Archive for the ‘Green’ Category
The Oil Spill from someone smarter than me.
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Thanks Green LA Girl
Saturday, August 28th, 2010WalkScore — a website that grades neighborhoods on walkability — is beloved by de-car’d environmentalists, traffic-haters, and simple living enthusiasts alike. But now comes a new website that’ll attract frugalistas and economists too. Abogo shows the dollar savings of walkable neighborhoods! (via Switchboard)
I went to this site, and plugged in my address (near west side) and discovered that due to lack of public transportation and not having a dense urban neighborhood, that our average transportation costs would be higher than Santa Monica! And a CO2 transportation impact that is nearly 50% higher! One more reason to be decidedly unhappy with RTA and its services….
Clyde gets gassy…
Saturday, August 28th, 2010Cleveland is not the only city in Ohio that is turning to greener technologies to make a difference in their communities. Clyde, a small town near Sandusky, is looking at joining the ranks of other towns in northwest Ohio to create cleaner and greener energy. This time, however, they are not turning to solar power like so many of their neighbors. They are looking at turning trash into energy. From the News-Messenger website:
The idea is to build a traditional recycling center and an industrial-sized pyrolyzer. The pyrolyzer will take trash and heat it in the absence of oxygen to create pyro-gas, which is similar to natural gas. The pyro-gas will be used to run engines that power turbines to create electricity…
Some advantages of pyrolysis include eliminating future landfill methane by diverting waste and controlling ground and surface water pollution. It also has a closed loop design, which means the gases burn completely during electricity generation. It also discourages pathogens and rodents that would be in a landfill, the company said.
This is similar to the model that is being planned for the Cleveland area. I am not a fan of landfills, so anything to turn trash into something else makes me happy. Besides, the facility would increase recycling and turn the current hand sort method into an automated plant. This builds capacity and makes recycling across the region easier to maintain and support. It would lower local energy costs for local residents as well.
You go Clyde!
Want to know more about the Galleria?
Thursday, August 26th, 2010I have been watching the Galleria with much anticipation. They decided to remake the Galleria as a sort of urban greenhouse farm. Let’s face it, the traditional mall concept is not doing well across the country. Add to that the urban flight to the suburbs that Cleveland has experienced for the last several decades, and you have a bleak outlook for a downtown mall. Fortunately, you have visionaries like Vicky Poole. Vicky started planting vegetables and other plants in hanging baskets around the mall. The Galleria is basically just one big greenhouse anyhow, with its large atrium with giant open spaces and glass ceiling. Of course, there ares still shops and shop spaces, but now when you go there you get a more green and lush experience. Furthermore, I hear they are taking the idea of a “Eco Mart” and green business incubator idea and adding it to the mix. How it all turns out is both exciting and innovative. When you marry that to the Euclid corridor make over and the Avenue project, downtown could once again be the hot neighborhood to be! I can’t wait to see the results. I am planning on attending a meeting there this weekend and will find out more. But to launch this new initiative and their Resource center, there will be a “happy hour” there as the Sustainability Summit is going on. Please join me there to find out more! www.gardensunderglass.net
Gardens Under Glass is an economic development project located in the Galleria; supporting the growth of urban agriculture, and sustainability education. Gardens Under Glass ReSource Center will be opening September 22, in hopes to support an opportunity to network after the first day of the Sustainability Conference, the Glocal Engine. The Center plans to support City sustainable initiatives, groups, and organizations with a green message. We will also be focusing on healthy lifestyle education. If you are receiving this e-mail, it is because I have talked with you, and feel you would be a good fit, and would like your product or service to be a part of the Center. Interested businesses and groups, please contact me at your earliest convenience so that I can coordinate your space requirements. It is my hope to have everyone included. I look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to call me on my cell..440 225.0723
More of Cleveland’s Recycling Woes
Monday, August 23rd, 2010While the city “rolls out” its molasses-speed city-wide recycling program more and more garbage keeps piling up at the local landfills. I took this snapshot at the Tower City RTA station:
Only garbage bins, no recycling available at all. Yet, just up the stairs sits Tower City itself which boasts many recycling bins due to Forest City’s wonderful waste reduction programs. C’mon RTA, get with it!
Perhaps RTA doesn’t feel there’s enough people riding to even bother with recycling? Read my recent post on how to spend an incredibly frustrating and expensive day riding the RTA.
Meanwhile, I will tip my hat to whomever helps organize the garbage service at special events. I noticed recycling bins located next to all the garbage bins at the Cleveland Pride events this year. I also saw these (under utilized and under labeled, but still existent) recycling & garbage stations at the Tall Ships event:
So congratulations, at least these intensely garbage creating events are diverting something from the landfills! This is a major step in the right direction. Listening RTA?
UPDATE: I got the following email from a reader. At least the citizens of the city are active in reducing their waste and increasing recycling, even if some other organizations are not.
