While I've spent time working on and researching various “green” projects, I have realized that I don't have a really good grasp of what the local government is doing to help build self sustainability and protect the environment. So I'm going to start researching the local government and see if there is anything I can do to help push them along. We'll start out in the county I live in, Loudoun county Virginia, and I'll work my way through some of the nearby localities and then see what the state government is doing.

    The county is also sponsoring bicycle to work day, and on May 16^th along the WO&D trail (our local bicycling highway) with two pit stops: at Leesburg at Raflo Park on Harrison Street, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.; and Sterling at Orbital Sciences Corporation from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.  Not bad, I wasn't even expecting the bike to work week support. Normally the county seems downright dismissive of bicyclists needs. Maybe things are changing, I'll have to see if I can talk with some of the people involved.

    Starting with the local government website, we can see that there are several “green events” right on the front page. The county is sponsoring a computer equipment recycling day on Saturday, May 17, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Telos Xacta Corporation parking lot at 19886 Ashburn Road, Ashburn, VA 20147. This is good, especially considering northern Virginia is a dense IT centric area of the country, and computer waste is in general very toxic.

    Looking a little deeper was necessary to find the “Environmental Health” section of the government website. Since Loudoun county is basically split into a high density “urban” zone and a low density “rural” zone, the environmental health works is also split to deal with the specialized needs of both zones. These sections primarily deal with pollution toxins(waste) and pathogenic vector control(diseases), outside of a document about ATU's(alternative treament units for sewage) I couldn't find a single bit of information or any links to sustainable practices regarding any of these concerns.

    In fact some searches for “solar” revealed a lone and ambiguous document about a local tax exemption and a bunch of unrelated links. A search for “wind power” turns up nothing useful at all. Searching through dozens of documents returned from a search on “alternative energy” at least yielded a few talks from a recent forum for rural innovation.

Here is the topic overview of the two “green” talks from the March 4^th forum:

“Alternative Energy Use for Agriculture and Residential Needs” – Dr. James Eberhardt, Chief Scientist, U.S. Dept of Energy, Kearneysville, WV.
The Vehicle Technologies Program is developing more energy efficient and 
environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies that will enable America to use less petroleum. The long-term aim is to develop “leap-frog” technologies that will provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security, while lowering costs and reducing impacts on the environment.  Hear how agricultural producers can make use of and benefit from new fuel technologies.

Biodiesel Production and Use – On the Farm” – Jon Turkel, Program Supervisor, Frederick County Parks & Recreation Dept.  Frederick Co., VA
Five years ago after collecting used restaurant oil in the cold, dark, pre-dawn hours of Aspen, Colorado, Jon began his journey converting vegetable oil to biodiesel fuel. Now a resident of the Shenandoah Valley he converts used vegetable oil, from Berryville, to power his farm equipment, personal vehicles, and to heat his house.  In his current role he is working on Green Initiatives including a biodiesel processing plan to offset as much as 100,000 gallons of County diesel fuel use. In his spare time Jon has been engaged as a consultant in biodiesel production.”

    So it would appear that there are some encouraging but rather half hearted attempts by the local government to encourage a more sustainable community. So what now? How can we help push this local government in a better direction?