Calendar: Events http://www.theecologycenter.org/ en theecologycenter@gmail.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-30T23:18:+00:00 Help us win a new Toyota! http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/100_cars_2012/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/100_cars_2012/ The Ecology Center has been selected as one of 500 nonprofit finalists in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program, a major philanthropic initiative in which the automaker is giving 100 cars to 100 vehicles over the course of 100 days. We were selected as a finalist from more than 4,000 applications nationwide.

Each day, until August 21, 2012, 100 Cars for Good will profile five finalists at www.100carsforgood.com.   Individual members of the public will be able to vote via Facebook for which ever nonprofit they think can do the most good with a new vehicle.  The nonprofit with the most votes at the end of each day will win one of six Toyota models.  Runners-up will each receive a $1,000 cash grant from Toyota.

The Ecology Center will be up for consideration on Wednesday, June 20, from 10am to 11:59p.m. PST. 

For more information on The Ecology Center and its efforts to win one of Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good, please follow us on Facebook [facebook.com/theecologycenter].  For complete information on 100 Cars for Good and profiles of all 500 finalists, please visit www.100carsforgood.com.

Local residents are encouraged to support The Ecology Center and their quest for a new Toyota Prius V. If The Ecology Center receives the most votes and is awarded the vehicle, it will be used transport garden materials and staff to schools throughout southern Orange County in 2012 and more gardens at more locations in future years.

“Everyone at The Ecology Center is thrilled to have been selected as a finalist for the 2012 100 Cars for Good program,” said Evan Marks, Executive Director of The Ecology Center.  “We’re grateful for this incredible opportunity to showcase our mission to educate, inspire, and involve people in the stewardship of Southern California’s environment and hopefully win a car to help us increase our impact in San Juan Capistrano and Orange County. We hope everyone will help us spread the word and, of course, make time to visit www.100carsforgood.com on June 20 to vote for us.  A new vehicle would increase our capacity to help local schools by installing Grow Your Own! organic garden programs on their campuses.”

“At Toyota, we appreciate what a significant impact a new car can have for nonprofits nationwide,” noted Michael Rouse, vice president of philanthropy for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.  “Toyota has donated more than half a billion dollars to nonprofits across the U.S. over the past 20 years, and 100 Cars for Good allows us to expand that commitment to local communities in important new ways.  The 500 finalists are an extraordinary group, and we look forward to the public learning more about them.”

100 Cars for Good is the first initiative to directly engage the public to determine how Toyota’s philanthropic donations are awarded.  

]]> 2012-05-30T23:18+00:00 Green Feast 2012 http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/green_feast_2012/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/green_feast_2012/ GREEN FEAST: ELITE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEFS DONATE TALENT TO FIVE-COURSE FARM-TO-TABLE OUTDOOR DINNER BENEFITTING THE ECOLOGY CENTER

A quintessentially Californian tradition of four years, The Ecology Center, among the first action-oriented environmental organizations in the U.S., will again host its much-anticipated Green Feast at 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 8, 2012.   Notable chefs, organic farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and vintners will delight 200+ supporters of the eco-education facility with hors d’oeuvres using farm-grown, artisanal foods – all sourced within 200 miles – and a family-style four-course outdoor dinner across its lush green expanse.

Green Feast generates funds to support eco-education programs at The Ecology Center, a nonprofit founded and operated by ecologist Evan Marks.  The South Orange County learning facility is housed in an historic farmhouse where children, families and adults learn practical ways to grow organic gardens, how to conserve water and energy, and design environmentally responsible living environments.  Ardent supporters of the landmark event are sustainability experts, respected leaders of organizations and community leaders from around Southern California.  

The Feast will commence with the Eco App Off, a fun tasting element in which guests select their favorite appetizer among those prepared by renowned Ryan Adams (370 Common), Scott Brandon, Erika Tucker (The Cellar), Cathy McNight (What a Dish), and Jenny Ross (118 Degrees), Casey Overton (Montage Resort), Matt Tobin (True Foods Kitchen), Justin Miller (Pizzeria Ortica), Erika Tucker (The Cellar), Adam Navidi (Oceans & Earth), Gina Galavan (Chomp Chomp Nation) and Greg Harrison (Five Crowns/Side Door).  As dusk settles, the twinkling lights surrounding the 200-foot long communal table settings and candles will illuminate four culinary creations entirely prepared in an outdoor kitchen.

