September 2026, Chris Topoleski, Executive Director, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions 

As Northern Virginia keeps paving, building, and growing, the gap between a leafy street and a bare parking lot is measured in degrees — and those degrees are a health issue. On July 16th, more than 80 citizen scientists, including Sierra Club volunteers, took to the roads across Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria to collect weather data for Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions' Urban Heat Island Mapping Project, a citizen-science and environmental-justice effort run with George Mason University's Virginia Climate Center. The stakes are already visible in existing data: a heat-mapping project in Richmond found differences of up to 16°F between neighborhoods, Fairfax County has recorded summer land-surface temperatures as high as 126°F on heavily paved ground, and EPA finds urban forests average 3°F cooler than non-green areas. FACS and GMU will use this summer's data to understand where heat concentrates and what helps — tree canopy first, plus cool roofs, shade structures, green infrastructure, permeable surfaces, and solar canopies over big parking lots that shade cars while generating clean power. With data centers and other large facilities proposed near neighborhoods and parks, knowing today's baseline is how residents ask sharper questions about tomorrow's development.

Keep the conversation going at the FACS 10th annual Climate Crisis Forum on Wednesday, October 22, 2026, 6:15–8:45 p.m. at Van Metre Hall on GMU's Arlington campus — an evening on the public health toll of extreme heat and what our communities can do about it.

Want the full picture, with all the data links? Read the complete article here: How Heat Mapping Can Help Shape Northern Virginia's Future.

August 2026, Sylvia Petrova, Founder Circular Path Consulting, Great Falls Group

Foam food containers have long been among the most common forms of litter found in Northern Virginia's parks and streams. As of July 1, 2026, Virginia's expanded polystyrene (EPS) food container ban applies to all food vendors across the Commonwealth, completing the final phase of legislation adopted in 2021. The ban targets a lightweight material that is difficult to recycle and slow to break down in the environment, where it can travel from neighborhood streams into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. This article examines what this ban means for local restaurants and residents, why foam has posed a persistent challenge to our waterways, and how Northern Virginia residents can support the transition to more sustainable alternatives. Read the full article here.

July 2026, Nicole Collin, Great Falls Group

ServerFarm submitted an application for the “Vienna Cloud” data center campus on 7980 and 7990 Quantum Drive, which was reviewed by the Fairfax County Zoning Evaluation staff. They provided critical feedback on the application that addresses many of the concerns of the Sierra Club Great Falls Group, but there are many factors that remain unclear. Our group will be canvassing the nearby neighborhoods to spread information about this project – all are welcome to get involved. Contact me at nbcollins30@gmail.com if you would like to get involved with our efforts or stay updated on the project. 

To read the full article, click here.

June 2026, Susan Stillman, Great Falls Group

On May 28, 2026 Fairfax County held a ribbon cutting for a 5MW ground mounted solar system on a closed landfill at the Lorton facility.  Legislation called the Solar Freedom bill enabled this significant installation.  Prior to the legislation, solar systems couldn’t be installed if there was no demand for the energy at the site.  The Lorton landfill has no buildings on the site so the law needed to be changed.  VA Sierra Club co-chair for renewable energy, Ivy Main, worked tirelessly with Del. Mark Keam to bring this legislation through to the finish line. 

The electricity generated at the Lorton facility will be attributed to meters at Fairfax Government facilities and provide 5% of the county operations’ electricity.  It is anticipated that the landfill solar system will save Fairfax County $12 million over the life of the contract.  It is particularly rewarding to have a facility which locks in the cost of electricity when Dominion Energy is currently asking for a 30% increase in the cost of electricity through the contract that governments and schools procure their electricity.
 

The plan is to plant native pollinator plants underneath the solar panels.  When native pollinator plants are installed under solar structures pollinators are supported.  This pollinator area joins another at the I-95 Landfill in Lorton where there is a home to a honeybee and pollinator habitat project, started in 2017.
 

The ribbon cutting for the Lorton facility was featured on NBC4 local news. The video is available here:  https://www.nbcwashington.com/video/news/local/northern-virginia/solar-farm-virginia-landfill/4109905/

November 30, 2025 Douglas Stewart, Great Falls Group Chair

Located in the rural Piedmont and straddling three northern Virginia counties, Paris Mountain  overlooks the  Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Crooked Run Valley to the southeast. The mountain is also part of the Appalachian Trail corridor, with the famed “Rollercoaster” segment stretching from Ashby Gap to Snickers Gap. Mountain Resort LLC  and Eastwind Hotels are proposing to build two hotel buildings with a total of forty rooms, an 88-seat restaurant, spa, and parking lots on the eastern slope of Paris Mountain, above the village of Paris and across from Sky Meadows State Park. The Sierra Club Great Falls Group has joined an alliance of local groups opposing this development proposal. Read full article here.