Stefanie Penn Spear

Last week, National Public Radio (NPR) took a deeper look into the natural gas boom in the U.S. The special series, The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers, questions what the gas boom is doing to the air and water in communities where fracking has become a household name.

The...

I'm often asked how I manage to be hopeful for the future when I spend a great deal of time publishing news about the daunting environmental problems impacting the world. I reply that it's because of the passion and commitment of the people I know who work hard every day...

In a time of tremendous disregard for the environment where corporations are controlling the government and rewriting environmental policy to suit their needs, the new documentary Who Bombed Judi Bari? shows how activists can take on the powers that be and win, though at a great cost.

On...

After watching four films in two days at this year's Cleveland International Film Festival highlighting the magnitude of problems plaguing our world, you might think I'd be ready to crawl into a hole. But how can I hide from these issues that are in desperate need of people...

Today's the opening of the 36th annual Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF)--one of my favorite days of the year. I love the opportunity to see a wide variety of films that expands my knowledge on issues that matter. CIFF is one of the nation's finest film festivals with...

One of my favorite events of the year is right around the corner -- the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) from March 22 to April 1. There are many aspects of the festival that I enjoy, but perhaps what I find most valuable is the opportunity to engage...

In my line of work it's easy to harp on what's wrong. Problems with our water, air, food and land are vast. It seems two steps forward is always followed by 10 steps back. We're constantly fighting for protection of natural resources and trying to show that we can live...

After hearing Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the City Club of Cleveland on Feb. 14 speak about President Obama's vision for the new energy frontier, which is largely a full-steam ahead agenda for fossil fuel extraction, and then reading that more than 800,000 people...

There are so many issues impacting the health of the planet, but fortunately our country is full of people who put their hearts and souls every day into protecting our remaining natural resources. I would hate to see what the planet would look like if we didn't have environmental advocates...

President Obama's State of the Union address could perhaps best be described as the good, the bad and the ugly. Obama wants to generate American-made energy and set a clean energy standard that encourages investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Good. But Obama continues to tout extreme fossil fuel...

As I sat with several others at a lunch table last week with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who was about to address the City Club of Cleveland, I received a text message that the Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL pipeline was coming that afternoon. And with that...