Boston Flora

Tag: Global Warming

  • Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Woods

    In his meticulous notes on the natural history of Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau records the first open flowers of highbush blueberry on May 11, 1853. If he were to look for the first blueberry flowers in Concord today, mid-May would be too late. In the 160 years since Thoreau’s writings, warming temperatures have pushed blueberry flowering three weeks earlier than in Thoreau’s time. The climate around Thoreau’s beloved Walden Pond is changing, with visible ecological consequences. In his new book, Walden Warming, Richard B. Primack, PhD, Professor of Biology, Boston University,  uses Thoreau and Walden, icons of the conservation movement, to track the effects of a warming climate on Concord’s plants and animals. Under the attentive eyes of Primack, the notes that Thoreau made years ago are transformed from charming observations into scientific data sets. Primack finds that many wildflower species that Thoreau observed have declined in abundance or have disappeared from Concord. Hear how warming temperatures have altered these and other aspects of Thoreau’s Concord, from the dates when ice departs from Walden Pond in late winter, to the arrival of birds in the spring, to the populations of fish, salamanders, and butterflies that live in the woodlands, river meadows, and ponds. The Arnold Arboretum program will take place Wednesday, April 30, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building of the Arboretum.  Free for Arboretum members, $5 for nonmembers.  Register online at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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  • Wednesday, November 20, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Food Chain Restoration in the Face of Climate Change

    Recent years have brought spikes in the frequency of strange weather patterns and severe storms, with many blaming the increase on human-caused climate change. Farmer, author and activist Gary Paul Nabhan proposes that we look to the past for solutions-at crops and techniques used in regions that have historically endured this kind of weather. Hear his thoughts about the need for increased biodiversity on farmlands and strategies to relink the food chain at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building. Read his opinions in Grist and the New York Times.
    Fee $10 Arboretum member, $15 nonmember  Students: call 617.384.5277 to register free.

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  • Thursday, April 25, 7:00 pm – Bill McKibben, Environmentalist

    Bill McKibben, an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming, will speak on Thursday, April 25, beginning at 7 pm at The Fenn School. 516 Monument Street in Concord, in a program sponsored by the Concord Museum.

    McKibben, raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, is the author of a dozen books about the environment, beginning with The End of Nature in 1989, which is regarded as the first book for a general audience on climate change. He is a founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org, which has coordinated 15,000 rallies in 189 countries since 2009. Time Magazine called him “the planet’s best green journalist” and the Boston Globe said in 2010 that he was “probably the country’s most important environmentalist.”

    The Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, he holds honorary degrees from a dozen colleges and in 2011 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. $15 ($10 if you are a member of the Concord Museum). Reservations necessary: 978-369-9763, ext. 216.

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  • Friday, January 25, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Reversing Global Warming While Meeting Human Needs: An Urgently Needed Land-Based Option

    Allan Savory, rancher and restoration ecologist, Founder of the Savory Institute and originator of the Holistic Management approach to restoring grasslands, winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award, and finalist in the Virgin Earth Challenge, will speak on Friday, January 25 from 2 – 4 at the ASEAN Auditorium, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, 160 Packard Avenue in Medford, on Reversing Global Warming While Meeting Human Needs: An Urgently Needed Land-Based Option.  A reception will follow.  This is the first in a series of Creating the Future We Want events. Image from www.livinggreenmag.com. Free, but registration required at http://allansavory.eventbrite.com/#.

  • 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.

  • Woods of the World

    The Woods of the World permanent exhibit consists of 178 unique woods from all parts of the globe and hangs from the walls and ceiling near the north entrance of Lyman Plant House, 15 College Lane, Northampton, Massachusetts.

    The wood samples on display have a clear protective finish but are not stained. Aging will change the colors over time.

    Deforestation, poaching and global warming are placing many tree species at risk. It is only through sustainable harvesting, reforestation and habitat preservation that many useful and beautiful woods will be available for future generations.  The hours are 8:30 – 4:00 daily, closed Thanksgiving Day and December 23 – January 2.