By Anastasia Glogowski

As Westerville and its residents gradually adopt more green practices, one organization in particular is completely dedicated to the task.

Sustainable Westerville, established in the fall of 2007, has members who have committed to stepping lightly and reducing their carbon footprints.

Sustainable Westerville is the result of a 2006 conference hosted by Simply Living, a Central Ohio organization which encourages eco-friendly and sustainable practices. Sustainable Westerville holds monthly public meetings at various locations throughout Westerville to discuss local environmental issues. Topics have ranged from the Alum Creek bike trail to how high school students are contributing to hydroponics (a method of growing plants without soil using nutrient solutions).

Sustainable Westerville members John Spitale and Luanne Hendricks say they joined the group to engage and work with a community of like-minded individuals.

“There is a general recognition that our society's use of natural resources is unsustainable, and we need to make changes if our children are to have a future,” Hendricks says. The group’s long-term goal is to work together to meet today’s environmental needs without compromising future generations, and to share ideas to help the city become a more “walkable, bikeable, workable community.”

Though implementing sustainable living practices and educating other Westerville residents are the group’s primary objectives, their specific areas of interest include recycling and waste, transportation, energy, parks, recreation, food and water, education and community relations.

After only two years, the group’s membership has doubled from approximately 20 to 40 members, and has become more focused on the community, Hendricks says.

“The group now has a narrower focus on specific, concrete projects and programs that can be implemented within a short time frame, as opposed to more ambitious goals that require a longer time horizon,” says Hendricks, who, as a member of the steering committee, helps plan events and projects. “In our journey of a thousand miles, we are focusing on one baby step at a time.”

So far, those baby steps have been highly effective. For example, two years ago when the Westerville City Council considered signing a 50-year energy contract with American Municipal Power – Ohio, Sustainable Westerville members attended council meetings to voice opposition, Hendricks says. AMP’s 92 member communities, including Westerville, were given until March 2008 to decide whether to participate and financially support a new energy-generating plant.

In2007 Westerville City Council voted against the contract due to environmental concerns.

Spitale has been at the forefront of many issues the group discusses with the city. He has worked and researched in collaboration with council member Diane Fosselman and the city’s Public Service Department to develop ideas to eliminate waste. Specific proposals include a residential “pay-as-you-throw” garbage program, the placement of recycling bins throughout city property and parks, and moving residential recycling pickup to Monday, which would avoid confusion with regular refuse collection on Tuesday and could increase recycling efforts.

“There is a great deal of work to be done on this, and Council member Fosselman's and others’ openness has been fantastic,” Spitale says.

Another successful group endeavor is the Hope Gardens project.

“Hope Gardens is the name of this plot and other future gardens with the specific purpose of connecting people with the source of the food they eat,” Hendricks says.

Members of Sustainable Westerville cultivated their first garden at Cherrington Park in March 2009 and the second on the grounds of the Westerville Community United Church of Christ last fall. The group received donations of plants, seeds, tools, building materials and money from Westerville’s Park and Recreation Department, the Annehurst Garden Club and Home Depot.

The gardens yield a variety of vegetables, including chard, cucumbers, broccoli, green onions, parsley, peas and tomatoes, and all the food is donated to the Westerville Area Resource Ministry’s food pantry. The gardens are grown organically, using no chemicals or pesticides, and use companion planting – growing different crops in close proximity to increase productivity – as an alternative to chemicals.

“Families obtaining food from WARM are able to get a variety of fresh local nutritious produce, and are perhaps being introduced to vegetables that are new to them,” Hendricks adds. Sustainable Westerville’s gardens have also inspired neighboring gardeners to donate their surplus produce to WARM. Plans for more gardens are on the way, Hendricks says.

Sustainable Westerville continues to explore new ideas and topics. The group addresses many of these through an online forum. Their online activity has grown to include more than 150 participants on a Google group page, of which 25 to 40 attendees attend the monthly meetings.

“We have a large online presence of folks who may not attend meetings frequently, but we know they're out there and paying attention, because every now and then someone shows up at a meeting for the first time who has been in the Google group since its inception,” Hendricks says.

For more information about Sustainable Westerville, visit www.sustainablewesterville.org.  

Anastasia Glogowski is a contributing writer for Westerville Magazine.