For twelve years, students of the Environmental Club have organized Rice’s annual Environmental Conference. Started by David Greene in 1993, the conference began as a way for Rice students to share their environmental research with the community. While each conference since then has been bigger and better attended, the mission of this year’s conference remains the same as that of the first. The conference, which is run and organized entirely by Rice students, brings together citizens, business leaders, public officials, and students of all viewpoints and backgrounds and encourages debate about protecting the environment both in the community and around the world.

This year the Rice Environmental Club would like to invite the public to their 13th Annual Environmental Conference. Entitled "Urban Jungle: Cities in the Image of Nature" this year's conference is all about cities seeing green. The day will begin with a discussion of the incorporation of greenspace into the planning of cities. Experts will come and talk about the difficulties as well as the benefits of including public parks, gardens and conservation easements into urban environments. Speakers and panels will then speak on the built environment and discuss how cities can be made to function more like natural environments. By building homes and offices that consume (and even produce) water, energy, and other resources similar to the biological world, we may be able to design healthier cities with some of the benefits of natural environments while reducing costs.

The conference will be held at McMurtry Auditorium in Duncan Hall on the Rice University Campus from 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM on Saturday, February 12th. The event is free and open to the public with lunch provided. Please check the agenda for more information. Come for a single presentation or the whole day!