Calendar
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour is returning to Houston on January 29, 2022. Hosted by the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, this year’s film fest will be a hybrid event, taking place both online and in person at MATCH to accommodate everyone’s COVID safety preferences.
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Climate change threatens key life support systems on our planet, especially our oceans. Even with drastic global actions to reduce emissions, changes in the ocean will grow more profound and accelerate. These changes won’t just damage special places like coral reefs and mangrove forests, they will fundamentally alter ocean ecosystems and the fisheries therein. However, with thoughtful interventions, these impacts can be significantly reduced, and perhaps even reversed. This interactive discussion will examine the interventions necessary for sustainable fisheries in a climate-driven Gulf of Mexico.
Seaside Chats is an annual speaker series about ocean topics associated with Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and the Gulf of Mexico. These presentations take place on Wednesday evenings in February, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. (Central Time)
Please join the Texas Economic Development Council, in partnership with the International Sustainable Resiliency Center, for a FREE workshop. The workshop will focus on preparing your community to be more resilient to navigate disasters of all kinds, to learn the best practices for business continuity and where to access resources to aid in economic recovery. Each workshop participant will receive resource materials, a resilience scorecard and important information to aid in resilience and recovery strategies for economic development. This workshop is for the Texas Gulf Coast Region encompassing 35 counties.
The skeletons of massive corals grow in layers, similar to tree rings, that can be counted to determine the years of growth. Scientists can look at the chemistry of each of these layers to see what the water temperature was when that part of the coral skeleton was growing, as well as other indicators of environmental conditions. By stringing together these yearly skeletal records, scientists can chronicle how the ocean and the coral reef have changed over time
Seaside Chats is an annual speaker series about ocean topics associated with Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and the Gulf of Mexico. These presentations take place on Wednesday evenings in February, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. (Central Time)
Prepared Air
Join Rice University for a conversation with Salmaan Craig, assistant professor of Architecture at McGill University, who studies turning biogenic building materials into heat-exchangers, Rafael Beneytez-Durán, associate professor and of Architecture at the University of Houston and an expert on “Atmosphere as Form in Architecture,” and Heather Davis, assistant professor of Culture and Media at The New School, where she her recent work has examined plastic saturation and materiality. Joseph Campana, the William Shakespeare Professor of English and director of Rice’s Center for Environmental Studies, and Liz Galvez, visiting critic at Rice’s Department of Architecture, will moderate.
This free, monthly workshop addresses the basics on how to install and operate a solar system. It covers topics such as solar array types, costs of equipment and labor, permitting, energy savings, and reliability. The instructor, Bill Swann, is an expert in solar energy and has built many of his own solar systems. This workshop is ideal for all people; Bill can answer the simplest and most technical of questions. If you want to learn more about solar, this is the workshop for you. For more information, contact Bill Swann at william.swann2@gmail.com.
Street parking available. This workshop occurs on the last friday of every month, except December.
Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2022 is Planet Earth & You. In February, join Jim Blackburn, Professor in the Practice in Environmental Law at Rice University, who will discuss his new book, Earth Church, which he co-authored with artist Isabelle Scurry Chapman. Earth Church is a book about Earth-based spirituality, a subject that will become much more prominent in a future defined by a changing climate and the creation of a new economic system that is circular rather than linear. At the center of Earth-based spirituality is the Earth itself, that wonderful planet without which we would not be. Blackburn will weave a narrative around the poetry and art of Earth-based spirituality. Time for interactive Q&A with the speaker will be provided.
This free, monthly workshop addresses the basics on how to install and operate a solar system. It covers topics such as solar array types, costs of equipment and labor, permitting, energy savings, and reliability. The instructor, Bill Swann, is an expert in solar energy and has built many of his own solar systems. This workshop is ideal for all people; Bill can answer the simplest and most technical of questions. If you want to learn more about solar, this is the workshop for you. For more information, contact Bill Swann at william.swann2@gmail.com.
Street parking available. This workshop occurs on the last friday of every month, except December.

You are invited to join an online discussion series built around 15-minute videos featuring interviews with US faith leaders, representatives of climate-impacted communities from the global South, and presentations by UN officials and other experts. The videos walk viewers through four key climate policy issues that intersect with universal faith concerns for vulnerable and marginalized people. The series focuses on how climate change is impacting the core ministries of faith communities around the world, how those impacts will increase in the future, and why these impacts create an imperative for people of faith to advocate for strong US climate action.  A discussion guide is included that asks participants to think deeply about how their own local faith community’s direct service programs intersect with climate impacts, and how knowledge and experiences gained through these programs might help to inform climate policy. The study’s Action Center provides practical, step-by-step instructions for advocacy activities, as well as recommended policy asks for local, state, and national leaders.  Join us! Please register on www.eventbrite.com at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-path-of-hope-a-study-on-climate-action-for-faith-communities-tickets-273103288287. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com for more information.

Calling people of all faiths or no faith at all in Houston to care for our shared environment in observance of Earth Day/Month!  We will engage in hands-on environmental stewardship at the Willow Waterhole Conservation Reserve. This event will offer activities for all ages and skill. Meet at the Swartz Gazebo in the park to sign in. Metro bus line 7 stops nearby, and line 49 is not far. Tools/supplies will be provided. This event is organized by Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston, in partnership with the Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy. The conservancy requires signing of a waiver to participate. Please register for planning purposes on www.eventbrite.com at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spring-2022-interfaith-environmental-stewardship-event-tickets-273115956177. Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com for more information.