The 'G5'—a collaboration of SC2019 work groups with a similar mission—is organizing a big public day for Sustainable Cleveland 2019 at EarthFest 2010 at the Cleveland Zoo, on Sunday, April 18.

"Our bannered SC2019 exhibit will provide multiple fun and interactive ways for people to tell us their sustainability story with the theme, 'Sustainability in Cleveland: Tell us your story and we'll tell you ours,'" writes group member, Elise Leitzel. "We are currently recruiting ambassadors to sign up to work 2-hour shifts, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at our SC2019 Earth Fest booth. Individual outcome group members will have the opportunity to engage the 'choir' of approximately 20,000 people who attend EarthFest, Ohio's largest environmental education event, about their particular SC2019 work.

Contact Leitzel here by Monday, March 22, to confirm up to 3 people from your work group to be SC2019 Ambassadors at EarthFest 2010. Please reply with each person(s) name, e-mail address, cell phone number, and 2-hour time frame between 10-5 they would like to work on April 18.

A G5 meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 6, from 5:30 to 7:30PM at ABC Tavern, 1872 West 25th St. Ambassadors are invited to join us on this date for final preparations and instructions for EarthFest.

Click here to learn more about the G5 group.

A narrative tells a lot, not only ordering what has happened prior, but also relating things in a way to portend what could enfold.  Given recent positive events, perhaps it's time to re-visit how the argument for a bike-ped path has evolved, and then to a larger extent: in what kind of context did this particular issue’s evolution play out.

We will begin in and around 2005 during which time public concern was growing that ODOT was not listening to community input regarding design of the Innerbelt.  In a letter dated late 2005 to ODOT, the late Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones states she has worries that constituent issues are not being addressed, and that the “bridge proposal cannot and should not be considered a done deal”. Echoing her sentiments, Congressman Kucinich, in a letter dated July 2006 says there is little documentation to the effect of why ODOT is leaning to one particular bridge or another. Further, Kucinich bemoans the logic previously given that “the public can’t be provided with…technical documentation because ODOT is too busy listening to the public”.

The Sustainable Transportation Action Team (STAT), a 2019 work group, marked a major milestone in its campaign to secure a multipurpose path on the Innerbelt Bridge. At the same meeting, the group revisited its short and long-term plans to reform Northeast Ohio’s transportation system to make it more sustainable by 2019. Read more.

In his State of the City address last week, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson detailed his plans to use sustainability as an economic engine, and a hoped for path out of poverty. Jackson—who convened 700 people to create a vision for a sustainable city last summer at the inaugural Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit—started to spell out how he is implementing his green agenda.

Most notable from a green jobs standpoint, Jackson announced plans to bring Chinese LED-light manufacturer Sunpu-Opto’s American headquarters to Cleveland, which he expects to create up to 350 jobs. The business community usually define sustainability as producing economic, social, and environmental or ‘triple-bottom-line’ outcomes, and so the city has created a sustainable business model directing its municipal-owned utility, Cleveland Public Power, to be Sunpu-Opto’s first customer.

“The project would create an LED streetlight design for Cleveland, help reduce the City’s $12 million streetlight bill and help create a city-wide energy conservation program for homes and businesses,” the mayor said.

It is noteworthy that it took a Chinese manufacturer to get the deal done considering the Cleveland presence of GE Lighting and other LED makers, such as TCP in Aurora.

Sometimes, negotiation means chipping away around the edges of another party’s argument—or in the case of ODOT, of circumventing the last word of the bridge-building body by questioning the legitimacy of their reasons for no. Of course the number one reason for no to the addition of a multi-use path on the Innerbelt was that they didn’t have time: no time to add an addendum, no time to amend documents, no time to alter the environmental impact statement. But as we have come to find out from this and this letter, they do have time. We know this because our elected reps asked the feds whether it was true or not that if Clevelanders demanded infrastructure that coincided with federal goals of sustainable development, that we would be punished—stripped in fact of the $85 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Funds that would go to the financing of our bridge. And the answer they got was encouraging. As Sen. Brown’s letter to Gov. Strickland states: “…it is my understanding that…it would be possible to undertake the proper environmental and logistical studies without losing ARRA funding”.

That said, as we continue to chip we got to keep in mind that this is not an “us vs. them” process, as we risk, then, the situation devolving into something a lot smaller than what is at stake here.

In its Feb. 15 edition, The Nation describes Ohio as the Saudi Arabia of ‘grey power’. That’s quite a striking statement, and absolutely true considering 145 to 285 megawatts of grey power—“the massive bank account of steam and energy that could be used to generate electricity”—is coughed into the biosphere every day from hundreds of old line manufacturers. That's the equivalent of a new coal-fired power plant. 

