Earth, Sea, Sky and Stars

By Troy Segal

As we embark on a new year, it seems fitting to celebrate the world around us, from deep into the earth to deep into outer space (and cyberspace). Here’s a roster of events themed around things terrestrial, oceanic, celestial and wherever it is “the cloud” resides.

Earth-toned

We don’t associate the big city with agriculture—but from rooftop greenhouses to lab farms, New York is actually becoming a pastoral town. A grad student in Harvard University’s History of Science Department lectures on the future of food. Morbid Anatomy Museum, Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Most of us know little about earthquakes (except that we’d rather not be in one). Learn how scientists try to predict the unpredictable, via an immersive—but blessedly virtual—study of four recent big ones. American Museum of Natural History, Thursday, Jan. 14.

Take a little trip into the woods—centuries-old woods, that is—as the managing horticulturist of The Cloisters gives a gallery talk about the depiction of trees and forests in medieval culture and art. Saturday, Jan. 30.

Make mountaineering history as you share the journey of Gerlinde Kaltenbunner, the first woman to scale K2 sans oxygen; photos and videos illustrate her climb. NYU Skirball Center, Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Seascapes

Over the course of a lavish dinner, listen to an underwater archeologist’s lecture about the latest discoveries of the fishing-for-gold expeditions of Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan and other infamous pirates. The Explorers Club, Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Get a crash course in the factors, both human and natural, that cause the level of the oceans to rise and the consequences for our planet, conducted by a Marymount Manhattan physics professor. American Museum of Natural History, Saturday, Jan. 30.

Skyward

Slather on the sunscreen in preparation for a virtual 586-million-mile journey around the sun—the same voyage Mother Earth takes throughout the year. American Museum of Natural History. Tuesday, Jan. 26.

Get Lost in the Stars, featuring Kurt Weill’s most haunting score, in this performance of musical excerpts by the Washington National Opera, interspersed with remarks from the director and the cast. (OK, this isn’t literally about the celestial, but it’ll send your heart soaring nonetheless.) Guggenheim Museum. Sunday, Jan. 31.

Two events, both on Thursday, Feb. 4, delve into cyberspace and its implications for our daily lives. A Columbia University law professor looks at “Privacy and Exposure in the Digital Age”—and how we have traded anonymity for easy access. 92nd Street Y…New York Times correspondent and author David Sanger discusses the digital arms race among countries, and its implication for national security. New-York Historical Society.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves” is only one of the Bard’s celestial references. A team of astronomers lead you through a Shakespearean-themed tour of the stars, complete with telescopes on the roof of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Sunday, Apr. 17.

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