October 14, 2025 • 28 mins
Brodie Longo is a young organizer and director of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics. This grassroots organization works to combat plastic pollution and the use of single-use plastics through education and activism. In this episode, Brodie speaks about what it's been like starting a local Beyond Plastics chapter and how, at just 23 years old, he found himself leading in ways he did not expect. Together with his steering committee and volunteers, Brodie is building momentum against single-use plastic, from hosting nurdle patrols and beach cleanups to venue recycling and advocating for policy and legislative change. Hear Brodie's tips for reducing your exposure to microplastic pollution and how to join meetings, find resources, and get involved with this newly formed organization.
Our Guest:
Brodie Longo - Director, NEO Chapter of Beyond Plastics brodielongo@yahoo.com
Resources:
Beyond Plastics National Organization
The Problem with Plastic by Judith Enck
Follow Beyond Plastics on Facebook
Follow us:
https://www.facebook.com/ecospeakscle
https://www.instagram.com/ecospeakscle
Contact us:
hello@ecospeakscle.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Diane Bickett, Host (00:04):
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a
podcast for the Eco Curious inNortheast Ohio.
My name is Diane Bickett, andmy producer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn,and live with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello, friends.
(00:24):
It's so good to be back after aSeptember break, which I was
able to do some traveling.
My highlight was a week inBend, Oregon, which is home to
great hikes and over 30 craftbreweries.
I hear the main reason for thatgreat beer is the great water
they have there, which comesfrom deep aquifers after
filtering through the forestsand the volcanic rock.
(00:46):
So you wonder what this has todo with today's episode?
Well, I will tell you.
As we know, clean water isessential for sustaining all
life as well as making greatbeer, which brings me to our
guest today, Brody Longo, who isthe director of the Northeast
Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics,a newly formed grassroots
(01:07):
organization that focuses onmaking our water cleaner by
reducing plastic pollution andthe use of single-use plastic
through education and activism.
Stay with us to hear thingsabout nurtle patrols, what it's
like starting a Northeast OhioBeyond Plastics chapter, and how
Brody, at just 23 years old,found himself leading in ways he
(01:29):
did not expect and doing thingshe did not expect, like coming
on a podcast.
So welcome, Brody.
Brodie Longo, Guest (01:36):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:37):
It was so nice to meet you back in July
when we um were doing ourEcoMeet CLE picnic at the
Cleveland Metro Parks.
And you and Grace, yourgirlfriend, showed up with your
blue Beyond Plastics t-shirts.
And I'm like, hmm, who arethey?
And what are they doing?
So that led to a conversationabout this organization that
(01:59):
you're involved with.
And I started following you onFacebook, your uh Beyond
Plastics Facebook page, andnotice that you're just out
every weekend, like eithertalking to groups or doing
cleanups and things of thatnature.
So we want to hear all about uhwhat you're doing.
And but first of all, let's letme ask you when we talk about
(02:23):
getting beyond plastics, are youtalking about individual
decisions or trying to make likelegislative changes?
Tell us about the organizationthat you're involved with and
the um the larger organization,the nationwide Beyond Plastics.
Brodie Longo, Guest (02:38):
So Beyond Plastics is a national
organization.
It is located at BenningtonCollege in Vermont, and it is
led by Judith Enk, who was apart of the EPA from 2008 to
2016 underneath Obama.
So they offer a multitude oftraining programs.
The first one is to help peoplestart their own um grassroots
(03:00):
organization.
And that is a two-day,two-hour-long Zoom class.
You have to complete both Zoomclasses in order to get a
certification.
With that certification, youget a lot of other resources
that you can use to start yourown grassroots organization.
As long as you have as long asyou have a couple of other
people, you know, that you canwork with to start the
(03:21):
organization.
So there are about 150 eitherchapters or affiliates of Beyond
Plastic nationwide.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:29):
Oh, that many.
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:30):
Wow.
Yeah, and we are lucky to workwith two of them on a pretty
regular basis, one of which isactually a part of our steering
committee.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:37):
Okay.
Where where are they located?
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:39):
Um Catalina from the Cleveland Heights
Green Team.
And then the second would beKathy Smacklow.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:46):
Oh, okay.
And so they're both local.
Are are they part of the thenthe Northeast Ohio chapter?
Um then they've been throughthe training.
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:55):
Yes, they would have had to have gone
through the training to at leastbecome an affiliate.
Um the Cleveland Heights GreenTeam, they operate as their own
entity, but them being a part ofBeyond Plastics as an affiliate
allows them to utilize a lotmore resources that Beyond
Plastics can can offer people.
Diane Bickett, Host (04:12):
Okay.
So this organization inNortheast Ohio, you started like
back in January or February,right?
So it is very new.
Brodie Longo, Guest (04:22):
Yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (04:22):
Um and you were then new as well to the
organization, right?
Because it was started bysomeone else.
You want to talk about who thefounders were and how you got
roped in or drawn in, I shouldsay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (04:36):
So the inaugural meeting was this past
January, and it was another oneof our members, part of the
steering committee, who startedit.
That would be Kevin Peterka.
Due to some personal thingshappening in his life, though,
he wasn't able to offer as muchtime.
So he asked if I would be ableto take over the reins of
director.
So that happened in June, and Iwas very ecstatic to be able to
(05:02):
get the privilege to be able tolead the organization.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:05):
Good for you.
Good for you.
Were you involved at thebeginning, or how did you hear
about it?
How did you get involved?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:11):
So I had initially heard about it through
a email that was sent out bythe Cleveland Heights Green
Team, their newsletter.
It was listed, the inauguralmeeting was listed within the
newsletter.
So I figured I should probablygo because up until that point I
had um really wanted to getmyself into the community to be
a part of something bigger thanmyself.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:33):
Oh, that's awesome.
And your day job, you work at ametal fabricating company, is
that right?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:39):
Yes.
Um, my day job is by trade aCNC machinist.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:44):
Okay, cool.
Well, what is the mission ofBeyond Plastics, sort of the
national organization and thenyour local group?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:52):
Aaron Powell So local groups and
national organizations kind ofwork under the same premise
where the goal is to inevitablyban the manufacturing and sale
of single-use plastics.
And the way that we plan onachieving that goal is by
educating the public andpolicymakers alongside working
with policymakers to enactlegislation that helps to back
(06:13):
that up.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:14):
Wow.
That that's a big lift forsure.
