March to End Fossil Fuels

Sunday, September 17 in NYC

The United Nations Secretary-General is convening a  Climate Ambition Summit at United Nations Headquarters in New York City on September 20 to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society, and hear from “first movers and doers”.

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 17, thousands will come together in New York City for the March to End Fossil Fuels. We hope you will join us!

Capital Area Busses will leave from Crossgates Commons in Albany and from near Union College in Schenectady at 8 am, arriving in New York City before the 1:00 pm March and Rally. Busses will leave the city around 5:00 pm and return around 9:00 pm. Each seat costs us $40. For those with limited income there are tickets for $10 or $25. You can purchase your ticket here.  If you would like to help pay for seats for those with limited income or empty seats, you can donate here.

Capital Native Plants and Front Stoop Gardens will be at Wildbird Junction from 10-2pm for a pop-up plant sale!

Capital Native Plants and Front Stoop Gardens will be at Wildbird Junction from 10-2pm for a pop-up plant sale!

Capital Native Plants and Front Stoop Gardens will be at Wildbird Junction from 10-2pm for a pop-up plant sale!

Capital Native Plants and Front Stoop Gardens will be at Wildbird Junction from 10-2pm for a pop-up plant sale!

Participants must register for a shopping block in advance. (Sign-up opens in May).

We expect to have 5,000 plants and 100+ species for sale!

We are hard at work sourcing plants and figuring out logistics so that we can bring you another great plant sale in June. Please watch our website and eNews for updates! 

Capital Native Plants and Front Stoop Gardens will be at Wildbird Junction from 10-2pm for a pop-up plant sale!

Evenings with Experts | Messy or Magic? Biodiversity and the Perception of Beauty

Edwina von Gal
Founder, Perfect Earth Project

May 17, 2023 (Wednesday)
7:00 - 8:00 pm

IN-PERSON at the
NE Botanic Garden at Tower Hill 
11 French Drive, Boylston, MA

and ONLINE via Zoom Webinar

Landscapes built along conventional standards of beauty, such as the pristine American lawn, are typically ecological dead zones, and often maintained with chemicals that are harmful to humans as well as wildlife. Given catastrophic declines in biodiversity, it is imperative that we make room for nature in our neighborhoods. But habitat-rich native landscapes are still commonly read as “messy,” a barrier to the widespread cultural embrace of this movement. Edwina von Gal discusses how we can change the perception of what a “good” garden is, where healthy habitat is not disparaged as untidy but appreciated for its richness, complexity, and life-giving magic. Edwina von Gal has been the Principal of her eponymous landscape design firm since 1984. 

This lecture is presented in partnership with the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.

Register here

New York residents only, please!

We have a limited window of time to deal with the neonicotinoid crisis in New York. And YOU can make a difference! Neonicotinoids have been described as the worst pesticide since DDT.

• They are responsible for plummeting insect and bird populations.

• Their application shows absolutely no increase in farmers' yields.

• By destroying the soil biome (and therefore the soil's ability to absorb carbon), they are a serious contributor to climate change.

• Their use has terrible implications for human health - especially that of pregnant women and children.

We need to ban their use (which has been done in other countries). Luckily there is a bill in New York that would do just that - in a smart, targeted way: The Birds and Bees Protection Act (S1856) - But we just have a few days to get it implemented.

Join the NRDC's Dan Raichel and Dr Kathy Nolan from Physicians for Social Responsibility to learn about the problem and then TAKE ACTION using the free, Climate Action Now App.

Together we can make a difference. Tell your friends!

About Our Featured Guests

Dan Raichel is Acting Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Pollinator initiative, which focuses on protecting our nation’s bee populations from the ever-growing threats to their health and existence—in particular, the use of bee-toxic pesticides.  Raichel was formerly co-director of NRDC’s Community Fracking Defense Project and an advocate for the cleanup of industrial pollution in the New York region.

