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35 Students Occupy DEQ Lobby Demanding Investigation of Illegal Coal Ash Dumping

Energy

By Virginia Student Environmental Coalition

[Update: 17 students have been arrested. For the latest update via Twitter, click here.]

Thiry-five students from the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition are refusing to leave the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) lobby until the director, David Paylor, complies with their demands regarding Dominion Resources' dumping of coal ash wastewater into the James River and Quantico Creek. This action is taking place in light of the recent news that Dominion illegally dumped 33.7 million gallons of untreated wastewater into Quantico Creek last summer.

The demands are as follows:

1. The DEQ repeals the permits issued to Dominion to begin dumping coal ash wastewater from their Bremo and Possum Point power plants.

2. The current permits are re-issued only after an investigation into the 2015 dumping of untreated wastewater into Quantico Creek.

3. The permits for coal ash wastewater release are rewritten to comply with the best available technology standards, in accordance with the Clean Water Act and that a mechanism for independent third party monitoring is implemented.

Students from the University of Virginia, University of Mary Washington, College of William & Mary, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University entered the headquarters at 629 E Main St, Richmond, Virginia, at 10 a.m. and presented their intentions and demands, requesting to speak with Paylor immediately. A rally is also taking place outside of the building.

“David Paylor can't keep his story straight regarding the wastewater dumping that took place last summer," Sarah Kinzer, a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington, said. "If this is because he is covering for Dominion's illegal activities, then how can we trust him to make future decisions regarding our environmental safety? If this is not the case, then why is he failing to address the issue now?"

Kendall King, the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition chair, agrees. “If David Paylor cannot adequately meet the health and safety needs of Virginia residents, then he is not fulfilling his role as DEQ Director and we are prepared to demand his resignation," she said.

“These incidents of environmental injustice are not isolated," Jong Chin, a senior at James Madison University, said. "In Flint, Michigan, we've recently seen what devastating effects that water containing concentrations of heavy metals can have on communities. This national pattern of water safety violations is indicative of widespread systemic issues."

“The coal ash wastewater dumping is only one example of Dominion's tendency to value profit over the safety of Virginians," Aaron Tabb, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, said. "This corporation continually endangers our health and safety by burning fossil fuels and building fracked gas pipelines. This is why, as students, we fight for fossil fuel divestment while simultaneously working to prevent Dominion from further endangering our safety. We need to cut all ties with fossil fuel companies."

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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter

21 Ways to Go Green in 2016

By Reilly Reynolds, Turning Green

Reilly Reynolds is a senior at Ohio Wesleyan University, studying Economics and Spanish. She hopes to go into urban farming when she graduates, and eventually own a farm-to-table organic restaurant.

As we transition into the new year, consider what could be accomplished in 2016 if every person made one of their New Years resolutions to live a more conscious, sustainable lifestyle. Being an environmentalist, student, global citizen and Turning Green student advisory board member, I strive to lead an environmentally friendly and socially responsible life, but there is always room for improvement.

Project Green Challenge 2015 finalists. Photo credit: Madeleine Welsh

Before we can look forward, we should look back to both the sweet victories and the setbacks, of 2015 to understand the current state of the world and where improvement is desperately needed. Many outstanding leaders have joined the “green" movement and it's become very clear this is not a trend, it's a way of life to ensure the health and well being of our planet and our future. I am thrilled to be a steward for positive change among arguably the most aware and eco-friendly generation yet. We've marched, we've petitioned and in many cases, we've won victories that have carried us forward into new territory.

2015 progress ...

After the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act was passed by the House, hundreds of concerned individuals, organizations and companies raised their voices and the Senate listened, blocking the passage of any bill that prevents labeling of genetically modified organisms or GMOs. This is a huge victory against multi-billion dollar biotech and food corporations and underscores the belief that Americans should absolutely have the right to know what is in their food and the right to choose organic and non-GMO alternatives if desired.

During the Paris climate conference, 195 countries signed a revolutionary agreement to collectively combat climate change. President Obama signed into law the Micro-bead Free Waters Act of 2015, which will phase out and ban the use of microbeads (little bits of plastic) in the beauty and body care products, a huge win for waterways and the health of marine life across the globe. Renewable energy sources are on the rise, home improvement stores have taken action to phase out and remove neonicotinoid pesticides that kill bees from their plants and Keystone XL was rejected.

With people, political representatives and organizations around the world fighting to protect our planet, we forge forward into 2016. As we do so, it's essential to remember that each and every voice makes a difference. At Turning Green, we follow the motto “Dream and Do," knowing that every major impact starts with one. It starts with each voice vowing to be the change we wish to see, to be both a dreamer and a doer and to work with other extraordinary human beings to build on our accomplishments from this past year.

The new year is a perfect time to make such a pledge. My fellow Project Green Challenge 2015 finalists sent in their eco-resolutions for 2016 and we invite everyone around the globe to participate in the betterment of our planet, our health and our future. Project Green Challenge (PGC) encourages participants to transition from conventional to conscious over the course of one month and has been one of the most influential, impactful experiences of my life. The 2015 finalists' responses demonstrate that no matter what your interests or passions are, there are ways to incorporate them into your conscious lifestyle plans for 2016!

Read page 1

Support Sustainable Food

Food is a common passion among all environmentalists. With the appearance of new genetic modifications, the allowance of artificial chemicals and preservatives and the lack of access to safe and healthy foods, there's much work to be done. One PGC 2015 finalist, Matt Gal from University of Arkansas, stated that, “My new year's resolution is to grow and give away as much fresh and organic food as possible to people who need it most." Matt has future hopes of becoming an organic farmer. Missy Martin, the 2015 PGC Champion, also focused on food for her resolution: “I hope to get started on my aspiration of implementing a Conscious Kitchen in Nashville."

Challenge Your Habits

For others, changing everyday habits is a way to move forward as individuals and team players. “If I need/want something, I will find it secondhand instead of buying it new and work to repair my belongings before purchasing new ones" said Claire August from George Washington University. Buying secondhand is a great way to reduce personal impacts on the planet and divert waste from landfills.

