Austin’s sustainability and design community gathered on November 12th to celebrate a milestone year for the 10th annual Austin Green Awards—an evening dedicated to recognizing the innovative, resilient, and equitable projects shaping the Austin area. As someone deeply engaged in environmental communications and community outreach, attending this year’s ceremony felt like stepping into a room full of ambition and inspiration, where creative problem-solving and sustainable design come together to reimagine what’s possible for our growing region.
The Austin Green Awards were created to honor exemplary achievements that push beyond conventional design and demonstrate how the built environment can enhance ecosystems, support community wellness, and strengthen resilience. This year’s event not only highlighted the evolution of sustainable thinking in Austin but also showcased two standout projects demonstrating what thoughtful, future-focused design truly looks like.
In November, I attended the co-located Disasters Expo USA and Resilient City Expo at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston — two major events that brought together hundreds of professionals working at the intersection of disaster preparedness, emergency response, infrastructure planning, and urban resilience. Together, these expos created a dynamic national forum for collaboration, where engineers, policymakers, sustainability advocates, and innovators shared ideas on how to prepare communities for the challenges of a changing climate.
While many attendees gravitated toward the keynote sessions and fireside conversations, I spent most of my day on the exhibition floor, exploring the vendor booths and speaking with people behind the latest technologies and materials that are reshaping how cities respond to crises and rebuild stronger afterward. For me, the magic of this event was in seeing tangible, real-world applications — tools and ideas that move resilience beyond theory into practice.
A similar previous expo news coverage segment featuring energy professionals in Houston, TX.
The 2025Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit brought together hundreds of climate and energy entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, investors, and policymakers to explore the state of innovation at one of the most dynamic moments in climatetech’s evolution.
Video of Greentown Labs Houston Climatetech Summit 2023, very similar to the 2025 Climatetech Summit.
This year’s theme centered around what speakers described as “Climatetech 3.0”—an era defined by economic feasibility, scalability, and innovation without dependence on green premiums or policy incentives. In other words, the next chapter of climate technology must compete and succeed on the open market; not just as an ethical imperative, but as a smart economic strategy.
As someone who attended the virtual panels in the morning and then joined the startup showcase and networking events in person at Greentown Houston, the day offered an inspiring cross-section of ideas, technologies, and people building a cleaner, more resilient energy future.
The October Austin Climate Innovation panel took a deep dive underground (literally) with this month’s theme: “Hot Rock and Cool Tech: Advances in Geothermal Energy.”
As renewable energy innovation continues to evolve across Texas, geothermal power is quietly heating up as one of the state’s most promising frontiers. The session featured some of the field’s leading voices: Dr. Shuvajit Bhattacharya with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Edward Humes and Timothy Tarver, founder of Exceed GeoEnergy, who shared both the scientific foundations and the business innovation shaping geothermal’s future.
This year’s Texan by Nature Conservation Summit brought together an inspiring cross-section of scientists, business leaders, nonprofits, and landowners to explore one shared goal: how Texas can balance business and natural resource protection in an era of rapid growth. Attending virtually, I was struck by the consistency of the message – conservation isn’t just an environmental cause anymore; it’s a business strategy, a public health tool, and a foundation for resilience.
The panels revealed that the future of conservation in Texas lies at the intersection of data, collaboration, and storytelling. Below are some of the biggest themes and takeaways that stood out – insights that can guide organizations, communities, and individuals working to make measurable change.
1. Conservation as Core Operations
The first theme was clear and powerful: conservation belongs at the center of how we operate businesses and communities, not on the sidelines. When environmental goals are integrated into financial planning, supply chains, and risk management, sustainability becomes part of an organization’s DNA.
Conservation is no longer optional. The organizations leading the charge, like DFW Airport, Molson Coors, and H-E-B, are showing that sustainability creates operational efficiency and brand strength.
DFW Airport has been carbon-neutral since 2016, diverting over 90% of construction waste and saving airlines millions in fuel and energy costs – proof that conservation can enhance profitability.
Molson Coors’ water stewardship projects in the Richland-Chambers watershed have conserved more than 2 billion gallons of water, underscoring how protecting natural resources directly protects production stability.
H-E-B’s “Trees for Texans” program strategically uses environmental data to guide canopy growth in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, creating community and ecological benefits while supporting its business footprint.
Key Lesson: Conservation should be built into core operations, with measurable goals and clear ROI, just like any other business initiative.
This year, I had the pleasure of virtually attending the 2025 Texan by Nature Conservation Summit, an annual celebration of the state’s most innovative and impactful conservation work. Though I joined from my desk rather than in person, the experience was deeply meaningful – especially since I first learned about Texan by Nature years ago while working for the Texas Trees Foundation, where we attended this same event as a “conservation wrangler” nominee. Seeing how much the organization has grown since then was both nostalgic and inspiring.
My time as a “Conservation Wrangler” at the summit working at the Texas Trees Foundation.
Founded by former First Lady Laura Bush, Texan by Nature (TxN) continues to lead the way in uniting business, community, and conservation for measurable impact across the state. At the center of this effort is the Conservation Wrangler program, a one-of-a-kind accelerator that identifies, supports, and amplifies the most promising conservation initiatives in Texas.
Each year, up to six projects are selected to receive 12–18 months of tailored support – from strategic planning and marketing to data tracking, partnership building, and Return on Conservation™ analysis. The program’s goal is simple but profound: to strengthen conservation outcomes through collaborative partnerships and business-framed conservation ROI, delivering smart and tangible returns for Texas communities and ecosystems alike.
