Looking for Agencies that Promote Practical Sustainable Action

March 23, 2019 3:08 PM

Simply looking to broaden my resources when it comes to organizations that empower the community with the practical tools, knowledge and capacity for action to make sustainable living the norm. These are typically very localized environmental charities - location does not matter as I'm just looking for inspiration.
posted by abhardcastle to Education (1 answer total)

Paonia, CO, has created a reputation of being a town committed to sustainable living, especially through the Western Slope Conservation Center/Environmental Resource Council.

The Sustainable Living Association based out of Ft. Collins, CO, has a lot of info and events - even a big fair every year for education and outreach.

The Alliance Center in Denver is pretty well known for what they call "holistic sustainability."

Undoubtedly you're already aware of these next two but throwing them here anyway just in case or for others who aren't: 1) after an F5 tornado basically wiped out Greensburg, KS, the town rebuilt itself with sustainability in mind. Here's an article about it, but if you google sustainability and Greensburg there are lots of articles on how-they-did-it, which includes working with many different orgs and agencies.

and 2) Patagonia has a book called "Tools for Grassroots Activists" which has a lot of examples of local orgs and what they've done around activism. While the book itself has a broader brief than what you're looking for, many of the orgs it profiles fit within your framework (in terms of inspiration) as well as providing some of the practical knowledge on how they go about their work.
posted by barchan at 4:33 PM on March 23, 2019