Work with Existing Organizations and Corporations

Julie Polaski from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hopes to work with her school this New Year to get a composting agreement implemented to reduce food waste. Working with schools or other existing organizations to encourage is the best way to ensure successful outcomes of sustainable change. Annie Yu, a sophomore at Jericho High School and will continue to work with her PGC team members to effect change: “In 2016, my teammates Margaret, Emma and I will inspire our school to make changes that will help transition from conventional to conscious practices on campus. Our overreaching goal is to establish a Turning Green Chapter!"

Incorporate Social Justice

Environmental sustainability is connected to every other form of social justice and many elements of different forms can be tied together to allow for huge change. Marina Qutab, the PGC 2015 Runner-Up, is using her resolution to do just that, she says “I want to give others what PGC gave to me: inspiration and hope. I am starting small this winter break by visiting a recovery high school for kids overcoming drug addictions. I will cook FLOSN food (Fresh, Local, Organic, Seasonal and Non-GMO) for these kids and talk about the connection between healthy food and a healthy mind." People and planet go hand in hand. We are not apart from nature, we are a part of nature and sustainable living should be available to all humans. My personal resolution is to focus on the accessibility of eco-conscious living for those who are marginalized.

Whether your interest is food, social justice or changing personal habits, there is so much that can be done in the next year. We saw the massive changes that can occur in one year throughout 2015 and we should enter 2016 filled with hope and inspiration for what the future holds. That hope should bring a sense of purpose and a drive to continue to change. We are ready and willing to put our greenest foot forward in the coming year. As PGC finalist Megan Phelps said, “I want to challenge my habits, even the good ones. I am aspiring to be deliberate in what I do; to operate on true intention rather than routine."

Happy New Year from the Turning Green team!

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It's Our Generation, It's Our Choice: Climate Justice Now

Climate

When I learned about climate change for the first time in middle school I was stunned; stunned that I hadn’t found out before, that this wasn’t something my parents talked about every day. The atmosphere might heat up to to the point that the earth would become uninhabitable? I could not comprehend why everyone in society wasn’t running around scheming of ways to ensure our survival on this planet.

When I got to college, I joined Swarthmore Mountain Justice, the on-campus group campaigning for divestment from fossil fuels.

And what would this mean for my home on the outskirts of Austin, Texas? Already, our well water had run out one summer. We went for quite a while without being able to shower or flush the toilet until we had the money to get the well dug a little deeper to reach the aquifer below. I wondered what a hotter planet would mean for our water system: how many more times would we need to dig deeper? How could a summer even hotter than our already scorching days, hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, be habitable?

I tried to think about what I could do to minimize the harm I caused personally through my carbon footprint. I tried to save every page I was handed in school to write my notes on the backs. I recycled and composted obsessively, and wondered whether I could save water by hand washing clothes or energy by line drying. I would cringe every time we sat in traffic, imagining all the tiny particles of carbon our car was coughing out into the atmosphere, slowly eroding the chances of future generations to experience the lushness of a dewy, green spring.

Yet ultimately, the task at hand felt impossible. I lived thirty minutes outside Austin in an area where public transportation does not exist. My family did not have the money to live in the city, so this meant driving twenty minutes to school every day and that there was no way for me to reduce these emissions. The lack of public transportation in Texas simply does not allow most citizens to live in a way that could be considered “environmentally conscious.”

Gradually I realized—our highways and suburbs were never meant to be compatible with a sustainable future. The system was designed to necessitate fossil fuel dependence. It is no coincidence that Exxon has been cowering under climate denialism for decades for the sake of rogue profit. Exxon’s thirty year long campaign to spread doubt about basic climate science has undermined efforts to prevent runaway climate change and has cost millions of lives. Those hit the hardest by climate disaster are communities of color, communities of low economic status, women and young people. Fossil fuel companies stand to gain the most by stifling the stories of those in the Global South whose resources they exploit, whose water and air they poison, and whose lives the media outlets might fail to mourn when they are swept away by every-intensifying natural disasters. It will take all of us, fighting together and demanding a just and sustainable transition, to turn the tides on environmental racism and the devaluing of black, brown and immigrant lives.

When I got to college, I joined Swarthmore Mountain Justice, the on-campus group campaigning for divestment. For the first time, I feel that I have power in my hands to effect change. For so long, I worried that the things I could do on my own to combat climate change were not enough, but I have seen incredible progress in the work we have done as a collective. Together we can leverage formidable power. Joining together with other students, we will demand the systemic and institutional changes from our leaders we need to ensure a sustainable future. We will demand a just transition away from environmental racism, and an end to the laws that tear families apart and reinforce the illusion that we are anything less than a global community.

As young people, we have the right and the power to create the world we would like to see—world which sustains life; a world which does not discriminate, commit violence or value a life less based on race or class, nationality or immigrant status. The need to see these changes come about has never been so urgent, and I have never felt more excited to join with other students, to take to the streets and demand that politicians take real leadership on the critical issues of our generation.

If that’s a vision you want to be part of, sign up to join the action on Nov. 9th in Washington, DC.

This blog post was written by Sophia Zaia, a student organizer with Swarthmore Mountain Justice, on why she’s joining the Our Generation, Our Choice mobilization.

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Senate to Vote on DARK Act Banning States From Requiring GMO Labels on Food

Food

Megan Fuerst is a junior at The Ohio State University where she studies environment, economy, development and sustainability with a specialization in policy analysis. Megan is passionate about her roll as president of the Turning Green Student Advisory Board. She plans to pursue a career in politics to help implement policies that protect the environment and future generations.

On July 23, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 1599, which has been dubbed the ‘Deny Americans the Right to Know’ Act or DARK Act by opponents.

