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Environmental News Update 3/16/01 COALITION NOTES Clean Air Puppeteers Needed Mothers for Clean Air is looking for volunteer puppeteers for the Clean Air Coalition's traveling clean air puppet show. The puppets are professional, muppet style hand puppets and the wooden theater is approximately 6' x 6' with a curtain in the front and back. Volunteers are needed to set up and conduct the show at various events, both indoor and outdoor, throughout the year. They are needed on weekends as well as during the week. Spanish speakers are also needed. Training sessions will be held Tuesday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. and Wednesday, March 21 at 3:00 p.m. Call Jane at 713-526-0110 for the location or more information. Third Ward Family Festival Natural Legacy is organizing a Third Ward Family Festival and Spring Gardening Event on Saturday, March 24 at Lockhart Elementary. Schoolchildren and community members will build things for their new nature center and plant for spring. Participants should bring their own gardening tools – a trowel is sufficient. There will be lots of family activities as well. The money raised from food sold at the event will go to the maintenance of the nature center. For more information, contact Debbie Rhodes at 713-520-5008 or debbie.rhodes@naturallegacy.com. If You Plant It, They Will Come On Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m., Diana Foss, Urban Biologist with Texas Parks & Wildlife, will present If You Plant It, They Will Come, a free slide show/lecture about developing backyard habitats for birds and butterflies, at the Houston Advanced Research Center, 4800 Research Forest Dr., The Woodlands. The program is sponsored by The Woodlands G.R.E.E.N., Houston Environmental Foresight, Houston Advanced Research Center, and The Community Associations of The Woodlands. Call 936-273-4990 for more information. LOCAL Ozone Season Begins On Tuesday, March 13, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission issued the first ozone watch of the 2001 season for the Houston-Galveston region - denoting that conditions were likely for the formation of high levels of ozone. Houston already had its first 2001 8-hour exceedance of 85 ppb at 10:00 a.m. on March 7 at TNRCC’s Aldine monitoring site in north Houston. To check for daily ozone watches or warnings (when ozone levels have exceeded the federal health standard), or sign up to receive them by email, visit http://www.cleanairaction.org. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to Speak Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will speak at National Association of Environmental Law Societies Annual Conference on Friday, March 23 from 10:30 ø 11:50 at the Houston Marriott Medical Center Hotel, 6580 Fannin St. Kennedy serves as chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University School of Law in New York. Earlier in his career Kennedy served as assistant district attorney in New York City. He has worked on several political campaigns including Edward M. KennedyÕs 1980 presidential campaign, and Al GoreÕs in 2000. He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. Kennedy is credited with leading the fight to protect New York CityÕs water supply. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. For more information, visit http://www.law.uh.edu/student/eenrla/conference. Neighborhood Environmental Education Training Program The City of Houston Public Works & Engineering Department has created the Neighborhood Environmental Education Training program (N.E.E.T.). The N.E.E.T. program is designed to educate neighborhood groups about local environmental criminal issues. The N.E.E.T. program includes a 40-minute slide presentation that shows the different types of illegal dumping. The presentation also describes the different fines and penalties involved with environmental crimes. Sylvia Brumlow heads up the program. If you would like to have Sylvia make her slide presentation to your neighborhood group, contact her at 713-218-5515 or sylvia.brumlow@cityofhouston.net. STATE Green-e Standard Meeting The Green-e Renewable Electricity Certification Program will hold its introductory meeting in Austin, Texas on April 5 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. The Green-e program works with stakeholders to help develop a standard for classifying electricity as environmentally friendly that is appropriate for Texas and that is consistent with the goals of the Green-e program. For more information, visit http://www.green-e.org. NATIONAL Comment on GE Food Regulations The Center for Food Safety is encouraging consumers to oppose the FDA’s new regulations on genetically engineered foods. The regulations fail to require adequate safety testing or mandatory labeling for genetically modified foods, according to the group. The FDA has announced an official citizen comment period until April 3. You can learn more about the issue and comment electronically at http://www.foodsafetynow.org. Environmental Justice Summer Training The Center for Environmental Citizenship is offering an environmental justice clinic June 9-14 in Washington, DC. The Environmental Justice Summer Training Academy offers young people aged 18 to 29 an opportunity to learn strategies, tactics, and skills to be involved in politics and environmental justice work. The Academy is costs $50, with travel, housing, and food paid for all accepted participants. Applications are due April 13. Call 202-547-8658 or email ejsta@envirocitizen.org for more information. http://www.envirocitizen.org Worldwatch Report on Animal Borne Illness A new report from the Worldwatch Institute, How Now Mad Cow, warns that no country - including the United States - is immune to the threat of animal borne illnesses. In the U.S., the meat industry and government officials are singing the same tune as British officials 15 years ago, when the British authorities consistently downplayed news of the emergence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or 'mad cow' disease, says the article. http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/010308.html GREEN GRANTS Community Building Grants Available The United Way has announced it second annual Community Building Grant program. The grants are designed to provide one-time funding for projects that benefit the community and make our area a better place to live. Small grants from $500 to $5,000 are available to local community groups. http://www.unitedwayhouston.org/distfunding_opps.htm Urban Park Grants Available The National Park Service is making funds available to upgrade urban parks and recreation areas. They are currently seeking pre-applications for the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR) program. Three types of grants are available - rehabilitation, innovation, and planning. Rehabilitation grants provide capital funding to renovate or redesign existing close-to-home recreation facilities. Innovation grants usually involve more modest funding to support specific activities that either increase recreation programs or improve the efficiency of the local government to operate existing programs. Planning grants provide funds for developing a Recovery Action Program plan. For more information contact Wayne Strum with the NPS at 202-565-1129 or visit http://www.ncrc.nps.gov/uparr/index.htm. GREEN JOBS TexPIRG - Public Interest Advocate TexPIRG is an Austin-based, non-profit, non-partisan environmental and consumer advocacy organization dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of Texas' citizens. The Public Interest AdvocateÕs main responsibility will be to build TexPIRG into one of the leading public interest organizations in the state. The Advocate would play the role of issue expert, political strategist, researcher, lobbyist, media liason, political organizer, and grant writer. For more information, go to http://www.pirg.org/jobs/experienced/jobdesc/tx_pi_advo.html or call Luke Metzger at 512-479-7287. ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION CEC Environmental News Update is a weekly publication by the Citizens' Environmental Coalition, a 501(c)3 dedicated to fostering dialogue, education and collaboration about environmental issues in the Houston-Gulf Coast Region. Visit the CEC online at www.cechouston.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe, or to suggest items for inclusion, send your request via e-mail to Sarah Doss at sarah@cechouston.org. TexPIRG - Public Interest Advocate
TexPIRG is an Austin-based, non-profit, non-partisan environmental and consumer
advocacy organization dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of
Texas' citizens. The Public Interest AdvocateÕs main responsibility will be to
build TexPIRG into one of the leading public interest organizations in the
state. The Advocate would play the role of issue expert, political strategist,
researcher, lobbyist, media liason, political organizer, and grant writer. For
more information, go to http://www.pirg.org/jobs/experienced/jobdesc/tx_pi_advo.html
or call Luke Metzger at 512-479-7287. |
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