Creating ‘no-mow zones’ reduces water, pesticides, fertilizer use, and CO2 emissions. Replacing grass with native plants takes less time and energy to maintain, provides beauty to your yard all year round, and creates important habitat for bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. For lawn areas that remain, you can learn from the Healthy Virginia Lawns program how to establish and maintain a healthy lawn while reducing chemical use and protecting water quality.  

Your roof produces stormwater runoff when it rains. Check to see where your gutters and downspouts take that runoff. Instead of letting them drain to a paved area or to underground stormwater pipes, divert your downspouts to a green space so that roof runoff can soak into the ground. Or install a rain barrel below your downspouts to capture that runoff and water plants during dry periods. These actions will reduce runoff from your home and, if you use a rain barrel, you will reduce your use of potable water for irrigation! 

Get a rebate for a rain barrel from the Albemarle County Service Authority. 

Light pollution affects human health by disrupting our sleep and may increase risk for depression, obesity, diabetes, and other serious health concerns. It can also negatively impact important animal behaviors like migration, reproduction, hunting, and feeding. You can help by minimizing the light from your own home at night. Here are some simple things you can do:

• Turn lights off when not in use.
• Use motion sensors, so lights are only on when they are needed.
• Choose fixtures that are fully shielded (pointing downward) to minimize skyglow and glare.
• Choose efficient, warm spectrum (less blue) lights to minimize impacts to insects and wildlife. 

Learn more about light pollution and what to consider when choosing outdoor lighting. 

When septic systems are not well maintained, wastewater can contaminate aquifers, streams and other waterbodies. To keep your system functioning well, have your septic tank inspected and pumped out by a professional every 3 to 5 years, depending on the number of people in your household. 

Learn more about how to maintain your septic system and check your eligibility for financial assistance. 

Wild bird populations—including common ones you’ll see in your yard—are declining across North America, mainly due to habitat loss. Here are some simple things you can do to support birds and create habitat in your own backyard:

• Plant native species to provide food, shelter, and nesting sites.
• Leave leaves on the ground. Leaf litter is home to insect larvae and other tiny creatures that provide nutrient-rich food to help birds through the long winter.
• Keep standing dead trees and brush piles, to provide shelter and nesting cavities for birds.
• Reduce the size of your lawn. Leave an area of your yard to grow long and provide food and cover over the winter. Avoid mowing this area, especially between May and July, the peak nesting period for ground nesting birds.
• Provide a source of clean water in your yard.
• Keep cats indoors. Birds are irresistible to most of our domestic kitties.
• Regularly clean bird feeders to prevent the spread of disease.
• Avoid pesticides as they can pass through the food chain and harm birds.
• Learn how to make windows safer, to help birds avoid hitting them.
• Use less plastic, which is dangerous to birds and other wildlife. 

Rooftop solar panels generate clean energy for your home right where you live. You will make an important contribution to mitigating climate and save money on your energy bills (or stop paying them altogether). 

The US Department of Energy’s Homeowner’s Guide to Going Solar provides accessible answers to frequently asked questions from homeowners. It’s a great place to start. You can find information on state and federal rebates and incentives at Energy Sage, a project started by the US Department of Energy. Solarize Virginia provides resources specific to our state. 

Can’t afford the upfront cost of solar installations? A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is one way to buy clean energy at a lower rate than standard utilities without paying for (or owning) a solar installation. Learn more about PPAs at Energy Sage.

Knowing how your home uses energy is the first step to reducing energy use (see next action). A home energy audit will tell you where energy is being used efficiently or not, including identifying what you can do to address reduce waste (for example, sealing cracks near windows or adding weather strips to doors. 

Albemarle County has partnered with the Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) to perform home energy audits for our community. County residents can contact LEAP and receive a discounted audit, along with recommendations for how to address any issues that LEAP’s staff identify. Visit LEAP’s energy audit webpage and scroll to the final section under the heading, “City of Charlottesville/Albemarle County”. 

