4/2/2023
5:30 PM - 6:45 PM

Annual Evelyn McNeill Sims Native Plant Lecture - Architects of Abundance: Indigenous Regenerative Land Management and the Excavation of Hidden History
Dr. Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her research focuses on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations gardened large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans. Contrary to popular belief, Indigenous Peoples leveraged immense influence on their surrounding lands, fires, and waters in ways that could heal our planet today. Whether it's periodically burning grassland ecosystems with low severity fires to maintain habitat for deer, buffalo, antelope, etc, or building intertidal rock walls that catch sediment and warmer waters to expand clam habitat, native people have a number of innovative strategies for scaling habitat for edible plants and animals whom they often view as relatives. Her work translates this poorly understood history to the Western world and highlights the connection between Indigenous land ethics, decolonial narratives, carbon sequestration, biodiversity augmentation, anthropogenic habitat expansion, and regional ecosystems connectivity. These success of the systems is believed to be due to their underlying value system of respect, reverence, responsibility and reciprocity.

4/20/2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

A Conversation Between Collaborators: The Weeds and Botanical Art - Hybrid
Author Katy Simpson Smith and botanical artist Kathy Schermer-Gramm discuss Simpson Smith's new novel, The Weeds, a story of love, survival, revenge, and botany set in the surprisingly verdant Roman Colosseum. Schermer-Gramm provided the art for the book, in the form of twelve eerily beautiful botanical illustrations. Now, the two speak on their creative practices, their collaboration, and all things plants.

5/25/2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Climate Change and Biodiversity: How Will Plants and Animals Respond?
Global climate change is altering earth’s biodiversity in myriad ways. We will discuss how plants and animals are responding to recent climate change, how we can predict their future responses, and how our policy choices now can affect future climates and biodiversity in 2100.

6/22/2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Therapeutic Horticulture: A Gateway to Healing & Connection with the Natural World
Who would you be and how would you be affected if you completely lost or had minimal ability to connect with the natural world physically, cognitively, or emotionally? How would it feel to live in a sterile institution, a hospital bed, or a body or mind that confines you to your own home or thoughts? We are all just an accident, illness, or a few years of the aging process away from being faced with these possibilities and millions of people are already coping with this experience every day. Therapeutic Horticulture is the professionally facilitated gateway that enables and empowers those who desire a connection with Nature to regain access and function within natural environments.

8/10/2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: NC Certified Master Naturalist Volunteer Program
The NC Certified Master Naturalist Volunteer program, a 50-hour classroom and fieldwork education program, offered by NC Cooperative Extension, Chatham and Durham counties, prepares volunteers for stewardship, advocacy, education, and citizen science projects with leading environmental organizations in the Triangle. This new program will begin January 2024, classes will be held on Saturdays once a month at locations in Chatham and Durham counties. A key feature of this program are the Impact Projects participants develop that integrate course concepts and benefit one of the Partner Organizations. These projects challenge the program participants to answer the question, “What impact can I make on our environment?”