CMPBS is looking to fill the position of Office Administrator.

Position details available here

CMPBS is honored to announce that is has been awarded a 2012 Lewis Mumford Award in the Environment category. The Mumford Award is awarded annually by Architects / Designers / Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) to organizations demonstrating “outstanding contributions in areas that embrace ADPSR’s mission of world peace, protection of the environment, and socially responsible development.”

CMPBS’s fellow awardees include The Nobility Project, Austin (Peace Category) and Project Row House, Houston (Development Category).

Thank you to the friends, colleagues and community members who joined us for CMPBS 2012 ecoBalance Series – Food. It was a great success!

Our 2012 ecoBalance Series is made possible with the support of The Stillwater Foundation

A special thank you to our speakers. If you would like to learn more about our speakers and their work please visit their websites.

Skip Connett and Erin Flynn: Green Gate Farm
Paige Hill: Urban Patchwork
Bob Gedert: Austin Resource Recovery
Murph Willcott: Texas Frenchbread

Thank you to Green Gate Farm and Texas Frenchbread for donation of fresh, organic vegetables and bread!

Stay posted for information about the next installment of the 2012 ecoBalance Series!

CMPBS Co-Director Pliny Fisk was featured in the article “Dream Weaver: For green-building savior Pliny Fisk, turning science fiction into reality is the new world order” in the Spring 2012 issue of Austin Home Magazine. 

Pliny discusses his current projects including Plenitude, a conceptual plan for desert cities. Pliny also shares his unique outlook on the future and potential for green building technologies.

A preview of the article is available on the Austin Home website or download the full article here.

CMPBS is proud to announce the launch of our 2012 ecoBalance™ Presentation Series focusing on the ecoBalance life support systems of Air, Water, Food, Energy and Materials.  As with our prior presentation series, we look forward to providing a provocative context to explore these essential ecoBalance “cycles of life.”  The kick off panel is focused on the ecoBalance life support system of Food.

When:  Friday, March 2, 2012
6:30 – 9:00 PM
7 – 8:30 PM: Panel Discussion
8:30 – 9:00: Q&A

Where: CMPBS
8604 FM 969 • Austin, TX 78724

Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.
This is an outdoor event.
CMPBS is a smoke free environment.

$15 Suggested Donation
RSVP to Center@cmpbs.org

Download the Flyer

About ecoBalance™:
ecoBalance™ is a planning and design methodology that assesses the balance of life support systems (air, water, food, energy, materials) across life cycle phases (source/process/use/re-source) at multiple scales, using a powerful measure—balance—understandable by all.  Shifting from a linear, life cycle assessment and conservation-focused metric (use less) to one underscored by the ecodynamics of place where balance becomes the new baseline, ecoBalance acknowledges diversity in context and celebrates balance as a common cross-disciplinary language and metric.

Panel:

Skip Connett and Erin Flynn: Skip and Erin own and operate Green Gate Farms, an independent organic farm located in East Austin. Skip’s boyhood was spent on a magnificent farm in Pennsylvania that got its start in the 1700s. His career has spanned journalism, public health and farming. Most recently, he was a member of the TOFGA Advisory Board and TDA Organic Industry Advisory Board. Though Erin’s family has farmed and ranched in Texas for six generations, she is the first to create a certified organic farm. In addition to farming, she is a writer/ publicist. Flynn is active with Slow Food Austin’s Board of Directors and was recently appointed to Austin’s Sustainable Food Policy Board.
Paige Hill: Paige, founder of Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms, has combined her background in community advocacy and urban design with her lifelong experience in environmental stewardship to create a stable, community-based food system that’s renewable and fits in every nook and cranny that an urban environment provides – at the same time making food production “doable” for all of us.
Bob Gedert: Bob, Director of Austin Solid Waste Services, has been involved in recycling and waste reduction programs since 1975. As the former Chief of Recycling for the State of Indiana, Bob wrote many state statutes supporting recycling efforts. With City of Fresno Department of Public Utilities, he increased the recycling diversion rate from 29% to 75%. Currently Bob is the Director of Austin Resource Recovery for the City of Austin where he is working in the implementation of the Austin Zero Waste Plan.
Murph Willcott: Murph is Co-owner of Texas French Bread. After graduating from UT, Murph worked a variety of restaurant, catering and bakery jobs in New York City before attending Harvard Law School. Murph left his law career after 8 years to run the family business, Texas French Bread.  As co-owners of TFB, Murph and his brother Ben promote the techniques of traditional French country and Mediterranean cooking, and Alice Waters’ dictate to seek out the local, the fresh, the simple, the nutritious, and the beautiful, and to serve these in season at their peak.

Generous Art will have a sale of local art to benefit CMPBS during the event. For each piece sold, Generous Art donates 40% to the buyer’s choice nonprofit and 40% goes to the artist, seamlessly supporting community.

Visit GenerousArt.org.

CMPBS Co-Directors Pliny Fisk and Gail Vittori will be participating on a panel on the topic of ‘Impact’ at the Structures for Inclusion 2012 Conference. “Structures For Inclusion” is an annual conference that brings together leaders, community activists, designers, students, professionals, and communities alike to reflect, brainstorm, and push forward the field of Public Interest Design.

The conference will be held March 23 – 25 at the University of Texas in Austin. The impact panel will be on Saturday, March 24^th, from 3:30 to 5:00pm. Additional conference information is available at https://designcorps.org/sfi-conference/

CMPBS is looking for volunteers this week to help with preparation for our holiday party, scheduled for this Friday, December 2 at 7 PM. We are looking for volunteers between 9 AM – 5 PM Tuesday – Thursday, November 29 – December 1. We will also need help 9 Am – 11 PM on Friday, December 2.

If you are interested in helping our please contact us at 512-928-4786 or email center@cmpbs.org.

Friday, December 2, 2011
7-11 PM
8604 FM 969 • Austin, TX

Featuring live music from Austin’s legendary:

GREEZY WHEELS

Greezy Wheels songs available for free download:
http://www.greezywheels.com/sounds_greezy

Potluck: BYO food and/or beverage!

 RSVP to center@cmpbs.org or
512-928-4786 by November 25

Schedule:
7:00 – 8:30        Refreshments and Potluck
      8:30 – 11:00      Live Music with GREEZY WHEELS

  With Generous Support Provided by:

This is an outdoor event: In case of inclement weather, visit www.cmpbs.org or call (512) 928–4786

Please note: This is a smoke and dog free event.

MAP TO CMPBS: http://g.co/maps/eeq3h

Scan QR-Code to add CMPBS Holiday Party to your calendar
Recommended QR-reader for iPhone and iPad:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qrafter-qr-code-reader-generator/id416098700?mt=8

Please bring a non-perishable food item for our annual holiday party food drive – all donations go to Capital Area Food Bank. In high demand: Canned meat and vegetables (pop-tops preferred), pasta and pasta sauce, pinto beans, rice, healthy cereal, peanut butter, baby food and formula.

Due to the health concerns associated with bisphenol-a (BPA) in epoxy-based can linings, CMPBS recommends you donate safer alternatives. To the best of our knowledge, there are very few canned foods with BPA-free linings. For information on specific brands and their use of BPA, we suggest calling companies directly.

For additional information on the health effects of BPA and it’s prevalence in canned foods please visit the following websites:
Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola
Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/december-2009/food/bpa/overview/bisphenol-a-ov.htm

CMPBS was featured as a pioneering example of regional modernism in the article “Towards Ecoregionalism?” in the October 2001 issue of Zeppelin Magazine, a publication out of Romania.

The article discussed numerous example of design focused on vernacular architecture and regional materials.