Reducing energy use at home will save you money and help address climate change. There are three types of ways you can reduce home energy use: 

1. Reduce your use directly. You’ve probably heard these suggestions before: Turn off lights when not in use, set your thermostat to a slightly lower temperature (in winter) or higher temperature (in summer), wash clothes with cold water, hang dry clothing when possible, and unplug electronic devices when not in use. They do help! If you can afford a small upgrade, programmable thermostats are a great way to automate your home comfort and save energy. 
2. Improve your home’s insulation. You’ll hear folks in the business refer to this as “weatherization.” Improving the insulation of your walls, sealing window cracks, and adding weather strips to doors will help your furnace and AC units work less to maintain the temperature you set on your thermostat—saving you money and increasing your comfort. Insulating hot water pipes reduces how much your hot water heater must work.
3. Increase the energy efficiency of fixtures and appliances. Switching to LED light bulbs is an easy first step.  You might also consider replacing larger appliances that burn gas, propane, or fuel oil with electric models—such as heat pumps, water heaters, and stoves. Electric appliances save money in the long term because they are more energy efficient, and they will keep you healthier (burning gas in the home releases harmful pollutants to your indoor air).

You might be asking yourself, “how do I do all this?” Items in the first category are relatively simple and are up to you. Why not give it a try? Items in the second and third categories can seem daunting because they involve purchases that not everyone can afford right away. Local organizations—the Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) and Albemarle Housing Improvement Program (AHIP)—are here to help! Through programs funded in part by the County, these organizations help to improve insulation and energy efficiency among income qualifying households. Learn more.  

Planting a tree in your yard brings a host of benefits. When tree leaves photosynthesize, they draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store the carbon in their roots and the surrounding soil. For this reason, trees are considered “carbon sinks.” Even if you can plant just one, you can help remove carbon from the atmosphere (where it contributes to climate change) and store it in the soil (where it rebuilds soil health). Trees also help cool the air by providing shade and through the process of evapotranspiration, a much-needed benefit during the heat waves exacerbated by climate change. 

Trees—especially native trees—also provide habitat for local insects, birds, and mammals. If you have enough space, you can make the biggest positive impact by planting a locally native species of oak, such as white oak (Quercus alba). Oak trees can live for hundreds of years and host 518 species of native caterpillars—a key source of food for many species of native birds. 

Trees also contribute to clean water by filtering toxins from automobiles, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and stormwater runoff.

For more information about tree planting and to find native trees locally, check out the following resources and annual plant sales: 

• Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards
• Arbor Day Foundation – The Right Tree in the Right Place 
• Monticello Spring Plant Sale (visit monticello.org for specific dates)
• VNPS Native Plant Sale (visit Ivy Creek Foundation for specific dates)

Reduce, reuse, and recycle are the three essential components of environmentally sustainable consumer behavior. Recycling is a critical part of combating climate change since it takes more energy to make a product from raw materials than it does from recycled materials.  

To get started, use this quick reference guide for purchasing/donating used items, recycling, and disposing of household hazardous waste like rechargeable batteries, fluorescent lights, antifreeze, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

For more information check out the Recycling FAQs. Free recycling and composting is available at the McIntire Recycling Center, the Ivy Material Utilization Center, the Southern Albemarle Convenience Center, or you can subscribe to a curbside recycling service from a local hauler. 

If you subscribe to a curbside recycling service, it is important to recycle right to avoid jamming the machinery or contaminating the recycling stream! To ensure curbside recycling can happen effectively, avoid “wish cycling”—putting something in the recycle bin in the hope that it will be okay.

Keep these items out of the curbside recycling bin:

• hangers, electric cords, ropes, and Christmas lights
• organic material like food, yard waste, dirty diapers and pet waste, and compostable plastic cups
• takeout containers made of styrofoam or black plastics and plastic utensils
• items smaller than a credit card
• plastic bags and films*
• glass containers*

*You might be wondering why these last two items, which can be recycled, shouldn’t go into the curbside bin. Plastic bags and films jam the machinery at the recycling sort facility. But this plastic material can be repurposed to make composite decking and lumber products when mixed with wood scraps. This guide shows which types are collected at the McIntire and Ivy Recycling Centers, and many are also collected at area grocery stores.  

Glass containers placed in the curbside recycling bin often get crushed when collected, making the material difficult to sort and recover. For this reason, it’s better to separate glass yourself and bring it to the McIntire or Ivy recycling centers, which are free to the public. 

Food waste—all the food that gets thrown away in homes, restaurants, and supermarkets—is one of the top contributors to global climate change. Most of that food decomposes in landfills and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. You can help by storing leftovers well, consuming food before it spoils, and shopping mindfully for produce, meat, and other perishables, considering how much your household will eat before it goes bad. 

Composting food scraps is another simple action you can take to keep it out of the landfill. Food waste composted above ground reduces methane emissions from landfills, and the finished product can be used to improve soil health, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and extra watering. You can compost your food waste free of charge at McIntire or Ivy recycling centers. For more information, visit RWSA Composting 101. Curbside composting services are also available through private haulers in many parts of the county. 

