Our Programs
cultivating community through conservation
Our Programs
cultivating community through conservation
We bring conservation home...
…to Virginia neighborhoods and global online audiences alike. Through demonstration projects, webinars, and workshops, we transform communities, support farmers and landowners, and empower everyday people to make a real difference for the Earth. We focus on engaging non-traditional environmental audiences, those ignored or even antagonized by conventional conservation outreach. Central to our work is a commitment to building trust and relationships among the people we serve. We listen and learn as much as we talk and teach, and we prize the community we’re building as much as we value its impact on our planet.
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As a professional ecologist who has worked for years with organizations such as the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, I want to say that this [Native Woodlands for Wildlife] is one of the best talks I have heard on the issues that landowners face and how to deal with them. My friends would tell you I tend to be a bit critical, but in my opinion, Sustainability Matters is giving super advice.
- Emily Southgate, President, Piedmont Chapter, Virginia Native Plant Society
Double the impact
Everything we do has two goals: improving people’s lives while helping the environment. The information we provide is concrete and actionable, and over 99% of our webinar and workshop participants report that they plan to use the knowledge they’ve gained through our programs. We believe that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to conservation: the right strategy for you depends on your resources and priorities. We all make tough choices, some of which are controversial in environmental circles. Sustainability Matters doesn’t shrink from no-holds-barred discussions of sustainability tradeoffs, like those involved in utility-scale solar or herbicides to control invasives.
We turn landfills, pastures, and backyards into places where biodiverse native flora and fauna flourish. We partner with state and federal agencies on topics ranging from recycling to funding for pollinator meadows. We teach vegetable gardening, preserving, and composting classes that improve physical and financial health as well as environmental engagement. And we join forces with schools to mentor the next generation of conservationists.
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Partnering with Sustainability Matters has leveled up the City of Winchester’s impact considerably. For our joint programs, Sustainability Matters’ fun, innovative approach and marketing capacity drew in thousands of individuals we might not have reached on our own, meaning that many more people learned to keep unnecessary waste out of our landfills. We’re now scaling up to bigger initiatives with Sustainability Matters, like testing regional recycling messaging and exploring planting a large pollinator meadow downtown.
- Michael Neese, Recycling Director, City of Winchester
Seriously making sustainability fun
Our programs are realistic, inclusive, and fun. The fun isn’t trivial. Conservation can be complex, and environmental awareness depressing. When environmental education takes itself too seriously, it engages only those who are already convinced, failing to draw in new, broader constituencies essential to achieving real change. Sustainability Matters’ education helps “the choir” level up through new ideas and streamlined techniques, but also serves as a gateway for newbies. For example, participants join our wild edibles programs because foraging is fun, but in the process, they learn about landscape change and the critical roles of native and invasive plants. Lighthearted engagement helps people discover opportunities for lasting transformation, and cultivates new communities of the eco-engaged.
Explore our work
Learn about our flagship initiative, Making Trash Bloom, and the work we’re doing related to habitat conservation, especially the Sustainability Matters Native Meadow project at Winchester’s Jim Barnett Park.
Interested in our education initiatives? Check out our programs in Growing the Next Generation, Education & Outreach, and Social Media Education. Make sure to check out Supporting Farmers & Landowners!