Propounding on the documentary No Impact Man

"Can you save the planet without
driving your family crazy?"

UC Sustainability recently screened the Colin Beaven documentary, No Impact Man, with which I completely fell in love. The film documents Colin, a New York City-based writer, and his journey through a year-long experiment to achieve net zero environmental impact, which began in November 2006. Prior the the film and book of the same name, he wrote a series of entries on his blog about his decision to take personal action, instead of waiting for “the senators and the CEOs to change the way we treat the world.” Colin thoroughly acknowledged that this transformation en masse was a marketing tactic for his next book. His transformation, however, had deeper implications—it had a profound effect on how his wife-with-child and he conducted themselves on a daily basis.

This film draws parallels to my own life as an evolving environmentalist, at times emphasizing “mentalist”. Over the past two years—especially since moving to my current apartment in Clifton’s Ludlow Business District—I have made the lives of my girlfriend and my friend-roommate more difficult. First it was simply recycling and minimizing how many times I ended up taking the trash out to the dumpster. That correlated with takeout and leftover food waste taking up room in the refrigerator. Now we use 100% recycled, post-consumer toilet paper and parsley infused surface cleaner. I buy bulk grains and use UV-sensitive, biodegradable kitchen trash bags. We now have an indoor composting bokaski unit. But Colin’s experiment was the truest test of his wife’s patience, love, understanding, and willingness to learn. Perhaps No Impact Man is not the conventional love story, but it is a story about love and all those other things.

A strong critic—and there are certainly many out there—might slight Colin simply for living in New York City. However, the fact that he conducted the experiement in NYC made it entirely possible. Access to healthy food is a heavy variable for anyone to impact his or her waste. (This is not to say that the same experiment could not work in Cincinnati, but it may be entirely impossible in a suburban community.) Colin and his wife Michelle regularly visited farmer’s markets, and eventually connected well enough with one to spend their vacation at the farm (using the plentiful commuter rail in the region). The couple got rid of their flat screen television and other frivolties. About halfway through the experiment, they cut the lights. All the while, they had a large network of associates and friends, trains and buses, which is a by-product (but not necessarily guaranteed in all cases) of living densely. That network was a helpful support system to keep their marriage and project intact. That network enabled Colin and the family to balance negative environmental impact with positive impacts, and to reach net zero.

An important piece to note is that Colin’s experiment was designed to work in stages. Stage one was to figure out how to create no garbage waste, including packaging and disposable products. The second stage was to create a smallest environmental impact with their food choices (which, for a short while, included using unsuccessful, primitive cooling techniques instead of living with a actual refrigerator). The third stages involved consumption of only necessary items, and learning how to do it sustainably.

Planning for Sustainability: Six hours with Price Hill Will ... and beyond

Last Saturday afternoon I spent six hours roaming the neighborhood streets of Price Hill. The Census officer never showed up at the Corryville Branch Library, so my contention for a temporary job would have to wait. Thus I got an earlier start to working for Price Hill Will (PHW), a non-profit development corporation in East Price Hill. Through my current co-op with Community Building Institute, I connected myself to various organizational partners through the place matters Comprehensive Community Initiative they manage. My volunteer opportunity spawned from several visits to PHW Eco-neighborhood Community Action Team (CAT) meetings. Emily Horning, a community organizer for PHW, regularly mediates and delegates at meetings. The neighborhood business district is due for streetscape improvements in the summer, so this presented a perfect opportunity for some first-person fieldwork.

PHW’s Beautification CAT identified several projects that would benefit from my initial mapping of the business corridors. These included:

1. Old, painted municipal waste containers along Warsaw are fading and falling into disrepair. I was to map them and show examples of those in poor shape. The mapping would be use to identify redundancy with other municipal waste facilities and where they are current lacking.

2. The Beauty CAT is working with Metro to consolidate bus stops with benches and shelters in Price Hill. Once again though, there may be a problem with advertisement benches in locations not zoned for them. Some are zoned; some are not (“parasitic as in nature,” as Emily put it). I was to map and photograph the benches in Price Hill, who owns them, and if they are authorized. Those that are not can be relocated or eliminated altogether. This may reduce eyesores in the community and augment Price Hill’s reputation as a “Cincinnati’s greenest community”.

