Knock on the doors of Virginia’s legislators – Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The sun was only above the horizon when Jalen Pinello arrived in Richmond by Hampton Rhodes. But as a master’s student at the University of Hampton, she is accustomed to an early alarm clock.

She was not used to talking to legislators. In fact, she never did it.

It was in the same boat as some of the 120 defenders who joined CBF from all over the country to meet one in one with more than 60 different legislators on January 14th.

Half of these volunteers got on a bus early in the morning or driving from the Hampton Rhodes area. And like Pinelo, many of them were students who wanted to see the younger students to obtain the type of outdoor training experience.

CBF supports $ 1 million for meaningful water experience in this year’s budget.

“We need the future of clean water. Period. Let’s put a period right there. Because they are. Children are the future of clean water, “Pinello said.

Interpretation for live coastlines and wetlands

At first, Pinello felt frightened to walk on the magnificent corridors of the Virginia General Assembly building and sat against Chad Green’s delegate.

The feeling quickly dissolved.

“We started talking about model trains, California fires,” Pinello said.

Then, on an expensive problem with natural dangers within the power of Virginia to solve: the flood that Pinelo knows that Norfolk’s residents are dealing with too often. The coastal Virginia monitors the highest rate of relative sea level on the Atlantic coast. In fact, the residents of Norfolk fought the flood signals 80 days last year – about a quarter 2024.

But nature can be a solution to these growing problems. Live coastlines are often created by planting local moist plants and herbs, shrubs and trees at different points along the coastline.

“This is what stops flooding in your homes, in your parking lots. This is what helps economically important organisms to nest and live, “Pinello said of live coastlines. “If our children knew this more, who knows what would happen.”

Once Pinelo helped CBF build a live coastline by shovel about 17 tonnes of sand with dozens of other volunteers. CBF and Pinelo support the HB 1950, which helps to pay for large -scale live coastline projects.

By the end of his meeting, Pinello felt conquered.

“This is the HB 1950,” Pinelo Heed Green tells its employees to record and remember. “And in my head I’m like” Yes, yes, yes. “

The Living Coast Line Fund is one of the numerous initiatives supported by the CBF of this legislative session to protect the Virginians better from floods and extreme weather.

With A 2023 Supreme Court Decision Rolling Back Federal Protection for Vast Swaths of the Nation’s Wetlands, CBF is backing HB 2034 The State’s Existing Tidal and Nontidal Wetlands Plus Develop Plans For Restoration of wetlands, creation and migration.

Brian Friedman, a Norfolk resident, has seen wetlands such as marshes, marshes and marshes disappear in their community over the years. Since wetlands are one of the best filters of nature, it is a great job to protect against flood and pollution.

It was his first time he talked to the legislators, but Friedman overcame any hesitation.

“We live in the coastal Virginia and it’s jewel. And we want to keep it for future generations, “Friedman said.

Eco -literacy struggle

This was also the first time Max Wright’s meeting with lawmakers. The resident and teacher at Norfolk in the Virginia aquarium brought a group of teens to tell the legislators the importance of expanding environmental literacy throughout the country.

Virginia’s current investments of only 30 cents per student in environmental education are far behind neighboring countries, falling 89.2 percent below Maryland ($ 2.78 per student) and 48.3 percent less than Pennsylvania (58 cents to a student).

Wright saw the impact of this type of precipice.

“We miss the sign. We do not come to students even earlier with environmental literacy. This is the age at which we begin to form our habits and values, so this is something that all students should have access to, “Wright said.

But when students have the opportunity to learn outside, experience has the benefits that Wright said that people will not expect. In addition to the higher achievements in mathematics and science, experiences in this field are given children to exercise, play and associate with the natural world.

With many of their peers, who join the electronic media on average seven hours a day, Wright believes that this is an antidote to the disadvantages of children who spend half a long time outside as just 20 years ago.

“No matter what area you enter, you need to evaluate the environment to be able to apply it to your work,” Wright said. “We need to spend a lot more than our students’ Pennsylvania or Maryland.”

Talk about trees!

Zara MountCastle, a high school in Virginia Beach in the Ecological Research Program located in the CBF environmental center, is engaged in part through its classroom.

She does not want to see her community losing more trees for development. Therefore, she told the legislators that she supported the legislation, which facilitated the replacement of trees after being lost by construction.

It is on the same page as many employees of the local government in Virginia, who have stated that they want to use woody canopies to reduce the profitable floods, to manage rainwater and to reduce the impact of the health effects of the urban heat on their residents. Plus, Mount Cassel noted, the more green the space, the less stress people carry.

“It brings many people in the parks when there are more trees. This is just one of the social benefits other than the environmental ones, “Mount Cassel said.

All these defenders may have been green when it comes to lobby day at the Virginia General Assembly, but not for long.

While Wright left one of her meetings as the legislator, she had one request.

“Where is the registration sheet for next year? I’m going back, ”she said.

Check out our Virginia Legislative Web page for all the problems we stand for this year and how you can help!

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