The Environmental Committee focuses on environmental justice issues – the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems. All neighborhoods should benefit equally from the same degree of protection from health hazards due to climate disruption and industrial pollution.
WCC collaborates with other civic, neighborhood, and environmental organizations in the city to implement public education and action projects to raise eco-awareness, green the urban environment, and advocate for equitable policies that protect air and water quality from the threats of industrial pollution.
The Environmental Committee meets periodically. Check the weekly Updates for upcoming meetings. To learn more about the work of this committee and to volunteer, contact Jeanne Nightingale.
We work in concert with like-minded organizations like the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters, the Conservation Committee of the Sierra Club, Citizens for Rights of the Ohio River Watershed (CROW), and Faith Communities Go Green (FCGG) under the Green Umbrella.
Advocacy work: The WCC is a long time member of the Past Plastic Cincinnati Coalition (PPCC), which actively lobbied to finally get a single use plastic bag ban ordinance passed (2020) by city council, only to have it subsequently pre-empted by the State. The group explores ways to circumvent the Ohio state law by looking into the Sustainable Stores mode adopted by Cuyahoga County that incentivizes retail outlets to voluntarily reduce single-use plastic. A local example is Leier’s Refillery Market in Northside.
The committee participates in Lemon-Kearney's Connected Communities Environmental Task Force. WCC is focusing on supporting the implementation of urban food gardens in communities, especially those identified as food desserts/swamps. Further discussion with the Civic Garden Center, Turner Farms, and UC Environmental Studies Department indicates we need to work with Cardinal Land Conservancy to secure vacant lots for local food production in addition to promoting zoning that includes space for urban gardens.
Forums: The committee arranges WCC co-sponsorship of forums presented by the Sierra Club. Examples are:
- a forum proposing a Smart Trash program for Cincinnati--an initial public roll-out of a proposal to the city both to reduce the cost of trash pickup and to reduce waste in the landfill.
- a forum on one use of urban green spaces--Cardinal Land Conservancy’s new plan to purchase and transform vacant lots in the city into green spaces and community gardens
Other education: The committee submits "green tips" for sustainable living and articles regularly to the Bulletin.
Read more:
- To tackle such laws that protect corporate profits over the health of communities, WCC is working with The Poor People’s Campaign and Citizens Recognizing Rights of the Ohio River Watershed (CROW) to legally protect a community’s stewardship over its own local ecosystems. We have also been working with the Ohio River Guardians who oppose the “Appalachian Petrochemical Hub,” an industrial facility that will manufacture more plastics, polluting our air and water with harmful chemicals and microplastics. With speakers from this group, WCC held a forum in 2020 on “Threats to our Drinking Water,” a program that exposed the risks this new industrial infrastructure brings to us here downstream. Link to program?
- WCC works in concert with the LWV Natural Resource Committee. Early in 2021 we organized a Study Pages: “Is it Time to Rethink Recycling?” We also presented a Sierra Club Innings on ways we can shift consumer culture away from single-use plastic as well as taking the fight to its source by leveraging consumer buying power to reduce the market for plastic. In our meetings, we explore innovative alternatives to plastic packaging, bottles, straws, and Styrofoam, and consider current models for zero-waste shopping in a future circular economy. What did we do before plastic? In August 2021, WCC joined the coalition to present a program on “The Long & Short of the Plastic Problem” with films and panel discussion. It was an opportunity to present Councilman Chris Seelbach with an award for his leadership in City Hall. WCC also works with the League and Communities United for Action (CUFA) to promote affordable sewer rates. MSD’s current base rate places an undue burden on lower-income households. Link to Study Pages?
- In December 2021, WCC joined 9 other organizations to sponsor an in-depth virtual conversation with Rob Bilott, a Cincinnati-based lawyer who has become famous for pursuing a class-action lawsuit against the chemical giant DuPont. We learned more about his steadfast advocacy to promote legal protections against the threats of “Forever Chemicals” (PFAS) that have permanently entered our drinking water and our bloodstreams. Link to January Bulletin article?
- WCC cosponsored a regular series of monthly conversations called Changing CO2urse: Local Solutions to Global Crises (ran from 2004 to 2020 at St. John’s UU Church). A program, held in February, 2020, addressed the source of the global plastic pollution crisis. In the meantime, we worked with the Green Umbrella Impact Team called Faith Communities Go Green that seeks to create a more sustainable and equitable future by mobilizing their moral voice to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change.
How to become involved:
The WCC Environmental Committee meets regularly.
Past Plastic Cincinnati Coalition holds monthly meetings every fourth Tuesday at 6:30 pm. LWV Natural Resources Committee holds monthly meetings every fourth Monday at 11 am.
Members are encouraged to submit articles for the WCC Bulletin covering environmental issues in the city, county, and state.