Tag Archives: Missouri Valley

Green Initiatives in Omaha

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

EcoKids Program Revised by MoValley

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By Albert Lierz, MoValley Membership/Communications Chair

The Sierra Club EcoKids Program has been revised locally through the MoValley Group. Helen Deffenbacher has agreed to chair the project and is accepting volunteers for the EcoKids Committee.

Helen has also agreed to maintain the Youth area of the Nebraska Sierra Club website (http://sierranebraska.org) and has already posted EcoKids projects on it for January and February 2012. Check them out through these links:

January 2012 MoValley EcoKids Project: Beyond Coal & What You Can Do to Help
February 2012 Movelly Ecokids Project: Great Backyard Bird Count and …

Each month Helen will write about a different project or projects kids can do in their home, backyard, or community. If you would like to suggest a project idea, email it to: hdeffenbacher@cox.net.

MoValley Invites All Conservationists to “The Big Event”

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By Albert Lierz, MoValley Membership Committee Chair

Movalley Sierra Club Group is attempting to pack as many separate programs as possible into a single Saturday so members can avoid multiple days and trips. “Orientation for New Members of 2011″, a workshop on “Communicating Effectively on Conservation Issues”, the first meeting of the “Under 40 Group”, a “Potluck Social for all Conservationist” are just some of the activities planned.
Don’t miss this chance to socialize, learn, and work together to save the planet.

WHEN: Saturday, February 18.
WHERE: The First Unitarian Church, 3114 Harney Street, Omaha, NE 68131-3910
To register or for more info, click here >> REGISTER

Continue reading →

EcoKids – Jan. 2012: Beyond Coal & What You Can Do To Help

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by Helen Deffenbacher, MoValley EcoKids Coordinator

Beyond Coal: The EcoKids Green Project of the Month for January, 2012

Your parents or grandparents may have told you about the Sierra Club’s Campaign called “Beyond Coal.” Our members are working with others all across the country to move America away from fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, and on to green energy.

Green energy is also called “renewable” and “sustainable” energy. It lasts forever, and it’s cleaner and healthier for humans and the environment than fossil fuels. Continue reading →

“Green Building” Walk-through Tour

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When: Sat. Feb. 4 – tours starting at 10:30 (9 slots remaining) and 11:00.(15 slots remaining)
What Building: The recently renovated Roman Coin Pizza and Sports Bar (former Renier’s Piano building)
Where:  Corner of 49th and Dodge Streets
Tour Guides: Architects from Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture
Sponsor:  MoValley Group – Nebraska Sierra Club
To register for a tour, click this button >>REGISTER NOW!

“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!

Omaha Steel Castings Moving to Wahoo

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By Carole Larson, Movalley Sierra Club (former Conservation Committee Chair)

Omaha Steel Castings Plant

Omaha Steel Castings Plant

On January 11, 2012, an Omaha World Herald article announced the steel foundry Omaha Steel Castings (OSC) will be relocating to Wahoo, NE, within 24 months.  The Missouri Valley Group of the Sierra Club and neighbors of OSC welcome this news after a long struggle to get OSC to clean up their uncontrolled air pollution emissions.

Omaha Steel Castings was founded in 1906 in the 46th & Farnam Street area, and has continued to operate there without adequate emission controls under a grandfather clause.  As of 2000, the plant was releasing over 100 tons of air pollutants a year, some hazardous, with 95 per cent of the emissions being fugitive (escaping through open doors and windows and open-ended buildings), and only 5 per cent being channeled through smoke stacks.   Since the factory is located below ground level, much of the pollution blows along the ground to be inhaled by everyone in its path.  Over 130,000 people live within a three-mile radius of the plant.  Based on Omaha Steel’s 2000 air permit, the foundry was one of only two steel foundries in the United States that is a major source of hazardous air pollutants, based on EPA criteria. Continue reading →

“Climate Change: Fact vs. Fiction”

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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.

Sierra Club January Program: “Building Green before ‘Green Building’”

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Former Reniers Piano Bldg

Former Reniers Piano Bldg 49 & Dodge

“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 →

Overflow Crowd Attends Keystone XL Pipeline Update

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By Mary Green, MoValley Sierra Club Program Chair

Speakers Jane Kleeb and Ken Winston

Speakers Jane Kleeb and Ken Winston

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 →