Guests will pleasure in the Feast’s color explosion of rich organic fare that is all at once environmentally responsible, beautiful and delicious; the culinary creations of Rich Mead (Sage and Canyon), Ryan O’Melveny Wilson (Five Crowns/Side Door), Justin Monson (St. Roy Chef’s Pub at Vine), and Yves Fournier (Andrei’s Conscious Cuisine) who will share their special approach to organic, pasture-raised and sustainable farming.

Among the benefactors participating in this year’s Green Feast are Santa Monica Seafood, Carlsbad Aquafarm, MM Livestock, South Coast Farms, Weiser Family Farms, Edward Sellers Vineyard and Wines, Tablas Creek Vineyard, and Oso Libre Winery.  The event also includes a silent auction, for which Chefs will offer elegant dinners and other experiential items will be sold to raise funds for The Ecology Center.

About Green Feast

Sustainability experts, respected leaders of organizations and community leaders from around Southern California attend Green Feast each year to support programs and operations of The Ecology Center.  Tickets for Green Feast are $180 per person for members of The Ecology Center; tickets for non-members are $225.  Membership starts at $50 per person; interested individuals may inquire with The Ecology Center at (949) 443-4223.  Non-members can purchase tickets either by calling The Ecology Center, or online at theecologycenter.org. 

Tickets go on sale June 1st for Members of The Ecology Center. and June 15th for Non-Members.

]]> 2012-05-25T22:58+00:00 Cheese Making http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/cheese_making/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/cheese_making/ Join us June 16th, 1-3pm with master cheese maker Heather Westenhofer of both, OC Cheesemaker and Slow Food Orange County as she shares the art and process of Cheesemaking.  Create your own and discover how quick and economical it is to make soft cheese at home.

]]> 2012-05-24T22:42+00:00 Greg MacGillivray / Basic Needs http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/greg_macgillivray_basic_needs/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/greg_macgillivray_basic_needs/ THE ECOLOGY CENTER PRESENTS THE FOURTH SEASON OF ITS SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES: BASIC NEEDS 2012.
To advance the dialogue around some of today’s most pressing – and most tangible – environmental issues, The Ecology Center is pleased to host three renowned global thought leaders in season four of Basic Needs:

Thursday, August 23rd
GREG MACGILLIVRAY
Filmmaker, Surfer/Diver, Founder - One World One Ocean

From OWOO's website:

"Greg MacGillivray has been producing and directing award-winning films for more than 40 years. He co-founded his Laguna Beach-based company, MacGillivray Freeman Films, in 1963. Today, he has more than fifty films to his credit, including more than thirty IMAX productions.

Since the 1976 production of his first IMAX ® Theatre film, To Fly!, which he co-produced and directed with his partner, the late Jim Freeman, Greg has dedicated his company to the giant-screen motion picture format and has produced some of the most enduring films in the genre.

Greg has received two Academy Award ® nominations for Best Documentary Short Subject: first in 1995 for The Living Sea and secondly in 2000 for Dolphins. In 1996, To Fly! was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry, America's film archive, where it joined such classics as Birth of a Nation, Gone With the Wind and Citizen Kane as one of the most important films in American filmmaking. Five years later, To Fly! was inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame. In 1998, the company's dramatic film about climbing the world's tallest peak, Everest, broke industry attendance records and today remains the highest grossing IMAX Theatre film of all time..." (more)


Read about Mr. MacGillivray's Laguna Beach life and family business in OC Register's recent article, and join us for this unique evening oceanic conversation with wine, beer and light fare from 6:30pm-9pm. Admission to each event is $10 for members/$20 for non-members. Purchase online or by calling 949.443.4223.

