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.

Adult kayak tour at sunset, RSVPs only. Theywill start with an orientation on land, paddle out into the bay, and return before the sun sets. Starting location is the Oak Bayou picnic area.

Before you can join us:

• Park entry fee paid before trip.
• Must RSVP 48 hours before the trip with Lisa.Reznicek@TPWD.Texas.Gov
• All children must be accompanied by an adult, and the program is for ages 13 and older.
• Close-toed shoes and life jackets must be worn during trip.

What to expect:

• Prepared for physical, outside, water-based activity. (Suggested weight limit for kayaks = 250 lbs.)
• Free safety and paddling lesson
• Free gear use (kayak, paddle, and life jackets)
• Small group instruction and guide (<17 people)
• 1.5 hour paddling trip to Galveston Bay, over sea grass beds and bay bottom.
• Anything that goes out on the tour may get wet, muddy, salty, or completely submerged

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.

Come along on a morning of education and adventure, paddling on a guided tour along Armand Bayou. Enjoy a leisurely morning of wildlife watching, wetland education, relaxation, and fun. Observe numerous birds, reptiles, and deer who are starting their day at the water’s edge. Beginning and experienced canoeists welcome. Minimum age 12 years old. Advance reservations REQUIRED. 281 474-2551. Fee is $25 per person.

Admission cost of Armand Bayou Nature Center:

Adult kayak tour at sunset, RSVPs only. Theywill start with an orientation on land, paddle out into the bay, and return before the sun sets. Starting location is the Oak Bayou picnic area.

Before you can join us:

• Park entry fee paid before trip.
• Must RSVP 48 hours before the trip with Lisa.Reznicek@TPWD.Texas.Gov
• All children must be accompanied by an adult, and the program is for ages 13 and older.
• Close-toed shoes and life jackets must be worn during trip.

What to expect:

• Prepared for physical, outside, water-based activity. (Suggested weight limit for kayaks = 250 lbs.)
• Free safety and paddling lesson
• Free gear use (kayak, paddle, and life jackets)
• Small group instruction and guide (<17 people)
• 1.5 hour paddling trip to Galveston Bay, over sea grass beds and bay bottom.
• Anything that goes out on the tour may get wet, muddy, salty, or completely submerged

Come along on a morning of education and adventure, paddling on a guided tour along Armand Bayou. Enjoy a leisurely morning of wildlife watching, wetland education, relaxation, and fun. Observe numerous birds, reptiles, and deer who are starting their day at the water’s edge. Beginning and experienced canoeists welcome. Minimum age 12 years old. Advance reservations REQUIRED. 281 474-2551. Fee is $25 per person.

Admission cost of Armand Bayou Nature Center:

Come along on a morning of education and adventure, paddling on a guided tour along Armand Bayou. Enjoy a leisurely morning of wildlife watching, wetland education, relaxation, and fun. Observe numerous birds, reptiles, and deer who are starting their day at the water’s edge. Beginning and experienced canoeists welcome. Minimum age 12 years old. Advance reservations REQUIRED. 281 474-2551. Fee is $25 per person.

Admission cost of Armand Bayou Nature Center:

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.