Recyclebank's Green Your Vacation Challenge

Recyclebank launched the Green Your Vacation promotion at greenyourvacation.recyclebank.com, an interactive contest where members can learn to green their summer plans, earn points, and win prizes including 2 grand prizes:

A ten day cruise to the Galapagos Islands, courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions and a stay at the Four Seasons Costa Rica at Papagayo. The contest will last through end of July.

Please visit greenyourvacation.recyclebank.com, and refer friends for multiple chances to win!

New On-Street Recycling Containers in Northside

Assumed to have been installed to coincide with the Great American Cleanup on April 16th, the Cincinnati neighborhood of Northside has recently added on-street recycling containers along the Hamilton Avenue Business District.

The new receptacles are sleek, attractive, and easy to differentiate from the uniform trash containers, which can be found throughout the city. The containers were obtained through a grant, assisted by the Office of Environmental Quality. Recycling pickup has been contracted through Rumpke Recycling. Hopefully the design choice for the new recycling containers will encourage proper use, not as another place for passersby to throw their trash.

Located near Shake-It Records on the north side of Hamilton Avenue, near Lingo Street.

This measure capitalizes on Northside's growing reputation as one of Cincinnati's greenest neighborhoods. Already in the neighborhood are a variety of services and outlets for reuse, environmental awareness, and alternative transport methods.

• Eateries Melt and The Grove feature a variety of locally-source, vegan and sustainable fare.
• Fueled by the Easter Seals Work Resource Center, Building Value is the place to reclaim salvaged building materials and furnishings. They give a second life to quality, architectural components. Building Value also enables donors and buyers alike to obtain tax credits and LEED credits for their projects.
• MOBO Bicycle Cooperative is the lone bike co-op in Cincinnati, boasting a membership of 600, as of 2011. Their central location enables reasonable access from all stretches of the city. A membership gives you access to tools, a slew of donated bikes for parts, and technical assistance from the friendly staff.
• MOBO is part of the Village Green Foundation, which is a non-profit garden co-op that aims to grant "access to healthy foods for all the residents of the community.
• Even reuse and consignment shops like Chicken Lays an Egg, Casablanca Vintage, and Shop Therapy offer a cornucopia of pre-loved clothing (the former), carefully selected clothing from the 40's to the 70's (second), and items for the home (the latter).
• Fabricate is a gallery and retail store featuring locally homemade and handmade. Celebrating reuse and creativity!
• Many Northside businesses recycle. Northside Tavern, for years, has diverted nearly all its glass bottle and aluminum can waste.
• Let us not forget Northside Farmers Market, open year-round at Jacob Hoffner Park and North Presbyterian Church. Local organic produce, naturally raised meats, raw cheeses, and more.

Active Northside residents and businesses celebrate environmental activism, careful reuse of materials, and a sustainable urban neighborhood. Let's hope that Northside's hop to be the first neighborhood with on-street recycling will encourage others to follow suit.

Lost: the Famous "I Love Compost" Magnet

About a week ago, I discovered something that confirmed why my car felt a little strange as of late. Someone had stolen the "I Love Compost" magnet" from the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District from the back of my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid.

They have been one with each other since the Recyclebank press event, back in October, at Annwood Park. Clearly, these buggers found this beautiful magnet to be a valuable find. If you have an extra one, or have any sightings to report of Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District giving these away during Earth Week, send me a line! This is a 21st Century, First World tragedy--yes. But it would be nice to get a replacement!

Details on the Great American Cleanup in Clifton (Cincinnati) - Saturday, APRIL 16th (8:30am-1:00pm)

**IF YOU FEEL ANYONE YOU KNOW WOULD BE INTERESTED IN JOINING US FOR THE CLEANUP, PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH A FRIEND.**

We are rapidly approaching the Great American Cleanup for 2011. As the founder of the CTM Green Clifton Committee, I really wanted to get Clifton on track with annual cleanup events, after what I understood as a long dormancy. My goal is to make this second annual effort bigger than the last. Before I get into the details of this year's event, I want to thank everyone who has expressed any level of interest.

The basics...

Date and time: Saturday, April 16th at 8:30am

Meetup place (or home base): Clifton Plaza (333 Ludlow Ave)

Morning kickoff: Please arrive by 8:30am, so that we can coordinate the efforts with team leaders, assign teams for our volunteers, get liability forms signed, and get acquainted over coffee and eats.

Duration: We're looking at a 9:00am start time, expecting teams to return to Clifton Plaza by noon.

