Boston GreenScene

Meet the Author Event - Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces

Join local author Meg Muckenhoupt as she travels through the verdant world of her book, Boston’s Gardens & Green Spaces during our first “Meet the Authors” series, presented in collaboration with Old South Meeting House.

This captivating lecture examines the role of public spaces throughout Boston’s historic and contemporary landscape. Rediscover the city through its most revered historic parks and explore its ever-expanding network of public spaces. Listen as the author takes you on a fascinating journey through green Boston, past to present—and all nature lovers, gardening enthusiasts, and history buffs should be sure to come along for the ride.

When: Wednesday, February 8, 2012  @ 5:30 pm

Where: Old South Meeting House 310 Washington Street

Admission: free for Boston Preservation Alliance and Old South Meeting House members; $10 for non-members. Members and non-members may both register securely here. For more information, please email Christine Piontek or call 617-367-2458.

Local Social Entrepreneur's Big Idea: Big Citizenship

Being Green not only means being aware of environmental policies and opportunities around you, it means supporting local businesses, entrepreneurs, and even local authors.  One such author we are pleased to spread the word about is City Year co-founder, Brookline native, and former Massachusetts Senate candidate, Alan Khazei.  Khazei's new book, Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America, calls on all of us to step up and make a difference.  In a time of contentious, and often unproductive, public discourse, Khazei's call for Pragmatic Idealism is inspiring.  As one of the country's most successful social entrepreneurs, Khazei offers lessons learned, a blueprint for social start-up success, and advice to those striving make a difference in their communities.  Close to this site's heart, Kahzei also clearly identifies that the clean energy wave that our country so desperately needs cannot happen without a coordinated effort from all parties involved. In short, Khazei's new book is a must-read; just be prepared to jump off of your couch and take action after you turn the last page.

To find out more about Big Citizenship and book events happening in your community, check out www.bigcitizenship.us. 

There Comes a Day

by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series 

“And we'll have fun fun fun now that daddy took the T-Bird away”
The Beach Boys

Out of sight, out of mind. For so many of us this simple phrase is a way out of a nettling situation. Rodents, holiday decorations, the runny-nosed urchin from up the street that asks all those-impossible-to-answer questions; all of these can be safely placed out of mind.

Some things put aside can come back to haunt. Take our current waste disposal system. The clean street evident after the trash has been whisked away is an illusion; a mask over the fact that the disposed material will have to be dealt with. With a sense of relief many feel that tomorrow will be the time to handle that problem. But there comes a day.

There comes a day. There comes a day when the mail and the phone calls you’ve ignored go away and the sheriff is at your door. There comes a day when that nagging little thing you didn’t look into has you staring at the bright white light from a hospital gurney. There comes a day when the fighting stops and your lover leaves a goodbye note on the kitchen table. And there will come a day if we are not mindful when that trash we have carefully tucked away in rural outposts will return to us in insidious and noxious ways.

Suburban Safari: 'A Year on the Lawn' by Hannah Holmes (Book Review)

 by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series

Creatures clash in a dark world of terror and a planet’s fate hangs in the balance. Beasts of prey feast on each other in an ascending order of dominance. They swoop in under the cover of darkness and swiftly smite sleeping targets, slake blood thirst and gorge on quivering flesh. Uncomfortable alliances are formed and the battle rages on. The caterwauling sturm und drang rises in a fierce crescendo as various species strive to survive in a world shifting and undefined. Can’t you hear the Wagner? Pass the popcorn. Is this the latest Hollywood blockbuster? No, dude – it’s your backyard.

With dramatic flourish, intriguing story telling, and an edgy wit, Hannah Holmes describes the world under our feet in her 2005 book, Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn. Holmes hails from South Portland, Maine. The title seems to echo The Beach Boys tune, Surfin’ Safari. That song celebrates adventurers who ride the crest of waves produced by powerful natural forces. Holmes’s shows hapless humans whose very footsteps on their green oceans crush lower denizens and cause great upheaval in silent worlds.

Environment 101: Not Just for Kids

by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series

Environmental discussion is often couched in very esoteric terms and concepts. Terms—such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)—get tossed around by well-meaning commentators like a square dance caller’s dosey-dos. The average couch surfer can pretend to sort of know what a CFC is, but a chlorofluorocarbon is something else again. This green thing can get very complicated at times. 

An example of a concept that may be foreign to the layman is carbon auctioning as described in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's (RGGI) Memo of Understanding. So, before you swing that partner to and fro, you may need a little assistance.

Many adults (including this writer) who are easily confused by big concepts can find clarity by checking out books from the children’s or juvenile section of the library. Let’s face it: if (to paraphrase author Robert Fulghum) all you need to know you learned in kindergarten, then doesn’t it make sense to read a children’s book on any subject?

Book Review: The End of the Wild (Stephen M. Meyer)

by Mary Ellis

Mary Ellis is a Boston-based writer with a background in regulatory and medical communications.

The End of the Wild
By Stephen M. Meyer
Boston Review / MIT Press
Hardcover, 97 pages
List Price:  $14.95

In his final book published just months before his death, the late MIT professor Stephen M. Meyer paints a grim picture of the loss of the wilderness.  Meyer calls the wilderness “a landscape where the handprint of humanity is invisible” and “where the forces of natural selection smother those of human selection.”

At the outset of The End of the Wild, the author distances himself from the prophecies of radical environmental groups such as Earth First! and states that he has drawn his own conclusions after examining the evidence published in prestigious scientific journals over the course of a decade.