Date: Friday, May 5, 2006

Time: All Day

The Galveston Bay Watershed Academic Partnership puts students in leadership roles in the monitoring of local waterways, restoring habitats, and participating in other environmental service-action projects. At this summit, GBWAP partner campuses and guest classes will set up interactive learning/exhibit booths that highlight their studies and action projects conducted over the past school year. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and other organizations will join us for the day as students celebrate their achievements with their peers and other community members. Pre-registration is required. Location: Armand Bayou Nature Center Contact: Please contact Brent Stafford (bstafford@galvbay.org) if your organization or class would like to participate. More information available at: http://www.earthforce.org/texas/gbwap Fee: Please call for fees Time: Please call for time

By Ella Tyler

If you are not familiar with the contemporary Vanity Fair, don’t be put off by the name. Yes, there’s still plenty of celebrity gossip and glossy advertising, but the magazine also has a reputation for publishing serious articles. And it has outdone itself with its first green issue. (more…)

The Orion Grassroots Network is hosting a meeting called the Colorado River Convergence during the last weekend of September at the Canyonlands Field Institute in Moab, Utah. (more…)

This weekend’s “Earth Day” events include Pasadena’s first Environmental Fair and the American Lung Association’s 4th Annual Asthma Walk, both on Saturday, and an environmental fair at Trinity Episcopal Church on Sunday, May 1. (more…)

Japanese author and researcher Masaru Emoto will be speaking at Rice University on May 4. Dr. Emoto’s photographs of water crystals were seen in the movie “What the Bleep do We Know?” (more…)

The first ever state-wide quail count will be held on Saturday, May 6, from 7 to 9 am. Volunteers are needed. (more…)

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is teaming with the Texas Forest Service, the Houston Advanced Research Center, and the Houston Area Urban Forestry Council to host the Urban Forestry Summit 2006. (more…)

Blueprint Houston is conducting three more training sessions for facilitators for the Citizens’ Congress II, which will take place on May 6. The event gathers citizens and community leaders for discussions of the best way to prepare for future growth and development. Facilitators will lead small group discussions. (more…)

FEMA NEEDS TO BE SCRAPPED, SENATORS SAY
Houston Chronicle 4/26/06
WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency was so fundamentally dysfunctional during Hurricane Katrina that Congress should abolish it and create a new disaster response agency from scratch, a draft bipartisan Senate report has concluded.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS BY KATRINA INQUIRY

BUSH ACTS TO EASE HIGH GASOLINE PRICES
Houston Chronicle 4/25/06
WASHINGTON – President Bush today proposed halting deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to increase the supply of fuel ahead of the busy summer travel season.

BUSH TAKES STEPS TO EASE INCREASE IN ENERGY PRICES

MICROSCOPE ON OIL FIRMS’ TAX RETURNS
Houston Chronicle 4/27/06
WASHINGTON – With the public clamor over high gasoline prices reaching deafening levels, Senate tax experts have decided to scrutinize the tax returns of the nation’s largest oil companies.

GLOBAL WARMING BEHIND RECORD 2005 STORMS, US EXPERT SAYS
Environmental News Network 4/25/06
MONTEREY, Calif. – A leading US government storm researcher said Monday that the record hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming.

EXPERT: ISLE SHOULD FOSTER PRESERVATION
The Galveston County Daily News 4/23/06
GALVESTON – When Don Rypkema ponders how cities should cope with the notion of preserving history, a herd of cattle usually comes to mind.

BOARD OKS PLAN TO REIMBURSE DEVELOPER
The Galveston County Daily News 4/24/06
GALVESTON – The developer of an upscale subdivision could get up to $6.3 million for public improvements.

EVENT’S LESSONS DOWN TO EARTH
Brazosport Facts 4/23/06
Keep Lake Jackson Beautiful’s Enviro Fest at Brazos Mall gave Kathy Lewman a chance to reinforce lessons to her children about recycling and planting.

VOTE FOR MAYOR POINTS TO CHANGE IN NEW ORLEANS
New York Times 4/2406
Low black turnout in the first round suggests that incumbent C. Ray Nagin faces major hurdles in a runoff.

A GREENER WAY TO CUT THE GRASS RUNS AFOUL OF A POWERFUL LOBBY
New York Times 4/14/06
Lawn mowers lack catalytic converters, but the dominant engine manufacturer vigorously opposes adding them.

Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Look for spring migrants in Russ Pitman Park. Warblers, vireos, yellow-billed cuckoos, orioles, thrushes and buntings are just a few of the migrants you may see. Location: Meet on the front porch at 12 noon Nature Discovery Center 7112 Newcastle in Russ Pitman Park, Bellaire, TX Contact: (713) 667-6550 Fee: Free Time: 12 noon-1 pm

By Ella Tyler

American Rivers, a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy natural rivers, has named the San Jacinto River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2006. It is ninth on a list of ten rivers.

The river is best known as the site of the battle of San Jacinto, fought 170 years ago today. This is the battle in which Texan forces defeated a Mexican army and secured Texas’s independence. (more…)

Abitibi-Consolidated, Inc., and its PaperRetriever(c) program is the winner of a Texas Environmental Excellence Award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. (more…)

The city of Houston is looking for summer interns to do tree inventories and park asset inventories. The workers will use a GPS Magellan 500 or Trimble GEO XT unit either to identify tree species, condition, location, diameter, and other features, or to collect data on park features such as picnic tables and water fountains. (more…)

POWER DEMANDS CAUSE BLACKOUTS IN HOUSTON
Houston Chronicle 4/17/06
Parts of Houston went without power this afternoon as grid operators shut off service to make up for a shortfall of about 1,000 megawatts caused by the convergence of power plant maintenance season and exceptionally warm weather.

CONSERVATION URGED TO WARD OFF FUTURE BLACKOUTS

FORMER DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE REVS UP CAMPAIGN — ON GLOBAL WARMING
Environmental News Network 4/19/06
WASHINGTON – Al Gore has a major campaign under way — to change policies on global warming.

GROUP SAYS CLIMATE IN DIRE STRAITS
Houston Chronicle 4/17/06
The founders of one of the city’s newest advocacy groups say Houstonians, when it comes to global warming, are in denial. The Houston Climate Protection Alliance hopes to educate the populace of the nation’s energy capital that pollution is heating up the planet.

LOCAL LEADERS’ EMERGENCY PLAN MAY DEFY PERRY
Houston Chronicle 4/17/06
Local county judges and mayors appear set today to defy Gov. Rick Perry’s order requiring the selection of a single commander to manage future catastrophic events in the greater Houston region, opting instead to handle the job by committee.

PERRY SLAMS LOCAL PLAN FOR DISASTER COMMITTEE
EVACUATIONS TAUGHT HEALTH OFFICIALS LESSONS

GET READY FOR DECADE OF DISASTER
The Beaumont Enterprise 04/16/06
ORLANDO, Fla. – Port Arthur fire chief Larry Richard attended the five-day National Hurricane Conference knowing the odds of another Category 3 hurricane hitting Southeast Texas this season weren’t any greater than before.

CITY BACKS OFF SUING VALERO OVER LOCAL POLLUTION VIOLATIONS
Houston Chronicle 4/20/06
The city of Houston backed off Wednesday from suing Valero Energy Corp. over pollution violations at its local refinery, saying it was working toward an agreement with the company and collaborating with the state attorney general’s office in a possible enforcement case.

SEVERAL BAYTOWN FACILITIES CITED IN REPORT

MALFUNCTION SPURS RELEASE FROM PLANT
Brazosport Facts 4/19/06
OLD OCEAN – More than a ton of chemicals was released at the Chevron Phillips Sweeny facility on Saturday night from an equipment malfunction, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality report.

SWINGING FOR THE SUBURBAN FENCES, BUT NOT TOO HARD
New York Times 4/16/06
BELLAIRE, Tex. – It’s not just one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old softball game in Feld Park.

GIVING BACK TO THE EARTH
Houston Chronicle 4/17/06
EARTH DAY turns 37 Saturday. What was the last gift you gave our planet?

Official Earth Day is Saturday, April 22. Special events are planned at the Houston Zoo, the Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire, Armand Bayou Nature Center, Brazos Mall in Lake Jackson, the Children’s Museum, and Champion Lake near Dayton. (more…)

The City of Houston, along with co-sponsor Keep Houston Beautiful, will host the 2006 Environmental Summit on Thursday, June 1, at the Marriott Westchase. The theme of the summit is “Make Houston a Model Environmental City.” (more…)

Rice Environmental Club’s 14th Annual Conference will take place Saturday, Apr 22, 9 am to 4 pm, in Herring Hall 100, the lecture hall at Rice University. This year’s conference will cover the progress that Houston has achieved in air quality. (more…)