At this week’s CSU Levin College Forum, “Distributed Generation and Industrial Energy: Reducing Costs, Increasing Efficiency” panelists looked at the barriers and opportunities to scale up grey and green power in Ohio. Since the state approved an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard – mandating that power producers ramp up sourcing of green and possibly grey power (and increase their efficiency) to 25% by the year 2025 – new opportunities for individuals and business have come on line. For example, Senate Bill 221 authorized businesses to apply for “special contracts” to produce their own power and sell it back to the grid (in the past, only utilities could make requests of the state).

The trouble is, navigating the regulatory and financial aspects of setting up, say, a wind turbine or solar array on an industrial property is “daunting” because industry is stretched thin, says Sam Randazzo, general counsel for the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote to Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) today urging him to include a bicycle and pedestrian path in construction plans for the replacement Innerbelt Bridge in downtown Cleveland. The project, recently described as “Ohio's largest single infrastructure project ever,” will be partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

“With a strong and growing bicycling community in Cleveland, a sizeable carless population, and new development in nearby neighborhoods, it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to build this bridge with only cars and trucks in mind,” wrote Sen. Brown. “We can only do this project once, and it is critical we do it right.”

Brown praised the work of the Ohio Department of Transportation under Gov. Strickland’s administration, noting its unprecedented approach to supporting different modes of transportation.

Brown has been an outspoken advocate for diversifying forms of transportation in Ohio. In October 2009, Sen. Brown led a bipartisan group of 14 members of the Ohio Delegation in sending a letter to the Department of Transportation, urging that Ohio be strongly considered for funds to develop passenger rail corridor across the state. In January, Ohio was awarded more than $400 million in funds to expand high speed rail lines connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton.

Full text of Sen. Brown's letter to the governor can be found here.

In order to achieve significant reductions in CO2, as a region we need to focus collective energy on three main areas – the transportation sector, energy generation sector and building sector.  These 3 areas account for most of Northeast Ohio’s carbon footprint. 

We’ve identified 4 goals in the transportation sector where we can focus our energy to achieve meaningful reductions.  These areas are: 1) reducing the number of vehicles and the need to travel; 2) increasing the efficiency of the vehicles we do need; 3) reducing the CO2 intensity of the fuel for vehicles; and 4) revising policies and practices that distort the true cost of transportation.  Review complete GCBL transportation transition plan.

How does this begin to play out in Northeast Ohio? 

A good starting point is to look at the true cost of transportation - the roads, rails, airports, ports, trucks, individual cars, congestion, air pollution, health impacts, etc.  Determining the costs and benefits of transportation investments provides a solid footing to make consistent future investment decisions. 

On Tuesday, March 9 Brooklyn Centre Naturalists and Friends of Big Creek will join forces to bring the NEO community a mini-symposium called “Putting the 'U' in Urban Watershed Stewardship”. Usually, when we talk about urban watershed issues, we look at the big picture, but at this symposium, FOBC and BCN have decided to explore how an individual can impact our Greater Cleveland watershed in a positive way by action and deed.

The topics discussed will include storm water management, creating healthy backyard and public environments for wildlife through the use of native plants and organic gardening practices, and an understanding of how water quality can be improved through individual action.

Brooklyn Centre Naturalists received one of 58 grants awarded by Reimagining Greater Cleveland: Vacant Land Reuse Project.This project is a collaboration between the City of Cleveland Community Development Department and Neighborhood Progress, Inc. with technical assistance from The Ohio State Extension Service and ParkWorks.

The 2019 Sustainable Water group, Strategic Partnerships and Learning and the ‘G5’—a collaboration of five communications groups from the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit—have wisely decided to tap their group projects into the existing sustainability network. The three groups are meeting regularly to establish plans for public awareness campaigns and to build on existing sustainability efforts in the region.

The Sustainable Water group has a theme—‘Drink Local. Drink Tap.’ But they’re still looking for help with a campaign roll out on March 22, to coincide with World Water Day. The group has also reserved a table at EarthFest, on April 18. At their recent meeting, held at Earth Day Coalition's office, 2019 Water group co-chair Pam Davis announced that the Cleveland Division of Water Pollution Control is willing to help support the campaign (even though the city has its own slogan, “Go with the flow, drink water on the go”). Another potential partner is the Waterband and their Wishing Well Foundation — both have roots in Cleveland. The band’s manager offered to coordinate the group and the band’s plans for the 22nd. The 2019 group will meet this Friday at 8 a.m. at the West Side Market Café to figure out the best direction to take a drink local water campaign. For more information.