Beer and wildlife conservation might seem like an unlikely duo, but the new partnership between Cleveland's Terrestrial Brewing Company and the Cleveland Zoological Society (CZS) is proving otherwise.

If mastering the art of social media were a poker game, John Gonzalez would have a royal “flush” in hand. As the Communications Manager for NEORSD, Gonzalez spends much of his day Tweeting about everything from not-so-flushable wipes to stormwater selfies to “halftime dumps” during the Super Bowl, aka “Sewer Bowl.” In the process, he’s helped make the NEORSD Twitter account a local celebrity of sorts.

Fifty years after the Cuyahoga River burned on, the yearlong Cuyahoga50 celebration kicks off with Creative Fusion: Waterways to Waterways—an exchange program of sorts for local and international artists, designed to inspire the world with all the ways Cleveland has revived and reimagined its river.

With 2019 around the corner, Sustainable Cleveland is gearing up for a monumental year. Fifty years have passed since the Cuyahoga River Fire ignited not only a Cleveland waterway, but a major environmental movement.

One may not normally think of a 127-year-old church as a leader in green infrastructure practices, but St. Casimir Church—based in Cleveland's St. Clair-Superior neighborhood—has set an example as the first Cleveland Catholic Diocese church to begin installing a green infrastructure on its campus.
 

After four years of planning, Western Reserve Distillers is set to take its spot as one of just a handful of certified organic distilleries in the country. The family-owned business—run by husband-and-wife team Ann and Kevin Thomas—celebrated its grand opening in early September.

This week, 2,300 energy professionals flocked to Cleveland’s convention center for the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Summit. In honor of the Summit setting up shop in Cleveland, FreshWater has compiled a list highlighting some of our city’s most compelling eco-friendly buildings. From a green-minded school to a sustainable brewery to an energy-efficient steel mill, these seven projects are shining examples of Cleveland’s commitment to going green.

Work will begin this September to transform the former Worsted Mills site—once one of the country’s largest garment manufacturers—into the Morgana Bluff Nature Preserve Learning Center. The project will encompass four acres of abandoned industrial land adjacent to the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland in Slavic Village, offering hiking/biking trails and boardwalks, outdoor learning areas for groups and school classes, and spots for observation.

In the thick of summer, school buses may be the last thing on many families’ minds, but for sustainability-minded school officials, it’s a different story. Electric school buses—battery-powered, zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs)—are now operating in multiple test markets across the country, including several in cold-weather regions. And in the near future, these familiar-looking but innovative machines could be humming around the streets of Cleveland.

University Hospitals has opened the doors to its new 40,000-square-foot, three-story community healthcare facility: the UH Rainbow Center for Women and Children. Located at the corner of Euclid Avenue and E. 59^th Street, the center will follow a unique healthcare model that will not only offer complete medical care to patients, but also serve as a community resource to meet the demands of the neighborhood.

Throwing anything down a sewer is the equivalent of throwing that item—be it dog waste, motor oil, lawn fertilizer, or other contaminants—into Lake Erie itself. The Doan Brook Watershed Partnership wants residents to keep in mind that Lake Erie actually does begin on their streets, no matter how far from the shores they are, and they're taking the first step with a Storm Drain Stenciling project slated for Saturday, June 16.

After more than a decade of planning, the Hemlock Creek Trail in Independence is finally becoming a reality, with a public groundbreaking planned for this Saturday, June 2. The 1.7-mile asphalt Hemlock Creek trail’s western terminus will begin at Brecksville Road and Selig Drive in Independence, traverse through parts of historic Independence and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and ultimately meet up with the Towpath Trail at its eastern terminus.

On Saturday, Praxis Fiber Workshop welcomed local volunteers to help with the inaugural planting of a new natural dye garden at its Collinwood-based facility. The quarter-acre garden will eventually consist mainly of 3,000 indigo plants, says Praxis executive director Jessica Pinsky. Although it looks like basil while growing, the plant is most commonly used as a natural—and less polluting—way to dye blue denim.

Sporting a shirt that says “Shiitake Happens,” it’s clear that Steve Solomon has a lot to say about mushrooms—and he visited Cowell & Hubbard on Monday to do just that. As a culinary strategist for the Mushroom Council, Solomon is helping to lead the charge behind the Blended Burger Project, a James Beard Foundation contest that advocates a new type of burger melding ground meat and chopped mushrooms.

Environmental action group Cuyahoga River Area of Concern celebrated a victory last weekend by checking two items off a list of 10 Beneficial Use Impairments that must be addressed before the river is delisted as one of the most polluted waterways by the Ohio EPA.

A portion of a 75-acre capped landfill site in Brooklyn will soon be home to one of Ohio’s largest solar arrays that could save Cuyahoga County as much as $3 million in utility bills over 25 years. Construction begins this week on placing 35,530 solar panels—each one about the size of the American Flag—on 17 acres of the landfill.

Anyone who’s heard of the Cleveland Tree Plan knows the city has big things in store when it comes to greening our urban spaces—namely increasing the tree canopy from 19 percent to 30 percent by 2040. Mayor Jackson announced the goal last year on Arbor Day, and efforts continue as we approach Arbor Day 2018. Looking for ways to help Cleveland get from Point A to Point Tree? Here are four ways to help reforest The Forest City.

For many people, the question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” can be a real brainteaser. But Bike Euclid president Kath Sonnhalter knows exactly what she wants—especially as it pertains to creating a safer and more inviting environment for local biking enthusiasts.