The Memorial Park Conservancy has generously offered Katy Prairie Conservancy use of their greenhouse while the Native Seed Nursery at KPC’s field office in Waller is being renovated. Volunteers will help grow plants that will be used for various Katy Prairie Conservancy spring projects and for the Great Grow Out. The Memorial Park Conservancy Greenhouse is located in Memorial Park on the south side of Memorial Drive. All are welcome, no experience necessary.

Workdays are scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

Join us for the Parks and Natural Areas (PNA) Roundtable on Monday, July 8, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at H-GAC Conference Room A, Second Floor.

The PNA Roundtable serves as a forum for discussion of issues related to parks and natural areas, promotes the PNA Award Program, and maintains a regional inventory of parks. The PNA roundtable facilitates information exchange and planning efforts between various stakeholders and collaborators to protect and preserve parks and natural areas across the region. To register visit events.r20.constantcontact.com/register.

Jacob Martin, greenhouse manager at Mercer Botanic Gardens and owner of Old School Produce, will teach participants how to preserve tropical plants in your garden over the wintertime. He will demonstrate how to cut and cover large tropicals and give tips for storing smaller plants when the temperatures drop.

Lunch Bunch is recommended for ages 12+. Bring lunch and enjoy this gardening presentation. Call Mercer Botanic Gardens at 713-274-4160 to make a reservation or receive more information

Volunteers meet the second and fourth Thursday of every month to propagate plants from locally collected native seed. A typical workday may include seeding pots, bumping up trays into 1-gallon containers, separating seedlings, and weeding pots. They will also have special seed collecting trips, invasive species removal workdays, and planting events in restored prairies.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the Natural Resource Management Program, email kelli.ondracek@houstontx.gov or visit houstontx.gov/parks/naturalresources.html.

A principal creator of the climate movement, Bill McKibben returns to The Progressive Forum on the eve of worldwide climate demonstrations scheduled in September, while the City of Houston develops its Climate Action Plan for year-end. Furthering the importance of the event, McKibben will be joined onstage by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner for a brief Q&A on climate change and planning at the local level.

McKibben is the co-founder of 350.org, the first organization to launch a planet-wide movement including 20,000 rallies held in every country except North Korea, while spearheading the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Foreign Policy magazine named him to its inaugural list of the world’s most important global thinkers. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and the recipient of the Right Livelihood Prize, called the “alternative Nobel,” as well as the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize. He wrote the first book for a general audience on climate change, The End of Nature, in 1989, plus a dozen other books. In May, he published Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? He is the Schuman Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Books will be on sale at the event, and McKibben will sign books and greet fans at the end of the evening

Three levels of ticket prices. A $150 ticket includes a private speaker reception and reserve seating near the front. $70 and $45 general admission.