They say it’s not easy being green. But in Norfolk, it’s not all that hard.
5 Points Community Farm Market is where all the cool kids shop, choosing fruits and veggies largely produced from the bounty of Virginia’s some 47,600 farmers. The market facilitates a CSA (community-supported agriculture) with local farms. Members receive a bag of farm market goods ready for pick up at the Market every Friday. It’s a tasty—and sustainable—start to any weekend.
5 Points also facilitates a number of community gardens throughout Norfolk, education programs, a fair trade festival, and a green living festival. It is one of our local treasures.
Norfolk Green Drinks makes it easy to find fellow greenies. It meets monthly to enjoy some locally produced food, beer, and conversation about how we can make our lives, and community, more green. These meet-ups are more or less everything good about the world.
A number of groups work everyday to protect our cherished waterways, including The Elizabeth River Project, which works to restore this river that runs through Norfolk. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is helping to save this national treasure through lobbying, education, and hands-on events such as the Clean The Bay Day, which draws thousands and thousands of volunteers who care enough to come out and physically clean the bay with their own hands.
Things are happening at the institutional level as well. The Hampton Roads Green Building Council is dedicated to a vision of Norfolk that utilizes sustainable planning, design, and construction practices at every step.
Keep Norfolk Beautiful works with businesses and individuals to set up recycling programs, support neighborhood clean-up projects, wetlands restoration, and education, among many pro-green initiatives.
In Norfolk, you can be as green as you want to be. And if you’re not a greenie yet, there’s enough residents here dedicated to protecting the environment to pick up the slack for you.