Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary chronicles the relationship of the city and suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio to the Cuyahoga River that flows through the area to Lake Erie. The Cuyahoga notoriously caught fire June 22, 1969, causing several thousand dollars in damage to a bridge structure. Most viewers will be astounded to find that river fires were not unusual occurrences in the 19th and 20th centuries. Rivers in major cities served as depositories for every kind of waste from sewage to petroleum byproducts to chemical wastes. In the Cuyahoga fire, petroleum wastes were ignited by sparking semi-molten steel being barged across the river. Historical footage and still photos tell the early story of the Cuyahoga and its biological death from industrial pollution. These images are edited together with interviews with current residents, ecologists and others interested in continuing the cleanup and development of the Cuyahoga in the Cleveland area, and the restoration of the Cuyahoga and its tributaries throughout the Cuyahoga Valley.

Even in the case of rivers catching fire, timing is everything. Cleveland had a pretty high profile in 1969 having elected Carl Stokes the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city. Everyone was watching to see if the surprise victor of the Cleveland mayoral election would be a success—and then the river caught fire. Cleveland became the butt of innumerable jokes and the subject of a number of unflattering songs. Although Cleveland may still suffer a bit from an inferiority complex, a direct result of the fire on the Cuyahoga was the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, legislation that led directly to local, state and federal governmental involvement in resource conservation and restoration. The results of governmental involvement on the Cuyahoga are stunning: concerts and dining on the Flats; creation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park; even the real hope of establishing sport fishing for largemouth bass in downtown Cleveland.

This video is recommended in support of high school and college curricula in American studies, environmental studies, and urban studies. Educators will find the Teachers Guide to be an excellent resource for asking probing questions and suggesting interesting projects related to environmental conservation and environmental activism. As the steel and chemical industries closed or moved out of the area, citizens realized that the long-term health of the Cleveland area was directly related to bringing the Cuyahoga back from the dead. Though enormous successes are chronicled in this video, there’s still a long way to go as witness the on-going efforts of the West Creek Preservation Committee in the suburb of Parma. The Committee can serve as a guide to establishing commitment and organizing conservation efforts which incidentally improve society and community along with restoring the environment. The restoration of West Creek serves as a call to action on local environmental projects, and the results of Committee’s efforts a strong impetus for starting now.