Keeping yard waste out of the landfill is an important step in combating climate change. If you have space, consider creating a brush pile for birds to take cover. Before you know it, that pile of brush will break down, adding important nutrients to your soil. Also try to leave leaves in place. Leaf litter suppresses weeds, helps the soil retain moisture, and is vital for butterflies, frogs, box turtles, insect-eating songbirds, and many other wild creatures.

For your lawn, you can rake the leaves aside or use a mower to mulch the leaves. Mulched leaves will quickly break down to naturally fertilize your lawn and improve the soil. If you need to remove yard waste from your property, it is accepted at the Ivy Material Utilization Center where it is kept out of the landfill and ground into mulch for other purposes. 

Whether the water you use comes from a well, spring, cistern, or reservoir…making water drinkable can require electricity and treatment chemicals. So, reducing how much water you use will also reduce your consumption of other resources. Where well water is used faster than it can be naturally replenished, water levels can start to drop in neighbors’ wells and even in nearby streams. These are just some of the reasons to conserve water, even when we are not in a drought. 

To help you conserve water, the Albemarle County Service Authority offers a Toilet Rebate Program, Rain Barrel Rebate Program, and free water conservation kits.  

Ever wonder where all that water goes after it runs off your driveway? This water does not get treated and carries pollutants such as oil and detergents into storm drains where it flows directly into local streams and eventually reaches the Chesapeake Bay. To help keep our water clean, consider using biodegradable cleaning products, and wash your car on the lawn instead of the driveway. Even better, take your car to a carwash facility that recycles its wash water. 

For more ways to reduce water pollution from your home and yard, visit the Love Your Watershed website. 

Trash that isn’t contained well can pollute our waterways and harm wildlife, especially bears. We can keep bears wild and out of our trash by taking steps to secure attractants. Because they are curious, bears will naturally investigate food odors and are attracted to garbage, birdseed and suet, pet food, compost piles, and grease on barbecue grills. Securing your trash container or making it inaccessible will keep bears and other animals from getting in and creating litter. Keep trash in a garage, basement, shed, or other secure area, and place it in the curbside bin in the morning prior to pick up, instead of leaving it out overnight. You can also purchase a bear-proof bin or modify your bin with a latch, avoid leaving pet food outside at night, and only feed birds in the winter. Learn more from the Wildlife Center of Virginia about how to be a good neighbor to the bears. 

Native plants are an invitation for birds and butterflies to come visit your yard or garden. Even a small patch of natives can help support pollinators and other wildlife. In a native plant garden, the large quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, and water used for lawns are no longer needed, since these species are well adapted to the local climate and soils. Native plants sequester carbon (instead of releasing it with a mower), require less maintenance, and can help protect water quality by reducing runoff, erosion, and even flooding (if replacing areas of lawn).  

You can learn more and explore a variety of resources on native plants on our Native Plants Program page and from the Piedmont Master Gardeners.  

The free booklet, Piedmont Native Plants, is also a great place to get started. 

Pesticides—including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides—kill far more than the intended pest. Chemical pesticides are one of the main reasons that we see fewer birds, bees, and butterflies than we used to. Similarly, chemical fertilizers harm the soil, contaminate waterways, and exacerbate climate change.  

Fortunately, we don’t need chemical pesticides or fertilizers to grow enough food globally or to have beautiful, healthy yards and gardens at home. Here are a few alternatives:

• You can fertilize your lawn and garden naturally. See “Leave the Leaves” on this page for a place to start. Compost also makes a great fertilizer.
• A soil test can help you decide what types of plants will be suitable based on the existing soil conditions, without synthetic amendments.
• The best pest prevention is natural. Companion planting, the practice of growing different plants together for mutual benefit, is another great strategy to help prevent disease and insect infestation. For example, planting alliums like onion and garlic will help keep insects away from your garden. Crushed eggshells ward off snails, and sprinkling cinnamon and cayenne can dissuade squirrels.
• Did you know that you can fight mosquitoes with bacteria? Inexpensive packets containing Bacillus thuringiensis can be placed in drains and other wet sites where mosquitoes hatch. Unlike pesticide sprays, the bacteria inhibit mosquitoes without harming other insects.
• If you want to think holistically, consider learning about permaculture—"consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature," while producing food, beauty, and enjoyment. Many resources on permaculture exist; this article from NC State Extension gives a helpful overview.

Learn more about sustainable gardening from Piedmont Master Gardeners.