Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard

  • Fridays, June 13, 20 & 27, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Field Sketching Techniques

    Carol Govan (see work below) encourages you to achieve your own “voice” by getting comfortable with drawing techniques, especially for field sketching.  Increase your accuracy, speed, and familiarity with the fastest way to achieve the correct color of an object.  Learn how to apply tone to create a three dimensional object no matter what light you have and get that same dimension with color.  Homework is to draw for a short time every day.  This three day class, to be held Fridays, June 13, 20 & 27 from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, is offered by the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  Members of the sponsoring organizations will pay $90, non-members $115.  To register call 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

    http://www.ashlandfarmersmarket.org/sites/default/files/images/22_Abandoned%20Parking%20Lot.jpg

  • Wednesday, May 21, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Hellstrip Gardening: Paradise at the Curb

    Semi-public spaces in parking strips and alongside driveways and alleys could host thriving gardens that add beauty and provide ecological services.  Author Evelyn Hadden addresses issues such as car, foot, and paw traffic, utility and maintenance equipment, restricted root zones, contaminated soil, covenants and city regulations, and presents ideas for the greening of your neighborhood, on Wednesday, May 21, from 6:30 – 8:30 at Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Boston.  Co-sponsored with the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  Member of sponsoring organizations will pay $15, non-members $25.  Register at 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

    http://www.evelynhadden.com/images/HellstripCover350.jpg

  • Wednesday, May 7, 7:00 pm – The Extreme Life of the Sea

    Drawing on his newest book, The Extreme Life of the Sea, marine scientist Stephen Palumbi will explore the spectacular life forms, such as blind zombie worms, ageless jellyfish, and the unicorn-like narwhal, that thrive at the ocean’s most brutal limits. From the icy Arctic to boiling hydrothermal vents and pitch-dark trenches, Palumbi looks at extreme habitats and considers how humans may be driving dramatic changes to the ocean’s ecosystem. The lecture and book signing will take place Wednesday, May 7, beginning at 7 pm at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, and is sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Stephen is the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor of Biology and Director of Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford University. Free and open to the public. There is free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

    http://press.princeton.edu/images/k10178.gif

  • Tuesday, April 22, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth

    The idea of a balance of nature has been a dominant part of Western philosophy since before Aristotle, and it persists in the public imagination and even among some ecologists today. In his lively and thought-provoking book, The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth, John Kricher, Professor of Biology at Wheaton College demonstrates that nature in fact is not in balance, nor has it ever been at any stage in Earth’s history. John will explain how and why this notion of a natural world in balance has endured for so long, and show why, in these times of extraordinary human influence on the planet’s ecosystems, it is critical that we accept and understand that nature is constantly in flux, and, in effect, quite naturally out of balance.

    This Arnold Arboretum lecture will take place Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arboretum. Free for Arboretum members, $10 for nommembers. Register online at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://press.princeton.edu/images/k8853.gif

  • Thursday, April 17, 6:00 pm – How Natural Selection Shapes Contemporary Homo Sapiens

    Stephen C. Stearns, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, will speak at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on Thursday, April 17, beginning at 6 pm, as part of the Evolution Matters Lecture Series. Have modern sanitation and medicine stopped human evolution, as some claim? Does the pressure for sexual selection of males constrain the evolution of females, and vice versa? Does having children shorten or extend life? Analyzing the data from the renowned Framingham Heart Study, a long-term study initiated in 1948 that continues to this day, evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns will explore how natural selection has shaped women’s bodies and physical health, and how reproduction has affected women’s average lifespan.

    The Evolution Matters Lecture Series is supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. Free and open to the public, with free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.  For more information visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

    http://hydro.ijs.si/v00a/76/oz2wzk66um5xk5nojwohbb3ctz27l4pb.jpg

  • Wednesday, April 2, 6:00 pm – From Darwin to DNA: The Genetic Basis of Animal Behavior

