A week after a chemical spill in West Virginia left 300,000 people without running water, a group of Charlottesvillians are holding a water drive and plan to truck it over the state line starting on Thursday, January 16. “It’s a crisis,” said Ian Babcock, founder of the new nonprofit Catalyst Productions, which is teaming up with […]
A week after a chemical spill in West Virginia left 300,000 people without running water, a group of Charlottesvillians are holding a water drive and plan to truck it over the state line starting on Thursday, January 16. “It’s a crisis,” said Ian Babcock, founder of the new nonprofit Catalyst Productions, which is teaming up with […]
Charlottesville’s second Better Business Challenge, a year-long sustainability competition for local companies, wraps up in May, but founder Teri Kent wants business owners to know there’s still plenty of time to get onboard—and save a lot. Kent, creator of local environmental blog Better World Betty, kicked off the first challenge in 2012 as a way […]
Starting in February, two dozen locals will give their Tuesday nights over to the study of rocks, plants, and birds—and together will pledge to devote nearly 1,000 hours annually to environmental study and education. They’ll be 2014’s class of Rivanna Master Naturalists, the newest members of a statewide corps of highly trained volunteers. Charlottesville is […]
Gardeners can be a fussy and opinionated lot, which makes them hard to shop for. As Christmas approaches, here are some gift ideas for the gardener in your life. Fruit trees. Winter is the best time to plant fruit trees. Because the trees are dormant, their chances of survival and getting well established increase dramatically. […]
Albemarle County officials have accepted a 410-acre land gift they initially rejected, approving a plan to partner with a local nonprofit that will maintain the new southern Albemarle park as a nature preserve and a site to release rehabilitated wildlife. “We’re very, very pleased that the land will be secure under a government agency,” said […]
Teri Kent runs Charlottesville’s Better World Betty, a non-profit organization and online resource for locals looking to shrink their impact on the environment. Every month, Betty—Kent’s ’50s-housewife-meets-earth-goddess alter ego—answers the most burning eco- questions from our readers about energy use, water, waste and recycling, transportation, and green buying. Q: I’m bad about checking my tire pressure. […]
It’s just after 6am Eastern Standard Time on a Wednesday in early December, and about a dozen journalists, environmental scientists, and educators from four time zones are popping in and out of an AOL chat room. There’s some small talk about the weather in Bozeman, Montana and Montevideo, Uruguay, but mostly, people are trawling the […]
Got holiday lights? It’s that time of year, and, according to Dominion Virginia Power, simply lighting a Christmas tree can tack as much as $10 onto a power bill for the holiday season. Jeff Norford’s holiday season power bill jumps a bit more than that. Indeed, perhaps no one in Charlottesville knows the ecstasy of […]
Charlottesville is giving a shot in the arm to its nascent electric car scene, something officials believe will be good for the local environment—and the local economy. The city is now accepting applications for a new mini-grant program that will steer $50,000 from an existing public green initiatives fund to businesses that install charging stations, […]
Love is in the air for white-tailed deer this month. Unfortunately for humans, there’s nothing romantic about a smashed car, and deer-vehicle collisions soar in November as the randy animals roam through woods, over fields, and into roadways during the peak of their mating season, which coincides with the start of deer hunting season. According […]