3. Compile a photographic inventory of each block from Warsaw and Grand through Glenway and Crookshank.

So, what were some of my findings?

• There is an unusual oversupply of bus stops throughout East Price Hill. I would venture to say that every other stop could be eliminated. Every block?
• Advertising benches are not as plentiful as I expected, which could be a good or a bad thing. Many bus stops simply do not have seating for waiting. However, in higher traffic areas—as I mentioned Emily stated—they are “parasitic,” abundant and redundant.
• Near one pocket park I found unnecessary duplication of waste facilities. Four were located on park property, while two were found immediately off park property on the sidewalks. There were even recycling containers for plastic + glass and aluminum cans on park property. When the park closes, are we no longer allowed to legally recycle?
• As I mentioned in recent business association and community council meetings throughout the city, public recycling drop-offs seem to be located in very auto-oriented areas. In Price Hill these resources are especially sparse. Behind Holy Family School are two ABITIBI Paper Retriever containers, a clothing drop, and one Rumpke Recycling ommingled container. In this case, however, the drop-off location is quite walkable by comparison.
• No systematic scheme is apparent in the placement of municipal waste cans. Some are midblock; others are at corner bus stops. And, as stated earlier, style and condition of the facilities are inconsistent.
• In one specific case, there is a defunct bus stop on Seton Avenue, afront the long-abandoned KFC location at Five Points (Warsaw, Glenway, Seton, and Quebec). A bare signpost still remains without a Metro route sign badge. Its corresponding municpal waste can was empty on a Saturday, even though Emily and I both believe that trash is pick up on Mondays. Many other trash facilities are located at Five Points.

The sidewalk redo on Warsaw Avenue should be underway in Summer 2010. Hope is that bus stop consolidation, augmented litter control, and bus stop safety measures will conincide with the project. I will provide you all with an update when the comprehensive inventory, survey, and index are complete.

You are always invited to any of Price Hill Will’s Community Action Team meetings. The next Beautification CAT meeting is this Thursday, March 11th at 6:30pm at Price Hill Chili. The next Eco-neighborhood CAT meeting will be held tonight at 5:30pm at PHW, as last week’s meeting was rescheduled.

Propounding on the new documentary Tapped and our world of plastic (bottles)

Brought to us by the those who brought us Who Killed the Electric Car, Tapped—a documentary mostly about bottled water—recently screened as part of the UC|Sustainability Film Series for Winter 2010. The film exhbited where bottled water is sourced, which companies are behind the various brands of “natural spring water”, the containers in which it is sold, and the generally hidden impacts of bottled water on our environment and health. Although I was aware of the concerns of plastic packaging, as well as the unnecessary use and waste of water resources, Tapped was an engaging work that seemed to impact all in attendance.

Several topics in the film caused my innards to sink. It was the same disgust when I feel when the following ingredients are applied to the same recipe: individual ignorance by choice and corporate apathy. It is fairly simple for someone to point the finger solely at the insiders’ club—vile industry and the government at its mercy. But several times during the film, it was expressed that voting with our feet is ever so important. In this case, it is all about voting with our wallets.

One topic that disturbed me was environmental degradation in the name of plastic, If I recall correctly, 30 million plastic bottles are disposed every day, but only half make it into the recycling stream. The other half makes its way into landfills, rivers and streams, and even wash up on distant islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The film exhbited one such beach that no longer had the pure white sand it solely featured for thousands of years. Instead, it was littered with millions of small pieces of plastic. Our consumer choices translate into loss of habitat for marine life. Our culture of convenience translates into a lower quality of life for fellow humans and entire ecosystems alike. This is precisely the big picture thinking that I fear lacks in collective society only days after seeing realm-rocking documentaries about real life quasi-chaos.

