November, 2011: In This Issue. . .
Notes From the Chair
It's Election Time for Sierra Club As has been announced at the general meetings, your Dallas
Sierra Club is always looking for volunteers to move up to
leadership positions. In the last 30 days, we have filled 3
critical spots in Membership (Jim Binnings), Club Secretary
(Helen Bush) and photo editor/photo master (Olin Boese). Be
sure to thank each of these new leaders for their time and
contribution to the Club.
Also, 4 of the present
members of the Dallas Executive Committee are up for election
in December and new candidates are welcome for a 2 year term.
There is also a call for Executive Committee candidates to the
Lone Star Chapter in Austin.
If you are interested in
either of these elections or you just want to join an existing
committee, see me at the next General Meeting for the Dallas
Group election or Rita Beving for the Lone Star Chapter race.
Finally, with the addition of these new leaders and
the recent boom in our outings programs, it's the perfect time
to join the Club, make new friends and remember our past
campaigns.
Your Dallas Chair, Wendel
Withrow
General Meeting Program -
November 8, 7:00 pm - Refreshments at 6:30
The
Science Behind Global Warming. Glen Suhren, long time member of the Sierra Club, will talk
about The Science Behind Global Warming. He has led numerous
backpacking trips in Colorado, summiting several fourteeners
with family and friends. Glen is an Electro Optics engineer
who is employed by Abbott Laboratories. He is a member of an
Eco Team at First Methodist Church in Downtown Dallas. The
Team works on informing people about environmental issues such
as Global Warming or Climate Change.
Everyone is
welcome. You don't have to be a Sierra Club member. Just
show up. We'd love to meet you.
Our General
Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. but come at 6:30 for snacks,
information and fellowship. Click over to our
General Meeting
page of our website for more information and a map.
Sierra Club Annual Holiday Party - Sunday, December 11
Our
annual Holiday Party will be held at El Fenix Restaurant
at 255 Casa Linda Plaza. We'll party on Sunday,
December 11 from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm.
Here is a
Google map.
Club members and guests will share the holiday spirit,
some good Mexican food, and the company of others at this
annual event. Join us for some camaraderie, door prizes,
silent auction, and perhaps some surprise speakers, you
never know. We'll celebrate some of our outstanding
volunteers and have plenty of time to mingle. There's
bound to be talk about issues of the day -- air, water,
veganism, hydro-fracking, coal, nuclear, whatever strikes
your green fancy. Free margaritas to the first 10 to
arrive. Free bandannas to the first five. Support the Club
by getting a 2012 Sierra Club Calendar or Planner!. Invite
your family and friends. It's only $11 bucks for
everything, including food and a non alcoholic drink! If
you want to share in the liquid spirits, there's a full
cash bar. No problemo. So come on out for a great party,
low price, no clean up, and lots of like minded people.
What could be better? Nuthin'. See you there, and bring
your appetite. More details and a map will follow as the
date gets closer, but mark you calendar now so you won't
miss it. Happy Holidays!!
Outings Highlight
Nov 12 (Sat) White Rock Lake Cleanup Walk
and talk while helping to pick up trash and recyclables at the
Sierra Club's adopted section of White Rock Lake Park. Meet at
8:15 AM at the Love of the Lake office on the Northeast corner
of Garland Rd. and Buckner Blvd. Look for a crowd of people
drinking free juice and coffee. Gloves, trash bags, etc.
provided. Our area includes one of the wonderful prairie
restoration areas, so there are always birds and wildflowers
to enjoy. The lake and your karma will thank you. Brunch
afterwards. Leader:
Carol Nash 214-824-0244
Nov
13-14 (Sun-Mon) Lost Maples State Park This will
be a short two-day and one-night backpack / day hike.
Transportation to and from the trailhead is not part of the
outing. However, we can help participants make
carpooling arrangements among themselves once everyone has
signed up. We will leave Dallas as soon as possible on
Sunday morning. On arriving at the trailhead, we will do
a short backpack to our primitive camp site and from there an
additional day hike. On Monday we will cover more of the
park's trails and finally return to the trailhead early
afternoon to leave for Dallas. There are a total of 11.5
miles of trails.
