Sustainable Sundays | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

Meet the organizations that are helping to protect Los Angeles' sustainable water future and learn how you can become a voice for water by getting involved in your community.

Age of Mammals Media

Go in depth with our researchers and the unique specimens from the
Age of Mammals exhibit.
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See the World with NHM Experts!

Travel with NHM scientists to exciting destinations around the world.
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Support Today's Scientists, Inspire Tomorrow's Scientists

When you give to the Museum, you support our scientists' research on the planet's biodiversity. You are also creating tomorrow's scientists. Our teacher resources make each field trip a learning experience, our education outreach brings the science of discovery to schools all over L.A. Learn more >

Sustainable Sundays

Go Green with the Experts

"Think Global, Act Local." We've seen it everywhere — on buttons, posters and bumper stickers — encouraging us to adopt smart habits in our personal lives, like recycling and efficient energy use, to help the planet as a whole.

Sustainable Sundays takes that familiar phrase and turns it into an engaging, creative day that shines light on a host of conservation issues, and helps connect visitors with organizations dedicated to environmental causes.

We invite you and your family to take part in this stimulating monthly series, bringing together Museum scientists and guest researchers to weigh in on issues that affect us personally and globally.

A Forum for the Museum's Experts and Visitors

It's not just a lecture either. Sustainable Sundays is a forum for bringing Museum visitors together with the experts to create a lively, constructive discussion on finding green, innovative local solutions to far-reaching global problems, from climate change and water conservation, to land use, to preserving our environment, and protecting Earth's biodiversity.

If knowledge is power, Sustainable Sundays is your key to turning that power into action.

Coming Up:

Wild Locals

Sunday, February 26, 2012: 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Our scientists are continually learning new things about urban biodiversity in Los Angeles! But with your help we can gather even more data, and you can learn about what lives in your own backyard. Come take part in our Spider Survey at the Museum today, and learn more about how you can get involved with our other Citizen Science programs! Also, meet the experts that are hard at work at protecting our local wildlife and their habitats! Celebrate International Year of the Bat with us we examine our own local bats!

Workshop: If You Plant It, They Will Come! with Manager of Gardens Carol Bornstein
1 pm - 3 pm
From lizards and butterflies to hummingbirds and froghoppers, attracting wildlife to your garden is easy and good for the environment too! Whether you’re designing your yard from the ground up, or just want some quick and easy tips to adapt the yard you already have, this workshop will give you the tools you need to make your yard a habitat for local wildlife. Members $10, Nonmembers $15. Call (213) 763-3433 or e-mail Karen Ewald or kewald@nhm.org to register.

Spider Survey
12 pm & 2 pm
Join Entomologists Lila Higgins and Anna Holden to help survey what spiders live around the Natural History Museum! Limited to 20 people. First come, first served. Please check-in at the Dueling Dinos.

World Water Day LA

Sunday, March 25, 2012: 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Join us as we celebrate our most precious natural resource – water! Meet the organizations that are helping to protect Los Angeles’ sustainable water future and learn how you can become a voice for water by getting involved in your community. We’ll have a day full of fun activities and interactive displays for all ages.

Workshop: EarthWorks hosted by TreePeople
1 pm - 4 pm
Learn how the earth works to create a more sustainable environment right in your own backyard! Participants learn the “why” and “how” of low-impact, best management practices (BMPs) for their property and receive assessment tools and solutions to implement basic DIY solutions. A variety of incentives, membership discounts and other resources will be provided.

• Mapping water supply and needs

• Creating permeability

• Infiltration pits, berms, and swales

• Turf removal and mulching

• Rain gardens

Free with Museum Admission. E-mail trainings@treepeople.org to RSVP.

Outward Bound

Sunday, April 22, 2012; 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Celebrate Earth Day with us! Living in the concrete jungle that we call home, it’s easy to forget Los Angeles has beautiful accessible green spaces. Today, discover the natural resources that are within reach and reconnect with the outdoors!

Meet our Partners:
Children's Nature Institute | Community Services Unlimited | TreePeople

Urban Edibles

Sunday, May 26, 2012; 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Today is all about edibles! Meet the groups that are working locally to promote sustainable growing practices. Get tips from the Master Gardeners on how to grow your own organic food, take a tour of the Museum's Edible Garden, and plant an herb of your own to take home.

Meet our Partners:

Past Events:

Dig Into Dirt

Sunday, January 29, 2012; 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Get a closer look at the precious resource right beneath our feet and learn about the science of soil with our experts! Get your gardening and composting questions answered, try your hand at pottery, and meet some critters that call dirt their home!

Workshop 1 pm - 3 pm: The Science of Soil with Master Gardener Vanessa Vobis
Calling all naturalists and gardeners! Embark on a journey beginning 4.6 billion year ago during Earth's formation to learn about the history of soil. What are soil's origins, how is it regenerated, who (or what) needs it and why should you care? In present times, our understanding of soil has changed: politically and socially, what is soil? And what does soil mean to the people that grow our food?

Members $10, Nonmembers $15. Call (213) 763-3433 or e-mail Karen Ewald or kewald@nhm.org to register.

For more information on Sustainable Sundays please contact Briana Burrows at (213) 763-3471 or bburrows@nhm.org.

Public Service Notice