| Meetings and Events | Unless otherwise specified, all meetings are held at H-GAC conference rooms A, B, or C; 3555 Timmons, 2nd Floor, Houston, TX 77027 (map) |
| | | Director's Welcome | | This is the January 2008 issue of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's (H-GAC's) Community and Environmental Planning (C&E) E-newsletter. We hope this monthly newsletter will keep you up to date on the wide variety of community planning, economic development and environmental programs going on at H-GAC. We want this information to be useful and are very interested in your feedback! If you have any questions about any of our programs, please feel free to contact me at 713-993-4560 or Jeff.Taebel@h-gac.com. |
| Livable Centers Program Wins Award | | The H-GAC Livable Centers program received the Strategic Planning Award from the Houston Chapter of the American Planning Association at the annual awards ceremony on December 17th. The Strategic Planning Award honors an outstanding example of strategic planning to implement a long range plan. The Livable Centers program, as a strategic planning effort to implement the regional transportation plan, represents a significant step forward in transportation planning in the Houston-Galveston region. The program is a recognition that the region cannot build itself out of congestion, but rather must utilize a variety of planning strategies, as well as a recognition of the power of the land use transportation connection to effect positive change. For more information about the Livable Centers program, please contact Meredith Dang at meredith.dang@h-gac.com or 713-993-2443. |
| PSC Meet and Greet - January 10, 2008 |  H-GAC has contracted with Philip Services Corporation (PSC) for the collection, transportation and disposal of household hazardous waste within the H-GAC region. The contract covers both permanent Household Hazardous Waste facilities and one day collection events.
Join PSC to meet the local representatives and hear more about the services they have to offer.
January 10, 1pm-3pm
PSC Meet & Greet
H-GAC, 3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77227
2nd Floor, Conference Room A |
| Environmental Enforcement Roundtable - January 16, 2008 | 
One of the many types of waste that environmental enforcement personnel may encounter in the field is waste from production wells, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Texas Railroad Commission. Please join us to hear from Mr. Guy Grossman, Director of the Houston District of the Texas Railroad Commission. Environmental Enforcement Roundtable: Production Well WasteJanuary 16, 10 am - 12 pm H-GAC, 3555 Timmons, Houston, TX 77227 2nd Floor, Conference Room A For more information, contact Amy Boyers at 713-993-2441 or amy.boyers@h-gac.com. |
|
| Environmental Awareness Roundtable - January 16, 2008 |  Effective outreach doesn't have to cost a fortune. Join us for the next Environmental Awareness Roundtable that will showcase successful programs produced on a slim budget. Our special guest, Sam Metzger, Environmental Services Manager for the City of Pasadena, will outline the tools and activities she has used as part of her award-winning environmental work. Come prepared to share your program success stories and pitfalls.
Environmental Awareness Roundtable: Effective Outreach on a Budget
January 16, 2008, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
H-GAC, 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston, TX 77027
2nd Floor, Conference Room C The quarterly Environmental Awareness Roundtable is designed to facilitate idea-sharing between city staff, county staff, and community organizations to create effective environmental awareness campaigns.