The park is an outstanding example of Edwards Plateau flora
and fauna. It is a combinations of steep, rugged limestone
canyons, springs, plateau grasslands, wooded slopes, and clear
streams. It features a large, isolated stand of uncommon
Uvalde Bigtooth Maple, whose fall foliage can be spectacular.
Generally, the foliage changes the last two weeks of October
through the first two weeks of November. For a map and more
information see this link. Leader:
Emil Raggi 972-495-2190 or 972-998-0569
For a complete list of our outings,
visit our outings page.
Recycling Roundup - by Rita Raccoon
Recent Recycling News - November 2011
Mesquite Recycles November 12 Mesquite
Recycles Day is presented by Keep Mesquite Beautiful and the
City of Mesquite
Mesquite Recycles Day will be held on Saturday, November 12,
2011 from 8am to noon in the front parking lot of Poteet High
School. Poteet High School is located at 3300 Poteet Drive.
Vehicles will enter the event through the front entrance on
Galloway. This FREE service is ONLY provided to
Mesquite residents.
The following list of items will be accepted:
-
Gently
used eye glasses
-
Gently
used books, magazines, videos, DVDs, CDs, and Books on
Tape
-
Used
cellular phones, cellular phone batteries and accessories,
used laser and ink jet printer cartridges, and used
rechargeable batteries
-
Gently
used clothing, handbags, linens, and towels
-
Gently
used toys and children's items
-
Tires
and used appliances
-
E-waste(computers,
monitors, television, printers, any electronic device)
A document destruction truck will also be available on site.
Shredding will be done off-site through Greenstar Security
Destruction, a NAID (National Association of Information
Destruction) certified company. If needed, you can receive a
document of destruction after the event.
Electronics Recycling A Taiwanese electronics
designer and manufacturer that employs about 400 people in
Grapevine plans to spend $30 million to establish a
circuit-board recycling facility in the Dallas area.
Wistron Corp. is seeking a 200,000-square-foot site to locate
the new facility and plans to begin operations in June, said
Bill Long, general manager of Wistron GreenTech.
Wistron's new facility is one of several new
electronics-recycling facilities setting up shop in North
Texas. The region's central location, logistics
infrastructure, workforce, dense population and abundance of
major electronics-consuming businesses make it attractive to
the industry.
Sustainability at UTA Meghna Tare grew up
in Nagpur, India, where the local university, Nagpur
University, was one of the first schools in India to offer
environmental science. "It was a city that was very
environmentally conscious," said Tare, whose hometown was also
the site of the National Environmental Engineering Research
Institute. Ten years ago, her progressive alma mater led her
to choose a green career. Today, she's pioneering a new role
found on campuses across the country teaching the next
generation of students to "think green" as the University of
Texas at Arlington's first sustainability director.
Since being hired in 2010, Tare has implemented a variety of
eco-friendly programs, including three that reduce cars on
campus. A car-sharing program allows students to rent a
gas-efficient car for $8 per hour, while a ride-sharing
program promotes carpooling. For those who'd rather peddle,
students can rent a bike for $30 per semester. Other
initiatives include installing an electric car charging
station and water bottle filling kiosks. The university is
also working to expand green space, reduce energy use, and
increase recycling.
The changes are part of a growing national trend of colleges
becoming more sustainable. Paul Rowland is the executive
director for the Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education. The Denver-based
organization, formed in 2006, provides networking, resources,
and professional development to universities striving to be
more sustainable. AASHE has 913 members who represent schools
from every state.
According to Rowland, faculty, staff, and students are all
equally driving the changes to colleges across the U.S. in
advance of other institutions in society. "There's a
well-founded belief that [universities] have the capacity to
lead the country forward in sustainable practices, partly
because we have the people who do the research and partly
because there's a willingness to test out some of the new
ideas."
Denton Drug Disposal Days In the good old
days, we were told to get rid of unused prescription and
over-the-counter (OTC) drugs by flushing them down the
commode. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Flushed drugs or drugs
tossed into the landfill can still affect animals through
ground-water contamination. The EPA now recommends ditching
your surplus drugs through drug disposal programs.
