Cara Rash Eco-Coach

Hi! My name is Cara and I’m excited you’ve stopped by my page. I’m incredibly passionate about creating sustainability solutions for communities and residents who are looking to improve their environmental impact. I offer consultation services for your eco projects, including stormwater management solutions, planting for pollinators or specific bird species, and native plant landscaping.  

I have extensive experience consulting with local schools and municipalities to help craft sustainability programs, including building vegetable gardens, enacting composting initiatives, founding seed libraries, and starting local repair cafes. I’ve also worked with township officials to help pass sustainability legislation, and written and received numerous state grants to fund community and school eco-programs.

I earned my B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland College Park, and my M.S. in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University. After over a decade at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, I grew disillusioned with the speed of the federal government and turned to academia to teach future generations about natural systems and our relationship with them. Since moving to Southeastern PA in 2019, I’ve been working to make our corner of the state a more eco-conscious place to live through accessible programs at schools, libraries, churches, and community-wide events.

Some of my past projects include:

• Writing and winning a Growing Greener Grant Application for $41k to install 14 downspout planters, rain gardens and rain barrels at residences and commercial locations in Easttown Township.
• Writing and successfully passing a single-use plastic bag ban for Easttown Township in 2022 making us one of the first 10 Townships in PA to pass such a ban. Easttown’s single use plastic bag ordinance, business survey and signage has been used as a model statewide. 
• Initiating a recycling program for plastic bags through TREX, a company that reuses these materials for composite decking. To date, this has diverted 4,000lbs of waste from landfills and provided six TREX benches back to our Township parks. 
• Starting a garden program at an elementary school in 2020. Students plant, water, weed and harvest the garden each season. Through 2024, the program has donated more than 850 lbs of fresh produce to area food banks.
• Starting a cafeteria composting program at an elementary school in 2024 using a $5,000 grant I wrote. To date, the school has diverted 5,000lbs of food waste from landfills. Finished compost is used in the school garden. 
• Founding a seed library at Easttown Library in 2022 which serves a community of 10,000.  To date, we’ve shared 2,500 packets of vegetable, fruit, herb, perennial and native varieties.  

I believe we all want to be good neighbors to the natural world. We just need solutions that actually work for our busy lives. If any of the above projects sound like something you’d be interested in for your home, school, library, or town, please get in touch! I’d love to coach you through it. 

Services offered

Home:

• Rain barrels and downspout planter set-up
• In-ground rain garden design and implementation
• Native plant garden design and implementation
• Vegetable garden design, planting, and maintenance

Community:

• Workshops (Intro to Gardening, Establishing a Seed Library, Enacting Single Use Plastic Bag Ordinances, Starting a Repair Café)
• Consultation for establishing seed libraries, Repair Cafes, and various recycling programs.
• Newsletter design and preparation of environmentally related content.
• Environmental grant writing for non-profits and municipalities

Contact Cara at cara.lynch@gmail.com 

Cara Rash

Eco-Coach 

Pricing

Rain Barrel Installation - $125 -$150+ depending on the type of barrel and diverter

selected.

Downspout Planter - $400 + cost of plants and supplies

In Ground Rain Garden/Native Plant/School Garden Design and Implementation- $30/hr

+ cost of plants, soil, compost, mulch

Workshop Fee - $75

All other services - $40/hr.

Contact Cara at cara.lynch@gmail.com