Group turns climate talk into action

It's 2009. Temperatures are rising, ice is melting and the air is filled with harmful chemicals. This Earth Day, people of all ages learned how they could be part of the solution.

It started with a conversation like the one held at the University of Houston Wednesday night.

Job Tennant, 25, was one of the many people who participated. He's already making some simple, eco-friendly lifestyle changes.

“I have a five-year-old son, so I pack his lunch everyday. I went and got him some plastic containers so we can stop using plastic bags, and (I) just try to be a little bit more careful with things, you know, reusing plastic bottles and stuff like that, just, you know, flip off the light switch when you walk out of the room,” he said.

The National Conversation on Climate Action is two years in the running. It's conversational-townhall format gives people an opportunity to voice their ideas and concerns.

“It turned climate talk into action,” said organizer Ryan Foshee with the ICLEI, a coalition of local governments committed to sustainability. The event was held in more than 70 cities across the U.S.

“The unique thing about this event is you have local people doing events in their community, but you simultaneously have these events all across the country,” he said.

“At our event we talked about buses and trains and improving mass transit. We talked about improving the recycling efforts of our city and getting more bike lanes.”

The University of Houston is already ahead of the game. They recently planted their own campus vegetable garden, and are conducting a number of other environmental initiatives.

“We have recycling bins next to our trash cans outside, so our students can throw their aluminum and plastic bottles in those bins,” said Emily Messa, head of the Green UH task force.

UH also participates in Recyclemania, a national contest between more than 500 universities and colleges to see which one can recycle the most. UH placed 72nd nationwide, third in Texas, and second in Houston, behind the University of St. Thomas.

Everything from driving a car to turning on the A/C has some type of effect on the environment. Messa says the key to a healthy planet is good choices.

“When you're wanting to be sustainable and green, you have to rethink your behavior and you have to rethink what you do on a local basis and just remember not to throw it in the trash can, but to throw it in the recycling bin, you have to remember take the bus not the car.”

If you'd like to find out what your impact on the environment is, you can calculate your carbon footprint, the total number of greenhouse gas emissions an individual emits. You can do so online: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx.