Events
Wednesday, May 21 | 1:00 pm | Peacock Hall
The film explores the development of the domestication of dogs and how they accompanied us through the centuries. It is a story of evolution, from wolf to “man’s best friend,” and how it changed human society.
Approximately 15,000 years ago, as humans began to settle into villages and grow crops, the wolf emerged from the wild. Attracted to the food that the human population discarded, wolves began to live closer to them. Wolves were the first creatures to become domesticated and live among us. This evolution happened “in the blink of an eye.” Descendants of ancient dogs include sled dogs of the Arctic, a hairless breed from Mexico who are thought to have magical powers, and the beloved pets of today. From St Bernards to toy poodles, there are now 125 species.
Their Roles are Many
Hunters, guards, service dogs for the mentally and physically disabled. They help us with cutting edge medical research and life-saving medical care. The most popular pet in the country, they serve as support dogs for the elderly, blind, hearing impaired and vets with PTSD. As a nation, we spend 86 million dollars a year on their wellbeing and care. Sixty percent of families own a dog and consider them part of the family.
53 min.
2025 Schedule
Past Events
November 2024
“Wildlife Symphony,” originally titled “Wildlife Fantasia” features nature and wildlife film footage from around the world set to the music of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Vivaldi, Brahms, Stravinsky, Verdi and other classical composers.
This is a beautiful documentary that brings together both nature and classical music at their very best.
Produced by Michael Wanger for Reader’s Digest Home Entertainment, 1993
October 2024
Nature and You Workshop with Eve Ekman, PhD, MSW
Eve is a writer, teacher and contemplative social scientist designing, delivering, and evaluating tools to support emotional awareness. Eve draws from interdisciplinary training in clinical social work, integrative medicine, social psychology, and contemplative practice.
This transformative workshop invites participants to explore the interconnection beween nature, empathy, and a sense of ecological belonging. Through guided mindefulness excercises, group reflections, and hands-on activities, participants were given practical tools to deepen their connection with nature and develop compassionate responses to the challenges facing the world today. More about Eve…..
September 2024
From BBC Earth Films, the studio that brought you Earth, comes the sequel – Earth: One Amazing Day, an astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles. Breakthroughs in filmmaking technology bring you up close with a cast of unforgettable characters.
Told with humour, intimacy and a jaw-dropping sense of cinematic splendour this film, narrated by Robert Redford, highlights how every day is filled with more wonders than you can possibly imagine- until now.
August 2024
This is the remarkable story of the relationship between Africa’s largest and smallest and the unique wildlife community they support. Peabody Award-winning filmmakers Mark Deeble and Vicky Stone (Nature: The Queen of Trees) and their small, dedicated team spent two years of their lives camped out at a waterhole in Kenya to record life at Africa’s great wildlife meeting place.
In arid regions across southern Kenya, the waterhole, created by elephants and termites, is central to life. It is where animals visit to drink and where some creatures are born and die. Every visit is charged with tension; a waterhole is the perfect place for predators to wait in ambush. That is the traditional view, but there is an entire community of creatures that call the waterhole home, many of whom live at an elephant’s toenail height such as frogs, dung beetles and chameleons.
July 2024
Bill Leary gave a talk “Awe walks and more; how and why we all need more awe in our lives.” The talk was for all Rossmoor residents who value the scientific evidence that immersion in nature is important in maintaining and improving physical and mental health.
Leary writes the Rossmoor News column “Engaging Saging”.
June 2024
An average of four million visitors a year explore this national treasure. This film brings us to its magnificent waterfalls, gentle meadows, ancient Sequoia trees, and towering peaks. It enables us to enjoy the serenity of the High Sierras with well over 1000 plants and animal species.
This film also shows us how Yosemite is being affected by climate change. Water scarcity, droughts, more intense wild fires are becoming more common. It explores the past, present and future of the Sierra Nevada that stretches for 1200 miles from California to Nevada and through Yosemite National Park. While it captures the grandeur of Yosemite, this film is also a cautionary tale of what we and the park must prepare for in the future.
May 10, 2024
3rd Annual Spring Garden Party
Our annual occasion for club members, subscribers, and all interested residents to meet like-minded people and share their common love of nature.
April 18, 2024
Dr. Julian Fennessy, an Australian, earned his PhD studying the tall beasts in the Namibian desert. He runs the GCF with his wife Steph out of the family home in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. They are parents to Molly, age seven, and Luca, age ten, who share the Fennessys’ love of giraffes. They’ve learned the huge bumps on a giraffe’s head, called ossicones, are different from horns or antlers.
