NEWS YOU CAN USE!!
Cville Time Bank & Repair Cafe
They are a community of individuals who invest in ourselves and each other through reciprocity and exchanging time and service. The CVille TimeBank is an organized exchange system through which members can earn Time Dollars for time spent helping other members. They will be hosting a Repair Cafe on Saturday, Oct 17th 12:00–4:00 pm at Unity of Charlottesville. The Repair Café is an all-volunteer event at which you can bring your broken items to be repaired to extend their useful lifetime and keep them out of the landfill!
City of Charlottesville E-Bike Grant Program Sign-ups Now Open!
The sign-up window for the fourth round of the 2026 E-bike Voucher program is now open! All City of Charlottesville residents, aged 18 or older, are eligible to sign up for a chance to win an e-bike voucher. Visit the E-Bike Voucher Program website to learn more and register. Sign-ups will be open through October 31 and voucher recipients will be randomly selected the first week of November. More info here
‘Normal gutters cannot cope with bigger storms’ (BBC)
People are fitting deeper gutters on their homes to cope with more intense rainfall caused by a warming climate, according to roofers and a drainage expert. One firm in Bath said 75% of their clients want the new, double-sized guttering to handle stormwater. While climate change is prompting complex and often expensive adaptations around the world, roofers point to the bigger gutters as a simple, graphic demonstration of new weather patterns. BBC News
Want your green (money) to be more green (sustainable)?
Green Century Funds offers one of the first families of fossil fuel free mutual funds. Your savings for retirement and other investments may support some of the major companies mostly to blame for climate change – the oil and gas companies. Many investors have chosen to divest from fossil fuels and explore more environmentally sustainable investment options. Some of Green Century’s benefits: Sustainable Investment Strategy: Our three mutual funds exclude companies in fossil fuels, as well as nuclear energy, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and military and conventional weapons. Award-Winning Shareholder Advocacy: We push companies to become more sustainable by adopting new corporate policies to source renewable energy, reduce plastic waste, protect biodiversity and preserve clean water. 100% Nonprofit Ownership: Every dollar Green Century earns managing the mutual funds supports the work of our environmental and public interest nonprofit owners. Go here for a sustainable investing guide
Charlottesville Introduces Incentives for Electric Landscaping Equipment
The City of Charlottesville is excited to announce the introduction of a rebate program to support the purchase of electric landscaping equipment. This rebate program will help make cleaner, quieter landscaping equipment available to both residents and contractors. City residents are eligible for up to $200 in rebates, and City-based lawn care firms may receive up to $1500 in rebates for purchases of battery-powered mowers, leaf blowers, and string trimmers. More info here
LOCAL NEWS
Community Climate Collaborative (C3) News:
Updates from Fluvanna County and the fight against NE based Tenaska’s Gas Plant which is trying to build its second gas-fired power plant in rural Fluvanna! Fluvanna’s Board of Supervisors finally recalled Tenaska to appear before the Board and answer some of the mounting questions that have emerged since the Board approved the SUP in March 2026. During the discussion, Board members acknowledged there had been no public review of the extent of the expansion or the 1.8-mile corridor route, even though PJM Interconnection records show these connections were known by Tenaska months before the SUP vote.The next public engagement opportunity will be before the State Corporation Commission in January, 2027, exact date TBA. theclimatecollaborative.org
STATE NEWS
Let Our Elected Leaders Know that You Support a Bottle Bill for Virginia
Our concern for the environment, frustration over Virginia’s poor recycling rates, and the production of ever-increasing mountains of single-use plastic and trash has spurred the fight for change by asking our legislators for a “Bottle Bill” for Virginia. Sign the petition now to send your elected officials an email and let them know that you support legislation to establish a beverage container deposit system to help reduce litter, increase recycling, reduce greenhouse gases and create jobs. For a message that will go to your senators, representatives, and the Governor, go to https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/VABBO/Campaigns/77548/Respond
Move over, sheep. Cattle are grazing solar sites, too; that’s good news for VA
The conventional wisdom was wrong. It turns out sheep aren’t the only animals capable of handling the job of vegetation management on solar sites. Farmers are finding that cattle also thrive among solar panels – and they will get their chance to prove it in Virginia. Persuading cattle farmers that it’s in their interest to embrace solar is the key to unlocking low-cost energy supplies in Virginia and ending the rural war on solar. The advantages on all sides are so well understood within the solar industry that it’s common these days for new utility-scale projects in Virginia to include plans for grazing. Developers and utilities including Dominion Energy tout the local benefits of their partnerships with sheep farmers and beekeepers. Virginia Mercury Move Over Sheep
The State of Virginia is Failing!
