EcoCity Cleveland to merge with Cleveland Museum of Natural History

EcoCity Cleveland, the nonprofit organization that created this GreenCityBlueLake website, announced in July 2007 plans to merge with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. GreenCityBlueLake and EcoCity's other work will continue as part of a new sustainability center, the GreenCityBlueLake Institute, at the Musuem.

Here's more information on this exciting opportunty to merge two successful and respected organizations:

• EcoCity Cleveland executive director David Beach's letter to EcoCity members
• Museum executive director Bruce Latimer's comments
• Museum press release on the merger

Green city on a blue lake: A magical phrase 

GreenCityBlueLake started as a magical phrase—a phrase that excited people's imaginations with the possibilities of creating green cities on a blue lake in Northeast Ohio. With the launch of this website, it's become a new kind of community workspace—an online presence where the people and organizations advancing sustainability in the region can tell their stories, learn from each other, and develop strategies to accelerate the progress. You are invited to participate!

This site was originally developed to serve the sustainability community of Northeast Ohio by EcoCity Cleveland, a nonprofit organization that has been at the center of sustainability activities and creative planning efforts in Northeast Ohio since 1992. EcoCity has facilitated many collaborative projects, and its websites and publications have received national recognition. EcoCity merged with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 2007.

Essential information about GreenCityBlueLake

• Our vision of "sustainability" — Northeast Ohio as part of the global movement that is defining the future.
• Objectives of GreenCityBlueLake — The objectives of a community knowledge network for sustainability.
• Sponsors — Who is supporting this initiative, and how your organization can benefit from an association with the cool work to make our region more sustainable.
• Rules for participation — Go here to learn more about how to be an effective and appropriate user who contributes to the civic dialogue.
• Tips for using the site— Basic tips for understanding how this works.
• Contact us — Reach the people who are responsible for this site, and send them your questions and comments.

What GCBL can do for you 

GreenCityBlueLake is designed to help you:

• Share your ideas about how to make Northeast Ohio a better place.
• Learn about all the amazing things going on and how you can get involved.
• Save time by providing a concise package of essential information edited by the experts at the GreenCityBlueLake Institute (formerly EcoCity Cleveland).
• Understand the important issues shaping the future of the region.
• Promote the good work of your organization or business.

A work in progress

Please be aware that this website will be a collaborative effort of many people. As a result, it will change continually, and some parts may look a little rough at times. The staff editors will try to keep all the submitted content up to high standards of quality. If you see anything that's not right, please let us know.

It will also take some time to fill all the sections of the site. In the beginning, it will be like a skeleton — a structure that indicates where it would be good to add certain kinds of content. You can help fill in this information and build the community's knowledge base. Just volunteer to become a section moderator, and you will be given permission to edit content, create new pages, and rearrange sections of the site. It's easy and fun!

Why "practice areas"?

The main sections of this site — energy, land, water, and so on — are the main areas people are working on to advance sustainability in the region. These are areas of "practice," which, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, means "to do or perform habitually or customarily" or "to exercise or perform repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill" or "to work at, especially as a profession." Thus, we seek to make the practice of sustainability the default habit and skill of Northeast Ohio.

Site development

This site runs on an open-source content management system called Drupal, a new web-based platform that makes it possible for a diverse community of people to collaborate online and share their knowledge. The standard Drupal installation was customized by Ian Anderson, and our graphic designer was Ann Pisanelli. Additional thanks go to the folks at REALNEO and the FUTURE Center at the Cleveland Institute of Art for inspiration and advice.