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:17):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:18):
And there are several organizations that
you work alongside kind of topromote that work.
Do you want to name some?
You mentioned the ClevelandHeights Green Team.
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:27):
The Cleveland Heights Green Team
primarily is one of the largerones that are organizations
outside of us that we work with.
But another one that I wouldlike to mention that we worked
with a lot over the summer wasthe Fairport Harbor Arts and
Cultural Association.
They have a four-part concertseries that they put on every
summer.
And we worked with them to helpbuild their sustainability
(06:50):
infrastructure throughout theyear at their concerts.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:53):
Oh, really?
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:54):
Yeah.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:55):
So were you in charge of collecting plastic
for recycling or did you have abooth?
What did that look like?
Brodie Longo, Guest (07:01):
So at the first uh concert series that
they had put on, we had a boothand then a couple of the
volunteers would go around tothe bins to pick recyclable
plastics and aluminum out of thebins.
And then at the end, we justgave it all to them so they
could take the plastic forrecycling and then give the cans
to the fire department.
The second show was their muchlarger show.
(07:23):
It was the reggae show.
And in that show, there were 10stations for um trash.
But since it was spread over amuch larger area and no actual
recycling infrastructure, it waspretty difficult to go through
all 10 of the cans on thepremises and pull out all the
recyclable aluminum and uhplastic.
(07:43):
But throughout the thenine-hour show or whatnot,
however long it was, I hadpulled quite a substantial
amount of uh recyclable plasticsand aluminum to show them that
even without an infrastructure,albeit it being quite a lot of
work, it still can be done.
So what's the next step?
Let's invest in someinfrastructure to see what we
(08:06):
can get done.
So by the third and the fourth,we had nine recycling cans
total with the 10 trash cansthat they had.
And we had been able to reducethe amount of work put in by
about 80 to 85 percent.
Diane Bickett, Host (08:20):
Work smarter, not harder.
That makes a lot of sense.
So they funded the theprovision of the bins and the
recycling services.
Brodie Longo, Guest (08:27):
They put forth uh funds for five of their
own cans, and then we providedfour of ours.
Diane Bickett, Host (08:33):
Wow.
So next year you'll be all setand you won't be digging through
trash cans.
Absolutely.
Well, I admire your dedication.
Um you're sitting here withyour girlfriend Grace, who is
not speaking.
She doesn't have a speakingrole on the podcast.
She doesn't want, but um, Iunderstand you've kind of been a
team in in your involvementwith this org.
Brodie Longo, Guest (08:54):
Absolutely.
Uh ever since I want to say uhlate February to early March
when we would hang out more.
Um, that was when we firststarted going into some of our
our cleanups.
Because I want to say as soonas the weather was like 40
degrees, there were people whowere like, okay, let's see what
we can go out and and pull outof our parks and pull out of the
(09:15):
lake.
Diane Bickett, Host (09:15):
You mentioned earlier that you
wanted to get involved withsomething larger than yourself
uh and make a difference.
That issue seemed to settle onplastic pollution.
How did that come about, do youthink?
Brodie Longo, Guest (09:30):
Um, ever since I was young, I always
spent time outside.
And especially when I was ableto drive, I was always outside,
primarily at one of my mostfavorite places, the Menor
Lagoons Nature Marina.
And every time that I had gonethere, especially over the
summer, there was always a lotof plastic pollution.
So the summer of 2019, I wasable to get me and a couple of
(09:53):
my other friends to go down andjust clean it up.
Because all of us understoodthat that there was a problem
here, so why not do somethingabout it while we could?
We expected, you know, the thetrash to return inevitably, but
I digress.
So we went, we we cleaned up,and little did I know is just in
that action alone that one ofmy friends would have an
(10:14):
opportunity where I would beable to come become the vice
president of the menor greenteam my senior year, which would
have been the fiscal schoolyear of 2019 to 2020.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:25):
Oh wow.
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:27):
So ever ever since that point, but
unfortunately with with COVID, Ihad to move straight into the
workforce.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:33):
Yeah.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:34):
Uh essentially.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:35):
So menor high school green team, and then
fast forward to director ofBeyond Plastics, Northeast Ohio.
That's pretty amazing.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:45):
There's a a pretty big loneliness epidemic
going around that everybody tosome degree or another is
afflicted by.
And I knew that uh if I couldjust be a part of something
bigger than myself, then thatcould save me from a whole other
world of of potential outcomes.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:05):
I see.
Are you working to recruitother young people in your beach
cleanups?
And what other act what othertype of programs are you
offering or you involved withhere?
Brodie Longo, Guest (11:15):
Um to what what seems to engage young
people the most is typically thecleanups.
Uh, it's not so much in the thetabling or the education side
of things.
So primarily if we want to wewant to try and pull younger
people, it's usually atdocumentary viewings and and
cleanups where they can getintroduced, acclimated, see what
(11:36):
it's all about, and then seehow that fits into their time.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:40):
Have you um seen Ripples of Plastic?
Brodie Longo, Guest (11:43):
I was there at the very first screening.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:46):
Well, Chris Slanger was a guest on our show
a while back, and I've noticedthat his film is getting out
there more and more.
So that that's very exciting.
Um you do a lot with educatingabout nurdles.
Let's talk about nurtles, thoselittle plastic pellets.
You're in manufacturing, butyou're on the the metal side,
(12:06):
but there's a whole other sidethat's that's built around
making stuff, whether it'suseful or not, out of these
plastic pellets.
Let's talk a little bit.
What do you want to tell usabout nurdles, what they are,
where they come from, and theproblems they're causing?
Brodie Longo, Guest (12:23):
So nurdles are pre-industrial plastic
pellets.
They are considered amanufactured microplastic as
they are five millimeters andsmaller.
So you could think about thesize of a pencil eraser and
smaller.
When we first started doing ourbeach cleanups, we would
separate the colorful plasticsfrom the normal, kind of more
trashy, degraded, uglier lookingplastics, because I like to use
(12:45):
the colorful plastics for art.
And what we noticed was we werefinding nurdles in the plastic
material as I was learning aboutthe entirety of the plastic
pollution crisis, one of thembeing nurdles.
So earlier this year, I had athought.
I'm like, if we were able tofind them so easily looking just
for generalized plastics, howwhat would we find and how easy
(13:08):
would it be for us to find themif we sought them out
specifically?
