Concrete
"to-do" lists for local government, business, non-profits and
citizens that will have a positive impact on the state of
On Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007, over two dozen of South Texas’s most
energetic and knowledgeable environmental and conservation activists,
representing most of the leading non-profit organizations in those fields,
gathered at the headquarters of the San
Antonio River Authority, at the invitation of Bexar Audubon Society, to
brainstorm some specific actions that can be taken by local government,
business, individual residents and non-profit organizations to improve the San
Antonio area’s environment. (Click here for report on
previous year’s conference on the topic "What Is the State of San
Antonio's Environment and What Strategies Might Be Pursued to Improve
It?")
To
enhance focus, the participants were divided into three groups, each of which
concentrated on a particular area of environmental challenges:
GROUP I --
Protecting human health (water quantity/quality,
air quality, disease prevention/control, soil contamination, etc.)
GROUP II -- Preserving
nature (open space, linear parks, springs/rivers, riparian zones,
trees/vegetation, wildlife, etc.)
GROUP
III -- Managing economy & development (population, economic
development policies, building regulation, zoning, etc.).
GROUP I --
Protecting human health (water quantity/quality,
air quality, disease prevention/control, soil contamination, etc.)
a. Offer briefing meetings to media/new
councilmen, etc.
b. Regularly send background information
with news release for broader story.
c. Identify resource persons who can
provide interviews, and even working papers with background information that
can be put on a central website.
d. Hold press conferences, media meets on
location – one picture worth thousand words… e.g., sewage line breaks, impact
on recharge zone.
e. Central environmental information
resource for referrals to knowledgeable people -- “go to” person for
environmental stories.
f. Fight subversion of the language – like
calling high-density strip developments “cluster development”; calling natural
land “undeveloped”; calling ugly and excessive build-up the “highest and best
use” of land.
a. Air: SA traffic
fumes become ozone in two hours and impact northwest. The Hill Country breathes
our tailpipes. So how do we get HOV lanes and commuter buses? Work with AACOG
to investigate tail-pipe capture subsidies (other cities get federal funding to
buy old vehicles to get them off roads).
b. Water:
3.
Creating environmentalists: City kids need time in
nature to become environmentalists. Field trips, nature camps
important. Interface with
GROUP II -- Preserving
nature (open space, linear parks, springs/rivers, riparian zones,
trees/vegetation, wildlife, etc.)
1. Promote Native Plant
Society’s NICE Program (Native Instead of Common Exotics) plant list. The Build
2. Work to eliminate
homeowner and and neighborhood association rules that purport to keep property
values high with restrictions that run counter to modern green-building
practices (e.g., high-reflective roofs, renewable energy systems,
rainwater-harvesting systems, appropriate landscaping, etc.). To minimize the
most detrimental restrictions, use such tactics as:
a. Support legislation prohibiting
particular restrictions
b. Educate HOA’s with leaflets and
presentations.
c. Write articles for their newsletters.
d. Determine an evaluation protocol to rate
different association covenants (Build San Antonio Green certification?)
3. Organize a
4. Lighting conservation.
a. CPS needs more funding and LED
inclusion.
b. Focus on communities of faith and
programs for poor.
c. Provide an LCA.
d. To control nighttime light pollution,
educate people on programs in other cities using timers to protect migratory
birds (Chicago), raise awareness of “Crime Prevention by Design”; and stress
the value of seeing the stars.
5. Energy.
a. CPS should better quantify homeowners’
usage of energy and their carbon footprints. Also provide rebate and/or rental
of handheld devices such as the Blue Line Power Cost Monitor to monitor energy
usage (shifts use off-peak use). Bill use chart like SAWS bill.
b. CPS to develop more night storage of
excess energy.
c. CPS should benchmark energy usage of
individual business departments and reward least use of energy by sharing
energy savings between the department and the overall business.
d. CPS or MPE or USGBC to serve as energy manager/monitor
for business to help enforce and quantify conservation measures.
6. Transportation.
a. Integrated mass transit (link street
cars, commuter rails, biking/walking).
b. Non-political strategy session for
public transportation or “transportation alternatives,” “transportation
montage,” for policy makers, lawyers.
c. Then need a referendum for mass transit
(took many attempts in other cities).
d. Toll roads should adopt GPS
7. Plastics campaign
a. Get HEB to put up a sign “Did you
remember your canvas bag?” in the parking lot and ask cashiers to ask, “Did you
bring your own bags today?” before asking paper or plastic.
8. Require government
architects & planners to be LEED APs.
9. Sustainability Talking
Series.
a. Present nationally recognized speakers
hosted by various academic institutions (UTSA, Trinity, ACCD).
b. Get the same speakers to give 15-minute
presentations to civic leaders at the “B” session.
10. Educational Writing.
a.
Ongoing campaign
b. Possible outlets: SAEN newsletter,
website, Express/News, Current.
11. Combine funds to share
a PR person.
13. Share efforts with
MOMA, CEFPI.
a. Density around mass transit nodes.
b. Incentives for downtown grocery store.
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