Please RSVP by January 11, 2008.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Christy Corse at 832-681-2564 or email christy.corse@h-gac.com |
| Green Schools Symposium - January 17, 2008 |  Green Schools provide a healthy learning atmosphere with measureable results. Green Schools: -Use 30-50% less water -Use 30% less energy -Save waste costs by 50-90% -Reduce absenteeism -Have higher teacher retention -Have fewer sick days and lower asthma instances Register now for the Green Schools Symposium for Superintendents and School Board Members: For more information, contact Amy Boyers, H-GAC, 713-993-2441 or amy.boyers@h-gac.com or Lora-Marie Bernard, US Green Building Council - Greater Houston Area Chapter, 281-506-3867 or loramarie@usgbc-houston.org. Priority seating will be given to independent school district members. |
| Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo | 
Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo is the leading green building conference in the Gulf Coast region. In 2006 Gulf Coast Green attracted 600 attendees, 42 speakers from 11 states, 14 cities and 2 countries, 5 Universities participating in a student competition, 2 keynote speakers, and an address by Mayor Bill White of Houston. This year a two-day symposium on building targeted to design and construction professionals will be held on Thursday, April 3 and Friday, April 4, 2008 followed by a two-day consumer Expo on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, 2008. The consumer expo will be Texas' first green building consumer expo featuring certified green building products and materials. The Consumer Expo is free and open to the public. The theme of the 2008 conference is "Innovations in Building for Hot and Humid Climates." The focus of the conference is green or sustainable building along the Gulf Coast region, with broader issues of sustainability including sustainable land use and global warming also being covered. Gulf Coast Green 2008 is hosted by the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) in partnership with the Greater Houston Area Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Houston Chapter of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). For more information please visit www.gulfcoastgreen.org. |
| Estate Planning Options for Family Forests - February 28, 2008 | 
An important component of managing your family forests is planning for the future, today! Planning today will leave a legacy for family and the next generation to enjoy tomorrow. Experience has shown that by not planning your estate, more complex and detrimental issues will be facing your surviving spouse or heirs. Keeping up with current tax laws can help protect your investment. Families and individuals own two-thirds of Texas' woodlands. More than 60 percent of current forestland owners are age 55 or older and about half of them have already retired. Without proper estate planning, forced liquidation of family forest or severe disruption on planned forest management activities is a distinct possibility. Land is changing hands and becoming further fragmented into smaller and smaller tracts at a phenomenal rate. A critical turning point is facing the family forest owner. It is never too soon to plan. Whether you own 1 acre or 100 acres, provide accounting services to timberland owners, manage natural resources, or just want to gain a better understanding of estate planning - this conference is for you! Click here for the registration form. If you have any questions or comments about this Texas Forest Service conference, please contact John R. Warner, 936-273-2261 or jwarner@tfs.tamu.edu. |
| TreePrint Workshop - March 31, 2008 |  Mark your calendars for the TreePrint Workshop on March 31- April 1, 2008. It is tentatively scheduled to be held at the North Harris Montgomery Community College Training Center located at 5000 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381 (next door to HARC). This workshop will provide decision makers the tools necessary to quantify the benefits of urban forests and help foster community involvement and awareness of urban forested areas. For more information about the workshop or sponsorship opportuities please contact Michael Merritt with the Texas Forest Service at mmerritt@tfs.tamu.edu. |
| Disposal of Pharmaceuticals | The use of pharmaceuticals in this country by the general population is common and growing. In the United States, sales of over-the-counter medicines have increased by 60 percent since the 1990's. This means that more and more households have leftover medications that they need to dispose of including controlled substances, over the counter medications, prescription drugs and vitamins. These drugs are referred to by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as PPCPs (pharmaceuticals and personal care products). A survey completed in 1997 showed that 63 percent of the population has disposed of leftover medications in the past. Many households will store medications for awhile before they finally resort to flushing them down the toilet, disposing them in the trash or giving them to someone else. Recent scientific studies are showing that the drugs we are taking are showing up in our environment. This occurs in a number or ways. Drugs, or pharmaceuticals as they are known, improperly disposed of pose a number of hazards to people, wildlife and the environment. Click here to read the full story (by Mark Rappaport on November 5th, 2007 From Earth911) |
| Planning a Green Event | Now is the time to start planning Earth Day events. A good way to reinforce environmental messages is by planning a "green" event. Keep Texas Beautiful provides the Green Events toolkit to help engage individuals in a systematic, cost-effective process for taking greater responsibility for improving their environment in public event settings. The guide is intended to help organizations reduce the amount of litter generated at community events and to recover recyclable materials from the waste stream. While focusing on litter prevention and recycling, this guide also touches briefly on other environmental concerns that may be incorporated to further improve the environmental impacts of community events. To download this toolkit visit http://www.ktb.org/greenevents.htm. |
|