EcoWatch Journal February/March : Page 2

stefanie penn spear I love living in Northeast Ohio. I have a lot of reasons why, but one is the change of seasons. I look forward to the snow and all that comes with it. I can’t remember a warmer winter with so little snow, but fortunately we have nearly two months left before spring so hopefully all of us snow junkies will get our chance to play. These last two months have been very exciting for EcoWatch. Nicole D’Alessandro and Matthew Peters, EcoWatch’s newest staff members, and our committed interns, Gabriela Boscio and Amber Davidson, are hard at work growing our network and expanding the outreach of EcoWatch.org. Be sure to check our website at EcoWatch.org daily to keep up to date with the news of nearly 1,000 grassroots environmental organizations worldwide. For news related to Ohio, click on the local button on the homepage and select our state. While on the site, you can join our email list in the upper right hand corner for daily and weekly updates, and news pertaining to EcoWatch, and of course click to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and join our Google+ page. There certainly hasn’t been a dull moment at EcoWatch as we continue to grow. We’ll announce more exciting news in the coming months with plans to hire additional staff as we 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 III 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 Donita Anderson • Megan Quinn Bachman Sandy Buchanan • Brian J. Cummins • Bob Hagan Marti Hunter • Brad Masi • Jack Shaner 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 • Kerry Watterson ECOWATCH STAFF Nicole D’Alessandro, Executive Assistant nicole@ecowatch.org Matthew Peters, News Aggregator peters@ecowatch.org ECOWATCH INTERNS Gabriela Boscio • Amber Davidson PROOFREADERS Jen Burke • Lori Margenin • Rita Nagusky MISSION EcoWatch works to unite the voice of the grassroots environmental movement and mobilizes millions of people to engage in 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 APRIL/MAY ISSUE: MARCH 1 EcoWatch is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. EcoWatch Journal is published six times a year and distributed free throughout Ohio. Copyright ©2012, 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. pursue our goal of becoming the number one online news service for environmental issues focused on the topics of water, air, food, energy and biodiversity. We’ll announce our plans for this year’s Green Gala in the coming weeks. We’re switching it up this year and excited to partner with new organizations for our annual event. If you’re interested in sponsoring or volunteering for our fundraiser, contact me at the email address below. EcoWatch Journal is going strong with a readership of more than 100,000 Ohioans per issue. Our Next Genera-tion program is helping teachers bring sustainability into the school as copies of EcoWatch Journal become textbooks in the classroom. As always, this issue is chock-full of information. From the latest on fracking to the need for reform on the Farm Bill to students raising awareness about the algal blooms in Lake Erie to healthy school lunchroom programs, this issue identifies the problems that continue to degrade our planet and the solutions that can lead us to a sustainable future. Welcome to our newest board member Kerry Watterson— a great addition to our already 16-member board of directors. Enjoy the rest of the winter, Stefanie Penn Spear, spear@ecowatch.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 03 05 05 06 07 09 11 11 13 14 15 Fracking Ohio—Lack of Regulation Impact Human Health and the Environment Celebrate World Water Day March 22 Faith Communities Together What is Fracking? Food & Water Watch Launches Fair Farm Bill Campaign in Ohio Students Bring Awareness to Lake Erie Algal Blooms Ohio Interfaith Power and Light and Earthkeeping Summit Ohio Citizen Action Honors Staughton and Alice Lynd Don’t Miss this Year’s Environmental Lobby Day North Union Farmers Market Champions Local Foods Year Round Clevelanders Say ‘No Cleveland Incinerator’ and ‘Yes Recycling/Composting It’s Time to go Back to the Drawing Board on Cleveland’s Waste-to-Energy Initiative Like EcoWatch on Facebook: facebook.com/EcoWatch Follow @EcoWatch on Twitter: twitter.com/EcoWatch Follow @StefanieSpear on Twitter: twitter.com/StefanieSpear Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/StefanieSpear Thank You for Your Support Cleveland Foundation Cuyahoga Arts & Culture George Gund Foundation Chris Bata David W. Burke Linda R. Butler & Steve Nissen Peggy A. Fullmer Anne W. Hammond Dennis E. McIntyre Rick Oprzadek August Pacetti Steve Spackey Marnie Urso COLUMNS 02 03 08 10 12 Letter from the Editor by Stefanie Penn Spear Letters to the Editor EarthWISE by Megan Quinn Bachman Policy Corner by Jack Shanner Local Food by Brad Masi EcoWatch 720 Literary Rd. Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216-387-1609 EcoWatch.org 2 • ECOWATCH JOURNAL • FEBRUARY -MARCH 2012 WWW. ECOWATCH.ORG

Letter From The Editor

Stefanie Penn Spear

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. I love living in Northeast Ohio. I have a lot of reasons why, but one is the change of seasons. I look forward to the snow and all that comes with it. I can’t remember a warmer winter with so little snow, but fortunately we have nearly two months left before spring so hopefully all of us snow junkies will get our chance to play. These last two months have been very exciting for EcoWatch. Nicole D’Alessandro and Matthew Peters, EcoWatch’s newest staff members, and our committed interns, Gabriela Boscio and Amber Davidson, are hard at work growing our network and expanding the outreach of EcoWatch.org. Be sure to check our website at EcoWatch.org daily to keep up to date with the news of nearly 1,000 grassroots environmental organizations worldwide. For news related to Ohio, click on the local button on the homepage and select our state. While on the site, you can join our email list in the upper right hand corner for daily and weekly updates, and news pertaining to EcoWatch, and of course click to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and join our Google+ page. There certainly hasn’t been a dull moment at EcoWatch as we continue to grow. We’ll announce more exciting news in the coming months with plans to hire additional staff as we pursue our goal of becoming the number one online news service for environmental issues focused on the topics of water, air, food, energy and biodiversity. We’ll announce our plans for this year’s Green Gala in the coming weeks. We’re switching it up this year and excited to partner with new organizations for our annual event. If you’re interested in sponsoring or volunteering for our fundraiser, contact me at the email address below. EcoWatch Journal is going strong with a readership of more than 100,000 Ohioans per issue. Our Next Generation program is helping teachers bring sustainability into the school as copies of EcoWatch Journal become textbooks in the classroom. As always, this issue is chock-full of information. From the latest on fracking to the need for reform on the Farm Bill to students raising awareness about the algal blooms in Lake Erie to healthy school lunchroom programs, this issue identifies the problems that continue to degrade our planet and the solutions that can lead us to a sustainable future. Welcome to our newest board member Kerry Watterson— a great addition to our already 16-member board of directors. Enjoy the rest of the winter, Stefanie Penn Spear, spear@ecowatch.org

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