Boston Flora

Tag: WBUR

  • Tuesday, May 30, 6:30 pm Eastern – Perfectly Good Food, Live and Online

    Curated Cuisine is a monthly series examining all things edible, from the chefs cooking the food to the writers reviewing the recipes. Meet the people shaping the food industry, both local and national and enjoy a post-show bite inspired by the conversation. On Tuesday, May 30 at 6 pm Eastern, cookbook authors Margaret and Irene Li will speak at WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

    Before you throw out almost-expired milk, wrinkly fruit, or squishy vegetables learn all the ways you can use those ingredients in delicious stir-fries, smoothies and pancakes! Margaret and Irene Li, the acclaimed chef-sisters behind Mei Mei Dumplings, have written Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking. They’ll discuss how to cook flexibly and fight food waste. It is a book for those moments everyone has, whether you cook for one or a whole household. We all have moments standing before an overfull pantry or near-empty fridge, not sure what to do with an abundance of summer tomatoes or the last of the droopy spinach. Chock-full of ingenious use-it-up tips, smart storage ideas, and infinitely adaptable recipes, this book will teach you why smoothies are your secret weapon, how to freeze (almost) anything, why using your senses in the kitchen (including common sense!) is more important than so-called shelf-life. This cookbook/field guide is a crucial resource for the thrifty chef, the environmentally mindful cook and anyone looking to make the most of their ingredients.

    WBUR environment and climate correspondent Barbara Moran moderates the conversation, featuring an onstage demonstration of how to make a food waste feast. In-person guests will enjoy a bite from the book after the conversation.

    CitySpace Tickets
    Premiere: $25.00 (includes reserved seating)
    General: $15.00
    Student: $5.00

    Virtual Tickets
    $5.00 (only one ticket needed per household)

    Register at www.wbur.org

  • Friday, April 21, 6:30 pm Eastern – Choose Your Own Disaster: Adventuring through Hollywood’s Attempts to Tackle Climate Change, Live and Online

    Earth Week with WBUR is a week long series of events on the environment and climate change leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2023). Join them for conversations, performances and more, focused on celebrating and protecting our planet. On Friday, April 21, at WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, and online, join Ben Brock Johnson and panelists including Samantha Montano — author of Disasterology: Dispatches from The Frontlines of The Climate Crisis and assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

    Hollywood is full of big screen metaphors and on-the-nose cliches about climate change. And it turns out audiences love a disaster flick, from world-ending meteor strikes to the next ice age or even the mysterious switching of the planet’s polarity.

    But IN A WORLD… where we actually need to talk about the real issues we’re facing, can disaster movies help? Join Endless Thread podcast co-host Ben Brock Johnson and the WBUR Podcasts team for a night of absurdity, fun and some real discussion of what our blockbuster movie industry has gotten wrong—and right—about the greatest existential threat humanity has ever faced.

    You will have the power to choose which decisions we make to stop a world-ending climate threat inspired by scenes from our favorite disaster films. Along the way, we’ll check in with a panel of experts who will help us understand if any of these events could ever happen and, if so, how we can navigate the real future. Tickets are $5 – $25. Buy tickets at www.wbur.org

  • Monday, June 8, 6:30 pm – Eat Local: Growing a Sustainable Food System in New England and Your Backyard, Hybrid Event

    WBUR environmental correspondent Barbara Moran moderates a conversation exploring New England’s need for more self-sufficiency, resilience and equitable access to food. Plus, learn practical skills you can take home with a gardening demonstration and purchase goodies from the specially curated farmer’s market the station will host in the CitySpace lobby. 

    New England once grew local crops to meet demand. The global pandemic exposed the region’s need for more self-sufficiency, resilience and equitable access to food. Participants in the event include Tamar Haspel, Washington Post columnist and author of “To Boldly Grow: Finding Joy, Adventure, and Dinner in Your Own Backyard,” Tamika R. Francis, founder, chief chef (and bottle washer) at Food & Folklore and Lisa Fernandes, communication director, at Food Solutions New England. There will also be a gardening demonstration led by Quontay Turner, owner of Emerald City Plant Shop.

