2023 Webinars
Green Thumb, Green Home: Sustainable Houseplant Care
Believe it or not, houseplants aren’t the most eco-friendly hobby, but maybe they can be! From Sustainability Matters’ Kenny Barnes, learn how to sustainably grow, style, and care for all of your favorite houseplants. Whether you’re interested in learning how to capture rainwater, minimize your use of pesticides, or just how to keep the couple plants you have alive, Green Thumb, Green Home is the webinar for you. By the end, you’ll have all the tools you need to turn your home into an eco-friendly indoor jungle!
What’s Up With Recycling?
Join us for a deep dive into the recycling industry. Find out why you can't recycle many plastics or glass anymore, and what you can do to help the situation. Also learn what happens to that can or bottle after it arrives at the recycling center, why recycling rules vary among localities, and more.
What's Up With Recycling? is a panel discussion with the ultimate experts:
Christine McCoy, Organics Program Analyst, District of Columbia’s Office of Waste Diversion
Michael Neese, Recycling Manager, City of Winchester
Our panelists are based in Virginia and Washington D.C., but many of the concepts discussed will be universal.
2022 Webinars
Greener than Grass: Small Spaces: Edible Landscaping
You don't need acres for an edible garden. The Greener than Grass Small Spaces series is a public education initiative connected to Sustainability Matters' Making Trash Bloom project in Fairfax County (VA), a demonstration native meadow at the I-66 landfill, and is funded by the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia.
Sustainability Matters' Sonia Zamborsky shows how to grow your own food in small spaces: containers, raised beds, or that sunny patch by your front door. Even a postage stamp-sized yard or balcony can become an edible oasis for you and your family to enjoy. We cover easy veggies & herbs, creative solutions for vertical growing, drought-tolerant options to withstand the fiercest summer weather, and pollinator-friendly companion plants.
Greener than Grass: Small Spaces: Native Gardens
Native Gardens, where Sustainability Matters' Sari Carp shows how to grow pollinator-friendly native plants in small spaces: micromeadows, potted perennials, small-scale native trees and bushes, and vertical vines. Even a postage stamp or deck can become a pollinator oasis, where you and your family can enjoy watching wildlife all year round. We cover site preparation, choosing the right plants for your space and growing conditions, and even no-mow lawns (though they're not totally native...).
Greener than Grass: Sustainable Landscaping
Turfgrass is America's #1 crop...yet has no ecological value whatsoever. Learn to landscape more sustainably, replacing your lawn with no-mow alternatives that offer food and beauty to pollinators, wildlife, you, and your family.
Grow Your Dinner, for Beginners
Want to grow your own dinner, but not sure where to start? Get the secrets of success just in time for spring!
Follow our favorite transplanted English gardener, Paula Brownlee, and her brave American sidekicks through a 3-part series on garden basics, techniques, and averting the sudden death of tomato plants.
Gardening doesn't have to be hard or expensive. We'll also show you how to garden on a very limited budget: starting plants from free seeds, building your own soil, and repurposing household items or "trash" as gardening supplies.
In the Weeds: Realistic Weed Management
Weeds getting you down? It's that time of year! (For some of us, it's always that time of year.)
Join us for a no-holds-barred discussion on environmentally responsible, realistic weed management.
We're warning you now: there's no magic bullet, and you won't achieve perfection. However, you can learn:
Priorities: which weeds are worth going after?
Get them when they're weak: optimizing impact by understanding growing cycles
Safe techniques for you and the environment
Tradeoffs: did we mention there's no magic bullet? Choose strategies to maximize success while minimizing environmental damage
Living with Spotted Lanternfly
The worst invasive insect in 150 years is mobbing the Mid-Atlantic. Spotted lanternfly has been colonizing Pennsylvania and Virginia for several years now, threatening crops, trees, and - with swarms of insects excreting buckets of sticky honeydew - human quality of life. Now, the polka-dotted invader is in New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware, and New York, poised to take a very viscous bite out of the Big Apple.
From Virginians living under the occupation, and Cooperative Extension Agent Mark Sutphin - reluctant host of SLF’s first hop into Virginia - get the down and dewy on SLF, what it’s like to live with the invaders, and what you can do NOW to slow the spread.
Native Gardens for Your Woodland Neighbors
If you've always wanted to discuss gardening with an opossum, now is your time.
Join conservation educators Sustainability Matters and the adorable animal ambassadors of Blue Ridge Wildlife Center to learn how to manage your woods — or create a micro woodland if you don't already have one — for the benefit of native wildlife and yourself. We'll discuss the importance of native plants, how to foster a thriving ecosystem and deal with invasive plants, and what native pollinators and wild animals need most. The gardening talk is given by Sustainability Matters’ Sari Carp, followed by a virtual meet & greet with BRWC's animal ambassadors!
Preserving for the Perplexed
Join us and the City of Winchester (VA) Department of Recycling for our free new zero-waste series, Preserving for the Perplexed. With DIY preserving, you avoid single-use containers, save money, control your own ingredients...and most importantly, have a ton of fun! Our team will have you laughing all the way to perfect preserves.
