2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights

Bull Run Regional Park 7700 Bull Run Drive, Centreville, VA, United States

(VA) (NOVA Parks) Enjoy a 2.5 mile drive-through of festive light displays, walk-through a Christmas Village and Carnival. The show is open nightly from November 11, 2022 through January 8, 2023. Times vary on weekday and weekends. PLEASE NOTE: YOU ONLY NEED TO BUY ONE TICKET PER VEHICLE.

$30 – $75

2023 Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens 9750 Meadowlark Gardens, Vienna, VA, United States

(VA) (NOVA Parks) Enjoy even more lights this year as Meadowlark Botanical Gardens sparkles with displays of flowers, animals, trees, and holiday scenes along the Winter Walk of Lights .6-mile trail. Times and prices vary by weekday or weekend. See website for all details.

$18 – $22

Wellbeing Stroll at Brookside

Brookside Gardens 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton, MD, United States

(MD) (Montgomery Parks) Connect with and care for your inner self through the Strolls for Well-Being, an evidence based program that promotes emotional healing and wellness through connection to nature. Over the course of eight weeks, you will complete twelve walks individually in Brookside Gardens, on your own schedule and with a beautiful full-color, 110-page journal as your guide. Each ...

Exhibit: To Live and Breathe

Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum 1901 Fort Pl, SE, Washington, DC, United States

(DC) (Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum) Women have led the environmental justice movement. This exhibition explores how local women of color draw on a long history of activism and advance environmental justice efforts not only in D.C., but across the country and beyond. Visitors will be inspired as they learn why women have become leaders in the environmental justice movement, which ...

Free

Exhibit: Forces of Nature

National Portrait Gallery 800 G St NW, Washington, DC, United States

(DC) (National Portrait Gallery) “Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism” presents some of the key people—scientists, politicians, activists, writers and artists—whose work has influenced attitudes toward the environment in the United States from the late 19th century until today. The exhibition traces a history of the movement from turn-of-the-20th-century conservationism to mid-20th-century environmentalism and its backlash. It also addresses ...

Free

Cultivating Environmental Leaders (Virtual)

(DC) (Smithsonian) Join Jennifer Brundage, National Outreach Manager in Smithsonian Affiliations, to explore strategies for supporting high-school students’ environmental action. Today’s youth have never known a reality without the background of climate change, and eco-anxiety is on the rise among young people. And yet, solutions for sustainable living abound everywhere, at every scale, in every community, and accessible to all. ...

Free

The Future of Environmentalism

National Portrait Gallery 800 G St NW, Washington, DC, United States

(DC) (National Portrait Gallery) In conjunction with the exhibition “Forces of Nature: Voices That Shaped Environmentalism,” join the Portrait Gallery and co-host Monterey Bay Aquarium in a pivotal discussion around the future of climate action and environmental justice. Hear from leading intergenerational voices, Dolores Huerta, Julie Packard, Dorceta Taylor, and Wawa Gatheru, who are shaping the country’s sustainability and environmental ...

Free

Meadowood Natural Habitat Survey

Meadowood Recreation Area Lower Potomac Field Station, 10406 Gunston Road, Lorton, VA, United States

(VA) (Audubon Society of Northern Virginia) Help survey the remaining natural places sheltering remnants of an earlier, vital, natural history in NoVa. Consider joining one or more of the continuing natural resource surveys at Occoquan Bay NWR, Meadowood Recreation Area and other parks and preserves in eastern Fairfax and Prince William Counties. A report of each of the weekly, monthly surveys ...

Free

What Makes a Habitat a Home? (Virtual)

(DC) (Smithsonian) From deserts to rainforests, what makes a habitat a suitable animal home? What Makes a Habitat a Home explores habitats around the world and some of the animals that live in these habitats. Part of Smithsonian’s National Zoo Conservation Classroom series for kids and families.

Free

Writing Workshop Inspired by “Forces of Nature”

National Portrait Gallery 800 G St NW, Washington, DC, United States

(DC) (National Portrait Gallery) Join the National Portrait Gallery for an interactive poetry writing workshop exploring the themes of environmentalism and environmental justice. Attendees will create poetry inspired by portraits of scientists, activists and artists whose work has influenced attitudes toward the environment in the United States. Experiment with poetic forms to express an environmental message. Open to writers of ...

Free

Your Inner Neanderthal (Virtual)

(DC) (Smithsonian) When early modern humans encountered Neanderthals and Denisovans, these archaic humans contributed DNA to our genomes. But how many archaic human groups did we encounter and what role does archaic human DNA play in the lives of present-day people? Laurits Skov is a geneticist at UC Berkeley studying the role of archaic DNA in modern humans. In this ...

Free

Race, History, and Rock Creek: Civil War Reconstruction (Virtual)

(DC) (Rock Creek Conservancy) Join us for a panel discussion as we learn of the history and origins of the National Park Service, and Rock Creek Park. Together we will learn about the works of Frederick Law Olmsted, founder of American Landscape Architecture, which inspired the creation of parks and its benefits to the public. Our conversation will consist of ...

Free
Capital Nature