    CitySpace Tickets
    Premiere: $25.00 (includes reserved seating)
    General: $15.00
    Student: $5.00

    Virtual Tickets
    $5.00 (only one ticket needed per household)

    To register, visit www.wbur.org

  • Wednesday, November 10, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate, Online

    Recently uncovered information about a relatively unknown story of mutiny and murder illustrating the centrality of smuggling and slavery in early American society with ties to the respected Old North Church of Paul Revere fame in Boston, will be discussed in an online talk sponsored by the Boston Public Library on November 10 at 6 pm, online . This presentation will be held on Zoom, and the link to attend will be sent to registrants the afternoon of the event. Register HERE.

    Mutiny on the Rising Sun recounts the origins, events, and eventual fate of the Rising Sun’s final smuggling voyage in vivid detail. Starting from June 1743, it narrates a deeply human history of smuggling, providing an incredible story of those caught in the webs spun by illicit commerce. On the night of June 1, 1743, terror struck the schooner Rising Sun. After completing a routine smuggling voyage where the crew sold enslaved Africans in exchange for chocolate, sugar, and coffee in the Dutch colony of Suriname, the ship traveled eastward along the South American coast. Believing there was an opportunity to steal the lucrative cargo and make a new life for themselves, three sailors snuck below deck, murdered four people, and seized control of the vessel.

    The case generated a rich documentary record that illuminates an international chocolate smuggling ring, the lives of the crew and mutineers, and the harrowing experience of the enslaved people trafficked by the Rising Sun. Smuggling stood at the center of the lives of everyone involved with the business of the schooner. Larger forces, such as imperial trade restrictions, created the conditions for smuggling, but individual actors, often driven by raw ambition and with little regard for the consequences of their actions, designed, refined, and perpetuated this illicit commerce.

    Author Jared Ross Hardesty puts Old North Church under the spotlight as parishioners of the church who were formerly well-regarded and even helped pay for the famous steeple turn out to be involved in the slave trade. Captain Newark Jackson is the central figure, who was formerly honored with a chocolate shop in the North End named after him (2013–2019), but his name has now been removed from the store due to these revelations.

    At once startling and captivating, Mutiny on the Rising Sun shows how illegal trade created demand for exotic products like chocolate, and how slavery and smuggling were integral to the development of American capitalism.

    Jared Ross Hardesty is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Western Washington University and author of Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in Eighteenth-Century Boston and Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England.  For this program,Jared will be interviewed by Tessa Murphy, Assistant Professor of History at Syracuse University an expert on the history of the Caribbean and its connections to the greater Atlantic world.

    For additional reading, we recommend the following articles:

  • Monday, September 13, 12:00 noon – Tell Me More! Elizabeth Kolbert and Helen Macdonald

    Have you ever wanted to hear two of your favorite authors in conversation together? Or two of the most well known environmentalists discuss their challenges and triumphs? Two scientists on winning the Nobel Prize? Tell Me More! is a new monthly series that will pair fascinating leaders in their respective fields for conversations about their journeys, inspirations and life lessons.

    WBUR senior environment editor Barbara Moran moderates a conversation with Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Under the White Sky: The Nature of the Future and Helen Macdonald, naturalist, Affiliated Research Scholar at the University of Cambridge and author of H is for Hawk and Vesper Flights.

    Virtual Tickets
    $5.00 (only one ticket needed per household)

    Ways To Save 
    WBUR Sustainers receive free tickets to this event.

    To apply the discount to your ticket purchase online, you’ll need to enter a promo code. The code is sent to you in your monthly events newsletter. You can also get your code by emailing membership@wbur.org.

  • Thursday, May 6, 5:00 pm – President Biden’s Earth Day Summit: What It Means for Massachusetts, Online

    Climate change was a pillar of President Biden’s 2020 campaign. Since entering the White House, he has already rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement and signed a number of executive agreements to further tackle climate change at home and abroad. On Earth Day, President Biden will hold a Leaders’ Climate Summit with various world leaders led by John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, to outline emissions reductions, green energy investments and more.

    How will these new commitments impact Massachusetts? Earthwhile reporter Miriam Wasser will moderate a WBUR sponsored virtual panel of local climate experts and answer your questions.

