In this issue, we continue our Leaderboard Series with a close-up look at the city of Austin, Texas. Austin learned early on that unbridled development took a toll on the quality of live in a city that cherished its natural assets. When a popular spring-fed pool began to get spoiled by upstream development in the early 1990s, Austin responded by developing the first green building code in the U.S., and it’s been a leader in sustainability ever since.
In our cover story, you’ll meet Lucia Athens, Austin’s chief sustainability officer, and Bob Gedert, the city’s resource recovery director, who share the framework and innovative strategies they’ve developed over the past four years as Austin has accelerated its efforts to reduce emissions and build resiliency against climate change.
In other top stories: You’ll learn how Massachusetts plans to implement a new composting mandate, requiring large food handlers to divert food scraps from landfills.
