College Park Climate Action Neighborhood
CollegeParkCAN.org
WHO WE ARE
We are a community-driven Climate Action Neighborhood group committed to fostering collaboration and organizing scalable models for collective and meaningful climate action. We unite households, businesses, community organizations, and local governments to identify and implement local climate solutions for a thriving, regenerative future. We strive to lead by example and to inspire other communities to embrace climate action as an integral part of their identity.
CULTIVATING A PLANT-BASED LIFESTYLE
There's still a couple of seats available!
2024 CLIMATE SUMMIT April 27th
Hosted by RegenAll and Millersville University, the 2024 Climate Summit held in downtown Lancaster on April 27th was a great opportunity to hear from community leaders, educators, and public officials on various climate topics, including community action, solar, active transportation, and business initiatives. The day was packed with opportunities to learn, connect, and be inspired.
We hope to see you there in 2025, but be sure to check out photos from the day including our presentation on Starting Your Own Climate Action Neighborhood - www.facebook.com/regenall.org.
THE PLASTICS AWARENES PROJECT We are grateful for a grant received from the Mountain Watershed Association to cover the cost of this program. The Direct Support Fund is made possible by The Heinz Endowments, The 11th Hour Project, and The Plastic Solutions Fund and is a project of the Mountain Watershed Association. For more information or to apply please visit www.mtwatershed.com.
Plastics Awareness Project - we're not done yet! Get involved with your community - sign up here.
We have now completed our five planned sessions and one brainstorming session for the Plastics Awareness Project, after hearing from Eileen Ryan from Beyond Plastics. Eileen shared her background working to reduce single use plastics in her hometown as well as encouraging big name stores like Trader Joe's to take back their own unnecessary plastic packaging.
It’s easy to get discouraged or to put our heads in the sand, but finding hope or strength of purpose through the collective work of our community was and still is one of the reasons we started our College Park Climate Action Neighborhood.
We're ready to put that inspiration to work, attempting to change the systemic failure of managing our plastic waste, especially single-use plastics.
We all come with our own specific and abundant skill sets and talents. We also all come with our own time constraints and commitments. But we’ve also been showing up to the Plastic Awareness Project, or perhaps you've been following along on our website. So how do we pull all of that together with our goals to assess, minimize and advocate?
Take a moment to complete this short Next Steps to Collective Plastic Reduction Advocacy form and see how you too can be a part (however large or small) of making a difference in our community.
For more information please email: CollegeParkCAN@gmail.com
Join Our Efforts to Create a Climate Action Neighborhood
WILDLIFE HABITAT CORRIDOR DESIGNATION!
Why We Think a Habitat Audit is Important!
“In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.” Doug Tallamy
Walking through our neighborhood you can already see the good work being done to create more biodiverse habitats in yards and back alleys. Anywhere we can reduce invasive species and encourage insects and bees, and snakes and toads to make their home with us, the better for everyone. As Doug Tallamy also points out,
“Biodiversity losses are a clear sign that our own life-support systems are failing. The ecosystems that determine the earth’s ability to support us are run by the plants and animals around us. It is plants that generate oxygen and clean water...and that buffer extreme weather events like droughts and floods. It is insect decomposers that drive the nutrient cycles on earth, allowing each new generation of plants and animals to exist. It is pollinators that are essential to the continued existence of 80 % of all plants and 90% of all flowering plants, and it is birds and mammals that disperse the seeds of those plants and provide them with pest control services.”
With all of this in mind, we would like to encourage our College Park Climate Action Neighbors to do three things:
Complete this simple wildlife habitat audit: with just a few questions our Land & Water Climate Impact group can get a pulse on what neighbors are currently doing to encourage biodiversity in their yards, and an approximate percentage of acreage that is devoted to supporting native habitat within our entire neighborhood. HABITAT AUDIT
Consider transitioning portions of your yard from lawn to native plants, trees and wildlife habitat.
3.Continue educating yourself
about the connection between
native, biodiverse habitat and the health of our ecosystem, especially in relation to climate change.
LET'S READ TOGETHER!
Stay tuned for our MAY-JUNE read!
The saying goes that “actions speak louder than words,” but sometimes we need words first before we feel comfortable jumping into action. With that thought in mind we offer our College Park Climate Action Neighborhood Quarterly Book Read.
March and April of this year we’ll be focusing on our Materials Climate Impact Area, and especially plastics, our over-dependence on them, and the purposeful reduction of plastics usage in our daily lives. We encourage everyone in our College Park CAN to take the time to read, or listen to the Year of No Garbage (Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman’s Trashy Journey to Zero Waste) by Eve O. Schaub.
Learn more by visiting our Neighborhood Book Read page under EVENTS.
COLLEGE PARK CLIMATE ACTION NEIGHBORHHOOD CRDC COOPERATIVE is Underway!
Our CRDC Cooperative is officially up and running thanks to the efforts of Dave Lewis, Ann Bevilacqua, Sandy Cooper and Doug Snavely. With 25 households currently signed up to participate, the soft launch to organize the collection and delivery of unrecyclable plastics is under way. The goals for the Cooperative are many -
find purposeful use for plastics not picked up by our current city recycling program ( Who is CRDC and what is Resin 8? )
limit the number of cars driving those plastics to York
encourage the reduction of plastics in our daily lives through awareness, education and lifestyle change
In order to measure the success of the Cooperative over time, drivers are tasked with tracking the number of households participating, and counting and weighing each bag of plastic delivered to CRDC. If you’re interested in joining the Cooperative, please complete our CRDC Plastics Cooperative Sign Up Form. For more information, email CollegeParkCAN@gmail.com.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
If you would like to support our Climate Action Neighborhood initiatives please be in touch with us at CollegeParkCan@gmail.com
or CLICK HERE to donate directly through our secure online donation platform!
Thank YOU in advance!
The EASY BUTTON to stay informed, share resources and join in conversation around our activities is to join our College Park Climate Action Neighborhood. Facebook Group
Who Makes Up the College Park Climate Action Neighborhood Community and How Can You Get Involved?
The College Park Climate Action Neighborhood is made up of home owners and renters, college students and college staff, museums and art centers, restaurants, shops and a park. We all have something at stake in the climate crisis, and we all have the opportunity to get involved in reducing our carbon footprint in a meaningful way. Please join us!
Sign up for our Newsletter
Let us know what your Climate Interests are
Join our College Park Climate Action Neighborhood
Become a Sponsor for one of our events - email CollegeParkCan@gmail.org
Share your Great Green Ideas
Take the Lead on a climate impact area project
Join us on any of our upcoming Events
Join the College Park CRDC Cooperative - What's That?
May 18, 2024 4 pm
Cultivating a Plant-based Lifestyle: This class is for anyone who is thinking about transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle.
ONGOING 2024
Plastics Awareness Project Next Steps
Get involved or stay informed with our work through the Plastics Awareness Project.
March & April
Neighborhood Book Read: Year of No Garbage (Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman’s Trashy Journey to Zero Waste) by Eve O. Schaub
Read at your own pace.
CollegeParkCAN@Gmail.com
