GrassRoot Ohio

Hi, I’m Carolyn Harding, producer/host of GrassRoot Ohio, conversations with everyday people, working on important issues, here in columbus and all around Ohio. For the past five years I’ve been honored to interview guests working for a better world in their communities, state, country, and, quite frankly, the world, in all areas of justice - environmental, social, racial and economic. My first gu...

Carolyn Harding with Randy Cunningham, Ohio activist and author of the new book, Where We Live, Environmental Activists’ Fight to Save Their Communities. Randy Cunningham is a Cleveland writer/activist. He has been active in a wide variety of issues for the past fifty years. His first book, Democratizing Cleveland: The rise and fall of community organizing in Cleveland, Ohio 1975-1985 (Belt publis...

Carolyn Harding with Mia Lewis from Common Cause Ohio. She helped organize the volunteer signature gathering effort for the Citizens Not Politicians amendment, with the goal of finally ending gerrymandering. Mia Lewis is Associate Director of Common Cause Ohio. She joined Common Cause during the push to pass 2018’s anti-gerrymandering Issue 1, coordinating teams across Ohio to push for a “Yes” vot...

Carolyn Harding with Mariah Ross, Ballot Initiative Director at One Fair Wage, Ohio. Mariah Ross has worked in progressive politics for the past 10 years. Growing up on the east side of Cleveland in Glenville, she has a passion for economic justice, foreign policy and education. She focuses her work on turning out young voters and communities of color. Currently she is the Ballot Initiative Direct...

Carolyn Harding w/ Ginger Tornes and Margo Wakefield advocates for Friends and Families for Safe Streets Columbus. Ginger Tornes was born and raised in Columbus. She moved to Alaska, where she managed a commercial salmon fishing business and worked with the state legislature. Ms. Tornes became involved in safe street/safe systems advocacy after the 2017 hit and run death of a good friend on a stre...

Carolyn Harding with Jenny Morgan, Anton Krieger, and Dr. Julie Weatherington-Rice, producers of the upcoming Sunday, June 2, Central Ohio Concert Book-Tour Event: FrackStock w/ Justin Nobel. Jenny Morgan is a singer/songwriter and an environmental public health activist from Columbus, Ohio. Jenny’s songs have been used for independent documentaries, for nature programs, in school classrooms, at p...

Carolyn Harding with Justin Nobel, writer on science and environment for US magazines, investigative sites, and literary journals. Justin Nobel’s work has been published in Best American Science and Nature Writing and Best American Travel Writing. A book he co-wrote with a death row exonoree, The Story of Dan Bright, was published in 2016 by University of New Orleans Press. His 2020 RollingStone m...

Carolyn Harding with Elaine Robertson and Bryn Bird, concerned citizens working to protect their rural communities next to the mega Intel microchip fabrication industrial buildup in New Albany, Ohio. Elaine Robertson is a founding member of the citizen's action group, Clean Air and Water for Alexandria and St. Albans township. She and about a dozen residents formed the group in 2023 in response to...

Carolyn Harding with Judge Terri Jamison, candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court. Judge Terri Jamison began her work history in social work with the West Virginia Department of Welfare. She became a trailblazer when she was one of few women to join the United Mine Workers of America. She moved to Columbus, Ohio when mass layoffs shut the mines down. As a single parent, she worked a variety of jobs b...

Carolyn Harding with Jolene Strieter, trans woman, founder & CEO of the non-profit advocacy organization,Trans Humanity. Jolene Strieter (She/Her/Hers/Ladywoman) please share your bio with our listeners. “From my earliest memories, I always knew I was created uniquely and wonderfully different. The hidden secret was... I am a Girl. I grew up with great inner turmoil between two worlds, on one side...

Carolyn Harding with Zerqa Abid, Columbus community leader and Candidate for US Congress, Ohio District 15. Zerqa Abid is a small business owner, an award-winning nonprofit leader, and a women’s rights advocate. She is running as a Democrat for US Congress out of Ohio’s 15th congressional district against incumbent Mike Carey. She is the Founder, President and Executive Director of the largest Mus...

Carolyn Harding with Jaelle Terrell, a Ohioan trans writer and humorist who is currently living in Akron with her chosen family. Excerpts from her novel "The Tales of Victoria" can be found at www.statestreetnews.com. On January 24, 2024, the Ohio Senate Voted to overrule Governor Mike DeWine’s Veto of HB68, which will, according to the Ohio Capital Journal, "block gender-affirming care for trans...

