April 2019 Great Falls Group Cascade
|
|
Significant Events Calendar
Apr 2
- Fairfax County Environmental Committee Meeting
Apr 2
- Joint School / County Board Meeting on Climate Action
Apr 2, 5
- Native Seedling Sale order, pickup
Apr 7
- Project Drawdown, Leesburg
Apr 15
- Film:
Straws
Apr 16
- Film:
Paris to Pittsburgh
Apr 22
- Earth Day 2019
Apr 22
- Adopt a Highway Cleanup
Apr 23
- Student Environmental Action Showcase
Apr 24
- Vote for SC Bd of Directors due
Apr 26
- Application to be EQAC student representative due
Apr 26
-
Transit for All
comments due
Apr 26 - 29
- City Nature Challenge 2019
Apr 27
- SpringFest Fairfax
Apr 30
- Project Drawdown, Centreville
|
|
|
Upcoming Events and Information
|
|
Fairfax County Environmental Committee meeting
|
When
: Tuesday, April 2; 11 am
Where:
Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA (Conf Room 11)
Description
:
The Board of Supervisors Environmental Committee will consider the County Executive's recommendation on the Community-Wide Energy and Climate Action plan. As noted in last month’s Cascade, funding for this plan is a major priority of the Great Falls Group.
If you attend or watch on video, please make your opinions known to your Supervisor and the Board Chair.
Contact:
Debra Jacobson
|
|
This meeting is open to the public, and the agenda and background materials are available
online
.
The committee can also be accessed on your computer live at the same web site or available to view on demand following the meeting.
|
|
Joint School / County Board Meeting on Climate Action
|
When:
Tuesday, April 2; 3 pm
Where:
Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA (Conf Room 11)
Description:
To kick off joint board and staff work on climate action.
Details
If you attend or watch on video, please make your opinions known to your Supervisor, the Chair, your School Board member and the at-large members.
Contact: Susan Stillman
|
|
Vote for the Sierra Club Board of Directors by April 24
|
Voting is quick and easy:
Cast your vote for up to five Board of Directors candidates.
|
|
Virginia Needs Transit For All!
|
Urge Virginia to expand transportation options for bicycling, walking and transit, and shape better communities in order to reduce our top source of carbon pollution.
Submit comments by April 26.
Photo Source: Sierra Club AddUP
|
|
C-PACE Update
We wanted to share the good news that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance to authorize Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy in the county March 19.
|
|
The environmental community has been making some progress in slowing down the pipeline destruction of Virginia’s environment with it successes in the courts, the public demonstrations making the public aware, and the rising cost of the pipelines to investors. But we still need your vital support in requesting Virginia’s officials to ask for a stop-work order for the pipelines. Please review the following for more background information and how you can be an important part of the fight against climate change.
|
|
|
Earth Day 2019 - April 22 - protect our species. Together, we can make a difference; read about the many things you can do.
|
|
Adopt a Highway Cleanup on Earth Day, April 22, 2019
|
WHEN: 5:30 pm
WHERE: Tyson's Corner - Come out and help us make Tysons sparkle! Volunteers needed!
If interested please contact Patricia Leslie at
patricialeighleslie@yahoo.com
with "AAHiway" in the subject line or call her at 202-316-0584. Thank you!
We'll celebrate our Earth Day clean-up with a Dutch Happy Hour, location TBD.
|
|
|
Student Environmental Action Showcase 2019
|
WHEN:
April 23, 2019, 10 am-2 pm
WHERE
: George Mason Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax, VA
DESCRIPTION
(by NoVA Outside): Student Environmental Action Showcase (SEAS) is a regional event welcoming students from Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax City/County, Falls Church City, Loudoun County, and Prince William County schools.
|
|
Photo Source: NoVA Outside
|
|
EQAC Seeking Student Representative for Next Term
|
Fairfax County seeks a student member to serve on the Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) from July 2019 through June 2020.
Due date for student applications: April 26, 2019.
|
|
SpringFest Fairfax, April 27, 2019
|
SpringFest, Fairfax County's official Earth Day and Arbor Day event, will be held at the Sully Historic Site, Chantilly. Read about the many activities for your family.