My primary concern leads me to borrow a couple terms from the business world, both of which I picked up an Organization Theory course. After seeing several environmentally focused documentaries like Food Inc, The Age of Stupid, No Impact Man, and others, I cannot help but think of a class discussion on the difference between “corporate responsibility” and “corporate responsiveness”. Companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle likely will not alter their practices of virtually stealing water from local water bodies, (which was shown to result in “overharvesting” even during droughts), unless they are trounced with government regulation. Their image of “pure” and “clean”, and their sleek bottle design is about as bad a Starbucks’ recent greenwashing.

Corporate responsibility usually comes into play when a company comes under fire for objectionable practices. It is a chicken-and-egg issue though. The film interviewed a former EPA official, who quit the agency after being told that he was not permitted to take action against a petrochemical company (those which make the petroleum-based resin used in plastic production), which was causing adverse health effects in residents of nearby Corpus Christi. However, if enough people complained to the agency, he would then be allowed to enforce penalties. But where do we obtain that critical mass, when much our bountiful news and informational sources tell us what they want us to know?

However, I would actually like to concurrently mention both my concerns by replacing “corporate” with “environmental”—and not just our natural environments. Both industries and communities must find a way to coexist in good health somehow. Leveraging partnerships with big corporations seems to be a key ingredient of establishing sustainable relationships, no matter how large or small your neighbors really are. Perhaps it could be via institutions with government as a silent figure at the table—a mediator of sorts. The creation of a long-term plan to live in harmony with each other—that is necessary, I feel. But like the uprising against tobacco companies and their evil mind tricks, government must play a facilitiating role. Government has regulatory measures in place to prevent the free market from taking over our societal reins. It seems that we run into problems when an adminstration comes along that deregulates the corporate realm.

We are ingrained in a culture that responds to chaos but does not do a very good job at using preventative measures, that is, until tragedy strikes. That is environmental responsibility, motivated by a range of factors tied to consequence. Environmental responsiveness—I believe—in achieved when two or more partners engage in a long-term commitment to address the always-looming issues in our lives. The different is that environmental responsiveness can be an antidote to the cynical response that laymen have against the limited scope and results of environmental and corporate responsibility. In the case of bottled water, government can help to take back our local waters. There is evidence that it is always working.

greeneyedspotlight: Cincinnati-based emersion DESIGN's LEED Platinum HQ

When one visits Cincinnati-based emersion DESIGN's website, they notice the plethora of services they currently offer. The architecture firm also offers engineering, interior design, and planning services, as well as building inspections and drafting. Oh, but you say you have seen such a firm before. What makes emersion DESIGN and its team of eighteen designers special may be the space in which they work. After all, does the space make the person make the space, or does the space make the person?

Located in Norwood and within walking distance from Xavier University, the Hamilton County Business Center has been home to the emersion DESIGN office since 2007, where former KZF owners and architects and the nine-member team began. In 2007, after just five months of operation, the firm realized the need for more space to accomodate its influx of projects. The sprint for a LEED platinum-rated renovation was a no-brainer.

The result: emersion DESIGN became the first architecture and engineering firm in the world to achieve LEED platinum status for its office. The team carefully researched its options to achieve a maximum rating, while remaining focused on practicality and cost efficiency. No LEED Platinum certification is easy to obtain. The key is a cross-balance of credits and utilization of existing resources. Their answer was a salvage and module design purposed for disassembly.

Sustainable Sites: Although site selection is a typical category in any LEED rating system, in emersion DESIGN's case, it seems they had the certification in mind all along. Their location in a historic building trumps new construction in terms of a sustainable vision; utilization of a former brownfield site is yet another. The workspace's centerpiece is the large work table near the north-facing windows, taking advantage of daylighting. Proximity to a walkable neighborhood and transit both provide a suitable capstone. All these features are built-in advantages to the firm's vision.

Also worth noting is the firm's lease renegotiation to limit the number of parking space to the minimum required by code (11 spots for 18 employees). The firm would also pay a base rent with utilities as a usage cost. Thus, the emersion DESIGN paid for their energy consumption, rather than an artificially constant, incorporated rate.

Water Efficiency: Other than relocation of a sink from the general work area to the front vestibule (which also houses indoor composting and recycling facilities), few credits were acquired through Water Efficiency. However, the retrofit included low flow integration.

