By Alecia Casper, Education Coordinator and Adrianne Kartachak, Environmental Educator
It is hard to believe the school year is about to begin (again). It seems like yesterday we were visiting schools daily to lead hands-on, experiential activities in the classroom. As it turns out, it wasn’t only yesterday but for the last ten years!
Story and Photos By: Crysta Hernandez, Communications Intern
From interesting MVP’s to #oddtrash you never know what you will find on a cleanup. On Saturday, June 13th, I headed out on my first Keep Austin Beautiful cleanup. The site: Joe’s Crab Shack on East Riverside, the newest of 21 locations being cleaned as part of Clean Lady Bird Lake initiatives.This was the second time Joe’s Crab Shack had hosted a cleanup. Keep Austin Beautiful initiated the partnership after increased complaints about trash build up underneath the boardwalk.
Keep Austin Beautiful Green Teens at Paredes Middle School believe food is at the heart of all important matters. Food not only fuels our bodies but has the ability to transform our moods, keep us strong, and keep our gardens vibrant! That is, if we use it correctly.
Over 4,200 volunteers headed out on Saturday, April 11th to help remove litter, beautify green spaces, and share in a day of service.
At this year’s 30th Clean Sweep, we shook things up with the BioBlitz dance. The dance is taking on the nation and now Clean Sweep. The dance, started by the California Conservation Corps, was created as a means to advocate for green space in cities, access to those spaces, and experiences that make nature both educational and entertaining.
Fire. It is elemental and has fascinated humans for millennia. We have learned to harness it; to cook with it, to warm up by it, and to gather around it to share stories. For the past few weeks, our Keep Austin Beautiful Green Teens have been learning about “primitive” survival skills. They have built shelters using natural materials, practiced orienteering using the landscape and hand-held compasses, and learned about wild edibles growing in Austin’s parks and preserves. However, nothing in the unit has created as much anticipation as fire building.
For 29 years, Keep Austin Beautiful has been recognizing the outstanding achievements of businesses, individuals, and communities who clean, beautify, and protect the Austin environment by awarding Keep Austin Beautiful Awards in multiple categories! The Keep Austin Beautiful Awards serve to distinguish those who demonstrate continued commitment to Austin’s vibrancy and serve as an inspiration for others. For these reasons and many more, Keep Austin Beautiful celebrated the Award Winners at the29th Annual Awards Brunch on Wednesday, February 4th, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.
Two Green Teens, Lucero and Wendy will be packing their bags and headed to New York City this December to attend the Keep America Beautiful Vision Award Luncheon. Due to their amazing leadership, dedication to service, and extensive participation in the Green Teens program these youth have been selected to be Keep Austin Beautiful Green Teens Ambassadors on the national stage.
The video shows a few highlights from around the lake during the August 2014 cleanup.
The adage, it takes a village, is demonstrated frequently at Keep Austin Beautiful, but no time quite like Clean Sweep. On a Saturday morning each April, thousands of volunteers invest their time to clean and beautify Austin. To assist with this year’s Clean Sweep on Saturday, April 14, dozens of businesses are investing their resources. Like families and neighbors joining one another to build stronger communities, together, our sponsors, partners, volunteers, and staff form the extraordinary village capable of creating such an impactful event. It is the generous support of our sponsors and partners that makes this day possible, showing yet again that an investment in Keep Austin Beautiful is an investment in the Austin community.