Houston Electric Auto Association
Purpose: The HEAA is a non profit (501 c3) organization of electric vehicle owners, hobbyists, educators and enthusiasts. Dedicated to promoting the use of electric vehicles (EV’s) as an environmental and energy alternative. We are a chapter of the nationwide Electric Auto Association (EAA), and hold regular monthly meetings, public displays, car shows and “tech” sessions to exchange information.
Programs: HEAA Club Meetings on the 1st Thursday of every month from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Publications: Sign up to join the community.
Dave Hanson, President
832-425-0780
houstontxeaa@gmail.com
Houston Tomorrow
Purpose: Houston Tomorrow is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all the people of the Houston region through research, education, and discussion. Its vision is that on its 200th birthday, the Houston region will be home to the healthiest, happiest, most prosperous people in the United States. Founded in 1998.
Meetings: Livable Houston Initiative: noon on the fourth Wed. each month. Houston Food Policy Work Group: 11:30 a.m. on the 2nd Wed of each month. Distinguished Speaker Series, quarterly.
Programs: Research on growth, development and innovations in the US and the world. Outreach: Public events, discussions, and working with public and private partners. Communication: Produce accessible, useful information.
Speaker’s Bureau: Contact office.
Publications: Free Biannual magazine, Tomorrow. Weekly E-mail newsletter.
David Crossley, Interim Chair
david.crossley@houstontomorrow.org
Alex Mossler, Deputy Director
Caitlin McNeely, Programs Director
caitlin.mcneely@houstontomorrow.org
City of Houston Office of Sustainability
Purpose: The City of Houston’s sustainability office encourages green development and lifestyles across the city by carrying out green projects, educating on pressing environmental issues, and promoting sustainable products and services.
University of Houston: Office of Sustainability
Purpose: The University of Houston Office of Sustainability serves as the hub for campus sustainability efforts. Engaging the campus and community, the office fosters collaboration and educates individuals about social, economic and environmental factors that impact today’s society and generations to come. On-campus sustainability initiatives include academic programs and research, educational events, the campus community garden, single-stream recycling, water bottle refill stations, renewable energy use, sustainable transportation, green building and more.
Programs: Sustainability Task Force, Sustainability Meetups, Student Sustainability Team and Campus Community Garden
Events: Cleanup Day, Sustainability Fest, Bike to UH Day, Electronics Recycling Drive, RecycleMania and Earth Week,
Volunteer opportunities: Gardening, Campus and community events, Cleanup events.
Publications: Blog: uhsustain.wordpress.com, The Sustainable Coog Newsletter: http://www.uh.edu/sustainablecoog.com
Michael Mendoza, Sustainability Program Manager
713-743-8089
mjmendoza4@uh.edu
Melissa Halstead, Sustainability Coordinator
mjhalste@uh.edu
Sierra Club – Hou. Regional Group
Purpose: To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.
Meetings: Second Thurs., 7:30 p.m., St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1805 West Alabama at Woodhead. OPEN TO PUBLIC.
Major Events: Trips, workshops, outings, and classes; Yard Sale, spring; Annual Auction, at December meeting.
Recreational Outings: Open to members and non-members. See listing on website.
Children’s Activities: Inner City Outings program. Contact Lorraine Gibson at raineygib@aol.com.
Volunteer Opportunities: Issues include water & air quality, watershed, sustainability, energy, forestry, and parks & wildlife; Political Committee endorsements; legislative issues and letter writing; trail maintenance on Lone Star Hiking Trail; training for leading outings.
Publications: Bayou Banner, monthly (call for free copy or print PDF version from website).
Brandt Mannchen, Executive Committee Chair
brandtshnfbt@juno.com
Evelyn L. Merz, Conservation Chair
elmerz@hal-pc.org
Carol Woronow, Bayou Banner and Newsletter Editor,
HSCBanner@gmail.com
Melanie Oldham, Air Quality
oldham_melanie@yahoo.com
Brandt Mannchen, Forestry and Big Thicket
brandtshnfbt@juno.com
Transition Houston
Purpose: Transition Houston serves to build on the wisdom of the existing resources in Houston’s diverse community to inspire, network and train localized communities to consider and adapt Rob Hopkins’ transition model. Together we can unite pools of ingenuity and skills to unleash the collective genius of our own people in finding self-determined solutions.
About Us: Transition Houston is an official Transition Initiative of the burgeoning Transition movement, #40 of the 100+ official Transition Initiatives in the U.S. The movement has spread world-wide with hundreds of initiatives in the few short years since the first Transition Town began in 2005. Transition Houston is a hub for the Houston region, providing support the transition from oil dependency to local resilience by equipping communities with creative adaptations in areas such as food, energy, health, education, spirit and economy to generate a road map towards sustainable living.
Volunteer Opportunities: We frequently have hands-on projects to create practical manifestations of resiliency, such as Permablitzes, where a yard is transformed using Permaculture principles into a food garden with other elements of self-sufficiency.
Meetings: Transition Houston usually meets on the first Tuesday of each month. Please check our websites to confirm the meeting date, time and location.