So we scoured every every beachthat we could all across the
northeast Ohio region.
There were a couple of timeswhere we went on little vacation
excursions.
First was July 4th to PresqueIsle State Park, where we
(13:28):
stopped at Ashtabula, we stoppedat Connaot, we stopped at
Raccoon Park, which is a fewmiles east of the
Ohio-Pennsylvania border, andthen finally at Presque Isle to
track the nurta pollution up thecoast.
Diane Bickett, Host (13:42):
Wow.
Brodie Longo, Guest (13:43):
So we're going well without our, or well
outside of our domain of, youknow, the Northeast Ohio region,
but I truthfully believe that,you know, with these being such
a s systemic problem and itbeing in such an open waterway,
we don't know what could becoming from other states,
specifically Lake Michigan andwhatnot, because there's a lot
(14:03):
of manufacturing that happensaround there too.
Um, and where it ends upfurther up Lake Erie.
So we've been going we've beentracking that data to try and
see if we can find correlationswith what we know is happening
right here in the Northeast Ohioregion.
Diane Bickett, Host (14:19):
Aaron Powell Is there a way to track
uh the origin of the nurdle?
I mean, is there some kind ofmarking or specific colors or
anything identifiable that youcould take back to that company
and say, hey, uh clean up your Imean, how are they getting out
there?
I I understand it's withtransportation.
So they're either on a rail carthat's not covered, or how else
(14:44):
are they just getting blowninto the environment?
Brodie Longo, Guest (14:47):
Aaron Powell So the rail cart is a
great example.
That is a pretty common waythat they do enter our
environment.
The way that they enter ourenvironment is there's very
little EPA regulation on howthey are to be transported,
which oftentimes leads to theabuse of how they're
transported.
And then there are also prettypoor standards put in place on
how they're to be cleaned up incontamination spills.
(15:08):
So say that you have a spilleither at the manufacturer or
the train.
And by manufacturer, I mean thethe company that makes the
nurdles or the company that usesthe nurdles as a raw material
to make something else or at thetrain if it overturns and
whatnot.
Uh, that is a pretty common wayfor them to enter the
(15:29):
environment.
And with those those lax rules,they're essentially as good as
brushed off or hosed off intoour local water supply.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:36):
I see.
So just a spillage on theproperty or en route, and it
seemed like it would be a prettyeasy fix, you know, for the EPA
to put some regulations inplace.
It would just simply requirethem to contain them in better
ways.
Brodie Longo, Guest (15:51):
Them being so small, do you know how many
nurdles are in 55 pounds ofnurdles?
Diane Bickett, Host (15:57):
Uh 55 million.
I don't know.
I just guessed three million.
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:02):
So a lot a lot less than 55 million, but
that that's still um just alarge amount to try and clean
up.
Because at any given time, ifwe spend two hours at our
hottest spot, we'll find no morethan three thousand.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:17):
You really have to nip it in the butt at
the source, right?
Is that what you're saying?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:21):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:22):
Okay.
Is the national organizationworking in that regard?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:26):
Um there I there was a bill that was
proposed, the Plastic PelletFree Waters Act, but I honestly
can't speak with too muchassurance if Beyond Plastics uh
played a big role in that ornot.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:41):
Okay.
Was it introduced and notpassed, or has it been?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:44):
It was yeah, it was introduced but not
passed.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:46):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:46):
So one of one of our goals is to see what
we can do with trying toreintroduce that, but that's a
pretty big feat.
Yeah, that's that's that'slarger than just our own
chapter.
Diane Bickett, (16:58):
Understandable.
Understandable.
So beach cleanups and tablingevents.
Um you also found yourself infront of um, I think it was the
Fairport Harbor Church.
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:11):
Uh yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (17:11):
Making presentations.
These are all things that wereprobably new to you like from a
year ago.
Absolutely.
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:18):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (17:19):
What has this involvement in this
organization, you know, providedfor you personally and
professionally?
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:25):
It's given me a uh a large sense of of
pride, right?
It's great to do all of thesethings, but in the check of my
ego, um you realize just howmuch larger and how much more
systemic all of these issues arethan we are just people at any
given level.
(17:45):
Like these issues spangenerations.
I mean, plastic was uh, might Isay, feticized in the mid-1950s
when Life magazine would put,you know, families throwing all
of this plastic stuff into theair, saying, look, it you don't
have to wash your dishesanymore.
You can just throw it away.
Um so it's definitely helped alot with just perspective in
(18:10):
general.
And it's it's great to just bea part of the community and
engage with people who reallysee it and understand it too.
But for I as I feel a lot ofus, we don't really know how to
get out there and do somethingwith that.
Diane Bickett, Host (18:25):
So what would be your advice for people
to uh reduce their use ofsingle-use plastic and reduce
their exposure to microplasticpollution?
Brodie Longo, Guest (18:37):
So whenever I'm like tabling events or just
talking about this to anybody,I always tell them to focus on
what your food and beveragescome in.
If it is any beverage that isin plastic, energy drink, sports
drink, bottled water, don't gofor it.
There is a there is about60,000 known microplastics that
(19:00):
could exist in any 16.9 liter orounce fluid, whatever, of water
bottle, right?
So I could imagine that thatalso extends to any sports drink
that exists, to which I used tobe a consumer of.
Um, and then look at what youryour food is wrapped in.
I implore anybody listening tothis to go to their local
(19:20):
grocery store and just look formeat that isn't wrapped in
plastic.
And I would say to you, goodluck.
Good luck.
Um, and then I also adviseusing like a cotton bag if you
have one or reusable for likethe the pick your own produce
that some grocery stores have.
Because it's way better thanyou know, buying a potato that
(19:42):
is wrapped in plastic, wrapbuying a banana that is wrapped
in plastic.
You can put it in your own, youknow, bag to take.
Diane Bickett, Host (19:50):
Yeah.
So we have to be concernedabout what we're consuming in
terms of um our exposure toplastics because it's been known
to get in our bloodstreams,it's it's found in our brains
now, and it's pretty alarming.
We've talked about this inother interviews.
Um, there are some techsolutions like our friends over
(20:11):
at Cleaner that are uh thatcreated um invented a uh filter
that attaches to your washingmachine that will filter out all
the microplastics coming offyour fleece clothing before it
enters the lake.
Um but there's some other likepublic awareness campaigns.
(20:32):
I think the Cleveland Heightsscreen team is working on
something with its localbusinesses.