Energy + Atmosphere: From the ceiling still hung the original fluorescent lighting, abundant and redundant as ever. Task lighting and reduction of overhead lighting accounted for a 35% reduction. 90% of their equipment was also EnergyStar eligible. Motion sensors for lighting also save on wasted energy in their meeting space. emersion DESIGN also earned the elusive Enhanced Commissioning credit to ensure that appliances and energy-hogging equipment worked properly.

Materials + Resources: This one was where cost really came into the picture. The firm's focus for attaining Platinum certification was in renewable materials and recycled waste. The long work table is made from sheets of renewable bamboo plywood, which amounted to $800 for each of twelve sheets. That's more than the combined cost of some of the office's salvaged material furnishings! Icing on the cake (an understatement) was that all wood was FSC-certified.

Indoor Environmental Quality: The aforementioned daylighting pitched in for IEQ credit, as well as E+A and Materials. Using salvaged 2x2 ceiling tiles from a Cincinnati Public School, sunshades were installed between the north-facing windows, saving the eyes of hard-at-work designs from the rising and setting summer sun. Although they originally preferred to do without carpets or rugs, they also chose to install removable, non-VOC rugs to earn a Low-Emitting Materials credit. Use of non-VOC paints and improvements to the ventilation (cleanout out duct space, modified roof unit) earned emersion DESIGN a couple more stars for doing their homework!

Innovation + Design Process: When you leap for Platinum certification, there are bound to be some Innovation credits. emersion DESIGN's pinnacle achievement was that 99% of project waste was recycled, reused, or repurposed, excusing two BAGS (18 pounds) of foam from around two TONS of waste!

From their website: "Key contributors include: BC&E, HA Kahler, Urban E, HCBC, HGC, APG Office Furnishings, Applied Lighting, Masland, Smith & Fong and Building Value."

Whew! Well, if you are interested in replicating the results of emersion DESIGN's renovation pursuits, the firm also specializes in LEED certification. For more information on services that emersion DESIGN provides, visit http://www.emersiondesign.com/services.html.

Resource tab: Multi-Family Recycling Assistance Program

The following is a flier produced by the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District. This is part of an effort to consolidate information about recycling, composting, reuse, and waste reduction in Cincinnati.

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Multi-Family Recycling Assistance Program

http://www.hcdoes.org/SWMD/

The Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District can help apartment owners and condominium associations provide their residents with recycling! Through the Multi-Family Recycling Assistance Program, the District will work with you and your waste hauler to coordinate the easiest and most efficient method of recycling for your property. The District will then pay for the first year of your recycling contract if you agree to pay for the following two years.

With the Multi-Family Recycling Assistance Program, you will receive:

• Consultation meeting and a customized recycling plan
• Coordination of recycling services with your waste haulter
• First year of recycling contract paid
• Education about recycling for residents

Recycling could save you money! Property managers can often reduce their total solid waste management costs if residents recycle enough material to reduce their trash container size or collection frequency. This is because many haulers collect recycling at a lower cost than collection and disposal of an equal volume of trash.

Why recycle? Recycling saves energy, conserves natural resources, and creates new products.

• Recycling one aluminum can save six ounces of gasoline!
• Recycling one aluminum can saves six ounces of gasoline!
• Recycling five plastic bottles can make one sq. ft. of carpet!

For more information or to determine if your property is eligible, please contact Michelle Balz at 513-946-7789 or michelle.balz@hamilton-co.org.

Municipal recycling infrastructure: A Chicago Case Study for Cincinnati

This past weekend, several friends and I took a trip to Chicago. megabus ran a promotion for free seats, back in December, and we decided to take a 24-hour trip to the Windy City. I had plans to visit old standbys like Reckless Records, but also visit sustainable spots I found online. Unfortunately, our time ran short for running to Green Grocer Chicago, 360SEE, and Crop to Cup Coffee Company. I did, however, satiate my desire to find green assets in Chicago by doing photographic research for my upcoming presentations in Cincinnati neighborhoods.

The following are some new and old examples of recycling infrastructure in Chicago. Of course, these examples cannot be found all over the city, but they exhibit clear evidence of the power of partnerships.

