Calendar

Come and see (maybe even touch!) some rare and beautiful insects, and learn something too! **Space limited. Groups please call for reservations.** For ages 3-5.

Conservation photographer Bryant Austin is the only photographer in the world producing high-resolution, life-size photography of whales. A chance encounter with a humpback calf and its mother helped Austin develop a technique to create detailed, intimate portraits of his subjects. Spending days at a time submerged with groups of whales, he remains motionless, allowing humpback, sperm, and minke whales that are sometimes forty-five feet in length and weigh as much as fifty tons to come within six feet. In this presentation, Austin will describe his fearless process and reveal images from his breathtaking new book Beautiful Whale, which was recently published in April 2013 by Abrams. Hear the story behind these images that inspire people to take the future of whales-endangered throughout the oceans-into their hearts. Book signing to follow.

This is a California Academy of Sciences and Stegner Environmental Center Program.

Reservations: This is a free event but seating is limited so please RSVP online as ticketed guests will be seated first. To reserve a place today, reserve a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

http://www.calacademy.org/lectures

How can pickles be made at home simply with maximum flavor impact?
This lecture, demonstration, and tasting session will outline the
processes and techniques of vinegar-brined pickles (both canned and
quick), and fermented pickles, and offer useful tips for the home DIY
enthusiast. And as time permits, we'll also discuss some of the more
peculiar pickling possibilities from the fringes of preserved fruits
and vegetables - soy sauce pickling, nuka (rice bran) pickling beds,
salt-cured pickles, and Electric Kool-Aid pickles. Bring your
questions and your pickling passion!

Karen Solomon  is the author of Jam It, Pickle it, Cure It; Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It; and the Asian Pickles e-cookbook and print cookbook series. In addition, Karen has written about pickling and food preservation for a host of publications, including Saveur.com, The Blender (the blog of Williams Sonoma), Fine Cooking, Prevention, Yoga Journal, Vegetarian Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. When no one is looking, she drinks pickle brine by the shot.

Join us at the 3rd San Francisco Green Film Festival for this special free event!

This year, attendees will learn about the threats of plastic pollution to animals and humans, and talk with experts in this area.

Film line-up:

-  Winners from the 2013 Breathe California student video contest (8 mins) - sponsored by SF Green Film Festival.

-  “Scars of Freedom” (6 mins) - A moving film about a whale’s struggle for survival off the coast of Chile’s Juan Fernandez Archipelago, from filmmaker Celine Cousteau.

-  “Coastguards” (4 mins) - A short film about humanity’s obsession and mixture of fear and fascination for sharks.

-  “Plastic Paradise” (57 mins) - Travel with filmmaker Angela Sun to Midway Atoll, a remote island in the Pacific, as she seeks to uncover the mystery behind the island of garbage that everyone has heard of but no one truly understands. What she discovers is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an island littered with plastics, causing great harm not only to our beaches, oceans, and sea life, but to ourselves. Midway sees 20 tons of plastic trash wash ashore each year and as we watch her sift through ordinary household items among the debris – reusable coffee mugs, flip flops, lighters, even a computer monitor – we find ourselves uncomfortably complicit. This film tackles a seriously daunting problem with high energy and humor, archival footage, and animation as it tracks down the who, what, where and why of this phenomena. Along the way Sun speaks to scientists, environmental activists, the plastic bag guy, marine researchers, plastics industry representatives, even Jack Johnson, to get a sense of how our obsession with plastic began, where it all went wrong and how we can fix it.   Discussion following films.

All are welcome to attend this free festival program. Further Information: http://sfgreenfilmfest.org  

 This is a Stegner Environmental Center, San Francisco Green Film Festival and Green Stacks Program.

Our homes are sacred places that should be safe and free of contaminants but they're typically one of the most polluted places we encounter.  One of the easiest ways to rid your home of these contaminants is to switch to natural and safe home cleaning products, but why spend ten dollars for a fancy brand-name bottle when you can make your own for pennies on the dollar?  

Learn how to save money and "green your cleaning" by making your own safe and natural home cleaning supplies!  From dishwasher to laundry soap, glass cleaner to wood polish, we de-mystify natural cleaning and free you from expensive brand name cleaners.  You'll leave with  some cheat sheets and recipes to make your products at home.

Presented by Nicole Easterday who is an Oakland resident, urban farmer and founder of FARMcurious, an organization dedicated to educating, inspiring and equipping urban homesteaders in the Bay Area. 

