October Sustainability Month Celebration

The City of Kent has permanently designated October as Sustainability Month and invites all residents, schools, businesses, and organizations to join this celebration by participating in activities throughout the entire month that promote sustainable practices. Keep reading to view a list of planned events, how to get your activity listed, and more information about how to participate in the celebration!

List of events and activities:

Kent State University Campus Sustainability Month - During Campus Sustainability Month, institutions around the world engage and inspire incoming students and other campus stakeholders to become leaders for sustainability and celebrate successes. For a full list of events throughout the month of October visit their website at https://www.kent.edu/sustainability/campus-sustainability-month
10/7/26 - The 11th annual Democracy Day public hearing will be held starting at 6pm prior to the Kent City Council Committee meeting. The hearing will be in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 319 S. Water Street in Kent.
10/8/26 - Kent Environmental Council will host an Electric Vehicle Showcase from 5:30pm-6:30pm at the First Christian Church parking lot (335 W. Main St. in Kent) with 10-15 EVs on display. Then, Joe Ortiz, Cleveland Region Coordinator, will pass along information and lecture about the benefits of driving an EV. This event will be held inside the church on the 2nd floor at 6:45pm. View the event flyer for full details. This program is part of the KEC's SEEK Presentations - Saving Earth with Environmental Knowledge series. Please join them for a free, informative, and action-oriented evening about solar expansion worldwide.
10/9/26 - City of Kent Lights Out for Wildlife event at Plum Creek Park on Friday, October 9th from 7pm-8:30pm (rain date will be Saturday, October 10th from 7pm-8:30pm). Get in touch with your dark side and join the City of Kent's Sustainability Commission and community partners for educational presentations about light pollution's impacts on bats, migratory birds, and other creatures of the night. Take a night hike through the park, play nocturnal animal bingo, enjoy night sky viewing and bring a flashlight for a special Lights Out experience. View the event flyer for more details about this free event.
10/13/26 - Portage Park District's Wild Words Book Club discussion from 1-2pm. The goal of Wild Words Book Club is to offer a non-hiking option for people to gather and discuss science and nature topics. We read one book a month and meet at various Portage County coffee shops or library locations. This October, the club is reading Plastic, Inc. Plastic is part of every life and there are loads of discussions about where it goes when we’re done with it. But have you considered where it came from? The stories in Plastic Inc by Beth Gardiner will reframe for readers a problem many of us think we understand. View more details and register for this free event at: https://www.portagecounty-oh.gov/portage-park-district/events/99581
10/26/26 - ESDRI Forum at Kent State: Sustainability in Community
Monday, October 26th
6:15 - 8 PM, Reception 8 - 9 PM
Kiva Auditorium at the Kent State University Student Center
Full details at: https://www.kent.edu/esdri2026
Join the Environmental Science and Design Research Institute at Kent State University for a forum discussion with three experts whose work shapes sustainability and engagement in Northeast Ohio communities. Julie Morris, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Kent, Deepa Vedavyas, Director of Resiliency and Sustainability at Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), and Greg Peckham, President & CEO for the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park will speak on their career pathways and current work and join in a conversation moderated by Kent State University professor Jennifer Mapes, Ph.D. This event will showcase how cities can collaborate to achieve their sustainability goals, how collective action can secure environmentally friendly and affordable resources, and how partnerships among governments, nonprofits, businesses, and residents can support thriving communities and resilient landscapes. Supported by the Kent State Healthy Communities Research Institute and Community Engaged Research Institute. This event is FREE, but registration is encouraged - Please RSVP here.

Stay tuned as more events and activities for Sustainability Month will be added as received!

We want to hear from you! Feel free to email the City’s Sustainability Coordinator, Julie Morris (julie.morris@kentohio.gov) with a brief listing of your name, activity, and/or any applicable event details (if you celebrate with an event) and it will be posted here as received.

We also invite you to share in more detail about what and how you celebrated after October. Email your write-up along with pictures (if any) to the Sustainability Coordinator by November 14th, 2026 and you’ll be included in a special edition of the Sustainable Kent e-Newsletter that will focus on October Sustainability Month! To view highlights from last year's celebration, check out the 2025 October Sustainability Month special edition e-newsletter.

How to participate:

Are you not sure what sustainable practices are or how you can participate? The reality is that many times we are engaging in sustainable practices without realizing it. With that in mind, the following sample list of questions is provided to help you brainstorm and identify what your practices are, so that you can then think creatively about how you’d like to showcase them during sustainability month.

Do you use reusable containers or otherwise try to reduce single-use materials, or try to repair items before replacing them?
Do you recycle and/or upcycle (creative reuse of waste or unwanted products into new materials)?
Do you vote?
Do you volunteer at a local service agency, or on a civic or community advisory board?
Do you provide affordable housing, or otherwise assist with area social service needs?
Do you use public transportation, bike, or walk to get to your destinations?
Do you use an electric vehicle, carpool, and/or do you combine trips so that you’re reducing the amount you need to drive?
Do you enjoy the Cuyahoga River, use the area trails and/or visit the City’s Parks?
Do you garden, compost, produce and/or source local foods and goods?
Do you turn out your lights when leaving a room, adjust the thermostat, or unplug your devices to reduce your energy use?
Do you produce electricity with solar, wind, or water?
Do you build or renovate with energy and water efficiency, or other sustainable design elements in mind?
Do you enjoy shopping and dining in Kent’s local shops and restaurants?
Do you create jobs, and/or offer livable wages or other flexible conditions of employment?
Do you offer educational community events, or work to support these efforts?
Do you organize local events that bring friends, neighbors, or the larger community together, or that help folks in need?

This list is not exhaustive, and there are so many ways to engage. However you practice sustainability, we invite you to showcase and celebrate in your own unique ways during the month of October!

Keep reading to learn more to learn more about aspects of Sustainability that might spark more ideas for you!

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability is a very broad term, but a well-recognized definition comes from an organization known as the Brundtland Commission who published a report in 1987 titled “Our Common Future” that defines sustainability as: “meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is no easy task. Accomplishing that goal requires thinking through complex problems that intersect across many systems of life on Earth and requires action at the individual, local, state, national, and international levels.

To help with this complexity, sustainability has three components, otherwise known as the Three Pillars.

Economy – addresses relationships of business, politics, and policy
Environment – refers to the relationships within human and non-human ecosystems
Society – examines relationships of culture, power, and equity across sectors of society

Sustainability can function like a tool for individuals, businesses, organizations, industries and governments, using the Three Pillars as a framework to guide decision making and for action within and across the pillars.

Decisions and actions that are grounded in a sustainability framework can have impact from local to global scale helping all of us enjoy healthy and resilient communities for generations to come.

To learn more about the City’s sustainability work and its associated Climate Action Plan, be sure to browse its Sustainability Overview webpage at: https://www.kentohio.gov/business-building-development/sustainability-overview/

To learn more about the City’s Sustainability Commission, visit: https://www.kentohio.gov/our-government/boards-and-commissions/sustainability-commission/