CEC Newsletter May 1996
City, County, HCRC, Businesses, Non-Profits Team up to Celebrate the Planet
This year, Earth Day just began on April 21.
On top of the many excellent activities featured in last month's Calendar, CEC and EarthWorks Productions are co-hosting a May 10-12 Environmental Festival at Houston's City Hall. Other sponsors for the event, themed "Celebrate the Planet," include the City of Houston's Solid Waste Management and Parks and Recreation Departments, the Harris County Resource Management Program, the Houston Corporate Recycling Council, Texas Instruments, LaserTone, Transwestern Publishing, the Houston Chronicle, Houston Headlines, Arrow 93.7 radio and Hazeltine Advertising and Design, among others.
"We're very excited to have such an extraordinary level of cooperation among the city, the county, non-profits and the business community for this event," said CEC Executive Director Scott Ward. "Bringing all sides to the table to find common ground and a reason to celebrate is one of CEC's major concerns. We may not all agree on all issues all the time, but it's important to be able to put aside our differences for the things we can agree on - namely that events such as this one are important in focusing our community on environmental issues, both the successes we've had and the many challenges we face."
"A lot of people have asked why we're having this event in early May, instead of on Earth Day itself," said Don Schwarzkopf, executive director of EarthWorks Productions. "Partly, we felt it was important to have a festival of this scope in the downtown area, and didn't want to conflict with the annual International Festival. But also, we've taken to heart the notion that `every day is Earth Day,' and scheduled the event when we felt it could have the greatest positive impact."
The festival will be taking place Friday, May 10 from 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Saturday, May 11 from noon-10 p.m. and Sunday, May 12 from noon-7 p.m. The celebration will feature dozens of nonprofit and business exhibitors and involve over 150 volunteers.
The aim of the event is to educate people about the most pressing environmental issues facing our area, and empower them to return to their communities to take action.
At press time, specific educational activities in the works included a comprehensive presentation on a number of air quality issues being coordinated by Galveston/Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), tentatively scheduled for Saturday from 2-4 p.m., and the local kick-off of a national ornithological study using Houston schoolchildren as researchers. Also included will be talks and demonstrations, as well as exhibits, games, children's activities, music and food. Festival admission is free, but organizers are asking all who attend to donate $1 in cash or to bring recyclable paper, phone books or aluminum. This donation will benefit the Child Development Center of the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute.
For more information, or to inquire about participation in the festival as a volunteer, exhibitor or speaker, please call the EARTH DAY HOTLINE: 688-3773.
ATTENTION ALL ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
The success of this Earth Day Celebration will depend largely on the level of participation of local environmental organizations. We are providing free booth space and volunteers to staff them. We urge you to do whatever you can to make information about your group available.
CEC Co-Sponsoring May Earth Day Event