Can you speak to that?
Brodie Longo, Guest (20:38):
It's uh Yeah, I can I can speak a little
bit.
So what they're currentlyworking on right now is the
first month of the trial period,the upon request initiative.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:47):
Upon request.
Brodie Longo, Guest (20:47):
That's so so what the upon request
initiative is, it's it's notlike a full-scale, you know,
reducing all single-use plasticsthat uh a fast food chain
restaurant might sell, but justgetting the the restaurant owner
and then the employees and thenthe individuals walking into
the the area for them to thinkabout if they need these
(21:09):
utensils or not.
So by upon request, it is puton the consumer to identify if
they need plastic utensils ornot.
Because if they feel they don'tneed plastic utensils and they
don't make that known, well thenyou're not giving away a
plastic straw wrapped in aplastic wrapper along with some
polystyrene utensils wrapped inanother layer of plastic.
Diane Bickett, Host (21:30):
Yeah.
And how many folks do you haveon your steering committee?
Or do you have board members?
How what is the structure ofhow plastics look like?
Brodie Longo, Guest (21:40):
I would say that as of now it's a it's a
relatively loose structure, butwe do have eight members that
are pretty solid in the steeringcommittee.
We meet the first Monday ofevery month, um, and we meet
usually at seven o'clock forabout an hour to an hour and a
half long through Zoom.
Uh, I usually send the Zoomlink out a couple of times to
(22:01):
remind people, but it's mainlythe steering committee that
joins, but it's it's welcome toanybody who wants to know what
we're doing and how they can getinvolved.
I also recommend people checkout the the Facebook group
Beyond Plastics, the NortheastOhio chapter, or if you want to
talk more privately, my email,brody longo at yahoo.com, b R O
D I E L-O-N-G-O at Yahoo.com.
Diane Bickett, Host (22:23):
And if someone wanted to get that Zoom
link, they could email you aswell.
Brodie Longo, Guest (22:27):
Yes.
Um if you if you email me or uhcontact through the um the
Facebook group, the Facebookpage, uh, and send me your
email, then I can add you to theemail list.
Diane Bickett, Host (22:41):
Okay, perfect.
I noticed on the BeyondPlastics uh website for the
national organization, there area lot of resources.
There's a learn tab with a lotof fact sheets about effects of
microplastics on the human bodyand the environment.
Uh so anyone wanting to learnmore could really go to that as
(23:04):
a resource.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:05):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:07):
And I think there's a book coming out too.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:10):
Yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:10):
It's called The Problem with Plastic by
Judith Enk.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:14):
Yep.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:14):
So she's the woman that started it.
Yes.
What did the training looklike?
The grassroots training?
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:19):
Uh, pretty simple.
I mean, you can literally do itfrom the comfort of anywhere.
You you do have to participateand you do have to attend both
of the the training uh sessionsto be able to get the the
certification, which then helpsyou get your resources to either
become an affiliate or to startyour own organization,
(23:43):
grassroots organization.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:44):
What events do you have coming up?
Do you have anything uh thatpeople might want to learn about
for the fall or people canorganize a cleanup or do a
nurdle patrol with you?
What do you want to say there?
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:57):
So what I would what I would say is uh at
least at the time of recording,we are starting to get into some
colder months.
Um we will still be doingnurdal patrols, but that may
just be within the organizationjust due to the the temperature
and things like that.
Um but I would say I probablycan't talk about it a whole lot,
(24:19):
but I would say that keep aneye out uh at the Cuyahoga River
between November 6th andNovember 13th.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:30):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:31):
If you are familiar with Bessie, our local
sea creature, for anyone who isinterested in cryptids out
there, you might see somethinginteresting out there.
I don't know.
Bessie Sightings, Betty Sight,Bessie Sightings.com.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:45):
What's the down low on Bessie?
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:48):
I guess we'll just have to figure that
out once we get closer.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:51):
So what are your needs for Northeast Ohio
beyond plastics in terms of yourorganization?
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:57):
So we are always looking for um people in
healthcare, and that couldeither come from the side of
research or the side of, youknow, you just work in the um
facilities management?
Yeah, the facil the facilitiesmanagement.
You work with the the food, andeven if you're a janitor and
(25:18):
you see that there's a lot ofplastic waste, um, we're always
interested in seeing what we cando at the individual facilities
because that's just a greatplace to start.
Um, we're also looking foranyone that works in a library
or just has a lot of connectionswith uh um the libraries just
around the Northeast Ohioregion, those are great
opportunities to hostdocumentaries or just generally
(25:42):
speak to people.
Um I have learned thatlibraries to tend to be filled
with a lot more adept people forthe the uh the plastic crisis.
Um and then individuals whohave experience in the process
of writing and proposing lawsand legislation.
Um anybody who just hasexperience with that, I don't
(26:05):
know the first part about that.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:07):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:07):
Government affairs or yeah, and just
anybody with uh with experience.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:13):
And are you looking for more um board
members, steering committeemembers?
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:17):
Um I would say as of now, probably not.
I would like to see how thewinter goes.
Okay.
Um with setting up a couple ofthe projects and how we want to
approach them.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:27):
Very good.
And how about funding for likesome of your recycling
containers for the event stuffthat you're doing?
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:36):
If there's anybody that has experience with
fundraising or maybe even grantwriting, we um I've been in
communication with a couple ofpeople, but again, it I wouldn't
say that that's my strong suit.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:49):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:49):
Um so just anyone who has um experience
there to really be able toeither help us out or at least
help walk me through it.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:57):
Okay.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us and thank you so much
for all your work.
I've got a couple announcementsthat I would like to wrap with.
Uh, our next EcoMeet CLE isgoing to be on November 18th at
Great Lakes Brewing Company from5 to 8.
And we will continue with thewater focus.
(27:18):
Uh, we are having Emily Bacaspeak.
Uh, she's with the uh CuyahogaCounty's Freshwater Institute.
And we're gonna have a panel ofspeakers that will really talk
about how our region has beenpositively impacted by the
cleanup of our waterways.
And secondly, um, if you'reenjoying EcoSpeak CLE, um Greg
(27:42):
and I would love for you toconsider sponsoring or becoming
a donor to the podcast in theform of a small monthly
contribution like three bucks,five bucks, um, whatever help
you can give.
If you're enjoying listening tothe show, it will help offset
some of our podcast expenses.
