Environment
Vision
A city that lives up to the motto: A Green City on a Blue Lake.
Questions
Can we finally get a decent recycling program?
What more can the city do to help residents live healthy, low-impact lives?
What more can the city do to help businesses reduce environmental impacts and become more sustainable?
City procurement gives preference to local producers and sustainable businesses. How else can the city’s purchasing help to promote environmental practices and a sustainable economy?
How do we reduce racial disparities of toxic exposures?
How can the city do more to respond to environmental problems that are regional in scope, such as air pollution from vehicles?
Recommendations
Develop an improved recycling and waste reduction program. The city has been without a residential recycling program since April 2020. A consultant has delivered recommendations for improvements, and it’s hoped that a new program can be rolled out by mid-2021. Challenges include the collapse of global markets for recyclables (especially plastics) and the need for better resident education.
Follow through on the Circular Cleveland initiative to create an economy that reduces waste and keeps dollars circulating locally.
Support the efforts of the city’s Office of Sustainability to use LEED for Cities and Communities to track the city’s progress toward greater sustainability and quality of life.
Implement the Cleveland Tree Plan and increase the city’s tree canopy from 19 percent to 30 percent by 2040. In general, invest more in trees and other green infrastructure and emphasize the planting of native species for all city projects.
Lobby the state for more Clean Ohio funding for brownfields remediation.
Work with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Stormwater Program to build more green infrastructure to manage stormwater and create greenspace.
To protect Lake Erie, advocate for continued Great Lakes Restoration funding, stronger regulation to stop farm runoff that causes algae blooms, and strict enforcement of the Great Lakes Compact to prevent water diversions from the lakes. In the long run, support efforts to establish legal rights for the Lake Erie ecosystem, as citizens in Toledo have done.
Work with NOACA on regional planning to reduce air pollution.
Most of all, support Vibrant NEO’s efforts to promote compact, cost-effective, sustainable development patterns in the region, since sprawl is the underlying cause of many of our environmental problems.
Resources
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“How can our city be a home to thriving people, in a thriving place, while respecting the well-being of all people and the health of the whole planet?”