CEC Notes
CEC Hires Office Manager
CEC recently hired Sarah Doss as office manager. Sarah, a recent Rice graduate who has worked in information technology consulting, is in the CEC office every morning and some afternoons. She can be reached at 713-524-4232 or issues@cechouston.org.
Research Roundtable
At the CEC Roundtable on Wednesday, August 22, Craig Beskid, director of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC), discussed the center’s current research and future plans.
Rather than measuring pollutant concentrations at monitoring stations, as is done for ground-level ozone smog in our region, NUATRC’s research is based on personal exposure, which depends on indoor and outdoor activity patterns. “Focusing on personal exposure is the right way to measure health effects,” explains Beskid.
NUATRC is currently working on 25 local and national research projects; several more are in the planning stages. Visit www.cechouston.org/news/nuatrc.html for details.
More than 20 representatives from diverse organizations attended the Roundtable.
Coalition Notes
At the Movies
On Friday, October 26, the Houston Sierra Club’s Challenge to Sprawl Campaign, Mothers for Clean Air, and the Gulf Coast Institute will screen the film Save Our Land, Save Our Towns at the Houston Environmental Center, 3015 Richmond. The PBS special, narrated by Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Hylton, examines the causes and effects of, and the remedies for, suburban sprawl. A small reception will be held at 6:15 pm and the film will be shown at 7. For details, call 713-528-5959.
Bay Day
The Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF) will host its annual Bay Day Celebration on Saturday, October 20, at Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte. Many environmental groups will exhibit programs, and Kelly McGuire and Hurricane, and Billie B. Children’s Environmental Entertainer will perform. The festival runs from 10 am to dark. For details, contact GBF at 281-332-3381.
People to the Parks
The Park People will host a People to the Parks Tour of Brazos Bend State Park on Saturday, October 27. This 5,000-acre park 40 miles from downtown Houston is home to tallgrass prairie, bottomland hardwood forest, and aquatic ecosystems. Participants will leave the Houston Environmental Center parking lot at 3015 Richmond at 9:15 am. Following a short bus tour of the park will be lunch and guided walking tours and hikes. The group will return before 3:30 pm. The tour costs $10 per person, which includes the bus ride, lunch, and beverages. To make reservations call 713-942-7275 by Wednesday, October 24.
The Tree Keepers
Trees for Houston will offer their Urban ForesTree Keeper classes again this October. After receiving training in tree identification, site suitability, proper planting techniques, pruning, and mature tree care, participants will be certified as Urban ForesTree Keepers. Classes will be held from 6 to 8 pm on Tuesday, October 2; Tuesday, October 9; Tuesday, October 16; and Tuesday, October 23 at the International Bank of Commerce building at 5615 Kirby Drive in the 2nd floor Community Room. A hands-on workshop will be held on Saturday, October 20 from 9 am - noon. Registration costs $15 per person. For more information, contact the Trees For Houston office at 713-840-8733.
EcoNotes
On the Ballot
On November 6, Texans will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that could provide up to $100 million in bonds over the next six years to Texas Parks & Wildlife (TPW) for maintenance and repairs of state parks, wildlife management areas, and fish hatcheries. The TPW funding in Proposition 8 is part of a larger total of $850 million in general obligation bond authority for facility repairs at 11 state agencies.
Advocates say the amendment would be particularly significant for the Houston area. It provides $12 million to renovate the San Jacinto Battleground and $12 million for drydock repairs on the Battleship Texas. Another $2.5 million would be used to build the Sheldon Lake Environmental Education Center at Sheldon Lake State Park. This new facility in northeast Houston would offer hands-on education at ponds, boardwalks, and viewing decks, using former fish hatchery wetlands as a natural classroom, according to TPW.
The Shell Stealers
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A live lightening welk.
Courtesy of Fins to Feathers. |
The Sierra Club, the Lower Laguna Madre Association, and private citizens have started a campaign to stop Texas beach goers from taking shells that contain live organisms. Collectors sometimes gather buckets full of live shells, removing or killing the inhabitants and keeping or selling the remaining shell. Currently, there is no law in Texas to protect these creatures, which beautify beaches and provide food for birds and fish.
Campaign organizers recently testified before the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Legislative Session on this issue, encouraging the agency to make live shell collecting illegal. They are now asking for letters of support. Citizens may voice their concerns in an email to ScarGeo@aol.com; all comments will be forwarded to the TPW Commissioners together.
Houston’s Environmental Health
A team of researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Baylor College of Medicine are investigating Houston’s environmental health issues. On Saturday, October 20, they will host a Regional Town Meeting at University of Houston Hilton Hotel, focusing on Environmental Health in our Neighborhoods: Speaking out about Pollution and Health. The scientists are asking citizens to come and share their environmental health concerns. Call 713-798-1053 for more information.
Buy Wind and Save
Wind power is now cheaper to produce than coal power, researchers from Stanford say. The engineers, who published their study in the journal Science, calculated that wind-generated energy costs 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour to produce. Coal power is priced similarly, but that grows to 5.5 to 8.3 cents per kilowatt hour if indirect health and environmental costs are considered.
Only 1 percent of U.S. energy comes from wind, compared with coal’s 52 percent share. The researchers say in order to build wind capacity, lawmakers must offer the same investment opportunities and tax incentives given to the coal, gas, and oil industries. (Reuters 8/26/01)
