Calendar
Join us for the Parks and Natural Areas (PNA) Roundtable on Monday, July 8, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at H-GAC Conference Room A, Second Floor.
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. To register visit events.r20.constantcontact.com/register.
Rice Alliance’s Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum XVII. The largest energy and clean technology venture capital conference in the southwest.
This event is an opportunity to learn about the latest emerging technologies, meet investors to seek funding, see promising companies, learn about investment opportunities, meet individuals from the energy & clean technology industry, learn about promising companies seeking to expand their management team, as well networking and learning opportunities for entrepreneurs, researchers, investment professional and business executives.
The must-attend event is open to anyone involved in the energy and clean technology community. The conference will include industry luminary speakers, investors, and promising startups from throughout the U.S. and beyond.
What’s new with solar? Time for an update. A solar farm is in development for Houston, and Tesla will tell us what their solar offering is these days. In addition, we’ll have a bit of permit data about solar installations in Houston.
Dori Wolfe, founder of Wolfe Energy, will discuss her C-40 proposal to the City of Houston to convert a brownfield landfill to a solar farm including systems thinking and recent progress in the community solar movement. Mark Mason, market manager of Houston Metro/Mexico of TESLA, will fill you in on the various solar products offered by Tesla, such as those solar roof tiles you’ve heard about, and how those are different from the other products on the market.
The City of Houston—Public Works & Engineering Code Enforcement Green Building Resource Center presents this Education Seminar in partnership with the Texas Chapter of the US Green Building Council. This 2019 series is generously underwritten by Rockwool.
CEUs available. Please RSVP to steve.stelzer@houstontx.gov. Free parking. Bus stop: Preston@Elder.
The Texas Environmental Excellence Awards is an annual awards program that honors achievements in environmental preservation and protection. There are ten diverse award categories that provide citizens, communities, businesses, and organizations an opportunity to obtain the state’s highest environmental honor and be recognized for their environmental projects. The deadline for submission is September 27th.
Since 1993, they have honored more than 250 successful environmental projects and efforts. By honoring these winners, the TCEQ hopes to encourage others to initiate like-minded projects and reinforce a spirit of environmental stewardship. These are the categories:
- Agriculture
- Civic/Community
- Education
- Environmental Educator of the Year
- Individual
- Innovative Operations/Management
- Pollution Prevention
- Technical/Technology
- Water Conservation
- Youth
Call for Abstracts
The 2020 conference solicits abstracts designed to share latest research findings and facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue about research implications, applications, and synthesis. Priority will be given to abstracts that promote fundamental Gulf ecosystem science and link scientific results to ecosystem resilience, oil spill response, or restoration and management.
For the Gulf of Mexico, 2020 signifies the culmination of 10 years of dedicated research about oil spills and the Gulf ecosystem that has taken place since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The 2020 GoMOSES Conference seeks to assess and synthesize this vast amount of knowledge and begin charting a course for future research needs in the Gulf. What has been learned about marine oil spill science, Gulf ecosystems, and the impacts of the spill to those ecosystems and the communities which depend on them? How might this wealth of research inform regional management and policy?
Abstracts submitted to this conference should highlight key findings, identify research gaps, and strongly promote the application of research findings.  Submitted abstracts may be moved to a session other than the one selected if it is thought to be a better fit. Papers not selected for oral presentations will be afforded an opportunity to participate in poster sessions.
Check out this link to obtain for information about the abstracts deadline
The 2019 annual symposium will focus on conserving native plants in the upper Texas coastal prairies, also known as the Northern Humid Gulf Coastal Prairies in the EPA Level IV ecoregion map.
