July 2009

The city of Austin and its residents have long been recognized for their commitment to live a "greener" lifestyle. As such, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the city was recently listed as one of the top 10 greenest cities by The Mother Nature Network.

Founded in 2008 by Chuck Leavell, who is the keyboardist for the popular band Rolling Stones, The Mother Nature Network is dedicated to educating people regarding eco-friendly business practices, transportation options, lifestyle choices and more. The network included Austin in its list of green cities largely because of the city's Climate Protection Program, which is the city's plan to be carbon-neutral by 2020, as well as its electric utility Austin Energy. Austin Energy is a leader in…

According to Forbes.com, Austin's economy is expected to grow by a whopping $5 billion from now until the end of 2010. These figures, combined with the fact that Austin has a relatively subdued unemployment rate, are the two greatest reasons why Forbes.com has identified Austin as the city that is likely to experience the quickest recovery from our current economic troubles.

Several economists are already predicting that our national economy will start to grow again by the end of this year, if not sooner. This will not, however, be the case for every city. In fact, many cities will be faced with a slow recovery, with many likely to need several more years to recover.

Austin isn't the only city in Texas that is poised for a relatively fast turnaround, as…