    Panelists

    Elizabeth Turnbull Henry – president, Environmental League of Massachusetts.More panelists to be announced. 

    Join the conversation! Submit your questions to us before and during the event here. Free, but register at www.wbur.org

  • Thursday, July 9, 4:00 pm – At-Home Fabric Dyeing With Stephen Hamilton Webinar

    Have old fabrics or clothes that need a refresh? Join The ARTery at 4 pm on July 9 for an at-home dyeing workshop with artist and The ARTery 25 member Stephen Hamilton. Stephen will teach us how to transform fabrics at home using natural dyes and West African dyeing techniques. For this workshop, we’ll be using annatto seed, a spice found in tropical climates. You can find annatto seed at your local grocery store or you can order it online.

    Stephen Hamilton is an artist and arts educator living and working in Boston, Massachusetts. His work incorporates both Western and African techniques, blending figurative painting and drawing with resist dyeing, weaving, and woodcarving. Each image is a marriage between the aesthetic perspectives and artistry of both traditions. As a Black American trained in traditional west African art forms, he treats the acts of weaving, dyeing, and woodcarving as ritualized acts of reclamation.

    This workshop is for all ages and is particularly fun for kids. This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. Visit https://www.wbur.org/events/601568/at-home-fabric-dyeing-with-stephen-hamilton

    Materials

    • 2 cups annatto seed
    • 2/3 cup soda ash/washing soda
    • 2 yards of white or light colored 100% cotton, linen wool or silk fabric (t-shirts, bed sheets or other clothing will work too)
    • Plastic twine (unflavored wax coater dental floss will work too)
    • 1 pair of scissors
    • 1 bucket
    • 1 large cooking pot
    • 1 cup of white vinegar (optional)

  • Thursday, December 12, 6:30 pm – Decorating “The People’s House”

    Author and renowned event producer Bryan Rafanelli and Jeremy Bernard, former White House social secretary under President Obama, will share their memories of holidays in the Obama White House on December 12 beginning at 6:30 in WBUR’s CitySpace at the Lavine Broadcast Center, 890 Commonwealth Avenue.

    The pair will discuss how the process of designing holiday décor was more than creating visually stunning displays, it was one that honored the history of a great house and the values of the First Family. $10, and door will open at 5:30 Buy tickets at www.wbur.org

    Jeremy Hobson, co-host of Here & Now, will moderate. Copies of Rafanelli’s new book, A Great Party – Designing The Perfect Celebration will be on sale. Rafanelli will sign copies following the discussion.

  • Thursday, October 24, 6:00 pm – TEDxCambridge Salon: Marine Conservation and Aquaculture

    WBUR is proud to be a media sponsor of TEDxCambridge, which consists of a premier annual event for 2,500 guests at the Boston Opera House and an intimate salon series for 250 guests at WBUR CitySpace. The events collectively showcase the remarkable innovation, creativity, and inspiration found within the region and beyond. The organization produces one of the largest independently organized TED events in the world and their mission is to highlight ideas that inspire people to change their lives and communities. The October 24 Salon on Marine Conservation and Aquaculture begins at 6 pm at CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, and tickets are $40. They may be purchased online at https://www.wbur.org/events/509106/tedxcambridge-salon-marine-conservation-aquaculture

    TEDxCambridge Salons feature an artistic performance, two distinguished speakers, and a Q&A that provides audience members an opportunity to speak directly with some of the region’s brightest innovators and creative minds.

  • Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 pm – Sonic Sea Screening and Conversation

    Join WBUR on June 11 at 6:30 pm at WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, for a screening of the award-winning documentary Sonic Sea, followed by a conversation with Dr. Leila Hatch, Marine Ecologist, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA and Barbara Moran, WBUR Senior Producing Editor, Environment.  Sonic Sea, narrated by Rachel McAdams, is about protecting life in our waters from the destructive effects of oceanic noise pollution.

    Hatch is a marine ecologist with the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay and featured in the film. This area has experienced dramatic increases in shipping and she studies how low frequency noise emitted by large ships and other vessels impacts marine mammals who also rely on low frequency signals for communication, foraging, navigating and caring for their young.

    Ticket price is $10 and may be purchased online at www.wbur.org.