{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rivard-report-sustainability-summit-it-s-time-turn-talk-action", "Rivard Report: Sustainability Summit: Its Time to Turn Talk Into Action", "2016-11-03", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Lloyd Doggett", "D000399", "doggett.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "By Edmond Ortiz\nPosted November 2, 2016\n\u00a0\nThe City of San Antonio held its first Sustainability Summit in 2015 to collect public input for the then-developing SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan.\nOn Tuesday night, more than 600 people gathered for the second annual Sustainability Summit to learn about how individuals and businesses can take those ambitious ideas and goals and turn them into action.\nWith more than 1 million people expected to move to San Antonio and the region by 2040, Mayor Ivy Taylor told the crowd at the Henry B. Gonz\u00e1lez Convention Center that sustainability is a key part in long-term planning.\n\u201cThis idea of sustainability can\u2019t just be about talking,\u201d she said, \u201cwe have to turn it into action.\u201d\nImplementing the SA\u00a0Tomorrow plan will rely on promoting and incentivizing green-building infrastructure, efficient food systems, and sustainable transportation, Taylor said. Everyone can contribute to the greater effort of reducing unfavorable impacts on the environment, she added.\nFor example, Taylor encouraged citizens to make their homes more inviting to Monarch butterflies, which fly thousands of miles each year from Canada to Mexico, passing through San Antonio on their way.\nLast December, Taylor signed the Mayor\u2019s Monarch Pledge, making San Antonio the nation\u2019s first Monarch Champion City.\nTaylor admitted that she has not yet been able to make a butterfly garden in her yard, but she is setting up a pocket pollinator area on her property, where caterpillars can feed on milkweed and nectar after they have turned into butterflies.\n\u201cThat sounds pretty easy, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d she said. \u201cWhatever action that you want to take, we need each and every one to do their part to create a sustainable San Antonio now and in the future.\u201d\nTechnology-Assisted Water and Energy Management\nDuring the \u201crapid fire talks\u201d several speakers said an increasing number of mobile apps offer potential to make life easier when it comes to things such as remote-controlling energy use or irrigation systems, or planning bus trips and seeking rideshare services.\nCPS Energy representatives talked about the utility\u2019s energy saver platform, which offers various ways residential and commercial customers can save money and reduce energy usage.\nWith the My Thermostat Rewards program, CPS Energy customers can receive a free, installed programmable thermostat or buy their own qualified WiFi model, install it, and get credit from the utility. Using the Total Connect Comfort App, residents can remotely monitor and adjust their home\u2019s temperature.\nCory Kuchinsky, CPS Energy\u2019s director of enterprise risk management and solutions, outlined the utility\u2019s Smart Grid initiative. The effort involves the ongoing rollout of a total of 740,000 smart meters citywide by 2018.\nThe fully upgraded grid will enable automated, two-way communication between the utility and customers. CPS Energy officials have said the smart grid, where customers can opt out, would increase service and efficiency, reduce costs and emissions, and better support the integration of renewable sources.\nSan Antonio Water System (SAWS) continues to promote ways to reduce water consumption via conservation and technology. The SAWS board this week rejected year-round stage one watering restrictions in favor of voluntary conservation and public education.\nKaren Guz, the utility\u2019s conservation director, highlighted some ways people can make their home or business more water efficient. These include ongoing incentives for installing high-efficiency toilets, and for high-efficiency commercial irrigation systems.\nBut Guz cautioned summit attendees against thinking such devices and strategies are completely reliable. Like most anything else, Guz said, systems will deteriorate and need maintenance, so it\u2019s important for people to do their research and find a system that works for them before investing in the device or program.\n\u201cEfficient and automated technology doesn\u2019t always work,\u201d Guz emphasized.\nMark Peterson, conservation project coordinator for SAWS, said the number of mobile apps and controllers for home and commercial irrigation is rising, but each potential customer should research the promises made by these app developers and distributors, and the technology behind them.\nFor example, some controllers and apps are developed with meteorological and geographic assumptions made mainly by West Coast programmers and by agronomists. Such assumptions cannot be applied to the weather and land conditions that Texans face year-round, he added.\n\u201cDo your homework,\u201d added Adolph Garcia, conservation consultant with SAWS.\nThere are also plenty of low-tech water conservation and efficiency solutions. Guz said SAWS is promoting a way to purchase a rain barrel at a discounted price through Dec. 9.\nFood Production\nLisa Cervantes, who has presided over the Students for Environmental Awareness group at San Antonio College, talked about how the William B. Sinkin EcoCentro facility educates and advocates on behalf of sustainability.