The 2026 Report Card for Virginia’s Infrastructure, released by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), gave the state’s energy system a D, the lowest of its 13 graded categories and below the national D+ average for energy. It is the first time ASCE has included energy in its Virginia assessment, and the grade reflects a widening gap between electricity demand and the pace at which new generation, transmission and distribution capacity can be added. Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue has said the utility expects power demand in its Virginia territory to double by 2039, driven in large part by the state’s concentration of data centers.
Virginia releases statewide environmental literacy plan (Bay Journal)
VA Department of Conservation and Recreation released the state’s first Environmental Literacy Strategic Plan for students of all grades on Sept. 14. The Office of Environmental Education designed the three-year plan to connect educators with a network of resources. Sixty-eight businesses, educators, tribal nations and local governments helped workshop the plan. The state will not mandate its use in school curricula, but the plan instead acts as a guide for anyone, even people outside of education, on how to increase environmental literacy in schools. Bay Journal Literacy Plan
NATIONAL & GLOBAL NEWS
EarthJustice Lawsuit News – Fighting for all of us!
Here are some of the issues that they are working on: Protecting the Great Lakes from the Line 5 pipeline: Four Tribal Nations in MI are challenging a state agency’s permits that would keep the Line 5 oil pipeline operating for generations. The permits would allow Canadian company Enbridge to build a massive tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes for its oil pipeline. Demanding the White House Release Critical Government Records: The Trump administration announced it was dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), an important climate research agency. The administration has refused to provide details about its plans despite multiple Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.
Defending Our National Monuments From an Extractive Power Grab:
In July, the Trump administration signed proclamations to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by over 90% to enable drilling, mining, and other harmful activities on these iconic public lands. Going to court to stop deep-sea mining: The Trump administration is seeking to open up America’s waters to deep-sea mining for the first time in history, announcing plans to allow mining off American Samoa and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. For details go to: Earthjustice.org
From our friends at Citizens Climate Lobby: Take Action to protect our forests!!
The Fix Our Forests Act protects lives, livelihoods, and lands by reducing wildfire risk, strengthening local economies, and ensuring science-based forest restoration. There is no date scheduled for a vote by the Senate. Because the bill has already passed the House, Congress is pushing to pass the legislation before the current 119th congressional session ends in January 2027; if not, the bill will expire and must be reintroduced. For more information and a suggested message you can send our Senators go to: citizensclimatelobby.org Take Action page. Our VA Senators are most likely in favor of it, but it doesn’t hurt to let them know that we are paying attention!
From the Appalachian Advocate: A Legal Win in TN!
A federal judge ruled in favor of Appalachian Voices and our partners that the Tennessee Valley Authority’s decision to build the Kingston Gas Plant broke the law. “TVA invested ratepayer money into an expensive and polluting gas plant before fully considering alternative power options that are cheaper, cleaner and reliable,” said Director of Public Power Campaigns Bri Knisely. Learn more at: appvoices.org
Five positive tipping points that can save the world – Euronews
For too long a sense has prevailed that solutions to the climate and nature are out of reach. New research explodes that myth once and for all. Landmark new research from The Earthshot Prize and the University of Exeter has revealed 51 solutions that can trigger “rapid and transformative change” to repair the planet over the next five years. EuroNews Recovery