Volunteers Needed at the Zoo's Big Creek Clean-Up Event

You're invited to join Friends of Big Creek (FOBC), Cleveland Metroparks, and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo staff at our annual creek clean-up on Tuesday, August 24, 2010. Big Creek runs through the Zoo and Brookside Reservation. Volunteering at a Big Creek clean-up event helps preserve one of the precious natural areas in our urban landscape. It's also an opportunity to meet new people, to get outside, and to volunteer in a stress-relieving, natural setting while doing something positive for the environment. Clean-ups are great community service activities for clubs and classes.

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Build and Float Your Plastic Boat at The Second Annual Great Lake Erie Boat Float

Recent reports tell of the Great Garbage Patch located in the Pacific Ocean, but we don't have to go to the ocean to see the impact of plastic. The beaches on our own Lake Erie tell a similar story. In 2009, boats were made out of recyclable materials floated on Lake Erie during a unique event. Join us this year at The Second Annual Great Lake Erie Boat Float with your own plastic boat to help raise awareness about the impact of plastic on our environment!

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Nestlé Commits to Ending the Deforestation of Rainforests

Want to make your grocery store selections more eco-friendly? Next time, reach for candy, snacks and other products that are palm oil-free or use sustainable palm oil. What is palm oil? Palm oil is the oil extracted from the fruit of palm trees, which are farmed extensively in Southeast Asia. These areas have lost so much forest to palm plantations that biodiversity there is at risk, including declining populations of orangutans, whose forest habitats are being lost to make room for palm plantations.

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Zoo-Supported Asian Turtle Program Helps Create New Resources to Combat Turtle Crisis

Asia is home to nearly one-quarter of all tortoises and freshwater turtles in the world. Over half of Asia's 90 species are now considered endangered, a crisis fueled primarily by the unsustainable trade in turtles for food markets and traditional medicine. To help address the Asian Turtle Crisis, the Zoo's Asian Turtle Program (ATP) works in collaboration with other partners in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar.

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Snails Save the Day for Apes

Snails don’t often get the opportunity to save great apes—even if they are African giant snails. But these mollusks are crawling to the rescue of Nigeria’s Cross River gorillas.

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Join the UltraWalk for our Feathered Friends!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Curator of Birds, Stan Searles, supports Rocky River's Important Bird Area by pledging to trek 60 miles the first weekend in June! The 2010 UltraWalk is hosted by the Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society and helps conserve bird habitat along the Rocky River Valley.

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2010 Asia and Africa Seed Grant Recipients Announced

Recipients of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo/Cleveland Zoological Society 2010 competitive grants, Asia Seed Grants and Africa Seed Grants, have been announced. 2010 is the third year for the Asia Seed Grants and the fourth year for the Africa Seed Grants program.

You can view the 2010 grant recipients here:

Look for project updates throughout the year!

Putting the 'U' in Urban Watershed Stewardship: A Mini-Symposium

A healthy watershed is important to our quality of life but human activity has degraded the natural landscape in our heavily developed area. How can an individual have a positive impact and become a steward of our precious resources? Join us for a discussion of simple measures that add up!

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Zoo Co-Sponsors Baldwin-Wallace College Sustainability Symposium March 1 and 2

Scientists, policy analysts and many corporate leaders believe our global society needs to reduce overall carbon emissions by 80-90% by 2050 in order to mitigate the worst future impacts of climate change. This daunting task will challenge governments, corporations, municipalities, and ordinary citizens around the world to engage in a process of technological and social transformation the likes of which we have never seen before in human history.

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Congratulations Nancy Hughes!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is proud to announce that Nancy Hughes, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Composting and Recycling Coordinator, was selected as a Champion of Sustainability Award winner by Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, also known as E4S. E4S is a network of over 7000 leaders who are putting the principles of sustainability to work for their businesses and the northeastern Ohio region. Eight winners were chosen from among 55 nominations to include the most inspiring, highest impact, easily translatable stories. Nancy was presented the award on November 17, 2009 at the Seventh Annual E4S Champions of Sustainability awards ceremony for developing an outstanding recycling and composting program at the Zoo. Cleveland Metroparks also benefits by getting a free annual membership to E4S, so now employees can attend E4S events at a discount. Thanks to Nancy's dedication to waste reduction and the conservation of resources, we are all more inspired to implement sustainability in our daily lives. Read more about Nancy's success story from the E4S website.

(Photo L-R: Holly Harlan of E4S, Liz Fowler of the Cleveland Zoological Society, Nancy Hughes of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo)