News Archives - Climate Header
News Archives - Climate Mobile Header

Climate change is such a big, global, and kinda scary topic. That’s why we write climate stories with a local lens and a focus on what you can do to actually make a difference.

Sierra Club Happenings!

Hi everyone, I’m Brittany Dawn McAllister, and I’ve recently signed on to do Student Outreach with the Lonestar Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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Water Forum – Mark your Calendars – September 17

***Edit, due to amount of interest displayed in this by the environmental comunity as well as the development community, the Forum has been moved to a larger location! It will be at Palmer Event Center. Parking fee will be waived but carpool anyway or take the bus, or bike!***

Water…The elixir of life….Is there anything more important to our survival?

A high-level conversation about the future of water in Austin will be held on Thursday evening, September 17th at the Palmer Events Center, starting at 6pm.

The Mayor’s and all City Council members have RSVPed that they are attending and the community is invited.

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Want a Green School? Check Out “Cool the Earth”

Can you tell I’m deep in new school year plans? I’ve been wrestling with how to extend our efforts to green our family to helping create a green school environment. And I want to do this in a way that really is helpful to the school.

We received our student supply lists and my initial reactions fell into four categories. For items like pencils and notebook paper, I immediately started thinking about products that would be more eco-friendly, like pencils made from recycled wood and recycled paper. Other items came with very precise descriptions, leaving me to wonder if Fiskar scissors were really needed or if the non-Fiskar scissors we already have would suffice. A quick conversation with the teacher will resolve these issues and, since the school has encouraged folks to use items already on hand, I think I know how it will go.

Then came the items that I would prefer not to purchase but will because I understand why they are helpful in a group of small children – things like tissues are included here since I just don’t see 10 small kids with hankies working out well during the winter. The last category is where I am struggling. The supply lists for both of my kids included plastic zip lock bags – one box for the youngest and two for the eldest. That means 10 boxes of plastic bags will be used one classroom and 20 boxes in another for a total of 600 plastic bags just for their classes! The very thought of that makes me feel ill.

I started looking around for information and ideas to help me begin a positive discussion aimed at creating a green school. Or at least a greener one! Along the way, I found Cool the Earth. Their program is so, well, cool that I wanted to share it.

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Mayor’s Community Cabinet features Austin EcoNetwork founder

Austin EcoNetwork subscribers and partners just gained a formal voice at the table with the inclusion of our very own Chief Inspiration Officer Brandi Clark being invited to serve on City of Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell’s Community Cabinet.

Yesterday’s Statesman’s blog (http://budurl.com/bcmayorcabinet) and today’s print edition featured the announcement of this Cabinet. The blog cites Mark Nathan, Leffingwell’s chief of staff, as saying that the mayor will want to know what issues and projects the group members are working on.

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Let’s Save a Billion Dollars – Water Efficiency Is Both Necessary and Readily Available

Water is essential for human life.

We can live without a lot of things, but we can’t live more than a few days without water. We can live without cars. We can live without electricity. And for most of human history we have lived without cars and electricity, but we have never lived without water. Climate predictions for Central Texas indicate more heat and less rain, which means less water flowing into the Colorado River, the Edwards Aquifer, and all of their contributing watersheds.

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Make Back to School Green

With the beginning of school just around the corner, families are ensuring that their kids have the needed school supplies. Here are a few tips to make that process more eco- and wallet-friendly.

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