Environment

The Hidden Wonders of the Pawpaw: Ohio’s Beloved State Native Fruit

The pawpaw looks unremarkable from the outside. Its oblong and slightly misshapen body encapsulated in a tough, greenish-yellow skin brings to mind a less-than-appetizing,...

Reclaiming the “Forest City”: Cleveland’s Quest to Regrow its Urban Tree Canopy

Cleveland is more well known for its industry than its greenery, so it might come as a surprise that one of the city’s many...

Taking a (Recycled) Page Out of South Korea’s Book: A Comparison of Global Sustainability Practices

You’re at your family’s annual Thanksgiving dinner party. You carefully fill your plate with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce one by one...

A Tale of Two Great Lakes Cities (And Their Battles With Climate Change)

Both Chicago and Toledo were built upon swamps on the coast of the Great Lakes, and both are facing increasingly erratic lake water levels and weather patterns. But differing natural and manmade geographies mean one city will probably feel the effects of climate change sooner and more severely.

“Invisible Infrastructure”: How Aging Water Systems Impact Lake Erie’s Water Quality

We turn on the tap to get water, and we flush the toilet to send it away. But the “invisible infrastructure” behind these conveniences is a system that’s not only complex, but also problematic in a world where increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are straining our aging infrastructure.

“Water is Life”: Connecting Communities to Lake Erie’s Waterfront — And Its Future

Cuyahoga County has about 32 miles of Lake Erie shoreline — but only 10% of that is currently publicly accessible. Travel just over 100...

Oak Savannas — A Story of Midwestern Resilience

I first heard of oak savannas as a high school student while reading a biology textbook. They were described as one of the most...

Catching Up on the Midwest’s Wolves

At the end of October 2020, the Trump administration finalized a rule that delisted gray wolves in the lower 48 states from the Endangered...

A Cautionary Tale, Twice Over: Surface Water Quality on Lake Erie

“They’ll walk on their fins and get woefully weary, in search of some water that isn’t so smeary, I hear things are just as...

How Climate Change is Transforming how the Midwest Farms

Joe Logan grew up milking dairy cows as a fifth-generation dairy farmer and now raises food-grade soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, hay and grass-fed beef,...

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