Made in Cleveland: Sustainability Innovations

Just came across some videos shot and edited by Brad Masi that I’d like to share with you all:

The Urban Lumberjacks are deconstructing houses and using the materials to build greenhouses.

The Central Community Cooperative is especially interesting to me because of its connection to Cuyahoga Community College’s Metropolitan Campus (Tri-C Metro) and Dr. Michael Scope, who also started the Collaborative Campus. The Collaborative Campus Project is an effort to build upon the strengths of the area surrounding Tri-C Metro, making it a safer, more prosperous and sustainable community for all. Tri-C’s efforts to reach out to their surrounding community are truly inspiring and I’m looking forward to seeing how these new projects are implemented, creating results for the neighborhoods within the Campus District.

Click here to watch some more of Brad Masi’s videos!

Northeast Ohio’s Notable Nine

What is better than a “Top Ten” or a “Year in Review” list?  The Notable Nine, of course.  A whiz-bang combination of both, and yet unique in number, the Notable Nine have managed to multiple-handedly change the game in Northeast Ohio.

Without further ado, I present…

The Notable Nine

9.  Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Action and Resources Guide: In the second year of its decade-long endeavor, this mayor-led initiative has published a report on how to move forward.

8.  The Restoring Prosperity Report: A collaborative effort between the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Brookings Institute, this report offers policy recommendations for improving Ohio’s long-term prosperity.

7.  The Northeast Ohio Green Map: You can add sustainable organizations, initiatives and infrastructure to it too!

6.  Water|Craft Urban-Infill Vol. 3: This book by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative’s PopUp City is jam-packed with ideas on regional water issues and new urban design approaches to tackle them.

5.  NEORSD Project Clean Lake:  No one likes Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), including the US EPA.  CSOs allow untreated sewage to go into our otherwise beautiful watershed and Great Lake.  The NEORSD is now going to do something about it.

4.  Trust for Public Land: Taking the reigns for completing the Towpath Trail and connecting it to Lake Erie, the Trust for Public Land is making it possible to build a greenway through downtown Cleveland.

3.  Flats East Bank Loan Guarantee from HUD: The redevelopment of the Flats East Bank is perhaps not so far off after all.

2.  Reimagining Greater Cleveland: The Cleveland Botanical Garden is using the $167,000 grant they received from the Great Lakes Protection Fund to help transform vacant land in Northeast Ohio into ‘green’ infrastructure.

1.  Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant and the Regional Prosperity Initiative: There’s nothing quite like getting federal dollars for sustainable community building in Northeast Ohio!

(Continue reading for Honorable Mentions and Maybe Next Times)

The Launch of the Northeast Ohio Green Map

When I arrived at my desk after the launch party for the Northeast Ohio Green Map, there was a letter waiting for me. I opened it with some degree of excitement (my name and address were handwritten – always a good sign) and found inside a thank you note from one of the attendees of the event that attracted dozens interested in mapping the region’s sustainability assets online.

The note, the turnout and the feedback at the launch party made me feel as though what we are working on here is, in fact, needed and rejoiced as a tool for community asset mapping in Northeast Ohio. What an extraordinary feeling to have after working on something that you believe in.

During the event, the back room of the Treehouse shrank as people continued to pour in during the presentation, and I was relieved that the bar didn’t have as limited a supply of beer as we had of Edison’s pizza.

Click to view the presentation

The Northeast Ohio Green Map

This summer, I’m working with GreenCityBlueLake to develop the Northeast Ohio Green Map.

This is an open-sourced asset map (read: inventory of our communities’ strengths) of all the sustainability organizations, initiatives and infrastructure in Northeast Ohio, and we need your knowledge and participation in order to make this map the rich community tool that it has the potential to become.

Join us for the launch of the Northeast Ohio Green Map!

5:30-8pm at The Treehouse, 820 College Ave., Tremont

Join us for this Mapping Party to celebrate the launch of the Northeast Ohio Green Map. The Treehouse will supply the beer, we’ll supply the food, and you supply the knowledge of our communities’ assets and opportunities!  Bring your laptop and we’ll start mapping Northeast Ohio’s sustainability organizations, initiatives, and infrastructure together.

Asset mapping could help organizations and individuals of all kinds—including non-profit, for-profit, governmental, academic and public—to find one another, connect and collaborate around regional sustainability.

Beyond the Motor City

Give this new documentary by Aaron Woolf a watch:

According to the film’s press release,

Beyond the Motor City…examines how Detroit, a grim symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in America.

Detroit and its Great Lakes neighbors are looking to high-speed, light rail as a solution not just for transportation in the region, but also as a means to lower greenhouse gas emissions (and improve air quality), reduce the consumption of petroleum, create jobs, and rebuild our cities around transit for higher population density and improved mobility for all (not just for people who own cars).

To watch the full-length feature, visit The Blueprint America Screening Tour website.

Majora Carter on “Greening the Ghetto”

On March 30, Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, came to Cleveland to talk about her work to “green the ghetto” in South Bronx.  Watch the video below to learn about how she and her community have tackled social and environmental injustices, while simultaneously creating economic development opportunities for their neighborhood.

How can we bring some of these tactics to places like East Cleveland, East Liberty and pretty much anywhere in Detroit?

Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Blog

That’s right.  The Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit and related initiatives now have their own blog, and it’s currently hosted by GreenCityBlueLake.

The Full (Green) Cleveland

Check out this wonderful article posted on the Urban Gardens blog about sustainable initiatives in Cleveland:

The Full (Green) Cleveland

Here are some of the initiatives mentioned in the article (Stay tuned to Renovating to read about many others):

• E4S Sustainability Implementation Groups
• RTA Healthline and tree planting along Euclid Ave.
• The Cleveland EcoVillage
• Cleveland Plus
• Tri-C Green Academy and Center for Sustainability
• Solar panels at the Science Center and at Progressive Field
• The Culinary Vegetable Institute
• The Chef’s Garden
• The Greenhouse Tavern
• Blue Pike Farm (click here to read about this and other urban farms!)
• Spice of Life Catering
• Green Corp
• The Fresh Fork Market

What’s missing from this list?  Leave a comment to add to it!

“Hope, Seeds and Concrete”

This movie by Heifer International demonstrates how they are working towards bringing urban agriculture and sustainable food system education to cities around the US.

Here in Cleveland, the movie Polycultures describes our local food system that is doing similar things to jump start urban agriculture.  Here’s one of them.

The Strength that Will Carry Momentum Forward

The following video by Graham Veysey summarizes the proceedings of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit hosted by Mayor Jackson.

I have heard multiple Clevelanders state their frustration about the lack of visible results that have come out of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit so far.  But what I say to them each time is that this is a 10 year project.  And we are responsible for the results.