EcoWatch Journal Oct/Nov 2011 : Page 2

stefanie penn spea spear ar ar In 1990, I had the opportunity to intern with the Sierra Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter as an editorial assistant for its newspaper the Yodeler . It was there that I caught the publishing bug to push out news that educated and engaged readers on environmental issues. It wasn’t long after that experience that I launched the newspaper Afﬁnity in my college town of Madison, Wisconsin, and upon graduation moved the paper to Cleveland, Ohio, my home town. After nine years of publishing Afﬁnity , I took a break after my daughter Sam and son Zach were born. In 2006, it was time to publish again and I formed the nonproﬁt organization EcoWatch and began printing EcoWatch Journal . Five years later, EcoWatch continues to support the sustainability movement of Ohio through EcoWatch Jour-nal and the EcoWatch Ohio website—www.ecowatchohio. org. Thanks to the success of this Ohio model, EcoWatch is going national, in partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance, by launching a website—www.ecowatch.org—to support the grassroots environmental movement in the U.S. I hope you’ll join me on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 2:30 p.m. at Rivergate Park, home to the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, for the public event announcing the launch of the website, featuring keynote speaker Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., founder and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. Help us continue the celebration at the VIP reception at 6 p.m. and enjoy the Stefanie Penn Spear, founder and executive director of EcoWatch, has worked on environmental issues for more than two decades. She is dedicated to uniting the voice of the grassroots environmental movement to impact policy and encourage adoption of sustainable practices. She can be reached at spear@ecowatch.org. VOLUME VI • ISSUE 1 PUBLISHER EcoWatch EDITOR/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Stefanie Penn Spear • spear@ecowatch.org SENIOR EDITOR Thomas J. Quinn • quinn@ecowatch.org ADVERTISING Great Lakes Publishing -Alex Woolf woolf@glpublishing.com • 216-377-3695 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Courtney Abrams • Megan Quinn Bachman Leah Cameron • Jane Goodman • Mary Anne Hitt Daniel Kuzio • Brad Masi • Carl N. McDaniel Fran Mentch •Jack Shaner • Tracy Shario Tom Weis • Ben Wickizer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Matt Castelli • Lindsey Daniel • Monica Deadwiler Piyush Dubey • James Leikin • Oakland Lewis David Lindner • Sam S. Mathew • Steven Newman Ann-Marie Potemski • Thomas J. Quinn Michelle Sheehan • Jeff Smith • Ameya Tamhaney Donna VanRooy • Eileen Victoriano ECOWATCH STAFF Nicole D’Alessandro, Executive Assistant • nicole@ecowatch.org Matthew Peters, News Aggregator • peters@ecowatch.org PROOFREADERS Jen Burke • Michele McBride • Rita Nagusky MISSION EcoWatch unites the voice of the grassroots environmental movement and mobilizes millions of Americans to take an active role in their democracy to protect human health and the environment. EcoWatch Journal is distributed for free throughout Ohio with a readership of more than 100,000 readers per issue. ARTICLE SUBMISSION EcoWatch Journal relies on the sustainability movement to provide content for this newspaper. Submitting an article does not guarantee it getting published. EcoWatch reserves the right to edit all material for clarity, length and content. E-mail submissions to: spear@ecowatch.org. DEADLINE FOR THE DEC/JAN ISSUE: NOV. 1 EcoWatch is a non-proﬁt, 501(c)(3) organization. EcoWatch Journal is published six times a year and distributed free throughout Ohio. Copyright ©2011, EcoWatch. All rights reserved. For reprinting in other publications or electronically, permission must be granted by EcoWatch and proper credit given. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors. EcoWatch Journal is printed on 100 percent recycled, non-bleached newsprint. Inks are soy based. When ﬁnished reading EcoWatch Journal please pass it on to someone else or recycle it. ECOWATCH 720 Literary Rd. Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216-387-1609 www.ecowatchohio.org opportunity to meet Kennedy, followed by a dinner and his keynote speech at 7 p.m. at Windows on the River on the West Bank of the Flats. For more information on these events, visit www.ecowatchohio.org. Thanks to the George Gund Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, donors, advertisers, sponsors and members for their continued support of EcoWatch. This effort would not be possible without your help. It is said that timing is everything. I can’t imagine a more important time to expand our services and launch this website as the momentum of the grassroorts environmental move-ment seems to be at an all-time high. With the two-week sit-in at the White House where 1,253 people were arrested, including organizer Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, to call on President Barack Obama to reject a permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline (see page 6) and former vice president Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality with more than six million viewers worldwide learning the problems and solu-tions of climate change, people are, more than ever, taking an active role in their democracy and speaking out against issues impacting human health and the environment. I hope you can attend the EcoWatch celebration on Oct. 27 or make a tax-deductible donation during our membership drive (see form on page 3) to help support our work. —Stefanie Penn Spear TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 03 04 05 06 06 07 11 13 13 14 15 EcoWatch Goes National Letters to the Editor Moving the U.S. Beyond Coal Cleveland—14th Smoggiest City in U.S. 1,253 Arrested at White House Protesting Tar Sands Pipeline Ohio Residents Join Millions Worldwide No Tar Sands Oil on American Soil! Sen. Warner and Vice Admiral McGinn Visit Northeast Ohio Controversial Rezoning Issue on November Ballot Will Voters Suport Green Shopping Center? 1% for the Planet Helps Fund Environmental Organizations Building a Positive Energy Home Like EcoWatch on Facebook: facebook.com/EcoWatch Follow EcoWatch on Twitter: twitter.com/ECOWATCHorg Follow Stefanie Spear on Twitter: twitter.com/StefanieSpear Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/StefanieSpear Thank You for Your Support Cleveland Foundation George Gund Foundation Energy Connection KeyBank Foundation Nelson Talbott Foundation Whole Foods Market Cheryl Johnson Scott Sacchi Ed Wiczulis COLUMNS 02 08 10 12 Letter from the Editor by Stefanie Penn Spear EarthWISE by Megan Quinn Bachman Policy Corner by Jack Shanner Local Food by Brad Masi 2 • ECOWATCH JOURNAL • OCTOBER -NOVEMBER 2011 WWW. ECOWATCH.ORG

