Pasadena weekend: December 12-14

Learn about organic fruit and vegetable gardening, join a walking tour. Plus: ongoing and recurring events, and this week's random read.

Gardening. The Arboretum will host a class for organic fruit and vegetable gardening on Saturday morning. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

Walking tours. The Arboretum will hold walking tours on Friday and Saturday morning. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center will host a walk with The California Native Plant Society on Sunday morning.

The 7th Principle Green Council at the Neighborhood Church will hold its monthly meeting on Sunday morning.

The Arroyo Food Co-op will host a tea appreciation event on Sunday morning. The store is now open on Saturdays and Sundays for shopping and pick-ups. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up starting next Tuesday. Looking ahead, note that the store will not be open on December 28 and on January 4.

Survey. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. To participate go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWP_Energy_Future2014. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Cycling. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Exhibition. The Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

Random read. In the summer, the president of Kiribati flew to Norway on a fact-finding mission. His country, "a sprinkling of mostly coral atolls that, palm trees excepted, barely protrude from the Pacific," is gradually disappearing into the rising ocean, and President Anote Tong wanted to see the Arctic glaciers melting. Tong, who is a deeply spiritual man, boarded a Greenpeace ship and went deep into Norway's fjord system where he saw the ice, a polar bear and "the sheer arrogance of the landscape." He left for home with a sense "that what has been set in train here can't be stopped." John Van Tiggelen tells the story of Tong's trip north in the most recent issue of The Monthly, an Australian magazine. His narrative, Cold Comfort, talks about oil companies, Putin and polar bears in a changing climate, and about "the pursuit of profit at any cost [that] got us into this mess."

- - - - - - - - - - -

Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.