Guest Op-ed Section

EPA falls short with new ozone standard
By Geoffrey Castro, March 2008·Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they are strengthening the ozone standards in what they touted as the “most health protective eight hour ozone decision in the nation’s history.” While EPA is giving itself a big pat on the back the new standard falls short of what their scientific advisory committee recommended and what much of the is public demanding.

Houston Needs A Real Capital Improvement Plan (C.I.P.)
By Carroll G. Robinson, November 2007· If we are going to continue making Houston better, our City needs a real Capital Improvement Plan (C.I.P.) and not just a list of disjointed and unconnected infrastructure projects. During my six years on City Council, I tried to get this done as Chairman of the Transportation, Technology and Infrastructure Committee but could not get others interested in focusing on the need to plan for Houston’s future.

Texans speak out for tougher ozone standards
By Geoffrey Castro, September 2007·Earlier this month, the EPA chose Houston as one of five cities across the country, to get input from the public on the 8-hr ground-level ozone standard. Thank you to the many Houstonians and Texans who stood in front of the EPA as advocates for clean air.

Army Agrees to Temporarily Stop Shipment of Nerve Agent Waste to TX
By Dr. Michael Sommer, June 2007·An incredible victory for protecting public health and the environment occurred this week and a critical situation averted, for now, as the U.S. Army agreed to temporarily suspend shipments of extremely toxic VX nerve warfare agent and other toxic by-products to Texas from Indiana.

Living “Green” in Tokyo A Fish out of Water Story
By Todd Bynon June 2007·Having been given the opportunity to take a position in Japan for my job, I knew that, along with changing my location, I would have to change my lifestyle. It was 2001 then, and global warming and living “green” wasn’t as talked about as it is today. The only thing I knew about Japan was sushi, the bullet train, and samurais.

Get Educated, Go Green
By Tim J. O'Brien May 2007· Global warming has heated up the debate about energy consumption and its effect on our environment. Less than two years ago General Electric adopted a company wide environmental initiative and became the largest corporation to call for the reduction of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Local schools and universities have adopted LEED standards to increase efficiency. Then why hasn’t the University of Houston system adopted the LEED standards?