Boston Flora

Tag: NPR

  • Thursday, April 26, 10:30 am – Boston Committee Spring Meeting and Luncheon – Living on Earth

    The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America invites members of its constituent fourteen clubs to its Spring Meeting and Luncheon on Thursday, April 26, beginning with registration at 10:30 am at The Country Club, 191 Clyde Street in Brookline. The featured speaker will be Steve Curwood.

    In 1970, as a writer for the Boston Phoenix just out of Harvard University, Steve broke the story that Polaroid’s instant photo system was key to apartheid pass system in South Africa. Steve moved on to the Boston Globe as an investigative reporter and columnist and shared the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service as part of the Boston Globe’s education team.  His production credits in public broadcasting include reporter and host for NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered, host of NPR’s World of Opera, producer for the PBS series The Advocates with Mike Dukakis, and creator, host and executive producer of Living on Earth, the prize-winning weekly environmental radio program heard for more than 20 years on public radio stations  and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) since 2006.

    The cost of the lecture and luncheon is $50, lecture only $25. Please make your check payable to The Boston Committee of the GCA and mail to Jensie Shipley, 40 Dunster Road, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467 before April 19, 2012, and note on the memo portion of your check your Garden Club affiliation. All reservations will be held at the door. Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive written invitations and a car pool notice in the mail.

  • Sunday, November 20, 4:00 pm – The Species Seekers

    Science writer/NPR commentator Richard Conniff tells the story of the bold and colorful adventurers who risked death to discover strange life-forms in the farthest corners of planet Earth. The lecture will take place Sunday, November 20, beginning at 4 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge.  Mr. Conniff will sign copies of his most recent book,  The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth.

    Learn about daredevil species seekers, ranging from the father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linneaus, and Thomas Jefferson, who laid out mastodon bones on the White House floor, to the Harvard anatomist who helped introduce the world to the most spectacular species discovery of the nineteenth century. For more information, call 617-495-3045, or visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, November 2, 5:30 pm – Emerald Necklace Conservancy 2011 Annual Meeting

    Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy at it thanks its volunteers, members and friends, reflects on the year’s projects and advocacy and looks forward to a bright future for the parks.  The keynote speaker will be Steve Curwood, host of NPR’s “Living on Earth.”  A reception at the Emmanuel College Auditorium, 400 The Fenway in Boston, will begin at 5:30 pm, with the program beginning at 6:30.  Free and open to the public, membership may be renewed at this event.  Please rsvp online at www.emeraldnecklace.org, or call 617-522-2700 by October 24.  The Conservancy wishes to thank its partner Emmanuel College and its sponsor the Colleges of the Fenway, plus Nature Steward Northeastern University, Parks Patrons MASCO and Wilmington Trust, and Parks Supporter Harvard University.

  • Monday, May 9, 7:00 pm – Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, will host author Richard Horan on Monday, May 9, beginning at 7 pm, for a discussion of his latest book Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton.  From the wooded road made of golden hemlock running past L. Frank Baum’s childhood home to the lonely stump of Scout’s oak in Harper Lee’s Alabama, Richard Horan gathers tree seeds-and stories-from the homes of America’s most treasured authors. At once a heartfelt paean to literature and a wise, funny, and uplifting account of one man’s reconnection with nature, Seeds celebrates Horan’s triumphs and calamities on his quest to link trees with great writers.  Richard Horan recently spoke with Tom Ashbrook, the voice of “On Point”, about the book and his experiences on the road.  Horan is a novelist, English teacher, and book reviewer for several national publications. His novel Goose Music was a finalist for the Great Lakes Fiction Award and won the ForeWord Book of the Year Bronze Medal. He lives in Oswego, New York.  For more information, email ellen@portersquarebooks.com, or call 617-491-2220.

  • Tuesday, June 29, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Leslie Brunetta, a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, Technology Review, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly, as well as on NPR, on Tuesday, June 29, beginning at 7 pm.  Her wonderful new book, co-authored with Catherine L. Craig, Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating “cures arachnophobia for any lucky reader…”, according to Simon Levin, author of Fragile Dominion.  For more information, log on to www.portersquarebooks.com.

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  • Thursday, June 10, 6:30 pm – An Evening with National Expert Douglas Tallamy

    Douglas Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home, has captured the nation’s attention since it was first released two years ago. Since then, he has been in demand all over the country, speaking to more than 600 different audiences—at venues ranging from the American Society of Landscape Architects National Conference, to the Hummingbird Festival in Mississippi, to the Tyler Arboretum in Pennsylvania, and many more. He also has been featured on National Public Radio’s Science Friday and on other media programs.

    As Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, he has done groundbreaking work on the role of insects as intermediaries in the food web, discovering the extent to which exotic plants, even if they are not invasive, host relatively few insects. His work reveals how important it is to restore native plant communities, if we are to reverse the declines in migrating songbirds, butterfly populations, and biodiversity as a whole. Tallamy makes an urgent plea about the importance of native plants to our landscapes, and indeed, to our survival. And he embraces the importance of land stewardship throughout urban and suburban America as critical components of this effort.

    This event, taking place Thursday, June 10,  is co-sponsored by the Cambridge Plant & Garden Club, the Ecological Landscaping Association, and the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library. The talk will begin at 6:30 at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, and will be followed by a reception at 8 pm with book signing. The event is free and open to all. For more information, log on to www.grownativecambridge.org.

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  • Tuesday, June 15, 11:30 am – 2:00 pm – Charles River Conservancy’s 10th Anniversary Event

    Celebrate the Power of the Parklands at the Charles River Conservancy’s 10th Anniversary event on Tuesday, June 15, beginning with a reception at 11:30 am, followed by a luncheon at 12:30 pm, at the Washburn Riverfront Pavilion at the Museum of Science in Boston.  This year the Conservancy will honor Henry Lee, Founder of the Friends of the Public Garden, and Conservancy supporters Carolyn and Peter Lynch.  Guest speakers include Tom Ashbrook, host of National Public Radio’s “On Point,” and Fred Salvucci, former Secretary of Transportation.  The Conservancy gratefully thanks its principal supporters InterSystems, Fidelity Investments, and Bank of America, for their help with this event, as well as Equity Office, Harvard University, Polaris Public Relations and Novartis.  For tickets ($150 per person) and sponsorship information ($500 and above), call 617-608-1410, or email crc@thecharles.org.  You may also find details on the Charles River Conservancy’s website, www.thecharles.org.  Photo by Tom Christiansen.

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