The way we currently manage the suburban and urban landscape is creating a wasteland and harming the well-being of Earth. Fortunately, we have an alternative path: We can work with natural systems instead of working against them. By doing so, we can help heal Earth. We also save time and money because we perform fewer tasks and use fewer products. Best of all, these are simple things that anyone can do regardless of their knowledge or experience.

When you ask Basil what he thinks about himself, he'll tell you he is incredibly lucky. He has family he loves dearly, friends and colleagues who inspire him, and every day he gets to care for trees, soil, and flowers. He pursues his purpose and passions as the co-founder of Leaf & Limb and Project Pando. He is a Treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Duke University graduate, Wizard of Things, and author of "From Wasteland to Wonder – Easy Ways to Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape."

MUSIC: Lisa Liske on cello. Lisa performs music from the Renaissance through the present day. She enjoys bringing multiple genres of music to audiences in a range of settings from the formal classical concert hall to schools and jams and live music for silent film. Lisa holds a Master of Music in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory. Since moving to Cary in 2019, she has joined the faculty of Meredith College and started a private cello studio, Community Cello Works Cary, serving ages four to adult. Lisa frequently performs with North Carolina Baroque Orchestra and the Raleigh Camerata. Her Philadelphia-based New River Ensemble plans a North Carolina tour in March of 2025.

Lisa is an ardent environmentalist.

For the 2024 Cary Environmental Symposium, before Basil's presentation begins, she will offer fifteen minutes of nature-themed traditional and composed music (as well as a few selections from the essential Bach Suites for solo cello). At 7:00 pm, she will introduce and perform a piece by North Carolina composer J. Mark Scearce titled Gaea’s Lament,, which Dr. Searce wrote in 1989 as the Exxon Valdez, which had run aground, spilled 10 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska.

Lisa's set honors the long partnership of music and nature, and its offering of hope.

Douglas Tallamy

THE NATURE OF OAKS

Friday, September 20, 2024
Cary Theater
Doors Open: 7:00 pm
Program: 7:30 pm

Admission is $25. Please reserve tickets in advance.
Seating is General Admission
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Oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own yards and restorations. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. The Nature of Oaks will inspire you to treasure these trees and to act to nurture and protect them.

Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has taught insect taxonomy, behavioral ecology, and other related subjects. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.

Cody Coates

INVASIVE SPECIES, NATIVE WETLANDS, AND YOU

Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Senior Center at Bond Park
Doors Open: 6:30 pm
Program: 7:00 pm

Admission is $5. Please reserve tickets in advance.
Seating is General Admission
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A discussion of invasive-plant management in various environments in the southeast United States. Breaking down the progress and the pitfalls in the invasive-control industry and where we need to go in the future.

Cody Coates has managed invasive species in the wetlands of Florida for four years. He worked for the South Florida Water Management District on the Stormwater Treatment Area project, a team managing 85,000 acres of wetlands. He is now the coordinator for the Raleigh Parks Invasive Program, which controls invasive species in 10,000 acres of parks and nature preserves in the city.

Earl Ijames

ALMOST GONE WITH THE WIND

The Longleaf pine, the State Tree of North Carolina, faces extinction in Cary.

Earl Ijames curriculum vitae

Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Senior Center at Bond Park
Doors Open: 6:30 pm
Program: 7:00 pm

Admission is $15. Please reserve tickets in advance.
Seating is General Admission
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Earl Ijames is Curator of African-American History, Agricultural History, and Community History at the North Carolina Museum of History. Prior to joining the Museum of History in 2008, he was reference archivist with the North Carolina Office of Archives and History for eight years and photograph archivist from 1994 to 2000.

Earl has served on numerous history-related boards and committees and is frequently called on to serve as a lecturer, panelist, consultant, and host for various events, festivals, organizations, and radio and TV broadcasts. He has been involved with numerous historical film productions.

Earl graduated from George Washington Carver High School in Winston-Salem and is a 1991 graduate of North Carolina State University with a major in history and minors in economics, English, and African American studies. From 1989 to 1990 he was a legal researcher at the North Carolina Supreme Court through the Department of History at NCSU.

In his spare time, Earl is a farmer in Johnston County and owner/manager of Towne and Country Book and Coffee in Wendell. Over the years, he has coached Boys and Girls Upward Bound Youth Basketball, youth football in Zebulon, and youth basketball for Wendell Parks and Recreation.

MUSIC: Abigail Dowd on guitar.