Climate change is affecting everything on the menu, making this topic relevant to everyone who eats! Not another doom-and-gloom story–this free Massachusetts Master Gardeners online talk on August 26 focuses on solutions to confront climate change and still keep our favorites on the menu. And coincidentally, help keep the planet livable.
An online presentation and discussion on the Climate Change and Loss of Biodiversity Crisis, with the Gardens Trust, begins May 12.
Our changing climate and the loss of biodiversity are two of the biggest and most urgent challenges facing historic parks and gardens. Join us for a pair of half-day online events to explore some of the latest research and initiatives in these two vital areas.
Each session will last around 2.5 hours, with talks from sector experts and the opportunities for questions to be raised from the audience.
These talks and the subsequent discussions will be relevant for anyone working or volunteering in a historic park or garden – or seeking ideas to apply in your own garden at home.
This ticket is for a single ONLINE talk, price £14 (GT members £10.50). A recording will be made available to ticket holders to view until 12 June. If you would prefer to purchase tickets to both talks at the discounted price of £20 (GT members £15), please follow the link here.
As institutions of higher education accelerate climate commitments, campus landscapes are increasingly called upon to perform as living infrastructure. This Climate Week–themed webinar on May 7 at noon explores how green roofs can advance sustainability goals while enriching campus life, operations, and learning through three university case studies: Harvard Business School, Northeastern University, and North Shore Community College. Designed for campus sustainability directors and facilities managers, the session examines how green roofs deliver measurable benefits—from stormwater management and urban heat reduction to biodiversity, wellness, and experiential learning. Speakers will share design strategies, maintenance realities, and performance outcomes across diverse campus contexts, including how these projects support institutional reporting and benchmarking frameworks such as AASHE STARS.
Presented by Recover Green Roofs during Boston Climate Week, this webinar recognizes the unique role higher education leaders play in shaping not only resilient campuses, but also the next generation of environmental stewards—demonstrating how today’s infrastructure decisions can become tomorrow’s teaching tools.
Register at https://luma.com/azdr6lbj. Recover Green Roofs is a design-build firm specializing in the design, installation, and maintenance of green roofs, including rooftop gardens, farms, and amenity spaces. Recover has designed and built residential, commercial, and institutional buildings across New England and beyond for over a decade, emphasizing the stacking benefits that a green roof provides to its community, local ecosystems, and the environment at large. We strive to create long-lasting, thriving green roofs that aid in recovering nature in our built environment in order to support healthier communities and more resilient cities. For more information, visit www.recovergreenroofs.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
By registering for this event, you agree to share your registration information with the organizers of Boston Climate Week
Have you heard the phrase “assisted migration” or been advised to plant for a climate south of you? This Mass Pollinators Network free webinar on April 28 with Jesse Bellemare should be a fascinating discussion about what our landscapes may look like in the future and if we can (should?) “help” by planting for a future climate. Register at https://grownativemass.org/Our-Programs/Calendar-of-Events/Climate-Change-and-the-Future-Flora-of-New-England
Jesse Bellemare is a plant ecologist and associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Smith College in Northampton, MA. His research is focused on the ecology of plant range shifts in response to climate change and the novel challenges these dynamics present for plant conservation in the New England region and beyond. Jesse’s research has also explored the role that native plant horticulture has played in facilitating northward range shifts for a number of southern plant species and the complex issues these “neo-native” species raise for management and conservation in the New England flora. In addition to teaching at Smith College, Jesse has also been a visiting faculty member at the Conway School of Landscape Design exploring how insights from climate change ecology might inform design, ecological restoration, and forward-looking plant selection in horticulture.
JP Zero Waste along with Beyond Plastics Greater Boston present a movie screening, followed by a community discussion, on our overuse of plastics. The event takes place April 25 from 2 – 4:30 at the Jamaica Plain Library, 30 South Street in Jamaica Plain. Free but limited space available, so please register at https://www.bpl.org/locations/jamaica-plain/
Registration is now open for Harvard Climate Action Week 2025 (September 15–21), a series of in-person and online events organized by Schools and centers across the University that will explore solutions to the most complex and challenging dimensions of climate change. Capping the week, the Salata Institute’s three-day Harvard Climate Symposium will convene leaders from government, business, the nonprofit sector, and academia to discuss actions to enhance climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more and Register at https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/hcaw/
Glaciers are melting. Oceans are rising. Surface temperatures worldwide are rising. It’s enough to drive us all into eco-despair. But despair not. We have solved planet-threatening problems before, atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon argues, and we can do it again. The path to success begins when an environmental problem becomes both personal and perceptible to the general public, Solomon says. Healing the planet is a long game won not by fear and panic, she explains, but by the union of public, political, and regulatory pressure. Smithsonian Associates presents the author on September 12 at 6:45 pm Eastern for a Zoom discussion.
Solomon knows firsthand what those solutions entail. She led an expedition to Antarctica in 1986 that made discoveries key to healing the damaged ozone layer. Solomon connects this career-defining triumph to the stories of environmental victories against ozone depletion, smog, pesticides, and lead to extract the essential elements of what makes change possible. The heroes in these stories range from angry mothers to gang members turned social activists to upset Long Island birdwatchers to iconoclastic scientists (often women) to crafters of brilliant legislation.
Solomon’s new book, Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again (Chicago University Press), is available for purchase when registering. $20 for Smithsonian Associates members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/how-we-healed-earth This program is part of Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism initiative.
Join a free online session on July 25 at 7 pm to learn about Mass Audubon’s grassroots advocacy program, Climate and Nature Champions, that mobilizes individuals across Massachusetts to speak with one voice on the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Whether you have been an advocate before or are new to this work, you can help Mass Audubon fight for land and wildlife protections and climate & nature policies by engaging in our current advocacy campaigns to advance smart solar siting, restore horseshoe crabs, and rescue raptors from rodenticide.
Levels of participation vary from emailing your representative on a priority issue to organizing a local community around a specific campaign. Join us to learn more and get involved! Register at www.massaudubon.org
Learn about native freshwater mussel species in the Charles, their fascinating biology, the challenges they face exacerbated by climate change, and the conservation measures needed to protect these keystone species, in a special free online presentation by Marea Gabriel, Freshwater for the Nature Conservancy. The July 25 Zoom presentation is sponsored by the Charles River Watershed Association. Register at https://www.crwa.org/
Join the Museum of Science, Boston on May 8 for a Reno Family Foundation Symposium, Sing for Science, featuring David Byrne and author Patrick Svensson. $30, including a copy of The Book of Eels. Register at www.mos.org
Don’t miss this unforgettable night at the Museum of Science with David Byrne. The music icon will take the stage for a live conversation about what scientists and philosophers for centuries have called “the eel question” alongside perhaps the greatest cultural authority on the topic, The Book of Eels author Patrik Svensson.
David’s interest in “the eel question” adds to an ever-increasing range of pursuits that now includes two Broadway shows and an interactive neuroscience exhibit at Denver’s Center for the Performing Arts. The Book of Eels has amassed a long list of distinctions and awards for its meditation on our enduring fascination with “the most mysterious creature in the natural world.” Even in today’s age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don’t understand what drives them — after living for decades in freshwater — to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives.
This live taping for the Sing for Science podcast is moderated by the show’s host, Matt Whyte. Ticket price includes a copy of The Book of Eels and book signing with the author following the taping.
This program is part of the Museum’s Year of the Earthshot, an exploration of the climate solutions and the actions we can take now to live sustainably on Earth.