Letter From The Editor

Stefanie Penn Spear

In 1990, I had the opportunity to intern with the Sierra Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter as an editorial assistant for its newspaper the Yodeler. It was there that I caught the publishing bug to push out news that educated and engaged readers on environmental issues. It wasn’t long after that experience that I launched the newspaper Affinity in my college town of Madison, Wisconsin, and upon graduation moved the paper to Cleveland, Ohio, my home town. After nine years of publishing Affinity, I took a break after my daughter Sam and son Zach were born. In 2006, it was time to publish again and I formed the nonprofit organization EcoWatch and began printing EcoWatch Journal. Five years later, EcoWatch continues to support the sustainability movement of Ohio through EcoWatch Journal and the EcoWatch Ohio website—www.ecowatchohio. org. Thanks to the success of this Ohio model, EcoWatch is going national, in partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance, by launching a website—www.ecowatch.org—to support the grassroots environmental movement in the U.S. I hope you’ll join me on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 2:30 p.m. at Rivergate Park, home to the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, for the public event announcing the launch of the website, featuring keynote speaker Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., founder and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. Help us continue the celebration at the VIP reception at 6 p.m. and enjoy the opportunity to meet Kennedy, followed by a dinner and his keynote speech at 7 p.m. at Windows on the River on the West Bank of the Flats. For more information on these events, visit www.ecowatchohio.org. Thanks to the George Gund Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, donors, advertisers, sponsors and members for their continued support of EcoWatch. This effort would not be possible without your help. It is said that timing is everything. I can’t imagine a more important time to expand our services and launch this website as the momentum of the grassroorts environmental movement seems to be at an all-time high. With the two-week sit-in at the White House where 1,253 people were arrested, including organizer Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, to call on President Barack Obama to reject a permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline (see page 6) and former vice president Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality with more than six million viewers worldwide learning the problems and solutions of climate change, people are, more than ever, taking an active role in their democracy and speaking out against issues impacting human health and the environment. I hope you can attend the EcoWatch celebration on Oct. 27 or make a tax-deductible donation during our membership drive (see form on page 3) to help support our work. —Stefanie Penn Spear

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