ECO SPEAKS CLE

Send us Fan Mail Summer is here, and we're at the Mastery School of Hawken 's Native Plant Sale in University Circle for an Eco Bite with Nick Fletcher . Nick is a high school Latin teacher who started one of the most practical environmental education projects around - the Hawken Native Plant Society .  Along with his colleague Claudia Tausz and students of all grade levels, Nick oversee...

Send us Fan Mail There are many ways to love a forest, and in this episode, we introduce you to a variety of forest stewards who are nurturing our region's woodlands. They are featured in a Holden Forest & Gardens project called Ways to Love a Forest: Stories of Woodland Stewardship in Northeast Ohi o , a booklet that includes interviews with educators, landowners, scientists, and communi...

Send us Fan Mail The Great Ohio Climate March is happening May 16-28, 2026. The purpose of this march is to draw attention to the impacts of fracking on Ohio’s public lands, the climate crisis, and the benefits of renewable energy. The southern Ohio route passes through areas impacted by fracking and begins in Athens, Ohio, travels through Salt Fork State Park, and ends at the Statehouse. The marc...

Send us Fan Mail An Eco Bite is a " mini” episode of Eco Speaks CLE. In this shorter format, we reconnect with a past guest or showcase someone new, all in under 15 minutes. In this quick episode, we catch up with Rust Belt Riders and founder Michael Robinson to find out what's new with our favorite worker-owned food waste composting company in Cleveland, Ohio. We first interviewed Rust...

Send us Fan Mail As an environmental economist, Elizabeth Schuster helps conservation organizations solve complex challenges at the intersection of nature and communities. In this episode, Elizabeth describes how her firm, Sustainable Economies , applies systems-level thinking to messy, long-horizon environmental problems to turn them into clear, shared action. Her clients include watershed distri...

Send us Fan Mail Are you living with too much stuff? Help is on the way! In this first episode of 2026, we help you clear the clutter with Devon Fegen-Herdman , owner of Declutter with Devon . Devon is a professional home organizer, former social worker, and a founding member of Upcycle Parts Sho p, our favorite arts reuse center in Cleveland.    Most people agree they have too much stuff, and the...

Send us Fan Mail Our region's water isn’t just running through our taps; it is shaping our region and our future. Cleveland is a waterfront city , and in this episode, you will hear how technology, entrepreneurship, destination development, maritime trade, and recreation are blossoming under our culture of freshwater stewardship.  This recording is from Eco Meet CLE , a gathering of local sus...

Send us Fan Mail Cities don’t forget—their land remembers. In this episode, we speak with Isaac Robb , Chief Urban Program Officer at Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and explore how his organization works to turn Cleveland's vacant and underutilized land into living assets, including neighborhood parks, memorial gardens, and reforestation programs that cool, calm, and reconnect neighborhood...

Send us Fan Mail Brodie Longo is a young organizer and director of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics. This grassroots organization works to combat plastic pollution and the use of single-use plastics through education and activism. In this episode, Brodie speaks about what it's been like starting a local Beyond Plastics chapter and how, at just 23 years old, he found himself leadi...

Send us Fan Mail Anthony Iovine is the sales manager for Gateway Products Recycling , a family-owned paper recycling company, in business for over 30 years in Ohio and Pennsylvania. When asked why he loves his job, he says it's "waking up every day to save the planet - one bale of cardboard at a time."  Paper recycling has been around since about 1031 AD, and is one of recycling’s s...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know that laundry is the #1 source of microplastic pollution? With every load of laundry, millions of tiny plastic particles come off our synthetic clothes, down the drain, and into our waterways. In this episode, we speak with Max Pennington , Co-Founder and CEO of CLEANR. Max and his partners may have the solution to plastic pollution we've been looking for. His Cle...

Send us Fan Mail Inlet Dance Theatre is a modern dance company in Cleveland, founded in 2001 by our guest, Bill Wade , a renowned dancer and choreographer who uses the power of dance to further people and explore human, societal, and environmental issues through movement. Located within the Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression on West 25th Street in Cleveland, Inlet's Dance Studio is ca...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we head to the Rid-All Farm to speak with Keymah Durden , a co-founder of Rid-All Green Partnership . What was once a notorious dumping ground in Cleveland's "Forgotten Triangle", the farm is now one of the largest minority-owned urban farms and a nationally recognized model for urban agriculture, environmental stewardship, and resilience. In this e...