    How do certain animals, such as wild mice, evolve their most critical survival traits, including skin coloration, body shape, and the ability to dig elaborate tunnels in order to hide from predators? How fast can successive generations acquire visible traits, and how do animal genes and behavior interact? Evolutionary geneticist Hopi Hoekstra, Professor of Zoology and Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, and colleagues have combined extensive field research with the latest techniques in DNA analysis to unlock one of biology’s most elusive secrets: the genes that control behavior. She will speak on Wednesday, April 2, beginning at 6 pm at the Geological Lecture Hall of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge. The Evolution Matters Lecture Series is supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. Free and open to the public. Free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

    https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/mcb_files/media/editor_uploads/2013/05/2013_hoekstra_hhmi.jpg

  • Wednesday, April 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Bamboo: History, Horticulture, and Invention

    Susanne Lucas, Bamboo Specialist and Executive Director of the World Bamboo Organization, will speak at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Wednesday, April 2, beginning at 7 pm, on Bamboo: History, Horticulture, and Invention. Bamboo has an unparalleled history; it is very old, and at the same time very new. Through its myriad uses as food, clothing, paper and shelter, bamboo has met the physical and spiritual requirements of humanity since the earliest times and played a vital role in the survival of many animals and ecosystems. As a fast growing renewable resource and in conjunction with advances in research and technology, the use of bamboo has increased dramatically, elevating its importance to human society – it can now be found in the filaments of light bulbs, the skins of airplanes and the reinforcements of concrete. Susanne will present an historical and modern view of bamboo. Her recently published book, Bamboo, will be available for purchase and signing. Free for Arboretum members, $10 for nonmembers.  Register online at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/localjackets/l/9781780232010.jpg

  • Saturday, March 22, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – 2014 Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference

    The 24th Annual Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference, Healthy Land – Healthy Communities, will take place Saturday, March 22, from 8 – 4 at the Worcester Technical High School. One Skyline Drive in Worcester. This annual, day-long training and networking event provides land trust board members and staff, parks administrators and advocates, colleagues from federal, state and local government agencies, students, and philanthropists an opportunity to participate in a full day of workshops and discussions that focus on fostering healthy communities in Massachusetts through land conservation. Join your colleagues in land conservation and acquire the information, skills, and connections you need to be most effective.

    This year’s Keynote Speaker is Dr. Eric Chivian, Nobel Laureate, Founder of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Director of The Program for Preserving the Natural World, and heirloom apple farmer, pictured below.

    Registration is $42 for MLTC members, $62 for non members, and $30 for students.  Register online at http://www.massland.org/conference.

    http://greensource.construction.com/people/images/gs-image-peoplewatch-01-07.jpg

  • Thursday, March 27, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Mikyoung Kim’s Transformational Landscapes

    Mikyoung Kim, M.L.A., Landscape Architect, Mikyoung Kim Designs and Professor Emerita, Rhode Island School of Design, will speak on Thursday, March 27 at 7 pm at the Weld Hill Research Building, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain. The interplay of sound, light, and color is ever-present in the award-winning designs of Mikyoung Kim. She juxtaposes constructs of intimacy with vibrancy, solitude amid community, technology with nature, and formality with playfulness in the public spaces she designs for respite and revitalization. With a background in music, her work is an alchemy of multisensory experience. Mikyoung Kim will speak about her design process, where she finds inspiration, and the ways that her landscapes inform and move people, in a range of project types; from healing environments to public parks. She will discuss her most notable projects: the ChongGae Canal Restoration in Seoul’s Central Business District for which her firm transformed two superblocks into a central gathering space, re-engaging visitors with the ChongGae River and the Crown Sky Garden (pictured below), a healing environment for the Chicago Lurie Children’s Hospital, which was recently highlighted in The New York Times. Free for Arboretum members and students, $15 nonmember.  Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://worldlandscapearchitect.com/2013/mykd/MYKD_Crown-Sky-Garden_04.jpg

  • Wednesday, March 19, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – People of a Feather

    On Wednesday, March 19, from 7 – 8:30 at Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard, watch a film about survival in a changing Arctic environment. This award-winning film, People of a Feather, takes you into the world of the Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Canada’s Hudson Bay. Their traditional life is juxtaposed with modern challenges as they confront changing sea ice and ocean currents disrupted by the massive hydroelectric dams powering New York and eastern North America. Soup will be provided by Harvard’s own Chef Paul and lively discussion by the audience! Admission is free, and a bowl of soup is $5. Visit www.fruitlands.org for complete details.

    http://www.peopleofafeather.com/images/bluray_web.png