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Programming
Presentations, Demonstrations, and Activities
PlanetHugger Boston promises to be both exciting and educational. With presentations by enthusiastic activists and interactive hands-on workshops, you’ll leave the event inspired to take action in your own community and workplace as well as at home. Our programming schedule includes something for everyone. Download the Event Schedule and plan your day at PlanetHugger Boston!
Vermi-Composting
Saturday, July 24
Patrick Gabridge
Worm castings provide an easy source of high powered, organic fertilizer for your plants and garden. Setting up a worm bin to turn your kitchen vegetable scraps and old newspapers into “black gold” is something that requires very little space or effort. Patrick Gabridge will show you the basics of how you can make your own worm bin and answer any questions you may have.
Patrick Gabridge is a graduate of the Boston Natural Area Network’s Master Urban Gardener Program. He’s served as garden coordinator for the Cooper and Crite Community Gardens in Roxbury, MA. Last year he started the 200 Foot Garden Project in Brookline, a commuter/gift garden transforming an unused strip of land near the T into a vertical vegetable garden and community project. He’s also involved in shared backyard garden projects in Brookline. In his non-gardening life, he’s a playwright and novelist (www.gabridge.com).
Wildlife Preservation
Saturday & Sunday
Alaska Wilderness League (www.AlaskaWild.org)
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Come here John Demos tell the story of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. John will show amazing wildlife footage from the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge and you will hear the voices of native people who have depended on the Refuge for thousands of years. John will give you ways to celebrate the 50 years of the Refuge and give you the tools to help protect this special place.
The Arctic is all around us. Every year, birds that begin their lives on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge journey to all 50 states and across six continents, before heading back to the Arctic, where the cycle of life begins again. Many of these birds come through our backyards or make a stopover in your local National Wildlife Refuge.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we must do everything we can to be sure that this last wild haven remains for generations to come. You can be part of this by participating in our symbolic migration. Concerned citizens across the country will be getting together throughout the year to fly kites symbolizing the birds that come through their areas and celebrating the natural connection between the Arctic Refuge and their area.
Join Alaska Wilderness League at our workshop to create an Arctic Bird Kite. We will have all the materials necessary for you to make and fly your kite and learn about how you can do your part to protect this great wilderness.
Cheesemaking
John Thompson
Learn how to make cheese the old fashioned way in this very cool cheesemaking demonstration.
The 3 Rs
The fundamentals of what it means to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Composting
Saturday, July 24
Lisa Becker/Mass Audubon
Composting is fun, easy, and returns to the earth stuff that would otherwise sit in a landfill. Lisa Becker will be talking about the what, why and how of composting. She will have trays of before and after compost, and the wriggly red worms that help facilitate composting. There will also be brochures from the DEP and a “composting is easy” flyer with the “food web of the compost pile” on the back.
Green Clean with Confidence
Saturday, July 24
Leslie Reichert
Leslie talks about the benefits to green cleaning.
Rain Barrel Making
Residential water use increases 40 to 50% during summer months due to outdoor water use. Stormwater runoff is the leading type of residential non-point source pollution.
In this workshop, we’ll show you how to make a rain barrel to collect and store the rainwater that would normally pour off your roof directly or flow through roof gutter downspouts to use later for lawn and garden watering.
Marine Life “Touch Tank”
Saturday & Sunday
Ocean Explorium
The Ocean Explorium program includes a marine life touch tank, educational activities and crafts related to water conservation and protecting our oceans. The Environmental Explorer program teaches aspects of the natural world and the impact of human activity. The program includes a demonstration using an environmental model where students create, and learn to mitigate, environmental impacts.
Environmental Prayer Flag Making
Saturday & Sunday
Tibetan prayer flags are colorful rectangular cloths often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside. Here’s your chance to show off your love of the environment and art skills at the same time.
We will provide the flags (old sheets, pillow cases, curtains, old drop cloths, used t shirts), and the markers, you provide the creativity and concern. Examples of flags and volunteers will be there to help with brainstorming. After you’re done, bring them home and fly them outside to remind you of their message. Over time as the marker fades the wind will carry your message to far away places.