\nEcoCentro, which also acts as a community center, was named after one of the city\u2019s biggest promoters of solar power and other renewable energies. Sinkin died in 2014.\nOne of the topics that EcoCentro promotes, Cervantes said, is how people can reduce food waste. Americans toss 37 million tons, or $165 billion, of food annually, she said. That\u2019s food that could be redistributed toward composting or the fight to end hunger.\nCervantes noted that disposed food is the biggest waste in a landfill, and decomposed food makes up 18% of methane released into the air.\n\u201cWhen we waste food, it has far-reaching impacts on the climate, resource conservation and food security,\u201d Cervantes said.\nTexas is the second hungriest, or food insecure, state in the U.S., Cervantes said, and children make up 36% of the San Antonio Food Bank\u2019s total clientele.\nCervantes, who plans to earn a degree in environmental public policy, offered two proposals to help address this issue. One is making a food recovery sector of the City\u2019s solid waste collection department. Another is to expand composting opportunities for food service companies, from restaurants to manufacturers and distributors.\n\u201cBy increasing opportunities for composting, we could reduce the food going to landfills,\u201d she added.\nMitch Hagney, CEO of LocalSprout, talked about how his company helps craft sustainable farming and food production opportunities in an urban space, thus reducing the distance food has to travel to get to restaurants and customers.\nHe is developing a 16,000-sq. ft. Eastside warehouse into a food hub and creating a co-working and co-production space for partner organizations, businesses, and agencies.\nChris Babis of the Green Space Alliance of South Texas (GSAST) called for a comprehensive food systems approach, filled with partnerships and innovation, to shore up a community\u2019s resiliency.\nBecause of the complexity of contemporary food systems, existing challenges affect people\u2019s daily lives, public health, economies, and food security, Babis said.\nBabis is overseeing the development of a new program for GSAST. It will concentrate on land and water conservation, urban farm production, and sustainable landscapes.\n\u201cIt gives GSA (the ability) to capacity-build, partner with new social enterprises or to be engaged with the community in ways that could not happen 10 years ago,\u201d he added.\nLight Pollution\nToo much artificial light can affect energy bills, public safety, and health, according to Cindy Luongo Cassidy, owner of Green Earth Lighting. She represented the International Dark Sky Association at the summit.\nVery bright exterior lighting can cause glare that impairs night vision. Spread across growing human communities, such lighting can disrupt feeding, hunting, and navigational and reproductive systems and rhythms of the natural world, she added.\nCassidy outlined several ways to reduce light pollution, the easiest of which is to aim lights downward instead of up or horizontal. Makeshift shields can also be crafted to direct light away from the night sky. An empty can of pineapple juice can work, she said: Cut out the lid, drill a hole in the other side, paint (if desired), and run the bulb through.\nThese and other methods can help protect the \u201cheritage of the night sky,\u201d safeguard public health, save people money on energy usage, and help people be good neighbors overall, she added.\nTransportation\nOther speakers addressed efficient transportation in a growing city. Cristian Sandoval, founder and executive director of Earn-A-Bike Co-op, described how his volunteer-driven nonprofit is creating equitable access to cycling by providing affordable bicycle usage and maintenance.\n\u201cWhat a bike does is allow you to get out and feel things, connect with others, and get healthy,\u201d Sandoval said. Earn-A-Bike is working with ArtPace and the City\u2019s Office of Sustainability to develop ARTBikeSA.\nSandoval said details on ARTBikeSA, an initiative blending creativity, art, health, and sustainability, will be revealed on Dec. 1.\nHannah Santiago, project manager for VIA Metropolitan Transit, said VIA seeks to provide more public mass transportation options for San Antonio\u2019s growing population. A more efficient mass transit system will contribute to the local quality of life, she said.\n\u201cVIA wants to use transit as a catalyst to create more great places in San Antonio,\u201d Santiago added. In order to encourage use of mass transit even on one particular day, VIA will give free Election Day rides to local polling sites for anyone with their voter registration card.\nSustainability Awards\nEarlier in the evening, Anita Ledbetter, executive director of Build San Antonio Green, and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) announced the winners of this year\u2019s Sustainability Awards.\n\u201cWe know of the importance of all forms of renewable energy, but the most important energy is in this room, the human resources committed to doing something about this,\u201d Doggett said.\nEach award honors an example of a green-building technique or a commitment to promoting sustainability:\nAwards for exemplary sustainable programs:", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rivard-report-sustainability-summit-it-s-time-turn-talk-action"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7233968935906887, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}