AREA SCHOOLS HOST TEACH-INS ON GLOBAL WARMING THURSDAY
By Ella Tyler and Leslie Pennycock
Teach-ins are one idea from the anti-war movement of the ‘60s that, unlike tie dye, deserves a comeback. A teach-in is a day when an entire school puts aside business as usual and focuses on a single topic. On Thursday, January 31, as part of Focus the Nation, more than a dozen schools in the area will be part of a national teach-in about global warming solutions. Focus the Nation’s goal is to help shift the conversation about global warming towards a determination to face its challenge.
Saint Catherine’s Montessori School is the first school in Texas to be LEED certified, and students and faculty there continue to be engaged in the green movement. The school’s seventh, eighth and ninth graders are hosting a Focus the Nation conference from 9 am to 3 pm. Events will include two panel discussions with the mayors of Houston, Bellaire, and West University, State Representative Ellen Cohen, city council representatives, and representatives from industry and academia; a poster presentation called Cirque du Solutions; a recycling contest with Shearn Elementary, Corpus Christi Catholic School and The Emery/Weiner School and a locally grown lunch. The lunch entertainment is a mini-musical written and produced by students. The public is invited. St. Catherine’s Montessori is at 9821 Timberside. For more information call (713) 665-2195, e-mail ac@stcathmont.org or see the school’s website.
The University of Houston is hosting events all day and all across the main campus. The Climate Change Challenge, a panel discussion with Senator Rodney Ellis, Robert Harriss of HARC, Rives Taylor of Gensler Architects, Ron Sass of Rice University, Karl Pepple of City of Houston, Brian Yeoman, Betin Santos of ICLEI and UH Environmental Law student Jennifer Hartman will be from 1 to 2:30 pm at the Cullen Performance Hall. There will be a Climate Change Fair with an alternative fuel auto show, tabling by student and community organizations, and product giveaways from 10 am to 4 pm outside the Cullen Performance Hall. Across campus, there will be informational booths in the atrium of the College of Architecture from the Houston Renewable Energy Group, AIA Committee on the Environment, Clean Houston, US Green Building Council from 10 am to 12:30 pm. For more details about events at UH, see the UH Climate change website or Facebook: University of Houston Climate Change.
In the evening, Rice University is hosting a CO2 Forum with speakers such as Dominique Raynaud, a leading climatologist from France; John Hofmeister, President of Shell USA; and Houston Mayor Bill White. This event will be in the Grand Hall of the Rice Memorial Center at 7 pm. Earlier in the day, there will be a sustainability fair with representation from different clubs, organizations, departments, and individuals from Rice and the greater Houston area. For details about Rice’s events, go online.
At Cy-Fair College, many of the professors will include climate change education in their classes.
To find out what’s going on at other area schools, see the Focus the Nation web site.