Sterling, Virginia

KEC Sense of Place StoryMap

Sterling, Virginia is located in Loudon County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It has a latitude of 39.0067 and longitude of -77.4291.

Green Spaces

In a closer look at Sterling, you can see the green spaces in the area such as Claude Moore Park and Algonkian Regional Park (pictured below), located along the Potomac River.

Watershed

My house's water is municipal and comes from the utility Loudon Water. The Potomac River is the watershed for Sterling and most of Loudon County, thus being the water source for Loudon Water.

Food Sources

I get my groceries mainly from supermarkets in my area such as Wegman's, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Giant, and Harris Teeter. There is also a weekly farmer's market near me where we like to get our produce, and we also have a small garden with a few of our own vegetable plants.

Electricity

My house gets its electricity from the utility Dominion Energy. Dominion uses many different types of fuel, however the dominant fuel they use is nuclear. Their website has a page dedicated to the different ways they make energy (aside from nuclear), and they include natural gas, solar, coal, and hydroelectric.

Biome

Northern Virginia's biome is Temperate Deciduous Forest. This means that the area has four distinct seasons and lots of deciduous trees, or trees that shed their leaves annually in the fall season. This biome also has diversity in the species that live in it, including various types of birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals.

Air Quality

https://aqicn.org/city/usa/virginia/ashburn-broad-run-high-school/

This chart on the left shows the air quality for Ashburn, which you can see in proximity to Sterling with the map on the right. In the chart, it classifies the air quality in my area as "good" at a 25, which is relatively standard for my area.

Environmental Issues

Developmental Pressure/ Habitat Loss

In Northern Virginia, city development is a great threat to wildlife and nature in the area. Finding itself between the urban city life and little nature in D.C. and the vast openness of rural West Virginia, the area I live in is slowly catering more towards the convenience of people and the wildlife is facing habitat loss.

Pollution (Water and Air)

The image to the right is pollution in the Potomac River, which is particularly dangerous as it is a watershed to a vast portion of Northern Virginia. As the area becomes more urban, it again raises environmental threat. While the air quality in my area is classified as good, nearby areas face poor air quality as factories, cars, and planes continue to pollute the air.

Favorite Parts of NOVA :)

I took this photo in March at Riverbend Park, which is one of my family's favorite places to hike in the area. In spring the trail is known for having fields of these beautiful bluebells, which the picture really doesn't do justice. There are fields like this one lining the trail for about half a mile, and it is definitely one of my favorite places in nature around here.

This is another picture I took, this one from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. back in October. Since I referenced the Potomac River so much in this project, I wanted to include a picture of it from a different perspective. The Kennedy Center overlooks the Potomac which can be quite pretty, although again the picture doesn't fully capture the view. I think the proximity to D.C. heavily influences the culture of the area I live in, and being able to visit the District so easily is definitely one of my favorite parts of living where I do.

This is a picture I took in June at a BLM protest in D.C, which I wanted to include because one of my favorite parts of my area is the fact that I am able to get involved in social issues and feel like I am able to contribute to important causes. The number of people at this particular protest was surreal, which is why I had to try to capture it. It's easy to see why the D.C. area is so involved in social issues, but I feel as though I am fortunate enough to have been able to participate in sort of the epicenter of many social issues while I was growing up (ex. March for Our Lives, Women's March, climate change protests)

Bibliography:

“Best Trails in Algonkian Regional Park.” AllTrails.com. All Trails. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/virginia/algonkian-regional-park. 

“GAF Timberline Shingles and Copper Trim - Wegmans, Sterling, VA.” Mapio.net. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://mapio.net/pic/p-58859442/. 

“Infrastructure.” WWF. World Wildlife Fund. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/infrastructure. 

Jelisa Castrodale . “Trader Joe's Now Says It Won't Remove Stereotypical Branding from International Foods.” Food & Wine, July 31, 2020. https://www.foodandwine.com/news/trader-joes-not-renaming-international-products. 

“Latest News.” Loudoun Valley HomeGrown Markets Cooperative. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://loudounfarmersmarkets.org/.

“Making Energy.” Home. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://www.dominionenergy.com/our-company/making-energy. 

“Nature in the Urban Century.” The Nature Conservancy, November 13, 2018. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/nature-in-the-urban-century/. 

Northern Virginia 4-H Center. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://www.nova4h.com/. 

“Potomac River.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 6, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potomac_River. 

The World Air Quality Index project. “Ashburn - Broad Run High School, Northern Virginia, USA Air Pollution: Real-Time Air Quality Index.” aqicn.org. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://aqicn.org/city/usa/virginia/ashburn-broad-run-high-school. 

Visit Loudoun. “Loudoun's Top 10 Hikes & Trails,” March 27, 2020. https://www.visitloudoun.org/blog/post/best-hikes-and-trails-in-loudoun/ . 

“Who Polluted the Potomac?” People and the Planet. Population Connection, 2017. https://populationeducation.org/sites/default/files/who_polluted_the_potomac.pdf. 

https://aqicn.org/city/usa/virginia/ashburn-broad-run-high-school/