Corporate-sponsored newspaper bins:

First is a basic newspaper recycling drop, which can be found in nearly all CTA transit stations, indoor and outdoor. Tied to Chicago's former Blue Bag Recycling Program, the bins originate from an agreement in 1997, between the Chicago Transit Authority and the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper provided the CTA funds to both purchase and install them in stations (link), which obviously resulted in advertising in prominent locations. Over the next year, 300 containers were placed at 90 stations. (The photo on the left, as you can see, does not have the feature the Tribune logo. I could not find evidence that reflected this change to the design of the newspaper bins.)

Currently, Cincinnati's Government Square does not currently have recycling bins installed at its bus bays. Perhaps Metro could benefit by leveraging partnerships with The Cincinnati Enquirer or Cincinnati CityBeat. In Cincinnati, we only have a single daily newspaper, which no longer has competition. (Business functions were actually handled by the Enquirer, since the Post entered a joint operating agreement in 1977.) Nonetheless, CityBeat and the Enquirer cater to opposing political views, and compete for ad revenue. As little ad space I have seen used above the seating on Metro buses, I believe that ad-supported or corporate sponsored recycling infrastructure is a great opportunity.

Ad-supported sidewalk recycling bins:

The bins pictured at the right were found in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. After a visit to eco-andersonville.org, I found that the Andersonville Development Corporation formed a committee to develop the Eco-Andersonville initiative. The idea was to create a certification program designed scaled for small businesses. Their sustainability efforts now cover the following areas:

Sustainable Business Certification Program

Business district recycling

Energy audits

Green and sustainable events

Community and commercial composting research

The initial funding for the purchase and installation of the bins was made possible by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Recycling collection is made possible by the sponsorship of its 15 bins. They illustrate the importance of leveraging public resources and private partnerships to create attractive public spaces. Additionally, the installation exhibits a wonderful visible sense of neighborhood pride. (Although the bins shown above accept only paper, Eco-Andersonville's bins line the business district to accept paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass.)

It should also be noted that eco-Andersonville's partnership with the Chicago Resource Center has made it possible to boast a 99% recycling rate in the neighborhood.

Instead of waiting for the city to fund and fulfill our sustainable visions, neighborhood community councils and development corporations can leverage resources and partnerships to create more sustainable urban corridors.

Book exchange bins:

And finally, just the for heck of it, how about book exchange bins? The installation of these bins, as was found outside Quimby's Books in Chicago's Wicker Park, can be as easy as salvaging non-functioning newspaper boxes. Where *did* all those Cincinnati Post boxes end up anyway, after the paper folded in 2007?

As we have seen over the past couple years, reuse and mobile markets have proven to be popular in several Cincinnati neighborhoods. Northside Up for Grabs, an annual "free market" enables anyone to bring unwanted items in exchange for others. The new Share Some Sugar -- a Cincinnati-based, online borrowing service -- also provides opportunities in the realm of waste reduction. Book exchanges can be a very inexpensive addition to a bustling neighborhood center.

Sustainability on Crack: The Trash Diaries

Ahem, make that "trash diary".

So, as some of you know, I am pursuing a degree in urban planning as well as a minor in sustainability. Even though I am on co-op (a paid internship) this quarter, I am taking a introductory sustainability course in DAAP, which is not necessarily going to count toward any of my goals. The director of the Sustainable Urban Environments program is usually missing in action, over in Africa or some other exotic location. Thus, I'm not certain whether this course will actually work in substitution for the Intro to SUE. *However*...

In the course requirements, there are five projects from which we must choose two to complete. While it's a risk in itself that I am taking this class, it's another that I will overcompensate by completing all five projects. I mean, how could someone *not* give me credit for the course, after I go apeshit on five projects in ten weeks?

I will own this class.

