RDA forums focus on environmental challenges in Houston

Rice Design Alliance (RDA) will sponsor a two-part civic forum this month on environmental challenges in Houston.

A two-part forum sponsored by Rice Design Alliance will look at environmental issues in Houston.

On Aug. 21 and 28, science, business and legal experts will discuss emerging air, water, land and health issues. The free events will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Brown Auditorium in the Caroline Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet St.

The first session will focus on the challenges of climate change. Panelists include John Anderson, the W. Maurice Ewing Chair in Oceanography and director of the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice, and Houston Chronicle science writer Eric Berger.

The second session will look at the challenges of competing land uses, environmental justice and public health and will include environmental attorney Jim Blackburn, a professor in the practice of environmental law at Rice.

“Industrial expansion has driven Houston’s phenomenal economic growth and high quality of life,” said Thomas Colbert, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Houston, who will moderate the panels. “However, as population growth is accompanied by new coal terminals, expanded refineries and port facilities for super tankers, our region needs to think hard about the challenges ahead.”

For more information and a complete list of panelists, click here.

RDA, based within the Rice School of Architecture, advances architecture, urban design and the built environment in the Houston region through educational and other programs and the publication of a journal, Cite.