Sustainability + Environment
Bob PerkoskiOhio City Farm
The City of Cleveland launched a 10-year initiative in 2009 to transform itself into a "Green City on a Blue Lake." With the goal of making the region attractive to young professionals, this administration seeks at every turn to reduce carbon emissions, expand green spaces, increase bike access, and improve the health and wellbeing of its residents -- all while fostering sustainable economic growth. Sustainability is about more than installing CFLs; it is a way of looking at everything from food and art to architecture and transportation with an eye towards the future. Paying heed now to the triple bottom line ensures that tomorrow's generation will have the opportunity to do the same.
The third annual Cuyahoga Tree Summit, hosted by Dr. Roy Larick and tree experts, will bring together tree advocacy groups, municipal tree commissions, and environmental experts at the Independence Civic Center to address the needs of the county’s declining tree canopy and the critical role of trees in community health and climate resilience.
Holden Forests & Gardens will host its only annual fundraiser, Harvest Moon, on Sept. 13 at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. The Friday the 13th event will be an evening where mysticism meets philanthropy among Cleveland's top chefs.
Holden Forests & Gardens will celebrate the first anniversary of Holden Seed Bank this Thursday, with cocktails and a panel discussion at Holden Arboretum. The new seed exchange program—much like a Little Free Library, except for seeds—and the upcoming tree seedling program will also be celebrated.
Advocates of pollinator gardens—plots with native plants that nurture bees, butterflies, and birds to preserve the ecosystem—have groups around the region, like Heights Native Pollinator Pathway and Wild Ones Greater Cleveland, sowing seeds and spreading a message.
Cleveland Heights residents are finally getting a new grocery store with Grocery Outlet moving into the vacant space in the Cedar-Fairmount business district, ending a two-year stretch without a walkable supermarket in the district.
Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School students who are interested in maritime careers were on the Cuyahoga River and Inner Harbor last week, helping the Port of Cleveland and Argonaut clean debris out of the Cuyahoga River and the Inner Harbor.
Cleveland Sews will host a Sew-A-Thon this weekend at St. Vincent Charity Community Health Center to repurpose 654 pounds of old drapery material into tote bags to combat single-use plastics and promote sustainability.
Now in its seventh year of friendly competition, The Big Clean between volunteers in the City of Euclid and the Collinwood neighborhood spent last Saturday picking up trash and debris in a massive spring cleaning. Read on to find out which community won and how much total trash was collected.
Local artist and muralist Tessa LeBaron has curated an exhibit, "Art for Earth Day," in which 19 local artists have created works made entirely from trash or upcycled materials. The exhibit opens this Saturday, April 27 at Negative Space Gallery with a free reception, and continues through May 27.
Holden Forests & Gardens last week announced that it received $1.8 million from the USDA Forest Service to connect forest landowners with emerging climate markets. The grant is the largest climate investment in history.
The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes recognizes that many people’s green thumbs are itching to get outside and dig in the soil during this cold, dreary period of winter. So, it is hosting a Winter Seed Sowing Workshop, using seeds from the Nature Center's Native Seed Library, to get people ready for spring plantings.
Rust Belt Fibershed will convene textile artists, farmers, and community members at 78th Street Studios this weekend for its first annual Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium to discuss the potential of a place-based, soil-to-soil textile system.
Researchers at Baldwin Wallace University chronicled centuries of decline in the size and diversity of forests in Cuyahoga County. They used aerial photos and forest inventories from early land surveyors to determine the rate of decline and noted the current reforestation efforts to evaluate how the region can grow one-third of its remaining primary forests.
St. Casimir Catholic Church in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood is currently working on the second phase of its green infrastructure plan—installing permeable pavers and other systems to divert rainwater from the storm sewers to help keep Lake Erie clean—thanks to green infrastructure grants from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
Last Friday, Aug. 25 at the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, city officials and organizations celebrated the beginning of the vital next step in the Irishtown Bend project—the stabilization of the banks of the Cuyahoga River to move ahead with a 23-acre park.
Arbor Day is tomorrow, Friday, April 28. In honor of the day set aside for the planting, upkeep, preservation, and celebration of trees, Holden Forests & Gardens has a bunch of activities planned.
At a recent Global Shapers Cleveland Hub forum on Shaping the Future of Energy, the conversation centered around the Ohio’s renewable energy future, its innovators, challenges with carbon emissions, and opportunities.
Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Ohio’s largest land trust, last year marked 70,000 acres of public and private land in Ohio that is now permanently protected for future generations.
In its series about the environment, Global Shapers recently held a conversation with local thought leaders on the future of transportation and the environment.
The nonprofit Drink Local Drip Tap hit a milestone in October—the organization has collected more than half a million pieces of trash, or more than 15,000 pounds, from Lake Erie's shores.