Independent Hospitality Receptions

Agenda

Independent Hospitality Receptions are one of many highlights of SEJ's annual conference. Hospitality Receptions give organizations the opportunity to showcase their mission and services to SEJ attendees and to possibly expand on conference topics. Attendees are encouraged to visit Hospitality Receptions throughout Thursday evening from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., where they can gain insights into relevant issues and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere of food and beverage. Receptions will be held at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center in the Sunset Ballroom (on the 1st floor). See also our independent exhibitors and program agenda booklet advertisers.

Independent Hospitality Receptions

1. Bracewell & Giuliani's Policy Resolution Group

The wildly-popular Bracewell & Giuliani LLP reception at the SEJ conference has a long-standing tradition of successful, productive and fun fellowship.

The Policy Resolution Group at Bracewell & Giuliani helps clients around the world navigate our complex federal landscape. We create and implement successful strategies to achieve our clients’ government relations objectives. PRG provides counsel and services in Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Information Gathering and Political Analysis, Strategic Communications and Legal Representation.

Join Bracewell and co-sponsors Alstom, America's Natural Gas Alliance, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the American Gas Association, the Atlantic Wind Connection, BrightSource Energy, the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, Hercules Offshore, Southern Company, Valero Energy Corp. and Waste Management at the Thursday night hospitality reception for delicious and complimentary food and drinks and the opportunity to network.

Attendees can also enter a raffle to win an iPad2 with Wi-Fi and up to 4G LTE. Looking forward to seeing you there!

2. Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Join the Commission for Environmental Cooperation for a chance to talk about beef, birds and grasslands conservation with leading experts on sustainable ranching while enjoying some local beer and grass-fed beef from a sustainably operated ranch not far from Lubbock. Stop by any time Thursday night or join us at 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. for a round table chat.

Robert Potts, CEO of the Dixon Water Foundation, and Darryl Birkenfeld, Executive Director of Ogallala Commons are prime examples of the people who are working to curb the rapid depletion of North America's most precious-and most altered-ecosystem: the Great Plains. The Dixon Water Foundation owns 15,000 acres of land at four ranches in North and West Texas where they demonstrate sustainable land management practices. Ogallala Commons was initiated in 1999 as a resource development network for reinvigorating the depleted commonwealth in the High Plains region of the Great Plains.

Throughout the evening, we'll be serving beef from Darryl's brother, Alan Birkenfeld's ranch, PaiDom. Alan's livestock are raised and finished entirely on pasture, not in feedlot pens. They graze in paddocks and are moved regularly to fresh pasture, providing forage with time to recover before being grazed again. All PaiDom cattle are butchered by Melvin Eades in Amarillo.

This reception is hosted by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an intergovernmental organization that supports the cooperative environmental agenda of Canada, Mexico and the United States. The CEC's North American Grasslands Alliance supports management practices aimed at both conservation and profitable ranching. The Alliance of scientists, cattle producers and conservationists is working to conserve native grassland as the best way to keep ranchers on ranches and birds on the range.

See you there!

3. Environmental Defense Fund

With world attention focused on the environment and the economy, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) helps develop win-win solutions that can benefit both. EDF creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems by linking science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships.

Come meet with EDF experts from the Energy and Oceans programs, feast on sustainable Gulf Wild™ appetizers, and learn about our work with clean energy and catch shares.

4. Nissan North America, Inc.

This Year, Spend Time with Nissan

Nissan North America is proud to be part of the 22nd Annual Society of Environmental Journalists Conference! We look forward to spending time with you and hope you will join in on some of the fun activities we're offering throughout the course of the conference.

Hungry?

Be sure to stop by the Sunset Ballroom on Thursday (Oct. 18th) from 5-9 pm to:

Eat! Enjoy miniature Maryland crab cakes, cashew chicken spring rolls, bruschetta and brochette of sweet melon prosciutto. Also, indulge your sweet tooth with fruit tarts, chocolate éclairs, lemon tartlettes, miniature crème brûlée, biscotti, chocolate-coconut macaroons, and amaretto cookies.

Drink! Sip on champagne mojitos and crisp ginger lemonade.

Learn! Representatives will be on hand to share information about Nissan's zero- emission vehicle initiatives and tosign you up toget behind the wheel of the 2012 Nissan LEAF® at Nissan's Ride and Drive.

Ready to roll?

