"Is civilization progress? The challenge, I think, is clear, and, as clearly, the final answer will be not by our amassing of knowledge, or by the discoveries of our science, or by the speed of our aircraft, but by the effect our civilized activities as a whole have upon the quality of our planet's life - the life of plants and animals as well as that of man."
| Austin has been going through some tremendous changes as it is transitioning
from a small city to a metropolis, trying to keep up with a burgeoning
population and all the impacts that come with it. In this mode, all
of our environmental, social and functional woes are exacerbated.
With the Sierra Club's recent release of findings that Austin is the second
most spraw-threatened medium-sized city in the nation, the need to direct
growth in a more sustainable direction has become even more obviously critical.
As many of us know, the City of Austin's current Land Development Code
(LDC) presents several impediments to sustainable land use.
It makes difficult or impossible the option of dense, mixed use development necessary for a high quality urban environment (like garage apartments, homes above shops, etc.); it makes confusing linkages between environmentally sensitive areas & where development is allowed to occur; & it is vehicle- rather than pedestrian-centered. Help is on the way. Our City leaders have embraced the Smart Growth Initiative, and much work has already been done on rewriting the LDC to bring it into alignment with the more community and environmentally based principles of Smart Growth. Austan Librach, has been leading the re-writing effort toward more responsible land use. His team has developed a Smart Growth Matrix which includes incentives for sustainable development. |
This will be an excellent opportunity to hear directly about what changes
are in the works to make the way we develop our land more sustainable for
people & the environment. Learn what is being proposed to protect
our most environmentally sensitive areas; how & where we will add density
(garage apartments & building on smaller lots) & allow mixed uses
(living above a business); & what incentives may encourage more sustainable
practices.
Sustainable building is an important aspect of creating a sustainable
community. Where we build (its relationship to transportation, local environmental,
and community issues - our urban form and urban/rural interface) involves
many implications for a sustainable community with which we as sustainable
builders should be fully engaged. This meeting with Austan Librach
can help us start to understand how each of us as an individual or we as
the SBC can more smartly help shape and support efforts toward sustainable
land use and broaden our influence in building a sustainable community.
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| Membership!!!
The members voted unanimously to change the dues for the SBC to: $35 for businesses $25 for persons $10 for students The new dues should be paid on the date on your mailing label. The Austin Environmental Directory SBC add is coming up, if you would like to include your business, you will need to upgrade your membership to that of business. Contact Jim Walker if you have any questions. Texas Tour of Solar/Sustainable Homes - Volunteers Needed
Some of the finest examples of sustainable architecture in the state will be open to the public for the Texas Solar Energy Society's (TXSES) tour of homes on Sunday, November 1st. This year, TXSES is combining efforts with the City of Austin's Green Builder Program to co-sponsor the event. Sites will be open in Lufkin, Cat Springs, Fairview, Leander, Spicewood, Fredericksburg, Lubbock, Driftwood, Lake Hills, and the greater Austin area. A Guidebook to the locations will serve as the key to your self-directed tour. You may purchase the Guidebook for $5 via the mail from the TXSES office, at one of the Austin area Home Depot stores the weekend prior to the tour, or at any of the sites on the tour as your first stop. The Sustainable Building Coalition, as a local supporter of this event, is requesting volunteers to pass out information and to sell Guidebooks at the four Austin area Home Depots on Saturday, Oct. 24th and/or to be at a home site for the day on the tour date, Sunday, Nov. 1st. Let's support this worthy event with our SBC volunteer commitment! Please sign up to for one of the available opportunities. Look for our famous Clipboard Lady to be recruiting for specific slots at our October meeting. Or call Kathryn Houser at TXSES at (512) 326-3391 or (800) 465-5049 for more information. Permaculture Seminar
