Calendar
Join us for the 4th Annual Wild About Houston Green Film Festival, showcasing more than a dozen short films from the Greater Houston Area that tell the story of local environmental issues, their champions, and how you can make a difference.
Parks and Natural Areas Awards
H-GAC established the Parks and Natural Areas awards program in 2006 to highlight best practices and innovative approaches to parks planning and implementation. H-GAC honors projects in the categories of Projects Over $500,000, Projects Under $500,000, Planning Process and Policy Tools, and Programming.
This program recognizes outstanding parks and natural areas around the region. No funding is associated with this award program.
Plant-it-Forward will give a presentation on city farming and plant growing times. Plant-it-Forward empowers refugees to develop sustainable urban farming businesses that produce fresh, healthy food for our community. This event is free and registration is required. Masks and social distancing are highly encouraged.
Conservation Grants
Conservation Grants can be awarded to projects anywhere in Texas. In its first 25 years the Birding Classic has donated $1,071,000 in conservation funding to nature tourism and avian habitat restoration, enhancement, and acquisition projects throughout the state!
Number of grants awarded (and their amounts) are determined based on team registration fees (independent and sponsored) and corporate sponsorship dollars collected each year. The Birding Classic is a cost-recovery event, so once minimal event costs are covered all remaining funds go to conservation grants in Texas. Organizations are not required to register a team in the Birding Classic to be eligible to submit a project proposal.
All approved projects submitted by the May 1st deadline will be provided to winning Birding Classic teams to select which projects are funded by Conservation Grants.
Plastic pollution now contaminates the deepest trenches in the ocean, high mountain peaks, and even the air we breathe – plus recently being found in our blood. Plastic has entered the food chain, killing wildlife, and causing the average person to eat one credit card’s worth of plastic each week. To learn more about this issue & take action to affect change, join the online Plastic Free EcoChallenge in July. You select the challenges you’d like to accomplish during the month and when/how you do them.  You can join as an individual, create your own team, or join an existing team. You are invited to consider joining one of the two teams listed below. Learn more at: https://plasticfree.ecochallenge.org/. Contact Lisa Brenskelle, team captain, at gcs.lrc@gmail.com.
Join the Lutherans Restoring Creation – Gulf Coast team at: https://plasticfree.ecochallenge.org/participants/join?referral_code=2f02b437-c6a1-4b89-84c1-82740e495ad7&team_invitation=true&team_id=20241.
Join the Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston team at: https://plasticfree.ecochallenge.org/participants/join?referral_code=57e7e24b-05c8-4199-9efc-0d99c59abe89&team_invitation=true&team_id=20242
“Green Jobs†are all over the internet. What is the true intention of the term? Clearly, installing solar panels is a green job, but are green jobs limited to renewable energy positions?  Join Steve Stelzer, Program Director of Houston’s Green Building Resource Center, who has researched this subject, for a multi-faceted presentation to help people understand the various green and not-so-green interpretations out there in the job market. In addition, he has some suggestions for “greening up†one’s conventional job. Time for interactive discussion with the speaker will be provided. Please register for this talk on www.eventbrite.com. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.
Gardening and growing fruit, vegetables, and herbs organically is easy when recreating systems of nature to incorporate plants for wildlife and for people. Gardening in the gulf coast climate allows us to grow year around. Carol Burton, Director of Garden Education at Urban Harvest will explore the seasons from Summer gardening strategies to Fall transitions for a bumper cool season crop and the top five fruit trees to get started. Time for interactive discussion with the speaker will be provided. Please register for this talk on www.eventbrite.com. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.
Scientists tell us that we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. That may seem like a very high hurdle. But, it translates to only a 5%/year reduction, starting now. Participants in this course will leave with a plan for at least their first 5% reduction, and knowledge of how to find the other 40%. Many participants have found easy, cost-effective reductions of more than 20%. The course was developed in response to the Walk on Earth Gently multifaith statement. Inspired by religious teachings to turn away from consumerism & to seek balanced relationships with all people and the planet, Walk on Earth Gently invites you into a journey of Living the Change that the world needs. This program focuses on making personal lifestyle changes in three areas: transportation, energy, and food but will be customized for participants. Anticipated schedule/topics to be covered are given below. Join us in accepting the Walk on Earth Gently invitation and committing to a sustainable lifestyle, via a weekly online discussion group. Can’t make it every week? Join us as you are able. Are you ready to commit to a more sustainable lifestyle? Then join us on this journey to Living the Change by registering on www.eventbrite.com. For more information, please contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com.
Sept. 7: Introduction & Transport, week 1
Sept. 14, Sept. 21 & Sept. 28: Transport, weeks 2, 3 & 4
Oct. 5, Oct. 12, Oct. 19 & Oct. 26: Energy, weeks 1, 2, 3, & 4
Nov. 2, Nov. 9 & Nov. 16: Food, weeks 1, 2 & 3
Nov. 30: Food, week 4 & closing
Heat is the greatest weather-related disaster in the U.S., killing more people than any other kind of natural disaster. And, Texas is one of three states with the highest heat-related deaths. A study found that the Houston area averaged 18 dangerously hot summer days per year from 1975 to 2010. Without any action to combat urban heat, Houston’s annual number of days hit by dangerous summer heat could rise to 80 by 2046. So, Houston’s urban heat issues are already serious and are forecasted to get much worse with the Climate Crisis. Urban heat negatively affects human and biodiversity health throughout the region, exacts a financial toll, leads to higher ozone levels, and reduces quality of life. Heat mapping in Houston has shown that high heat is more concentrated in underinvested communities and/or Communities of Color, thereby widening historic inequalities. Fortunately, there are solutions that can be brought to bear to reduce urban heat. Join Jaime Gonzalez of The Nature Conservancy, who led heat mapping efforts in Houston, for a discussion on the findings, their justice implications, solutions, and how houses of worship/people of faith can engage. Learn more/register on www.eventbrite.com. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.