Volunteers Needed!
|
|
|
WHEN:
Leesburg
Sunday, April 7, 2-4 pm
WHERE
:
at Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun, 20460 Gleedsville Road., Leesburg, VA
DETAILS:
It is possible not just to slow global warming but to actually reverse it by 2050! Workshop material is provided by the Pachamama Alliance and includes video clips of Paul Hawken, editor of Drawdown.
SPONSORS:
Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun, Green Team; 350 Loudoun; Sierra Club Great Falls Group, 350 Fairfax; Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions
Look for other Project Drawdown events in April:
- Tues, April 30, 6:30-9 pm - Centreville Library, 14200 St. Germain Dr, Centreville VA 20121 RSVP (Catherine Carver)
|
|
Film and Discussion:
Straws
|
WHEN:
Monday, April 15; 6:30 - 9:00 PM (Snacks at 6:30 PM; film at 7:00 PM)
DESCRIPTION:
Straws
is a powerful documentary about plastic straws and other forms of plastic pollution that inundate our waterways and oceans. The film illustrates how individuals, groups, and businesses around the globe are reducing plastic straw use through education, collaboration, policy development, and utilization of non-plastic alternatives. With colorful opening animation narrated by Oscar winner Tim Robbins,
Straws
is entertaining as well as educational.
RSVP
SPONSOR:
Sierra Club/Great Falls Group
|
|
|
Film:
From Paris to Pittsburgh
|
Photo Source: trailer for
Paris to Pittsburgh
SPONSOR:
Sierra Club Great Falls Group
|
|
WHEN
: Tuesday, April 16; 6:30 - 9:00 pm (Snacks at 6:30 PM; film at 7:00 pm)
WHERE:
Centreville Library 14200 St Germain Drive, Centreville, VA
DETAILS:
From coastal cities to America’s heartland,
Paris to Pittsburgh
celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. We will be part of a nationwide screening of this film.
RSVP
.
|
|
|
|
Sierra Club Call to Action
|
- Veto prohibition on carbon reduction
- Thank our solar freedom champions!
- Tell officials: it's time for clean energy!
- and more
|
|
City Nature Challenge 2019
|
Would you like to be able to identify flora and fauna while contributing to a worldwide biodiversity project, all with one app? Then
iNaturalist
is the tool for you! This giant citizen’s science project allows you to upload photos or audio recordings.The software suggests identifications, and then actual human naturalists complete the identification process.
There's also a once-a-year competition in April.
|
|
|
WHEN
: Seedling packages are announced in January, go on sale in February and are available for order and pickup April 2, 5.
DESCRIPTION
: This annual seedling sale by Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD) makes low-cost bare-root native shrub and tree seedlings available to Northern Virginia residents.
SPONSOR
: Fairfax County
|
|
Trees and shrubs help cleanse water, prevent soil erosion, provide habitat, cool our climate, and clean our air, according to NVSWCD, which suggests that you consider adding native trees and shrubs to your community today!
(If you purchase a seedling package and have too many, want to swap for different ones, like to get a few more, or just give away the extras, please contact
Norbert
for a seedling swap event.)
|
|
Film and Discussion:
What Lies Upstream
(NoVA)
The Great Falls Group presented the film
What Lies Upstream
and discussion afterwards on March 15, 2019. The film is an investigative documentary about a mysterious chemical spill in West Virginia that left 300,000 people without drinking water for months. The director and investigator Cullen Hoback discovered scientific cover-ups and political malfeasance across all levels of government, corrupting the entire system meant to protect drinking water.
SPONSORS
: Sierra Club Great Falls Group, UUCF Climate Action Group, 350Fairfax, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions
|
|
Presentation March 21 - Dean Naujoks and Potomoac Riverkeepers, through dedicated research, investigations, and community and legislative involvement, succeeded in a substantial coal ash cleanup in Virginia.
In January of 2019, the Virginia legislature passed a bill requiring at least 7 million of the 30 million tons of coal ash in the state be recycled and the rest safely placed in landfills within 15 years!
|
|
The coal ash ponds near Dominion Energy's Chesterfield Power Station in Chester, Va., Tuesday, May 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
|
|
Send comments or questions to the
editor
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
