ECO SPEAKS CLE

Send us Fan Mail Curious about how the water you use every day gets to your tap? If you live in Northeast Ohio, chances are you get some or all of your water from the Cleveland Division of Water and the process of getting it from Lake Erie to you is fascinating. Today is water appreciation day on Eco Speaks CLE and speaking with us is Alex Margevicius, the Commissioner of Water for Cleveland Water...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we hear from a number of Cleveland's sustainability community in this recording from May's Eco Meet CLE event at Great Lakes Brewing Company. The evening featured a community stage where we heard from local environmental organizations about their work and the many ways we can connect and get involved. A lot is happening around town, and we are proud of a...

Send us Fan Mail The Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op has been helping people use bikes for over 20 years by imparting skills that encourage riding for fun, fitness, and transportation. Guided by the principles of respect, resourcefulness, and reciprocity, the OCBC's small professional staff and its many skilled volunteers refurbish donated bicycles, teach bike maintenance and repair classes, operate...

Send us Fan Mail In honor of Arbor Day, we discuss local efforts to reforest the Forest City with the Cleveland Tree Coalition and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission . Cleveland was once known as the Forest City, but it's not so forested anymore, with less than 18% of tree canopy remaining in the urban core. This tree canopy loss negatively impacts the city and its residents. Two women w...

Send us Fan Mail  April is a busy month in the CLE, so we bring you this short Earth Day episode where Diane goes solo and speaks about the first Earth Fest at the Zoo in 1990, what having a sustainability community means, ways to get involved, and what's in store for Eco Speaks CLE.   Ways to Connect: Join the Eco Meet CLE 4 Miles 4 Water team Register for Eco Meet CLE on May 16 Eco Meet CLE...

Send us Fan Mail Spring has arrived, and here at Eco Speaks CLE, we are thinking about SOIL. It is fundamental to all life on earth, so it deserves our attention. In this episode, we speak with Nathan Rutz , the Director of Soil for Tilth Soil . Tilth is an outgrowth of Rust Belt Riders, transforming food waste into a family of soil products that nourish plants, people, and the planet. Join us as...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we learn how BRITE Energy Innovators is helping power the future of energy across Ohio by speaking with Jing Lyon , BRITE's Entrepreneur Programs Director, and Joe Rohan , BRITE's Accelerator Program Manager. BRITE Energy Innovators empowers founders to launch energy technology solutions and operates Ohio's only energy technology incubator in Warren...

Send us Fan Mail Meet members of our local sustainability community and hear from local climate leaders in this episode recorded during our second Eco Meet CLE event in February at Great Lakes Brewing Company. First, meet some of the people in the room and then hear from our climate panelists, featuring County Executive Chris Ronayne , Stephen Love with the Cleveland Foundation, and city and count...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we celebrate the national park in our backyard by speaking with  Deb Yandala , President and CEO of the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park , and Donté Gibbs , VP of Community Partnerships. The Conservancy is the non-profit partner of Cuyahoga Valley National Park and its biggest supporter. Its 85 staff work to protect and promote the Park while managing...

Send us Fan Mail Elena Stachew and Moses Ngong are two young professionals demonstrating the power of youth in action. They lead the Cleveland Hub of Global Shapers. Global Shapers is a diverse community of young people working together to address local, regional, and global challenges through 522 city-based hubs located in 154 countries.  In this episode, we get to know Moses and Elena and hear a...

Send us Fan Mail In our first episode of 2023, we help you with all your recycling questions and give you options for cleaning out the clutter so you can start your new year off right. Joining us are Beth Biggins-Ramer , the Executive Director of Cuyahoga Recycles , and Matt Walters , the Recycling Programs Coordinator with Cuyahoga Recycles . Hear Beth tell us what’s new with recycling, what happ...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we speak with Jess Boeke . Jess and her twin sister Sarah Pottle , are the co-founders of Rust Belt Fibershed and are growing a bioregional textile community within a 250-mile radius of Cleveland. Imagine sourcing your clothing from a regional fibershed where local fiber farmers, workers, and artisans produce natural clothing that originates from the soil and can...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we pull back the curtain on fast fashion with  Aaron Jacobson , the creator of  f aan , a Cleveland-based clothing company. Aaron designs and creates low-waste, locally-made, unisex clothing that supports the philosophy of true circular fashion. Circular fashion is the opposite of fast fashion, which accounts for 10% of global CO2 emissions and exploits workers an...

