CTA is going greener in 2019! We are proud to announce that we'll be celebrating Earth  Month again this year with a few very special events currently in the planning stages. We'll be updating this page as more details are confirmed, but take a look at what we have in store so far:

  Join us for our annual Spring Social on Saturday, 4/13 at the Arlington YMCA @ 7pm, consisting of 5 hours of FREE tennis, socializing, club announcements, Earth-friendly raffle prizes, and catering from our local friends at Chicken + Whiskey. 

• In an effort to curb plastic waste and consumption, CTA will not be offering bottled water. Instead, we encourage members to bring their CTA water jugs they received as a gift last year (or any other vessel of choice) and to use facility water fountains available in the hallways. If you plan to attend, please sign up to get an accurate head count for refreshments. RSVP here.
• Also planning to join our spring social event is Community Forklift, DC's nonprofit reuse warehouse. Volunteers will be onsite to collect donations of gently-used gardening supplies, hardware, and small home repair items. It's a great reason to clean out your garage, potting sheds, or the basement. Community Forklift provides low-cost building materials to the public and offers vintage materials to restoring old homes. They distribute free supplies to local nonprofits, schools, community gardens, and neighbors in need. By contributing to this collection effort, you will be supporting their community outreach efforts by reducing waste, creating green jobs, and making repairs affordable. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information on what they accept, click here.   

  Please note: Community Forklift will only have one staff person in attendance with a car, so if you have heavy items like a cast-iron bathtub, a pallet of bricks, or an entire kitchen of cabinets, you may schedule a free pickup appointment on another day through their website.

  Make the (short) trek to Virginia for Earth Month Happy Hour at Screwtop Wine Bar (only two blocks from the Clarendon metro) on Wednesday, April 17 (6-8pm). Wendy Buckley, wine sommelier and CEO received media acclaim in 2017 for her #GREENSIPS initiative, an eco-conscious campaign that showcased assortments of organic wines during the month of April. They'll be giving members special discounts off wine bottles and retail purchases from their gift shop during happy hour. Choose from a variety of gift sets, charcuterie, inspired cheeses, and meal platters. We encourage you to spread awareness that eco-friendly wines can taste great...just use the hashtag #GREENSIPS in your social media postings. Additionally, the draws for our Earth Day Invitational (see below) will be released during the happy hour - you won't want to miss it.

  Finally, we're celebrating Earth Day with our second-annual Earth Day 'Volunteer Appreciation' Invitational on Saturday, 4/20 at Rock Creek Park from noon-7pm, consisting of all-day round-robin events for members of CTA who've contributed to the successful operations of leagues, fundraisers, recruiting, drill sessions, and other facets of the organization. Winners of each division (5) will be honored with a special Earth Day trophy and prize packages from local businesses whose products/services are deemed eco-friendly and/or acquired locally. Stop by to cheer on your friends and enjoy the excitement!

Industry has made more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic since 1950 and there's enough leftover to bury Mahattan under more than two miles of trash. Plastics don't break down like other man-made materials...three quarters of it ends up as waste in landfills, littered on land, and floating in oceans lakes and rivers. You can imagine the severe environmental impact plastics have on wildlife and other natural resources. According to the Container Recycling Institute, more than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills or incinerators EVERY DAY, despite the availability of recycling centers.

Below is a short clip visualizing how much of an impact plastic waste has on the environment.

Great progress has been made in achieving high air quality standards. One sign of this progress is that visible air pollution is less frequent and widespread than it was in the 1970s. However, air pollution can be harmful even when it's not visible. Newer scientific studies have shown that some pollutants can harm public heath at very low levels. 

The air we breathe is cleaner than ever, thanks to cleaner power plants and vehicles. That milestone is all the more impressive when considering progress has been achieved in spite of increases in population, energy use, and miles driven. Still, nearly 40% of Americans (roughly 125 million people) live in areas where the air is unhealthy to breathe. You can view these findings in the recent annual 'State of the Air' summary by the American Lung Association. Click here for the 2017 report.