Join San Francisco writer Evette Davis for a reading from her debut novel Woman King, as well as a discussion about the lessons she's learned preparing to become a self-published author.   She will tell you about the importance of using professional editors and designers, as well as how to build a marketing plan.  Woman King is the first installment of a paranormal trilogy featuring intrepid political consultant Olivia Shepherd and her adventures with the Council, a secret supernatural political organization, as well as her romance with William Ferrell, a mysterious musician with his own complicated personal history. Davis takes some of San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks, and transforms them into magical places where people are never quite sure if what they're seeing is real. She maintains a website at www.evettedavis.com, or you can follow her on Twitter at @SFEvette.

Chinese Poetry reading and  new book talk.

Author and photographer, James Martin, presents a slide show of over 220 photographs from his coffee table-sized book. The Islands of San Francisco Bay chronicles the Bay’s 48 islands, and aims to capture the wildness of these Island habitats. Learn more about Island ecology, the birds, animals, plants and Island topography.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

The San Francisco Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the Bayview Branch of the San Francisco Public Library presents a discussion and readings by three authors:

• Mykah Montgomery: The Girl Who Wanted a Tail (children’s book)
• Patricia Saunders: Through the Fire (poetry)
• Lisa White: Pink Milk (children’s book)

Moderated by Karen Johnson of Marcus Bookstore

Join renowned architect and Chinese American studies historian Philip P. Choy for an insider’s guide to the history and architecture of San Francisco’s Chinatown in his book San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture.  In this lecture and slide presentation, witness the triumphs and tragedies of the Chinese American experience in the United States from the city's earliest days to its post-quake transformation into an "oriental" tourist attraction as a pragmatic means of survival.

Mr. Choy co-taught the nation's first college level course in Chinese American history at San Francisco State University.  He has served on numerous boards including the California State Historic Resource Commission, the San Francisco Landmark Advisory Board, and the Chinese Historical Society of America.  He is the recipient of the prestigious San Francisco State University President's Medal.

This program will be conducted in English.

Explore the world of sharks, skates and rays!  Participants will also discover the importance of sharks in marine environments, the threats they face, and what Aquarium of the Bay is doing to help protect them. For ages 6-11.

Want to pick up a new skill and have tons of fun in the process? Come join us in this hands-on workshop and learn how to fold paper into just about anything. Origami artist Shinta Arifin will show you how! All materials provided. For ages 4-12.

Have you always been disappointed by your efforts to grow your own vegetable starts from seed? Do your seeds turn out long-necked and weak looking? Do they fall over dead before you can even put them in the ground? If you’ve ever frustrated by growing seeds out, or have never tried and want to, this class will teach you the basics you need to know to get growing. The class will also introduce the SFPL seed library at Potrero Hill so attendees can take advantage of the free seeds on offer! Attendees will leave with one container, planted (correctly!) with their choice of vegetable.

Glenn R. Stewart of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and Nick Dunlop, photographer, will discuss falcons in a changing world.  Their presentation will be accompanied by Dunlop's extraordinary photographs and video of wild peregrine falcons in the Bay Area, and a live falcon.  Falcons that once nested in remote cliffs are now nesting in cities on man-made structures such as buildings and bridges.  In 1970 there were only two known nesting pairs of peregrines in California; today the population has recovered to over 250 known nesting pairs, including several in the Bay Area. 

Sponsored by the the Wallace Stegner Environmental Center.

Join us for a reading and booksigning with Alysia Abbott, author of Fairyland,  a  vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco with an openly gay father.

After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation—few of whom are raising a child.

In Alysia’s teens, Steve’s friends—several of whom she has befriended—fall ill as AIDS starts its rampage through their community. While Alysia is studying in New York and then in France, her father tells her it’s time to come home; he’s sick with AIDS. Alysia must choose whether to take on the responsibility of caring for her father or continue the independent life she has worked so hard to create.

Reconstructing their life together from a remarkable cache of her father’s journals, letters, and writings, Alysia Abbott gives us an unforgettable portrait of a tumultuous, historic time in San Francisco as well as an exquisitely moving account of a father’s legacy and a daughter’s love.

This event is co-sponsored by the Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco History Center.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with a perfect introduction to the joys of gardening. In this hands-on workshop, Jonathan Silverman, Founder and Managing Director of Feel the Earth, will offer LEARN the ART of SEEDING for children and their families. You will learn how seeds work, best ways to plant seeds, how to care for your seedlings, and begin to cultivate fresh produce or blossoms. Research shows that gardening improves children’s learning, self-confidence, health & feeling of community spirit. For ages 2 and older.

In this hands-on workship with Jonathan Silverman children will learn how seeds work, best ways to plant seeds, how to care for their seedlings, and begin to cultivate their own fresh produce or blossoms! For ages 5 and up.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.