Sustainability + Environment
When the city of Cleveland revised its 6-year-old Climate Action Plan in 2018, it set an ambitious goal: to use 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050.
Four years after the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) acquired the former Henninger Landfill on Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn, plans are moving ahead to convert the land into a 25-acre connector park that will link to Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath Trail, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Brookside Reservation.
The busiest parking lot in Kamm's Corners—and home of the Kamm's Corners Farmers Market—just got a lot greener.
A joint effort to connect 101 miles of biking and hiking paths from New Philadelphia to Cleveland's Lake Erie shoreline via the Towpath Trail Extension Project is preparing to cross the finish line.
See our photographer Bob Perkoski's images of Clevelanders celebrating a river reborn.
Fifty looks good on you, Cuyahoga River. As Cleveland celebrates the momentous 50-year milestone of the Cuyahoga River Fire—and the remarkable progress made—with #Cuyahoga50, we're answering all of your burning questions about the river with these 50 fun facts.
Fresh Water's monthly "Free Stamp" feature rounds up the freshest free events in Cleveland. Check out our special Cuyahoga50 edition here!
As the Cuyahoga River draws closer to a momentous milestone with the Cuyahoga50 celebration, Lake Erie is also having its time in the sun. On Thursday, June 20, nine teams from across the Great Lakes region will gather in Cleveland to compete in the finals for Erie Hack 2.0—an innovation challenge spearheaded by Cleveland Water Alliance.
Right next to the newly christened Euclid Beach Pier, more than 550 community leaders gathered lakeside for the fifth annual Vibrant City Awards—presented by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) and Delta Dental and highlighting the best in local urban revitalization efforts.
They say one never forgets how to ride a bike—and if the freewheeling folks taking part in Silver Spokes are any indication, it’s 100 percent true.
Make no mistake—the buoy gently bobbing in the waves eight miles offshore in Lake Erie is not like the others.
As Cleveland State University’s first-ever director of sustainability, Jennifer McMillin can be a bit in-your-face when it comes to the motto, “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” And she’s proud of that. (As she should be, since the school reduced its landfill waste five percent in 2018, diverting 306 tons from landfills.)
When the Cuyahoga River caught fire on June 22, 1969, a 23-year-old Frank G. Jackson had just returned home from his tour of duty in the Vietnam War, and he remembers the eco-catastrophe as being “probably the last thing on [his] mind” at that time. A lot has changed in 50 years, and the now-Mayor of Cleveland is squarely focused on not only the health of the Cuyahoga River, but the city’s sustainability as a whole.
The Detroit Shoreway Community Development Corporation (DSCDC) owns more than 300 affordable housing units in the neighborhood, but Aspen Place apartments marks the agency’s first-ever new construction project for affordable housing.
When it comes to sustainability, Cleveland has come a long way, baby. Not only is the city celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River Fire—and the progress the river has made in the last five decades (it's now safe to fish!)—but this year marks the culmination of Sustainable Cleveland's 10-year initiative. FreshWater's new "People, Planet, Progress: A Decade of Sustainable Cleveland" series will highlight their efforts and achievements and mark the design of a new decade.
Fresh Water's monthly "Free Stamp" feature rounds up the freshest free events in Cleveland. Check out our special Earth Day edition here!
When Kent Whitley talks about environmental issues, he doesn’t start with words like “sustainability” or terms like “carbon footprint."
“It’s so hard to talk with these big words. You have to go to the dictionary,” he says with a laugh.
Instead he brings the issues down to earth, to air, and to water.
“I say, ‘The lake is dirty...and it’s affecting you.’”
That kind of bluntness is how Whitley and others plan to convince African Americans that they have a stake in environmental policy.
“It’s so hard to talk with these big words. You have to go to the dictionary,” he says with a laugh.
Instead he brings the issues down to earth, to air, and to water.
“I say, ‘The lake is dirty...and it’s affecting you.’”
That kind of bluntness is how Whitley and others plan to convince African Americans that they have a stake in environmental policy.
If Shaker Heights feels a bit more fragrant this spring, you can thank teacher Tim Kalan. Since 2016, Kalan has been leading garden clubs for kids in second through fourth grades at Lomond and Onaway Elementary Schools, and they’re about to enter their fourth planting cycle.
Not surprisingly, Cleveland’s geological landscape 200 years ago was quite different than today’s modern, industrialized city. In 1820, spring-fed streams ran freely throughout the region, running through neighborhoods like Cleveland Heights, Kinsman, Scranton Flats, and Ohio City. Last Saturday, April 6, these now-hidden waterways took the spotlight during a sold-out tour: Exploring Cleveland's Hidden Waterways.
Heads up, Merriam-Webster: there’s a new word on the block. It’s called “plogging,” and it’s happening right here in Collinwood.