Date: Thursday, November 7
Time: 6:30pm Cocktails / 8pm Seated Dinner
Location: The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park

Attire: Cocktail

Co-Chairs: Carolyn and Chris Dorros and Mary and David Wolff

Please consider supporting the 2019 Buffalo Bayou Partnership Gala, Moonscape. It will be a magical evening, dining under a luminous tent on the beautiful lawn at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park. To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, this year’s gala will highlight the signature Lunar Cycle Lighting along Buffalo Bayou.

This illuminating celebration will support the ongoing care of Houston’s most significant natural resource and Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s vital programs and projects that enhance the quality of life for all in our city. Tables for ten guests are: $25,000; $15,000; $10,000 and $6,000. Individual tickets are:  $1,500; $1,000 and $600.

Cocktail-only tickets are available for $100 and can be purchased here.

Click here for a response form.  For more information, contact Leigh McBurnett, BBP Director of Development, at lmcburnett@buffalobayou.org or 713.752.0314 ext. 105.

The Nature Conservancy in Texas invites you to attend the 2019 Houston Conservation Gala! Join us on Thursday, November 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Houston Zoo for a gala of global proportions. Spend an “evening on the ark” as National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore presents National Geographic’s Photo Ark—a groundbreaking effort to document species before they disappear.

Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, National Geographic fellow and regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. Most importantly, he is an avid conservationist who began the ambitious Photo Ark project 11 years ago in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then, he’s visited 40 countries in his quest to create a lasting photo archive of global biodiversity. To date, Sartore has captured portraits of more than 9,000 animal species in human care, inching him nearer to his original goal of documenting 12,000 unique species.

During the evening, Sartore will take us behind the scenes, describing how his vision for the Photo Ark not only began, but where it’s taking him next. He’ll share with us the stories of his travels and what goes into the creation of a photo archive of true biodiversity. And above all, he’ll impart on us the saliency of this work, helping us understand how intimate animal photography like this can play a critical role in inspiring people to take action around conservation.

Sartore’s commitment to saving species makes him a perfect keynote speaker for our Houston Gala. The Nature Conservancy is working throughout Texas to protect at-risk species—we’re restoring grasslands to preserve and improve monarch butterfly habitat, acquiring land to conserve one of the last remaining wintering grounds for endangered whooping cranes and protecting vital corridors for ocelots in South Texas. Like Sartore, the Conservancy is dedicated to connecting people and nature throughout the Lone Star State.

To purchase tickets or sponsor the event, contact Megan Brann at megan.brann@tnc.org or 832-260-4915. To ensure sponsor recognition in the invitation, please respond with your sponsorship commitment by September 4, 2019.

From the Garden of Eden to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – gardens have played a central role in human history and have been a popular subject for artists throughout time. Join us to explore the gardens depicted in the collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. GARDENS is sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts Guild and is presented by Gerry Aitken, past president of the Museum Guild and a current docent and coordinator of the Speakers Bureau at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Bring lunch and enjoy a different gardening topic each month during these presentations. Lunch Bunch is recommended for ages 12+. Call Mercer Botanic Gardens to RSVP. Please note: Location temporarily outdoors in main garden under staff building.

The focus of this presentation will be on light pollution and the adverse impact from unshielded light on plants, animals and humans, including glare and visibility problems and health effects. Deborah will discuss the threat of the proliferation of bright white street lighting and present solutions that double down on the advantages of LED light. Learn how to light with minimum impact for greater visibility at the least energy use and where to buy good quality lighting.

Interested in Urban Forestry? Come join Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, HAUFC and ISA-TX for a great day of education. Topics include: Emerald Ash Borer – Coming to a City Near You, Using Tree Growth Regulators to Reduce Pruning Costs, and Greening the Houston Region – Partnerships and Projects that Support the Urban Forest.

Duke University Press Description of Book:  “Based on fieldwork among state officials, NGOs, politicians, and activists in Costa Rica and Brazil, A Future History of Water traces the unspectacular work necessary to make water access a human right and a human right something different from a commodity. Andrea Ballestero shows how these ephemeral distinctions are made through four technolegal devices—formula, index, list and pact. She argues that what is at stake in these devices is not the making of a distinct future but what counts as the future in the first place. A Future History of Water is an ethnographically rich and conceptually charged journey into ant-filled water meters, fantastical water taxonomies, promises captured on slips of paper, and statistical maneuvers that dissolve the human of human rights. Ultimately, Ballestero demonstrates what happens when instead of trying to fix its meaning, we make water’s changing form the precondition of our analyses.”

Join MPC at the Omni Houston Hotel for Memorial Park Conservancy’s annual gala celebrating Memorial Park, our treasured greenspace in the heart of Houston. The annual Picnic for the Park raises critical funds for the day-to-day care of Memorial Park including its vast urban trail network that provides enjoyment, well-being, and connectivity for the millions of people who love Memorial Park.

Your support plays a valuable role in Memorial Park Conservancy’s mission to restore, preserve, and enhance the Park for the enjoyment of all Houstonians. From recreation to nature, there is a trail for everyone in Memorial Park!

Drink up the benefits of water conservation and learn how to build a rain barrel at home.

Climate Solutions for Texas, a local initiative of AIChE’s Climate Solutions Community is co-hosting a Climate Solutions Symposium with the Engineering, Science & Technology Council of Houston. Join us.