Everyone is welcome to attend all board and committee meetings.
See you at the annual meeting!
The REACT annual meeting is Monday, October 25th at the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne in the Jo Ann Rose Gallery. Arrive between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to socialize with fellow REACT members. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Mariia Zimmerman, Deputy Director for Sustainable Communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is our guest speaker. She will discuss federal initiatives that are assisting communities across the country take the environment into account as they develop transportation options and affordable housing and improve energy efficiency in their neighborhoods.
Mariia will present information on the Sustainable Communities Partnership, which includes HUD, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation. As we work on environmental actions in Reston such as reducing our individual energy use and storm runoff, we will learn how the Partnership is in involved in national efforts to increase energy efficiency and watershed protection.
Just as federal government agencies are working together on sustainability, several organizations in Reston consider the environmental impact of their actions. We have asked the Reston Association, Reston Community Center, Sustainable Reston and the Friends of Reston to join us at the annual meeting and outline some of their environmental measures. We hope members will be motivated to hear about environmental efforts in our own community as well as across the nation.
For more information
To whet your appetite for the annual meeting, read the following excerpts of a Grist interview with Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. He is a proponent of the Livable Communities Act, which would fund the Sustainable Communities Partnership.
“Q. What are you trying to do through the Livable Communities Act?”
“A. We want the federal government to be a better partner with communities. It has, shall we say, a mixed record over the last 235 years. After World War II, the federal government was jump-starting the housing boom for returning veterans and FHA was perfectly comfortable with segregated communities. It wouldnÙt loan for integrated communities or for mixed-use development. Lots of money for highways wasn't carefully integrated into the urban fabric, and it created some real damage -- along with strengthening the economy and promoting the movement of goods. We want this federal partnership to be appropriate for our new century. We want it to be sensitive to community context. We want it to be all about giving people more choices, not fewer.”
“Q. The coordination among agencies is to avoid having the Department of Transportation build a transit line in one neighborhood and HUD build an affording housing project somewhere else?”
“A. When these major developments are integrated and coordinated, you get more value. Housing can be the greenest, LEED-platinum-with-a-twist project, but if youÙve got to burn a gallon of gas to buy a gallon of milk, itÙs not sustainable. WeÙre extraordinarily excited and supportive of the administrationÙs effort to have EPA and the Department of Transportation working together on livability projects. This is tremendously important, not just symbolically but practically.”
“Q. YouÙre careful to note that this wouldnÙt force local leaders to do anything they donÙt want to.”
“A. Absolutely.”
“Q. So your response to people who say, 'Why is the government picking winners?' is that it already picks winners?”
“A. Since we first started taking land away from Native Americans and giving it to white settlers, weÙve been picking winners and losers. When the federal government decided it was going to give essentially free money for the interstate highways, but give no money to expand subway systems or keep streetcars alive, or just maintain bus systems … thatÙs not a level playing field.”
“Q. So the thinking behind making this all voluntary is that thereÙs enough market demand for walkable homes and workplaces.”
“A. You have chronicled a realtors' survey [here] from six years ago that, gee, people actually like to be able to walk out their front door and get a newspaper and a cup of coffee. That makes property more valuable.
WeÙre watching a phenomenon now where there are young people who donÙt rush to the DMV as soon as they turn 16. The driving culture does not have the appeal it once had to the young. We have an increasing number of people who canÙt, shouldnÙt, canÙt afford to drive or just simply donÙt want to.
I admit to having a car. But I bike to work every day here in Washington, D.C., and try to bike as much as I can at home. The notion of it being a choice, not a requirement, is growing in power.”
“Q. You have an amendment that would direct HUD to look at transportation affordability along with housing affordability in its decisions [by developing a housing + transportation affordability index]. Do you expect that to survive in the bill?”
“A. I think it has a very good chance. ItÙs very straightforward, there is support in the committee, and it gives basic consumer information that really helps people. For most people, you cannot separate transportation costs from housing costs. They are directly related. A lot of low-income people actually pay more for transportation than for housing. The more transportation choices near your housing, the better credit risk you are. This is good information for lenders, for developers, for consumers. IÙm quite optimistic that we can make this step.”
Thanks to our President!
Because of REACT President Thea KreinikÙs many volunteer hours devoted to REACT, we received an Employee Community Service Grant from her employer, Northrop Grumman, in honor of Thea.
PROJECTS
Reston Recycles / Close the Loop
We know itÙs important to save resources by reusing, reducing and recycling. When it comes to donating clothes, there are many options, such as the donation spots listed on our website http://www.restonenvironmentalaction.org/react_where2donate.pdf . When choosing a location, we may want to consider the environmental impact of what happens after we make the donation, as explained in this article from Grist, http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-26-ask-umbra-on-donating-buying-and-swapping-secondhand-clothes
Here are excerpts:
“[N]ot all secondhand clothing options are created equal. Because clothes are valuable, thereÙs a significant economy around secondhand wear. Like many moneymakers, used clothes have gone global. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, about 61 percent of donated clothes are exported to other countries.
This poses a few conundrums. Shipping more than half of the 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textile product waste, aka used clothes, each year to far away places can have a sizable carbon (and cotton and polyester) footprint. Your old discarded "Another Day, Another Doughnut" shirt may make its way across oceans. When it reaches its destination, it will probably clothe someone. But chances are it will also have a suffocating impact on local textile businesses. . . .
So how can you avoid giving your clothes away to secondhand outfits that go against your moral fibers?
For starters, as much as you may want to get rid of stuff, avoid tossing threads into conveniently located ‘clothing donationÙ containers, unless you know who owns the bins and are comfortable with what they do with the donated duds. Many of the big yellow and blue bins you see in parking lots are actually owned by for-profit enterprises that sell your clothes, for a profit, to people in developing countries. . . .
Another good rule of thumb is to buy secondhand clothes from causes you believe in. Some charities, especially larger ones such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army, resell donated clothes to make money to support great programs. Goodwill, for instance, provides much needed job training and family support; the Salvation Army provides much needed jobs for ex-convicts. Buy your clothes there to support these causes.
You may also want to consider donating your clothes to local charities that give the clothes to people in need or sell them inexpensively at local thrift stores. This kind of secondhand sharing cuts down on transportation emissions and helps your community.”
Eco-Friendly Yard and Garden Care
The committee is discussing ideas to increase participation in the project, as well as additional ways to encourage less synthetic pesticide and fertilizer use and promote composting.
To schedule a meeting in your neighborhood, contact Bob Mowbray at rmowbray@verizon.net . Energy Efficiency Several residents in Country Courts cluster participated in the Energy Efficiency meeting in their neighborhood this month. Members were provided with a variety of actions to reduce energy use. To hold one of these informative meetings in your neighborhood, contact Kelly Daly at kellydaly@verizon.net. The committee met with Reston Interfaith to strategize ways to integrate the project with services for their residents, as well as with Graceful Spaces. Drive Less, Breathe Better To schedule a neighborhood meeting to discuss how to drive less, contact Steve Cerny at cernybrown@earthlink.net . Next REACT Board Meeting: Monday, October 25th, RCC Lake Anne, following the annual meeting Check www.restonenvironmentalaction.org for other REACT information. If you would like to participate in a project or join a committee, contact Mary Brown at cernybrown@earthlink.net or 703-620-0151. This email was sent to you by Reston Environmental Action. To ensure delivery, please add cernybrown@earthlink.net to your address book.