East Meets West at The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes
By: Stephanie Richards, Off the Grid in Suburbia
Many of us have been fortunate enough to experience the beauty of the natural environment at The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. Did you know that The Nature Center was born from a grassroots fight to save the green space from a proposed freeway? Another grassroots organization has sprouted up in Cleveland: Gang Green. The group has been meeting informally on the near west side for more than a year discussing and learning about a wide variety of topics from Composting With Worms to Green Cleaning.
Who says Cleveland is two cities divided by a river and Interstate 480? In Spring of 2008, Gang Green West merged with Gang Green East as a result of green designer Jim LaRue and Environmental Health Watch’s (www.ehw.org) class, Greening Your Home. The class held 80 eager and open minds for eight weekly classes at the Shaker Lakes Nature Center. LaRue has an encyclopedic breadth of the green building subject matter, and inspired Stephanie Richards, founder and executive director of the non-profit, Off the Grid In Suburbia to spearhead the expansion of the Gang Green group to the East Side.
Gang Green meets each month to evolve ideas and suggestions for greening one’s home and living a more sustainable lifestyle. Emphasis is on fun and experiential learning. In May, Jan Rybka, from the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, presented an informative talk about creating a beautiful and environmentally friendly rain garden in your yard. In June, Gang Green participants will have the hands-on opportunity to participate in the building of the straw-bale and cob Stewardship Center, located at The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.
Susan Clellen is a builder and designer of environmentally sustainable buildings and is the project leader at the Stewardship Center. Each weekend in June and through mid-July, Susan will offer hands-on training in natural construction. Expect to learn about mixing cob, applying natural earth plaster and other green building techniques. This is a unique opportunity to learn about how to build a truly sustainable home, as the raw ingredients—straw, sand and clay—are all available locally. All these innovative and sustainable practices have been approved by the The Shaker Heights Architectural Review and Building Department.
Saturday and Sunday shifts are available from 8 a.m. - Noon and 1 - 5 p.m. to anyone who wants the opportunity to expand their hands-on knowledge of green building. To sign up for a shift on line go to www.shakerlakes.org, and then blog, “Stewardship Stew,” or contact Jan Zorman, 216-321-5935, ext. 229.
On Sunday, June 29, join Gang Green from Noon - 1 p.m. for a pot luck lunch at The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. Bring your favorite local dish to share and meet other people who are also learning how to make greener lifestyle choices. Contact planetorganics@aol.com to reserve a space and/or to be placed on the Gang Green email list.
Off the Grid in Suburbia is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit educational organization dedicated to increasing people’s environmental awareness and supporting practical integration of green lifestyle choices. For more information contact Stephanie Richards at 216-324-2073; planetorganics@aol.com; or visit www.offthegridinsuburbia.com.