Shows
ECO SPEAKS CLEA CLEANR Way to Wash with Max PenningtonSend us a textDid you know that laundry is the #1 source of microplastic pollution? With every load of laundry, millions of tiny plastic particles come off our synthetic clothes, down the drain, and into our waterways. In this episode, we speak with Max Pennington, Co-Founder and CEO of CLEANR. Max and his partners may have the solution to plastic pollution we've been looking for. His Cleveland-based company recently launched a patented filter that captures up to 90% of all microplastics from your washing machine before they enter the drain. Max developed this breakthrough...2025-07-2431 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEInlet Dance Theatre- Using Dance to Further People and SustainabilitySend us a textInlet Dance Theatre is a modern dance company in Cleveland, founded in 2001 by our guest, Bill Wade, a renowned dancer and choreographer who uses the power of dance to further people and explore human, societal, and environmental issues through movement. Located within the Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression on West 25th Street in Cleveland, Inlet's Dance Studio is called The Estuary, reflecting the company's nature-based and sustainability themes. Inlet's mission aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, which promote health and well-being, quality education, e...2025-07-0835 min
ECO SPEAKS CLERid-All Green Partnership and Cleveland's Food RevolutionSend us a textIn this episode, we head to the Rid-All Farm to speak with Keymah Durden, a co-founder of Rid-All Green Partnership. What was once a notorious dumping ground in Cleveland's "Forgotten Triangle", the farm is now one of the largest minority-owned urban farms and a nationally recognized model for urban agriculture, environmental stewardship, and resilience. In this episode, Keymah talks about how Rid-All is growing communities and changing Lives. Rid-All was originally a pest control company started by farm co-founder Damien Forsche. As he worked in public housing p...2025-06-1046 min
ECO SPEAKS CLENEO Youth Climate Summit Keynote with Sage LenierSend us a textOn Friday, April 11, over 300 high school students from across northeast Ohio gathered for the 2025 NEO Youth Climate Summit, hosted by Laurel School and Global Shapers Cleveland. The event brought students together to discuss and collaborate on solutions for climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice.The summit was kicked off with a keynote address by a young climate activist, Sage Lenier. Sage was honored by TIME Magazine as a 2023 Next Generation Leader. She started teaching about climate change while still a student at UC...2025-05-0637 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEThe Cleveland Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights with Renee BoronkaSend us a textHappy Earth Day! In this episode, we discuss the importance of connecting kids with nature and the Cleveland Outdoor Bill of Rights, with Renee Boronka, Director of Conservation Education and Outreach at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. The Cleveland Outdoor Bill of Rights outlines twelve fundamental nature experiences every child deserves, from breathing clean air to camping under starry skies. What began as a grant-funded project to better connect urban youth with nature evolved into a collaboration between environmental organizations, libraries, schools, and c...2025-04-2228 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEPreserving our History on the Towpath Trail with Canalway PartnersSend us a textMera Cardenas is a historic preservationist working to connect people to place as the Executive Director of Canalway Partners. We are the people, and the place is the historic Towpath Trail, located within the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area. The 100-mile Towpath Trail from Cleveland to New Philadelphia follows what once was a significant transportation artery from the mid-1800s until the railroads came. The trail was completed in 2021 when the final section was constructed in Cleveland, ending at Canal Basin Park following 40 years...2025-03-2538 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEA New Era of Apparel with Aidan Meany of Found SurfaceSend us a textAidan Meany is a young clothing entrepreneur defining a new era of apparel. His team at Found Surface uses 21st-century technology and traditional, natural fibers to produce eco-friendly clothing for companies looking for ethically and thoughtfully produced garments. His new factory in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood is one of the first in the nation to use digital knitting machines to make clothing that is plastic-free, waste-free, and guilt-free. Aidan found his place in the design industry after educating himself about the fast fashion industry and the toll...2025-02-2044 min