Turning Green, a student powered non-profit dedicated to informing and mobilizing students around conscious living, is among many organizations advocating for consumers Right to Know. The DARK Act would block state laws requiring genetically modified organisms (GMO) labeling and expand the definition of “natural” to include genetically modified ingredients.

Now, despite polls that show 9 out of 10 Americans support GMO food labeling, the DARK Act is in the hands of the Senate. Voting will take place sometime this month. Three states have already passed GMO Labeling laws, and 17 considered similar laws in 2015. If the Senate votes in favor of The Dark Act, these would all be negated. Profits of large biotech corporations would be protected and prioritized over consumer’s constitutional right to know.

As a representative of my generation, one that was born into a world where GMO’s dominate the shelves of grocery stores without our knowledge or consent, where we are exposed to harmful pesticide residues on the food we eat and in the air we breathe, I am standing up for my Right to Know. We demand that our Senators vote on behalf of us—the people—and against The Dark Act.

Watch our video and call your Senators. It is our right to know what is in our food.

Call your Senators today at 1-877-796-1949.

Sample script for calls: “Hello. I'm a constituent and I care about my right to know what's in the food I eat. I want my Senator to vote NO on any bill that would take away mandatory labeling for GMO foods."

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Trending

Call Congress Today: Ask Your Rep. to Vote 'No' on the DARK Act

Food

Jenna Zimmerman is a junior at New York University where she studies marketing and sustainability. Jenna is passionate about her roll as director of communications at Turning Green. She plans to pursue a career in sustainability marketing as her generation rises as the most empowered consumers yet. 

There is currently a bill in Congress that would prevent GMO-labeling and deny consumers the right to know what's in their food.

"H.R. 1599, dubbed the 'Deny Americans the Right to Know' Act or DARK Act by opponents, would block state laws requiring GMO labeling," said Scott Faber of Environmental Working Group. "Three states have passed such laws and 17 considered similar laws in 2015. The DARK would also rob states of the ability to prevent food companies from claiming that GMO foods are 'natural.'”

Turning Green, a student lead non-profit dedicated to sustainability education and inspiring conscious lifestyle transitions, has created a call to action. It's a call to action to our peers, communities and policy makers.

“Don’t mind the nine out of 10 Americans who support GM food labeling—forget them! ... Let’s protect Big Food and biotechnology corporations by not calling [Congress],” Danielle Schoen, a Skidmore College junior, sarcastically states in the video.

The time to speak up is now.

Watch here:

Call your representative today and share these key points.

For calls, here is a sample script:

“Hi, my name is [NAME]. I am from [District] and I am one of the 9 out of 10 Americans who support GMO labeling. I am calling to ask you to oppose H.R. 1599. This will take away states and local rights to label and regulate genetically engineered crops. It will harm family farmers and it will undermine local rights of consumers to know what is in our food. Please protect farmers, states rights and my right to know and OPPOSE H.R. 1599. Thank you.”

We need you to pick up the phone right now. Click here to be automatically connected to your representative and urge him or her to support GMO labeling and vote "no" on H.R. 1599, the DARK Act.

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Climate Change and Baseball

Climate

Cory Novak is a spring 2015 graduate of the Ohio State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental policy with a focus in international issues and a minor in political science. He plans to continue his education in law school and work with issues related to sustainability and climate change.

There are two things that I can talk and/or argue about all day and night with passion and intrigue: climate change and baseball. Watching this years All-Star weekend, I was inspired to see the 18 and a half hour documentary Baseball by Ken Burns.

There are two things that I can talk and/or argue about all day and night with passion and intrigue: climate change and baseball.

About 16 hours in during the last episode, I had a peculiar thought. The final segment of Baseball, The Tenth Inning, discusses a shameful yet exciting era in Major League Baseball that occurred from 1991-2003. These years are known as the “steroids era.” During this time, players such as Mark Mcgwire and Jose Canseco, were using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), most notably anabolic steroids, to get big and break records.

Now you might be asking yourself, what does baseball have to do with climate change? Well, aside from when summer games become to be too hot to play, the steroid era of Major League Baseball and climate change have significant symbolic similarities. It’s also a great way to explain climate change to non-scientists who like baseball.

Climate change, like a season of baseball, is a marathon, not a sprint. Consider a particular game or series as the weather, the 162 game season as the climate and steroids as man-made greenhouse gases. When explaining climate change in terms of baseball it’s important to first explain the most common misconception held by climate change deniers and the uninformed public: since we still have cold weather, the climate is not getting warmer.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proved in its recent State of the Climate report that the misconception is completely untrue. The report shows how the first decade of this century was the hottest in recorded history. Just because you can go outside and make a snowball on a particular day, does not mean that the climate overall is not getting warmer.

Let's look at this in terms of Major League Baseball. In 2003, the Detroit Tigers went 43-119. If that season can be looked at as a season of 162 instances of weather, you would see 43 days of normal weather/winning games amid a warming climate/losing season. Some of those games might have been very close too, maybe one run/half a degree difference than usual, but the game still counts as a loss. A “fair weather” fan (pun intended) might not have been aware of how bad the season actually was.

The Tiger’s 2003 season owns the worst record in the MLB this century and the most losses in American League history since its establishment in 1901. They may not have noticed the historically disastrous season, but I can guarantee they noticed in 2006 when the Tigers went to the World Series. Similar to how someone unconcerned with climate change might not be conscious of the warming climate on a day to day basis. Yet, they certainly noted that attention grabbing World Series extreme weather, such as Superstorm Sandy, whose intensity has been attributed to climate change.

Next, steroids and greenhouse gases. Both of these substances intensify an already naturally occurring process. A professional baseball player is most likely an inherently gifted athlete with big muscles, sharp focus and great reflexes. These attributes are already there and steroids and performance enhancing drugs help to pile on the mass of muscle and hone already refined skills. As a player gets bigger and faster, he hits more home runs.

Equivalent to an athlete that already posses the strength and skill to slug home runs before enhancing his performance through drugs, the atmosphere naturally contains greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases allow heat from the sun to reach the Earth’s surface. These same gases then trap the heat in the Earth's atmosphere as it’s reflected out by the Earth’s surface. This process is what is creating and accelerating climate change.

As industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels continues to intensify, humans are increasing the concentrations of these natural gases in our atmosphere, as well as adding some unnatural and equally as harmful gases such as hydrofluorocarbon. The greenhouse gases that humans are adding to the atmosphere are the steroids of climate change. Like a baseball player on PEDs hits longer and more home runs each season, we can expect to see higher temperatures and extreme weather occurring more frequently as we continue to pump these steroid gases into the atmosphere.

This leads to the question that if steroids are now illegal in baseball, where they only affect the user and those users generate massive profits for the MLB, why do world leaders continue to allow greenhouse gases to be produced at alarming levels that harm the entire planet?

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Ecotourism in Action

Sunny Zhang is a junior at Duke University studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. She enjoys roadtrips, reading about nature and upcycling.

As a college student, getting up on a weekend before 10 a.m. is a rare occasion. Surprisingly, I found myself awake at 4:30 a.m., the morning after my 20th birthday, waking up to watch birds.

Students with SVC guides, Sunny Zhang.

I was on a study abroad class field excursion, at the Bengal Florican Conservation Areas in the grasslands of Kompong Thom, Cambodia, partly to observe birds. Mainly, we were there to observe ecotourism in action, or responsible and educated travel to natural areas that conserves the environment while sustainably benefiting the local community.

My class toured with the Sam Veasna Center (SVC), a non-profit local Cambodian NGO that manages wildlife viewing trips. Its goal is aligned with the definition of ecotourism: to provide sustainable livelihoods for local Cambodian communities from ecotourism, while preserving conservation sites. SVC provides the communities with income and employment in exchange for no-hunting and land-use agreements.

Prior to experiencing ecotourism, I had my doubts. Ecotourism overall faces serious potential challenges—overtaxed natural resources, corruption, environmental degradation, cultural exploitation, loss of local power to outside developers.

And to be honest, I was not expecting much, especially at 4:30 a.m., a time college students are more likely to be staying up than waking up. But the morning was filled with adrenaline rushes, watching beautiful and critically endangered Bengal Floricans. The 20 students in my class, posing as amateur birders, were absolutely hooked.

Male Bengal Florican, Allan Michaud. Photo credit: SVC website

It is estimated that there are less than 1,000 Bengal Florican birds left in the world, the overwhelming majority of which live within and depend on the conservation area. But large portions of Cambodian grasslands are being converted to usage for rice cultivation. The Bengal Florican grasslands could have been turned into agricultural farmlands, and the birds that we watched could have easily been pressured to extinction due to loss of habitat. The area is also important for the preservation of many other bird species.

Just as interesting as the birds though, was the system that was set in place to protect them. SVC attracts eco-tourists to Cambodia, who pay to go on wildlife viewing expeditions. A portion of the price tourists pay is given to the village for conserving the wetland area, on conditions of refrains on hunting and farming on the land. Later, SVC guides told our class that around 24 percent of a tourist’s fee will go towards conservation, with another 15 percent of the payment paying for local services. On average, communities get around $20,000 per year through their contracts with SVC.

We spoke to villagers later that day, and they were pleased and proud of the program. Kunthea, one of our SVC guides, translated the sentiments of an old villager:

“From 1979 until now, [I] thought everything from wildlife would be gone, lost. [I] worried about the future, and [I] didn’t know the Bengal Florican birds were still in the woods. So when [I] saw the tourists coming, [I] was happy.”

Village leaders were also strong advocates of the program—the village uses the benefits from its contract with SVC on community development projects, such as running schools or building wells.

It’s not to say there isn’t any room for improvement. My class observed that perhaps there needed to be more planning for long-term local development that minimized impacts on conservation areas. Paying for preservation of the land also makes it vulnerable to be bought out for a higher amount by developers or other business interests.

But undoubtedly, SVC is making a positive impact in Cambodia, and it shows promising conservation influence. The Sam Veasna Center is doing its part in saving the Bengal Florican, while aiding the local community—now that’s helping two birds with one eco-tour.

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Urban Greenway System Will Link 60 Miles of Trails

Popular

By Emma DiPasquale

Emma DiPasquale is a rising senior at John Carroll University. She studies English and environmental studies and hopes to pursue a masters degree in English literature with focus in environmental theory. Emma worked as an intern at EcoWatch last summer.

It was a cold winter evening in February when citizens gathered at University Heights Public Library, as they had and would again at key locations around Cleveland's east side, dreaming of a network of bike trails and hiking paths connecting their parks and open spaces. In a small room across the hall from a noisy children's reading nook, poster boards and stickers were set up for community members to share their input on where they would like to see new on-and off-road trails for what's officially being called the Eastside Greenway project.

The Eastside Greenway project would connect the east side of Cleveland with 19 Greater Cleveland municipalities through a unified trail network. Photo credit: Georgetown Parks and Recreation

Generally, a greenway system refers to an open space or natural areas that are linear in form. Cities down south and out west have developed these systems in recent years for different purposes that align with their needs.

Greenways take on different sets of characteristics depending on the goals established for it, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. They can be for recreation, conservation, restoration, water quality improvement and environmental education. The Eastside Greenway is planned for recreational purposes, which includes activities such as bicycling, jogging, running and walking.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources states that the benefits of greenway systems are multitudinous. Greenways can promote healthy living in that they encourage more exercise among users. Since a recreational greenway allows for many different uses, it attracts a wider audience with varying preferences in terms of what types of exercise they will use the trails for.

Greenways also provide environmental advantages, including improving air quality by decreasing the number of greenhouse gases emitted because of the alternative transportation routes. Economic improvement is also a factor, as greenways increase property values because of the added green space, which in turn increases tax revenue, helping to filter money through local governments.

