By Genevieve Fox for Great Lakes Echo.
Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Michigan News Connection with support from the Solutions Journalism Network

An Ann Arbor developer wants to build one of the first 100% solar-powered, carbon-neutral and fossil fuel-free communities.

The idea is to pioneer the creation of neighborhoods that limit their contribution to climate change.

This project, called Veridian at County Farm, is proposed by THRIVE Collaborative – a real estate development, design, building, and consulting firm and Avalon Housing, a developer. Both are based in Ann Arbor.

“This is the way that neighborhoods have to be built,” said Matthew Grocoff, the co-founder of THRIVE. His motivation is to build sustainability and fight climate change where he lives, hoping other communities will do the same.

Sustainable neighborhoods like Geos Neighborhood in Arvada, Colorado are growing in the U.S. But Veridian says it’s unusual because it’s creating one of the nation’s first mixed-income sustainable communities.

Construction began early this year. People can move in by late next year. The home prices are expected to be roughly $800,000 for a family home. That compares to a similar but more traditionally built home that’s $1 million in Ann Arbor.

“We’re building a better quality home and still able to sell them at attainable price points,” Grocoff said.

The more than 80 proposed homes include 50 affordable housing rental townhomes. These properties will cost roughly $650 to $950 a month to rent, said Marcia Luke-van Dijk, director of communications and fund development at Avalon Housing.

Each home will have all-electric appliances powered by solar panels. They will be built with sustainably harvested wood, Grocoff said. The appliances and building materials will be free of toxic chemicals.

“No one should live in a home where their appliances are killing them – where carbon monoxide or other poisons are being emitted,” said Missy Stults, the sustainability and innovations director for Ann Arbor.

The neighborhood will also have its own microgrid to supply it with solar energy, Grocoff said.

If the goal is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees in 2050, we have to start now to prevent temperature rise, Grocoff said

“If you believe that it’s too hard or it’s not possible, or that projects that have done this are outliers, then it’s easy to just go with what’s easy,” he said.

“We have very big plans to build more neighborhoods into the future and work with other builders and developers so that all homes in neighborhoods are built like Veridian,” Grocoff said.

THRIVE bought the site of a former youth prison for the project from Washtenaw County. The property is next to County Farm Park on Platt Road.

Grocoff said his team convinced Ann Arbor officials that to make big steps towards a sustainable future, they needed the space.

The project is exciting, Stults said.

“This just makes sense,” Stults said. “Why in the world are we locking in old fossil fuel-based infrastructure when we could be investing in a clean and sustainable future.”

Solar energy doesn’t always make sense for every neighborhood, Stults said. If you have a neighborhood filled with big trees, you don’t want to knock them down as they provide a service to that community.

And it can be expensive, Stults said. Typically it takes 10 years before residents start to save money, Stults said.

The average cost of installing solar in Michigan is $12,000 to $20,000, according to Energy Sage, a solar energy company based in Boston, Massachusetts serving over 30 states.

But homeowners could save over $100,000 in energy costs over the span of a mortgage, or 30 years, Grocoff said.

Veridian is one of 17 projects from 11 countries around the world meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“We are on the verge of being able to eliminate concrete for our roads, which would eliminate somewhere between 650,000 to 1 million pounds of CO2,” Grocoff said.

CO2, or carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Limiting sources of carbon can be used as a marketing tool to attract buyers interested in sustainability, Grocoff said.

The development is part of the Living Community Challenge with the International Living Institute, a non-profit organization focused on supporting green projects. Grocoff hopes by being a part of this program, his project will receive a Zero Energy Certification.

But before labeling a project as zero energy certified, developers have to verify they’re following the guidelines for certification. These guidelines include that all of the building’s energy must be supplied by on-site renewables and no combustion.Once they’re improved, they can display the certification on their website or paperwork. .

Some companies once they receive the certification, they’ll stop making continuous efforts towards sustainability, Grocoff said. He adds THRIVE will always strive towards a green and healthy future.

“We will not add gas appliances now, and not ever”

The development will have a grocery store called Honey Locust Farm Stop and community gardens, Grocoff said.

He hopes Veridian will have restaurants and schools with similar commitments to sustainability.

“Sustainability is being able to provide all of the services that you need within a local area,” Grocoff said.

A sustainable future means local communities that provide their own food, water and energy.

“It’s a neighborhood that should be attainable.”


