The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Water

The Cincinnati Zoo recognizes the importance of conserving water. Even though two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered in water, only a tiny percentage of it is available as clean, fresh water.

Rain Gardens:

Energy Efficiency

Electricity in the United States accounts for 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions produced. This includes the energy used in our homes, schools and businesses. All of this energy used contributes to pollution, global climate change and the depletion of our natural resources. The Cincinnati Zoo recognizes the importance of energy efficiency, and is committed to reducing our use as much as possible.

Renewable Energy

Solar Energy - What do green leaves, alligator scales, and solar panels have in common? They all harness the sun’s energy! Green leaves use the sun's energy to make food. Crocodile scales harness the sun's energy to stay warm. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity. Solar, or photovoltaic, cells are made of silicon, a semi-conducting element. These cells absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity without releasing carbon dioxide into the air like burning fossil fuels does. Carbon dioxide is the primary culprit of climate change, which is already threatening wildlife and their habitats around the world.

Wind Energy - Wind energy is the fastest-growing and least expensive energy source. It is also one of the least expensive. The way wind energy, or power, works is pretty simple. The sun shines, creating wind as the air warms and rises. Like a helicopter seed blowing in the breeze, the blades of a turbine spin round in the wind, which powers a generator to produce clean energy.

Geothermal Energy - Geothermal energy comes from the natural heat of the Earth, and can be used to generate electricity or heat and cool buildings without burning fossil fuels and accelerating climate change. To produce electricity from heat radiating from the center of the Earth, wells are drilled and water is pumped through pipes hundreds or thousands of feet into the ground. There the heat turns water into steam. As it returns to the surface, the force of the steam turns the turbines to create electricity.

Biomass Energy - Biomass energy is harvested from organic materials made from plants and animals that contain stored energy from the sun. These materials include wood, crops, manure and other organic waste. Biomass can be converted into usable forms of energy such as methane gas (released from rotting garbage and animal waste) or transportation fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Solid Waste

The average American generates about 4.5 pounds of garbage per day. That is equal to 1,643 lbs of solid waste every year! With a population as large as the United States, just imagine what that would be equivalent to. What is happening to all of that garbage? About one-third is recycled, while the rest is sent to landfills, burned in combustors or finds its way into the natural environment. The Cincinnati Zoo is committed to diverting as much waste as possible from the landfill, either by making less waste in the first place, or through composting and recycling waste. In 2012, we made the commitment towards becoming a zero landfill facility. This means that less than 1% of our total waste stream will be sent to the landfill.

Dumpster Diving & Baseline Data: In order to truly understand what needs to happen to reach a zero landfill status, we first must learn and understand the waste habits of our visitors and employees. Through a series of dumpster dives, Zoo employees – including executive directors – and volunteers sorted through tons of the Zoo’s trash to record what was being thrown away, and what could have been diverted from the landfill in some way.  

Composting: Yard trimmings and food scraps make up about 25 percent of the trash produced in the United States. Why throw all that waste away and take up landfill space when it can be composted into nutrient rich, organic material for your garden? Composting is nature’s way of recycling!

Recycling: Recycling may be one of the easiest of the three “R’s”. But reducing and reusing are just as important for diverting trash from entering the landfill. The best way to deal with trash is to make less of it in the first place.

SSA: Our food and retail partner, Service, Systems, Associates, or SSA, is just as committed to conservation and sustainability as we are. They have invested in compostable material for almost everything served in the Café, including all plates, bowls, cups and cutlery. Cardboard, plastic bottles and aluminum cans are recycled.

YOU and the Zoo: Our guests are an important part of the success of our Zero Landfill commitment. When the Zoo Café re-opens this Spring, full composting, recycling and landfill bins will be available for tossing your trash. SSA has worked hard to make almost everything that they sell in the Café either compostable or recyclable. Check out the signs or ask a staff member for instructions on which bin the waste from your meal should go. 

