Calendar
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.
About this Event
The biomass in climax ecosystems such as forests, prairies and coastal wetlands cool our climate in three ways.
Leaves reflect more of the sunlight back into space than bare ground or concrete.
Plants sequester carbon. Most of that carbon goes underground as roots or sugars exuded to feed beneficial microbes. This massive soil life makes the soil spongy and better able to absorb water.
Plants create more rain. They transpire water and so recycle the rain. They put it back into the air and it rains again. As the plants pump it up into the air, the water vapor moves further inland. This supports inland forests which pump it yet further inland. 95% of planetary cooling is from hydrology and only 5% from carbon dioxide’s greenhouse effect.
Restoring land is low hanging fruit. Project Drawdown researched 22 ways folks are doing this. These include regenerative agriculture and multi-strata agroforestry. You can learn about these from Permaculture classes on www.urbanharvest.org
We could drawdown 30 gigatons of carbon per year according to Dr. Walter Jehne in Regenerate Earth. See also Www.GlobalCoolingEarth.org and Dr. Walter Jehne.
We need your help. Please eat organic. Please compost organic waste.
Scientia Lecture Series featuring Caroline Masiello
Scientia Lecture Series on PANOPLY
Speakers:
- Laura Schaefer, Burton J. and Ann M. McMurtry Chair in Engineering, Professor, Department Chair
- Laurence Yeung, Assistant Professor, Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
- Jim Elliott, Professor and Sociology Department Chair
Our environment is changing in myriad interconnected ways, with both short and long-term developments expected that will be felt differently in different communities and continents. We bring together three perspectives – from Engineering, Earth Sciences, and the Social Sciences – to illuminate not only the complex changes we are seeing today, but also the diversity of their impacts on society and of technological approaches being developed at Rice to address this most pressing challenge facing humanity.
A small reception will follow the event.
Going Green in Houses of Worship – Learn from Others!
The Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston invites you to learn how houses of worship in Houston are going green and consider what you could do in your own house of worship. Join speakers of a variety of faith backgrounds who will discuss work in their houses of worship to go green in their building, grounds, worship services, community service projects, advocacy, educational programs, and more. After each speaker presents on their work, we will have break-out sessions where you can discuss your challenges in going green in your house of worship and get tips from others. People of all faiths are encouraged to attend, as are representatives of local environmental non-profits that would like to work with people of faith on environmental issues. Please join us! The Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston acts to empower the faith community in the greater Houston area to act and advocate on behalf of the environment. For more information about this event, or the Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston, please contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com.
Dr. Karoline Mueller will speak.
“Restoring natural vegetation, such as forest, is currently the best option at scale for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and must begin immediately to be effective within the required timescale of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. The livestock sector, having largely displaced natural carbon sinks, continues to occupy much of the land that must be restored.†(1)
“The scientific world is very aware of the intersection between food choices and their effects on both climate and human health. Michael Clark at the University of Oxford said: “Continuing to eat the way we do threatens societies, through chronic ill health and degradation of Earth’s climate, ecosystems and water resources.”
In this presentation, we will look at the way different food choices impact our planet negatively and why the same food choices also contribute to chronic illnesses that threaten societies through the high burden of personal suffering and staggering health care costs.
Although different groups give vastly different estimates of the effect of food choices on climate crisis, the very conservative number in the FAO report, Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock(2), comes to 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This roughly equals the number for all transportation contributions. Other estimates include future land usage changes that will provide additional carbon sinks and increase the positive effect drastically.
The 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines stated: “About half of all American adults—117 million individuals—have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor quality eating patterns and physical inactivity.†While official publications(3) use the ‘reduce saturated fat’ as code for reducing animal products, many medical doctors and scientists send a clear message that choosing health-promoting vegetables, fruit, legumes, and whole grains, while omitting animal products, leads to good health outcomes.(4, 5)
Our choices can open the door to a win-win outcome.
For more information contact, Nan Hildreth at 713-504-9901 or NanHildreth@riseup.net
On Jan. 26, from 9:45-11 a.m., Christ the King Lutheran Church will host a presentation by Dr. Stephen Long, a public health physician, on the EAT Lancet Commission on Food, Planet & Health: Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems report. This study, compiled by 37 scientists and other experts from 16 countries, aims to establish a global food economy that could combat chronic diseases in wealthy nations like ours and provide better nutrition for poor ones, all without destroying the planet. For more information, see the Facebook event.
Local and state officials are seasoned professionals in crisis response. Yet, the array of risks they face–cyber attacks, severe weather and domestic terrorism–are challenging the conventional wisdom of crisis management. Adapting to the new normal of disasters demands a renewed approach. At this event, Route Fifty will explore how Houston in the wake of repeat disasters is assessing its future risk, planning for the challenges ahead and renewing its spirit of resilience.
Confirmed Speakers:Â
- Marissa Aho, AICP, Chief Resilience Officer, Office of Mayor Sylvester Turner, City of Houston
- TaKasha L. Francis, Director, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Houston
- Michael Dailey, Chief, Outreach Programs Branch, Region VI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency)
- Alison Hare, MIA, Community Resilience Officer, Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response, Harris County Public Health
- Jeffry Evans, Meteorologist in Charge, National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston, TX
- Kyle Shelton, PhD, Deputy Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University
Drink up the benefits of water conservation and learn how to build a rain barrel at home.
EVENT CANCELLED.
UHCL’s College of Education would like to invite you to the STEM conference, “STEM Innovations and Impact on Educational Communities” on Saturday, April 4, 2020. This conference will bring together leading experts and researchers from around the Greater Houston Area to focus on topics that impact K–12 STEM education. Educators will present what they are doing including hands-on activities, research, and programs as each relates to STEM. Participants will attend break-out sessions and tour some of the research facilities located at University of Houston-Clear Lake, along with earning 7 CPEs for attendance.
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.