Read our monthly newsletters here. Sign up for emailed newsletters here.
Reducing Sports-Related Waste
Read some tips from our intern Emily Miller on how to cut down on waste and emissions from refreshments while watching “the big game” at home or in person, here. Or really, at any Saint Patrick’s Day or other game or celebration!
West Chester’s Adopt-a-Rain Garden Program: please help!
Rain gardens are important and so is your help! Short version: please sign up here. Read our full story here.
Looking for free garden space this summer?
We are happy to be able again to match up people who would like free garden space with community garden plots that we have located for summer 2023. Our garden plots are usually 4 X 4 or sometimes 4 X 8 feet. We supply the space, you supply tools and your time.
We believe gardening and growing our own food offer good ways to get in touch with the natural world, give us the satisfaction of acting for the good, and are educational to all concerned. Our gardeners are expected to grow organically and not use any chemical fertilizers or insecticides.
See more details and how to apply here.
West Chester Green Shopping Guide
As brought out in our Dec. 13 sustainability living program (see here), many West Chester businesses have voluntarily signed up for the Borough’s Sustainable Storefronts initiative. See the list in our Green Shopping guide, which you can view and download here. Other tips to consider for green living: • Don’t buy anything that isn’t absolutely necessary • Reuse and recycle • Avoid one-use products… all year round).
Our Mission
The West Chester Green Team, a non-governmental civic organization in Chester County PA, works to educate the local public and to establish and nourish green initiatives in the community in harmony with nature and each other, promoting the health of all living things and of planet Earth.
See all our newsletters here.
See our calendar of events at the bottom of this page.
Our inspiration
“I believe that natural beauty has a necessary place in the development of any individual or any society. I believe that whenever we destroy beauty, whenever we substitute something man-made and artificial for a natural feature of this earth, we have retarded some part of man’s spiritual growth.” — Rachel Carson
Self-guided garden tour, August 2022
Click here to see detailed descriptions of gardens planted by the Green Team and the three groups associated with our August 27 dinner reception.
About the West Chester Green Team
WCGT is passionate about helping people live their daily lives in a green, sustainable and community-oriented manner. We work through a board of over a dozen activists, plus hundreds of supporters. We invite all area residents to join us in taking action!
Our areas of focus are:
Climate and Energy: Promoting green energy and combating climate change. Read more here.
Community: Building community through events oriented to the earth and the arts. Our membership in Transition US underlies all of our above areas plus others such as our Front Porch Concerts program, new in 2022. Read more here.
Gardening and Food: Encouraging people to plant and maintain gardens and trees, including the West Chester Tree Team. These activities fall under the Living Landscapes program, part of West Chester Area Transition. Read more here. Plant for the Planet!
Pesticides and Herbicides: Pressing to reduce use of toxic chemicals in our daily lives. Read more here.
Reducing use of plastics, especially single-use plastic bags and straws. Read more here.
Dark Sky Initiative, opposing light pollution at night, which is disruptive to both humans and animal species.
Other issues where we can all make a daily difference in environment and sustainability. Next on our list to start up: a Water Team (dealing with storm water, stream quality, flooding, water retention, rain gardens, tap water quality…).
If you’d like to help on these ongoing or upcoming initiatives, or have additional ideas, please let us know by emailing us at westchestergoesgreen@gmail.com.
Our scope is approximately the West Chester Area School district or about a 10 miles’ radius around West Chester Borough. We occasionally share news and events for the whole of Chester County as well.
As an independent environmental organization, we help our communities become more environment-conscious and sustainable, educate residents about green living, urge municipal and county governments to support our efforts, and ask businesses to become our allies. We need you; the planet needs all of us!
Are you with us? To sign up for our email list or to contact us or donate, please email here. Please let us know your interests and which municipality you live in. We don’t have formal memberships or dues but welcome all supporters to our list; and we can also connect you to other groups throughout Chester County.
Learn about our history here. See our Bylaws and officers here.
Our header shows one of West Chester’s marvelous front yard gardens, fully visible from the street, in all its summer glory.
Please look through this site and our Facebook page, feel free to add your thoughts or posts you’d like to share, and if you have questions or comments or wish to join us, email us here.
Upcoming Events
See our calendar below. You may prefer (upper right) Agenda view, listing events in order. See also the broader Chesco Environment calendar here and numerous events in County parks here.
West Chester Green Team 