Green Building

In the United States, buildings are the main contributor to our carbon footprint, from electricity, water, materials used in the building as well as where the building is located. Green building is an eco-friendly way to construct structures, using processes that are environmentally responsible as well as resource-efficient not only during construction, but through the entire life of the building. The U.S. Green Building Council has developed a rating system that is an industry-recognized, voluntary standard for sustainable building design. This rating system is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, or LEED, and has four levels of certification – Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Community Projects

The Zoo is committed not only to greening its own operations, but engaging its community to do the same. The fourth pillar of our Mission Statement is “Serving Community”, which recognizes our responsibility to partner with diverse and economically challenged communities in our daily work.  By providing our community with the resources and tools they need to go green, we not only strengthen our relationship with them, but empower them to save money, save resources and instill pride within their homes and neighborhoods.

Green Space & Community Gardens – Community green spaces are more than just lots with grass and a few flowers; they are meeting spots for neighbors, recreation areas for youth, refuges for wildlife. They bring a part of the natural world into the urban environment- to contrast the harshness of the concrete jungle and stimulate the senses. Community spaces foster connections not only with wildness, but between residents, making friends from strangers. Community green spaces can be as simple as a grassy lot, but they can be more: parks, playgrounds, gardens and more.

Home Weatherization – The Zoo and its community partners are reaching out to their surrounding neighborhoods to provide the education, awareness and resources needed for homeowners to save money and energy and to create healthy, comfortable living environments through home weatherization projects. Some of the home weatherization projects include:

Community Partnerships – The Zoo has formed partnerships with many businesses and organizations to work together and engage our communities in sustainability practices. Some of those include:

For more information, or if you are interested in getting involved with these and future projects, please contact gogreen@cincinnatizoo.org.

EcOhio

The Cincinnati Zoo has been dedicated to sustainability not only on-grounds within its Avondale location, but at its off-grounds property as well. In 1995, a 529 acre farm called Bowyer Farm was willed to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden with the guideline that it could never be developed unless it is to further the mission of the Zoo. Since then, the property has grown to 600+ acres, and is connecting with the Zoo’s mission of Adventure, Conservation, Education and Community in various ways.

Local Food – In 2012, 50 acres of the Bowyer Farm was leased to Green BEAN Delivery, a company that delivers organic produce and natural groceries to Midwest homes and workplaces. With this new space in Ohio, Green BEAN Delivery can grow and harvest fresh, local foods that they will distribute as a part of their business, just as they do in Indiana with their Feel Good Farm. The EcOhio Farm LLC was born, and in the spring of 2012 was planted with a variety of commodities including cabbage, squash, broccoli and pumpkins that was used primarily for purchase by Green BEAN Delivery customers. The company has already begun working on its agricultural strategies for year two, and will have the land certified organic by the USDA in the spring of 2014. 

Wetland Reclamation – Across the street from the 50-acres of land that Green BEAN Delivery is leasing, is 24-acres of land that has been determined to have been a natural wetland at one time. Overtime, this portion of land has been used as farmland producing soybeans and corn. Through support and funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Zoo is now able to take that 24 acres and reclaim it as its original state of a wet sedge meadow, or wetland, eventually returning the floral and faunal diversity that once was there.

Long term, the possibilities for EcOhio are endless. The main goal is to return the area to its original wildlife, with a rich array of plant and animal species that historically are naturally occurring to Warren County. Some of these species include, but are not limited to, upland passerines, bobwhite quail, tree swallows, bluebirds, prothonotory warblers, American kestrels, purple martins, screech owls, saw whet owls, various waterfowl, snakes, salamanders and butterflies such as Zebra swallowtail, spicebush and monarchs. Eventually, as the wetlands become established, walking trails and a small education center may be implemented, along with special events that offer educational programs and demonstrations, give aways, opportunities to explore the wetland, and much more. Ideally, EcOhio will become a green oasis in a sea of suburbia.

Anyone wishing to volunteer for the EcOhio Wetland project, please contact Brian Jorg at brian.jorg@cincinnatizoo.org. Please include any special abilities, such as planting/gardening, birding, carpentry (able to construct bird boxes), etc.