Boston Flora

Tag: Director’s Lecture Series

  • Monday, February 10, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Déjà vu all over again: Denialism of Climate Change and of Evolution

    Eugenie Scott, PhD, Director of the National Center for Science Education, will speak at The Arnold Arboretum on Monday, February 10, from 7 – 8:30 as part of the Director’s Lecture Series.  This program is sold out but you may join the waiting list by calling 617-384-5277.

    Both evolution and global warming are “controversial issues” in education, but are not controversial in the world of science. There is remarkable similarity in the techniques that are used by both camps to promote their views. The scientific issues are presented as “not being settled”, or that there is considerable debate among scientists over the validity of claims. Both camps practice “anomaly mongering”, in which a small detail, seemingly incompatible with either evolution or global warming, is held up as dispositive of either evolution or of climate science. Although in both cases, reputable, established science is under attack for ideological reasons, the underlying ideology differs: for denying evolution, the ideology of course is religious; for denying global warming, the ideology is political and/or economic. Eugenie Scott will deconstruct the arguments and identify the ideologies that hinder widespread understanding of evolution and responsiveness to climate change.

    Eugenie Scott, a former university professor, served as the executive director of NCSE from 1987 to 2014; she now serves as the chair of NCSE’s Advisory Council. She has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution controversy for over twenty-five years, and can address many components of this controversy, including educational, legal, scientific, religious, and social issues. She has received national recognition for her NCSE activities, including awards from scientific societies, educational societies, skeptics groups, and humanist groups. She holds nine honorary degrees, from McGill, Rutgers, Mt. Holyoke, the University of New Mexico, Ohio State, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Colorado College, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Chapman University. A dynamic speaker, she offers stimulating and thought-provoking as well as entertaining lectures and workshops. Scott is the author of Evolution vs Creationism and co-editor, with Glenn Branch, of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools.

    http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/274/020/274020896_640.jpg

  • Monday, March 11, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

    The next Director’s Lecture Series event at the Arnold Arboretum will take place Monday, March 11, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building.  As coal fueled the industrial revolution, one could say that plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy one. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. And yet each year we use and consume more; we’ve produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. Journalist Susan Freinkel will speak about our dependence on this material, guiding us through history, science and the global economy to assess the real impact of plastic in our lives. She’ll present a new way of thinking about a substance that has become the defining medium—and metaphor—of our age. Her book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, will be available for purchase and signing.  Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/media/images/PlasticCoverDetail.jpg

  • Monday, March 28, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Our Constitution’s Intelligent Design

    The Arnold Arboretum presents an exciting lecture series in 2011: the new Director’s Lecture Series at the Hunnewell Lecture Hall, 125 The Arborway in Boston. The lectures are free but advance registration is required. This particular lecture is for Arnold Arboretum Members Only – you may join online at www.arboretum.harvard.edu/membership, or call 617-384-5767.

    On Monday, March 28, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III will speak on Our Constitution’s Intelligent Design. In 2005 Judge John Jones presided over the landmark case of Kitzmiller v. Dover, and thereafter rendered an opinion holding that it is unconstitutional to teach the concept of intelligent design as an alternative to the theory of evolution. In the aftermath of that ruling, Judge Jones, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was subjected to intense criticism. Judge Jones will highlight some of the lessons he learned from these experiences, including the development of his passion for judicial independence, and a belief in the need for better civics education, particularly related to our three branches of government

    Recommended reading related to this talk:

    · Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (available online), Monkey Girl by Edward Humes,

    · 40 Days and 40 Nights by Matthew Chapman,

    · The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything by Gordy Slack

    · The Devil in Dover by Lauri Lebo.

    Contact Pamela Thompson, 617.384.5277. http://calendar.arboretum.harvard.edu/index.php

  • Monday, February 28, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – The Good, The Bad, and Occasionally the Dead: Humanity’s Relationship with Earth’s Nitrogen

    The Arnold Arboretum presents an exciting lecture series in 2011: the new Director’s Lecture Series at the Hunnewell Lecture Hall, 125 The Arborway in Boston. The lectures are free but advance registration is required.

    On Monday, February 28, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Alan Townsend of University of Colorado, Boulder, will discuss the occasionally odd, often dramatic history of humanity’s relationship with phosphorus and nitrogen. How do we live the lives we want while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can support future generations? These challenges will define the coming century, and one of them lies at the heart of the most fundamental of human needs: the need to eat, the good these chemical elements do and the harm they cause, and ultimately, the reasons to have hope for a better future.  NASA image below shows nitrogen dioxide concentration over China.

    Contact Pamela Thompson, 617.384.5277. http://calendar.arboretum.harvard.edu/index.php

  • Monday, February 7, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Restoring Hawaii’s Marvels of Evolution

    The Arnold Arboretum presents an exciting lecture series in 2011: the new Director’s Lecture Series at the Hunnewell Lecture Hall, 125 The Arborway in Boston. The lectures are free but advance registration is required.

    On Monday, February 7, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, botanist Robert Robichaux of the Hawaiian Silversword Foundation and University of Arizona discusses recent efforts to restore Hawaii’s Marvels of Evolution. Evolving in splendid isolation over millions of years, Hawaii’s native plants exhibit patterns of diversity that are unrivaled elsewhere on Earth. Especially striking are the many examples of adaptive radiation, in which original immigrants to the islands evolved into dazzling arrays of plants exhibiting great variation in form and habitat preference. Yet, Hawaii’s native plants face an uncertain future. Many native plants, such as the exquisitely beautiful silverswords (below, photo from www.silverswordalliance.org) and lobeliads, now teeter on the edge of extinction.

    Contact Pamela Thompson, 617.384.5277. http://calendar.arboretum.harvard.edu/index.php

  • Monday, January 31, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – A Darwinian Look at Darwin’s Evolutionist Ancestors

    NEW DATE: The Arnold Arboretum presents an exciting lecture series in 2011: the new Director’s Lecture Series at the Hunnewell Lecture Hall, 125 The Arborway in Boston.  The lectures are free but advance registration is required.

    On Monday, January 31, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Ned Friedman, newly-appointed  Director of the Arnold Arboretum, will speak on A Darwinian Look at Darwin’s Evolutionist Ancestors. Is Darwin truly deserving of his place in history? Examine the question of what set Darwin apart from the dozens of theorists who preceded him. For over a century before the publication of On the Origin of Species, naturalists, theologians, atheists, horticulturalists, medical practitioners, poets, and philosophers had advanced evolutionary concepts for the diversification of life through descent with modification. The early history of evolutionary thought will be examined through the lens of Charles Darwin’s highly personal views of his evolutionist ancestors.

    Contact Pamela Thompson, 617.384.5277. http://calendar.arboretum.harvard.edu/index.php