As Austin and Travis County have built homes to serve the thousands of people moving here each year, that has meant putting denser housing on major city corridors like Lamar Boulevard and Cesar Chavez Street.

The city’s goal is to build more places to live with access to bus lines and parks, all in an effort to address affordability. But some local environmental leaders said Austin has built so much — and so quickly — that it’s lost what makes it beautiful.

In a conversation with Austin American-Statesman metro editor Kiah Collier at the inaugural KUT Festival on Saturday, environmentalists said that is because the city lacks adequate policies that protect the environment and prevent displacement while addressing affordability.

Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance, said the city can do a better job of protecting people and green spaces, and that it doesn’t hurt affordability.

“We have to do both,” Bunch said. “And protecting a Golden-cheeked warbler or the water is not forcing anyone out of their homes.”

He said how Austin chooses to build — with a focus on high-end condos and large sports stadiums — is what is forcing people out of the city.

“We have so many places and opportunities where we can put affordable housing, and then actually manage it so some of it is rental, and some of it is a partnership to prevent displacement,” Bunch said.

Susana Almanza, who leads social justice nonprofit PODER, agreed that the city’s building priorities have allowed developers to build in already stressed neighborhoods, straining roads and water, and further fueling displacement.

“We really have to look at the whole zoning issue,” Almanza said. “Not blame the environmentalists for protecting nature. Because nature and humankind are interwoven, and you can’t separate them.”

But building new denser housing isn’t the only concern for the environment.

Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard said as data centers start to move into Central Texas, their impact on water and electricity use and air quality is something city and county leaders need to be paying attention to.

“I want to make sure that as we move into this new frontier that we demand to use the science we have and we know, and just build it into how data centers are built,” she said.

She said that could mean forcing data centers to use reclaimed water, or to operate on battery power, rather than straining the area’s power grid and water resources.

The panel did not include a City Council representative, but Howard took the opportunity to remind the crowd why voting locally is important. City and county officials have a direct say in how those decisions play out.

“In the midst of the chaos, we have to double down here at home,” Howard said.