And we have a donation buttonon our website, uh which you can
(28:06):
access through uh the podcast,the main link through our
podcast.
Greg Rotuno, Cohost (28:11):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of
EcoSpeak CLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you getyour podcast.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
month.
Please follow EcoSpeak CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(28:32):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeaks CLE, you can email
us at hello at ecospexcle.com.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a
podcast for the Eco Curious inNortheast Ohio.
My name is Diane Bickett, andmy producer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn,and live with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello, friends.
(00:24):
It's so good to be back after aSeptember break, which I was
able to do some traveling.
My highlight was a week inBend, Oregon, which is home to
great hikes and over 30 craftbreweries.
I hear the main reason for thatgreat beer is the great water
they have there, which comesfrom deep aquifers after
filtering through the forestsand the volcanic rock.
(00:46):
So you wonder what this has todo with today's episode?
Well, I will tell you.
As we know, clean water isessential for sustaining all
life as well as making greatbeer, which brings me to our
guest today, Brody Longo, who isthe director of the Northeast
Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics,a newly formed grassroots
(01:07):
organization that focuses onmaking our water cleaner by
reducing plastic pollution andthe use of single-use plastic
through education and activism.
Stay with us to hear thingsabout nurtle patrols, what it's
like starting a Northeast OhioBeyond Plastics chapter, and how
Brody, at just 23 years old,found himself leading in ways he
(01:29):
did not expect and doing thingshe did not expect, like coming
on a podcast.
So welcome, Brody.
Brodie Longo, Guest (01:36):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:37):
It was so nice to meet you back in July
when we um were doing ourEcoMeet CLE picnic at the
Cleveland Metro Parks.
And you and Grace, yourgirlfriend, showed up with your
blue Beyond Plastics t-shirts.
And I'm like, hmm, who arethey?
And what are they doing?
So that led to a conversationabout this organization that
(01:59):
you're involved with.
And I started following you onFacebook, your uh Beyond
Plastics Facebook page, andnotice that you're just out
every weekend, like eithertalking to groups or doing
cleanups and things of thatnature.
So we want to hear all about uhwhat you're doing.
And but first of all, let's letme ask you when we talk about
(02:23):
getting beyond plastics, are youtalking about individual
decisions or trying to make likelegislative changes?
Tell us about the organizationthat you're involved with and
the um the larger organization,the nationwide Beyond Plastics.
Brodie Longo, Guest (02:38):
So Beyond Plastics is a national
organization.
It is located at BenningtonCollege in Vermont, and it is
led by Judith Enk, who was apart of the EPA from 2008 to
2016 underneath Obama.
So they offer a multitude oftraining programs.
The first one is to help peoplestart their own um grassroots
(03:00):
organization.
And that is a two-day,two-hour-long Zoom class.
You have to complete both Zoomclasses in order to get a
certification.
With that certification, youget a lot of other resources
that you can use to start yourown grassroots organization.
As long as you have as long asyou have a couple of other
people, you know, that you canwork with to start the
(03:21):
organization.
So there are about 150 eitherchapters or affiliates of Beyond
Plastic nationwide.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:29):
Oh, that many.
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:30):
Wow.
Yeah, and we are lucky to workwith two of them on a pretty
regular basis, one of which isactually a part of our steering
committee.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:37):
Okay.
Where where are they located?
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:39):
Um Catalina from the Cleveland Heights
Green Team.
And then the second would beKathy Smacklow.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:46):
Oh, okay.
And so they're both local.
Are are they part of the thenthe Northeast Ohio chapter?
Um then they've been throughthe training.
Brodie Longo, Guest (03:55):
Yes, they would have had to have gone
through the training to at leastbecome an affiliate.
Um the Cleveland Heights GreenTeam, they operate as their own
entity, but them being a part ofBeyond Plastics as an affiliate
allows them to utilize a lotmore resources that Beyond
Plastics can can offer people.
Diane Bickett, Host (04:12):
Okay.
So this organization inNortheast Ohio, you started like
back in January or February,right?
So it is very new.
Brodie Longo, Guest (04:22):
Yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (04:22):
Um and you were then new as well to the
organization, right?
Because it was started bysomeone else.
You want to talk about who thefounders were and how you got
roped in or drawn in, I shouldsay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (04:36):
So the inaugural meeting was this past
January, and it was another oneof our members, part of the
steering committee, who startedit.
That would be Kevin Peterka.
Due to some personal thingshappening in his life, though,
he wasn't able to offer as muchtime.
So he asked if I would be ableto take over the reins of
director.
So that happened in June, and Iwas very ecstatic to be able to
(05:02):
get the privilege to be able tolead the organization.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:05):
Good for you.
Good for you.
Were you involved at thebeginning, or how did you hear
about it?
How did you get involved?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:11):
So I had initially heard about it through
a email that was sent out bythe Cleveland Heights Green
Team, their newsletter.
It was listed, the inauguralmeeting was listed within the
newsletter.
So I figured I should probablygo because up until that point I
had um really wanted to getmyself into the community to be
a part of something bigger thanmyself.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:33):
Oh, that's awesome.
And your day job, you work at ametal fabricating company, is
that right?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:39):
Yes.
Um, my day job is by trade aCNC machinist.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:44):
Okay, cool.
Well, what is the mission ofBeyond Plastics, sort of the
national organization and thenyour local group?
Brodie Longo, Guest (05:52):
Aaron Powell So local groups and
national organizations kind ofwork under the same premise
where the goal is to inevitablyban the manufacturing and sale
of single-use plastics.
And the way that we plan onachieving that goal is by
educating the public andpolicymakers alongside working
with policymakers to enactlegislation that helps to back
(06:13):
that up.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:14):
Wow.
That that's a big lift forsure.
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:17):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:18):
And there are several organizations that
you work alongside kind of topromote that work.
Do you want to name some?
You mentioned the ClevelandHeights Green Team.
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:27):
The Cleveland Heights Green Team
primarily is one of the largerones that are organizations
outside of us that we work with.
But another one that I wouldlike to mention that we worked
with a lot over the summer wasthe Fairport Harbor Arts and
Cultural Association.
They have a four-part concertseries that they put on every
summer.
And we worked with them to helpbuild their sustainability
(06:50):
infrastructure throughout theyear at their concerts.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:53):
Oh, really?
Brodie Longo, Guest (06:54):
Yeah.
