Our Mission
The Environment and Sustainability Office exists to provide leadership and guidance to the communities of Virginia Beach for addressing the challenges of the present by restoring, conserving and harnessing our natural resources to meet the needs of future generations.
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A Community Plan for a Sustainable Future
Check out the draft Sustainability Plan...
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Watershed Restoration Groups
There are a number of non-profit watershed restoration organizations working with citizens and businesses to inform them of s...
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Recycle Something You No Longer Need
Find a location (by zip or address, city, state) that recycles a material you have and help us save our earth!
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2013 VB Stewardship Awards
Making a difference... If so, you may qualify for an award. Submit your applications between April 1 and July 1, 2013.
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Many of the declines in the quality of the City's resources and the range of environmental issues faced today are a result of past actions and decisions, such as: loss of wetlands and dunes, filling of floodplains, erosion, and impaired navigation. Therefore, in 2010 the Environment and Sustainability Office was established to enable the City of Virginia Beach to address this increasing array of sustainability-related issues and opportunities. The Environment and Sustainability Office emerged from an existing organization called the Environmental Management Center. Many of the previous environmental functions will continue to be part of the new office work program.
Virginia Beach has a unique opportunity to be a model for sustainability through its stewardship of the natural environment, its maintenance of the Green Line to protect open land, the perpetual involvement of its community, and its future for strategic growth.
Virginia Beach Sustainability Is:
- Not simply a series of actions
- A comprehensive lens of how we look at every city action
- Community engagement
- Lower energy use and higher renewables
- Viable multimodal transportation options
- Mixed use walkable redevelopment
- Farms and the farm economy
- Healthy natural systems
- Ready for sea level rise
- Green Economic Development
Moreover, the City of Virginia Beach has initiated work on its first Sustainability Plan and a new Green website as its major objectives for 2012. Virginia Beach has made much progress, but recognizes that much further work in economic, social, and environmental sustainability still must be pursued, coordinated and integrated into a comprehensive and sustainable vision for the future.