Green Neighborhood Council’s March Community Roundtable
Facilitator: Kristi Wamstad-Evans, Omaha’s Sustainability Coordinator
When:Thursday, March 8^th – 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Where:Neighborhood Center, 115 S. 49^th Avenue

All GNC community events are free and open to the public.

 Ms. Wamstad-Evans was hired as the City’s first Sustainability Coordinator in September, 2009. Over the past 2-1/2 years, she has worked to establish ECO-Omaha, the Office of Sustainable Development in City Hall, has been responsible for managing over $14 million in energy efficiency projects and programs, and has established many new tools to help facilitate and catalyze sustainability in the City of Omaha. Continue reading →

“Green Building” is one of the hottest trends in architecture, and has been the topic of several of our monthly programs.  In February, we’ll be expanding the topic to look at how architects use principles of sustainable design without necessarily seeking LEED or other ‘green’ certifications.

The former Renier’s Piano building, on the corner of 49th and Dodge Streets, has been renovated into a sports bar/pizzeria and office suites.  While not LEED or “green” certified, the renovations are an example of how sustainable design solutions can be incorporated into all projects.  As the phrase goes,  “The greenest building is the one already built.”

Please join us to discover how a local firm incorporates sustainable design in their daily practice.

Sierra Club programs are free and open to the public.  More information at sierranebraska.org

To register for a tour, click this button >>REGISTER NOW!

Sierra Club February Program:
Climate Change: Fact vs. Fiction  with Laura LaMarr

Thursday,  Feburary 23, 7 p.m.
First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St., Omaha
(Enter north door Education Wing)

Few issues manage to stir up passionate debate more than climate change. But undoubtedly, we are already starting to see the effects of climate change in our daily lives. Gardeners know that our region in now considered “Zone 5” instead of “Zone 4”, as the USDA had to shift plant hardiness zones in the past few years as a tangible result of climate change. What are some of the other visible effects of climate change?

Our speaker, Laura LaMarr, is a sociology instructor at Metro Community College, and also a Climate Reality Project presenter. Her presentation will discuss the science behind climate change, and distinguish between the facts that are incontrovertible, and the beliefs that may or may not be true.

Additionally, we’ll look at what scientists predict will happen in the future in our area, and discuss steps individuals can take to reduce their impact on climate change.

Sierra Club programs are free and open to the public.

“Building Green before ‘Green Building’” with Perry Poyner, Dan Dolezal and Chris Turner from Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture

Thursday, January 26, 7 p.m.
First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St., Omaha
(Enter north door  Education Wing)

“Green Building” is one of the hottest trends in architecture, and has been the topic of several of our monthly programs.  In February, we’ll be expanding the topic to look at how architects use principles of sustainable design without necessarily seeking LEED or other ‘green’ certifications. Continue reading →

By Mary Green, MoValley Sierra Club Program Chair

An overflow crowd of almost 70 people attended the Omaha Sierra Club’s Oct. 27 program, “Pipe Dreams and Reality: An Update on the Keystone XL Pipeline.” The TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline debate was heating up as the State Department end-of-year deadline for a decision on whether the pipeline was in the “national interest” fast approached. With almost daily news stories recording the twists and turns in the process, we invited two of the Nebraska leaders opposing the pipeline to give us their insights, and tell us what steps we could still take to stop the pipeline.

Speakers Ken Winston, NE Sierra Club policy advocate, and Jane Kleeb, executive director of BOLD Nebraska, were extremely well informed on the ever-changing status of the pipeline in NE, and the environmental issues surrounding “dirty” tar sands oil. Continue reading →