Dr. Kathy Nolan is a pediatrician, President of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York Chapter, and Senior Research Director at Catskill Mountainkeeper. Over the past three decades, as a doctor and bioethicist, she has served Ulster County and the Catskills by focusing on public health and the environment—playing an important role in achieving New York State’s pioneering ban on fracking by helping to compile and provide data on health harms associated with the practice to decision-makers. Kathy majored in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University, graduating with honors, and received her medical degree, along with a Master of Studies in Law, from Yale University.

About Our Moderators

Tim Guinee, President of Climate Action Now, has been a veteran in numerous climate campaigns around the country, most notably as the Legislative Coordinator for the New York Climate Reality Chapters Coalition. Former Vice President Al Gore awarded Tim the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award for his work on the climate crisis.

Our Sponsors

The Sierra Club Atlantic Chapteris a vital part of the Sierra Club, the country's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The Atlantic Chapter represents 43,000 members statewide and is dedicated to protecting New York’s air, water, communities, and remaining wild places.

NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.

The American Bird Conservancy is dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas.

Riverkeeper protects and restores the Hudson River from source to sea and safeguards drinking water supplies, through advocacy rooted in community partnerships, science, and law.

The Climate Reality Project New York State Coalition is a group that was set up with the purpose to connect members across the state for joint action and friendship. In addition to coordinating an annual retreat, the coalition has several working groups which leverage our scale at the state level.

Climate Action Now is the creator and publisher of Climate Action Now, the leading app for citizen climate advocacy. App users take exponentially more action than users of conventional climate advocacy tools. The average app user takes 10 actions a day. In the last two years, users have sent over 1,000,000 messages to political and business leaders demanding climate action.

The Wild Seed Project is a Maine-based non-profit organization working to inspire communities to make a difference in this time of change by doing the smallest of acts: planting native seeds. The organization believes that planting native plants, grown from seed, within communities is both the recipe and the process of creating tangible change. In doing this, communities collectively repopulate landscapes with the plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.

In her Great Falls Forum talk, Andrea Berry of the Wild Seed Project will discuss the “how-to’s” of conservation through community, including tangible actions that everyone can take in order to reestablish resilient landscapes in the places we live, work, and play.

Register here
**Please note that registration is only required if you plan to attend virtually.

The Cultural Importance of Brown Ash

April 3rd | 1-2:30 PM

Register here.

Tune in to learn about the evolving cultural, economic, and economic relationships Wabanaki people have to brown ash. This session will feature Wabanaki speakers with a variety of experiences in efforts to protect and continue cultural relationships to brown ash, from Maine Indian Basketmaker's Alliance, to basketmakers, Tribal government members and researchers. Speakers include Richard Silliboy, Vice Chief of Mi'kmaq Nation and basketmaker, Jennifer Neptune, of Maine Indian Basketmaker's Alliance (Penobscot),  Gabriel Frey, brown ash basketmaker and author of The First Blade of Sweetgrass (Passamaquoddy), and Suzanne Greenlaw, PhD Candidate and author of The First Blade of Sweetgrass (Maliseet).

We will follow up via email with a Zoom link. This is the second event in the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik's training series. You can find future events here: https://umaine.edu/apcaw/events-and-recordings/. 

Please reach out to Ella at ella.mcdonald@maine.edu if you have any questions.

Hosted by the Audubon Society

Virtual

In 2021, Tiffany Kersten found herself on an unexpected adventure: taking part in a Lower 48 Big Year. 

Along her way to set a new record of 726 species she raised awareness for women’s safety in the outdoors. Hear about the fear, empowerment, struggles and healing that all played vital roles in the personal growth she experienced on this wild adventure.

Tiffany Kersten is the founder of Nature Ninja Birding Tours, where she primarily focuses on Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. She has more than a decade of experience as an environmental educator across the United States, in addition to her incredible Lower 48 States Big Year that she completed in 2021.

Facilitated by:

• Rich Merritt, Audubon Connecticut-New York

• Kenn Kaufman, Field Editor, Audubon

Register here.