Boston Flora

Tag: Global Warming

  • Friday, February 9, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm Eastern – Will Carbon Capture and Storage Continue Its Failure to Reduce Global Warming?

    GBH, in partnership with Science for the Public, presents a free online lecture on February 9 at noon Eastern. The major cause of the global warming crisis is excess atmospheric CO2 emitted mainly by fossil fuels. The extreme level of atmospheric CO2 is well beyond a “capture and storage/sequestration” solution, yet the hype persists that some clever extraction innovation will resolve the problem. Dr. Charles Harvey, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, has extensive experience with both CO2 capture/storage (CCS) engineering and the realization that CCS cannot reduce CO2 enough to reduce global warming. He argues instead for rational policy: drop fossil fuels and shift to renewables. Now. His expert advice is gaining a wide audience.

    Charles Harvey is internationally recognized for outstanding research in multiple areas of the field of environmental engineering. He has received numerous awards and has appeared in PBS (Frontline) and BBC productions. He is a Fellow of both the American Geological Society the American Geophysical Union. To register, visit https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/lectures/carbon-capture-and-storage-will-not-reduce-global-warming

  • Tuesday, September 27, 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm – Extinctions on Earth: Then and Now, Online

    As death inevitably follows birth, extinction is the predictable consequence of evolution on our planet. The fossil record chronicles the comings and goings of species through geologic history, but its most prominent feature may be surprising. Extinctions are not distributed evenly through time: Rather, at five moments over the past 500 million years, most of Earth’s animal species disappeared over a short time scale, permanently altering ecosystems on land and in the sea.  

    The best known of these mass extinctions wiped out the dinosaurs and many less evocative creatures 66 million years ago. A large body of evidence supports the hypothesis that this event reflects the impact of a massive asteroid, underscoring that life can be influenced by factors beyond our planet.

    Another, more destructive mass extinction may be more instructive to 21st century citizens. Two hundred and fifty million years ago, volcanic activity a million times greater than anything ever witnessed by humans spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, resulting in the extinction of an estimated 90% of marine animal species. Known as the “Great Dying,” the extinctions were selective, with some species more vulnerable than others, and the observed pattern of extinction and survival supports the view that volcanically induced global warming, ocean acidification, and oxygen loss from subsurface seawater drove the extinctions. 

    Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher research professor of natural history and professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, examines how these three threats are accelerating today due to human activities, not volcanism. He discusses how observations and experiments made to better understand 21st-century global change resonate strongly with the Great Dying 252 million years ago, suggesting Earth’s future if we choose to do nothing.

    But, says Knoll, the distant mirror of past mass extinction should be seen as something like Charles Dickens’ ghost of Christmas yet to come: a warning of what might transpire if we choose to do nothing. He reminds us however, that like Scrooge, we also have the capacity to change our ways and so preserve Earth’s precious biodiversity for future generations.

    This Smithsonian Associates webinar will take place September 27 at 6:45, and is $20 for Smithsonian members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/extinctions-on-earth-then-and-now

  • Wednesday, June 2, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Worried About Global Warming? Online

    The Green Committee of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay invites you to the First in a Series of Climate Action Seminars. Join State Senator Will Brownsberger and State Senator Michael Barrett for a discussion and Q & A about the historic legislation, Senate Bill 9 (recently signed by Governor Baker) titled: An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Action Policy. Wednesday, June 2nd, 10:00-11:00 am To register, reply to: green@nabbonline.com by June 1st. Look for registration confirmation in several days. You will receive a Zoom link before the event and a reminder on the morning of the event. 

  • Friday, January 29, 7:00 pm – Science on Screen: Beasts of the Southern Wild

    In “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Benh Zeitlin’s stunning work of cinematic magical realism, six-year old Hushpuppy is faced with both her hot-tempered father’s fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs.

    Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and nominated for four Academy Awards, the film announced the arrival of a major new talent in filmmaker Zeitlin and actress Quvenzhané Wallis.

