Today marks Earth Day, an annual event intended to celebrate and support environmental protection. First held in 1970, the day is often marked with a range of events including neighborhood clean-ups, tree plantings, and other activities intended to raise awareness around the fragility of our ecosystem and the need to protect it from contamination.
Earth Day is not just about protecting existing greenspaces and water, but improving the Earth for the future. GOPC’s long standing advocacy for tools that remove, mitigate, and/or manage sites with contaminants is the epitome of celebrating, improving, and protecting the environment.
With the $900 million funds that GOPC and others have secured in Ohio, hundreds of compromised acres are being made safe for human use. Chemicals that have leached into underground water tables are being removed; air quality is being improved, and land inhospitable to plants can now support trees and grass.
Most importantly, returning a brownfield to productive use means the new end user is not choosing to convert green spaces or agricultural land into more intensely developed land. Remediating a brownfield helps protect the Earth.
You can learn more about GOPC’s brownfields advocacy work from NBC 4 Dayside Columbus and see examples of former industrial sites around the greater Columbus region that have been returned to use.
Want to learn more? On Wednesday, May 6th, in Westerville, Ohio, GOPC will be hosting the annual Ohio Brownfield Conference. We are honored to partner with the Ohio EPA to provide a unique opportunity for brownfield professionals and local communities to network and learn more about the process involved in identifying and cleaning-up brownfield sites, and the uses that former brownfield sites have once remediation is completed.
Click below to register by April 24, 2026 and attend to meet and connect with remediation and redevelopment professionals.