Greenways are important in developing communities because they provide a means of getting from place to place without a car: to school, a friend's home, the library, a restaurant or work, to name a few destinations. They are safer alternatives to streets because they separate the user from automobiles and they also provide a more aesthetically pleasing atmosphere for the user.

The Eastside Greenway project promotes this idea of linking various neighborhoods to different locations throughout communities. The project seeks to connect the east side of Cleveland with 19 Greater Cleveland municipalities through a unified trail network that will link neighborhoods to a variety of destinations and existing green spaces such as the Metroparks reservations of Acacia, Euclid Creek, Lakefront and North Chagrin.

The project began back in the summer of 2012, according to Anna Swanberg, project manager for LAND Studio. At the time, Kirby Date, a student at Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin's College of Urban Affairs, was doing community outreach work near Forest Hills Park in East Cleveland. Date was interested in the idea of a unified greenway system, considering the somewhat close proximity of Forest Hills Park to Euclid Creek Reservation. Date presented her ideas to the Cleveland Metroparks Board of Commissioners. Coincidentally, her proposal was overheard by LAND Studio, a non-profit developer of Cleveland's urban parks. LAND Studio decided to expand the project, and placed Swanberg on the project that summer.

Swanberg, who is experienced in landscape architecture, has been involved in every stage of the planning process including leading a scoping study in 2012 and 2013 regarding the areas included in the greenway project. The study came to a close in 2013 and it was decided that a more formal plan was needed. Swanberg, with LAND Studio, partnered with the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission to receive a Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative grant from the Northeast Areawide Coordinating Agency to conduct a planning study for the Eastside Greenway in 2014 and 2015.

Today, approximately 30 miles of trails are already in place. When completed, the Eastside Greenway will link about 60 miles of trails.

The planning process will result in specific trail recommendations across the east side, suggested trail locations and a strategy for moving forward into design and implementation of these trails in the master plan, according to Swanberg.

Swanberg's other duties included identifying communities to include in the project, engaging those communities to get them on board, identifying missing links in these communities and, more recently, publicizing the meetings held by the Eastside Greenway partners LAND Studio, SmithGroup JJR, Michael Baker International, Cuyahoga County Planning Commission and Northeast Areawide Coordinating Agency.

Currently, many trail segments are already in place on the east side, but they lack critical connections, according to the Eastside Greenway website. Linking all the trails would make inter-community connections, provide safe, alternative means of transportation, decrease the need for cars and other vehicles, and improve quality of life for a broad group of people, says Swanberg. Today, approximately 30 miles of trails are already in place. When completed, the Eastside Greenway will link about 60 miles of trails.

At the February public meeting in University Heights, Neal Billetdeaux, senior landscape architect for the architecture, engineering and planning firm SmithGroup JJR, and Nancy Lyon-Stadler, traffic and planning manager at Michael Baker International, kicked off the program with a PowerPoint about the project.

Several maps outlined existing and potential new trails, demonstrating the full extent of this interconnected network. The maps showcased existing trails, missing links and secondary connectors, which provide on- and off-street connections between the major green spaces that already exist to destinations such as job centers, community services and commercial areas. Connecting this system could be as simple as adding different types of bike lanes to certain roads, or as extensive as building off-road, multi-use trails.

A variety of bike path options were also pictured in the presentation. These included shared-lane markings, or sharrows, which are markings placed in the center of a travel line to indicate that a cyclist may use the full lane. Bike lanes were also pictured, which are paths that are not separated from roads. Protected bike lanes, which are separated from roads, were pictured as well. Protected lanes are more expensive since they use posts, curbs, grass or parked cars to keep the bike lane away from traffic.

Protected bike lanes are safer because they separate cyclists from drivers. Photo credit: Bike East Bay

A 2012 study done by Portland State University by Jennifer Dill, a professor of urban studies and planning, analyzed these types of trails and their users. Dill found that about 57 percent of Portlanders would like to ride bikes more, but are simply afraid to ride among cars. The study found that protected bike lanes help to diminish fear among this group of potential path users.

“Information on these types of bike lanes is the kind of evidence that helps us, in terms of what to present to potential Cleveland users," Billetdeaux commented. He mentioned Roger Geller, bicycle coordinator for Portland's Office of Transportation, and his paper, “Four Types of Cyclists," as helping the Cleveland project's planners understand which types of bikers use which types of trails.

Billetdeaux said he anticipates that protected bike lanes will play a large role in Cleveland's new greenway system. “In terms of the missing link segments, we are really hoping to create off-road trails. We know we won't be able to get that everywhere, so we are planning on creating protected bike lines in the areas we can't get off-road trails. We are trying not to do anything less than that."

“For the secondary connectors, we are thinking about more varied paths," he added. “We could start with protected bike lanes, and go down to regular bike lanes and sharrows from there."

Billetdeaux cited Atlanta, St. Louis and Minneapolis as specific examples of greenways systems that have influenced the plans for Cleveland. In the works since 1991, Atlanta's greenway system, or PATH Foundation, has seen success in terms of bridging the gaps between different communities and have seen improvements in bringing people together from all races, ages and income levels. Atlanta's network of trails continues to grow as its citizens look for safer ways to exercise and connect with their neighbors. Overall, the PATH Foundation says it has encouraged health and well-being, promoted public safety and increased real estate values. This system has shown what Cleveland is working towards and ultimately hopes to achieve, said Billetdeaux.

The project has some other goals that are not as clearly visible, such as fixing up vacant properties, working with communities and their existing plans to add trails in their areas, and including environmentally friendly buildings and facilities into the plan.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health, along with LAND studio, Cuyahoga County Planning Commission and Human Impact Partners, did a health impact assessment to help in the planning process. The formal definition of health impact assessment, according to the World Health Organization, is a combination of procedures, methods and tools that systematically judges the potential, and sometimes unintended, effects of a proposed project, plan or policy on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population. Health impact assessments also try to identify ways to manage those effects.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health representative highlighted the target areas for this health impact assessment during the meeting, noting that the overarching focus was equity. The assessment centered around three main ideas: crime or fear of crime, social cohesion and transportation, and physical activity and safety.

