When Dr. Marcus Eriksen described sailing in a raft made from 15,000 plastic pop bottles and dipping his sample jar into what he calls “the plastic soup” of the Pacific Ocean, it was a serious wake up call. Eriksen has inspired the Lake Erie Boat Float—build your own junk raft and sail it from Edgewater with Erikson this October to raise awareness of the thousands of pounds of plastic washing into our water.

Bedford-based Taylor, the oldest furniture manufacturer in the United States, has diverted 90% of the waste generated at its facility from the landfill since committing to reach zero waste by 2019. Best of all, their annual cost for waste hauling dropped to less than $1,500.

Not to be confused with the Lake (Erie) to (Shaker) Lakes Trail being planned, the Lake to Lake Trail recently dedicated by the Cleveland Metroparks is a 2.4-mile long,
10-foot wide asphalt trail with boardwalk sections (pictured) over the last, remaining glacial pothole wetland in Cuyahoga County. The Middleburg Heights trail connects Lake Abram and Lake Isaac. It cost $4.7 million to build, and is part of the Metroparks’ larger plan to build a 16-mile loop connecting five communities in the southwest corner of the county to the Towpath Trail.

John Fetterman, the mayor of a formerly dying Pennsylvania steel town named Braddock, is the face of the renewable energy economy in the Rust Belt.

The City of Vancouver, BC has a serious program to ‘shift modes’ of transportation, including 30 bicycle routes. This video shows how the effort has lead to a decline in car use and an increase in cycling.