Columbus GreenSpot

Awesome opportunity to tour our landfill right here in Columbus, Ohio! So important to understand where our waste goes - AND ways we can divert waste from our landfill. Can anyone guess what the (large) percentage is of our landfill that could have been recycled or composted?

Thank you Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio - SWACO for all the educational opportunities you provide!!

Did you know the average Franklin County resident sends nearly 5 pounds of waste to the landfill every single day? Come visit the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill to see where all your trash goes! Join us for a FREE tour on February 3rd at 10 a.m. to learn how SWACO safely manages all these materials and the actions you can take to reduce your reliance on landfilling by . To reserve your spot, please email [email protected] or message 📥us.

Speaking of the importance of trees............. two weeks left to take advantage of this free seedling offer before February 2nd! Check out Green Columbus's post for details 🌳🌱🌿🌳🌱🌿🍃

Do you want to host a tree planting service site in April for Earth Day? Green Columbus will provide you with the seedling trees for free! Just email [email protected] by February 2nd to submit your request.

More information about hosting a service site can be found at earthdaycolumbus.org.

This Sunday! The importance of tree canopies in our communities. For our planet, for our people, for our health, for biodiversity, for our eco systems, for clean air, for our soil, for education, for our urban heat index, for sooo many reasons. Thank you American Forests and Joshua Simon for the important work you do here locally in Columbus, Ohio 😀👏

Attention everyone who was planning on attending the Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW)event - it's been postponed due to weather! New date: February 10th

🥶We’re bummed to postpone this weekend’s events but it’s going to be 10° on Saturday when we were planning to start the litter clean up! We’re grateful to everyone who was planning to volunteer with us. We have rescheduled the litter clean up to February 10th from 10am-12pm. We hope you can help us clean up litter along the Olentangy River at that time. Stay warm!

Today is the 122nd anniversary of the start of 4-H. On this day in 1902, A.B. Graham, superintendent of Springfield Township Rural schools in Clark County, established the Boys and Girls Agricultural Experiment Club. The first of its kind in the country, the rural program revolutionized agricultural youth education.

Kids who enrolled learned how to test soil quality, grow seeds, and explore the use of scientific theory to measure their success. This program later became 4-H, which stands for Head, Heart, Hand, and Health. The program aims to develop youth as individuals and as responsible, productive community members.

The first meeting was held in the basement of the Clark County, Ohio Courthouse. Today, millions of kids take part in 4-H programs all over the world.

Franklin County Public Health has some great tips for cold weather safety: great reminder regarding conserving water by preventing bursting pipes while you're staying warm and safe. Sending warm vibes to all!

Winter weather is here, and it wants to chill 🥶

Over the next few days, temps will start to drop here in Franklin County. Make sure you remember the 4 P’s while you try to stay safe and warm!

Greif employs 1,000+ Ohioans at its recycling facilities and creates industrial and consumer packaging products.

Learn more about how you can help Ohio keep the circular economy moving.

https://ow.ly/n0rn50QpjI4

Looking for an awesome cause to volunteer with on MLK Day Monday? Check this out! Highland Youth Garden https://highlandyouthgarden.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=81311

We hope you had a wonderful New Year’s celebration. Join us in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. by helping to keep our community clean. Our Annual Community Clean-Up will take place on Monday, January 15th between 10:00am - 12:00pm. Let's work together to make our neighborhood a more beautiful place to live.

You can sign up by going to https://highlandyouthgarden.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=81311

If you have any questions about the event, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. All are welcome, we look forward to seeing you there!

We're not not condoning animal "gangs"... 😍🤣

Great info on who to call if you come across a fallen tree on your Central Ohio Greenways trail! "Please notify Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks Greenway Rangers crew. cell: 614-202-5197; central dispatch: 614-620-1865. Here's one this morning on the OT by Como Park." Thank you, Bike Commuting in Columbus 😃

Any tree falls located along the Greenway Trails? Please notify Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks Greenway Rangers crew. cell: 614-202-5197; central dispatch: 614-620-1865. Here's one this morning on the OT by Como Park. (Photo from Matthew H.)

Have you been to Columbus Metropolitan Library events?! Carpe diem this Saturday at 1:30pm in the Main Library @ 96 South Grant Ave for some fun repurposing activities with me, Christy! And a little birdie told me that Amy of Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio - SWACO has some great recycling and trash info after my session ends at 3pm!!

Let's start doing a sustainability word of the week! This week: Evapotranspiration

Let’s compare the soil composition of a 4 year old prairie vs an established turfgrass lawn. The prairie soil is noticeably darker, indicating that it’s richer in organic matter. Prairie plants have larger roots and subsequently more ability to store carbon than the shallow roots of turfgrass. They also shed some of their roots each year, resulting in organically rich soil after just a few years. If you have very poor soil you'd like to improve consider planting native perennials, or even a cover crop for a year or two!


Learn more about soil and turn it into a family activity with our “Splendid Soil” kids activity here:https://www.franklinswcd.org/data/doc_lib/1273/SWIFTLET-10-Activity-SplendidSoil.pdf

Have you considered using your old tree as a wildlife habitat? Many residents drag their tree to the curb for waste services pick up to turn into mulch - but it could also serve as a biodiversity supporter and valuable habitat right here locally! WOSU Public Media 👏👏👏

Don't throw out your Christmas tree! Turn it into a wildlife sanctuary Your live-cut Christmas tree can be used as habitat for birds, rabbits and even fish.