The health impact assessment came up with several recommendations to ensure equity. Establishing neighborhood watch groups, ensuring good geographic distribution of facilities, incorporating play or recreation areas, creating an education campaign and a comprehensive greenway management plan were a few of the recommendations.

“We have never had the opportunity to work with a health impact assessment for evaluation," Billetdeaux said. “Empirical data will help us in our planning process. The only downside with this is that a lot of people who attended the meetings didn't seem to understand the connection or importance of the health impact assessment. We are trying to make this clearer in our next round of public meetings."

The feedback during the Feb. 3 meeting was sometimes skeptical, but overall the communities were very supportive of the concept, according to Lyon-Stadler. There were a lot of questions from a diverse audience, but ultimately, the meeting provided the last bit of feedback the partners needed to take the next steps. For now, those next steps are to refine prioritization methods, which means the partners will determine which trails are the most important, given the community feedback from the meetings and an online survey, while keeping in mind the original goals of the project.

The partners shared a master plan at the public meetings held this month, and by July 2015 a final plan will be complete, according to Lyon-Stadler. “This is by far my favorite project I've worked on," said Swanberg. “I've been pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reaction from the community members. I know they're excited to see this plan finished and begin to see some development in their neighborhoods."

Lyon-Stadler, another project partner and big-time cyclist, says she has ridden most of the study area on her bike, which she believes gives her a different perspective. “This project has been very fun," she says. “Working on projects like these is definitely one of my favorite things to do professionally because I'm out there. I appreciate having the parks and the green space and the opportunity to be out in nature and breathing and moving, so if I can make that easier for others that is hugely rewarding."

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Students Demand Aramark Serve Sustainably Caught Tuna

Linda Xiong is a student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Linda Xiong, a student at the University of Minnesota. Photo credit: Greenpeace

I remember the first time I saw a sea turtle. It was at an exhibit but it was still the most beautiful creature that I have ever seen. Obviously, it was love at first sight. Through my love for this animal, I developed a passion for the ocean and have done all that I can to learn about the oceans. I care about conserving the ocean because I believe that it is the foundation of life. Without healthy oceans, how long will we humans live? I also believe that the negative human impacts on Earth can be reversed. Aramark and its unsustainable tuna, is a prime example of how we can still change and preserve the quality of our oceans.

Despite its sustainable seafood commitments, Aramark, one of the most popular food service companies in the U.S., serves unsustainably caught tuna. Tuna caught with Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) results in high levels of bycatch—killing precious marine life such as sea turtles, dolphins, whales, rays, sharks and much more. Aramark prides itself on serving more than 600 college campuses and many more K-12 schools nationwide, and many are purchasing and eating this without a second thought. This is a large number of people right? Now imagine that amount of unsustainable tuna that they consume daily. If people knew the truth, things would change quickly. And unless we intervene, ocean destruction will continue. As an environmental conservation student, I cannot stand by and watch.

If you’re part of a student group, we need your help. Whether in elementary, middle, high school or college, please sign on to this letter demanding Aramark switch to sustainably caught tuna. Photo credit: Alex Hofford / Greenpeace

Unsustainable fishing is also linked to some of the most horrifying human rights abuses in the fishing industry, through common practices like transshipment at sea. Recently, the Associated Press broke a story revealing workers from countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar, are being forced to work 20-22 hours a day for little or no pay and without drinking water. Can you imagine being forced to work in such conditions? By continuing to purchase unsustainable tuna from Aramark, we are not only directly supporting reckless and destructive commercial fishing, but there’s also a possibility that the way this tuna is caught is leading to human rights abuses.

This is a global problem with a local solution. Students across the country can send a clear message to Aramark: we won’t tolerate unsustainably caught tuna in our dining halls. Aramark must serve sustainably caught tuna, meaning pole-and-line caught or free school (FAD-free) caught skipjack tuna or pole-and-line caught albacore tuna. Aramark must also join a growing number of companies, governments and non-profit organizations to address human rights abuses in the fishing industry. As students across the U.S., we have a strong voice and an even stronger one if we unite.

If you’re part of a student group, we need your help. Whether in elementary, middle, high school or college, please sign on to this letter demanding Aramark switch to sustainably caught tuna. We must act now and let Aramark know that we care and demand change. Keep fighting the good fight and let us unite and change the future for the better.

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Victory! University of Washington Divests from Coal

Climate

Morgan Sinclaire is a third-year math major at the University of Washington involved in Divest UW for the past two years.

“If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage.”

This quote by Bill McKibben has become the mantra of the fossil fuel divestment movement, the campaign which has sprouted up on hundreds of college campuses across the country with one simple goal: to get universities to stop investing in the same fossil fuel industry that is accelerating us all towards planetary catastrophe.

Victory! University of Washington is now a coal free institution! Final vote went through with all yeses! What a win after months of working. Thank you to all our supporters, we could never have done it without you. Fossil free is the way to be. Photo credit: Divest UW

Here at the University of Washington in Seattle, Divest UW has gotten one of the biggest victories of the movement so far, with the Board of Regents voting to divest from coal today.

Founded in 2012, back when the fossil fuel divestment movement was just starting to spring up on college campuses, Divest UW has been pushing for this for a long time. We have shown that students here would like to see their school get its money out of dirty energy, with our divestment resolutions passing overwhelmingly in both the undergraduate and graduate student senates, but not until this week was our administration moved.

And that is why today’s victory is all the more significant: it validates all the work our group has put into this over the past three years, and we are proud to see our university recognize the growing power of the student movement to tackle climate change. With its $2.8 billion endowment, the UW is largest public university to divest from this destructive industry.

Divest UW is still concerned with our university’s investments in oil and gas companies, which have also shown an utter disregard for our environment. Here in Seattle, this hits home with Shell’s plans to dock at our Port for the purpose of going to the ends of the Earth to drill for oil.

Climate change is already here, and we cannot turn a blind eye to rising seas, severe droughts, devastating storms and dire food insecurity. All of us, as individuals, institutions and governments, have a choice to make—between letting this crisis worsen catastrophically or taking action to right this wrong. By severing our ties to the coal industry—the worst climate offender out there—the University of Washington has taken a strong, positive stand for a better future.

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Cleveland Rocks: From 'Mistake on the Lake' to 'Green City on a Blue Lake'

Morgan Rogers is a senior at Baldwin Wallace University pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainability with double minors in Urban Studies and Sociology. After graduating she would like to work with environmental nonprofit organizations in the Cleveland area.

Cleveland, Ohio was once a booming industrial city, home to winning sports teams and both economic growth and innovation. Cleveland was doing so well it was deemed the “best location in the nation” in the 1950s. But less than 20 years later that reputation would all change.

Cleveland has really undergone a transformation in recent years, especially in addressing environmental issues.

When Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 due to the water being so polluted from industrial waste, the event sparked national attention. As word spread about the "city whose river caught fire" Cleveland’s reputation took a major hit. Cleveland became the symbol for environmental degradation, and the city was nicknamed the "mistake on the lake." This legacy continued for quite some time as the rust belt city’s manufacturers moved out, praised sports teams declined and the city that was once considered to be the "best location in the nation" became somewhat of a joke to the rest of country—a place no one wanted to visit.

Fortunately, Cleveland has been trying to make a new reputation for itself in recent years and is beginning to step out of the smoke screen of its 1969 river fire. In 2009, the city created Sustainable Cleveland 2019, a 10-year action plan initiative devoted to addressing environmental issues and raising awareness. The goal of this action plan is to focus on a different aspect of sustainability within the city each year until the year 2019—50 years after the infamous fire. Cleveland is building a new reputation of a sustainable "green city on a blue lake" by promoting nine sustainability initiatives. Each initiative serves as the year’s theme for addressing environmental issues in the city. The nine themes are:

  • 2011: The Year of Energy Efficiency

  • 2012: The Year of Local Foods

  • 2013: The Year of Advanced and Renewable Energy

  • 2014: The Year of Zero Waste

  • 2015: The Year of Clean Water

  • 2016: The Year of Sustainability Mobility

  • 2017: The Year of Vibrant Green Space

  • 2018: The Year of Vital Neighborhoods

  • 2019: The Year of People

This is the year of Clean Water in which the City of Cleveland will be focusing on the region's vital water resources. Cleveland just celebrated EarthFest—the nation’s longest running Earth Day celebration—which uses the sustainability initiatives as its theme every year as well. In the fall the City of Cleveland holds a sustainability summit that calls together environmentalists, business leaders, students and other concerned citizens to sit down and talk about what can be done to address the year’s theme. Every year, the summit produces new working groups and new organizations to tackle the city's environmental challenges.

Cleveland is a good location for wind power and is developing the first freshwater offshore wind farm in the country.

So, how successful is this type of action plan? Cleveland has made great strides in sustainability, particularly in the local food movement. In fact, Cleveland was recently ranked seventh place in Time’s "America's Best Food Cities" for 2015, beating out notable "foodie cities" like San Francisco which came in at 19, New Orleans at 15, New York City at 10 and even Portland, Oregon which ranked 8. Cleveland is also home to Ohio City Fresh Food Collaborative, one of the largest contiguous urban farms in the U.S. at six acres.

Cleveland is even making serious strides in renewable energy. LEEDCo is planning to build an offshore wind pilot project, Icebreaker, seven miles offshore of downtown Cleveland, which could become the first offshore freshwater wind project in North America.

Cleveland has come a long way in the 50 years since the infamous Cuyahoga River fire, even hosting a sustainable celebratory Burning River Fest every year in the summer to help Clevelanders celebrate just how far the city has come. Home to one of the largest urban farms in the country, the longest running Earth Day celebration and what would be the country’s first offshore freshwater wind farm, Cleveland is well on its way to achieving its vision of a "green city on a blue lake." The city is crafting a new reputation for itself and leading the way in sustainability efforts, all the while redeeming itself of the Cuyahoga River fire as well as its polluting legacy.

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How Social Entrepreneurship Can Change the World

Business

Sean Gogolin is a graduating senior at Bowling Green State University. There he studies Environmental Policy & Analysis, and looks to further his education in earning an Masters in Public Policy after graduation. Prior to his involvement with EcoWatch, he worked with Sierra Club last summer in Washington, DC.

Social Entrepreneurship—a simple, productive concept, yet some how shrouded in ambiguity and a general lack of understanding. The practice can be defined as combining a social cause with a business savvy intuition—taking business techniques to pressing social issues. And the best part, social entrepreneurs can still generate profit. Unlike a cause group or non-profit, social entrepreneurs are not heavily bound by funding restrictions. The sky is in fact, the limit. With the success that TOMS and Warby Parker have seen, social entrepreneurship has proven to be successful when aptly applied. This brings me to environmentalism.

social entrepreneurship has proven to be successful when aptly applied. Photo credit: Shutterstock

One major flaw of the environmental movement is its inability to garner support from the private sector. In a world where environmental regulations are often pitted against business profits, imagine an economy where those two forces are working harmoniously. Social entrepreneurship offers that chance.

Bill Drayton, the father of social entrepreneurship defines the concept as “business with a cause.” In a world where developers and entrepreneurs possess more power than ever, we are thriving off of technological innovation. Instead of examining simply how to make money, leaders are devising ways to both make money and to serve the public. Simon Sinek, an English author best known for the development of the concept, “Start with Why” and the “golden circle,” argues that the working class is no longer fulfilled by their work because we no longer interact with, and help others. Sinek believes that the idea behind the business should not be to generate profits, but to capitalize on an idea. Apple has done this with its “Think Different” campaign—they think differently from other companies, but they happen to make great computers.

