53,000 people ask Whataburger to hold the foam

Thursday, November 29, 2018
By | Luke Metzger
Executive Director

On Nov. 19, Environment Texas joined with Care2.com and the Surfrider Foundation to deliver 53,000 petitions and a letter from conservation leaders to Whataburger's HQ in San Antonio and restaurants in Austin and Corpus Christi. The petitions and letter asked Whataburger to stop its use of polystyrene cups and containers. Polystyrene, commonly known as styrofoam, is one of the worst and most common types of plastic. 70 million plastic foam cups are estimated to be disposed by Americans every day. Most of the waste will spend hundreds and thousands of years sitting in landfills. About one third ends up in the environment, especially our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

In wake of new climate report, solar schools one important step

Monday, November 26, 2018
By | Emma Pabst
Environment Texas Associate

As a US government report on climate change warned last Friday, we don’t have time to wait. For every ton of carbon pollution we release into the atmosphere, we increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts. But this issue is so much more than environmental - it’s common sense finance. That’s why we’re calling on Austin ISD to install solar on every school in the district by 2025, and we’ve drafted a resolution that says exactly that.

Boil water notices: rare for Austin, common for Texas

Wednesday, October 31, 2018
By | Brian Zabcik
Clean Water Advocate

Boil water notices, like the one issued last week in Austin, are common in Texas. According to a new study, the number of boil water notices increased by 73%, from 2011 to 2016, while the number of sewer overflows, and lead contamination events increased by 983%, and 1,300%, respectively. 
 

School Board Members Call for Review of District Solar

Tuesday, October 30, 2018
By | Emma Pabst
Environment Texas Associate

Last night myself and two of my brilliant interns attended Austin Independent School District’s monthly board meeting, where we called for solar on every school by 2025. Several school board members requested reviews of district solar policies, including the 2013 bond money designated for solar energy and cost-savings analysis of solar installations.

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