Send us Fan Mail Chelsea Csuhran is the Food Rescue Program Director with the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland . In this episode, we speak with Chelsea about food rescue and how her organization keeps usable food out of landfills while reducing hunger in our community. This happens with hundreds of volunteers she calls food rescue heroes . Hear how you can become a food rescue hero using the Hu...

Send us Fan Mail Debbie Eastburn is the director of Humble Design Cleveland , and her motto is "togetherness to end homelessness ."  She and her team of designers and volunteers create spaces that families, veterans, and kids aging out of foster care can call home.   And they do this primarily with second-hand items that people in our community have donated. Keeping it out of the landfil...

Send us Fan Mail Cleveland Water Alliance is making Lake Erie the first SMART Great Lake by harnessing technology to monitor water quality, fuel research, drive innovation, and elevate Cleveland's role in the Blue Economy. Max Herzog is a program manager with Cleveland Water Alliance. In this episode, Max invites us to imagine what it would mean to have sensors and other technology collecting...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we recap Eco Meet CLE with Victoria Avi and Danielle Doz a with Venture Forward Strategies . Danielle and Victoria helped Greg and me organize this meetup for Cleveland's sustainability community on September 20th at Great Lakes Brewing Company. Dan and Pat Conway sponsored the event, along with several other partners. It was an energizing evening of beer, st...

Send us Fan Mail Marci Lininger calls monarch butterflies the guardian angels of the pollinator world. By doing good things for monarchs, we also help a myriad of other species that also need our help. This past summer, the monarch was officially designated as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Curious to know more about what that means and what can be done to help,...

Send us Fan Mail How does nature move liquids? How does nature manage structural forces? How does nature sense motion and temperature? These are some of the questions that the practice of Biomimicry asks when faced with a design challenge. Our guests, Trisha Brown and Carol Thaler are two Biomimicry practitioners that are helping accelerate innovation based on solutions already tried and tested th...

Send us Fan Mail Upcycle Parts Shop is a creative reuse center in Cleveland’s St. Clair Superior neighborhood. In this episode, we speak with Nicole McGee , the center's scrappy founder and executive director. Since 2014, the shop has diverted over 47 tons of material from landfills while providing the materials for creative inspiration to local artists and makers. Located in the historic Nat...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we met up with Stephen Love , founder of Cleveland Plogs for an evening of "plogging", a fitness and litter cleanup craze from Sweden that is quickly spreading throughout the world and right here in CLE.  Cleveland Plogs seeks to inspire a city to discover the joy of plogging by hosting monthly cleanups in the Collinwood neighborhood. We recorded some pl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we wrap up our Plastic-Free July series by speaking with local entrepreneur, Rachel Regula, the founder and CEO of Little Spark Refill Shop . Little Spark is Cleveland’s first retail store devoted to sustainable living and zero waste. Her stores in Rocky River and Chagrin Falls offer customers a convenient way to refill household essentials, and personal care prod...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we kick off Plastic Free July with Elissa Yoder Mann, Conservation Program Manager with Sierra Club Ohio.  According to Elissa, "plastic-free" is more a journey than a destination, given all the ways that plastic packaging has invaded our lives, but there are ways to have a  "plastic-less" life.  Sierra Club Ohio is participating in the global...

Send us Fan Mail This is the first of an Eco Speaks CLE  series on plastic. In this episode, we tackle the subject of plastic pollution with Jill Bartolotta, OSU Extension Educator with Ohio Sea Grant. Jill is a researcher focusing on plastic pollution in the Great Lakes . Her work informs plastics policy, international research, and education projects. Listen and hear Greg take a pop quiz about p...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk about recycling and circularity in the City of Cleveland. After a long hiatus, curbside recycling returns to Cleveland on June 13th, and here to tell us about the reinstated program and how to participate, is Cleveland’s Recycling Coordinator, Orensel  Brumfield. Also joining us to talk about the Circular Cleveland initiative is Cathi Lehn, the Manager for...