Before taking a short break for the Thanksgiving holiday, we had two busy weeks in Fredericksburg and Petersburg, Virginia. In Fredericksburg, we initiated and facilitated with a handful of various projects, including helping the local Sierra Club chapter with their Cool Cities campaign. “Cool Cities” is a national Sierra Club campaign encouraging communities to fight global warming through local energy initiatives. For more information about this campaign, check out www.coolcities.us . In addition to assisting with this campaign, we conducted an energy audit of New Vision, a local non-profit, providing the organization with energy efficient supplies, eco-friendly cleaning products, and a comprehensive report and plan to reduce energy consumption in their beautiful new building. While in Fredericksburg, we also facilitated community-university partnerships through Mary Washington University, networking the environmental groups with other social justice groups to address environmental justice issues.
After Fredericksburg we headed to Petersburg, Virginia, where we truly delved into the various aspects of community organization entailed in our mission. From canvassing local businesses to working with Dr. Holvar Olsen on making CARES Inc. an energy efficient and environmentally friendly building, our team found Petersburg to be a vibrant and developing environmental community. (by Brenna)
