Real Results For Virginia's Environment
End our addiction to fossil fuels
What’s the cheapest, cleanest, fastest way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? Make products and buildings more energy-efficient. The proposal to update the climate control system in Charlottesville municipal buildings and city schools would save between 5 and 30 percent on annual energy costs, the equivalent of taking 1,980 cars off the road every year.
Repower Virginia with wind & solar
Across our nation, workers are erecting wind turbines and installing solar systems that will supply clean electricity to millions of homes, schools and offices. Environment Virginia lobbied for new laws in our state and now we’re urging President Obama and Congress to expand clean energy use nationwide.
Restore our rivers to health
Our staff and supporters have helped win the highest level of protection for more than 325 miles of rivers, streams in the Potomac watershed, which supplies 486 million gallons of drinking water per day.
Find solutions to global warming
As President Obama races to solve the climate crisis, he can look for ideas and inspiration to our partner states where we’ve helped shape plans to cap and reduce the carbon footprint of power plants and other polluters.
Preserve Virginia wild forests
More than 219,000 acres of George Washington National Forest are still untouched and unspoiled. When President Bush moved to open such forests to logging and new roads, we raised our voices in protest. The fight continues. We’re demanding permanent protection.
Bring change to Washington
In 2008, voters elected the most pro-environment president and Congress in recent memory. We did our part by talking to voters from Roanoke to Virginia Beach in order to elect Barack Obama and Gerry Connelly, Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello to represent Virginia in the U.S. House.
Save the right whale
In 2008, we backed several proposals to protect our oceans, and in December we saw progress when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a new rule that will help protect the endangered North American right whale, which migrates along the Virginia coast, from boat strikes.
Build the clean cars of the future
Imagine if cars that get better than 40 miles per gallon were the norm. Our advocacy helped push through the first increase in the gas mileage standard in more than 30 years.
Fighting toxic pollution
Our research indicates that chemicals linked to birth defects, cancer and asthma are found in the bodies of nearly every American. Our partners in California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington have won efforts to phase out the worst chemicals, and we are working to pass similar measures in Virginia and in Washington, D.C.
Defend the Grand Canyon
Mining, with its toxic runoff and disruption of the landscape, has no place on or near the Grand Canyon. We’re working to undo the Bush administration’s blanket invitation to mining companies that want to operate as close as five miles away from the canyon rim.
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