Sustainable Chesapeake Initiative

On December 15, 2009 the Chesapeake City Council adopted the City’s first Sustainability Plan. The Plan will be the City’s roadmap toward making Chesapeake a more environmentally sustainable community, with both long and short term goals. In June 2008 the Sustainable Chesapeake Initiative (SCI) committee was formed with representatives from all major operational departments in the City. The SCI committee has worked for the past year to create the initial Sustainability Plan for the City.  Over the course of the year, the SCI committee found that there are more environmental challenges than ever facing Chesapeake and the Hampton Roads Region such as air quality, climate change, sea level rise, waste handling, and water quality.  The Committee also found that there are many opportunities for meaningful change such as hybrid vehicles, energy performance contracts, and educational resources, as well as many successful existing City programs.  Progress toward meeting the plan goals as well as plan updates will be summarized annually in a report titled “The State of Chesapeake’s Environment”.

What is Sustainability?

A common definition is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. In other words, we need to feed, house, clothe and supply energy for ourselves, but still leave plenty for our children and grandchildren. This includes leaving a good quality of life with clean air, land, and water.

The concept of sustainability encompasses ideas, aspirations and values that continue to inspire public and private organizations to become better stewards of the environment and that promote positive economic growth and social objectives. The principles of sustainability can stimulate technological innovation, advance competitiveness, and improve our quality of life.

Information can be found on these pages regarding the sustainability resolution, local green businesses and sustainability issues.

Useful Resources

There are many resources just a click away. Here are just a few we recommend:

Energy:

• U.S. Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy: Division of Energy

Organizations/Climate Change:

• ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability
• Go Green Virginia
• Cool Cities: Solving Global Warming One City at a Time
• Our Earth
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Local green sites:

The Hampton Roads District Planning Commission (HRPDC) created several committees focused on environmental awareness in our committee. They are:

• HR Storm: Stormwater Management and Water Pollution Prevention
• HR Wet: Water Conservation in Hampton Roads
• HR Clean: Litter Prevention, Recycling, and Beautification
• HR Green Blog