Send us Fan Mail On Friday, April 11, over 300 high school students from across northeast Ohio gathered for the 2025 NEO Youth Climate Summit , hosted by Laurel School and Global Shapers Cleveland . The event brought students together to discuss and collaborate on solutions for climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice. The summit was kicked off with a keynote address by a young cl...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Earth Day! In this episode, we discuss the importance of connecting kids with nature and the Cleveland Outdoor Bill of Rights , with Renee Boronka , Director of Conservation Education and Outreach at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy . The Cleveland Outdoor Bill of Rights outlines twelve fundamental nature experiences every child deserves, from breathing clean air to camp...

Send us Fan Mail Mera Cardenas is a historic preservationist working to connect people to place as the Executive Director of Canalway Partners . We are the people, and the place is the historic Towpath Trail , located within the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area . The 100-mile Towpath Trail from Cleveland to New Philadelphia follows what once was a significant transportation artery f...

Send us Fan Mail Aidan Meany is a young clothing entrepreneur defining a new era of apparel. His team at Found Surface uses 21st-century technology and traditional, natural fibers to produce eco-friendly clothing for companies looking for ethically and thoughtfully produced garments. His new factory in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood is one of the first in the nation to use digital kn...

Send us Fan Mail In our first episode of 2025, we discuss sports and sustainability with Danielle Doza , the Cleveland Cavaliers ' Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Services. As the first executive-level professional in the NBA, Danielle shares how the CAVS organization integrates award-winning eco-friendly practices in fresh and exciting new ways and the collaborative spirit...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as we wrap up 2024 with community leader and food sovereignty advocate Sara Continenza . Sara is the founder and executive director of Food Strong , a non-profit connecting kids with food since 2016. Sara and her staff work with the Cleveland Municipal School District and other inner-city schools to provide hands-on learning experiences in gardening, nutrition, and entrepr...

Send us Fan Mail Eco Meet CLE is a gathering of Cleveland's environmental community, organized by the Eco Speaks CLE podcast and friends, to share a beer, have fun, and connect the people and the threads of the exciting work happening in our region. We recorded this episode during our seventh Eco Meet held recently at our favorite watering hole, Great Lakes Brewing Company. This evening featu...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Cleveland filmmaker Chris Langer speaks with us speak about his new documentary, Ripples of Plastic , which premiered this year at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival and locally at the Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Fest. Chris is a director, producer, and cinematographer and owns Wonderhouse Films   in Cleveland. Ripples of Plastic is Chris's first documentar...

Send us Fan Mail If you need a reason to love Mondays, Slow Roll Cleveland is it. In this episode, Greg and I join Slow Roll Cleveland and several hundred other cyclists for a leisurely-paced bike parade through our urban streets. Slow Roll Cleveland hosts these ten-mile Monday evening rides during warmer months to highlight Cleveland neighborhoods and bring joy and community to riders and residen...

Send us Fan Mail Are you curious about making smarter, greener choices for your electricity supply? In this episode, we speak with Jennifer McMillin with the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) .  Jenn is SOPEC's Regional Director for Northeast Ohio and provides tips and insights for choosing a 100% renewable energy supplier for your electricity needs. SOPEC is a leader in communit...

Send us Fan Mail "Adulting' is hard, but it's exponentially harder if you are 18 years old and aging out of foster care, alone and without a support system. Here in Cleveland, there's an organization helping to ease the transition by providing donated furniture and household goods to young people who have graduated from foster care and moved into a place of their own. That orga...

Send us Fan Mail In this bonus to our conversation with Maria Paparella, Maria shares a personal story of one of the young adults she deeply connected with through her organization Chair-ity. This young adult faced several challenges as she aged out of the foster care system and started life on her own. But with her perseverance, strength, intelligence, and support from Maria, she has become one o...