Tag Archive for: Nature

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Greening Our Communities: Taking Local Action

By incorporating nature into our urban infrastructure, we increase biodiversity, and make communities cleaner, greener, healthier, and safer in the face of extreme weather events such as heat domes and atmospheric rivers. We need to move from cities that contain nature to cities embedded in nature. Join us at this informative session to learn about what that means in practise!

 

Michelle Sheardown is a RegenerateBC facilitator from North Vancouver. She has a professional background in economics, law, and education. Michelle regularly presents on climate solutions to groups on the North Shore, including hosting a monthly session at her local library in Lynn Valley. Michelle enjoys daily walks in the nearby forest with her dog and tending to her rewilded garden.

 

Gardening: Planning for Your Seed Garden

If you want to collect seeds from your garden, you should do a bit of planning before the growing season starts. But what kind of things do you need to plan or track? What’s the best way to grow your garden in order to both enjoy the produce and get some seeds?  Siri van Gruen will help demystify some of the planning that goes into producing seed, either to keep for yourself or to donate (to the NWPL Seed Library!). Join us to help plan for your seed garden!

 

This event will take place in person at the NWPL Main Branch, and streamed live via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. The presentation will not be recorded.

Gardening: Houseplant Glow Up

While the weather might still be too nasty to do much in your outdoor space, January is a great time to give your house plants some love! Learn what plants like and don’t like this time of year, best practices for repotting, rearranging, pruning and propagating. Join Carole Forsythe to give your house plants the best possible start to 2026! Bring your questions.

This event will be in person at the Main Branch, New Westminster Public Library, or online via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately the session will not be recorded.

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Talking Climate: How to Have Conversations that Connect

Did you know that a broad majority of Canadians are alarmed or concerned about climate change and that having conversations with our neighbours about climate solutions is one of the best ways to alleviate some of this anxiety? But how do you start those conversations? What if you feel you don’t know enough, or don’t know your neighbours well enough to begin? Join Karen Crosby and Kristen Andrews from the New Westminster Climate Action Hub to learn about how to start. She’ll share best practices for starting solutions-focused conversations and talk about her own journey as a climate communicator.

Here’s to trying new things in the new year and creating community along the way!

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Mayor’s Youth Climate Leadership Team

Join together with Mayor Patrick Johnstone and members of the Youth Climate Leadership Team to learn about this innovative process, the project the team activated, and how the city is supporting their efforts. There will be a chance to ask questions and find out next steps.

 

Light refreshments will be served.

 

This event is part of BC Library Association’s Climate Action Week, a province-wide initiative to highlight the ways communities and libraries are taking action in the climate crisis. Check out all the climate action events at the New Westminster Public Library from November 1-7! nwpl.ca/climate

Gardening: Garlic

Grow your best garlic ever! Join us to learn garlic secrets and best practices and how you can cultivate this culinary essential in your garden space. Gail Felton will discuss all the stages of garlic growth, different cultivars, how to increase garlic yields and what pitfalls to avoid. Bring your questions!

 

This session will take place in person at the New Westminster Public Library and online via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link.

Gardening: Seed Cleaning & Bulky Seed Exchange

If you grew seeds in your garden this summer, join us for a hands-on seed cleaning event to get your newly harvested seeds ready for storage (or donation to our seed library). We will be threshing, winnowing, screening and sorting seeds of all types. Bring your seed material from your garden to clean together and consider donating your extras to the seed library!

If you have large quantities of bulky seeds or have divided some bulbs and have some to share, bring them to the event in an informal sharing of your crops.

Meet outdoors in the parking lot at the Main Branch – weather dependent. If it’s pouring rain we’ll be inside in the Auditorium, but it may not be possible to do such messy work inside!

Bring seeds to clean, seeds and bulbs to share, and some small bags or envelopes to take new seeds home again.

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Gardening: Backyard Butterflies

Learn how you can attract butterflies and moths to your garden or patio! These special visitors play a crucial role in pollination and as a food source for birds. Neill McCallum will show us which plants butterflies and moths love and how to keep your garden safe for them. He’ll also talk about the lifecycle of these winged friends and special needs they have at all stages. Neill is a butterfly ranger with the Butterflyway Project which seeks to build safe habitat for butterflies in our urban environments. Neill is also a science educator, so feel free to bring teens and kids along – a very family friendly topic!

 

This session will be live in person and streamed live via Zoom. All registrants will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately it will not be recorded.

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Gardening: Invasive Species

Did you know that many invasive species are available from your local garden store as ornamental plants? And by planting them in your garden you can inadvertently release them into the wild? Learn more about how invasive species impact biodiversity, what to look out for, and what gardeners can do to help.

Join Adrian Avendano, executive director of the Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver for an informative evening.

This will be presented in person at the library or online via Zoom. Please note, the presentation will not be recorded.

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Climate Friendly Homes Tour

Visit Climate Friendly Homes in New Westminster to see firsthand what people are doing to make their homes more comfortable and climate friendly.

What is a Climate Friendly Home? A Climate Friendly Home is an energy-efficient home that has been built or retrofit to reduce the energy demand and carbon emissions of the building. Whether it reaches higher steps of the BC Energy and Zero Carbon Step Codes, uses the most efficient heating, cooling and hot water systems or has an improved building envelope with added insulation and highly efficient windows, a Climate Friendly Home can have lots of features that make the home more sustainable, comfortable to live in, cheaper to operate, and more!

Check out homes in New Westminster and see which homes you would like to visit on the tour.

You may also like to check out the Sustainable Home Info Sessions which is a special event during the Climate Friendly Homes Tour.

Please note, there is no event AT the New Westminster Public Library around the Climate Friendly Homes Tour or the Sustainable Home Information Sessions. Follow the links to register, find the addresses, and tour the homes out in the community. This event is being promoted as part of the NWPL’s Earth Week programming.