Rice Environmental Club, Activities

Smog Jog, November 1999, Streets Around Rice

Dan Lajiness sports a gas mask and sign on South Main.
Smog Jog was a week-long event organized to raise awareness about Houston's air quality problems, now the worst in the nation for ozone. The New York Times made note of our action (at the end of an article), just as the national media was beginning to pick up on George W. Bush's environmental record as governor.
The event also generally attempted to encourage carpooling and alternative transportation to be both recognized and offerred in the community as legitimate commuting options. Everyone had a good time donning gas masks, waving signs, and snapping Main Street and University Village drivers out of their horribly depressing evening grind. Of course, between the Campo at Main and University and the 2 HPD officers "checking up on us", "ensuring that we weren't disrupting traffic (by stopping their car in the intersection)", and "getting information to file in their report", we probably had a significant crime deterring effect on any "young hoodlooms" that might have been looking for trouble ;) Dangerous, those Rice kids...

Smog Joggers spread the message.

Most of the Smog Jog pictures came out dark, since they were taken at the end of the evening. Some were altered on computer and inserted earlier in this sequence.

Here we have a series of thumbnails with club president Dan Lajiness being interviewed by Fox 26 News.

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Dan Lajiness sports a gas mask and sign on South Main.	Smog Jog was a week-long event organized to raise awareness about Houston's air quality problems, now the worst in the nation for ozone. The New York Times made note of our action (at the end of an article), just as the national media was beginning to pick up on George W. Bush's environmental record as governor. The event also generally attempted to encourage carpooling and alternative transportation to be both recognized and offerred in the community as legitimate commuting options. Everyone had a good time donning gas masks, waving signs, and snapping Main Street and University Village drivers out of their horribly depressing evening grind. Of course, between the Campo at Main and University and the 2 HPD officers "checking up on us", "ensuring that we weren't disrupting traffic (by stopping their car in the intersection)", and "getting information to file in their report", we probably had a significant crime deterring effect on any "young hoodlooms" that might have been looking for trouble ;) Dangerous, those Rice kids...
Smog Joggers spread the message.	Most of the Smog Jog pictures came out dark, since they were taken at the end of the evening. Some were altered on computer and inserted earlier in this sequence.
	Here we have a series of thumbnails with club president Dan Lajiness being interviewed by Fox 26 News.