Over the course of the summer, VCN partnered with the Virginia Transit Association to host community listening sessions throughout the Commonwealth to find out how public transportation could be improved. The six sessions were hosted by Jay Fisette, former chair of the Arlington County Board, and covered a wealth of local transportation-related issues.  “I was very pleased with the diversity of the groups that we had at the sessions, it really felt like we had a great representative community,” said [...]

The Virginia Environmental Assembly brings together conservation leaders from across the Commonwealth to discuss our Common Agenda to protect Virginia’s natural resources. This annual conference is hosted by Virginia Conservation Network, the partnership of more than 100 Virginia environmental organizations. Each year, this conference is hosted in a different region of the state to highlight Virginia’s distinct natural resources. This year we are excited to bring the conference to Richmond for the first time in nearly a decade as we [...]

The Virginia Conservation Network (VCN) has now released Our Common Agenda - the 2020 Environmental Briefing Book.  Our Common Agenda is written by VCN’s partners - Virginia’s top conservation advocates. Published annually, it showcases the environmental community’s collective state-level policy priorities in the coming year. This book displays the breadth of conservation issues facing Virginians, along with proposed policy solutions to these environmental challenges. This year’s book covers a range of important topics including: Restoring our rivers and streams to [...]

Community advocates gathered in Danville on July 18th to celebrate last month's Supreme Court decision to keep the ban on uranium mining in Virginia. These advocates - from Chatham, Halifax, Martinsville and Danville - have volunteered countless hours of their time to educate their neighbors, public officials and the media over the last few decades about the dangers of uranium mining and its potential impacts on our health, our communities and our economy. It is their persistence that helped get [...]

VCN's own Pat Calvert is featured in Charlottesville's The Daily Progress calling on all levels of government to support Virginia's cleanup plan and increase pollution reductions in the face of Climate Change. I have spent the past 22 years of my life as a Central Virginian working to protect the rivers and creeks that provide sustenance to America’s largest estuary — Chesapeake Bay.From our state’s breadbasket in the Shenandoah Valley to the tidal guts of the Eastern Shore, the sweet [...]

Today, Governor Northam declined to veto bad budget language that prevents the Commonwealth from taking bold and necessary steps to act on climate change. VCN executive director Mary Rafferty issued the following response: "We are deeply disappointed in the Governor’s decision to not use his authority to uphold his signature climate action. Communities across Virginia are experiencing the impacts of climate change today. From rising seas in coastal communities to poor air quality in our urban areas, climate change is [...]