This is a sign to take advantage of your local library, and all the amazingly fun resources these wonderful havens provide 📚📖 great pic, Columbus Metropolitan Library !🥰

Good morning from our beautiful Main Library. Wishing everyone an amazing Thursday!

If your New Years Resolution is to read more, check out these awesome January book suggestions:

1) "All We Can Save" by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson

2) "Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard

3) "A Terrible Thing to Waste" by Harriet Washington

4) "We Are the Weather" by Jonathan Foer

Any good books you'd add to the list?

So excited to talk living sustainably in 2024 with Anna Staver on NPR's All Sides today at 11am - tune in! https://news.wosu.org/show/all-sides

Today! Catch our very own Coordinator Christy Walters on All Sides w/ Anna Staver to talk about living sustainably in the new year and how YOU can take simple actions to support our Columbus Climate Action Plan and create a healthy community now and into the future! She’s on at 11am - check out our stories for a link to stream or of course you can tune in on the radio📻💚

These are awesome ideas for animal-focused resolutions Ohio Wildlife Center 😃🦉🦆🦇🦋🐝🐞🐜🦬🐄🦨🦡🦫🦦🦝🐇🦔🐿

Our awesome friends at Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitators Association put together a list of great New Year’s resolutions to help our wildlife!

When you’re out and about in 2024, take these notes with you! ❤️

Check out this light recycling option in Bexley! Green Bexley Light recycling is still going on now at the David H. Madison Bexley Community Pool parking lot (2100 Clifton) and lasts through December 22.

Experience gifts are an awesome option for eco-minded gift givers! Olentangy Paddle 🛶🌅🎉

Need an idea for a last minute gift? How about a gift certificate for a trip down the Scioto Mile? Guided or unguided, we offer trips every weekend and most weeknights May - October.
To purchase: https://olentangypaddle.com/packages.php

Columbus Rides Bikes yay for new protected bike lanes coming to the Near East Side!

Protected Bike Lanes Coming to East Broad Street - Columbus Underground The City of Columbus plans to install new protected bike lanes along East Broad Street on the Near East Side. The work would coincide with a planned resurfacing of the road, which is scheduled to happen in 2025. The lanes would run in both directions from Parsons Avenue to Nelson Road. The project i...

Have you seen Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District's "Saltcast"?! Great info on salt usage, sustainability, and alternatives when available. Check it out!

🥶 It's icy in spots this morning so here is your Tuesday Saltcast:

- The sun is forecasted to come out this afternoon paired with above freezing temperatures, so ice will melt on its own before day's end today!

- If you need a surface to be salt-free this morning rock salt will work since it's above 15 degrees Fahrenheit. However, make sure you sweep up any excess salt before it gets sunny and warmer this afternoon, or else your salt will travel with snow and ice melt right into our local waterways. Just one teaspoon of salt pollutes FIVE GALLONS of freshwater permanently.

Have you entered our 25 Days of Holiday Commuting Challenge? You can enter the challenge until the 25th, so if you're taking a sustainable commute mode, make sure to log your trips! Logging a trip automatically enters you into our $25 digital gift card drawing.

Sign up or login at gohiocommute.com/morpc to start logging trips!

Drop off your empty, clear, plastic gallon milk/juice jugs at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center now through Dec. 31! Our Conservation Classroom students will be winter sowing native plants in these during their winter session to plant in the park next spring! Each family that brings in a jug will receive a FREE travel rain poncho!

Monday tip: donate your used electronics to help alleviate our e-waste's impact on our planet and our community. Recycle Right and Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio - SWACO's websites have awesome resources here locally in central Ohio when you're ready to donate and recycle your e-waste. Check the comments for helpful links : )

The tragic costs of e-waste According to the U.N., about 50 million tons of electronic waste (or e-waste) are produced every year, the vast majority of which winds up strewn in landfill...

Amazing explanation (and awesome alternative suggestions!) by Scioto Gardens of why we need to remove all honeysuckle whenever possible! Thank you for fighting the good fight against invasive species here in Columbus.

Are you drawn in by the abundant shrubs with red berries that can be seen along roadsides everywhere this time of year? They are likely the non-native Amur Honeysuckle (𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘪) or one of its close cousins, which have colonized just about every corner of Ohio. An invasive species, these shrubs spread aggressively and effectively due to their adaptability and alluring red fruit.

Our native songbirds resort to eating honeysuckle berries in the fall and winter when other food sources grow more scarce, and deposit the seeds both near and far from the parent plants. The birds don't even get a good deal out of the exchange, as these high-sugar fruits do not provide the same levels of fat and other nutrients that our native berries provide. Our birds don't know this and cannot be blamed, but by ingesting and shedding the seeds of Amur Honeysuckles, they are helping the invaders win a fight for space against our valuable native plants.

That's not all either. Foreign honeysuckle species grow densely enough to crowd out competing native plants, and create forest floors so dark and clustered that our native woodland perennials can't get enough light to thrive.

What can we do to prevent the spread of Amur Honeysuckle and its relatives? Remove them whenever we can, so that the birds don't have the chance to find their fruit. In their place, we can plant other shrubs and small trees that provide all of the same benefits to us and our wildlife: gorgeous aromatic flowers, beautiful and nutritious fruit, and critical thicket habitat for sheltering birds and other animals.

Scioto Gardens grows a plethora of options that can provide one or all of those services, with options for many different growing sites. A short list of great options for a variety of conditions include Gray Dogwood, Winterberries, Chokeberries, Serviceberries, and Spicebush. We're ready to supply you with awesome plants like these to help restore any honeysuckle-removal sites you have.