Boston GreenScene

Join the Conversation - The Future of Nature Series Launching 4/22 in Boston

What is the Future of Nature? By 2050, the Earth’s population is expected to exceed 9 billion. Our climate is changing, and we all will have a role to play in making sure that nature can continue to meet the needs of the people and species that rely on it. 

Be a part of this community conversation at the Future of Nature lecture series that the Conservancy will co-sponsor with WBUR this spring. Each night will feature national and global thought leaders discussing the most critical conservation challenges of our time, as well as a pre-event reception with refreshments, good conversation, and activities and info that bring you closer to the work to save nature.

The series kicks off April 22, so be sure to buy your tickets today! Tickets are $25 per event or $60 for a series pass.

The Future of Food

April 22, 5:30 pm | Artists for Humanity EpiCenter, South Boston

• Michael Leviton, chef, Lumière and Area Four, Chefs Collaborative
• Oran Hesterman, founder, Fair Food Network
•  Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food
• David Cleary, director of agriculture, The Nature Conservancy
• Moderator: Sacha Pfeiffer, WBUR, host of All Things Considered

The Future of Energy

May 13, 6:30 pm | BSA Space, Atlantic Wharf, Boston

• Dan Kammen, professor and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, UC Berkeley
• Jigar Shah, partner, Inerjys clean-energy investment firm
• Joe Fargione, lead scientist, The Nature Conservancy
• Moderator: Anthony Brooks, WBUR, co-host of Radio Boston

 The Future of Water

June 10, 6:30 pm | Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, Boston

• Sandra Postel, director, The Global Water Policy Project
• Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization
• Brian Richter, global freshwater co-leader, The Nature Conservancy
• Moderator: Meghna Chakrabarti, WBUR, co-host of Radio Boston

Buy your tickets online today at nature.org/futureofnature

Boston Women Working for Oceans Event - Plastics in the Ocean & Plastics in You

Growing research around plastics shows that exposure to toxic chemicals are linked to cancer, infertility and other health concerns - not to mention seeping into the ocean and its food chain. On April 10, 2012, luncheon held at the New England Aquarium IMAX Theater and co-led by Dianna Cohen, founder of the Plastics Pollution Coalition and Kathleen Frith, a Harvard Medical School sustainable food expert, will explore the topic.  The event, entitled “Plastics in the Ocean and Plastics in You,” is hosted by Women Working for Oceans, W2O, a local organization that aims to promote healthy and sustainable oceans through education that inspires advocacy and action.

“Disposable plastic appears to be a cheaper option, but there are invisible costs to our health, environment and ocean,” Cohen said. Cohen, an internationally shown Los Angeles-based visual artist, uses recycled plastic bags as her primary medium in artworks, sculptures, and installations. Cohen works to raise awareness about the toxic implications of plastic pollution and provides simple solutions to cut down the amount of single-use plastic used and thrown away.

PPC’s Plastic Free Campus initiative works with high school and colleges to reduce and hopefully eliminate plastic bottles, cups, straws, utensils, and other food packaging. Frith is managing director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard and runs the center’s Healthy and Sustainable Food Program that educates the public on food that is healthy for humans and the environment.

W2O was founded by Barbara Burgess and Donna Hazard, both of Weston, who wanted to mobilize and educate the community about how the health of the world’s oceans affects nearly all aspects of our lives. “The oceans are the lungs of our planet,” said Burgess, a member of the New England Aquarium Board of Oversees. “You just can't have healthy humans without healthy oceans. There are easy, simple steps we all can take to help eliminate the plastic waste that clogs our oceans and waterways. We can all be a part of the solution.”

Tickets for the April 10 event cost $55 and include lunch. The event will be held at 11:30 a.m. at the New England Aquarium IMAX Theater, Central Wharf, Boston. For more information and tickets visit http://womenworkingforoceans.org/, call 617-226-2143 or email womenworkingforoceans@gmail.com.

Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them

by Heather Burns

About ten years ago, I sold everything I owned and set off around the world with only a one-way plane ticket and what would fit into a backpack. I was young, naive and full of hope about what the world had to offer. I bounced around from Athens to Malaysia to Laos to Cambodia, and finally settled on a 21-square kilometer island. There, I completed Dive Master training and got a job working at a local dive shop.

I logged nearly 300 dives in the saphire waters of the Gulf of Thailand and knew where every grouper and clown fish colony hung out. I also noticed when the coral began to turn white nearly overnight and the fish I'd come to love, disappeared. Little did I know, the dramatic decline in the ecosystems I adored was part of a much larger issue.

Ten years and a few eco-awakenings later, I'm still full of hope - as my belief that the power of the human spirit, when applied collectively and collaboratively, can heal the world - but it will take commitment and action. That's why what activist and actor Ted Danson has to say in his new book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them, (released March 15, 2011) is top on my reading list.

 

Book Trailer: 'Oceana' by Ted Danson from Oceana on Vimeo.