The Memorial Park Conservancy has generously offered Katy Prairie Conservancy use of their greenhouse while the Native Seed Nursery at KPC’s field office in Waller is being renovated. Volunteers will help grow plants that will be used for various Katy Prairie Conservancy spring projects and for the Great Grow Out. The Memorial Park Conservancy Greenhouse is located in Memorial Park on the south side of Memorial Drive. All are welcome, no experience necessary.

Workdays are scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

Jacob Martin, greenhouse manager at Mercer Botanic Gardens and owner of Old School Produce, will teach participants how to preserve tropical plants in your garden over the wintertime. He will demonstrate how to cut and cover large tropicals and give tips for storing smaller plants when the temperatures drop.

Lunch Bunch is recommended for ages 12+. Bring lunch and enjoy this gardening presentation. Call Mercer Botanic Gardens at 713-274-4160 to make a reservation or receive more information

Volunteers meet the second and fourth Thursday of every month to propagate plants from locally collected native seed. A typical workday may include seeding pots, bumping up trays into 1-gallon containers, separating seedlings, and weeding pots. They will also have special seed collecting trips, invasive species removal workdays, and planting events in restored prairies.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the Natural Resource Management Program, email kelli.ondracek@houstontx.gov or visit houstontx.gov/parks/naturalresources.html.

A principal creator of the climate movement, Bill McKibben returns to The Progressive Forum on the eve of worldwide climate demonstrations scheduled in September, while the City of Houston develops its Climate Action Plan for year-end. Furthering the importance of the event, McKibben will be joined onstage by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner for a brief Q&A on climate change and planning at the local level.

McKibben is the co-founder of 350.org, the first organization to launch a planet-wide movement including 20,000 rallies held in every country except North Korea, while spearheading the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Foreign Policy magazine named him to its inaugural list of the world’s most important global thinkers. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and the recipient of the Right Livelihood Prize, called the “alternative Nobel,” as well as the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize. He wrote the first book for a general audience on climate change, The End of Nature, in 1989, plus a dozen other books. In May, he published Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? He is the Schuman Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Books will be on sale at the event, and McKibben will sign books and greet fans at the end of the evening

Three levels of ticket prices. A $150 ticket includes a private speaker reception and reserve seating near the front. $70 and $45 general admission.

The films presented by the Houston Green Film Series are free to public and funded by volunteer efforts, in-kind contributions and donations from the public.

In general, the series is screened on the third Wednesday of each month.

For current films, visit the Houston Green Films website or Facebook page.

The films presented by the Houston Green Film Series are free to public and funded by volunteer efforts, in-kind contributions and donations from the public. Free tickets on Eventbrite.

“There has to be a fuel revolution.”

-Donnie Tipton of Going Green Grease Recycling

Set in Houston, Texas in the shadow of the nation’s oil industry, Hot Grease tells the surprising story of how the biodiesel industry is turning an ostensibly worthless raw material, spent kitchen grease, into a renewable energy source capable of fueling cars, buses and fleets of trucks throughout the country.

The millions of gallons of cooking oil that our country’s restaurants use to fry up chicken, fries, and donuts used to end up as waste in landfills and pollutants in our waterways. But today, thanks to innovators, entrepreneurs, and politicians, it’s being turned into a functional fuel: biodiesel. Biodiesel reduces carbon emissions up to 85% compared to petroleum fuel, the equivalent of removing over 19 million cars from our highways. This film dives into the untapped market of biodiesel as it rapidly becomes a commodity and individuals dedicate their livelihood to making it an accessible fuel choice in Houston.

This month’s panelists & exhibitors:

Chris Powers, Houston Biodiesel

Jody Gibson, Energy Institute High School

Michael McClere, Dependable Cooking Oil

Alona Hernandez, Houston Public Works

Ted Driscoll, Galveston Bay Foundation

Free to the public, though donations are kindly appreciated. Rice Cinema is located at 2030 University Blvd, near Stockton and University.

• 6:30 PM Reception & Refreshments
• 7:00 PM Film Screening
• 8:00 PM Panel Discussion
• 9:00 PM The conversation continues at Valhalla, Rice University’s Graduate Student Pub

For questions about transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event go to https://park-trans.rice.edu/