With only 90,000 left, his goal is to identify which giraffes need urgent help based on his ground-breaking theory that there are four or five unique giraffe species, not just one.
Because a population in Uganda, called Rothchild’s giraffes, are the same type as the Nubian and are endangered due to poaching and oil drilling plans, Fennessy and the Uganda Wildlife Authority work out an ambitious plan to protect the species
Wednesday, March , 2024
Award-winning filmmakers and conservationists, Dereck and Beverly Jouber, explain that prior to 2014, hunting male elephants was legal in Botswana, and that it is traumatic for elephants to come across a killing field.
The couple follow different herds on foot and place small cameras in strategic positions to capture them stopping to examine carcasses of dead elephants with their trunks, perhaps searching for the cause of death or remembering a friend.
The film likens the scene to a family in mourning and suggests that these elephants, whose brains are almost five times the size of ours, are feeling emotions similar to those we might feel, showing evidence of living beings with full lives and even souls.
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
It is no wonder butterflies have fascinated human beings for as long as we have co-existed. They are beautiful and a delight to the eye. This is a story that follows the lives of these exquisite insects. We see them first as a tiny egg, then caterpillar, then chrysalis and finally into the emergence of a colorful, fragile, beautiful butterfly. This is yet another remarkable Nature film that help educate us as to the lives of these dazzling creatures.
Butterflies have been in existence for over 50 million years. They were fluttering about at the time of the dinosaurs. They share a singe genetic ancestor, a small brown moth. Over eons, they morphed into over 20,000 species with remarkable patterns and brilliant colors. Despite their vulnerability, they evolved to protect themselves with deceptive camouflage, and fantastic migration abilities across continents.
The Painted Lady migrates 9,000 miles round trip. Some have 360 degree vision that enable them to protect themselves . They pollinate with their wings, and are essential to literally thousands of plants and flowers. Many cultures, especially the Native Americans, revere butterflies as messengers from the Great Spirit. They represent transformation, beauty and spiritual transcendence.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
This documentary is the first in a series of five nature films; this one focuses on plant life.
Step into the magical world of plants as narrated by 97-year-old British biologist, historian, and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough.
This film offers the opportunity to learn about how plants sustain all of life.
December 13, 2023
This documentary chronicles the heroic and harrowing journey that emperor penguins make amid subfreezing temperatures and violent snowstorms at the South Pole in order to mate.
At the end of each Antarctic summer, the emperor penguins of the South Pole journey to their traditional breeding grounds in a fascinating mating ritual that is captured in this documentary by intrepid filmmaker Luc Jacquet.
The journey across frozen tundra proves to be the simplest part of the ritual, as after the egg is hatched, the female must delicately transfer it to the male and make her way back to the distant sea to nourish herself and bring back food to her newborn chick.
November 15, 2023
This PBS documentary, The Hummingbird Effect, showcases these small but mighty birds that call Costa Rica home. This film features a team of l00 biologists, photographers, and naturalist guides who have contributed to making this masterpiece.
Hummingbirds are, of course, known for their miraculous flying ability. These prolific little pollinators evolved to fly backwards, sideways and can hover due to the fact they can rotate their wings in figure eight patterns. Their wings flap approximately 50 to 200 times per second. Over the 32 million years of evolution, their beaks evolved to capture the nectar they need to flap their wings. Although they can weigh less that a penny, they need to feed five to eight times per hour. Their 900 plus feathers are almost otherworldly in color. Although there are 500 species worldwide, only 50 live in Costa Rica.
October 17, 2023
PBS: From Caves to Cosmos
”From Caves to Cosmos focuses on the deep roots of Native America: Who are America’s First Peoples and how did they create their unique world?
The film provides compelling evidence that ancient people had a very sophisticated relationship to their environment, a relationship from which we have much to learn. This enabled them to shape a way of life based on deep respect and appreciation for the earth, sky, and water. Their accomplishments include building complex cities and creating democratic societies long before the time of the ancient Greeks. They even developed scientific understandings of the cosmos and strategies to influence the elements.
July 12, 2023
Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us
This engaging and inspiring documentary takes the audience on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet in ways we have not considered.
This 2019 documentary is directed by Louie Schwartzberg and combines time-lapse cinematography, CGI, and interviews in an overview of the biology, environmental roles, and various uses of fungi. The film is narrated by American actress, Brie Larson.
