Keep Austin Beautiful is thrilled to recognize Akins High School student Jose Garcia-Chong with the Dell Youth Achievement Award. As a Green Teens program participant for the past three years, he has demonstrated remarkable personal dedication to environmental stewardship and outstanding peer leadership.
Keep Austin Beautiful is thrilled to recognize the Keep Walnut Creek Wild volunteer group with the 2017 Balcones Beautification Award. As an Adopt-a-Creek partner since May 2014, Keep Walnut Creek Wild cares for Tar Branch and surrounding uplands in Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park. Their work goes far beyond picking up litter, as the group has committed extraordinary efforts to removing invasive species and restoring native tree diversity in the areas surrounding their adopted creek segment.
Every spring, 64 top-ranked professional golfers travel from around the globe to Austin, TX for Dell Technologies Match Play. Since its move to Austin, Dell Technologies and the PGA TOUR have generated more than $2 million in charitable proceeds to benefit Austin Parks Foundation, Boys and Girls Club of the Austin Area, The First Tee, Helping Hand Home for Children, and Keep Austin Beautiful.
The City of Austin has a Zero Waste goal set for 2040. That means 90% of discarded material is diverted from landfills. As a part of that goal, The University of Texas at Austin is aiming to become a Zero Waste campus by 2020. UT Austin’s goal is for 90% of discarded material on campus to be composted, recycled or reused.
The 2017-2018 school year has kicked off this week for students across Austin ISD. That means fresh school supplies, new students, and more opportunities for hands-on learning! At Keep Austin Beautiful, we are especially jazzed about one of the newest policies going into effect this school year: commercial composting for every middle and high school in the district. While this has already been in place at AISD elementary schools, this school year marks the first opportunity for district-wide commercial composting at its secondary schools.
With temperatures on the rise, Austinites are starting to think about ways to cool off at their favorite swimming spots. While for most of us local creeks are a reprieve from the heat, Keep Austin Beauitful’s Adopt-a-Creek leaders are busy all year long thinking about ways to improve our local waterways. Over 100 groups remove litter, track creek health, restore the riparian ecosystems throughout the year, and the heat won’t be stopping them from planning future projects.
As a former Clean Sweep and Lady Bird Lake Leader, April was one of my favorite times of year. I would lament when I missed a cleanup at my site, mostly because I would miss meeting all the wonderful people who came out to help. While it has been a number of years since I proudly donned my Clean Sweep shirt as a leader, I’d like to share what my experience was like in hopes of inspiring others to wear the t-shirt of honor for 2017.
Anthony Hall is one of 2.25 million.
If that doesn’t sound impressive, it’s because you don’t have full story. Anthony is an Eagle Scout, a rank awarded to 2.25 million young men since 1912. Over the course of the more than 100 years since the title was first awarded, only 4 percent of men who were Boy Scouts have completed the rigorous requirements to join the ranks of this elite group of 2.25 million.
Dinosaur Valley State Park is known for its dinosaur tracks, but the Green Teens from Travis High School got to know its incredible night sky, learn about nocturnal animals, and experiment with night photography. Truly taking time “To Know the Dark”.
Guest blog by Jolyn Janis
Lost and Found
This project began one morning on a casual hike down from the Scottish Woods Trail entrance of the Austin Greenbelt. I lifted my camera to shoot a gorgeous waterfall scenery. At the bottom of my shot was a water bottle and a crushed red canister of Pringles chips that someone had left. I raised my camera, annoyed that this trash was in the view.