Calendar

Sep
9
Mon
Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable @ Houston-Galveston Area Council
Sep 9 @ 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

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.

Sep
25
Wed
Solar in Houston: 2019 @ Green Building Resource Center; Houston Permitting Center, 1st Floor
Sep 25 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

 

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.

Sep
27
Fri
Deadline: Texas Environmental Excellence Awards Nominations
Sep 27 @ 5:00 pm – 5:00 pm

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

Sep
28
Sat
TWRC Wildlife Center’s 2nd Annual @ Nottingham Park
Sep 28 @ 7:00 am

When: September 28th 2019
Time: Check in a 7AM Run/Walk starts at 8 AM
Where: Nottingham Park, 14205 Kimberley Ln, Houston, Texas 77079
- Directions
Additional Notes: This is a timed run that benefits Texas wildlife.
There will be prizes for top male and female runners, best wildlife costume, face painting for the kids and much more!

Registration Options

  • $25 Child Runner Age 5-12
  • $35 Single Run
  • $75 Runner Pair (includes 2 raffle tickets)
  • $125 Team or Family of 4

REGISTER TODAY | BECOME A SPONSOR

There will be a raffle for some fun prizes like; Sport Baskets, Starbucks Baskets, Gift Cards, etc… the day of the 5K! Raffle tickets are pre-sale only. You may add some to your registration and your raffle tickets will be in your race packet! You can also stop by the Center and purchase them.

Ticket Cost: Single Ticket for $5 / Bundle of 5 Tickets for $20

Oct
3
Thu
Fall Symposium: Conserving Native Plants of the Texas Coastal Prairies @ South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center
Oct 3 @ 6:00 pm – Oct 6 @ 8:00 am

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.

Oct
5
Sat
16th Annual Run in the Park (Hermann Park) @ Molly Ann Smith Plaza
Oct 5 @ 8:00 am

The Conservancy’s 16th Annual Run in the Park offers a 10K run, 5K run, a 5K walk and a 1K Kids’ Run. Runners and joggers wind through a scenic course below the Park’s historic live oak canopy. The run begins and ends at Molly Ann Smith Plaza near the Jones Reflection Pool where family and friends cheer on participants. A Post-Race Party will feature food, drinks, music and more!

The 5K run will be chip timed and the overall female and male winners of 7 varying age groups will receive great prizes (Overall Male & Female, 19&Under, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+). The top three female and male winners of the Kids’ Run also receive medals.

Registration costs $30 for the 10K and 5K races, and $15 for the 1K Kids’ Fun Run. Please note: all registrations will include a $2.50 signup fee. Group rates (for ten or more) are available.

The last day to register online is Thursday, October 3. Registration onsite will be available the day of the race. To register for Run in the Park, click here.

For information on sponsorships of the 16th Annual Run in the Park, please click here.

Nov
7
Thu
UH Energy Symposium: Future of Plastics @ UH Hilton Hotel, Conrad Ballroom
Nov 7 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

UH Energy invites you to attend the second event in the 2019-2020 Energy Symposium Series | Critical Issues in Energy, “Future of Plastics: Designed Sustainability or Recycling.”

The production and use of plastics has defined the modern era and since the early 1950s they have substantially grown to be the material of choice in diverse applications. The production of plastics was projected to grow by a factor of five over the next twenty five years and the chemicals industry has been preparing for this by expanding production facilities worldwide. However, most plastics have their origins are in fossil based oil and gas and they have increasingly come under public scrutiny because of the preponderance of single use plastics in consumer products, their poor recycling rates (less than 10% globally) and their high-profile observation in unexpected parts of the ecosystem due to their improper disposal. The future of plastics is being formulated and issues of designed-in sustainability, bio-based replacements, and improved recycling are at the core and will be discussed in this symposium.

Speakers

Nichole Fitzgerald, Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) Technology Manager, U.S. Department of Energy

Jill Martin, Global Sustainability Fellow, Dow Chemical Company

Ganesh Nagarajan, Associate Director for Polymers Business Development and Projects, LyondellBasell Industries

Susannah Scott, Distinguished Professor, University of California – Santa Barbara

Moderator

Dr. Megan Robertson, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston

For more information about our speakers and moderator, please click here.

Nov
9
Sat
HPJC Peacemaker Awards Dinner & Auction @ Crowne Plaza River Oaks
Nov 9 @ 2:30 pm – Nov 10 @ 6:00 pm
Make Your Reservations for these Two Events:.
Peacemaker Reception:
Come meet the Awardees at a special reception
SATURDAY, Nov. 9th
2:30 – 4:30 PM at Redbud Gallery, 202 East 11th Street, Houston, TX 77008.
Ticket Price is $75 and includes a copy of Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz’s latest book
.AND
Peacemaker Awards Dinner:
Gather with old friends & new to celebrate the 2019 Peacemakers
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Author & Activist
Egberto Williies
Judge Lina Hidalgo
Undies For Everyone
SUNDAY, Nov. 10th
Social Hour, Cash Bar & Silent Auction 5:00-6:00 PM
Dinner & Program begin at 6:00 PM
Crown Plaza Hotel—2712 Southwest Freeway—Houston, TX 77098
Ticket price: $100 until Nov. 3

Nov
11
Mon
Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable @ Houston-Galveston Area Council
Nov 11 @ 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

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.

Nov
15
Fri
Houston Urban Tree Conference @ Weekly Community Center
Nov 15 @ 8:00 am – 3:30 pm

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.