ECO SPEAKS CLESustainability and the CAVS with Danielle DozaSend us a textIn our first episode of 2025, we discuss sports and sustainability with Danielle Doza, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Services. As the first executive-level professional in the NBA, Danielle shares how the CAVS organization integrates award-winning eco-friendly practices in fresh and exciting new ways and the collaborative spirit driving sustainability within sports organizations. Join us as Danielle speaks about her dream job and key initiatives at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. These initiatives, including recycling, energy efficiency, education, and various partnerships with WM, F...2025-01-2139 min
ECO SPEAKS CLESara Continenza and Food Strong's Big Project, The Superior FarmSend us a textJoin us as we wrap up 2024 with community leader and food sovereignty advocate Sara Continenza. Sara is the founder and executive director of Food Strong, a non-profit connecting kids with food since 2016. Sara and her staff work with the Cleveland Municipal School District and other inner-city schools to provide hands-on learning experiences in gardening, nutrition, and entrepreneurship. Recently, Food Strong's mission to educate, empower, and cultivate health through fresh foods just got a significant boost. Community Greenhouse Partners recently gifted them a three-acre farm site on Superior...2024-12-1935 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEEco Meet CLE: Open Mic NightSend us a textEco Meet CLE is a gathering of Cleveland's environmental community, organized by the Eco Speaks CLE podcast and friends, to share a beer, have fun, and connect the people and the threads of the exciting work happening in our region. We recorded this episode during our seventh Eco Meet held recently at our favorite watering hole, Great Lakes Brewing Company. This evening featured an "open mic" where people shared news of their work, sought collaborators and promoted opportunities. Ours is a vibrant community with a common denominator: we care about our...2024-11-2154 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEThe Making of "Ripples of Plastic" with Filmmaker Chris LangerSend us a textIn this episode, Cleveland filmmaker Chris Langer speaks with us speak about his new documentary, Ripples of Plastic, which premiered this year at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival and locally at the Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Fest. Chris is a director, producer, and cinematographer and owns Wonderhouse Films in Cleveland. Ripples of Plastic is Chris's first documentary film, which he began during COVID to expose the vast problem of plastic pollution present in our Great Lakes and its effects on aquatic life and human health. Chris t...2024-11-0736 min
ECO SPEAKS CLECome Along for a Ride with Slow Roll ClevelandSend us a textIf you need a reason to love Mondays, Slow Roll Cleveland is it. In this episode, Greg and I join Slow Roll Cleveland and several hundred other cyclists for a leisurely-paced bike parade through our urban streets. Slow Roll Cleveland hosts these ten-mile Monday evening rides during warmer months to highlight Cleveland neighborhoods and bring joy and community to riders and residents alike. Our slow roll took off from Shaker Square and took us through the Shaker, Buckeye, and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. It was a blast. Hundreds of cyclists...2024-10-1520 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEChoosing a Renewable Energy Supplier with Jenn McMillin of SOPECSend us a textAre you curious about making smarter, greener choices for your electricity supply? In this episode, we speak with Jennifer McMillin with the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC). Jenn is SOPEC's Regional Director for Northeast Ohio and provides tips and insights for choosing a 100% renewable energy supplier for your electricity needs. SOPEC is a leader in community choice aggregation in Ohio, providing competitive rates and substantial savings to residents in member communities, including the City of Cleveland. In Ohio, we can choose where our electricity co...2024-09-2436 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEChair-ity: Furnishing a Helping Hand for Youth Graduating Foster CareSend us a text"Adulting' is hard, but it's exponentially harder if you are 18 years old and aging out of foster care, alone and without a support system. Here in Cleveland, there's an organization helping to ease the transition by providing donated furniture and household goods to young people who have graduated from foster care and moved into a place of their own. That organization is called Chair-ity, and in this episode, we speak with its founder and executive director, Maria Paparella. Chair-ity is a non-profit based in Cleveland...2024-09-0434 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEBonus Clip: A Chair-ity Success StorySend us a textIn this bonus to our conversation with Maria Paparella, Maria shares a personal story of one of the young adults she deeply connected with through her organization Chair-ity. This young adult faced several challenges as she aged out of the foster care system and started life on her own. But