July/August 2017 Newsletter

In this issue…

Cleveland Ready For 100 Campaign in the Spotlight

By Jocelyn Travis, Sierra Club Energy Program Coordinator – Ready for 100

It is vitally important for Cleveland’s leadership to commit to reaching 100% clean energy by the year 2050! This goal should be everyone’s responsibility and for this reason the campaign has initiated Community Dialogues entitled “Clean and Affordable Energy to Create More Livable Communities for All.” This is a public dialogue to create sustainable action and change for the purpose of listening to Cleveland residents and providing an environment where thoughts and information on clean, renewable energy can be shared. This dialogue engages residents in a four week session for two hours per week led by volunteer facilitators trained by Everyday Democracy, a national organization with an excellent track record of creating communities that work for everyone. The four sessions are:

Session 1: Making Connections

Session 2. Going Deeper: Understanding the Complexity of the Issue

Session 3: Considering Options for Action

Session 4: Setting Priorities for Action and Change

We are excited that our first two dialogue groups are going strong! Sessions are being held at St. Paul Community Church (44th & Franklin) and Garden Valley Neighborhood House (71st & Kinsman) with extremely energetic participants and skilled committed volunteer facilitators. Everyone is encouraged to attend our Action Forum on Wednesday, July 19th 2:00 pm at Garden Valley Neighborhood House to learn about the groups’ action to change agenda and celebrate all those involved. A new dialogue session will be held at the West Park Library on Saturdays in July. Please join us!

The Ready For 100 Campaign just held an advance viewing of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power attended by over fifty community leaders at the Great Lakes Science Center IMax Theatre. In addition to viewing this powerful film, this event featured a panel discussion moderated by Chapter Director, Jen Miller and included remarks by Cleveland Sustainability Director, Matt Gray; Jacquie Gillon, Land Conservancy; Mayor Annette Blackwell who has committed her community of Maple Heights to 100% clean energy and the legendary, David Beach who was recognized for his outstanding role with the environmental movement in Cleveland.

Ready For 100 Campaign continues to build momentum as meetings are held with Cleveland City Council members to provide information on our campaign. Councilman Matt Zone recently recognized our campaign on the floor of city council while wearing our campaign button and informing fellow Council Members to learn more about our campaign.

We continue to need volunteers to provide support to Ready For 100. For more information, please go to sc.org/cleveland or contact Coordinator, Jocelyn Travis:  jocelyn.travis@sierraclub.org.  


Recycling Rules are Changing: Bulbs and Batteries Have New Directives

Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District Encourages Residents to Look to New Resources

Did you ever wonder what you should do with fluorescent bulbs and rechargeable batteries once you’re done using them? Neither should go in curbside recycling, so what do you do with those batteries and bulbs?

In the past, you might have included them with other household hazardous waste items and taken them to your city service department for proper disposal.

Today, there’s an alternative that doesn’t cost taxpayers any money and is just as simple. Now you can take household compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) to any Home Depot or Lowe’s Home Improvement store. It’s free.

There is also a free, nationwide program to recycle rechargeable batteries through an organization called Call2Recycle. Call2Recycle has numerous drop-off locations including Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement stores in Cuyahoga County. To find a location near you, search with your zip code at www.Call2Recycle.org or call 1.877.2.RECYCLE.

Once processed at Call2Recycle, batteries are recycled into a variety of new products including steel, stainless steel, silverware, golf clubs and new batteries.

Visit www.CuyahogaRecycles.org or call 216.443.3749 to learn how to recycle in your community and discover other recycling and disposal options.


Tell Wendys to do the right thing!

By Laurel Hopwood, NEO Sierra Club Agriculture Committee Chair

Text or Call (888)-624-8140

Talking points:

–  I understand Wendys has not yet joined the Fair Food Program (FFP). The FFP guarantees rights for farmworkers, such as rights to shade and rest breaks from their grueling work, and zero tolerance for sexual harassment and modern slavery.

– Rather than participate in what has been called the “best workplace monitoring program in the U.S.”, Wendy’s has run from responsibility and abandoned tomato growers. Thus, Wendy’s has opted to profit from farmworker abuse and poverty.

– When will you join McDonald’s, Subway and Burger King, which have already joined the Fair Food Program, and commit to buying tomatoes from farms where workers rights are upheld and paid a small Fair Food Premium?


Events:

July 3rd: All Hands on Deck

All Hands on Deck is an event where people from all over the Great Lakes will be organizing in different cities to come together in support of clean water and protection of the Great Lakes. This event is going to involve people linking hands around the lakefront in their respective cities at10:00am. The goal is to show how many people in Great Lakes states support and stand up for clean water and protection of our Great Lakes. The Cleveland Event will take place at Wendy Park at 10am with a clean up following from 11-12:30pm.


Community Dialogues: Help Power the Cleveland Comeback with 100% Clean Energy– Join one of  these  two-hour weekly dialogue sessions to be held at these locations (please note new dates):

– Wednesdays at 2 pm, starting June 7 at Garden Valley Neighborhood Center, 7100 Kinsman  Rd. Cleveland

– Tuesdays at 6 pm, starting May 30 at Community of Faith Assembly, 5949 Engel Ave. Cleveland

– Fridays at 2 pm, starting June 2 at St. Paul Community Church, 4427 Franklin Blvd. Cleveland

– Saturdays at 1 pm, starting July 8 at West Park Library, 3805 W. 157th St., Cleveland

The Dialogue gatherings are sponsored by the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 Campaign. They are for Cleveland residents and will meet for two-hours each week for 4 weeks. Each session will be co-facilitated by trained volunteers with a commitment to engaging group participants to listen and share. We can repower our city while empowering our communities, but we need leaders like Mayor Jackson and City Council to support a 100% clean energy vision for our city. Come join the conversation and help shape a healthier more vibrant future for our city. Register at www.sc.org/Cleveland or contact Jocelyn Travis at jocelyn.travis@sierraclub.org or 216 926 6535.


For the Love of CLE: the Geography of Gentrification – Tuesday, July 11, 12 pm – 1 pm, Cleveland Public Square. Join a community discussion about the pros and cons of development in 2 neighborhoods, Glenville and SoLo, (south of Lorain near Ohio City). This event is free and open to the public and is hosted by the Cleveland Foundation and the City Club of Cleveland. Food Trucks will be there if you need lunch.


August 3rd: Bag It Film Screening

Sierra Club will be screening the film Bag It at Brick & Barrel Brewing on August 3rd from 6:30 – 8pm. The film Bag It highlights the harmful effects plastic, particularly single-use plastic bags, has on our environment.


Meetings:

Executive Committee meetings begin immediately after the 7 PM Conservation meeting. The July meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 5 at the Brooklyn Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at 4480 Ridge Rd.

The Energy and Fracking Committees will meet together on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 6:30-8:30 At the Cleveland Hts Main Library, 2345 Lee Rd, Cleveland Heights 44118

Coal & Energy Committee meets at 4105 Stilmore Rd, South Euclid, Ohio 44121. Please contact Randy Cunningham at 216-631-3337 for the time and date of the next meeting.

Green Transportation Committee Please contact Akshai Singh for more information: akshai.singh@sierraclub.org.  State Transportation are now at 7pm EST on the 2nd Monday of each month. For folks interested in our efforts, follow along at Ohio for Transportation Equity’s facebook (website coming soon), or for more local work, Clevelanders for Public Transit, who also have a website.

Rainforest Committee For details on meeting times and places, contact Michael Melampy at 440-263-6483 or at mmelampy@bw.edu.

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