Denton's Drug Disposal Day won the State of Texas Alliance for
Recycling's Outstanding Special Event prize, one of nine
awards presented Oct. 4 during the alliance's 14th annual
Recycling and Sustainability Summit in Austin.
The program is a creative use of partnerships and local
resources, and was designed to reduce the amount of
pharmaceuticals entering the city's water system through
toilets and drains. It lets the public drop off unwanted
medications for proper disposal at no charge. The collected
drugs are incinerated at an approved facility near Houston.
Calendar
Here is our calendar for the next two months. For complete listings, visit us at
www.dallassierraclub.org.
Nov
7 (Mon) Sierra Singles: Monthly Singles Dinner at Zorba's
Join with other singles on Monday, November 7th at 6:30 PM at
Zorba's Greek Cafe, Tel: 972-250-0002, 1501 Preston Rd.
Plano, TX. 75093. This is one block north of Plano
Parkway on the west side of Preston. It's a BYOB restaurant so
bring some beer or wine to enjoy with friends. Contact:
Gillian Grant 972-369-5178 and
Paul Heller 972-620-1703
Nov
8 (Tue) Dallas Sierra Club General Meeting Glen
Suhren, long time member of the Sierra Club, will talk about
The Science Behind Global Warming. He has led numerous
backpacking trips in Colorado, summiting several fourteeners
with family and friends. Glen is an Electro Optics
engineer who is employed by Abbott Laboratories. He is a
member of an Eco Team at First Methodist Church in Downtown
Dallas. The Team works on informing people about
environmental issues such as Global Warming or Climate Change.
Full details are on our
home page.
Nov
9-14 (Wed-Mon) Bus Trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas -
CANCELLED With great sadness, due to the drought
of 2011 and not enough water sources for our hikers, we've had
to cancel this year's trip to backpack in Big Bend. Keep up
your rain dances and save the date for next year's trip. Contact:
Liz Wheelan 214-368-2306(h)
Nov
12 (Sat) White Rock Lake Cleanup Walk and talk
while helping to pick up trash and recyclables at the Sierra
Club's adopted section of White Rock Lake Park. Meet at 8:15
AM at the Love of the Lake office on the Northeast corner of
Garland Rd. and Buckner Blvd. Look for a crowd of people
drinking free juice and coffee. Gloves, trash bags, etc.
provided. Our area includes one of the wonderful prairie
restoration areas, so there are always birds and wildflowers
to enjoy. The lake and your karma will thank you. Brunch
afterwards. Leader:
Carol Nash 214-824-0244
Nov
13-14 (Sun-Mon) Lost Maples State Park This will
be a short two-day and one-night backpack / day hike.
Transportation to and from the trailhead is not part of the
outing. However, we can help participants make
carpooling arrangements among themselves once everyone has
signed up. We will leave Dallas as soon as possible on
Sunday morning. On arriving at the trailhead, we will do
a short backpack to our primitive camp site and from there an
additional day hike. On Monday we will cover more of the
park's trails and finally return to the trailhead early
afternoon to leave for Dallas. There are a total of 11.5
miles of trails.
The park is an outstanding example of Edwards Plateau flora
and fauna. It is a combinations of steep, rugged limestone
canyons, springs, plateau grasslands, wooded slopes, and clear
streams. It features a large, isolated stand of uncommon
Uvalde Bigtooth Maple, whose fall foliage can be spectacular.
Generally, the foliage changes the last two weeks of October
through the first two weeks of November. For a map and more
information see this link. Leader:
Emil Raggi 972-495-2190 or 972-998-0569
Nov
16 (Wed) Outings Committee Meeting Meet in the
upstairs program room at REI (on north side of LBJ between
Midway and Welch), at 6:30 PM. Bring your ideas for the Dallas
Sierra Club Outings program. We will be planning local outings
and bus trips. All outings leaders, future outings leaders,
and interested Sierrans welcome. Ask Bill to be placed on the
email list for an agenda. Contact:
Bill Greer 972-247-0446
Nov
16 (Wed) General Meeting of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club
Dan Smith, a Fort Worth Sierra Club member and avid hiker and
camper, will continue his wonderful slides and stories of his
travels on the Pacific Crest Trail for approximately 6 months.
