Check out the schools we've visited, ACE Action Teams and our partners in Texas.

Houston Educators AJ and Fei

Team TX Welcomes You to the 2010-11 School Year

Hello and welcome to ACE Texas! This is our second year presenting dynamic and engaging climate presentations to the Greater Houston and Austin areas. In the 2009-10 School Year alone, we’ve presented to over 57,000 students in over 65 schools in Texas!

All of our Educators have roots firmly planted in Texas—both AJ and David were born here and continue to love living in the Lone Star State. Fei is the traveler, but spent most of her life in a small town in Texas. We’re as dedicated to our work as we are to our state, which makes our presentation in tune with the needs of our region and conveys a personal connection.

To contact ACE's Texas office, contact AJ at anthony.sheppard@climateeducation.org or call at 832.316.4803. To book an assembly at your school, click here.
 

What's your favorite part about working in Texas?

The best part of the job is seeing future Texans activated and empowered by our presentations and ready to make a difference for our planet. We’ve seen a wide range of projects at our schools—from campus gardens to solar panels to a green issues debate team—but perhaps the most inspiring are those simple things each of us do, in our own way, to help the environment. This is why we’re so pumped about the Do One Thing (D.O.T.) program at ACE and excited to see Texans take it to the limit!

What's the most inspiring student project you've worked on in Texas?

This year, one of ACE's School Grant winners was from Houston! The Strake Jesuit Ecology Club had some pretty amazing projects during Earth Week--a paper-recycling drive (they collected over 6,000lbs of paper!), a CFL-Lightbulb exchange, and an e-drive. We're stoked to be working with them in 2010-11 to implement a school-wide recycling program, amongst a ton of other eco-projects. Their school is so supportive of their work that they even pledged a donation to match our grant! 

What's a fun fact about the Texas team?

As we mentioned above, Team TX has deep roots in our region. Between the three of us, we've visited and covered miles and miles of the great state of Texas. That means we're fuel-efficient, road-trippin' pros. Don't be surprised if AJ or Fei show up in Austin presentations, or if David pops by to say hi in Houston!

Region Specific Climate info

Learn more about the specific impacts of climate change in Texas

• Droughts: We all know Texas is hot, but in the past few years, it’s been abnormally so. From 2006-2009, we saw one of the worst droughts ever to have hit the state since the 1950s. This affects our crop and livestock output, as well as water availability, as a lot of aquifers and freshwater sources were at record low levels.
• Hurricanes: Ever since Ike, we’ve been keeping our eye on Gulf water and weather conditions. The U.S. Climate Change Program has said, “It is very likely that the human-induced increase in greenhouse gases has contributed to the increase in sea surface temperatures in the hurricane formation regions. Over the past 50 years there has been a strong statistical connection between tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures and Atlantic hurricane activity.” 
• Sea Level Rise: The Gulf Coast is extremely vulnerable because it’s flat, making even small rises spread further inland, sinking (some areas as much as 31 inches per century), growing in population and development, prone to many major storms and, of course, hurricanes. Especially important to Gulf Coast residents is that not all areas are protected against flooding or storm surges, and subsequently, the effects of sea level rise. Climate models project an average sea level rise in our region from between 8-20 inches in the next century - meaning coastal areas could be flooded forever!