Open jbjosh135 opened 8 years ago
mateoclarke
commented
8 years ago Thanks for this submission. Just to clarify, the project you are proposing would be the creation of a new website and potentially other tech tools that:
Right?
ssharif1
commented
8 years ago Morning,
Please provide the following today so we can finalize our project review: Full Name + Email Address You can comment here or send to ssharif1@stedwards.edu
Thanks, ATX H4C Staff
jbjosh135
commented
8 years ago @mateoclarke more or less, yes. As mentioned in the proposal, we originally thought we'd be asking for a website but after attending the workshop earlier this month we thought we'd allow the Hack for Change process to find other potential tools/solutions to our problem. I wouldn't be surprised if a website is what we came up with, but I'm open to other ideas that can help us organize the movement and better advocate for zero waste in Austin.
@ssharif1 there are two of us tag-teaming this as Project Champions: Andrew Dobbs - andrewdobbstx@gmail.com Josh Blaine - blaine.josh@gmail.com
danielhonker
commented
8 years ago You're in, @jbjosh135. We invite you to pitch your project at the 2016 ATX Hack for Change!
Now that your project has been approved, here are some things we suggest you do next: https://github.com/atxhack4change/2016-project-proposals#once-your-project-is-accepted-here-are-some-things-we-suggest-you-do-next
You will receive an email in the next few days regarding your speaking slot for the Saturday morning pitches. Please let us know if you will no longer be able to champion your project at the hackathon.
danielhonker
commented
8 years ago @jbjosh135 - you should have received an invite to join Slack. If you haven't already joined the team and seen the Slack channel for your project, it's #zerowaste. We'll be sending out an email with details on pitches soon.
Short description of the idea (140 character tweet):
Grassroots advocacy group @AustinZeroWaste seeks new tools to grow the #zerowaste movement in #ATX
What is your project concept or idea? What challenge or opportunity will it solve?
The grassroots advocacy group, Austin Zero Waste Alliance (AZWA) is looking to build the zero waste movement by engaging, informing, and motivating interested Austin residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to mobilize around the City’s Zero Waste Master Plan. Austin’s currently diverting only 42% of waste from the landfill, missing its stated goal of 50% by 2015 and hard-pressed to reach its first official benchmark of 75% diversion by 2020. The Austin Zero Waste Alliance is positioned to rally the myriad actors - local government, waste haulers, advocacy groups, and passionate citizens - to achieve the City’s zero waste goals, ultimately reaching 90-95% diversion by 2040.
Despite its diversion shortfalls, Austin is rapidly becoming a National and International leader in zero waste practices and policies, with zero waste businesses like in.gredients grocers, Texas Disposal Systems, Treasure City Thrift, and Compost Pedallers pioneering their respective industries, and organizations like Ecology Action, Texas Campaign for the Environment, and Recycled Reads leading the non-governmental and public sector into a Zero Waste future.
AZWA’s challenge is twofold. First, there are interested parties who ought to be activated in this movement but aren’t--they are totally unorganized at this point. This is particularly concerning because of our second challenge: the need for political will. At least 90% of Austin’s discards could be composted or recycled today, but we are still landfilling about 60% of them because of a lack of political will to undertake the policies and programs necessary to divert them. By finding a way to bring in those who are interested but unorganized and plug them into meaningful action to press for solutions, we can kick our Zero Waste movement into high gear.
Who will benefit from your project? Describe the humans at the center of the problem - who are they?
How would they benefit? Can you tell their story?
The Austin Zero Waste Alliance is a grassroots advocacy group that brings together activists, policymakers, businesses, and interested citizens from around Austin who are invested in a zero waste future. A shared passion and commitment to diversion, waste reduction, and overall environmental stewardship fuels our collaborative efforts, and together we tackle campaigns on a range of issues in order to influence public policy, raise education and awareness, and encourage creative problem solving. By helping this group do better, broader work, this project could have a tangible impact on the entire Austin community, since all of us are invested in a Zero Waste future.
Those most impacted, however, would be first and foremost the Central Texas communities living in the shadow of landfills or those facing the threat of proposed facilities. These operations target low income communities, especially communities of color, and wreak terrible havoc on health and quality of life--smells, litter, vermin, groundwater pollution, and a variety of other impacts. We can end this injustice altogether and improve the quality of these lives by starving these landfills of trash in the first place.
Businesses already engaged in the zero waste economy will stand to benefit, but most of all there are hundreds if not thousands of potential jobs invested in a resource recovery industry that are currently just being buried in landfills. We would be eager to tell these stories more widely.
As noted above, the best thing we can do for all of these people is to connect more people to their struggles and to give everybody more concrete opportunities to make a direct impact on decision-makers. Tools to reach more people, engage them, and activate them will help us to build the power we need to change the structures and systems of our community so that waste is eliminated and lives are transformed for the better.
Do you have photos of them? Or quotes?
As for pictures, one recent project we've taken on involves securing curbside compost collection for Austin. To demonstrate support for this crucial service, we took dozens of photos of supportive residents at the recent Austin Earth Day Festival. Here are some of our supporters calling for this vital service:
“There is no away. The idea that you can throw your discards ‘away’ is an illusion that has allowed us to maintain an unsustainable way of life for decades. When you go and stand up with the people who live where ‘away’ is and you see their struggles, it becomes clear that another way of life is crucial. We can do it if we want it badly enough, and if we are organized and strategic. That’s what AZWA is here to do--to build the community it will take to get Zero Waste for Austin.”
-Andrew Dobbs, AZWA Chair.
Issue area(s) relevant to your project idea:
What is the current state of your project idea?
Tell us more about the current state of your project idea.
We came into this event intending to ask for a new and better website. We have a website that is not terribly navigable and outdated in many important respects. Attending an orientation helped us to realize that we need to describe our challenge as opposed to seeking a specific solution, so in terms of building power and connecting people to decision-makers we do a very good job, but are frequently dependent on the resources of allied organizations. Our own tools would make things far more sustainable for us.
Do you have any links to news articles, text, mockups, code, or data?
We currently have a fair amount of content on three existing online platforms that could be leveraged and consolidated for web content: an active Twitter account (it’d be great to integrate a simple twitter feed on the website), a Facebook page, mostly for sharing relevant articles/content and spreading the word about events and monthly meetings, and a website for the group’s parent organization, Central Texas Zero Waste Alliance (CTZWA).
Tell us about yourself.
What is your background? Why is this challenge important to you?
Are you representing a group in submitting this project idea?
Andrew Dobbs is the Program Director and Legislative Director for Texas Campaign Director for Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE). His background is as a community organizer, activist, political operative, writer, and worker, and he has lived in Austin since 2002. This challenge is important to him because he is committed to living in Austin for the rest of his life and knows that the city cannot be sustained without finding a solution to its waste and climate crises. Building power and directing it to decision-makers is the only way these problems will be solved.
Josh Blaine is a member of AZWA and is also the Store Manager at in.gredients, East Austin’s zero waste neighborhood grocer on Manor Road. As the manager of a successful local business, he understands the importance of having the right tools for the job when it comes to solving practical problems and building value for a cause. He’d love to see AZWA increase its success and reach with a Hack-a-thon-supported solution.