The Regional Ohio Action for Resilience brings together community groups, concerned citizens, religious leaders, social justice leaders, non-profits, businesses, educational institutions and governmental entities to collaboratively create a more resilient region.
We like to get our hands dirty, planting the seeds of change and watching them grow. ‘Seeds’ can be ideas or projects just waiting for the right people to guide them.
What is growing now
ROAR’s Spring Signature Event March 18, 2023: A Subterranean Gurgle: Messages from the Seeds for a Spring Awakening
If you’re looking ahead to spring and want a new burst of energy about the power of seeds, soils, even of insects so necessary to the aliveness all around us, please consider coming to “A Subterranean Gurgle: Messages from the Seeds for a Spring Awakening” at Columbus’s Grange Audubon Center (505 W. Whittier / Columbus) from 1 -5 p.m. on Saturday, March 18.
We will feature French-American artist Cadine Navarro’s immersive installation “It Sounds Like Love,” for which she recorded the sounds of native prairie seeds. Additionally, we’ll learn about the ecology of prairies at the confluence of art and science, discover new research about the “hidden sounds of insects,” and find out ways to transform our yards from lawns to pollinator spaces. Please register at: https://tickets.audubon.org/grange/events/a8ea10e3-7658-cc53-4ca0-5e96d2291a3c
Party for the Planet Collaborative Group – Local environmental organizations, students from Ohio Weselyan and Delaware City Schools came together for a post-pandemic strategy session and potluck at the Andrews House in Delaware on Jan. 28. It was decided that the focus for the next 2-5 years would be on renewable energy (aggregation, agro photovoltaics, solar, wind etc) and creating pollinator habitat in urban areas. Email Terry Hermsen for details. thermsen1115@gmail.com.
Proposed Intel Chip Plant near New Albany in Licking County – Intel announced plans in January 2022 for an initial investment of more than $20 billion in the construction of two new leading-edge chip factories in Ohio. The investment will help boost production to meet the surging demand for advanced semiconductors, powering a new generation of innovative products from Intel and serving the needs of foundry customers as part of the company’s IDM 2.0 strategy. To support the development of the new site, Intel pledged an additional $100 million toward partnerships with educational institutions to build a pipeline of talent and bolster research programs in the region. ROAR is opposed to this development in its current form as it will destroy numerous wetlands and other natural areas on the site.
ROAR Academy – In its fourth official year, the ROAR Academy is a collaboration between multiple universities to insert environmental activism, education and hands-on projects as part of the summer internship programs of Otterbein University, Denison University, Kenyon College, OSU Marion and Ohio Wesleyan University. Photos from the 2021 Academy can be found here.
Westerville Conservation Corridor – Several parks departments, universities, individual contributors are in the planning stages of creating a conservation corridor to connect habitat blocks together in the area that includes Alum Creek South Park, Walter Cherrington Park, Westerville Senior Center property, the riparian zone that surrounds Alum Creek, Otterbein Cemetery, Hannah Maye Park, Otterbein Lake, Otterbein Campus Grounds, Sharon Woods Metro Park, Spring Hollow Wildlife Education Area, Alum Creek Park North, Heritage Park, the Westerville Community Center and Sports Park property and some smaller parcels. This initiative is dependent on the results of the visioning process of the RAPID5. The vision plans were released in July 2022. Read more about RAPID5 here.
