Sustain Floyd | To preserve, enhance and support a resilient local community

Latest Headlines

The kind of place where someone can still make a difference

April 2010 “This is the kind of place where someone can still make a difference.” I recall quite clearly having that recurring thought when I moved to Floyd to start the farm and my homesteading career. Wherever I’d lived before, it just felt like it was too late, the place was toast, paradise lost. A [...]
Read More
Floyd: Economic Production vs Environmental Protection

Following are excerpts from an article on the unique economic approach to sustainability underway in Floyd County. Read it all in the March-May issue of Appalachian Voice (page 9) or click on the link, then click again to enlarge the page and read the article. …“We hope to continue to further develop the entrepreneurial spirit [...]
Read More
We Vote With Our Forks

“Peak” is a popular word these days—in particular when used before the word oil. But Peak Dirt? The concept refers to topsoil or, to be more specific, topsoil depletion. Earth, on average, is covered with about 3 feet of topsoil and this shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter sustains most of our food and plays a [...]
Read More
Monarchs: Sightings Will Be Rare

San Antonio Current – Blogs / Sat Apr 03 2010 06:15:14 GMT-0400 (EST) The spring monarch migration has been a bust. Only a lucky few have caught sight of more than a couple of the iconic insects currently on their northward jaunt through Texas. Mainstream news reports have cited key culprits of the population collapse [...]
Read More
Contact Us

Get in touch with Director Mike Burton at 540-250-0111 or email info@sustainfloyd.org We welcome your ideas and your participation with SustainFloyd’s efforts and activities and encourage you donate, volunteer and inquire about our organization’s support of your sustainability-related project. Contact Mike for forms and other information and resources.
Read More
Colored Glass: Recycled, But *Not Yet in Floyd

Good news! Glass recycling comes to the Greater Roanoke Valley during the week of April 17 through April 22nd. As part of its Earth Day activities, Hollins University, in conjunction with Students for Environmental Action, is sponsoring this recycling event. Their goal is to collect 2000 pounds of residential glass as well as collecting data [...]
Read More
Tourism Business Development in Floyd Opens with 9th Dist Development Funds

From Congressman Boucher’s web page after the Wednesday event in Floyd… The Station at South Locust will further the Town’s successful tourism development by providing twelve commercial spaces for local entrepreneurs. These include a new musical instrument store, which is affiliated with the Floyd Music School and sells instruments from local luthiers and artisans. In [...]
Read More
Congressman Boucher Visits Floyd

Cameras were poised for Congressman Rich Boucher’s stop in Floyd on 31 March, 2010. Woody Crenshaw, Mike Burton–SustainFloyd Director, and other project funders, allies and friends of the Community Market and “the Station” spoke in the cool shade of the timber-frame pavilion across from the Floyd Country Store. Doug Thompson captures the event at Blue [...]
Read More
Building Future-Pigs: Less Phosphorus, Fewer Dead Zones

A genetically engineered pig recently approved for limited production in Canada makes urine and feces that contain up to 65 percent less phosphorous, officials have announced. That could be good news for lakes, rivers, and ocean deltas, where phosphorous from animal waste can play a role in causing algal blooms. These outbursts of algae rapidly [...]
Read More
Knowing a Product’s “Water Footprint”

If you think your morning cup of joe only has 12 ounces (35 centiliters) of water in it, you’re sorely mistaken—it has closer to 40 gallons (150 liters). Conservation scientists say it’s time consumers become aware of the quantity and source of water that goes into growing, manufacturing and shipping food. As currently defined, a [...]
Read More