What we’re about
The Long Now Boston Meetup Group is organizationally independent but philosophically aligned with The Long Now Foundation in San Francisco. Recently the Boston Meetup Group received permission to form an independent non-profit in the Boston/Cambridge area using The Long Now Foundation name. A first for Long Now. Stay tuned for developments over the next many months as Long Now Boston begins it new chapter.
The Long Now Foundation was founded in San Francisco in 01996 (www.longnow.org). As stated on their website: Long Now was established "to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide a counterpoint to today's accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common. We hope to foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years."
The Long Now Boston effort was founded by Bill Davison in 02015. We started the Long Now Boston Meetup Group in January 02016. We now have an active Steering Committee and Events Planning subgroups. Our program year typically extends from September through May with an occasional summer event.
Join us!
View our Code of Engagement https://bit.ly/EngagementCode
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Green BurialThe Foundry, Cambridge, MA
Green burial strives to reduce the environmental footprint created in the disposition of a body. Whereas traditional burial typically involves toxic embalming agents and durable caskets designed to withstand the elements and time, green burial enables the body to return to nature as quickly and cleanly as possible. Unlike fossil fuel-intensive cremation, green burial methods partner with the mycorrhizal (fungal) networks in the earth to release the valuable chemical and biological elements back into the soil. Green cemeteries avoid pesticides and herbicides, and may aid in land conservation efforts. Often they use GPS markings instead of grave markers. With the flourishing of wild plants, pollinators and animals, green cemeteries tend to brim with life.
Speakers:
Michelle Hogle Acciavatti is a natural deathcare worker and the founder of Vermont Forest Cemetery the first natural burial ground in Vermont. She worked to fully legalize natural burial in Vermont and in addition to being a cemeterian, is a funeral director, death doula, pregnancy loss guide, home funeral guide, end of life specialist and natural burial educator. Her work has found her in settings as varied as the forest, Boston Children’s Hospital, The Vermont State House, and people’s own living rooms as well as the traditional funeral home. More about Michelle at: Ending Well.Regina Harrison is Director of Sales at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge/Watertown, Massachusetts, where she has worked in various roles for over 15 years. Her anthropology background is a key part of both serving families and thinking about how cemeteries can not only adapt to changing cultural trends but become positioned to lead them. As a birder and gardener she deeply appreciates how our cultural beliefs about death have led to the preservation of significant green spaces in urban environments.
- Book Talk: Reefs of TimeMain Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA
Long Now Boston joins Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Lisa S. Gardiner—science writer, geoscientist, educator, and author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change—for a discussion of her book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival.
To get tickets and book copies go to Harvard Bookstore website: https://www.harvard.com/event/lisa-s-gardiner
About Reefs of Time
How fossilized reefs hold clues to the survival of corals in the AnthropoceneWith rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification, and other problems caused by humans, there’s no question that today’s coral reefs are in trouble. As predictions about the future of these ecosystems grow increasingly dire, scientists are looking in an unlikely place for new ways to save corals: the past. The reefs of yesteryear faced challenges too, from changing sea level to temperature shifts, and understanding how they survived and when they faltered can help guide our efforts to help ensure a future for reefs.
Lisa Gardiner weaves together the latest cutting-edge science with stories of her expeditions to tropical locales to show how fossils and other reef remains offer tantalizing glimpses of how corals persisted through time, and how this knowledge can guide our efforts to ensure a future for these remarkable organisms. Gardiner takes readers on an excursion into “the shallow end of deep time”—when marine life was much like today’s yet unaffected by human influence—to explore the cities of fossilized limestone left behind by corals and other reef life millennia ago. The changes in reefs today are unlike anything ever seen before, but the fossil record offers hope that the coral reefs of tomorrow can weather the environmental challenges that lie ahead.
A breathtaking journey of scientific discovery, Reefs of Time reveals how lessons from the past can help us to chart a path forward for coral reefs struggling for survival in an age of climate crisis and mass extinction.
Praise for Reefs of Time
“A deep dive into tiny lives that can build communities large enough to see from space, Gardiner’s coral odyssey is a delight. She deftly weaves together science, history, and poetic description into an enthusiastic life story of coral and its reverberating influence on life through the ages.”—Riley Black, author of When the Earth Was Green and The Last Days of the Dinosaurs“Like a detective novel for the reefs, Lisa Gardiner’s book offers a fast-paced and fluid account of both ancient and modern corals, exposing clues and traces that reveal our oceans’ dynamic history. Reefs of Time shares an elegant, urgent, and ultimately hopeful message about why our past matters so much to our future.”—Juli Berwald, author of Spineless and Life on the Rocks
“Lisa Gardiner skillfully weaves together geography, history, biology, geology, anthropology, and conservation science into an engaging account of one of planet Earth’s most gorgeous—and imperiled—habitats.”—Jonathan Balcombe, author of What a Fish Knows and Super Fly
“Of all endangered ecosystems, few are as important as coral reefs. But for us to preserve these marine environments, we first must understand their prehuman histories. Filled with compelling stories and marvelous imagery, Reefs of Time shows how reefs of the past can help us better ensure the recovery of reefs today and gives us hope that these precious environments will persist well into the future.”—Anthony J. Martin, author of The Evolution Underground and Dinosaurs Without Bones
Bio
Lisa S. Gardiner is a science writer, geoscientist, and educator. She is the author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change. Her writing has appeared in leading publications such as the Atlantic, Hakai Magazine, and Scientific American.