Citizens’ Transportation Coalition
Purpose: Founded in 2004, the CTC is an all-volunteer grassroots transportation advocacy organization. The Citizens’ Transportation Coalition advocates for a broad-based public educational and planning process to identify neighborhood aspirations, influences projects to achieve the best transportation options, and engages our communities in designing a complete multimodal transportation system that serves us all.
Dexter Handy, Chair
drhandy@aol.com
Carol Caul, Advocacy Chair
Ed Browne, Science and Technology Chair
Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER)
Purpose: To raise awareness of the connections between pollution, place and the public’s health. CEER envisions a region that is equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically strong; where residents have the opportunity to live, work, learn, play, and pray free from environmental hazards. CEER advocates for public and private investment in protecting communities by cleaning up hazards that contaminate air, water, and land. At the same time, these investments must prevent or reduce flooding.
CEER is a coalition that brings together 25 organizations and their expertise, resources, and tools to meet the needs of communities. They work with communities impacted by environmental pollution, hazards and climate change.
Programs: CEER hosts candidate forums, town halls, workshops, trainings and calls to action connected to its advocacy campaigns. Advocacy campaigns are organized around CEER’s 8 Point Plan.
- Embrace Transparency
- Focus on Air
- Focus on Land
- Focus on Water
- Focus on Resource Recovery and Recycling
- Focus on Displaced People
- Embrace Resiliency
- Focus on Equity
Publications: Creating Lasting Change in a Climate Altered Future; Eyes on the Future, Connected to the Past: Climate Justice in Northeast Houston; Our Local Vision of Just Recovery; Community Conservation.
Houston-Galveston Area Council
Purpose: The Houston-Galveston Area Council is a region-wide voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning region of Texas. H-GAC’s mission is to serve as the instrument of local government cooperation, promoting the region’s orderly development and the safety and welfare of its citizens. Key governmental services include transportation planning, disaster resiliency, cooperative purchasing, homeland security, workforce development, air and water quality planning, forecasting, and mapping.
Programs: H-GAC engages in a variety of collaborative environmental planning efforts including watershed protection, solid waste management and air quality for sustainable development. It is also actively involved in education and public awareness programs, including Commute Solutions and NuRide, the Clean Waters Initiative, Regional Recycling Roundtable.
Volunteer Opportunities: H-GAC offers year-round volunteer opportunities through our Texas Stream Team volunteer water monitoring program, as well as at a one-day Trash Bash waterway cleanup event. For more information on opportunities, visit http://www.h-gac.com/go/getinvolved.
Jeff Taebel, Director of Community and Environmental Planning
(713) 993-4560
jeff.taebel@h-gac.com
Kathy Janhsen, Principal Program Coordinator
Kathy.janhsen@h-gac.com
(713) 993-2423
Houston Canoe Club
Purpose: Established in 1964, the Houston Canoe Club’s members are interested in all types of paddlesport from canoeing to kayaking, quietwater, whitewater, touring and racing. We do it all and have fun doing it. Canoe safety presentations are available for school groups.
Meeting Time: 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at the Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77074.
Volunteer Opportunities: Waterway clean-ups, habitat restoration, boating race safety/judging, water quality issues.
Publications: Monthly newsletter, The Waterline.
Bob Naeger, Commodore
bob.naeger@gmail.com
Scenic Houston
Purpose: Scenic Houston works to eliminate visual blight because all Houstonians are entitled to a green, uncluttered, visually appealing city. Scenic Houston promotes sign control, billboard reduction, freeway landscaping, scenic byway development, and enhanced design standards for public projects. Our success improves the quality of life for all Houstonians.
Major Events: Scenic Visionary Awards Dinner, October.
Volunteer Opportunities: Young Friends Initiatives, Scenic Action network, assisting with special events, outreach. Contact the office for more information.
Publications: Scenic Views e-newsletter, legislative alerts as needed, brochures, articles, blog.
Heather Houston, 713-629-0481
heather@scenichouston.org
Annamarie Saavedra
annamarie@scenichouston.org
Blanca Ortega
blanca@scenichouston.org
Environment Texas Research & Policy Center
Purpose: Protection of Texas’ air, water and open spaces. Improving the quality of our environment and our lives by using independent research and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for our environment.
Program Priorities: Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Open Space Preservation, Clean Air and Water, Global Warming. Environmental Policy Development, Legislative Advocacy, Public Education, Media Outreach, Grassroots Organizing, Clean Air Act Enforcement.
Publications: Newsletter, Annual Report, Weekly Email Updates, Bi-weekly audio Podcast on iTunes, Policy Reports: http://www.environmenttexas.org/reports, Legislative Scorecard: http://www.environmenttexas.org/legislature/legislative-scorecard, Blog: http://www.environmenttexas.org/blog
Houston Events: Environmental Leadership Conference and Activist Training, Student Internship Program.
Volunteer and Internship Opportunities: Contact (512) 610-0084
Luke Metzger, Director
luke@environmenttexas.org
(512) 479-0388
John Rumpler, Senior Environmental Attorney
john@environmenttexas.org
(617) 747-4306
The CEC has a searchable, web-based version of the Environmental Resource Guide. You may also download older versions of the printed guide below.
Archived Resource Guides