Be sure to experience the all-electric Nissan LEAF® during the Nissan Ride and Drive, taking place:

Thursday, October 18th from 5 pm - 9 pm (display only)
Friday, October 19th from 7 am - 5 pm
Saturday, October 20th from 7 am - 2 pm

Join us just outside the main entrance of the Conference Center, located outside of Sunset Ballroom A.

All ride and drive participants will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win one of five $50 Visa gift cards. In addition, if a minimum of 125 conference attendees participate in the ride and drive, Nissan will donate an additional $2,500 to the Society of Environmental Journalists to support future awards, fellowships and environmental programming.

See you there!

Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year in 2010, 2011, and 2012 by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

5. South-Central Climate Science Center (U.S. Department of the Interior) and the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University

The South-Central Climate Science Center and the TTU-Climate Science Center invite you to a reception on October 18th from 5:00 to 9:00 to learn about the activities of these groups in their efforts to understand the impacts of climate variability on endangered species, ecosystem function, agriculture, sustainability, water policies and conservation of cultural and natural resources across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and southwest Louisiana.

The SC-Climate Science Center is one of eight regional centers recently established by the USGS to help coordinate research on the ecological, sociological and economic impacts of climate variability and to provide key science for addressing future regional needs as they pertain to the development of water management policies, land use decisions and conservation concerns.

The South Central Region is one of the most variable climatic regions in the country with major east-west gradients in temperatures, precipitation, and land use patterns and encompasses 20 ecoregions.

The SC-CSC represents a partnership among the University of Oklahoma,Texas Tech University, Louisiana State University, Oklahoma State University, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and NOAAs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab and the USGS to provide the scientific experience and capabilities to address the challenges to the region with increasing climate change and variability.

Come talk to Dr. Katharine Hayhoe and Dr. John Zak, Co-Directors of the TTU-CSC, Dr. Renee McPherson, OU-Consortium Director and Coordinator, and Dr. Kim Winton, the SC-CSC Director, and other team members about their research in ecological response to climate variability, development of water policies for urban and rural areas, drought mitigation, and development of climate projections for the South Central U.S.

The TTU-CSC will provide craft beers from Texas and New Mexico along with appetizers to help stimulate conversation during the evening. We look forward to talking with members of SEJ and to continued fruitful dialogue.

6. United Sorghum Checkoff Program

The United Sorghum Checkoff Program is honored to be a reception sponsor during SEJ's 22nd Annual Conference.

Sorghum is among the most efficient crops in water use and conversion of solar energy, and can be grown for grain, forage or as a sugar crop. As a gluten-free, whole grain food choice, sorghum provides sustainable, affordable, high-energy nutrition worldwide. Sorghum can tolerate drought and marginal soil conditions, while increasing soil health. Sorghum can also be used as a low input source of renewable energy.

During the Sorghum Checkoff reception, attendees will learn more about this diverse, water-sipping crop, while being treated to a variety of hors d'oeuvres, carving stations, desserts and beverages.

Texas Panhandle sorghum farmer Dale Artho, Sorghum Checkoff CEO Tim Lust, Executive Director Florentino Lopez, Crop Improvement Director Justin Weinheimer and External Affairs Director Lindsay Kennedy will be on hand to discuss the exciting potential of sorghum and how its "more crop per drop" characteristics can provide a sustainable option for U.S. agriculture.

The Sorghum Checkoff is a farmer-funded program dedicated to improving profitability of sorghum farming through research, market development and education. Visit www.SorghumCheckoff.com for more information.

7. Barnes and Noble at Texas Tech

And finally, offering up sustenance of a more lasting kind, Texas Tech's bookstore, the Barnes & Noble at Texas Tech, will be on site to sell SEJ members' and conference speakers' books.

Stop by between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. when authors will be there to sign books, including:

Cynthia Barnett, Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis
Emily Gertz, Environmental Monitoring with Arduino (co-written with Patrick Di Justo)
Bill Kovarik, Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age
Sharon Levy, Once and Future Giants: What Ice Age Extinctions Tell Us About the Fate of Earth's Largest Animals
Abrahm Lustgarten, Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Joe Roman, Listed: Dispatches from America's Endangered Species Act (Winner, 2012 SEJ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award)
William Souder, On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
Phil Wexler, Chemicals, Environment and Health: A Global Management Perspective
Clint Wilder, Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy (co-written with Ron Pernick)
Florence Williams, BREASTS: A Natural and Unnatural History

Region:

Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

Visibility:

Public

Independent Receptions at SEJ's 22nd Annual Conference