There are two sessions:
Vegetable Gardening for the Perplexed
Caught the gardening bug? But maybe those "victory gardens" aren't turning out quite as planned...or you're even more ambitious for 2022. Get the secrets of success!
Join Sustainability Matters' favorite gardeners, English transplant Paula Brownlee and Clarke County local Deborah Abercrombie, virtually (in partnership with the State Arboretum of Virginia/Blandy Experimental Farm) for a workshop on garden basics, techniques, and averting the sudden death of tomato plants.
2021 Webinars
Composting for the Clueless: DIY Composter Building
Part 2
Have you been eating at home a lot more since the pandemic? Or started a vegetable garden? Keep your food waste out of the landfill and use it to help your garden by turning it into soil-enriching compost. Composting doesn't have to be hard, smelly, or (too) messy!
Join us and the City of Winchester (VA) for a FREE virtual workshop on composting basics. Composting for the Clueless is applicable to everyone, no matter where you live.
Composting for the Clueless programs are supported by a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Thanks, DEQ!
Composting for the Clueless
Part 1
Have you been eating at home a lot more since the pandemic? Or started a vegetable garden? Keep your food waste out of the landfill and use it to help your garden by turning it into soil-enriching compost. Composting doesn't have to be hard, smelly, or (too) messy!
Join us and the City of Winchester (VA) for a FREE virtual workshop on composting basics. Composting for the Clueless is applicable to everyone, no matter where you live.
Composting for the Clueless programs are supported by a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Thanks, DEQ!
Please note: the Get Paid to Go Green webinar is geared at the professional farm community in the United States.
Get Paid to Go Green
Thought about planting trees along your creek or putting in a livestock watering system, but put off by the expense? Find out how to get state (Virginia) and federal funding to cover most of the cost of improving your land! Funding is available for fencing, erosion control, tree planting, pollinator meadows, and more.
This webinar is sponsored by Rockingham Co-operative and supported by grants from Pure Water Forum and JustPax Fund.
We hear from representatives of the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District (LFSWCD), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF). They explain the funding they offer, what it covers, and who's eligible.
We get the farmer perspective too. Mike Phillips of Valley View Farm discusses his long experience with conservation cost-share programs, and how he's made them work for him.
Vegetable Gardening for the Perplexed
Did you catch the gardening bug in 2020? But maybe that "victory garden" didn't turn out quite as planned...or you're even more ambitious for 2021. Get the secrets of success just in time for spring!
Follow Sustainability Matters' favorite transplanted English gardener, Paula Brownlee, through a 3-part series on garden basics, techniques, and averting the sudden death of tomato plants.
From the Ground Up covers key garden priorities - light, water, location, type of garden, and what to grow. Avoid beginner's mistakes, and get it right from the ground up!
Down & Dirty delves deeply, with hands-on specifics on soil, spacing and schedules.
Bugs, Blights & Weeds is all about problem prevention. Head off those garden pests before they get started!
What’s Up With Recycling?
Join us for a deep dive into the recycling industry. Find out why you can't recycle many plastics or glass anymore, and what you can do to help the situation. Also learn what happens to that can or bottle after it arrives at the recycling center, why recycling rules vary among localities, and more.
What's Up With Recycling? is a panel discussion with the ultimate experts:
Patrick Felling, Director of Solid Waste, Shenandoah County
Michael Neese, Recycling Manager, City of Winchester
Gloria Puffinburger, Director of Solid Waste, Frederick County
Our panelists are based in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, but many of the concepts discussed will be universal.
We're grateful to Regulus Group for sponsoring this event!
2020 Webinars
Green Gifting: Tips for Low-Waste Holiday Celebrations
Join our group of expert panelists to find out why Americans produce 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and the New Year and how you can avoid becoming part of the problem! Learn how to sustainably decorate, gift, and celebrate this holiday season - all while saving yourself money and reducing your waste production.
Wild Wellness: A Webinar on the Medicinal Properties of Native Plants
Believe it or not, houseplants aren’t the most eco-friendly hobby, but maybe they can be! From Sustainability Matters’ Kenny Barnes, learn how to sustainably grow, style, and care for all of your favorite houseplants. Whether you’re interested in learning how to capture rainwater, minimize your use of pesticides, or just how to keep the couple plants you have alive, Green Thumb, Green Home is the webinar for you. By the end, you’ll have all the tools you need to turn your home into an eco-friendly indoor jungle!
Virtual Conifer ID
Join Virginia environmental partners Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards, the State Arboretum of Virginia, and Sustainability Matters for a free and festive Conifer ID & Holiday Party. Learn to tell the difference between fir, spruce, and pine and follow Assistant Curator Carrie Whitacre on a live virtual tour of the Arboretum's extensive conifer collection, including mature Cedars of Lebanon, Arizona cypress, and many more.