The Community Climate Collaborative

Had a great time mingling last night at Firefly for the first Charlottesville Green Drinks of the year! Be sure to follow organizer, Emily Pendergraft, if you haven't already to catch the next meeting!

Join our partners next week!

Support Solar in Albemarle County! 📣 ☀️ Join C3 at Albemarle County’s upcoming public hearing reviewing the new Draft Solar Ordinance at 6pm on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at the Lane Auditorium, County Office Building, 401 McIntire Rd, Charlottesville, Virginia. Don’t have experience speaking at County meetings? No problem. C3 is hosting a free hour-long public feedback workshop at noon on January 14th at 12pm exploring our General Solar Ordinance FAQs and Albemarle Solar Ordinance FAQs, which we released last month. The workshop will be hybrid, mimicking the format of the Public Hearing. We will discuss the FAQs and provide guidance on communicating your concerns and priorities to Albemarle’s decision-makers. Please RSVP for the workshop by emailing policy@theclimatecollaborative.org . No advance sign-up is required to make public comments at a Planning Commission meeting, and we’ll go through the format at the workshop so participants have an idea of what to expect. We look forward to seeing you there!

Impact Spotlight: 💡✨ 2024 C3 Energy Efficiency Grant Recipient, Monster Cleaning Services Extreme Cleaning Monster Services Extreme Cleaning is a small, local cleaning service—one of the many small businesses serving the Charlottesville community. As a 2024 recipient of C3's #energyefficiency grant, the business took the opportunity to improve efficiency and reduce costs by replacing its old dryer with a new energy-efficient Energy Star dryer. As a cleaning service, one of the many daily tasks between jobs is cleaning towels and microfiber rags, which certainly puts the dryer to good use, in addition to ~15 loads of laundry per week. That's a lot of energy use! By only switching out the dryer, the business is estimated to save 3500kwh and over $400 each year! Considering the savings breakdown, it will pay itself off in 2.6 years. A win all around! #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyEfficiencyGrant #ClimateAction #GreenBusiness

Happy New Year everyone! 🎆 New year, same C3 advancing climate action locally-- but with a new team member! We are thrilled to announce our new Director of Climate Policy, Carolyn P.! 🎉 Please join us in giving her a warm welcome. Carolyn is an urban and environmental planner who has been involved in climate and environmental justice work for over a decade. She grew up near Charlottesville and first got involved in environmental justice organizing as an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia. Before joining C3, Carolyn gained diverse experience across government, the private sector, and academia, focusing on state and local climate action strategies, residential energy efficiency, and transportation research. Carolyn recognizes cities' powerful role in shaping climate policy and is passionate about advancing climate justice in partnership with community members and organizations across Central VA. We are excited to have her on the team and look forward to working with her as C3 continues to move the needle forward on local community-focused climate action in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Richmond. You can check out our site to learn more about Carolyn at https://lnkd.in/dGV2MyP

We did it! THANK YOU! 🥳 🎆 We are thrilled to announce that, thanks to your generous support, we have officially reached our End of Year Campaign goal! Your contributions played a huge role in making this happen. We are deeply grateful for your trust in the important work that we do, and more importantly, for your insistent belief in what’s possible and necessary for our community. With your contributions, we will continue to work closely with our local governments, businesses, residents, and social justice organizations to develop climate solutions and measurable plans of action to address inequities and reduce climate pollution in the new year. This is a huge step forward for the Community Climate Collaborative, and we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you again for your steady partnership. We wish you an amazing new year!

We hope everyone has had a great week enjoying the holidays. A quick reminder to come out to our last event of the year and help C3 reach our fundraising goals! 👯 We'll be dancing with lively and experienced instructor Susan Mcculley TOMORROW at 3 pm while reflecting on the importance of caring for the planet we call home. Before beginning the class, there will be opportunities to connect and plug into action with C3! The class will be a low-pressure environment where experience is unnecessary and accessible to everyone. Visit the link to learn more about the class, and register to join us! We hope to see you in class! https://ow.ly/KhRL50UxixL

The Community Climate Collaborative (C3) wishes you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season filled with peace and restoration! 💚✨ A huge shoutout and heartfelt thanks to Barry O’Keefe and Studio Two Three for hosting our staff holiday get together before the holiday break! 🎨We loved learning about the art of letterpress, just in time to create these handmade posters delivering this quick #energyefficiency reminder to program your thermostat this season ❄️! #HappyHolidays #ProgramYourThermostat

Come out next week on December 28th at 3pm to show your appreciation for our planet through dance! 🕺We'll be ending the year having fun with experienced movement teacher @Susan McCulley for community movement and Earth-loving music celebrating our connection to the earth.✨🌎 End your year supporting a meaningful cause by helping C3 meet our financial goals fueling local climate work in our community while being part of a special Nourishing Movement experience. Nourishing Movement offers a wide variety of sensation-centered movements that are adjustable for everyBODY. Set to eclectic and evocative music, Nourishing Movement invites your body to move in ways that feel good and challenge you to break habit, giving your body more freedom, options, and resilience. All proceeds from ticket sales and additional donations will go to C3 and no experience whatsoever is necessary! The class can be done barefoot or in shoes, in any clothes that feel good to move in. Chairs are available. Nourishing Movement gets you into your body and heightens your awareness and aliveness so this is one you don't want to miss! Learn more info about the class and register at https://ow.ly/au6U50Uvjk0

SPOTLIGHT: 2024 C3 Energy Efficiency Grant Recipient, Batesville Market💡✨ The historic Batesville Market has been in business since 1880. It is both an important cultural touchstone and food source in rural southern Albemarle County. New owner Kristen Rabourdin bought the store for one dollar back in 2020 after being thoroughly vetted by the local community, a testament to its importance in the area. This year, she received one of C3’s Energy Efficiency Grants to help cut down on the store’s energy costs! The historic building is “high character”, which means it is both full of charm and full of holes. After a walkthrough by our Corporate Sustainability team, we purchased a new storm door and insulated window inserts. This will greatly reduce the amount of air leakage into the store while preserving the historic character of the single-pane windows. We’ll also be dropping off some energy meters so she can check on her different appliances and see which one is driving her bills the most! #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyEfficiencyGrant #ClimateAction #GreenBusiness