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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 about the Cleveland Hub's work on climate change, youth empowerment and activism, and racial and environmental justice. There are 40+ Cleveland Shapers and alumni working to shape a healthy, diverse and inclusive future in Cleveland through projects like Culture CLE, the Youth Climate Action Fund, and the Shaping the Future series. While Global Shapers range in age from 18-30, alumni and other partners like the Black Environmental Leaders make this an intergenerational model for change using youth-led solutions. 

Guests:
Elena Stachew: Curator, Global Shapers - Cleveland Hub
Moses Ngong: Impact Officer, Global Shapers - Cleveland Hub

Resources:
Global Shapers - Cleveland Hub
Meet the Cleveland Global Shapers
Apply to become a Global Shaper
Freshwater Cleveland Series on Shaping the Future
An open source, free, downloadable research paper on Elena's work in biomimicry
Global Shapers Linktree
Shaping the Future Series

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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 happens to your recyclables once they leave the curb, and how to find the recycling rules in your city. Also, they have a fourth "R"  for you - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and REPAIR. Matt tells us about the Fix-It Clinics offered at Cuyahoga Recycles to help you repair instead of replace your broken items, plus the growing list of things you can recycle at the District. Stay with us to have all your "What Do I Do With...?" questions answered.

Guests:
Beth Biggins-Ramer, Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District (aka Cuyahoga Recycles)
Matthew Walters, Recycling Programs Coordinator, Cuyahoga Recycles

Resources:
Second Saturdays- special waste collections
Fix-It Repair Workshops
Think Box makers space at CASE
What Do I Do With search engine

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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 return to the soil. This is the vision of Rust Belt Fibershed. Jess and Sarah are helping connect us with our clothing the way farmers' markets connect us with our food. It starts with systems thinking and education, then the community magic follows. Listen and hear about alpacas, hemp, flax, natural dyes, microplastics, and what's needed to bring natural textile production into our fibershed and the many ways to engage with this regenerative community.   

Guest
Jess Boeke, Co-Founder and  Executive Director, Rust Belt Fibershed

Resources
Rust Belt Fibershed website
Community Forum - get plugged into the Rust Belt Fibershed community
Drift Lab Dye Studio - natural and botanical dyeing project
Regenerative Ed - regenerative thinking for our educational system
Reading: Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy

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In this episode, we pull back the curtain on fast fashion with  Aaron Jacobson, the creator of faan, 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 and the environment worldwide. Hear how fast fashion works as we travel around the world in Diane and Greg's closets and talk about becoming more conscientious consumers. This is the first of several episodes we devote to this topic as we hear from people in our community that help us rethink how we clothe ourselves.

Guest:  
Aaron Jacobson, Designer | Director FAAN Clothing

Resources:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation -Fashion and the Circular Economy
A History of Cleveland's Garment Industry - Belt Magazine
Good on You - Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Ratings
Reading Recommendation:  Consumed by Aja Barber

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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 Hunger Network's Food Rescue app. This nifty app navigates volunteers as they pick up surplus food from places like grocery stores and bakeries and then deliver it to the nonprofit partners that get the food directly to those who need it most. While an estimated 1 in 5 people living in Cleveland faces hunger, the Hunger Network is working to reduce that by ensuring that surplus food goes to people in need instead of landfills.  

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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 landfill has never felt so good, knowing your items are creating warm and inviting homes for people emerging from homelessness. Debbie calls this "intentional design" one reason Humble Design is highly successful. Another is the support of Progressive Insurance and the involvement of its employees who volunteer at the Humble Design warehouse in Solon. In this episode, hear how Humble Design Cleveland grew out of the pandemic and became an integral part of the continuum of care for people needing a fresh start and how you can help.

Guest:
Debbie Eastburn, Director, Humble Design Cleveland

Resources:
Humble Design Cleveland Team
About Humble Design
Welcome Home TV

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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 data throughout Lake Erie to warn about harmful algal blooms near our water crib or what it would mean for boaters and swimmers to access real-time water quality data or what would it mean for conservation efforts to identify pollution sources and better measure the health of our lake. This is Smart Lake Erie and the work of Cleveland Water Alliance, a visionary non-profit that is deploying creative, new solutions to manage, conserve and optimize our precious water resources.

Guest:
Max Herzog, Program Manager at Cleveland Water Alliance

Resources:
Cleveland Water Alliance
About the Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network
Recommended reading - The Deat and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan
Recommended viewing - The Erie Situation documentary

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In this episode, we recap Eco Meet CLE with Victoria Avi and Danielle Doza 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, stories, and connecting with the 89 like-minded people who attended. This gathering was inspired by the meetings of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S), which were held in the early days of sustainability and paved the way for the work that is being done today. So how did it go? Join us as we talk about the power of connection and hear the recording of our speakers that evening in case you missed it.

Guests:
Victoria Avi, Partner and Co-Founder of Venture Forward Strategies
Danielle Doza, Partner and Co-Founder of Venture Forward Strategies

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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, we speak with Marci Lininger, with the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative, and a returning guest, Amy Roskilly with the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District. In this episode, hear about these fascinating creatures and find out how to help them by collecting milkweed pods and growing the things that monarchs need on their long journey south to Mexico. 

Guests:
Marci Lininger - The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative
Amy Roskilly - Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District

Resources:
Film - The Flight of the Butterflies
The sound of butterflies
Common Milkweed Pod Collection with the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District
Reading for kids: The Mystery of the Monarchs 

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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 through nature. They are the Co-Directors of Great Lakes Biomimicry. Since 2010, this organization has worked alongside academia, corporations, and business leaders to solve complex design and engineering challenges by asking "how would nature design it"?   As Biomimicry 3.8 certified specialists, Thaler and Brown help us understand that in nature, there are 3.8 billion years of R&D and 30 million species to learn from. Recently, Great Lakes Biomimicry became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ohio Aerospace Institute and is working to make the great lakes region a leader in biomimicry innovation in aerospace and beyond. Join us as speak about how nature can inspire and guide all of us as we work to live more gently on this planet.

Guests:
Trisha Brown Co-Director, Great Lakes Biomimicry
Carol Thaler Co-Director, Great Lakes Biomimicry

Resources:
About Great Lakes Biomimicry
What is Biomimicry?
Janine Benyus TED Talk
The Biomimicry Institute
University of Akron Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center
ECO MEET CLE event on September 20, 2022 

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