Mike Neundorfer, co-convener of the 2019 Sustainable Transportation Action Team and CEO of Neundorfer Particulate Knowledge, Inc., gave the following speech at the June E4S monthly meeting where the focus was on transforming our transportation choices.

(In a follow up conversation, Neundorfer reiterated that he likes the idea of a sustainable transportation competition and index between companies because "It creates a cultural driver through organizations starting with the private sector. It can be a driver for change. If we do an index, it creates the metric for us that will give us an idea of mode shift." The next step is for the group to discuss formally adopting it as a project).

Good evening.

Thank you Holly for inviting us to be part of your meeting.

What does the Viet Nam war teach us about the sustainability movement?

I will speak for 9 minutes. In that time, I will talk about the Viet Nam War, Sustainability, and the formulation a big hairy audacious goal for our 2019 Transportation group.

May I have a show of hands?

How many of you have direct, personal, memories of the Viet Nam War?

Earlier this year, Marcia and I spent time in Cambodia and Viet Nam. It was my first time there. We visited the war museum, the Ku Chi tunnels, the Hanoi Hilton and did a boat trip on in the Mekong River delta.

I was affected thinking about the war:

Over 3MM people killed including 58,000 young brave Americans; hundreds of thousands more people have suffered and incredible environmental damage resulted.

The United States struggled to change assumptions and culture that finally ended the war.

I ask myself why I hadn’t done more to help end the war sooner. At the time, I was working hard on an engineering degree and trying to earn the money to pay for school. I didn’t do much to change the assumptions that kept the war going. I didn’t think I could make a difference.

Today we are in the midst of another struggle; the struggle to shift our personal, organizational, and political values to make sustainability a high priority in our planning and actions. The need for urgency in this struggle is growing.

Again, I ask myself: Am I doing everything I can to improve our life quality in a sustainable manner?

This question took on new meaning when I decided to participate, as did many of you in the 2019 Sustainability Summit last summer. Hundreds of participants were energized by the challenge of creating an Economic Engine for a green City on a blue lake.

The Summit generated energy around the theme. Hundreds of project ideas were recorded and over twenty action groups were formed. Many of those groups are still meeting and some have translated the Summit energy into projects and action.

I joined one of the groups. We named ourselves 2019 STAT, short for Sustainable Transportation Action Team. 2019 STAT with over thirty members realized that if our group itself were to be effective and sustainable, we had to manage the polarity of tangible action and connection to a higher purpose.

The higher purpose had to be a single, clear, measurable sustainable transportation goal to be accomplished by August of the year 2019.

I will share our progress on both the immediate actions and goal development.

After considering scores of possible “short term actions”, 2019 STAT chose the following four projects:

1. Getting ODOT to include a bike pedestrian path on the new Innerbelt bridge
2. Getting Cleveland City Council to pass a Complete Streets Legislation
3. Getting the National Transportation Active Transportation Act introduced and passed
4. Getting the signal system on the Euclid Corridor set so that the design bus schedules are met all the time

We are making progress on these projects.

2019 STAT is also making progress creating our 9 year sustainable transportation goal. You remember we said our goal must be singular. It must be clear. It must be measurable and. It must be complete by August 2019.

It has not been difficult creating a list of sustainable transportation actions but in order to energize and engage ourselves and others for the next nine years, we need a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

We are not sure exactly what that goal is but we have an idea that seems to create a path.

The idea is to create a sustainable transportation index. It would be created like the LEED points system or the organizational diversity index. We would create an annual competition between organizations for achieving the highest sustainable transportation index. Organizations would be self scoring and categories could include organizational size and type.

The sustainable transportation index idea excites me for the following reasons:

1. Setting up and maintaining the index provides a structure for prioritizing sustainable transportation initiatives. The organization might earn points for:
   a. Percentage of employees regularly walking, biking, or carpooling to work (different points would be achieved for each)
   b. Preferred parking for car-poolers.
   c. Providing safe storage for bikes
   d. Having showers available for active transporters
   e. Subsidizing bus fare.
   f. Purchasing locally
   g. Serving locally grown lunches
2. The index would become the basis for meaningful, easy to record metrics such as:
   a. The organizational index scores themselves,
   b. The number of organizations participating,
   c. The increase over time in points from each component of the index.
3. The index, like LEED would be adaptable. As new ideas and technologies are developed, the index is updated and points are assigned.
4. The competition for the highest points has the power to change organizations. Organizations have the power to change culture. The index will provide clarity.

STAT 2019 will continue to develop the Sustainable Transportation Index as our possible BHAG. Next week, we will ask E4S members to help us with ideas for index components and priorities.

Unlike the Viet Nam war where the damage is mostly repaired and forgotten over the years, the devastation created by inaction today will have an expanding impact on future generations.

E4S is a shining example of focus and action that will allow each of us to look back on today and say we did make a difference. We did take personal and organizational sustainable action.

Thank you for that action and thanks for your interest in sustainable transportation.