Lyndsey Farro did an amazing job managing the recycling at this year’s Taste of Tremont. Aaron Lemieux, who organized all of the garbage and recycling, told us that if she hadn’t set up the recycling, their 40 yd container would have overflowed. Attached is a picture of the diverted waste.
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You could own a Green Built Home.
Saturday, August 21st, 2010
1974 W 54TH ST$228,500
Cleveland at SxSW
Thursday, August 19th, 2010I know you know about Zero Landfill. This is the program that provides arts and crafts materials to educators and artists, by culling donations from architects, design firms, and more. They take the old samples and other miscellanea and divert it from landfill by allowing artists, teachers, pretty much anyone, come and take these things away. Less in landfill, more in the arts. Interested? Tomorrow is the final day for th season already (where did the summer go?)
Well, what you may not know is that Zero Landfill is a project of Beedance. And Michael Dungan of Beedance could be a featured panel speaker at SxSW (the preeminent film, music and technology celebration fair) in Austin. But they need your help. NO, they don;’t need money for the trip (although I am sure you could make a donation if you like) but rather they need your votes. You see, the organizers make some of the decisions surrounding who will speak about what by asking the public to vote on possible speakers. Michael wants to talk about Biomimicry and how it has applied to his work. From the SxSW panel picker site:
A social network that functions like a colony of ants. A database that manages and shares information like a slime mold. What can we learn from the obvious? Millions of years of royalty free R&D embedded in nature holds the answers to many of today’s human centered design challenges. In this presentation, co-facilitated by Chris Allen of The Biomimicry Institute and Michael Dungan of BeeDance LLC, learn how a systems approach that mimics nature’s lessons and resiliency can be adapted to technology design. Biomimicry is a proven design process that asks nature for advice. The application of biomimicry is responsible for the development of successful products ranging from Velcro™ and photovoltaic solar panels to advanced seawater desalination methods and more efficient Japanese bullet trains. Bringing a biologist to the design table to explore innovation in IT application development and optimization can unlock new discoveries. The teachings of specific champions in nature that will lead to break-through design thinking will be offered during the presentation. When approached as mentor, model and measure, organisms and whole systems found in the natural world become powerful collaborators. As B2B and B2C users continue to seek out more robust, fast and reliable forms of technology, the answers may not be in the room, but right outside the window.
I encourage you to log in and give them your vote. We need to let the rest of the world more about the talent and cool projects going on here in NE Ohio. And if you know these guys at all, then you know that they will not let us down. They are great representatives for the region, and for sustainability as a whole!
Disposing of your old phone books is a walk in the park.
Saturday, August 14th, 2010Verizon, ATT, The Yellow Pages, The White Pages….
It seems like we get more phone books every year. I haven’t used a phone book in years. If you are reading this, then chances are you rarely use them either. There are many two family homes in my neighborhood as well, so the delivery guys are always dropping off two sets as well. I managed to see one group coming and fended them off from the delivery, so I only got two sets this year. They always go right into the car and I drop them at the zoo. You may not realize it, but phone books are made from a lower grade of paper and are not recyclable with most other paper. If you dump them in with your other paper, you may be doing yourself a disservice, as they may not get recycled. However, you can take them to the park and drop them off. Many local parks have drop off stations through September. Not only can you get rid of your phone books, but you can also get some exercise, some fresh air and maybe even some family time!
I also got a hint from Green LA Girl about a process to opt out. I just did it, so not sure how effective it will be, but we shall see. There are a couple of places where you can sign up to have your phone books stopped. Check out Yellow Pages Goes Green. Which was somewhat painful, as one company has no link and the other is ATT-the company I probably hate most in the world, but that is a rant for another day. But they don’t have a real “opt out” link, but you can adjust your quantities to non for next year and see what happens. You can also go to Catalog Choice-a company that will help you reduce your catalogs and junk mail as well. After my trip to Seattle, I secretly want to set up an account here and eliminate all my mother’s junk mail behind her back. Check them out ans see if we can stop some of the useless printing that is done every year for no reason at all!
Keep Hazardous Materials out of your local dump!
Friday, August 13th, 2010If you are a resident of Cuyahoga County then September is the time to clean out that basement or garage. Mark your calendars for September 25 from 9am to 4 pm, as that is when you can take your hazardous household materials to the county fairgrounds in Berea and have them disposed of properly. This is for homes, not businesses, and yes, they will check your ID. So box up the old cans of paint, those tubes of roofing sealant, and those old florescent light bulbs and keep them out of the landfill!
August is Recycle Your Computer Month.
Thursday, August 12th, 2010When we started this business we each had our own printer. Then we added a third for printing on alternative media. But as time goes on, we have reduced our printing so much that we have decommissioned one printer and are preparing another for retirement. I do have plenty of cables and my old laptop though, that are less than in good shape. Luckily this is Recycle Your Computer Month in Cuyahoga County. So join me in cleaning out that attic or office corner and getting rid of all those old mice, keyboards, printers, monitors and computers that you always thought you would fix up. They will recycle all th eparts they can and keep hazardous materials out of the landfill!
