challenging and empowering neighbors to save energy in their homes. Challenges often involve an element of competition where neighborhoods or towns challenge each other to save the most energy/reduce the most carbon output.

preparing for or dealing with the impacts of climate change (as opposed to mitigation which focuses on preventing the impacts).

creating solar electric systems that provide power and/or financial benefits to multiple community members.

increasing carpooling through efforts like ride-share, car-share or public transit support.

creating community or member-owned clean energy products and services, businesses and jobs.

educating around and creating community-based electric vehicle charging stations.

identifying how energy efficient buildings are, and then prioritizing those improvements that promise the most return on investment.

weatherizing a house or community building, making it more energy-efficient and/or installing small-scale renewable energy systems, by bringing together volunteers and organizing workdays to collectively implement changes.

protecting buildings and their interior from the elements and modifying a building to reduce energy consumption.

measuring the amount of greenhouse gases discharged into the atmosphere - originating from all source categories in a certain geographical area and within a specified time span, usually a specific year - to help inform priorities for energy planning. Or conducting an inventory of energy consumption for a building or set of buildings using specifically designed software and setting a reference year.

raising awareness about and reducing pollution from idling vehicles.

supporting or creating appropriately scaled (distributed) energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale.

raising awareness around the impacts, positive or negative, of siting energy generation.

assisting individual home-owners or a group of individuals with the process of purchasing and installing solar panels for residential use.

encouraging and increasing walking and biking as forms of transportation.

creative approaches to reducing community carbon footprints that don't fit any of the other Energy categories.

Visit our Grantee map and use the Issue Area filter to see examples of all energy-related efforts.

growing food on a larger scale while serving the needs and desires of the public. A community farm is open to participation and enjoyment by anyone in the community, and experienced farmers handle farm management decisions about what to grow and when to harvest. Volunteers often manage the public programs - donations to food pantries, education and volunteering.

managing a piece of land to be gardened collectively by a group of people. Individuals can often rent small plots of land for personal use or a garden can be worked collectively with the harvest shared by all participants.

collecting and composting organic materials, promoting home composting and supporting professional haulers managing larger-scale composting facilities.

bringing together individuals who have pledged to provide upfront (financial) support to one or more local farms, so that growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production.

promoting a positive relationship between fishermen, consumers, and the ocean by providing high-quality, locally caught seafood to members, who are offered weekly shares of fresh seafood for a pre-paid membership fee.

researching and publishing (often free) online or paper-based guides to finding local, sustainable, organic food within a specific region.

creating physical or online retail markets featuring foods sold directly by farmers to consumers.

working with schools and communities to raise awareness about healthy food, good nutrition, and the role of farms and farmers by paying attention to the three C's: Cafeteria, Classroom, Community.

launching member-owned and democratically governed community grocery stores.

examining the operation of a local food system and providing ideas and recommendations for improvement, often through public policy change.

distributing food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough food to avoid hunger.

organizing volunteers and managing farmer relations to collect leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest.

planting, picking, rescuing, and delivering free fresh produce, often from community and home gardens.

inspiring awareness and action to eat locally and organically through events and activities in a specific time period.

developing self-maintained agricultural ecosystems, modeled from natural ecosystems, intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.

designing, installing and sustaining school gardens that are used for hands-on learning and to cultivate a deeper connection to nature.

researching farmer supply and consumer demand, facilitating and coordinating matchmaking opportunities to broaden local markets.

creative approaches to creating a resilient, healthy, safe and equitable regional food system through local food efforts that don't fit any of the other Food categories.

preventing and eliminating the introduction of harmful chemicals, odors, particulates, or other materials into the atmosphere.

preventing and eliminating waste, chemical and toxic pollutants, that pose substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.

preventing and eliminating the use of substances meant for attracting, seducing, destroying or mitigating any weeds or pests.

raising conerns around the health impacts of, and when necessary challenging, the siting of waste treatment facilities that involve the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials.

raising concerns around the health impacts of, and when necessary challenging, the siting of a facility for the disposal of waste materials by burial.

raising concerns around the health impacts of, and when necessary challenging, the siting of industrial facilities for the generation of electric power.

creative approaches to prevent and eliminate toxic pollution that don't fit any of the other Environmental Health categories.

raising concerns around auto-oriented, low-density development and the siting of physically large retail establishments that often reduce walk/bikability and damage local economies.

establishing forestry management practices where the local community plays a significant role in forest management and land use decision-making.

ensuring the establishment and maintenance of open space areas for parks, natural areas, and other recreational areas.

raising awareness, monitoring and protecting the quantity and quality of a community's groundwater resources as a common good.

preserving, restoring and preventing the deterioration of land as a natural resource.

establishing and maintaining public paths for recreational use.

advocating compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use and concentrating growth in compact (urban) centers to avoid sprawl.

monitoring and maintaining the physical and biological characteristics of water.

protecting and monitoring non-domesticated animal species, sometimes including plants, fungi and other organisms.

creative approaches to balance built environment, working landscape and wilderness that don't fit any of the other Land & Water categories.

valuing, encouraging & supporting locally owned & community-based enterprise.

establishing alternative financing models and local investment opportunities.

providing space for shared community use.

organizing give-away/exchange events, bartering everything from homemade products, art, clothing to professional services.

raising awareness and inspiring behavior change towards a lower ecological footprint through community discussion events, documentaries or live speaker engagements.

working together and engaging in sustainable, community-building activities, to meet basic needs in preparation of a (natural) disaster.

establishing and managing a form of money that is designed to be used within a community, town, or city.

providing opportunities to acquire 'new' knowledge and skills - often based on old craft skills, resource management and farming - that require less need for energy and lead to a lower environmental impact.

facilitating reciprocal service exchanges that use units of time rather than currency.

providing free, community access to a wide variety of tools and resources with an emphasis on use over ownership.

encouraging the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused.

creative approaches to inspiring behavior change towards conscious and ecological living that don't fit any of the other Living Economies categories.