City of Alexandria Hub Updates

We had an active November: supporting the City's Zoning for Housing initiative, speaking up for climate at the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) budget hearing and meetings, and hosting an Alexandria Climate Action 101 workshop. In December, FACS will continue to focus on the ACPS and City budget processes.

Take action this month!  Fill out the City budget feedback form asking officials to 1) Continue to fully fund the Office of Climate Action, 2) Provide needed funding to ACPS so that it can implement the City's Green Building Policy, while modernizing schools and support facilities to meet district needs, and 3) Fund development of a comprehensive energy and climate resilience strategy by ACPS to help implement Alexandria’s Climate Change Action Plan.

Holiday get-together December 16! Join other Alexandria FACS supporters and climate advocates for fellowship and an update on hub activities, Saturday afternoon December 16. Stay tuned for details. 

Arlington County Hub Updates

At the Arlington Hub's November meeting, we learned about FACS' new program to help congregations become more energy efficient, funded by DOE's Buildings UP grant. Also, to kick off our series on the various faiths' major initiatives around climate, we had a presentation on the Unitarian Universalist's Green Sanctuary 2030 program, which emphasizes resiliency and environmental justice at its core (more information here). On December 2, the FACS Arlington Hub will be co-hosting the Virginia Conservation Network's session on the upcoming General Assembly. At our next meeting, on December 6 at 7 pm, we'll continue to discuss the faith initiatives on climate with a guest speaker, a Creation Care Teams Program Manager with the Catholic Church. 

Fairfax County Hub Updates

On November 30 at our last Hub meeting, Cindy Speas, the Fairfax County Tree Commissioner briefed us on the current and future needs of our tree canopy. Parts of Fairfax County remain blessed with mature trees, while others have lost many to roads and development. We owe trees tremendous respect, as they cool us, provide shelter and remove some of the CO2 we spew. And, they nourish our souls! The stresses of alternate drought and drenching, and extended seasons mean we can’t take our trees for granted.

Our teams have been polishing our talking points, preparing for the coming budget season. This is significant work: because of FACS and other groups, our county has both a Climate Action Plan (CECAP) and a Resilient Fairfax Plan. Did you know you can subscribe to the Environmental, Energy and Climate news to keep up with the complex efforts? Read here how this hub is putting Faith into Action. 

Loudoun Hub Updates

We testified before the PWC Planning Commission asking for additional siting and environmental studies related to the Digital Gateway applications. We wrote to the re-elected State Del. David Reid, and the newly elected State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, congratulating them on their win. We asked: how will they address citizen concerns about data centers land, energy and water resource needs; we asked who will pay for the build out of the energy infrastructure;  we informed them that Dominion Energy has said they can’t meet the 2045 Virginia Clean Energy Act requirements due to data center energy demands. We are sending a petition to Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton asking her to give her support to the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2023. Jean Wright and Eric Goplerud met with Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon to share FACS’s congregational programs including the Buildings UP Award FACS has received from the Department of Energy.

Central Valley Hub Updates

In our last steering committee meeting, we began to develop plans to recruit congregations to participate in the EPA Energy Star program for faith communities. We plan to make this a concerted effort in 2024.

Harrisonburg Mennonite Church organized a tree planting on their 13 acre campus on November 11. About 25 volunteers participated in the effort and planted 250 trees. This makes a total of more than 600 native tree varieties planted this year. The City of Harrisonburg Urban Forestry Program contributed $3,500 toward the purchase of the trees.