What's happening with Sustainable Cleveland 2019?
Marc Lefkowitz | 06/23/10 @ 3:00pm
The volunteer corps of the 20 Sustainable Cleveland 2019 work groups continue to meet and chart progress on their initiatives. The following is a round-up of recent updates from some of the 2019 groups:
- The Sustainable Water 2019 group has an exciting announcement: It will be adopted as a project of the Institute of Applied Phenomenology in Science and Technology, a think tank of practitioners and academicians with interests in organizational development associated with "everydayness" whose co-director, Dr. Nicholas Zingale, is an assistant professor of Urban Studies at the CSU Levin College and a senior executive fellow at Harvard. Erin Huber, the 2019 group co-lead, works at the Institute. The group's Drink Local. Drink Tap. Campaign – highlighting the vast clean water resource of Lake Erie – will be the focus of a behavioral change study. The group meets every Friday morning at the West Side Market Café at 7:30 a.m.
- The 2019 Advanced Energy Generation Group was recently invited by Cleveland Sustainability Chief Andrew Watterson to help promote the new Solar Special Improvement District ("Solar SID")between Cleveland and the inner-ring suburbs. They will help recruit organizations to be assessed for a 40kW solar installations on their roof.
The projects don't end there.
"We are now better entrenched in implementation mode," co-leader Linda Sekura comments in their June meeting summary. "We have an established focus, and a better feel for the niches we fill without reinventing someone else's work.
They've been approached by other SC2019 volunteers to investigate a collaborative renewable power project that benefits multiple groups. In general, the group continues to expand its ambitions, from advocating for new renewable energy policy to assisting with the Advanced Energy fair that will cap the 2010 Sustainability summit.
- Strategic Partnerships and Learning Group is working with Tri-C Metro, St. Vincent's Charity Hospital, Cleveland Public Library and Cleveland State University on the "Collaborative Campus" project. The idea is to link a 'world class education' to a sustainable neighborhood. The group is guiding students from nearby Marion Sterling Elementary, Jane Addams High School, and Design Lab Early College High School on a project titled, "City Works: Exploring Your Community." The students will work on the basic concepts of urban planning; identifying community needs and mapping the assets of the neighborhood. The goal is to produce a body of local knowledge and ideas that can presented to the Campus District and community developers. The asset map will be available on the Northeast Ohio Open Green Map which is being created and housed by the GreenCityBlueLake Institute and Marianne Eppig, co-leader of the Strategic Partnerships and Learning Group.
- The Sustainable Design, Materials, and Manufacturing Work Group continues to interview local sustainability leaders in an effort to build up a knowledge bank. The group met recently and decided to promote 'networks, not centers' (meaning more personal connections, less bricks and mortar focus for 2019 outcomes). They are considering building a web site that contains local sustainability resources and a social network orientation to support more of a 'connect, learn, do' mission similar to E4S and localfoodcleveland.org. Read more here.
- The Emerald Tapestry (Vacant Land Group) is working with Neighborhood Progress, Inc., Cleveland Urban Design Center and Dr. Mark Chupp at Case Mandel School for Applied Social Science on the community engagement for the ReImagining a Greater Cleveland project. Four community meetings will be held this summer, and the 2019 group was invited to act as ambassadors. The group had a crash course on the ReImagine study from CUDC interim director Terry Schwarz, and is working on a narrative for the myriad ways vacant land can be seen as an asset (part of the effort is watching the progress of this summer's 56 ReImagine pilot projects, and the conclusion of the ReImagine 2.0 committees which are producing maps, identifying sites and criteria for catalytic projects that are 'green' alternatives for vacancy).
- The 2019 Transportation group (STAT) took the stage at the June Entrepreneurs for Sustainability meeting, and introduced a new idea to approach their goals of building a more sustainable transportation system from a different angle. The group is floating the creation of a sustainable transportation index which companies can use to engage in a friendly competition and to offer a way of measuring how much carbon is in our commute.
"Companies will count how many people get to work on bicycle, by transit or carpool, even purchasing locally can be part of the equation," STAT group co-leader Mike Neundorfer comments. "If we do this, it can create a cultural driver through organizations, a driver for change that provides a clear prioritization." Read more about the sustainable transportation index here.
- The 'G5'-a collaboration between five 2019 work groups working to advance awareness of 2019 in Northeast Ohio-had a successful outing at Earth Fest, spending all day telling thousands of people about the 2019 initiatives. Consisting of the Engage 1.6 Million, Public Compact, Communications & Branding, Post-Summit Momentum, and Social Capital groups, the G5 is interested in defining its focus-liaison between the groups or communication arm of SC2019 to the world?-going forward. For more information, go here.
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