April 21, 2023
2nd Annual Spring Garden Party
The Nature Walkers Club held our Second Annual Spring Garden Party for members and non-members alike.
The day was full of sunshine and warmth both by Mother Nature and by all who attended.
We look forward to next Spring when we meet again!
March 15, 2023
Project Coyote
This program was presented by Project Coyote, a Bay Area nonprofit organization dedicated to replacing fear of coyotes with understanding, respect and appreciation of their ecologic role and intrinsic worth.
Project Coyote, with the support of its fiscal sponsor, Earth Island Institute, promotes coexistence between people and wildlife rather than abuse, mismanagement, and extermination.
For more information about Project Coyote please visit their website at: projectcoyote.org.
Information about Earth Island Institute can be found at: www.earthisland.org
Our presenter was Rob Ruiz, former Chief Ranger of Parks & Open Space.
January 23, 2023
Movie: Dare to be Wild
A romantic adventure based on the true story of Mary Reynolds, a modern-day heroine, and environmentalist Christy Collard, whose shared passion for the wild takes them from the green hills of Ireland to arid Ethiopia and then to London’s Chelsea Flower Show as they reach for their dreams, one garden, one vast desert at a time.
October, 2022
Movie: Winged Migration
“The movie was shot over the course of three years on all seven continents. Filming began in July 1998 and ended in spring 2001.
It was shot using in-flight cameras, most of the footage is aerial, and the viewer appears to be flying alongside birds of successive species, especially Canada geese. They traverse every kind of weather and landscape, covering vast distances in a flight for survival
August 9 , 2022
Presentation: The Natural Beauty of Rossmoor – Cassie Tzur
The Nature Walker’s Club is sponsoring a talk on ” The Natural Beauty of Rossmoor”. Our speaker is Cassie Tzur, a Rossmoor resident known for leading monthly bird walks for interested residents and birders.
She will share her knowledge and photographs of Rossmoor’s beautiful environment.
May 31, 2022
Green Fire Film Project: The Life and Legacy of Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948)
Considered by many to be the father of wildlife ecology and the United States’ wilderness system, Aldo Leopold was a conservationist, forester, philosopher, educator, writer, and outdoor enthusiast. Green Fire describes the formation of Leopold’s idea, exploring how it changed one man and later permeated through all arenas of conservation.
One day while witnessing a dying wolf, Leopold reached the animal and was transfixed by a “fierce green fire dying in her eyes.” That experience changed him and put him on the path toward an ecocentric outlook. His rethinking the importance of predators in the balance of nature has resulted in the return of bears and mountain lions to New Mexico wilderness areas.
November 10, 2021
Movie: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel and How They Communicate
Based on the book of the same name by Peter Wohlleben. A discussion period followed the film led by Sustainable Landscape Committee Chair Richard McPherson.
September 28, 2021
Rebecca Pollon – How Interaction with the Land Can Benefit the Young, the Old, and Even the Environment
Nature Walkers Club was pleased to present a talk by Rebecca Pollon, Landscape Manager of Rossmoor. The theme of her presentation will be, “How Interaction with the Land Can Benefit the Young, the Old and Even the Environment.”
Ms. Pollon has twenty plus years of experience with landscape design. In addition to her professional degrees, she maintains her certification with the BayFriendly/ReScape Landscape Professionals, Qualified Water Efficient Landscaping and the Community Manager certification.
We appreciate the help Rebecca gave us on planning a walking path around the golf course. At this time, this plan has not been implemented by Rossmoor.
June 22, 2021
Presentation: The Importance of Trees to Children
Dr. Joe McBride, professor emeritus of UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management will speak to Rossmoor’s newest club, Nature Walkers.
He presented a talk of interest and inspiration to grandparents, mentors of children, anyone with children in their life and even to anyone who was once a child.
Professor McBride’s primary research, publications, and teaching during his 44 years at Cal have been on forestry ecology and urban forestry.
April 15, 2021
1st Nature Walkers Spring Garden Party
The Nature Walkers Club held our first Spring Garden Party for members and non-members alike.
We had a beautiful afternoon, and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow Nature Walkers and other Rossmoor neighbors who share our love of nature and this beautiful place we call Rossmoor.
Founded in 2020
In our first year, we worked on the following:
Sponsored regular walks on the golf courses
Advocated for a dedicated walking path
Advocated for more community use of Peacock Plaza (Town Square)