The visionary architectural development site, Arcosanti, in Central Arizona, is hosting a a two week course on PERMACULTURE from October 18- Nov. 1st. International and local permaculture teachers will cover renewable energy systems, alternative building technologies including straw bale, how to grow permanent crops (food forests) and set up water harvesting systems among other topics. The course is a must for architects, students, planners, farmers, ranchers, homeowners, educators, and anyone else interested in learning how to create sustainable systems that are profitable and offer all kinds of solutions to many of our modern day challenges. Course leaders include Ernest Callenbach, author of the underground classic, Ecotopia and a new book, Ecology, a Pocket Guide. Also presenting will be Larry Korn, who in addition to working with Japanese author and ecologist, Masanobu Fukuoka, translated and edited Fukuoka's, The One-Straw Revolution. Bay Area architect Bob Theis will lead a hands-on workshop on straw bale. A pristine desert environment serves as the backdrop for this two week -"ecological camp for adults." The course is sponsored by the non-profit International Institute for Ecological Agriculture. For information, cost and to register, call 1-888-PERMACULTURE. SBC Directory
The 1999 SBC Directory info sheet is included in this mailing. Please return it by November 1. Hopefully it will be available for the December party. |
International Green Building Challenge
From the desk of Stephen Colley at the SASBC here is an interesting tidbit. International teams will be presenting assessments of environmental buildings from around the world in Vancouver next month, at the Green Building Challenge ‘98. One of the challenges before the conference is to find ways to evaluate the various results into values which can be translated for qualitative assessment of green materials and techniques. Each team will be using the GBC evaluation framework analysis software called the Green Building Assessment Tool. The tool will be able to compare energy efficiency, daylighting, and building materials reflecting the differences in the climates where the buildings originate. The American team is led by architect Gail Lindsey of the AIA’s Committee on the Environment, and Drury Crawley of the US DoE presenting five sustainable American buildings. [For general information on GBC '98 and the upcoming conference, visit greenbuilding.ca/gbc98.html For more on the US Team and the projects it's assessing, visit www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/gbc98/gbc98.htm Source: Architecture Magazine, Aug. ‘98. PUC Meeting
The staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas will conduct a workshop on load management alternatives designed to help meet summer peak demand in 1999 and 2000. The workshop may also address the timely recovery of resource costs by electric utilities. The workshop will be held at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 13, 1998, in the Commissioners' hearing room, seventh floor, William B. Travis Building, 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin, Texas. The workshop is open to the public and interested persons are welcome to attend. Comments may be e-mailed directly to Commission staff (treadway@puc.state.tx.us). SBC Volunteer Opportunity!
We are looking for one or more volunteers with paper folding and stamping abilities to handle the folding, stamping and labeling of our monthly newsletters. This can actually be a fun social event - A chance to chat with sustainable friends while doing fairly mindless tasks. Contact Gayle at gayle_borst@greenbuilder.com or 478-9033. SBC Site Visit Coordinator Needed In the past we have tried to arrange a site visit each month, usually to a site that had some association with the corresponding month's presentation topic. We have not done this in many months and would like to resume the practice. Our long-time Site Visit Coordinator Charles Gibson is now ready to pass the torch to another interested SBC volunteer. The position requires a fairly minimal time investment & can be a great opportunity to learn about & see local examples of sustainable building. Contact Gayle at gayle_borst@greenbuilder.com or 478-9033. Rich Beyond Words
The most recent edition, #23, Fall, of The Last Straw, HC 66 Box 119, Hillsboro NM 88042, is a particularly rich resource in numerous categories, and well worth the $8, or $28 for a year of four issues. This journal isn't just for straw balers, either. In addition to the usual columns, Publisher's Notes, Regional Ramblings
(which include our own SBAT's news as well as Canadian, British and European
SB activities), catalog, video and book reviews, events calendar
and SB code updates, this richly full issue contains a Human Resource List
for SB and natual building (world-wide), organizational resources, educational
resources, catalogs and mail order resources, testing and research reports,
sources for bales, physical resources (gringo grip, fire retarding compounds,
natural and poly twines, sealers and saws, and more), computer resources
and BB services, a reading list and periodicals. This publication is well-written
with a readable layout, obviously created by dedicated friends of straw.
Pay a little and be richly rewarded.
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