Bike racks & vegetables

How Green can you go? City challenges Houston businesses to act environmentally

Photo by Caroline Gallay
Photo by Caroline Gallay

The CultureMap office took its first small steps toward turning the office into a recycling mecca back in April, and the result was truly pitiful. (It involved a Snuggie re-purposed over a metal table frame).

Now that we're settled into our new digs on the north side of downtown, we've set up a less-elaborate, more-efficient system for sorting, but we've got a long way to go.

The City of Houston must have sensed our inner-office quibbles and those occurring elsewhere in the city, and decided to help the concerned few convert the masses to a greener way of office living. Laura Spanjian, head of the mayor's office of sustainability, launched The Green Office Challenge this week, a year-long initiative aimed at property owners and tenants in six of Houston's management districts. The program provides workshops and other resources to make workplaces greener — including a low-interest energy-efficient loan program for smaller projects. (Think bike racks and office vegetable gardens).

The goal is for participants to reduce their energy use, water use and waste while encouraging employees to pick up on the small stuff like carpooling and recycling. In return, those who make the most significant strides will be recognized publicly by the mayor's office — and we all know that green publicity is good publicity.

The press conference at Hermann Square also gave partners a chance to talk about their own green initiatives. METRO plans to begin buying 100 electric-hybrid buses a year, adding to the 300 currently running and eventually replacing the entire fleet. Greenstar, a national recycling service provider, announced that it's made investments toward Spanjian's dream of single-stream recycling and will bring the service to office challenge participants.

We just installed a new, über-efficient lighting system ourselves (OK, CultureMap president Nic Phillips installed it — himself). What will you do to get involved?

Offices have until October 15 to sign up, which is when the program begins. It will culminate with an awards ceremony in October 2011.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”