Educational workshops and student component part of 10th annual regional environmental conference
Texas Border Business
The Valley Environmental Coalition will be hosting the 10th Annual Valley Environmental Summit on Friday, October 18, 2019, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This year’s summit Together We Can Positively Impact Our Environment will be held at the Brownsville Events Center, located at 1 Events Center Boulevard, Brownsville. The Summit will feature legislative education updates; environmental topics about the impact of debris in our oceans and waterways; sustainability of resources and moving towards renewable energy sources will be presented.
Invited session speakers will be Jeff George, Sea Turtle, Inc.; Jude Benavidez, Ph.D., University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences; Rene Mariscal, Brownsville Public Utility Board Water Resource Manager; Charlene Heydinger, Texas PACE Authority; and Alan Ash, Trane-Ingersol Rand. The luncheon keynote speaker will be Jace Tunnel, Director at the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve to discuss “nurdles” and their negative and dangerous impact on marine life. Nurdles are very small pellets of plastic which serve in the manufacturing of plastic products.
This year’s event will also include a trashion show presenting beautifully designed clothing made out of recyclables and other discarded materials created by students from Brownsville’s –Special Expression!
Additionally, a call for entries for the Summit for video and art entries is being made to Rio Grande Valley students. The video film contest is open to all high school students and the art contest to students pre-K to 8th grade. Rio Grande Valley students are encouraged to enter. The themes for this year’s competitions are “Marine Debris” and “Plastic Waste Reduction.” Cash prizes will be awarded for the video and art contest winners. Contest entry forms and rules can be obtained through www.valleyes.us. Deadline to enter is October 11, 2019. Texas State Representative Eddie Lucio III will be on hand to award the winners of the video film and art contests during the summit.
This year’s summit will culminate with a beach clean-up that will be held at Clayton’s on South Padre Island on Saturday, October 19, starting at 8:30 a.m. On-line registration for the beach clean-up is required.
The Valley Environmental Summit is held to bring the general public, political leaders, neighborhood associations, non-profits, businesses, and students together to identify environmental issues and come up with solutions to those issues impacting the quality of life and environment in communities throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
The Valley Environmental Coalition is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to create a venue where attendees can come together and highlight the most important environmental issues. The event is free; however, seating is limited. Registration is required and will remain open until October 13, 2019. Please register to attend the Summit or beach cleanup at www.valleyes.us or call (956) 542-2800 for more information.
