Sustainability Now! | Jordan Lubetkin | Ohio River Restoration | 7-17-23

On this week’s Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, catches up with an old friend who was in Louisville nearly a year ago facilitating a listening session at the Community Boathouse about developing an Ohio River Restoration Plan. Jordan Lubetkin is the Director of Ohio River Restoration for the National Wildlife Federation (https://www.nwf.org/ohioriver) and the Communications Director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition (https://www.healthylakes.org/).

Over the past year, Jordan has been criss-crossing the region conducting community listening sessions throughout the Ohio River watershed to discuss clean water priorities for a new plan to protect and restore the waters in the 14-state Ohio River region. The Ohio River Basin Alliance and National Wildlife Federation, cohosted these listening sessions to take advantage of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to craft a regional plan to restore and protect the waters of the Ohio River basin. The plan, once complete, will be delivered to Congress and the Biden Administration. The goal is for the federal government to implement the plan with new annual investments to address long-standing problems, such as sewage contamination, toxic pollution, inadequate water infrastructure, mine waste, run-off, flooding, and habitat loss.

Every year the federal government invests in programs to protect and restore our nation’s great waters – including the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Gulf Coast, and Great Lakes. We want to add the waters of the Ohio River basin to that list and to make sure that local clean water concerns are addressed and local solutions are prioritized in the clean water plan.

In August, the report will finally be released and in late summer/early fall, there’ll be opportunities for community engagement around the draft plan. A one-day river restoration tour with a Kentucky Legislative Delegation (Guthrie, McGarvey & Massie) is also being planned for August.

One of the key local partners in this process has been the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, which will be hosting a 30th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, August 18th, starting at 6pm at Waterfront Botanical Gardens. Everyone is encouraged to join us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Kentucky Waterways Alliance with an unforgettable evening of music, film, food, and art! The celebration will include:
•    A special performance by Louisville’s own Joan Shelley. Joan, longtime friend of KWA, has assembled a honkytonk band to back her, as well as a series of guest vocalists.
•    Following Joan’s performance, we will transport you into the captivating world of environmental storytelling through our 15th annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival. This renowned festival showcases an array of short films that highlight the beauty of our planet's wild and scenic places, as well as the urgent need to protect them.
•    In between - or during! - these aspects of the evening, you will be able to visit with Al Gorman, renowned artist who creates art from objects found in the Ohio River.
•    Enjoy food from our sponsor Wiltshire Pantry, and West Sixth Brewing will be selling beer.
Get your tickets now and come together with fellow supporters of the KWA as we honor three decades of conservation and advocacy. Let's raise our voices and toast to a brighter future for our precious waterways! Kentucky is water. Water is commonwealth. More info and tickets at http://kwalliance.org

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com