Diane Bickett, Host (06:55):
So were you in charge of collecting plastic
for recycling or did you have abooth?
What did that look like?
Brodie Longo, Guest (07:01):
So at the first uh concert series that
they had put on, we had a boothand then a couple of the
volunteers would go around tothe bins to pick recyclable
plastics and aluminum out of thebins.
And then at the end, we justgave it all to them so they
could take the plastic forrecycling and then give the cans
to the fire department.
The second show was their muchlarger show.
(07:23):
It was the reggae show.
And in that show, there were 10stations for um trash.
But since it was spread over amuch larger area and no actual
recycling infrastructure, it waspretty difficult to go through
all 10 of the cans on thepremises and pull out all the
recyclable aluminum and uhplastic.
(07:43):
But throughout the thenine-hour show or whatnot,
however long it was, I hadpulled quite a substantial
amount of uh recyclable plasticsand aluminum to show them that
even without an infrastructure,albeit it being quite a lot of
work, it still can be done.
So what's the next step?
Let's invest in someinfrastructure to see what we
(08:06):
can get done.
So by the third and the fourth,we had nine recycling cans
total with the 10 trash cansthat they had.
And we had been able to reducethe amount of work put in by
about 80 to 85 percent.
Diane Bickett, Host (08:20):
Work smarter, not harder.
That makes a lot of sense.
So they funded the theprovision of the bins and the
recycling services.
Brodie Longo, Guest (08:27):
They put forth uh funds for five of their
own cans, and then we providedfour of ours.
Diane Bickett, Host (08:33):
Wow.
So next year you'll be all setand you won't be digging through
trash cans.
Absolutely.
Well, I admire your dedication.
Um you're sitting here withyour girlfriend Grace, who is
not speaking.
She doesn't have a speakingrole on the podcast.
She doesn't want, but um, Iunderstand you've kind of been a
team in in your involvementwith this org.
Brodie Longo, Guest (08:54):
Absolutely.
Uh ever since I want to say uhlate February to early March
when we would hang out more.
Um, that was when we firststarted going into some of our
our cleanups.
Because I want to say as soonas the weather was like 40
degrees, there were people whowere like, okay, let's see what
we can go out and and pull outof our parks and pull out of the
(09:15):
lake.
Diane Bickett, Host (09:15):
You mentioned earlier that you
wanted to get involved withsomething larger than yourself
uh and make a difference.
That issue seemed to settle onplastic pollution.
How did that come about, do youthink?
Brodie Longo, Guest (09:30):
Um, ever since I was young, I always
spent time outside.
And especially when I was ableto drive, I was always outside,
primarily at one of my mostfavorite places, the Menor
Lagoons Nature Marina.
And every time that I had gonethere, especially over the
summer, there was always a lotof plastic pollution.
So the summer of 2019, I wasable to get me and a couple of
(09:53):
my other friends to go down andjust clean it up.
Because all of us understoodthat that there was a problem
here, so why not do somethingabout it while we could?
We expected, you know, the thetrash to return inevitably, but
I digress.
So we went, we we cleaned up,and little did I know is just in
that action alone that one ofmy friends would have an
(10:14):
opportunity where I would beable to come become the vice
president of the menor greenteam my senior year, which would
have been the fiscal schoolyear of 2019 to 2020.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:25):
Oh wow.
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:27):
So ever ever since that point, but
unfortunately with with COVID, Ihad to move straight into the
workforce.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:33):
Yeah.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:34):
Uh essentially.
Diane Bickett, Host (10:35):
So menor high school green team, and then
fast forward to director ofBeyond Plastics, Northeast Ohio.
That's pretty amazing.
Brodie Longo, Guest (10:45):
There's a a pretty big loneliness epidemic
going around that everybody tosome degree or another is
afflicted by.
And I knew that uh if I couldjust be a part of something
bigger than myself, then thatcould save me from a whole other
world of of potential outcomes.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:05):
I see.
Are you working to recruitother young people in your beach
cleanups?
And what other act what othertype of programs are you
offering or you involved withhere?
Brodie Longo, Guest (11:15):
Um to what what seems to engage young
people the most is typically thecleanups.
Uh, it's not so much in the thetabling or the education side
of things.
So primarily if we want to wewant to try and pull younger
people, it's usually atdocumentary viewings and and
cleanups where they can getintroduced, acclimated, see what
(11:36):
it's all about, and then seehow that fits into their time.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:40):
Have you um seen Ripples of Plastic?
Brodie Longo, Guest (11:43):
I was there at the very first screening.
Diane Bickett, Host (11:46):
Well, Chris Slanger was a guest on our show
a while back, and I've noticedthat his film is getting out
there more and more.
So that that's very exciting.
Um you do a lot with educatingabout nurdles.
Let's talk about nurtles, thoselittle plastic pellets.
You're in manufacturing, butyou're on the the metal side,
(12:06):
but there's a whole other sidethat's that's built around
making stuff, whether it'suseful or not, out of these
plastic pellets.
Let's talk a little bit.
What do you want to tell usabout nurdles, what they are,
where they come from, and theproblems they're causing?
Brodie Longo, Guest (12:23):
So nurdles are pre-industrial plastic
pellets.
They are considered amanufactured microplastic as
they are five millimeters andsmaller.
So you could think about thesize of a pencil eraser and
smaller.
When we first started doing ourbeach cleanups, we would
separate the colorful plasticsfrom the normal, kind of more
trashy, degraded, uglier lookingplastics, because I like to use
(12:45):
the colorful plastics for art.
And what we noticed was we werefinding nurdles in the plastic
material as I was learning aboutthe entirety of the plastic
pollution crisis, one of thembeing nurdles.
So earlier this year, I had athought.
I'm like, if we were able tofind them so easily looking just
for generalized plastics, howwhat would we find and how easy
(13:08):
would it be for us to find themif we sought them out
specifically?
So we scoured every every beachthat we could all across the
northeast Ohio region.
There were a couple of timeswhere we went on little vacation
excursions.
First was July 4th to PresqueIsle State Park, where we
(13:28):
stopped at Ashtabula, we stoppedat Connaot, we stopped at
Raccoon Park, which is a fewmiles east of the
Ohio-Pennsylvania border, andthen finally at Presque Isle to
track the nurta pollution up thecoast.
Diane Bickett, Host (13:42):
Wow.