Carolyn Harding with visual artist/activist Andrea Bowers and Lauren Leving, curator at Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art, or commonly called moCa. On December 21, 2023, Andrea, you posted on Face Book, “A line from the Lake Erie bill of rights will be shining over Lake Erie on the science center across from the rock and roll hall of fame!” with photos and video clip from the installation of yo...

Carolyn Harding with Kyle Herman and Lee Crumrine, Ohioans working to establish Ranked Choice Voting in our State. Kyle Herman co-founded Rank the Vote Ohio in 2020, volunteering in different capacities until he was hired to serve full-time as Executive Director, with the help of their national partner Rank the Vote USA, in December 2022. Before his work with Rank the vote Ohio, Kyle managed pro-d...

Carolyn Harding sharing this Sprouts episode from one of GrassRoot Ohio shows featuring Tish O’Dell on State Preemption Laws and Nature’s Rights. It was an honor to work with Pacifica Radio to bring this to you. Tish has been a Community Organizer for CELDF (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund) since 2012 assisting residents to organize rights based initiatives in their communities in order...

Carolyn Harding with Sharon Scott, co-founder and general manager of the Low Power Community Radio Station ART FM/ WXOX 97.1 FM in Louisville, KT. WXOX is a noncommercial radio station committed to providing access to the airwaves for creative and experimental use. Ms. Scott’s radio advocacy has been covered by sources such as the New York Times, The Hill and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Sha...

Carolyn Harding with Adrienne Hood, Columbus City Council candidate for the People, on the November 7, 2023 ballot. Adrienne Hood is a mother of three and has four grandchildren. She retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2020 as a Master Sergeant, and is a Columbus native who grew up in Linden. Adrienne graduated from Columbus City Schools and has her bachelor's in criminal justice administration and...

Carolyn Harding with Joe Motil, Columbus Ohio Mayoral candidate for the November 7, 2023. Joe Motil was born the 7th of 11 children and grew up in the Columbus Clintonville neighborhood. He graduated from Bishop Watterson High School, attended Youngstown State University where he played college basketball, and in his 20’s, aspired to be a professional jazz musician. Married for 37 years, he raised...

Carolyn Harding with Dr. Lauren Beene, a general pediatrician practicing in the Cleveland area. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and co-leader of the non-partisan grassroots coalition Protect Choice Ohio and the Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights alliance. Dr. Beene is concerned that abortion restrictions will cause a medical crisis in Ohio, a...

Carolyn Harding with Jason Orabella and Josephine Duffy, volunteers with Redbird Books to Prisoners. Redbird Books to Prisoners has been packing books in Columbus since 2011. They send books free of charge to prisoners incarcerated in both Ohio and West Virginia. They also have an extensive catalog of zines (pamphlets on various subjects) that prisoners can also request. Jason Orabella is an Ohio...

Carolyn Harding with Julie Doran, hemp farmer and advocate for cannabis in Ohio. Julie was raised on a small farm in a big family. She’s passionate about cannabis, and her focus is to free this plant, and to keep cannabis a clean medicinal option for anyone who wishes to use it. She manufactures an organic fertilizer formulated for cannabis production. She also farms 5 acres of hemp and grows the...

Carolyn Harding with Dr. Lauren Beene, a general pediatrician practicing in the Cleveland area. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and co-leader of the non-partisan grassroots coalition Protect Choice Ohio and the Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights alliance. Dr. Beene is concerned that abortion restrictions will cause a medical crisis in Ohio, a...

Carolyn Harding with David DeWitt, editor-in-chief of the Ohio Capital Journal about Ohio Issue 1 - the Single Issue on the August 8, special election Ohio ballot. Ohio Capital Journal Editor-in-Chief and Columnist David DeWitt has been covering government, politics, and policy in Ohio since 2007, including education, health care, crime and courts, poverty, state and local government, business, la...

Carolyn Harding w/ Cathy Cowan Becker and Randi Pokladnik, co-organizers of the grassroots coalition to Save Ohio Parks, No Fracking on Public Land. Cathy Cowan Becker is a longtime climate and environmental activist in Central Ohio. From 2017-21, she led the Ready for 100 Ohio campaign, which pushed the city of Columbus to enact electric aggregation for 100% renewable energy and issue a Climate A...

Carolyn Harding with Rachna Dhingra, environmental and social activist who works in Bhopal, India, with the survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster, the 1984 Union Carbide India Limited Corporation’s poisonous gas leak- killing thousands of people. Rachna Dhingra works on the issues of medical care, research, social support, economic needs, assessment and cleanup of toxic waste, legal c...