So, included in the list of projects is to keep a trash diary:

For 2 straight weeks, throw nothing away, and keep a diary of the trash you have generated. At the end of the 2 weeks, submit your Trash Diary indicating itemized list of trash generated with total weights of paper, plastic, glass, metal and food that you created. Follow the rules and guidelines as identified by the blog 365 Days of Trash – available here:

http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/2008/03/frequently-asked-questions.html

That means that from January 6th to 19th, I will be logging my trash, my recyclables, and my food scraps composted. Each piece of waste will be photographed and filed by date. The results will be tallied by weight, and will end up in an in-class, Pecha Kucha presentation. It goes without saying that this is going to be an exercise and a challenge to create the least amount of waste I can. I. Am. Stoked.

So, for today, I have only created one piece of waste: a box from the spaghetti I made tonight. Throughout the day, I carried an organic cotton washcloth for runny noses. I ate at Aquarius Star & Om Cafe, which features local and organic fare with a cloth napkin. My purchase did not require a receipt. Later in the day, I had a doughnut from the Expressmart in TUC, on UC's campus, for which I paid cash and declined to use the wax paper. So far, so good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, which should be hell for most commuters. That means I get to work from home, eat my bulk food items, and get into a better program by drinking more water.

I will be covering more of my trash diary endeavor, as well as my other sustainability class projects, regularly. Fortunately, that will also give me more motivation to post about my neighborhood initiative....tomorrow.

Bring your own container

Skyline and Sigg. The paths of these two staples in my life have finally converged. None of us are saints--certainly not green saints. As a long-standing Cincinnatian, and a resident who lives across the street from a Skyline Chili location, the question is not *if* it's Skyline Time but rather "dine-in or carryout".

Earlier last year, I decided to significantly reduce my carryout trips. However, it is Skyline's carryout packaging makes me cringe. (I rarely visit fast food establishments, and most locals would agree that Skyline doesn't exactly qualify as a try fast food eatery. It's a chili parlor.) Coneys (which is what I'd ordinarily order to-go) come in polystyrene foam containers. Ways come in #5 plastic re-fastening containers. The corresponding grated cheese and oyster crackers come in plastic baggies, sealed with sticky fasteners. Put that all in a brown take out bag or two.

No thank you. That is why I went for round two of my Sigg lunch container experime

nt. The first time around, I asked the cashier if I could have my order of coneys placed into my Sigg container instead. He said they could not do it because the health department would have a fit. Well, I certainly don't like being told no. This time, I was encountered with a "what...are you doing?" by my regular server. I told them that I didn't want to consume any more Styrofoam containers. I live right across the street, so I regularly refuse drink straws, napkins, and bags. In the end...they actually admired my stance! So, as long as I don't expect them to do accommodate me during the bar rush or after a UC game, I'm golden.

As for the health department excuse that I got, the first time around? The staffer assembling the meal still must change his plastic gloves, after handing an outside container. The food must also be placed in the outside container away from the serving island. Even so, it comes down to two plastic gloves in the trash or a polystyrene container, at the very least.

I would also recommend bringing your Sigg drink bottle to your favorite establishment. If you're like me, and still helplessly fixed on a certain carbonated beverage, restaurants are actually more willing to fill your drink container. Of course it's better to eat at home, eat local, avoid meats, and avoid sodas. But we also have our weaknesses for traveling consumer food products. Every one of those times deserves an offset.

Dawn of a new era

2010 will mark a new era for me, which technically began just a few months ago. Since September, I realized that I became so restless with my desire for a more sustainable community. Although the City adopted its Green Cincinnati Plan and Climate Protection Plan in 2009, I still do not feel that we have a strong, comprehensive, city-wide effort. Our neighborhoods can be greener. Our transportation priorities can be much greener. Our concept of localism can be much greener.

In November 2009, I decided to start the conversation of creating community green opportunities for our neighborhood, particularly in Clifton. At Clifton Town Meeting, I presented a slideshow on various possibilities of how our neighborhood can partner with other entities to achieve greater recycling volumes, community composting, better connection between residents and community gardens, and overall waste reduction. My bit was so well-received, in fact, that the trustees of Clifton Town Meeting requested that I setup a green subcommittee under their umbrella. Over the past two months, I have been working to assemble a working team that will address these issues in our community.