    In this free WBUR online Science on Screen discussion on January 29 at 7,  Cristina Kim, associate producer of Here & Now, looks at the film through the lens of climate change and race. She’ll be joined by Dr. Gaurab Basu, health equity fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Dr. S. Atyia Martin, CEO and founder of All Aces Inc.

    Join the conversation! Submit your questions to us before and during the event here. Find out where to watch “Beasts of the Southern Wild” before the event here.

    Event produced in partnership with the Coolidge Corner Theatre as part of their 2021 Sundance Film Festival programming.

  • Monday, March 26, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Fingerprints of Sea Level Change in a Warming World

    Each winter, Director William (Ned) Friedman and the Arnold Arboretum present the Director’s Lecture Series, featuring nationally recognized experts addressing an array of topics related to Earth’s biodiversity and evolutionary history, the environment, conservation biology, and key social issues associated with current science. The Director’s Lecture Series is open to current Arnold Arboretum members only; visit http://arboretum.harvard.edu for information on becoming a member. Lectures take place in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall. Parking will be available along the Arborway and in front of the Hunnewell Building on lecture nights.

    On Monday, March 26 at 7 pm, Jerry X. Mitrovica, PhD, the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, will speak on The Fingerprints of Sea Level Change in a Warming World. Sea level changes are a particularly dramatic consequence of global warming and estimates of the average rise in sea level over the past decade are routinely reported in the media. However, such estimates obscure the fact that observed sea level changes vary dramatically around the globe. Professor Jerry Mitrovica will describe the sources of this variability and focus on the unique patterns – or fingerprints – of sea level change that follow the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Those of us who live on the US east coast should be far more concerned about the fate of the distant Antarctic Ice Sheet than the future of our neighbor, the ice sheet that now covers Greenland.  Image from www.sciencedaily.com.

    Register at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/news-events/directors-lecture-series/

  • On the Chesapeake: A Precarious Future of Rising Seas and High Tides

    Maryland’s Dorchester County is ground zero for climate change on Chesapeake Bay, as rising seas claim more and more land. High Tide in Dorchester, a film by Tom Horton, Dave Harp, and Sandy Cannon-Brown, explores the beauty of this liquid landscape and how the bay’s communities are at risk from high tides and erosion.

    Tom Horton has covered the environment for newspapers and magazines since 1972 and has authored several books on Chesapeake Bay. He currently writes for the monthly Bay Journal and teaches at Salisbury University in Maryland. Sandy Cannon-Brown, founder and president of VideoTakes, Inc., is an award-winning environmental filmmaker and teacher. She was an associate director for American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking. She lives in St. Michaels, Maryland and focuses her independent films on issues affecting the Chesapeake Bay. A lifelong Marylander, Dave Harp operates a corporate and editorial photography business in Cambridge, Maryland. He served as the staff photographer for the Hagerstown Morning Herald and was the photographer for The Baltimore Sun Magazine for nearly a decade.

    The short film may be viewed in its entirety at http://e360.yale.edu/features/on-the-chesapeake-a-precarious-future-of-rising-seas-and-high-tides

  • Saturday, January 13, 2:00 pm – The New Shade Garden: Creating a Lush Oasis in the Age of Climate Change

    Berkshire Botanical Garden’s 2018 Annual Winter Lecture will take place Saturday, January 13 at 2 pm at Lenox Memorial High School in Lenox.

    Ken Druse plumbs the depths of shade once again – 20 years after the publication of his best seller, The Natural Shade Garden. This time, it’s to tackle the challenges that have arisen due to our changing climate. The low-stress environment of shade (lower temperatures, fewer water demands, carbon sequestration) is extremely beneficial for our plants, our planet, and us. Ken details new ways of looking at all aspects of the gardening process, in topics such as designing your garden, choosing and planting trees, preparing soil, solving the deer problem, and the vast array of flowers and foliage – all within the challenges of a changing climate, shrinking resources, and new weather patterns. Ken knows that the best defense is to create a cool, verdant retreat – he says, “The garden of the future will be in the shade.”