with her perseverance, strength, intelligence, and support from Maria, she has become one of the many Chair-ity success stories. This organization truly makes a difference, one person at a time. Follow us: https://www.facebook.com/ecospeakscleh...2024-09-0410 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEMaci Nelson is The Land+Scape NerdSend us a textMeet our fellow Cleveland podcaster, Maci Nelson. Maci is a landscape architect, the creator of The Land+Scape Nerd podcast, and a project manager for LAND Studio, a non-profit that connects communities through art and public spaces. In this episode, Maci shares what it's like to design for urban outdoor spaces and the importance of relying on residents' voices to drive the creation of vibrant, inclusive outdoor environments. Through her work at LAND Studio, Maci shares how public art and other enhancements create community-centric environments...2024-08-2029 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEWhen Life Gives You Styrofoam™... Recycle with Edgewater SurfSend us a textJeff McNaught owns Edgewater Surf, a surf shop in Rocky River, where he sells a variety of new and used paddleboards, surfboards, and windsurfing gear. The shop also serves as an informal community hub for styrofoam™ recycling. Jeff started this program to provide a local recycling option for the bulky EPS (expanded polystyrene) found inside paddleboards and encasing appliances, TVs, computers, and other large items for customer shipment. This bulky, lightweight, and rigid foam plastic is not accepted in community recycling programs, and the closest recycler is in...2024-08-0634 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEHiking Together since 1919 - The Cleveland Hiking ClubSend us a textFor this episode, I hit the trails with The Cleveland Hiking Club to discover what drives this all-volunteer-run organization with over 1,200 members. The answer? Cool people who are passionate about encouraging and promoting outdoor recreation and making it accessible to anyone who wants to join in. In my interview with the club's Community Engagement Coordinator, Kara Girvin, and David Schiraldi of the Pathfinder Committee, we speak about finding adventure and friendship on the trails and how hiking and spending time outdoors benefits us mentally and physically. Club...2024-07-1626 min
ECO SPEAKS CLESeeding our Forested Future: The Holden Seed BankSend us a textHolden Forest & Gardens is seeding Ohio's forested future through the Holden Seed Bank at the Holden Arboretum, which will soon celebrate its first anniversary. In this episode, we speak with Seed Bank Manager Kim Lessman about how this "restoration" seed bank works, how she became its manager, and how her work forms the core of new climate-fighting reforestation efforts across the region by eliminating a bottleneck in local tree planting efforts - the need for seeds. The Holden Seed Bank collects and processes...2024-06-1826 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEGreenspace: Supporting Health and Resilience in NEOSend us a textIn this episode, we share the recording from our recent May networking event at Great Lakes Brewing Company. This event featured a discussion about greenspace with three local leaders working on expanding greenspace in our urban core and increasing access and opportunities to experience nature through outdoor recreation, especially for our historically underserved communities. Our three speakers from Cleveland Metroparks, the local nonprofit SYATT, and the Trust for Public Land speak about improving our community and environmental health by creating more access to greenspace and the collaborations that amplify their work. At...2024-06-0443 min
ECO SPEAKS CLECleveland Vegan Society Presents VegFest 2024Send us a textIn this episode, Sunny Simon, President of The Cleveland Vegan Society, joins us to talk about veganism and VegFest 2024, coming to Cleveland's Huntington Convention Center on Saturday, June 22. It's the largest Vegan festival in the Midwest, and it will be delicious, fun, and informative for vegans and non-vegans alike. The Cleveland Vegan Society created VegFest over 12 years ago to celebrate veganism and to encourage more plant-based eating. This year's festival features an impressive lineup of activities, speakers, cooking demos, a cruelty-free marketplace, a kids' activity area, yoga...2024-05-2128 min
ECO SPEAKS CLEMycelia and Mycotecture with Chris Maurer - Redhouse StudioSend us a textCan you build a house with mushrooms? You can if you are Chris Maurer, an architect, a mycologist, and a visionary. Chris is the Principal Architect at Redhouse Studio, an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris and his partners are working to revolutionize how we house ourselves, not with bricks and mortar but with bio-bricks, a carbon-sequestering fusion of fungi mycelium and plant waste. This regenerative, humanitarian-focused "mycotecture" can grow buildings on and off our planet. Mycotecture refers to the use of mushrooms and other fungi for architectural purposes. In...2024-05-0741 min