]]> 2012-05-18T18:56+00:00 Darrin Nordahl / Basic Needs http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/darrin_nordahl_basic_needs/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/darrin_nordahl_basic_needs/ THE ECOLOGY CENTER PRESENTS THE FOURTH SEASON OF ITS SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES: BASIC NEEDS 2012.
To advance the dialogue around some of today’s most pressing – and most tangible – environmental issues, The Ecology Center is pleased to host three renowned global thought leaders in season four of Basic Needs:
 

Thursday, July 26th
DARRIN NORDAHL
City Designer, Professor, Author - "Public Produce: The New Urban Agriculture"

From IslandPress.org:

"Darrin Nordahl is an award-winning writer on issues of food and city design. He completed his bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of California at Davis and his master’s degree in urban design at Cal-Berkeley. He is the author of Making Transit Fun!, My Kind of Transit and Public Produce.
 
Born in Oakland, California, Darrin grew up in the quirky yet stunningly beautiful cosmopolis known as the Bay Area, but lived for many years in America’s Heartland. His work is thus a mélange of “Left Coast” idealism and Midwestern pragmatism, and has generated headlines in newspapers and network news stations throughout North America. Merging his passions for food and cities, Darrin speaks to audiences across the United States and Canada, arguing how thoughtfully designed city spaces can help improve the quality of the environment, our health, and our social connections."


Join us for this unique evening conversation combining urbanism and agrarianism along with wine, beer and light fare from 6:30pm-9pm. Admission to each event is $10 for members/$20 for non-members. Purchase online or by calling 949.443.4223.

Book Cover of Public Produce

BasicNeeds2012Poster.pdf

]]> 2012-05-18T18:19+00:00 Mark Plotkin / Basic Needs http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/mark_plotkin_basic_needs/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/mark_plotkin_basic_needs/ THE ECOLOGY CENTER PRESENTS THE FOURTH SEASON OF ITS SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES: BASIC NEEDS 2012.
To advance the dialogue around some of today’s most pressing – and most tangible – environmental issues, The Ecology Center is pleased to host three renowned global thought leaders in season four of Basic Needs:

Friday, June 22nd
MARK PLOTKIN
Ethnobotanist, Conservationist, Author -"Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice", President of The Amazon Conservation Team

The Ecology Center is honored to have Dr. Mark J. Plotkin open our series this year.  Dr. Plotkin has studied tradtional medicines from indigenous tribe elders, shamans, for nearly 30 years. He finds fascinating connections between the plants in the Amazonian basin to the people who use and cultivate them.  With extensive education and recognition (honored by Harvard, The Smithsonian Institute, Time magazine, and Jane Goodall to name a few), he has found great support and success through his years of research, observation, and presentation on the issues of cultural and environmental preservation.

About Dr. Plotkin's non-profit organization, The Amazon Conservation Team (from www.amazonteam.org):

"The Amazon Conservation Team has developed a well-earned reputation for innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness. Our ethnographic mapping – in which the indigenous people themselves make the map, seizing control of their own cultural and environmental destiny – has now partnered with over 30 tribes to cover 70 million acres acres of ancestral rainforest. Our Shamans’ and Apprentices efforts have developed new and effective methodologies to transmit ancient shamanic wisdom to the next generation of indigenous youth. And our Shamans’ Gatherings have brought indigenous leaders from throughout the Amazon to chart a course forward for their culture and their medicine.

One of the results of these pioneering efforts is that ACT cofounders Liliana Madrigal and Mark Plotkin received the coveted “Social Entrepreneur” designation from the prestigious Skoll Foundation a few years back – recognition which has opened new doors, fostered new partnerships, and inspired new approaches to biocultural conservation."

 

Read more about Dr. Plotkin, and join us  from 6:30pm-9pm for this unique evening conversation with one of the world's leading experts in Amazonian culture.  

Wine, beer and light fare will be served. Admission to each event is $10 for members/$20 for non-members. Purchase online or by calling 949.443.4223.

BasicNeeds2012Poster.pdf
 

]]> 2012-05-17T17:51+00:00 Eco-Labs Camp http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/eco-labs_camp/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/eco-labs_camp/ Eco-Camp Series at The Ecology Center
Join The Ecology Center this summer as we launch our second season Eco-Camp Series! Both eco-educational camps are centered around our outdoor, interactive Eco-Labs and promote observation awareness, inspire systems thinking and engage hands-on learning.

ECO-LABS CAMP / Ages: 7-12 / August 6-10, 10am-2pm
In this outdoor learning series, engage in hands-on ecological solutions around food, water, enegy, waste, and shelter.