    Ken Druse is a celebrated lecturer, an award-winning photographer, and an author, who has been called “the guru of natural gardening” by the New York Times. He is best known for his twenty gar­den books published over the last twenty-five years. The American Horticultural Society listed his first large-format work, The Natural Garden (Clarkson Potter, 1988), among the best books of all time. His book, Making More Plants (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2012) won the award of the year from the prestigious Garden Writers Association. That group gave Ken the 2013 gold medal for photography and the silver for writing. Also in 2013, the Smithsonian Institute announced the acquisition of the Ken Druse Collection of Garden Photography comprising 100,000 images of American gardens and plants.

    The Garden Club of America presented Ken with the Sarah Chapman Francis medal for lifetime achievement in garden communication.

    KenDruse.com is a blog with ten years of archived podcast interviews. He also appears monthly on Margaret Roach’s radio show, A Way to Garden.

    The Winter Lecture Series was begun by the Berkshire Botanical Garden in 1997 and was established to bring inspiring speakers to the region to talk about horticulture, landscape design and history, plants and plant exploration, and home gardening.

    Over the years, the Garden has invited such luminaries as Marco Polo Stufano, Anna Pavord, Joe Eck, Tovah Martin, Dan Hinkley, W. Gary Smith, Penelope Hobhouse, Ken Druse, Gordon Hayward, Lauren Springer and Scott Ogden, Bill Cullina, Fergus Garrett, Debs Goodenough, Margaret Roach, Michael Dirr, Glyn Jones, Louis Benech, Alan Power and Thomas Woltz to share their knowledge of plants, gardening, design and history with an interested audience of gardeners and horticulturists from the region. The series has proven to be a popular event in the region and is held annually in mid-winter. Proceeds from ticket sales are used to further the Garden’s education and horticulture efforts.

    Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome, space permitting.  Many thanks to the Winter Lecture sponsor: The Red Lion Inn. Register online at https://berkshirebotanical.org/see-and-do/winter-lecture-series/

  • Tuesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Responses to Anthropogenic Climate Change: Predicting the Future Requires Knowing the Past

    The Arnold Arboretum’s Director’s Lecture Series kicks off Tuesday, October 4 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum with a talk by Camille Parmesan, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Plymouth University, UK, and the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin. Camille’s work focuses on the impacts of climate change on wildlife, from field studies of American and European butterflies to synthetic analyses of global impacts on a broad range of species on land and in the oceans. She has participated in US and international assessments of climate change impacts and provided formal testimonies for the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and the Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee. Camille has served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which in 2007 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Fee Free. Arboretum Members only. Registration required as seating is limited.

    Register online at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Thursday, July 14, 9:00 am – 10:30 am – Extending the Flowering Season

    Adding new plants to the collections at Mount Auburn Cemetery (580 Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge) which flower in late spring or summer is not just about adding color to the landscape. This initiative is also a response to climate change and the general trend of plants flowering earlier and earlier each year. Because so much biological activity is centered around the time when plants are flowering, the life cycles of insects, and subsequently, the health of other wildlife species such as birds, are a concern. Come on this walk with Dennis Collins, Horticultural Curator, on Thursday, July 14 from 9 – 10:30 and learn about this recent addition to Mount Auburn’s list of horticultural initiatives for the next five years. Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. $7 for Friends of Mt. Auburn, $12 for non-members. Register online at http://mountauburn.org/2016/extending-the-flowering-season/

  • Friday, December 5, 7:15 pm – 9:15 pm – Chasing Ice and Birds in a Changing Climate

    The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem has announced a special event to take place Friday, December 5, from 7:15 – 9:15.  Attend a special screening of the award-winning film Chasing Ice by environmental photographer James Balog, a featured artist in the Museum’s Branching Out exhibition. His videos of Arctic glaciers reveal ancient mountains of ice disappearing at a breathtaking rate. Following the film, researcher and author Trevor Lloyd-Evans presents the effects of climate change on migratory birds. Chasing Ice, 2012, 75 minutes. Book signing follows. Co-sponsored by Mass Audubon and Essex County Ornithological Club. A brief business meeting of the E.C.O.C. is held 7-7:15 pm. Reservations not required.  For directions, visit www.pem.org.