Brodie Longo, Guest (13:43):
So we're going well without our, or well
outside of our domain of, youknow, the Northeast Ohio region,
but I truthfully believe that,you know, with these being such
a s systemic problem and itbeing in such an open waterway,
we don't know what could becoming from other states,
specifically Lake Michigan andwhatnot, because there's a lot
(14:03):
of manufacturing that happensaround there too.
Um, and where it ends upfurther up Lake Erie.
So we've been going we've beentracking that data to try and
see if we can find correlationswith what we know is happening
right here in the Northeast Ohioregion.
Diane Bickett, Host (14:19):
Aaron Powell Is there a way to track
uh the origin of the nurdle?
I mean, is there some kind ofmarking or specific colors or
anything identifiable that youcould take back to that company
and say, hey, uh clean up your Imean, how are they getting out
there?
I I understand it's withtransportation.
So they're either on a rail carthat's not covered, or how else
(14:44):
are they just getting blowninto the environment?
Brodie Longo, Guest (14:47):
Aaron Powell So the rail cart is a
great example.
That is a pretty common waythat they do enter our
environment.
The way that they enter ourenvironment is there's very
little EPA regulation on howthey are to be transported,
which oftentimes leads to theabuse of how they're
transported.
And then there are also prettypoor standards put in place on
how they're to be cleaned up incontamination spills.
(15:08):
So say that you have a spilleither at the manufacturer or
the train.
And by manufacturer, I mean thethe company that makes the
nurdles or the company that usesthe nurdles as a raw material
to make something else or at thetrain if it overturns and
whatnot.
Uh, that is a pretty common wayfor them to enter the
(15:29):
environment.
And with those those lax rules,they're essentially as good as
brushed off or hosed off intoour local water supply.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:36):
I see.
So just a spillage on theproperty or en route, and it
seemed like it would be a prettyeasy fix, you know, for the EPA
to put some regulations inplace.
It would just simply requirethem to contain them in better
ways.
Brodie Longo, Guest (15:51):
Them being so small, do you know how many
nurdles are in 55 pounds ofnurdles?
Diane Bickett, Host (15:57):
Uh 55 million.
I don't know.
I just guessed three million.
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:02):
So a lot a lot less than 55 million, but
that that's still um just alarge amount to try and clean
up.
Because at any given time, ifwe spend two hours at our
hottest spot, we'll find no morethan three thousand.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:17):
You really have to nip it in the butt at
the source, right?
Is that what you're saying?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:21):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:22):
Okay.
Is the national organizationworking in that regard?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:26):
Um there I there was a bill that was
proposed, the Plastic PelletFree Waters Act, but I honestly
can't speak with too muchassurance if Beyond Plastics uh
played a big role in that ornot.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:41):
Okay.
Was it introduced and notpassed, or has it been?
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:44):
It was yeah, it was introduced but not
passed.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:46):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (16:46):
So one of one of our goals is to see what
we can do with trying toreintroduce that, but that's a
pretty big feat.
Yeah, that's that's that'slarger than just our own
chapter.
Diane Bickett, (16:58):
Understandable.
Understandable.
So beach cleanups and tablingevents.
Um you also found yourself infront of um, I think it was the
Fairport Harbor Church.
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:11):
Uh yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (17:11):
Making presentations.
These are all things that wereprobably new to you like from a
year ago.
Absolutely.
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:18):
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (17:19):
What has this involvement in this
organization, you know, providedfor you personally and
professionally?
Brodie Longo, Guest (17:25):
It's given me a uh a large sense of of
pride, right?
It's great to do all of thesethings, but in the check of my
ego, um you realize just howmuch larger and how much more
systemic all of these issues arethan we are just people at any
given level.
(17:45):
Like these issues spangenerations.
I mean, plastic was uh, might Isay, feticized in the mid-1950s
when Life magazine would put,you know, families throwing all
of this plastic stuff into theair, saying, look, it you don't
have to wash your dishesanymore.
You can just throw it away.
Um so it's definitely helped alot with just perspective in
(18:10):
general.
And it's it's great to just bea part of the community and
engage with people who reallysee it and understand it too.
But for I as I feel a lot ofus, we don't really know how to
get out there and do somethingwith that.
Diane Bickett, Host (18:25):
So what would be your advice for people
to uh reduce their use ofsingle-use plastic and reduce
their exposure to microplasticpollution?
Brodie Longo, Guest (18:37):
So whenever I'm like tabling events or just
talking about this to anybody,I always tell them to focus on
what your food and beveragescome in.
If it is any beverage that isin plastic, energy drink, sports
drink, bottled water, don't gofor it.
There is a there is about60,000 known microplastics that
(19:00):
could exist in any 16.9 liter orounce fluid, whatever, of water
bottle, right?
So I could imagine that thatalso extends to any sports drink
that exists, to which I used tobe a consumer of.
Um, and then look at what youryour food is wrapped in.
I implore anybody listening tothis to go to their local
(19:20):
grocery store and just look formeat that isn't wrapped in
plastic.
And I would say to you, goodluck.
Good luck.
Um, and then I also adviseusing like a cotton bag if you
have one or reusable for likethe the pick your own produce
that some grocery stores have.
Because it's way better thanyou know, buying a potato that
(19:42):
is wrapped in plastic, wrapbuying a banana that is wrapped
in plastic.
You can put it in your own, youknow, bag to take.
Diane Bickett, Host (19:50):
Yeah.
So we have to be concernedabout what we're consuming in
terms of um our exposure toplastics because it's been known
to get in our bloodstreams,it's it's found in our brains
now, and it's pretty alarming.
We've talked about this inother interviews.
Um, there are some techsolutions like our friends over
(20:11):
at Cleaner that are uh thatcreated um invented a uh filter
that attaches to your washingmachine that will filter out all
the microplastics coming offyour fleece clothing before it
enters the lake.
Um but there's some other likepublic awareness campaigns.
(20:32):
I think the Cleveland Heightsscreen team is working on
something with its localbusinesses.
Can you speak to that?
Brodie Longo, Guest (20:38):
It's uh Yeah, I can I can speak a little
bit.
So what they're currentlyworking on right now is the
first month of the trial period,the upon request initiative.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:47):
Upon request.
Brodie Longo, Guest (20:47):
That's so so what the upon request
initiative is, it's it's notlike a full-scale, you know,
reducing all single-use plasticsthat uh a fast food chain
restaurant might sell, but justgetting the the restaurant owner
and then the employees and thenthe individuals walking into
the the area for them to thinkabout if they need these
(21:09):
utensils or not.
