Leaders from six institutions which hold conservation and sustainability intrinsic to their values and mission provided a snapshot of ‘what green means’ to University Circle on Wednesday evening. Around 150 volunteers, staff and Circle Neighbors from the Women's Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra, MOCA and the Western Reserve Historical Society were updated on the green activities happening in Cleveland’s second largest employment district, the heart of its cultural life and, increasingly, a location that’s putting sustainable ideas into practice.
David Beach, director of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, laid down a challenge to harness the collective brain power in University Circle to work toward a big goal. “We can be a ‘zero waste district’ or we can figure out how we capture all of our stormwater on site,” he suggested.
Beach also highlighted some of the green initiatives at the Natural History Museum, including financial incentives for staff who bike, walk or take public transit to work, and a shared Prius hybrid for off-site meetings.