He shared his stories at the May 2011 Sierra Club meeting and
we requested that he come back to continue his travelogue. The
third Wednesday of each month we share conservation news,
outings info and enjoy a presentation by a guest speaker.
Speaker will be followed by refreshments, club business and
announcements. Location: Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, Moncrief
Garden Center, Azalea Room; 3220 Botanic Garden Blvd. at
University Drive, north of I-30, Fort Worth. (817)871-7686.
Nov
19 (Sat) Dayhike at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve
Meet at 9:30 AM near the pavilions. Arbor Hills is located at
6701 W. Parker Rd. in Plano just west of Midway Rd. We will
walk 5 miles on paved path and half on flat dirt trail. No
reservations, just show up. Optional restaurant afterwards.
Leader: Judy Cato 972-238-5738
Nov
29 (Tue) Inner City Outings Meeting Come at 6:30
for New Volunteer Orientation. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm.
Inner City Outings ("ICO") is an outreach program of the
Sierra Club comprised of volunteers who provide wilderness
experiences such as day hikes and camping for disadvantaged
youth. ICO meets on the fourth Tuesdays at REI, 4515 LBJ
Freeway, Farmers Branch, TX 75244 (north side of LBJ between
Midway and Welch). All volunteers and those considering
becoming an ICO volunteer are welcome. To receive future
announcements and meeting information you may sign up for our
email list. For more information:
Liz Wheelan
Dec
7 (Wed) Dallas Sierra Club Executive Committee Meeting
The Executive Committee (or Excom) is the elected governing
body of the Dallas Sierra Club and meets at REI, 4515 LBJ
Freeway, Farmers Branch, TX 75244 (north side of LBJ between
Midway and Welch). Contact the
Dallas Group Chair for more information.
Dec
10 (Sat) White Rock Lake Cleanup Walk and talk
while helping to pick up trash and recyclables at the Sierra
Club's adopted section of White Rock Lake Park. Meet at 8:15
AM at the Love of the Lake office on the Northeast corner of
Garland Rd. and Buckner Blvd. Look for a crowd of people
drinking free juice and coffee. Gloves, trash bags, etc.
provided. Our area includes one of the wonderful prairie
restoration areas, so there are always birds and wildflowers
to enjoy. The lake and your karma will thank you. Brunch
afterwards. Leader:
Carol Nash 214-824-0244
Dec
11 (Sun) Dallas Sierra Club Holiday Party Our
annual Holiday Party will be held at El Fenix Restaurant at
255 Casa Linda Plaza. We'll party from 6:00 pm until
9:00 pm.
Club members and guests will share the holiday spirit, some
good Mexican food, and the company of others at this annual
event. Join us for some camaraderie, door prizes, silent
auction, and perhaps some surprise speakers, you never know.
We'll celebrate some of our outstanding volunteers and have
plenty of time to mingle. There's bound to be talk about
issues of the day -- air, water, veganism, hydro-fracking,
coal, nuclear, whatever strikes your green fancy. Free
margaritas to the first 10 to arrive. Free bandannas to the
first five. Support the Club by getting a 2012 Sierra Club
Calendar or Planner!. Invite your family and friends. It's
only $11 bucks for everything, including food and a non
alcoholic drink! If you want to share in the liquid spirits,
there's a full cash bar. No problemo. So come on out for a
great party, low price, no clean up, and lots of like minded
people. What could be better? Nuthin'. See you there, and
bring your appetite. More details and a map will follow as the
date gets closer, but mark you calendar now so you won't miss
it. Happy Holidays!!
Dec
21 (Wed) General Meeting of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club
Christmas Party!!! We will NOT have a regular meeting with a
speaker, but we will have a wonderful time socializing with
members and guests. Please bring a snack or dessert to share.
Drinks will be provided. Location: Fort Worth Botanic Gardens,
Moncrief Garden Center, Azalea Room; 3220 Botanic Garden Blvd.
at University Drive, north of I-30, Fort Worth. (817)871-7686.
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