Author Archives: lakelady72

NEO Sierra Club is again partnering with the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) to promote an environmentally themed film to be shown at the upcoming festival.  This year NEO is partnering on The Erie Situation, a documentary about the toxic algae blooms that forced Toledo to shut down its water treatment system for three days in 2014.  The film explores the root cause of the algae problem: a surplus of agricultural runoff.  Revelations about the struggle among the farm lobby, scientists, and citizens to resolve the crisis reveal much about Ohio’s political system and our concern for public health and water quality in Lake Erie.

The film will be shown on April 3 at 7:25 PM and again on April 4 at 4:50 PM in the Allen Theater at Playhouse Square, the new home of CIFF.  It will also be streamed online  between 11 AM, April 10 and 11:59 PM, April 17.  Tickets for either in-person or streamed screenings may be purchased online by going to www.clevelandfilm.org.   They also may be purchased by visiting the CIFF box office in the lobby of the State Theater or by calling the box office at 877-304-3456.  Sales to CIFF members begin on March 11, and sales to the general  public begin March 18.   Ticket prices for in-person screenings at Playhouse Square are $16 for non-members and $14 for CIFF members.   Prices for online streams are $10 for non-members and $8 for members.  By using the codeword, “SIERRA,” you can receive a $1.00 discount on each ticket purchased.

Please plan to see this important film and check out the CIFF website (www.clevelandfilm.org) for more information  about the festival and a schedule for all of the films.  Remember, if you are not a resident of the Cleveland area, you may still see the films through the streaming option.  We may have an opportunity  to interact with the  director and/or others involved with the production of The Erie Situation; check the NEO Sierra website for future announcements about that.

We are thrilled to announce that the Cleveland City Council has passed a balloon release ban ordinance. Balloon releases pose an environmental hazard, particularly to Lake Erie.

We invite you to read this letter thanking the Cleveland City Council for this important action. Thank you as well to Fran Mentch (NE Ohio Chapter), Bob Shields and Emily Obringer (Ohio Chapter Sierra Club) for their advocacy and for authoring this leter.

Read the letter here.

Birds attracted to bright lighting often fatally collide with buildings, and it is estimated that up to 1 billion birds are killed by collisions each year in the United States.  To learn more about this serious problem and what can be done about it, join the NEO Sierra Group on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 7 PM for a virtual presentation by Matthew Shumar.

Mr. Shumar is coordinator of the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative (OBCI) at The Ohio State University.   OBCI has developed a Lights Out program to work within communities to address light and building design problems related to birds in urban areas.  Prior to working with OBCI, Shumar was the Project Coordinator and co-editor for The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio.  He is also on the council of the Association of Field Ornithologists, where he serves as co-chair of their Communications Committee.

To register for the March 16 presentation, please go to the following webpage: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIscuyurTovHdQqVeeQY8Es0S8hlDVj9FLx

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

To donate to the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative and help with their  efforts to protect birds from the dangers posed by lighted buildings, go to the following website: https://www.giveto.osu.edu/makeagift/OnlineGivingDonation.aspx?Source_Code=WA&Fund=316308

Thanks to Michael Melampy for this piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “E. O. Wilson warned us of catastrophic biodiversity loss. It’s not too late to fix it,” and thanks to the Plain Dealer for giving voice to this issue. The article was published in the PD January 7, 2022.

BEREA, Ohio — On Dec. 26, 2021, a giant in the world of science passed from the scene. I am referring to the death of Edward O. Wilson, who for over 40 years was one of the world’s leading ecologists and its foremost advocate for the preservation of biodiversity. Through hundreds of scientific articles, books, and lectures, the Alabama-born Wilson’s message was both eloquent and insistent: Human welfare is absolutely dependent on the existence of nonhuman organisms, yet humans are destroying these organisms at an alarming rate.

Wilson came to his understanding of the natural world through the study of ants during his tenure as a professor at Harvard University. He was able to explore environments around the world to search for new species of ants and examine the ecological roles that they play in different ecosystems.

Continue reading on cleveland.com…