Mentor native Erin Huber wasn't exactly sure how she would bring together her passion for water conservation and international development when she finished graduate school. She'd grown up in a blue collar family that spent summer weekends camping near lakes, streams and rivers, and those early experiences nourished her love of fresh water.

After completing her master's degree in Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State Un... Read more >

The population of Northeast Ohio's 12 most populous counties fell by seven percent from 4.1 million in 1970 to 3.8 million in 2010. Yet at the same time, suburban areas added 400 square miles of roads, shopping centers, housing developments and office parks.

That unabated trend towards urban sprawl is not sustainable, argues the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium, a new initiative that won a $4.25 million grant from the federal government in 2010 to pla... Read more >

For a teenager, it's the opportunity of a lifetime to spend a week sailing on a 150-foot tall ship -- tying ropes, keeping watch and sleeping in hammocks while learning to work together as a close-knit team.

Through Project YESS -- Youth Empowered to Succeed through Sailing -- a handful of lucky teenagers are offered this rare opportunity each summer in Cleveland.

The program, which is organized by the Rotary Club of Cleveland, began in 2010 during the Tall S... Read more >

Urban gardens can be adventurous affairs, not unlike archeological digs in terms of how they turn up trash and pieces of the past just beneath the surface of the soil. If this isn't your thing, there's always raised beds. But they take time, labor and materials to build.

Thanks to a recently unveiled partnership, 150 families in the Buckeye, Larchmere and Woodland Hills neighborhoods will receive GardenSoxx, which are mesh sleeves stuffed with organic soil that ca... Read more >

May is National Bike Month, but locally the party kicked off last week at Respect the Bike, an all-Ohio-made bike showcase held at the Greenhouse Tavern. Before the event, hundreds of riders cruised through downtown for a traffic-stopping Critical Mass ride, then lined up their bikes along E. 4th Street for a rooftop bar celebration. Elsewhere in the Tavern, diners feted on chef Sawyer's creations as historic bikes hung in the air like flying machines.

It was a fittin... Read more >

Very soon, the City of Cleveland Heights will amend its zoning code "To encourage sustainable practices in residential neighborhoods." This legislation makes the city one of the most sustainable in the United States. Changes will make it expressly lawful to install rain barrels, plant front-yard vegetable gardens, build compost bins and replace asphalt driveways with those featuring semi-pervious materials. But without question, the topic garnering the most buzz is backyard chickens.

Now that the urban farming movement is becoming steadily more mature, cities are looking beyond backyard hens and market gardens to longer-term agricultural land use policies. They can and should learn from what works in other places while also advocating for better public policy at every level.

These were the messages conveyed at a forum on urban agriculture that was held last week at Cleveland State University. Kimberly Hodgson, a planner and public health advocate from... Read more >

Recently, an artistically-minded student at Glenville High School was so inspired by his school's first-ever Sustainability Awareness Day that he painted a rain barrel with the school's signature "G" logo and displayed it at last week's inaugural event.

"It was kind of like a small-scale science fair," says Anthony Body, Community Organizer with the Famicos Foundation, a nonprofit community development organization that serves the neighborh... Read more >

In a January opinion piece in TechCrunch, entrepreneur Jon Bischke suggested the most successful urban leaders are those who view cities like startups. CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders dedicated to creating next generation cities, will examine that premise at its 2012 Spring National Meeting: The City As a Startup -- Creating Demand, Attracting Talent, Taking Risks and Going to Scale.

The meeting is set for May 17-18 at Great American Ball Park in Cinc... Read more >

Travis Peebles, who co-owns Blazing Saddle Cycle, displays a Roadmaster bicycle that was made about 80 years ago by the Cleveland Welding Company, located at W. 117th and Berea Road. The rusted, 40-pound bike is not for sale, yet it adorns the shop as a proud reminder of cycling's rich local history.

It is perhaps a little known fact that both Cleveland and Ohio have a rich history in the annals of bike history (those crazy Wright brothers started it all with a Dayton... Read more >

It took 305 straw bales harvested from a nearby farm to build one couple's fairly tale home. The three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot "Asian Craftsman-style" house in Cleveland Heights is the only one like it in Greater Cleveland. Unlike the straw house in The Three Little Pigs, this is one built to withstand rain, wind, snow and the Big Bad Wolf.

As the Circle East Townhomes near completion, 60 percent of the units are pre-leased, and eight of the 12 leased units have been snatched up by University Circle area employees. This proves the viability of new housing options in the area, says Chris Ronayne, Executive Director of University Circle Inc. (UCI).

"This is a great moment in time where the Circle is meeting East Cleveland," says Ronayne of the project, which features 20 townhouse-style apartments tha... Read more >

You know the old saying: Once you start allowing chickens in your neighborhood, any four-legged creature can walk right in off the street.

Well, there goes the neighborhood!

Despite cries of fowl play, it appears that the City of Cleveland Heights is poised to allow residents to raise up to four chickens in their backyards. A group called Hens in Lakewood is lobbying their city to allow chicken-rearing too, yet the group is battling resistance from other resident... Read more >

Turning commuters, suburbanites and Joe and Jane Doe into "choice riders" -- those who choose public transit over driving -- has been an ongoing battle for mid-size transportation systems across the country, and Cleveland is no exception. Locally, that task falls on the shoulders of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transportation Authority, which is taking significant steps to cultivate a new generation of riders.

A new initiative being pioneered by Cuyahoga County, Policy Matters Ohio and a bevy of partners aims to create more energy-efficient municipal buildings and catalyze the creation of green, living wage jobs.

Now that advocacy within the green jobs movement has shifted away from the state and federal level -- where activity is slow or nonexistent -- organizers are counting on this new initiative to help create a new model for energy-efficient construction as well as stimula... Read more >

There was good news and bad news when David Uram and David Burg learned in June of 2009 about their application for Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the State of Ohio. The owners of PIRHL, an affordable housing development firm, were seeking to develop a 44-unit housing project on Euclid Avenue in MidTown called Church Square Commons.

The good news was that they'd been awarded tax credits for the project. PIRHL has completed 24 successful projects in five states in... Read more >

Imagine eating chef-made meals from food grown right around the corner. That’s the dream Brian Doyle had when he created Sow Food last year, which is a catering business built around locally-grown food.
 
”Last year my wife Jennifer and I wanted to create a business that was full-circle,” Doyle explains. “We wanted to add a farming component to our catering business because we were interested in adding food in areas considered food deserts.&rdq... Read more >

Todd Pownell of TAP Studios in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood has always purchased recycled gold. He fashions the raw material into unique wedding rings for Cleveland couples, or helps people to make their own through his unique, do-it-yourself workshop.

Yet as the price of gold has risen from $300 per ounce five years ago to more than $1,600 per ounce today, Pownell has also observed an increase in exploitative mining operations in various corners of the globe. At t... Read more >