A little over 5 years ago Laura Dunn began working on this film. She saw the struggle over Barton Springs between locals and developers as a microcosm for what is going on all over the globe. She wanted to explore the question: as we grow how do we protect our most precious natural resources? Enter Robert Redford and Terry Malick. Malick had signed on to executive produce the film and asked Mr. Redford if he would be interested in joining him. He said, “Absolutely.” He had grown up spending a lot of time in Austin and had learned to swim at Barton Springs. The impact it had on him was very important. As far as documentary filmmaking, that too was important. He had gotten involved with them in the 70s and 80s and put a lot of energy into them because he believed in them they would move out of the academic and talking head realm and wanted to be part of that growth and development. Read the rest of this entry »

Our environmental expert in residence, Colin Clark, writes these words and has contributed many more on environmental subject to the Daze for several years now. His column has always been incredibly informative. We had more questions, though. So we decided to ask. And will continue to from now on. As Ambassadors of the Less Informed-and-slightly-cynical, we hope that we might get you thinking. Hell, maybe even doing.

It’s quite remarkable, when you stop to think about it, that almost all food and cuisine in the United States of America is available in every season. There are exceptions, but does the produce section at the grocery store really look much different in January than it does in August? Do most restaurants change their menus based on what’s in season? Maybe a handful, but the vast majority have menus that are completely oblivious to seasons. Whatever you want you can have. Think about your favorite restaurant in Austin Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:a=72157594270496732,id=235372793,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Tell us about the good things that you all are doing on Jam Cruise.

MARC ROSS: Well we’re doing several elements of Jam Cruise. The overall function of Rock the Earth on Jam Cruise is to reduce the ecological footprint that this ship and this festival have on the environment. So we have had environmentally friendly initiatives to try and reduce that impact. The first of which is recycling. Normally this cruise liner, unlike other cruise liners, doesn’t conduct any type of recycling. So we’ve brought in a fantastic organization called Clean Vibes that has four kids down in the bottom of the ship sifting through garbage and separating the glass, separating the aluminum, the steel, and spending most of their time down there doing that. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:a=72157594267830938,p=2,id=241710724,j=r,s=s,l=p]OK, WE ARE SITTING IN OUR OFFICE AND A FRIEND WALKS IN AND STARTS TALKING ABOUT BIODIESEL. “BIO-WHAT” I SAY. WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN INTERVIEW WE CONDUCTED WITH THE PRESIDENT OF Austin Biofuels, SHORTLY THERE-AFTER.. I LOVE OFFICE HOURS, YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GONNA COME ACROSS. Read the rest of this entry »