Join Citizens’ Environmental Coalition as they visit the Hannah and Arthur Ginsbarg Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire. There will be a guided tour outside and a chance to view major renovations that were completed recently. They will visit the pocket priarie, deciduous woodlands, prairie wetland, and cypress pond in Russ Pitman Park; nature play area; and Critter Classroom. On the tour, you will learn about environmental education initiatives at a mainstay of environmental education inside the loop. The last part of the meeting is our traditional EEE Round-table Forum where members and attendees introduce themselves, their programs, make announcements and discuss challenges and successes in environmental education.

Thursday, February 7, 2019 | 6:00pm – 8:00pm

 NEW LOCATION: Boheme | 307 Fairview Street 

Houston | Texas

Please join us for pizza, fries, and drinks as we gather for a networking reception with diverse leaders in the environmental and conservation sectors. Come connect with us as we leverage our shared power for a better movement.  All are welcome!

Feel free to send questions to Karen Driscoll at kdriscoll@rabengroup.com.

We look forward to seeing you in Houston!

The Summit will include presentations about various H-GAC programs that can provide goods, services, technical assistance, and funding for parks and natural areas projects. These projects serve as models for planning and project implementation for parks and natural areas in the region. Projects will be honored in three categories. The event will also include the annual Parks and Natural Areas Awards recognition ceremony. The awards program will be followed by networking with H-GAC staff and other parks professionals.

Jean Hill, a fiery octogenarian, is deeply concerned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the world’s largest landfill. Since 2010, she has spearheaded a grassroots campaign to ban the sale of single-serve plastic bottled water in her hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. She spends her golden years attending city council meetings and cold calling residents. So far, her attempts to pass a municipal bylaw have failed.

As she prepares for one last town meeting, Jean faces the strongest opposition yet, from local merchants and the International Bottled Water Association. But her fiercest challenge comes from Adriana Cohen, mother, model and celebrity publicist-turned-pundit, who insists the bill is an attack on freedom.

When Adriana thrusts Jean’s crusade into the national spotlight, it’s silver-haired senior versus silver-tongued pro. In the same town that incited the American Revolution and inspired Thoreau’s environmental movement, can one senior citizen make history? A tense nail-biter of a vote will decide.

6:30 PM conversation, networking, and a light meal
7:00 PM film screening, followed by a panel discussion

Free to the public, though donations are kindly appreciated.

Rice Media Center is located at 2030 University Blvd, near Stockton and University.

The least expensive University parking is in the lot on the West Side of the stadium. Enter on Greenbriar, drive to the most southeastern spot you can find, then walk along University towards Stockton.

The Galveston County Audubon Group (GCAG) of the Houston Audubon Society was organized in 1998. Conceived by Houston Audubon members, the goal was to provide local birders with access to speakers and activities without the need to travel to Houston.

In addition, they hold monthly meetings jointly with the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council (GINTC). The meetings are held in the Wortham Auditorium on the first floor at the Rosenberg Library, 7 – 8 p.m. Guests are welcome to come at 6:30 p.m. to visit with other birders about their recent outings and sightings before the meeting. Membership is free and meetings and field trips are open to the public. GCAG encourages membership in Houston Audubon Society, but it is not required.

Field Trip: Feb. 23, 2019, 8:30 a.m. – Noon @ Moody Gardens south Aquarium Parking lot, 1 Hope Blvd

Meet at Moody Gardens as a starting point and create the game plan for the trip. Attendees can consolidate into carpools with likely stops at the Galveston Island State Park, Lafitte’s Cove Nature Preserve and Jim Stevenson’s house near Indian Beach.

The PNA Roundtable serves as a forum for discussion of issues related to parks and natural areas, promotes the PNA Award Program, and maintains a regional inventory of parks. The PNA roundtable facilitates information exchange and planning efforts between various stakeholders and collaborators to protect and preserve parks and natural areas across the region. For more information, visit www.h-gac.com.

A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. Directed and written by Mark Kitchell, Academy Award-nominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, and narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende and Meryl Streep.

Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff and informed by advisors like Edward O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds.

6:30 PM conversation, networking, and a light meal
7:00 PM film screening, followed by a panel discussion

Free to the public, though donations are kindly appreciated.

Rice Media Center is located at 2030 University Blvd, near Stockton and University.

The least expensive University parking is in the lot on the West Side of the stadium. Enter on Greenbriar, drive to the most southeastern spot you can find, then walk along University towards Stockton.

As birds, butterflies and bees become increasingly imperiled, more homeowners are creating gardens to nurture and sustain pollinators. These dynamic gardens not only support wildlife but also provide an attractive and healthy environment for people.

Master gardener and naturalist Glenn Olsen explains which wildflowers, flowering shrubs, fruit trees and even vegetables offer food and shelter for pollinators. Learn to create an outdoor oasis for yourself and for pollinating creatures. The class includes a field trip to the Rice University Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden, the Urban Pocket Prairie and the Lynn Lowery Arboretum. To register and for more details, visit glasscockcatalog.rice.edu.

In 2018, Greg Whittaker embarked on a yearlong survey of Moody Gardens 240-acre property with the intent to showcase the diversity of species that use the habitats or can be viewed from Moody Gardens throughout the year. The adjacent 170-acre golf course was added to the surveys in late January 2018 and the project was informally called the “410 acre year”.

Presentation: Thursday, Mar. 21, 7 p.m., Rosenberg Library

Field Trip: Saturday, Mar. 23, 8:30 a.m. – Noon, Birds of Moody Gardens Properties

As birds, butterflies and bees become increasingly imperiled, more homeowners are creating gardens to nurture and sustain pollinators. These dynamic gardens not only support wildlife but also provide an attractive and healthy environment for people.

Master gardener and naturalist Glenn Olsen explains which wildflowers, flowering shrubs, fruit trees and even vegetables offer food and shelter for pollinators. Learn to create an outdoor oasis for yourself and for pollinating creatures. The class includes a field trip to the Rice University Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden, the Urban Pocket Prairie and the Lynn Lowery Arboretum. To register and for more details, visit glasscockcatalog.rice.edu.