H-GAC is hosting a series of seminars and hands-on workshops to learn to use H-GAC’s interactive web applications for community and transportation planning. Participants will have access to computers to participate in an interactive session to master the use of these online applications.

A webinar option is also available; however, hands-on activities will be presented to in-person attendees only.

• Seminar 1: Demographic Explorer and Snapshot - Thursday, March 22
  
• Seminar 2: Regional Employment Snapshot & Commute Patterns - Thursday, April 26
• Seminar 3: Activity-Connectivity Explorer - Thursday, May 24

Seminar 1 focuses on the Demographic Explorer and Snapshot which provides quick and easy access to US Census American Community Survey data

Learn how to customize the data displayed to fit your needs:

• Draw and select an area of interest
• Query the data for more information
• Perform market analysis
• Summarize and download data
• Directly use the demographic snapshot tool and maps for presentations

For more information, visit h-gac.com.

Lone Star Legal Aid’s Environmental Justice Team and the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cordially invite you to a FREE webinar to learn the basics about converting Brownfields to Healthfields (B2H).  Learn how Houston-based community organizations might be able to apply a disaster recovery lens to this existing EPA program (B2H) towards an equitable and just transition post-Hurricane Harvey.

Citizen Science Lunch and Learn Series Webinar that will focus on the broad topic of citizen science and education.

Topic: Using Citizen Science as an Education Tool.

This webinar will feature an overview of 3 citizen science programs with a focus on how they use citizen science as an education tool.  Four speakers will give speed talks that describe their programs and how citizen science is used to engage students.  We will also cover the following topics in the talks and/or the discussion section that follows:

• Best practices (e.g., for using citizen science to engage students, collecting high quality/usable data)
• Outcomes of the citizen science efforts on students
• Challenges they’ve had to overcome
• Validity of data collected by students and whether it is usable for research purposes

This webinar is part of the NOAA Citizen Science Lunch and Learn Webinar Series and will feature 3 speed talks on the topic of “Using Citizen Science as an Education Tool”.

The 3 talks are on:

1) LiMPETS: Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students (Claire Fackler, National Education Liaison and National Volunteer Coordinator, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries): A unique youth-based citizen science program, which gives students an opportunity to conduct real scientific observations by monitoring sandy beach and rocky intertidal ecosystems along the California coast that resource managers can use for ocean conservation efforts;

2) Marine Debris Toolkit for Educators (Alyssa Nally, Program Coordinator, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries): The Toolkit provides useful marine debris resources and adapts the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project, a robust citizen science monitoring initiative, for classroom use. This toolkit is designed to assist teachers in educating their students about marine debris and involving them in scientific monitoring, research, and community outreach; and

3) Lake Champlain Sea Grant – UVM Watershed Alliance (Ashley Eaton, Watershed and Lake Education Coordinator and Kris Stepenuck, Extension Leader): A Collaborative K-12 education program focused on increasing watershed awareness and stewardship throughout the Lake Champlain Basin and Vermont.

Webinar #2: Cumulative Adverse Effects of Pipeline Development on Wetlands and Other Aquatic Resources

PRESENTER

• Wing Goodale, Biodiversity Research Institute

ABSTRACT

This webinar will provide an introduction about how CAE can be conceptualized, the language used to discuss CAE, and the legal basis for CAE. The presentation will discuss a framework for considering adverse effects, including a review of general approaches for CAE assessments and ways to address these effects. The webinar will conclude with the presentation of a thought-provoking approach to conducting simple assessment of CAE that could be adapted for use by wetland professionals as they work to identify and address CAE for projects they are planning and/or permits they are reviewing. The webinar will end with information about the Association of State Wetland Managers’ recent pipeline permitting project and forthcoming resources on CAE that will be available on ASWM’s website.

UH Energy is gearing up for its 6th Annual Energy Symposium Series – Critical Issues in Energy. The first symposium, Future of the Electric Grid: Renewed or Gridlocked a panel of experts will discuss the future of the electric grid. With the increasing adoption of distributed renewable energy resources, the potential electrification of the transportation sector and the recent cyber challenges faced by the grid, there has been increased focus on the stability of the current electric grid and how it will evolve in the future. Moreover, how this resilience and eventual transformation will be financed and regulated remain matters of significant uncertainty. Register on Eventbrite.

For the first half of the program, Jim Blackburn, co-director of the Severe Storm Prevention, Education, and Evacuation from Disaster (SPEED) Center at Rice University and director of the Bayou City Initiative, and Dr. Stephen Klineberg, founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, will discuss flooding and the future of Houston.

This will be the first public conversation between Blackburn, who specializes in sustainable development, environmental law, and civil and environmental engineering, and Dr. Klineberg, urban and environmental sociology expert.

For the second half, Wendy Watriss, award-winning social and political photojournalist, will lead a discussion about documenting major traumatic events from the photographer’s perspective. Watriss is joined by Houston Chronicle photojournalists Elizabeth Conley, Brett Coomer, Melissa Phillip, and Godofredo Vasquez, all of whom were on the front lines of documenting Hurricane Harvey.

The event is free. Registration is required.

Presented in partnership with the Houston Chronicle, Bayou City Initiative, and SSPEED Center at Rice University.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and University of Houston invite you to attend the Houston Green Roof and Wall Symposium. This one-day event will feature industry experts and local leaders presenting on green roofs and walls, local standout projects and the importance of strong green roof and wall policy. The Symposium will also feature a trade show for local green roof and wall companies, interactive panel discussions and workshops to help develop policy locally. For more information, and to register, visit GreenRoofs.org.

The Organic Horticulture Benefits Alliance hosts a seminar packed with mycorrhizal insight and much more. Michael Phillips, author of Mycorrhizal Planet, will dive deep into how fungi and plants work together to create dynamic ecosystems. Come to learn how plants and microbes communicate and how you can take your lawns, gardens, and landscapes to the next level.

OHBA Members: $20

Non-members: $40

Join EmpowerE in understanding how we all can save Mother Earth by empowering everyone around us. They will have a very interactive seminar followed by a networking session. EmpowerE wants to go beyond the formal education system and begin educating ourselves and others around us about what we all can do to better the planet. See the truth of the current state of our Earth and change the way we live. If we can minimize or reduce our use and waste, we will be able to mitigate many of the world’s major problems like pollution, climate change, hunger, poverty, and diseases, to name a few.

EmpowerE will have a very interactive seminar followed by a networking session. Can we go beyond our formal education system and educate ourselves and others around us what we can each do to better the planet that we all inhabit? Can we change the way we live? If we can minimize or reduce our use and waste, we will be able to mitigate many of the world’s major problems like pollution, climate change, hunger, poverty, and diseases, to name a few.