Green Week Houston Begins 10/10/10

Online, October 4, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Green Week Houston launches Oct. 10. The free, multi-activity, citywide celebration will include neighborhood beautification projects, sustainable living workshops, environmental school curriculum, a grassroots festival and an organic potluck picnic.

Colin Beavan, author of the book and documentary "No Impact Man," will be a featured guest of Green Week Houston. In November 2006, Beavan launched a year-long project in which he, his wife, his two-year-old daughter and his four-year-old dog went off the grid and attempted to live in the middle of New York City with as little environmental impact as possible. Beavan was named one of MSN's Ten Most Influential Men of 2007 and an Eco-Illuminator at Elle Magazine's 2008 Green Awards. His blog NoImpactMan.com was named one of the world's top 15 environmental websites by Time Magazine. The No Impact project has been the subject of stories in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and many other national and international news outlets. Beavan has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Nightline, The Montel Show, and all the major NPR shows.

Green Week Houston is hosted by Houston Green Scene, Emerging Professionals of the U.S. Green Building Council Texas Gulf Coast Chapter and Last Organic Outpost. This free celebration will focus on community service, climate awareness, sustainable choices and the merits of mindful, sustainable living while educating and encouraging Houstonians to preserve, conserve and enhance our city.

Green Week Houston is scheduled for October 10 - October 17. Activities include:

10/10/10 350.org "Get to Work Day"
12:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Finnigan Park

Get to Work Day is part of Green Week Houston. Projects will preserve and enhance the outdoor environment, thereby improving aesthetics and strengthening the fabric of the community.

Activities will focus on pulling weeds, mowing grass, fixing trim/roofs, painting, general site repairs and have been coordinated with Covenant Community Capital, a nonprofit organization in Houston, TX, that seeks to enhance the beauty, safety, and economic vitality of low-income communities by increasing their capacity to develop affordable housing, grow business enterprises, and build family and community assets, and Project R.E.S.P.EC.T. (Restoration, Enhancement, Stabilization, Preservation, Evaluation, Curation and Technology), Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the historic preservation of America's African-American, Hispanic American, and Native American abandoned and neglected cemeteries.

To participate, email [email protected] with your name, phone and e-mail address. In return, a waiver and more details will be sent to volunteers. Walk-up registration begins onsite at 12:30. The first 150 people to register will receive a free t-shirt.

Equipment, gloves, light refreshment and snacks will be provided. Volunteers are encouraged to carpool and to bring their own reusable water bottles.

10/11/10 - 10/15/10 No Impact Man Experiment Evening Workshops
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Location options for Monday - Thursday are:
• Kirksey (6909 Portwest Dr.)
• Taft Street Cafe (2115 Taft Street)
• The Earth Sanctuary (13424B Briar Forest Dr.)
• Indus Valley (2463 Bill Smith Rd, Conroe, TX)
• One Green Street (5160 Buffalo Speedway)
• Talento Bilingue de Houston - Workshop in Spanish (333 S. Jensen Dr.)

*The workshop from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15 will only take place at Caroline Collective (4820 Caroline St.), where No Impact Man himself, Colin Beavan, will speak on "Taking Action, Giving Back." Houston Green Scene mixer, which raises funds for Green Week Houston to follow immediately.

Free evening workshops will be held throughout the week at various locations on the No Impact topics of:

Sunday Topic: Give Back/Volunteerism
Monday Topic: Consumption/Trash
Tuesday Topic: Transportation
Wednesday Topic:Food
Thursday Topic: Energy/Water
Friday Topic: Take Action

To register, go to www.noimpactproject.org/greenweek.

The activities are inspired by the film, "No Impact Man." In the film, New Yorker Colin Beavan and his family try to live a year of no environmental impact by phasing out certain luxuries of modern-day life. The No Impact workshops are geared towards adults who want to experience the carbon cleanse similar to the Beavan family's, but on a smaller scale.

Activities will also be taking place in select schools.

Hosted By:

Houston Green Scene
Houston Green Scene is a community-based organization of Houstonians focused on quality of life issues centered in sustainable lifestyle practices including healthy living, social responsibility, mindful choices, local sourcing, conscious consumption and environmental awareness.

The Last Organic Outpost
The Last Organic Outpost is an inner city urban farm project using regenerative agriculture to restore the fertility of unused land.

The U.S. Green Building Council-Greater Houston Area Chapter's Emerging Professionals
The U.S. Green Building Council-Greater Houston Area Chapter is a chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, which is a national non-profit based in Washington, D.C. The Houston chapter is a non-profit IRS Section 501(C) corporation. The Emerging Professionals are the young leaders of the U.S. Green Building Council.