Partner Spotlight: Sustain Fairfax
This month’s Nearby Nature Network webinar featured “Sustain Fairfax,” a web platform that helps you reduce your personal carbon footprint, build community connections, and save money! This web-based platform is free to join and open to all Fairfax County residents. Ahead of the webinar we interviewed members of the Sustain Fairfax team to tell us how the platform came to be and how people can make the most of it. Fairfax County residents can join NVCT’s team on the Sustain Fairfax platform today to take action and be entered to win prizes for helping save nearby nature! And everyone can challenge their biodiversity knowledge by taking this quiz!
NVCT first partnered with Sustain Fairfax last year to promote sustainable home energy use practices. When did this program start? How did it come about?
“The Sustain Fairfax platform began in March of 2025 and goes far beyond energy practices. It has been around about a year and a half now,” said Jess Cadorette, Community Engagement and Program Director of Bright Action Communities. Bright Action Communities specializes in creating web platforms like Sustain Fairfax that let anyone easily build climate resilience in their home and community. They partnered with Fairfax County to create a tool that all residents can use.
Lisa Altieri, founder and CEO of Bright Action Communities, shared her personal experience that led to the creation of Sustain Fairfax: “It came from working in my own backyard and my own community; we were focused on climate change early on in 2007. The city I was living in at the time had just adopted a climate action plan. They held a town hall and shared that over half of emissions were coming from businesses and residents. To reach its climate goals, the city needed community engagement. They asked community members to volunteer to help raise awareness. I volunteered, and we took on that mission through outreach, programs, volunteer days, and conversations with others about climate change. It became clear to me how powerful it is to bring residents into the conversation around climate and climate solutions and help everyone understand how much agency they have to make a difference. There are household-level solutions we all have agency to undertake that are pretty much the same in any state, so it was clear that having a program like this is useful and beneficial to people anywhere.”
Sara Girello, Climate Mitigation Specialist for Fairfax County, told us how Fairfax came to adopt the Sustain Fairfax challenge: “Fairfax County’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) oversees the implementation of Fairfax County’s climate plans, the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP) and Resilient Fairfax. Both plans contain strategies to educate the public and inspire climate action. When evaluating implementation, OEEC looked for educational platforms that gave residents ways to learn more about their impact and have a little fun on their climate action journey. The Sustain Fairfax Challenge platform gives residents an interactive, engaging way to get personalized actions to reduce climate impacts and save money, and to connect with others.”
What does the program envision for individuals that use the app?
Jess shared, “I think a lot of people are concerned about our environment these days, but don't exactly know what they can personally do to help build a healthier community and mitigate their own impact on climate change. The fact of the matter is that our top 5 household actions contribute roughly 40% of the greenhouse gases that our country emits, and that's made up of how we power our homes, how much energy we use, what we eat, what we throw away, and how we get places. Our hope is that people use our platform, feel less anxious about the state of the climate, find and accomplish easy tasks that benefit their household, save money, and build connections with others. That’s what we hope folks take away.”
What are the benefits of creating a household account with Sustain Fairfax and participating in the challenges?
“First, anyone can use this site, not just homeowners! Renters and even students can complete climate actions on the platform. Once you create your own account, you will fill out a few questions about your household profile so the program can determine which actions apply to you. Beyond seeing easy actions, you can see how much money per year you save with more sustainable actions, and how much the emissions from your actions at home go down,” said Jess.
Abhaer Thomas, the Community Engagement and Program Manager at Bright Action Communities, spoke more about the platform's community-building aspect. “Research shows that two-thirds of Americans are worried about climate change but have no idea where to start. A lot of people, especially when it comes to understanding climate solutions, feel like they need to go through it alone. On Sustain Fairfax you can see actions that others take. You can see what others are doing on the site, get inspired by your neighbors, community members, or even classmates, and feel motivated to build a more sustainable community together.”
What about people who aren’t homeowners? Can you give some examples of the actions that everyone can take?
Lisa explained that “70% of climate actions are renter-friendly. This is on purpose and by design. Insulating your attic is not something you would do as a renter. Not all climate actions involve household maintenance; some involve eating plant-based products, thrifting, or recycling. Some of our youth-friendly actions include turning off the lights when you leave a room or taking shorter showers.” Lisa also shared that by far, the most popular youth activity is writing a letter to an elected official about your concern for the climate.
How are climate actions selected?
Lisa explained that the research to create these various climate actions was “incredibly science-based, we have 4 action categories: home energy efficiency, food and waste, transportation, and clean energy. First, we went to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website to review the official U.S. greenhouse gas emissions inventory. I reviewed it closely and looked at every source of emissions and waste households create. Once you know where emissions come from, then you can start to answer what solutions households can use to reduce their carbon footprint.”
On the webpage, users can see how long a task may take, its climate impact, and future monetary savings for the household; describe the process of finding out what motivates citizens to take climate action.
Lisa discussed that “we created a safe space from a communications standpoint, because people are really stressed about climate change. On our site, the goal is for it to feel approachable and like something anyone can do and be a part of. For each action, we found the biggest questions are savings and impact. For actions, we found the biggest question people have is how much money will I save, and what is my impact going to be? People want to know how long an action takes and what it will change in their lives and the world surrounding them.”
Jess added “we also show people the resource impact if that information is available. Some of the ones we are able to display are gallons of water saved, kilowatt-hours saved, or therms of natural gas saved.”
How does this program interact with other programs in Fairfax County?
“Fairfax County’s climate plans (CECAP and Resilient Fairfax) include strategies and goals that require coordination across the county. The county has many dedicated agencies, offices, and staff that are leading environmental sustainability initiatives across many programs. The Sustain Fairfax Challenge helps direct residents to relevant county information and resources; the platform includes a resources section under each action and lists county initiatives, programs, and incentives.
The Sustain Fairfax Challenge program has also supported other county programming and initiatives. In April, the Challenge was a focus for the Fairfax County Public Library system’s Earth Month Reading Challenge. The program team also sends monthly emails to users highlighting news from other agencies and programs to support completing actions,” said Sara.
NVCT was approached to partner with Fairfax County on this effort; how do you see NVCT helping support this program moving forward?
“We partner with all kinds of groups across the county, whether it's faith-based communities, HOAs, or schools. We are excited to work with the Trust because we are appreciative of the work you do to protect nature. My understanding is you've got lots of members and volunteers who appreciate the same, and so we're excited for you all to have your own group on the Sustain Fairfax platform, and just have an additional way to connect with one another and continue to build sustainable communities. Of course, the new land and critters category has a lot of options that I have a feeling your organization and your members are probably already well aware of, and hopefully doing most of them.”
Jess refers to a new program being added to the Sustain Fairfax Climate Actions category. These actions relate to caring for your nearby nature! Examples include switching to electronic lawn equipment, planting native plant species, or composting organic waste! Each action also lists resources, including local events that Sustain Fairfax users can join to complete actions. Keep your eyes peeled for NVCT land stewardship workdays!
How long has Sustain Fairfax been an active program? What is some of the progress and growth you have seen?
“The program has been running for one and a half years now. The growth has been evident through our partnership with local groups; it has been incredibly positive. We're hearing from many people and different groups in the community a real excitement and interest in participating,” shared Lisa.
At our webinar, Sustain Fairfax also discussed some of the platform's new upgrades this year and the new “Land and Critters” category. We hope that if you are a Fairfax resident, you consider joining this platform and joining NVCT’s team on it, and hopefully we will be seeing you at a future NVCT stewardship event! You can also view the recording of the webinar here if you were not able to attend.
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