Austin, TX - Hornsby Bend's fight against Global Warming

Austin, Texas is not taking the issue of global warming lightheartedly. Since 1988, the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant (off Highway 71, across from Austin Bergstrom International Airport) has been host to a waste management facility and research center. Engineers, scientists, and geologists are devoting their days to discovering environmentally friendly ways of coping with modern issues such as plumbing and crop growing. The land that the plant is now on was founded by Texas's first Austonians: the Hornsby colonists. And though much of the area was cleared when they first settled for farming purposes, today a lush variety of plants and trees cover the area. Staff at Hornsby Bend use the regrown plant life to describe the carbon cycle to visitors and that change is possible. The facility, open seven days a week to all visitors from dawn till dusk, is committed to highlight greener, more efficient practices. Located on the site is a bird observatory built from compacted straw and clay and held up by cedar trunks from the Austin area, trails that showcase the area wildlife, and a picturesque view of the Colorado River. The research that is currently being compiled is how to use biofuels effectively to reduce carbon emissions. The Hornsby Bend staff is taking Methane gas and processing it with algae to create what they call "Dillo Dirt"--a soil that's nutrients enhance the flourish of plant life without adding excess carbon or methane. The dirt is then used to foster growth of plants which work to consume carbon and emit oxygen. The major theme at Hornsby Bend is carbon sequestration: keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, and reducing the ones that are already there. Their Dillo Dirt does just that. Researchers there hope that their facility will be carbon negative within the next few years. Though the work of the Hornsby Bend researchers is only a small step in reducing Austin's carbon footprint, with research like this in the works, there is hope for a cleaner, greener future.