So by upon request, it is puton the consumer to identify if
they need plastic utensils ornot.
Because if they feel they don'tneed plastic utensils and they
don't make that known, well thenyou're not giving away a
plastic straw wrapped in aplastic wrapper along with some
polystyrene utensils wrapped inanother layer of plastic.
Diane Bickett, Host (21:30):
Yeah.
And how many folks do you haveon your steering committee?
Or do you have board members?
How what is the structure ofhow plastics look like?
Brodie Longo, Guest (21:40):
I would say that as of now it's a it's a
relatively loose structure, butwe do have eight members that
are pretty solid in the steeringcommittee.
We meet the first Monday ofevery month, um, and we meet
usually at seven o'clock forabout an hour to an hour and a
half long through Zoom.
Uh, I usually send the Zoomlink out a couple of times to
(22:01):
remind people, but it's mainlythe steering committee that
joins, but it's it's welcome toanybody who wants to know what
we're doing and how they can getinvolved.
I also recommend people checkout the the Facebook group
Beyond Plastics, the NortheastOhio chapter, or if you want to
talk more privately, my email,brody longo at yahoo.com, b R O
D I E L-O-N-G-O at Yahoo.com.
Diane Bickett, Host (22:23):
And if someone wanted to get that Zoom
link, they could email you aswell.
Brodie Longo, Guest (22:27):
Yes.
Um if you if you email me or uhcontact through the um the
Facebook group, the Facebookpage, uh, and send me your
email, then I can add you to theemail list.
Diane Bickett, Host (22:41):
Okay, perfect.
I noticed on the BeyondPlastics uh website for the
national organization, there area lot of resources.
There's a learn tab with a lotof fact sheets about effects of
microplastics on the human bodyand the environment.
Uh so anyone wanting to learnmore could really go to that as
(23:04):
a resource.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:05):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:07):
And I think there's a book coming out too.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:10):
Yes.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:10):
It's called The Problem with Plastic by
Judith Enk.
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:14):
Yep.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:14):
So she's the woman that started it.
Yes.
What did the training looklike?
The grassroots training?
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:19):
Uh, pretty simple.
I mean, you can literally do itfrom the comfort of anywhere.
You you do have to participateand you do have to attend both
of the the training uh sessionsto be able to get the the
certification, which then helpsyou get your resources to either
become an affiliate or to startyour own organization,
(23:43):
grassroots organization.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:44):
What events do you have coming up?
Do you have anything uh thatpeople might want to learn about
for the fall or people canorganize a cleanup or do a
nurdle patrol with you?
What do you want to say there?
Brodie Longo, Guest (23:57):
So what I would what I would say is uh at
least at the time of recording,we are starting to get into some
colder months.
Um we will still be doingnurdal patrols, but that may
just be within the organizationjust due to the the temperature
and things like that.
Um but I would say I probablycan't talk about it a whole lot,
(24:19):
but I would say that keep aneye out uh at the Cuyahoga River
between November 6th andNovember 13th.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:30):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:31):
If you are familiar with Bessie, our local
sea creature, for anyone who isinterested in cryptids out
there, you might see somethinginteresting out there.
I don't know.
Bessie Sightings, Betty Sight,Bessie Sightings.com.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:45):
What's the down low on Bessie?
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:48):
I guess we'll just have to figure that
out once we get closer.
Diane Bickett, Host (24:51):
So what are your needs for Northeast Ohio
beyond plastics in terms of yourorganization?
Brodie Longo, Guest (24:57):
So we are always looking for um people in
healthcare, and that couldeither come from the side of
research or the side of, youknow, you just work in the um
facilities management?
Yeah, the facil the facilitiesmanagement.
You work with the the food, andeven if you're a janitor and
(25:18):
you see that there's a lot ofplastic waste, um, we're always
interested in seeing what we cando at the individual facilities
because that's just a greatplace to start.
Um, we're also looking foranyone that works in a library
or just has a lot of connectionswith uh um the libraries just
around the Northeast Ohioregion, those are great
opportunities to hostdocumentaries or just generally
(25:42):
speak to people.
Um I have learned thatlibraries to tend to be filled
with a lot more adept people forthe the uh the plastic crisis.
Um and then individuals whohave experience in the process
of writing and proposing lawsand legislation.
Um anybody who just hasexperience with that, I don't
(26:05):
know the first part about that.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:07):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:07):
Government affairs or yeah, and just
anybody with uh with experience.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:13):
And are you looking for more um board
members, steering committeemembers?
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:17):
Um I would say as of now, probably not.
I would like to see how thewinter goes.
Okay.
Um with setting up a couple ofthe projects and how we want to
approach them.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:27):
Very good.
And how about funding for likesome of your recycling
containers for the event stuffthat you're doing?
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:36):
If there's anybody that has experience with
fundraising or maybe even grantwriting, we um I've been in
communication with a couple ofpeople, but again, it I wouldn't
say that that's my strong suit.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:49):
Okay.
Brodie Longo, Guest (26:49):
Um so just anyone who has um experience
there to really be able toeither help us out or at least
help walk me through it.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:57):
Okay.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us and thank you so much
for all your work.
I've got a couple announcementsthat I would like to wrap with.
Uh, our next EcoMeet CLE isgoing to be on November 18th at
Great Lakes Brewing Company from5 to 8.
And we will continue with thewater focus.
(27:18):
Uh, we are having Emily Bacaspeak.
Uh, she's with the uh CuyahogaCounty's Freshwater Institute.
And we're gonna have a panel ofspeakers that will really talk
about how our region has beenpositively impacted by the
cleanup of our waterways.
And secondly, um, if you'reenjoying EcoSpeak CLE, um Greg
(27:42):
and I would love for you toconsider sponsoring or becoming
a donor to the podcast in theform of a small monthly
contribution like three bucks,five bucks, um, whatever help
you can give.
If you're enjoying listening tothe show, it will help offset
some of our podcast expenses.
And we have a donation buttonon our website, uh which you can
(28:06):
access through uh the podcast,the main link through our
podcast.
Greg Rotuno, Cohost (28:11):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of
EcoSpeak CLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you getyour podcast.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
month.
Please follow EcoSpeak CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(28:32):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeaks CLE, you can email
us at hello at ecospexcle.com.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.