After the glacier

There is an exhibit in The Cleveland Museum of Natural History about the migration of prehistoric peoples across the Bering Strait into North America more than 12,000 years ago. It includes an artist’s depiction of a group of fur-clad hunters at the foot of an immense ice sheet, part of the glaciers that covered much of the continent.

When looking at the drawing, one can imagine what it might have been like to live during a period of retreating glaciers. It was a time of change. Land that had been under a mile of ice was exposed. The land was raw at first, but, as the climate warmed, plants moved north to colonize the barren ground. Everything had to find a new place, a new ecological niche. The people had to adapt, too. Generation by generation, they had to find new ways of living, new ways of interacting with the land.

It is possible that today is a similar time of change. Across the Great Lakes a vast glacier of heavy industry has covered the landscape for more than 100 years. It shaped the land, the economy, and the culture. It influenced the way people used resources, consumed energy, and sought to dominate nature.

In recent years, however, this industrial glacier has begun to retreat. As the old factories have shut down, cities throughout Northeast Ohio have been left with vacant land, abandoned buildings, and unemployed people. The transition has been wrenching. Cities have struggled to find a new identity, a new reason for being. Indeed, it's been hard to be confident that a better future is possible.

There are signs, though, that cities like Cleveland are about to find their new story. It’s a story emerging from many directions — from thousands of people who are seeking a new way to live. They are asking, what kind of place is this? What can we do here? What kind of city can we become? They have begun to see new possibilities in the landscape — clean industries, a beautiful lakefront, regeneration of the Cuyahoga River valley, a green city of revitalized neighborhoods, a countryside of protected farmland and natural areas, regional collaboration and strategies to reduce concentrated poverty, wind turbines on Lake Erie, greenways, bikeways, healthy local food, and countless other visions rooted in the unique potential of this place.

Many of these people are organized loosely under the banner of “sustainability.” They are seeking solutions that have multiple benefits, integrating people, planet and profit. They want to transcend the ideological barriers that have divided business and environmentalists and work together to develop ecological technologies that can help to restore the Earth. And they want to think long-term about designing a society that will protect the best of nature for future generations.

Every day, this movement for sustainability gains momentum and grows more mainstream. Right before our eyes, the future is being invented. It’s an exciting time!

Note: Thanks to Toronto architect Ken Greenberg for originating the metaphor of the glacier of industrialism.

Purposes of this report

This report has two main purposes:

• To help people understand and appreciate the broad range of sustainability-related activities and organizations in Northeast Ohio.
• To help promote strategic thinking and the setting of common goals within the sustainability community.

The first is important because many people aren’t aware of all the diverse activities, or they don’t appreciate all the issues areas that sustainability touches. That is why this summary presents accomplishments in a wide range of issue areas, from arts to water, energy to transportation, economy to health. At a time when cities around the world are competing to be the most sustainable, the Cleveland region needs to celebrate — and get credit for — the full range of its accomplishments.

The second purpose is important because the emerging sustainability community is a loose network of people, organizations, and collaborative relationships. While there is a tremendous amount of collaboration and coordination, there will always be room for more discussion about what are the most important things to do. That is why, in addition to suggesting short-term goals for 2009, this report encourages people to think about some long-term goals to be accomplished by the year 2019, the 50th anniversary of the infamous Cuyahoga River fire.

It should be emphasized that these lists are not meant to be comprehensive (that would be impossible!). Rather the idea is to highlight some of the most significant accomplishments — the big changes that are moving the region in a more sustainable direction.

Process for collecting ideas

As the editors of the GreenCityBlueLake website, the staff members of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute are well positioned to compile this “State of Sustainability” report for Northeast Ohio. We cover the sustainability community every day, and the site provides a great record of activities. We also assist many other organizations by serving on advisory committees, boards, and other community task forces. So we are engaged with the larger community in many ways.

In addition to our own work, we drew upon the ideas generated by the “Creating Cleveland’s New Story” event sponsored by E4S on November 25, 2008. That event took more than 200 people through an appreciative inquiry process to dream about goals for Cleveland’s future.

We then prepared draft lists of sustainability accomplishments in 2008 and goals for 2009. These were posted on the GreenCityBlueLake website for comment. We encouraged comments with email alerts sent to more than 6,000 people and with personal requests to leaders in the sustainability community. The lists in this version of the report contain the ideas collected to date.

We see this as a living document that will updated in the coming years. To add your ideas, go to the GCBL regional agenda discussion groups. The discussion groups allow any registered user of the site to edit pages, so you can help write the future.