Boston Flora

Tag: Free Lecture

  • Wednesday, May 5, 3:30 pm – Regenerative Design in the Public Realm

    Come to UMass Amherst’s Cape Cod Lounge in the Student Union on Wednesday, May 5 at 3:30 pm to hear Michael Singer speak on Regenerative Design in the Public Realm.  Free lecture is open to the public.

    Michael Singer’s perspective is that of an artist, a creative thinker and problem solver whose work has evolved around questioning assumptions and constantly looking at why things are the way they are and how they might benefit from different points of view. Michael Singer’s Studio uses an integrative design process as a way to recognize the systems of a place, respond specifically to that place, and gather information and direction from naturalists, biologists, engineers, scientists, social anthropologists, historians, economists, other professionals and communities about how a project can innovatively address environmental, social, political, and economic concerns, as well as provide solutions that promote regenerative outcomes.

    For the past twenty years Michael Singer has worked on large-scale infrastructure projects, parks and gardens, architectural design, urban planning and public art commissions. In 2007 Singer co-authored “Infrastructure and Community: How Can We Live With What Sustains Us” published by Environmental Defense, an advocacy organization. This booklet presents case studies from the Michael Singer Studio offering insight on how public officials, communities and developers can plan infrastructure that promotes environmental justice, generates ecological renewal, inspires civic responsibility and enhances quality of life without sacrificing function or economic viability.

    http://www.umass.edu/tei/TEI/images/Lecture%20Series/MichaelSinger_t346.jpg

  • Thursday, February 11, 6:00 – 7:00 pm – The Origins of Agriculture: Everything You Need to Know in 50 Minutes or Less

    The transition from hunting and gathering to food production was a seismic shift in human history. With it, we transformed the world. But how and when did this happen, and why is it important to understanding our current human condition? Bruce Smith, curator of North American archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will discuss his current research on agricultural origins — and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect.  This free lecture will take place at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, on Thursday, February 11, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.  For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 pm – Reanimating Extinct Plants

    Science for the Public presents Dr. Jonathan P. Wilson, California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, at the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street in a free lecture on Tuesday, November 17 beginning at 6:30 pm.

    A nature walk in New England 300 million years ago would have looked quite different from one near Boston today. Instead of forests composed of oaks, maples, and pines, the area would have been dominated by unusual extinct forms: mostly climbing ferns and seed plants under a canopy of trees that more closely resemble telephone poles than anything in a modern garden. How did these plants work?
    In this talk, he will explore how recent advances in plant physiology allow paleontologists to understand, in a quantitative fashion, how extinct plants functioned. Are there fundamental physiological differences between extinct plants and living ones? What can we learn about ancient environments and ecosystems from looking at fossil plants? For more information, log on to www.cityofboston.gov.

    http://www.plantcare.com/oldSite/httpdocs/images/MM/IMG0504090.jpg

  • Tuesday, November 17, 7:00 pm – Responsible Gardening for the 21st Century: The Sustainable Landscape

    The Maynard Community Gardeners host noted landscape historian and designer Marie Stella for a discussion on Responsible Gardening for the 21st Century: The Sustainable Landscape.

    Ms. Stella teaches in the Graduate program at The Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and currently is an adjunct faculty instructor in landscape design at The New York Botanical Garden, and Tower Hill Botanical Garden. She also lectures frequently and leads local and foreign Garden History Tours.  She will be speaking to The Garden Club of the Back Bay in March, in a program co-sponsored by The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture and the New England Wildflower Society, but this lecture will be on a different topic, so attending on November 17 will not be repetitive.

    Her design firm, Kirin Farm Enterprises specializes in environmental landscapes and in initiatives to foster the preservation of open space.

    Her latest design project is a Platinum certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) home and sustainable landscape.

    This lecture is free and open to the public.  For more information, log on to www.maynardgardeners.org, or email info@maynardgardners.org.

    Marie Stella

  • Tuesday, November 3, 6:00 pm – Feast or Pharmacy? Meeting Micronutrient Needs with Local Food

    Ellen Messer, Visiting Professor of Gastronomy at Boston University, will present a free lecture on Tuesday, November 3 at 6 pm, entitled “Feast or Pharmacy? Meeting Micronutrient Needs with Local Foods.”  The lecture will take place at 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 117, and is free and open to the public, although Boston University asks that you call to reserve a space – 617-353-9852.   Dr.  Messer is an anthropologist and specialist in human rights, food security, and religion, with a special interest in religion and development. She has taught Religion and Development and, in a cross-cultural approach, Nutrition and Food Security, at Brandeis University. The talk is part of BU’s ongoing MLA in Gastronomy Lecture Series in Food Studies.  More information on all the lectures can be found at www.bu.edu/foodandwine.

  • Tuesday, September 15, 6:30 pm – Notes from the Wildlife Hot Zone

    In recent decades, a wave of enigmatic population crashes and extinctions has swept through frog species in the Americas, Australia and elsewhere. More than two decades of research strongly suggest that a recently introduced fungal disease was largely responsible for this biodiversity catastrophe. More recently and closer to home, bats have been dying in droves in the caves and mines of their eastern United States wintering sites. Again, the most likely suspect is a recently introduced fungal disease. Biologists were tragically slow to accept a disease as the principal cause of frog disappearances and even slower to act. Can bat biologists learn from these mistakes? Is it possible to intervene to help wildlife populations threatened by disease?
    Dr. Bryan Windmiller, Ecological Consultant and Founder of Hyla Ecological Services, Concord, Massachusetts will present this free lecture at the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Conference Rooms 5 & 6, on Tuesday, September 15 beginning at 6:30 pm.  No advance registration required.

    http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/7/790/GGCI000Z/bats.jpg