Go green for a community project with absolutely no downside! Going green in your neighborhood or town is a terrific way to pull your community together while making a positive impact on the environment. A little effort by everyone can go a long way toward helping the earth, whether it’s a one-person crusade or a large-scale operation involving everyone in your city or region. Here are four ways you can make your community a greener place.
Take Advantage of Existing Resources
Cleaning up a community is a big job. Before you begin, explore your options. Most likely the resources for initiating a greener community are already in place, waiting for someone with the drive to take advantage of them. Begin by contacting local and regional leaders and filling them in on what you’d like to accomplish and what you’ll need to do it. Government sponsorship can connect you with potential funding and resources. The Environmental Protection Agency is an excellent source for ideas on creating and improving green infrastructure. Local merchants can donate tools, advertising, and the like. Ask for help and you’ll usually get it.
Create Community Gardens
More likely than not, there’s a piece of public land in your community currently serving no purpose. Find out if it can be spared for a community garden. Community gardens are spaces where individuals can be stewards of the land, even if it’s just a six-foot-by-six-foot spot. Community gardens are wonderful on many levels. They provide healthy and fresh produce to communities that may not have access to it. They’re educational opportunities for people of all ages. Finally, a properly cared for and bountiful garden always looks great. Far better than a weed-ridden patch of land.
Become a Composting Community
As a next step for your community garden, start a composting program. Compost is an excellent way to recycle organic waste, rather than wasting it in a landfill. Find and take a training course in composting (there are several online). Decide on a place to set up a community composter or investigate a city-wide program. Your local waste management company may already have an option for composting, trash collection, and recycling, so give them a call. Even if you don’t have a community garden, many of your fellow citizens might have backyard and windowsill gardens that could use a compost boost.
Shop Local
The last of our four ways you can make your community a greener place hits close to home. Shop locally and encourage others to do so. Buy groceries from local farms. Institute or give your patronage to a farmers’ market. Shop at stores that sell products made by local and regional artisans. These efforts make a difference in the number of vehicles needed in the land, sea, and air to deliver products from far away, thereby reducing carbon emissions. It’s also a good way to keep money in the community, which can lead to further initiatives to beautify and “green” up the town!
Going green in your neighborhood or town is a great way to pull your community together while making a positive impact on the environment too. Remember, small actions collectively make a significant impact. Encouraging and involving others in these initiatives can create a ripple effect and inspire further positive changes in your community.
What are some other ways you can make your community a greener place?
Taking advantage of existing resources is a great tip – so many people don’t realize the support that might already be out there.
Community gardens are such a win-win – fresh, healthy food, educational opportunities, and a beautiful space for everyone to enjoy, one of the community gardens used to have public events like making flower-bombs that we have enjoyed.
The idea of shopping local really resonated with me too. It’s amazing how those small choices can add up to a big impact on the environment and the local economy.
I love these great ideas. We actually have a community garden in our area, and I love it.
I love the idea of utilizing existing resources and reaching out to local leaders for support. Creating community gardens not only adds beauty but also promotes healthy living and education.
I am loving this post and love the idea of a greener community. So many fabuous tips here and love the idea of a community garden. I also want to compost!
This is great to do this for the community. And these ideas would be perfect for a Earth Day or Arbor Day project.
Shopping local is a great way to support your local farmers. I love going to the Farmer’s Market. They have a lot of fresh produce.
A month ago, I attended this meeting regarding hydroponics and I learned a lot! There is more to learn and I believe that this can be incorporated in the community.
I think it would be great if every community had a garden and a composting area where everyone could contribute. It would be a beautiful thing to have weekly market days where people of the community could sell what they’ve grown or swap what they have in surplus.
These are wonderful tips and it is perfect for the community to get together and be thankful for what they have to share. We even get together and sell there vegables, even the products as well.
Creating a community garden is such great advice!! It’s so healthy to be out in a garden & everyone can gain the benefits of it! I also love how it a community garden has the opportunity to bring people together to create a nice community of likeminded people.
we have many community gardens in our area and they are flourishing. we do try to use resources already available to us as much as possible and buy local too whenever we can