Cleveland, 40 years since Cuyahoga River fire

[Liz Teschler]

If you don’t remember, it was just 40 years ago that the Cuyahoga River caught on fire – something that has spawned a huge wave of green legislation and development in the “green city on the blue lake.” Cleveland is very proud to be ranked #16 (up from #28 in 2006) by SustainLane, showing that change can be made no matter how bad things are to begin with.

The city has made leaps and bounds towards their green goals, to name a few that you might find interesting:
• SustainLane called out the 225 community gardens and 25 for-profit farms within the city limits and the city's participation in an effort to start an offshore wind farm on Lake Erie.
• Growing gardens and minds - Green Corps is a work/study program founded by Cleveland Botanical Garden. Teens earn as they learn, transforming vacant lots into flourishing urban farms. The students grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers while learning job skills, leadership and growing a healthier, greener community for themselves and their neighbors. Each year, Green Corps participants get real world experience by playing a major role in the production and marketing of Ripe from Downtown products, using crops grown in the Learning Gardens. Ripe from Downtown Salsa (medium and hot) (http://www.cbgarden.org)
• Race for first LEED-Certified Zoo – Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s $25 million African crossing is racing against the Denver Zoo to complete the world’s first-ever LEED-certified animal exhibit.

To commemorate the "re-birth" of the greener and much cleaner Cuyahoga River, Positively Cleveland has dubbed 2009 "The Year of the River," by compiling a list of 75 green reasons to love Cleveland and celebrate summer on their micro-site: http://www.positivelycleveland.com/h2ohio