DAY 1: WATER
Activities include learning about harvesting rainwater, graywater usage, The Watershed (an interactive narrative on where our water comes from, how we use it and where it goes when we are done with it), water-carrying competitions and ways to reduce our water footprint.
DAY 2: WASTE
Activities include composting with worms, chickens husbandry, creating less waste, closing the waste cycle and screen printing on an old t-shirt to make it new.
DAY 3: ENERGY
Activities include an energy audit, solar oven cooking, alternative energy education and kite making.
DAY 4: SHELTER
Activities include fort building 101, debris-hut building, shelter design, fire safety, useful and edible native plants and gourd canteen making.
DAY 5: FOOD
Activities include germination, harvesting, cooking and planting a container garden. Participants will take in our Farm to Fork experience where they will harvest veggies from our garden and prepare their own lunch.

Eco_Camp_flyer,_fb.pdf

]]> 2012-05-16T15:25+00:00 Elemental Awareness Camp http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/eco-camps/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/eco-camps/ Eco-Camp Series at The Ecology Center

Join The Ecology Center this summer as we launch our second season Eco-Camp Series! Both eco-educational camps are centered around our outdoor, interactive Eco-Labs and promote observation awareness, inspire systems thinking and engage hands-on learning.

ELEMENTAL AWARENESS CAMP / Ages: 8-13 / July 10-13, 10am-2pm
Learn important survival skills and explore positive ways to live in connection with nature around the themes of shelter, water, fire and food. Taught in partnership with Elemental Awareness.

DAY 1: SHELTER
Activities include shelter basics 101, debris-hut building, shelter design and screen-printing on an old t-shirt to make it new.
DAY 2: WATER
Activities include emergency water filtration and purification, solar still and dew collection, gourd canteen making, treadle pump and education on global water issues.
DAY 3: FIRE
Activities include fire 101 and safety, making bow-drill kits to take home, coal burnt spoons and ways to build a fire.  The day’s snack will also be prepared over the fire.
DAY 4: FOOD
Activities include harvesting local, wild edibles, stalking movement games, harvesting for seed and preparing an herbal tea.  Participants will take in our Farm to Fork experience where they will harvest veggies from our garden and prepare their own lunch.

Eco_Camp_flyer,_fb.pdf

]]> 2012-05-16T15:15+00:00 Compost Basics http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/com/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/com/ In this Tools of the Trade, you'll learn about the production, benefits and many uses of compost with Organics Alive’s Erik Sykes.
Erik produces a high quality organic compost in San Diego County called Organics Alive.

This workshop will act as a primer to our Backyard Skills workshop on August 18th, where you'll get the opportunity to build your very own worm bin.

About Tools of the Trade 
In collaboration with our new exhibition Tools for Change, Tools of the Trade is a FREE roundtable series in which local experts in a variety of fields will share useful skills and unique insights related to sustainable living.
Join us one Saturday a month to learn about topics such as beekeeping, backyard chickens, greywater systems, sustainable chocolate and more.

Supported by the City of San Juan Capistrano. FREE for all guests.

]]> 2012-04-19T23:58+00:00 The Urban Homestead http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/the_urban_homestead_book_signing/ http://www.theecologycenter.org/blog/post/the_urban_homestead_book_signing/ In this Tools of the Trade, we'll welcome Los Angeles based homesteaders Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne for a booksigning and talk on homestead tips and D.I.Y. skills.

Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen are the authors of The Urban Homestead (Expanded and Revised Edition): Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (2008) and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World (2011), and founded the Root Simple blog, which was formerly known as Homegrown Evolution, in 2006.  They live in the heart of Los Angeles, in a little bungalow set on a 1/12 acre lot where almost all of their land is devoted to growing edible or otherwise useful plants and trees. Their obsessions include bees, bikes, beer, chickens, dogs, healthy cities, healing herbs, simple living and good food. Both books will be available for purchase inside our Tools for Change general store.

About Tools of the Trade
In collaboration with our new exhibition Tools for Change, Tools of the Trade is a FREE roundtable series in which local experts in a variety of fields will share useful skills and unique insights related to sustainable living.
Join us one Saturday a month to learn about topics such as beekeeping, backyard chickens, greywater systems, sustainable chocolate and more.

]]> 2012-04-19T20:56+00:00