Kim Koos is a teacher and IB Coordinator at Prospect Elementary School. Aside from her passion for education, she loves spending time with her family, swimming, reading, and gardening. She is also very artistic and loves to create items in various mediums.

Q: What are some words that come to mind when you think of Oberlin?

Gregory Jones is Oberlin???s Energy Advocate, part of POWER???s initiative to help homeowners improve their energy efficiency. In his free time, Greg enjoys fishing and is a self-proclaimed ???sports nut.??? Cleveland teams, all the way. 

What are some words or images that come to mind when you think of Oberlin?

Dori Tiller and Shelley Clagg are committed residents at John Frederick Oberlin (JFO) Homes who put together a recycling program at the John Frederick Oberlin (JFO) apartment complex. For both of them, recycling and reusing have come to feel very natural, and they are working hard to share this spirit with other members of the Oberlin community.

Q: What are some words or images that come to mind when describing Oberlin?

It seems almost laughable to ask the question, ???Will the U.S. Congress pass carbon tax legislation????  At present, so little legislation of importance gets through both houses of Congress that the chance of the Sanders-Boxer Climate Change bills being passed seems nil.  Nevertheless, we need to pay attention to the ???Climate Protection Act??? and the ???Sustainable Energy Act??? introduced earlier this year by Senators Barbara Boxer (Dem. CA) and Bernie Sanders (Ind. VT).  In a hearing held by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week, a panel of experts explained the vital importance of taking steps now to reduce carbon emissions.  And as Al Gore writes in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change (2013), ???Global warming pollution??? should carry a price.  Placing a tax on CO2 is the place to start.???  If this summer proves to be even hotter than last, resulting more widespread disastrous drought, and extreme climate events continue to occur at an increasing rate, perhaps the public outcry will reach the ears of our representatives on Capitol Hill.

What would this legislation do?  It would set a long-term emissions reduction goal of 80% or more by 2050 ??? a ???too little too late??? goal in the view of many, but ???realistic??? in the view of others.  To help achieve this goal, a carbon fee of $20 per ton of carbon or methane equivalent would be applied at the coal mine, oil refinery, natural gas processing plant or point of importation.  The fee would rise at 5.6% a year over a ten-year period.  It would be levied on about 3,000 of the largest fossil fuel polluters, covering about 85% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates this step alone could raise $1.2 trillion in revenue over ten years and reduce greenhouse gas emission approximately 20% from 2005 levels by 2025.  And the legislation includes other actions that would further reduce emissions.

Fr. Robert Cole has been Pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oberlin for 5 years. Born and bred in the Cleveland area, he is glad to be serving several churches in the Cleveland Diocese. Fr. Cole has been a priest for 41 years.

Q: What words or images would you use to describe Oberlin?

Chuck Annable was the President/Horticulturist at Green Side Up Garden Center. He recently sold it to his employees.  He is an avid traveler and has visited 49 of the 50 United States. He loves to hike, canoe, and explore natural areas.

Q: How did you come to own Green Side Up Garden Center?

Photo by Yvette Chen OC '16David Snyder has been a resident of Oberlin since 2006. He serves as the Clerk of the Oberlin Friends Meeting. David has long engaged in environmental activism and shared  that he inspired his parents to get involved in the nuclear freeze movement in the 1970s.

Q: What word or image would you use to describe Oberlin?

Why have a vegetable garden?

Oberlin Community Service???s June networking lunch was crowded???perhaps 50 people were there. A panel of nine represented the diversity of local food and gardening projects in Oberlin from school to neighborhood gardens.

Photo by Yvette Chen OC '16Oberlin resident Che Gonzalez is a librarian at the Oberlin Public Library. A few years ago, she started a home-based business for affordable, healthy foods. Gardening since she was a kid, Ms. Gonzalez grows many of her own vegetables at home.

Q: Some people think of ???sustainability??? as actions that improve the environmental, economic, and social well-being of the community? How would you define ???sustainability??? for yourself?

Mrs. Anita Lock has lived in Oberlin for 10 years. After visiting Oberlin when she was 15 and getting a flavor of the community, she thought, ???I hope someday I???ll live here.??? She is the proprietor of One-On-One Tutoring of Lorain County and is a music educator. Mrs. Lock also hosts ???All Things Irish,??? which airs on WOBC 91.5 FM every Saturday from 4-5pm.

Q: What word or image would you use to describe Oberlin?