Quaternary-age deltaic sands, silts, and clays underlie much of this gently sloping coastal plain. The original vegetation was mostly grasslands with a few clusters of oaks, known as oak mottes or maritime woodlands. Little bluestem, yellow Indiangrass, brownseed paspalum, gulf muhly, and switchgrass were the dominant grassland species, with some similarities to the grasslands of the Blackland Prairies. Almost all of the coastal prairies have been converted to cropland, rangeland, pasture, or urban land uses. The exotic Chinese tallow tree and Chinese privet have invaded large areas in this region. Some loblolly pine occurs in the northern part of the region in the transition to the South Central Plains. Soils are mostly fine-textured: clay, clay loam, or sandy clay loam. Within the region, there are some differences from the higher Lissie Formation to the lower Beaumont Formation, both of Pleistocene age. The Lissie Formation has lighter colored soils, mostly Alfisols with sandy clay loam surface texture, while darker, clayey soils associated with Vertisols are more typical of the Beaumont Formation. Annual precipitation varies from 37 inches in the southwest portion to 58 inches in the northeast, with a summer maximum.
The symposium headquarters will be in League City, between Houston and Galveston. at the South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center, which is on the south side of Clear Lake across the lake from the Johnson Space Center. The event begins with a reception on Thursday evening for those arriving early, speakers on Friday morning with a choice of field trips in the afternoon, more speakers and breakout sessions on Saturday, and an awards banquet on Saturday night. A social event is planned for Friday night on the Kemah Boardwalk. In addition they have prepared a list of suggested side stops and field trips for those traveling on Thursday and Sunday.
Registration prices vary depending on your level of participation.
Shell Educators’ Preview: Start your evening at 4 p.m. and earn one hour of CPE credit while viewing our newly renovated George W. Strake Hall of Malacology.
HMNS’ Educator Members will have an opportunity to speak to Tina Petway, the
Museum’s Associate Curator of Malacology, during the Shell Educators’ Preview.
As a special treat, all guests will also be able to visit our newest special exhibition,
Art of the Brick until 6:00 p.m.!
The Educator Event @HMNS: Continue your evening with us starting at 5 p.m.
and earn up to three additional hours of CPE credit depending on which
programming you attend. HMNS is featuring several ways to earn CPE credit from
attending workshops to taking a guided tour to seeing a show in our Planetarium.
Educators are able to earn a total of up to 4 hours of CPE credit while attending
HMNS’, An Evening for Educators!
Registration Information
Educators: Free
Non-Educators: $10.00
(Pricing includes entry to the George W. Strake Hall of Malacology and Art of the Brick)
Registration begins Tuesday, July 30th and ends Wednesday, October 2nd.
Please complete the online form at hmns.org/eveningforeducators to reserve your spot. For questions, contact educatorevent@hmns.org.
There are only a couple of weeks left before we gather for the only conference dedicated entirely to recycling and waste diversion activities in Texas! We could not be more excited to be in San Antonio for the 2019 Texas Recycling Summit – and want to see YOU there! Attendee registration is still open!
- Where: Wyndham River Walk Hotel– 111 East Pecan Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205
- When: October 7th-9th, 2019
- Why: Summit is our opportunity to bring together professionals from the recycling industry to learn, collaborate, meet new people, share successes, and support the growth of recycling efforts in Texas.
Our attendee, exhibitor, and sponsorship opportunities are now open for registration! Come be a part of the show getting in front of over 200 industry professionals! We will have engaging sessions and panelists and tons of networking time.
Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters Center
SSPEED’s annual conference will be held on October 8 & 9, 2019 at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. At this year’s event, Post-Harvey Era: Resilient Engineering, Infrastructure & Policy, top academic, consulting and governmental experts will present. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, City of Houston, Harris County will provide governmental updates.
Topics
– Urban Design & Policy for Flood Protection
– Structural and Non-Structural Flood Mitigation
– Flood Warning Systems
– Flooding Impacts on Mobility & Transportation
– Coastal Surge Mitigation
– Influence of Climate Change on Recent & Future Storms
– Water Quality Concerns during Extreme Storms
The conference registration fee includes handout materials, breaks, lunches, poster session, and reception. The conference agenda will be available this summer.
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ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS IN HARRIS COUNTY SYMPOSIUM
The Office of Vince Ryan Harris County Attorney’s Environmental Practice Group will host this symposium entitled “Environmental Disasters in Harris County” to bring awareness and discuss environmental issues ranging from Environmental Justice to Environmental Enforcement.