9 – 4.  Clinics on basic orchid care, and tours of the show; schedule will be posted at entrance to the Show.  The public is invited to enter orchids for exhibit: contact MOSOrchidShow@comcast.net for details.  For more details on the show, visit www.massorchid.org/show.  Admission to Tower Hill is $10 for adults, $7 seniors, $5 youth, and children under 6 and members, free.

---

Sunday, November 13, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – New England Brass Band Concert at Elm Bank

On November 13th, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society will bring to Elm Bank The New England Brass Band, a 30-piece brass and percussion ensemble adhering to the instrumentation of the “British Brass Band” tradition. The band has performed Symphony Hall in Boston as well as giving concerts in New York City and New Jersey.

Under the direction of renowned arranger, Stephen Bulla (former chief arranger for the ‘President’s Own’ U.S. Marine Band.), the band entertains with musical selections from composers such as J.S. Bach, Kevin Norbury, Howard Evens and Stephen Bulla, himself. The concert will begin at 3:00 PM and will be held in the Hunnewell Carriage House at the Gardens at Elm Bank. You may order your tickets online at www.masshort.org, or purchase them at the door. Mass Hort members $25, Non-Members $30, children 12 and under $15.

---

Monday, October 17 – Friday, December 2 – Leaf & Yard Waste Collection

This season’s Leaf & Yard Waste Collection in Boston begins Monday, October 17 and continues through Friday, December 2.  Place leaves or waste in large, paper leaf bags or open brrels marked “Yard Waste.”  Remember that branches must be cut to a three foot maximum length, 1 inch maximum diameter, and be tied with string.  Place leaves and yard waste out behind your building on your recycling day.  For more information, call the Mayor’s 24 hour hotline, 617-635-4500.  Check the City of Boston website as well:  www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks.

---

Tuesday, October 18, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (Corrected Time) – Genius of Place

The True North Author Series, a joint presentation of the Library of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and North Hill, opens Tuesday, October 18 at 10 am  with Justin Martin, the author of Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted, a biography of the pioneering landscape architect of Central Park and 50 other green spaces around the United States. There will be no charge to attend the event, which will be held in the Hunnewell Carriage House at Elm Bank.  Martin, a former staff writer at Fortune magazine, is the author of two previous biographies, Greenspan: The Man Behind Money and Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon. Martin’s bestselling Greenspan biography was chosen as a notable book by the New York Times Book Review.  To enroll and for more information, please contact North Hill Courses & Events at 781-433-6400.

---

Monday, November 7, 6:00 pm – Elephant Walk Benefit for COGdesign

On November 7, join COGdesign at The Elephant Walk on Main Street in Waltham for an evening of good cheer, new and old COGdesign friends, and great Cambodian and French dining.  For complete details, and to receive an invitation, contact info@cogdesign.org.   Last year the restaurant offered hors d’oeuvre and drinks at 6, followed by a prix fixe dinner at 6:30.  Vegetarian, gluten-free and meat options were offered, and Elephant Walk donated 50% of the meal price and bar tab to COG.

---

---