Genevieve Fox wrote this article for Great Lakes Echo.


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A new film documents the 2018 battle between Colorado environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over proposed fracking regulations.

The film also documents a grassroots effort by Colorado Rising to pass a ballot initiative which would create a 2,500-foot setback for all hydraulic fracturing wells in the state, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Sarah Schulte, organizing committee member of GreenFaith Boulder County, which recently previewed the film for about 100 members, said the film has a strong message.

"What probably makes the film pretty dramatic and kind of shocking is the length to which oil and natural gas industries in Colorado set out to thwart them," Schulte pointed out. "Not only with some of the tactics you might expect, but also some kind of more nefarious tactics sabotaging their signature gathering, for example."

In the end, the petroleum industry defeated the measure after a $50 million campaign opposing it. Schulte acknowledged Colorado Rising raised only $1 million for its campaign. After the election, the state adopted a 1,000-foot drilling setback from schools and residential property lines.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, involves drillers injecting a mixture of chemicals underground to break up the shale and free the oil. The chemicals used in the process, which are sometimes toxic, can pollute groundwater and make the surrounding land unstable.

Schulte emphasized the movie had a powerful effect on the group's members.

"I think most people were pretty angry and maybe even a little sad after seeing how these kinds of politics play out in Colorado," Schulte observed. "They asked questions like what can we do next? How do you keep going when it's so difficult to fight such a big and powerful industry?"

The film, Fracking the System: Colorado's Oil and Gas Wars, is currently being previewed by select audiences. It has won the "Spirit of Activism" award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival
and the "Environmental Award" at the 2024 DOCUTAH International Film Festival.

As part of an effort to restore the Mississippi River delta, an organization is collaborating with nature to address environmental challenges.

The Big Muddy is the second-longest river in North America, flowing more than 2,300 miles.

Simone Maloz, campaign director for the group Restore the Mississippi River Delta, said the coalition uses nature-based solutions to help tackle some of the river's environmental problems in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We use the power and the sediment the river provides to help us to put solutions into place," Maloz explained. "For example, we might have an area of wetlands that needs to be nourished with freshwater sediment, we can tap into that wonderful resource that we have."

Maloz pointed out some farmers are turning to nature-based solution, using cover crops like clover or other plants to protect the soil. Cover crops typically grow in between primary crops, or are planted in the offseason to help keep nutrients on the ground so they do not become toxic in the water as runoff.

Maloz emphasized nature-based solutions are key to building resilient communities, which she said are those communities thinking about how to plan for climate change, such as floods, droughts, and rising sea levels, wildfires, hurricanes and coastal threats.

"What we know about resilient communities, whether you're on the coast, or whether you're not on the coast, is about how you can brace yourself for these impacts and how you can more quickly recover," Maloz stressed. "We know that when you include nature in those plans, it helps you to better do that."

Maloz added her group is involved in various projects along the Mississippi River, using sediment to replenish marshes, rebuild ridges and barrier islands and create habitats for migratory birds.


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The Iowa Environmental Council has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to invoke emergency powers to protect sensitive soil and groundwater in northeast Iowa.

The council is holding a public webinar today and wants the EPA to address groundwater contamination in northeast Iowa's so-called Driftless region. The groundwater there has a well-documented history of nitrate contamination.

Alicia Vasto, director of water program for the council, said the highly porous and soluble karst soil prevalent in the region is susceptible to contamination from centralized animal feeding operations.

"We did some analyses of private well data and public water systems and found that there was a lot of contamination of nitrate in those drinking water sources," Vasto reported. "The state has really failed to take action meaningfully that would address those problems."

The state has said it is constantly working to upgrade groundwater quality standards and is in the process of taking public input on creating yet another set of rules.

Vasto emphasized since the state has failed to address the water safety concerns for decades, the council and a coalition of other environmental groups have, in effect, gone above the state's head to the EPA, asking the agency to implement an emergency stop gap on nitrate pollution the way the agency did in neighboring Minnesota last year.

"We're asking that at, at minimum, the EPA would require the state of Iowa to do what they required the state of Minnesota to do under the same petition," Vasto explained. "Because the geology of northeast Iowa is the same as of southeast Minnesota."

The council's recommendations include calling on the EPA to create a communications plan with residents whose water could be at risk, create a drinking water sampling plan, and establishing a thorough permitting process for centralized animal feeding operations.


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