Austan Librach was Chairman of the Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia during the first Earth Day

Earth Day

Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...

 in 1970. The Committee was a group of 33 students, professionals, leaders of grass roots organizations and businessmen concerned about the environment whose common objective was to raise public awareness of environmental problems and their potential solutions. Austan's group was joined in 1970 by students from other area colleges, as well as from other community, church and business groups which, working together, organized scores of educational activities, scientific symposia and major mass media events in the Delaware Valley Region in and around Philadelphia.

Librach joined the City of Austin in 1986 and to spearhead programs for environmental protection, transportation, and resource conservation. He then became Director of Emerging Transportation Technologies for Austin Energy

Austin Energy

Austin Energy is the public utility providing electrical power service to a area including Austin, Texas and parts of the surrounding area in Travis and Williamson counties...

, heading Plug-in Partners, a national campaign designed to encourage the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by automakers.