Moving forward, the environmental movement must look for new ways to incorporate these principles. The Millennials, as a generation, have a tremendous opportunity to do so. We must deconstruct the battle of environment vs. business, and create new business models with a “Why” reinforcing them. Combine the agility of business with the commitment of environmentalism—coming together to form sustainability driven social entrepreneurship practices.

This call to action by no means excuses the federal government, although it does seek to bypass its latency and gridlock. However, in a world where record-breaking droughts in the west, and brutal winters in the northeast have become the norm, we must look to our most powerful instruments to drive change and spur innovation.

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Unity College Students Are Putting Biodiversity Loss and Global Warming Into Focus

Alison Vilag of Berrien Springs, Michigan, is a junior majoring in environmental writing and media studies at Unity College in Unity, Maine.

Just a microscopic invertebrate, tardigrades are death-defying organisms that sound like Sci-Fi fodder.

“They’re extremely hardy little creatures,” says Kyle Pisano, a sophomore studying marine biology at Unity College. “They’re resistant to radiation, dehydration, they can survive the vacuum of space. They can survive boiling water … they can basically become indestructible.”

Under the tutelage of Dr. Emma Perry, Unity College students are well equipped for fundamental scientific research on tardigrades, and have specific objectives and a sound understanding of techniques for researching them. Currently, students are looking at tardigrades that live on the apple trees at different distances from the central Maine campus, as well as working on samples from the Hemlock Ecosystem Management Study plots. Photo credit: Unity College

Tardigrades’ invisibility trumps their invincibility, though. Few of us are familiar with the animal, and Pisano says they’re woefully under-researched.

So, tardigrade fans are excited that the organisms are getting their turn in the spotlight. Rather than starring in science fiction, tardigrades are featured at Life at the Limits, an ongoing exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The display reveals animals that thrive in extreme conditions. 

A 12-foot tardigrade model graces the exhibit as a mascot of sorts but, as tardigrade identification can be quite complicated, somewhere in the construction, a discrepancy occurred in the mascot model’s claw composition. Unity College students noticed the claw error, and it was corrected by museum officials.

Why are tardigrades—not to mention accurately portrayed tardigrades—important?

“Loss of biodiversity is one of the most obvious and critical issues that is occurring on our planet right now,” said Emma Perry, associate professor of Marine Biology who spearheads tardigrade research at Unity College—"America's environmental college," where she teaches a course in invertebrate zoology. 

“We really need to know what we have," Perry said. "We can’t document a loss if we don’t know how to identify it, so there’s an international need for people with the skills to identify organisms.”

Students in Unity’s program get those skills as Perry’s class gives them the opportunity to regularly collect, mount, and identify tardigrades.

When they caught wind of Life at the Limits through a Buzzfeed article, they were delighted.

Naturally, Perry and her students wanted the exhibit to be accurate, so when they noticed the claw discrepancy, they decided to contact the museum.

“If the public’s seeing it, we want it to be right. And as a natural history museum, they want it to be right too,” said Natalie Ameral, also a marine biology student at Unity.

Perry contacted Dr. Mark Siddall, one of the exhibit’s curators. She conveyed her excitement that tardigrades were finally getting some museum-quality love, then asked Siddall if there was any chance the model could be corrected before the exhibit opened.

“Museums are a critical player in our study of biodiversity,” says Perry. “Any way we can work with them is all for the greater good.”

The class got an “an awesome response” from the museum, Ameral said. “They were really open to our critiques and wanted to make changes so that it would be correct. It was really cool.”

The museum re-created the tardigrade claws in light of Perry’s suggestions. As an unexpected bonus, Siddall also invited the class down for a private tour of the exhibit.

Ameral describes tardigrades as microscopic organisms that “people never really think about and never really have to think about.”

Seen through a low-power microscope, tardigrades are tiny (.039 of an inch on average) invertebrate organisms. More than 1,000 species of tardigrades exist, in all of earth’s major ecosystems. Tardigrade research is important because, according to the Consortium of European Taxonomy Facilities (CETAF), “biodiversity loss, global warming and other environmental issues need natural history collections and related expertise as sources of knowledge and for reference.” Photop credit: Emma Perry / Unity College

Like most students, she knew little about tardigrades before she enrolled at Unity.

That changed quickly, though. Ameral currently assists Perry as they create an identification key for a specific group of tardigrades. Perry's passion for tardigrades is legendary on campus, and apparent from the moment you enter her office and witness cases upon cases of tardigrade slides.

Tardigrades are tiny (.039 of an inch on average) invertebrate organisms and, despite their small size, are big enough to be seen using a low-power microscope.

More than 1,000 species of tardigrades exist globally and occupy all of earth’s major ecosystems. They are found all across the globe and can thrive in some of the most hostile conditions on Earth, from the deepest Maine lakes to the vacuum of outer space.

Scientific tardigrade research is important because, according to the Consortium of European Taxonomy Facilities (CETAF), “biodiversity loss, global warming and other environmental issues need natural history collections and related expertise as sources of knowledge and for reference.”

One might think that an animal this resilient and widespread would be well-studied and widely-known. Actually, they’re shrouded in enigma.

Why is there still so much to learn about tardigrades?

Ameral and Pisano say it’s not just the Lilliputian size that renders tardigrades easily-overlooked; the mystery of where humans and tardigrades intersect also factors.

Until enough evidence accumulates to demonstrate how tardigrades affect human life, it’s hard to get research money, says Pisano: “Unfortunately, people don’t tend to care about what doesn’t affect them.”

Under Perry’s tutelage, Unity students are well equipped for fundamental scientific research on the species. They have specific objectives and a sound understanding of techniques for researching tarigrades which include observing, measuring, sorting, codifying and discovering.

Currently, students are looking at tardigrades that live on the apple trees at different distances from the central Maine campus, as well as working on samples from the Hemlock Ecosystem Management Study plots.

“This is a really unique project that I would not have gotten at a bigger school or probably wouldn’t have learned about anywhere else,” says Ameral. “It’s a very special opportunity that we have here.”

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