What's next?: I am working on a couple local partnerships within our business district that would provide food for our volunteers after great hard work. No one has any need to worry about not seeing food in front themselves after the cleanup. Lunch will be served from 12pm to 1pm.

The cleanup and supplies...

What's being picked up? We will be picking up trash and recyclables separately. Keep Cincinnati Beautiful will be supplying all teams in Cincinnati with different colored bags, white for one and clear for the other. Weeding out recyclables from our pickup materials is taken very seriously.

Electronics? Yes, electronics are being collected, as a part of the Great American Cleanup. However, they will not be a part of the regular cleanup activities. Instead, KCB has arranged for two drop off locations during the event--one is Blue Ash and another at a still unreported location central to all of Greater Cincinnati's neighborhoods. I will keep you up to date on that piece.

Supplies: Based on supplies from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful from last year, volunteers will receive bright KCB volunteer t-shirts. As stated earlier, KCB will also supply separate bags for recyclables and trash, latex gloves, a pocket first aid kit for home base, and posters for the event. You may see some posters around Clifton in the days leading up to the event. Until the Supply Day--Tuesday, April 12^th--I will not know exactly what we will receive but I planned for supplies for 30 volunteers. Do not fret--KCB overcompensates with supplies for team volunteer estimates, and I will make sure we are not running low.

Routes...

You will find a draft map of team routes attached to this email. The highlighted routes are suggested based on main vehicular or pedestrian routes, common cut-throughs, and known problem areas. I would encourage team leaders to cover other neighborhood streets within their zones if time permits. But I think these routes will take up a significant portion of our time. I will provide individual route maps on cleanup day.

Team leaders...

I have already received interest from individuals becoming team leaders. Due to the large expanse of our neighborhood, we may need two or more team leaders per route. It depends on the turnout by 8:30am or so on April 16th. Feel free to email me, if you are interested in becoming a team leader.

Please let me know if you feel that I am leaving anything out here. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email me.

Very much thanks,

Christian Huelsman

Clifton Town Meeting, board member

CTM Green Clifton Committee, chair

GAC Clifton site leader

christianhuelsman@cliftoncommunity.org

NPR and PBS are in danger of being eliminated by Congress

Our Republican Congress is aiming to eliminate all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which would erase National Public Radio, PBS, and other public media from our lives. The cuts are claimed to be due to budget constraints, but a small fraction of a percent of the total budget helps to pay for public media.

In Ohio, we have already seen strong-armed (and successful) efforts to eliminate statewide rail from the radar, after years of planning and even federal funding allocation. More recently, newly elected Ohio Governor John Kasich has cut $70 million in state transit funding. Now, the possibility of nixed public media is threatening.

Please visit the CREDO action petition site to learn more about looming elimination of public media funding.

Below, I have included my letter to Congress via the petition in the link above. Please, strongly consider sharing your words with Congress.

Respectable members of Congress,

The high cost of eliminating public television and radio is abominable. The higher cost of eliminating public options across the board is stifling and offensive. In the past two months, as an Ohio Resident, I have witnessed years of statewide rail planning quashed by the sentiment of then-governor-elect John Kasich. He has since eliminated $70 of public transit funding in Ohio. Now you want to take away public radio and television for all, in the name of "budget issues".

I am offended by the narrowly representative interest of Republicans in Congress, who aim to take action against an "overinflated government". However, it is the government-aided non-profit organizations, institutional and public construction projects, and others that defend a public process and provision for all. In the case of PBS and NPR, listeners and viewers keep them afloat but government funding keeps it alive.

We need public radio and television to maintain last remaining near-non-partisan media outlets. Private enterprise has changed the way we are delivered the news--special interest groups with enormous lobbying power, former big oil/ag/industry executives appointed to government positions, and so on. These decisions are not in the interests of Americans but in the interests of the sovereign well-dressed and self-interested.

Please do not take away from us what millions actively support and value.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX

Win 2,011 RecycleBank Points! What's your green resolution?

To those of your with RecycleBank accounts, and to those who have yet to register for an account: this is for you. It is no mystery that I am one of two members of the Cincinnati RecycleBank team. A common goal of ours and yours: to increase recycling rates in our city.

Pledge to make 2011 your greenest year ever on Facebook.com/RecycleBank and be one of 20 weekly winners.

We want everyone to make this their greenest year ever. Each week in January, we're asking our Facebook fans to share their green resolutions. Every Monday at 11 AM EST we'll post a new topic to start the conversation. From that post, we'll pick 20 lucky fans to receive 2,011 RecycleBank Points! The giveaways started this week, so make sure you "Like" us on Facebook and join the conversation to enter!