16 Apr EcoBits April 16th – April 23rd, 2015: #AustinGive5, MobilityATX Launches, and Solar Comes to East Austin

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[Transportation] Hate traffic? Now's the time to act. MobilityATX, an online public forum designed to solicit opinions and solutions about Austin's traffic problems, launched this week. A collaborative effort amongst several community groups, businesses, and Capital Metro, MobilityATX only works if the general public gets involved.

Over the next three months, MobilityATX will guide several online and face-to-face discussions to solicit the best ideas from the community about ways to fixAustin's traffic problems. Afterwards, they will present those ideas to city council and other decision makers that have the power to put them into action. They're calling them crowdsourced public policy solutions, but it won't work without the crowd, so get involved today>> 
 

KUT just published a story about the state of bicycling in Austin.[Transportation] Did you know? In some parts of the city, more than 10 percent of people commute to work by bike, and since 2009 the number of miles of bike lanes in Austin has nearly doubled, to over 200 miles. These are just some of the startling statistics shared by KUT in a recently published story on the state of bicycling in Austin. It's a must-listen piece that shares the incredible progress the city has made in accommodating bicyclists, while pointing out the struggles that still remain (like making bike lanes more visible). 


What's most surprising about the story are its predictions for the future. According to KUT, if the city's Bicycle Master Plan actually comes to fruition, it will get enough people on bikes to take 20,000 cars off the road downtown everyday. That's double the amount of cars the failed $1.4 billion urban rail plan would have removed. You can listen to the entire KUT story here>>
 

[Transportation] If you'd like to join the bicycling movement in Austin, help get cars off the road, and reduce your carbon footprint in the process, check out Austin B-cycle's Spring Greening Self-Guided Tour. With just an $8 B-cycle day pass you can take the four mile tour, which includes stops at a farmers market, Barton Springs Pool, Zilker Park, and Whole Foods. What a lovely way to spend a weekend afternoon in Austin! You can learn more about the tour route here>>

 

The Commuter Contest is on.[Transportation] Another local transportation group, Commute Solutions, is also encouraging Austinites to embrace public transportation. Their Commuter Contest runs through April 24th and invites those taking alternative transportation to work to log their trips online, and win great prizes doing it. Individuals can win Fitbits, iPods, and Kindles by walking, carpooling, or even telecommuting to work. Learn more here>>

 
 

[Earth Month] In honor of Earth Day, participating businesses in Austin have pledged to give five percent of their sales on April 22nd to local environmental nonprofits, including the Hill Country Conservancy, Texas Land Conservancy, Austin Parks Foundation, Shoal Creek Conservancy, and the Texas Campaign for the Environment. Dubbed the Austin Give 5 Campaign, this one-day event is designed to keep Austin green, clean, and healthy. 

Participating businesses include:

 

St. Edwards University is celebrating Earth Week.[Earth Month] St. Edward's University is celebrating the planet with a week of free eco-themed events, starting today. All of the events are open to the public, and many of them feature Students for Sustainability's newest campaign, Tap the Hilltop, so keep your eyes out for plastic water bottle art installations and other plastic waste awareness events across campus.
Some exciting events to look forward to include:

  • Film Screening of Blue Gold – a documentary examining the political and environmental issues surrounding the world's dwindling water supply on Monday, April 20th from 7pm to 9:30pm. 
  • Arctic to Austin: How Climate Change Effects Us All – a lively discussion about the impact of climate change, beginning with a brief lecture from St. Edward's faculty on Thursday, April 23rd from 3:30pm to 5pm. 

Check out the full list of events here>>
 

The Austin Public Library's Talk Green to Me series begins this month.[Earth Month] It's April, which means Earth Month is officially here! The Austin Public Library is celebrating with 30 days of eco-related programming at several of its branches all around town, and the best part is, it's allfree! They're calling it the Talk Green to Me Sustainable Living Series and the Austin EcoNetwork is a partner, along with several other great community organizations, including theSustainable Food Center, The Dumpster Project, Keep Austin Beautiful, the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, and Compost Pedallers. Check out the full calendar of events here>>

 

HEB customers can donate to several environmental organizations during the month of April.

 

[Earth Month] During the entire month of April, HEB and Central Market stores across Texas will be supporting environmental organizations through the Earth Day Tear Pad Campaign. Customers will be able to choose to add $1, $3, or $5 to their bill as a donation to EarthShare of Texas, a nonprofit that organizes workplace giving campaigns and gives the proceeds to other environmental nonprofits throughout the state. Some of their member organizations include AEN partners, like the Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Youth River Watch, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Hill Country Conservancy, Save Barton Creek Association, Save Our Springs Alliance,Sustainable Food Center, the Sierra Club, andTreeFolks. Please considering supporting these fabulous organizations on your next shopping trip!

 

Clean energy is coming to Austin.

 

[Energy] How's this for progress? Austin Energy has made plans to build the city's first community solar project on the site of the former East Austin Tank Farm, a toxic fuel storage facility that the community fought for years to get rid of. 

At last week's thinkEAST Festival, Austin Energy shared its plans with the local community, explaining that the small solar farm will allow residents from throughout the city to purchase renewable energy. For the first time, this will enable renters and condo-dwellers to buy solar power. 

Austin Energy will also be installing a 1.6MW energy storage project on the site, making East Austin the first neighborhood in the city to have both energy storage and renewable power.
 

[Outdoors/Parks] Help an Austin park win $20,000 for renovations and improvements through Parks Build Community, an initiative funded by Disney, ESPN, ABC, and the National Recreation and Park Association. Three local parks are up for the big prize:

  • Battle Bend Park Basketball Court Renovation – Upgrade the popular basketball court at Battle Bend Neighborhood Park with new backboards and rims, court surface upgrades, new benches and a new high efficiency lighting.
  • House Among the Trees at Zilker Park – There is nothing closer to nature than a house among the trees!  Give Austin’s kids a chance to explore nature in a treehouse complete with swinging walkways, climbing ramps and split-level platforms.
  • Nature Play at Dove Springs District Park – Help connect Austin’s children with nature through nature-based play.  New nature-play features at Dove Springs Park will include a boulder tunnel, council ring and slide hill. 

The park with the most votes gets the big prize, and voting lasts until the end of April. You can cast your vote here>>
 

[Green Design] Learn to build your own natural and permaculturally-designed home with earthbag, cob, strawbale and light-straw. Join our very own Natural Builders Thea Bryant and Kirby Fry in the 9 Day Bag Blitz Natural Building Intensive, June 27th-July 5th at the Earth Native Wilderness School in Bastrop, Texas. Come all 9 days or just the 2 weekends.Register here>> 
 

Politics

The State of ATX Eco Wrap-Up

 

[Local] It's official. Austin's new city council and mayor have been in office for 100 days. 


So, what have they been up to? What are their plans for the future?  These are just some of the questions that Mayor Adler laid out this week in his first State of the City address. It was a pretty long speech, so we've pulled out the eco-highlights for you with this short video from AEN Editor Amy Stansbury. Watch it here>>
 

State lawmakers held a hearing on Austin Energy this week.[State] The state legislature went after Austin Energy this 

week, criticizing the utility's $150 million annual transfer to the City of Austin and its relatively high prices for commercial customers. As the Austin American-Statesman reports, the legislature held a hearing on Austin Energy on Tuesday that devolved into a bashing session on the municipally-owned utility.

A great deal of time was spent discussing Austin Energy's discounted contracts with several of the city's largest businesses, which are about to expire. One of those businesses, Samsung, said that if the contracts are not renewed, their electricity bill could increase by 40 percent. 

In response, legislators are considering opening up Austin Energy to deregulation, allowing unhappy Austin Energy customers to appeal rate decisions to the state Public Utility Commission, which could in turn allow them to buy power from other providers. 
 

The Texas legislature is dealing with a wind power bill.[State] The Texas State Senate voted this week to end the 

state's Renewable Portfolio Standard and close the Competitive Renewable Zone (CREZ) Initiative. Together, the two programs established a state renewable energy goal and started a power line program that sparked big investments in wind energy. The bill was sponsored by state Senator Troy Fraser, who claims that since Texas has already passed its renewable energy goal and most of the CREZ initiative money has already been spent, there is no reason for the programs to continue. 

But, according to an article in the Texas Tribune, renewable energy advocates say that getting rid of these programs could shake the industry's confidence in Texas' business climate. They also say that it robs the state of two important tools to lower the state's greenhouse gas emissions under President Obama's Clean Power Plan. 

The renewable energy programs will not actually go away until the bill passes the Texas House of Representatives. If you would like to learn more about what local environmental nonprofits are doing to keep the renewable energy portfolio and CREZ alive, or are interested in getting more involved yourself, check out this blog from Public Citizen>>
 

 

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