Little did I know the attention that my presentation would receive. Soon after, after many carbon copy e-mails, I was requested to do a similar presentation for the CUF Neighborhood Association meeting. The reception of that engagement overwhelmed me. I could not even get through my slides, as hands flew into the air. One man said he could not even remember the last time then had a presentation effect everyone in attendance to such magnitude. The e-mails also reached representatives of other community councils in Uptown, who have a vision of a larger, regional green strategy.

Now I and many others envision a collection of green assets for our region. It will be used to help recognize our existing strong points and areas of greater desire, such that money may be leveraged for more sustainable neighborhoods. It matters where a neighborhood gets its food, where it is sourced, and who benefits or suffers from the current system. It matters where our waste goes, how much energy is required to get it there, and what alternatives we can find to redraw our waste stream. Food, post-consumer waste, personal energy exerted, and our physical limitations--measuring and gauging how these types of energy are wasted, reused or diverted is vital to the enhancement of our natural environments and communities.

The above is primarily a proclamation, but it is also the beginning for a new focus of this blog. Up until now, I felt that my aforementioned efforts were not mature enough to spout about it here. I anticipate that I will have a lot to say my own personal goals to live more sustainably as well. Plastic will play less of a role in my life. The local grocery and farmer's market will have greater priority in my daily grind. The new, local, food delivery co-op also has caused me to reassess how I get my food. The way that information is dispensed to others can also exhibit a more sustainable path. The oft-encountered crossroad of "less sustainable and more sustainable road" can depend on which results in a greater net benefit. The mind swirls with these thoughts, but I feel that I am close to attaining that green confidence I have been wanting. Even so, always more can be done.

Until next time...soonsoon.

Project anxiety and neighborhood pickup therapy.

So, I have an independent study during this summer quarter, for which I chose to examine the economic opportunities of an urban agriculture property run by the university. Thus far, however, I have made little progress. My mind has been muddled with so many thoughts: my current classwork demands, my girlfriend's impending move to Cincinnati, and the fear-based anxiety of doing something I have never done before--not even close.

At this moment, my grumbling stomach is in alliance with the work that is being done at the farm. Both long for a greater availablility of healthy, organic food in area. I ate so well yesterday, until I was tempted by my girlfriend's run to Skyline Chili. I should have gone out to the farm earlier this morning, but waking up early has become more difficult over the past few weeks. Meanwhile, I sit here at my desk, watching the fickle storm clouds volley between sunshine and torrential downpour. Of course I do not want to be caught in middle of the west side in a downpour on my bike.

The weather is interfering with an alternative to my trip out to the farm site: something I have not done in a while is a neighborhood pickup. I remember riding my bike between my former residence and a chain-linked, vacant site at Calhoun and Vine, picking up several bags worth of glass and plastic bottles. Bus riders waiting for the 46 or 78 buses--or late night bar hoppers on the way to or from their cars--would throw their garbage over the fenced property. Setting aside a couple hours in Over-the-Rhine or in what I call The Northern Liberties would be very theraputic. Since I have never done a pickup down there before, I wonder if the neighbors will perceive me as being helpful or looking down on them for letting their neighborhood become so littered.

Emilie is leaving for Rochester tomorrow, but she will be back on the 29th. As much as I hate to say it, I tend to get more work done when she is not around. Even though she has been in Cincinnati for the past month, I attribute my corresponding work ethic to the newness of our experience. Nonetheless, I intend to capitalize on the time between her departure tomorrow and her return at the end of the month.

I will have more to say after my trudge through...and maybe even a bike ride anyway!

Live Green Cincinnati is throwing in the towel

Local Cincinnati green advocates-and-more Live Green Cincinnati are deciding to exit stage right from the virtual world, deciding to move on to other aspirations. It is not clear what those aspirations will be, but LGC was certainly one of our greatest virtual neighbors. Though postings dropped off significantly over the past six months, Live Green Cincinnati acted as a messenger for everyone from local waste and recycling public entities to grassroots efforts. The site also offered a great collection of green resources and events throughout the region. They will be missed.

Live Green Cincinnati will close its doors on July 31st.

A little over two years ago, LiveGreenCincinnati.com was started to fill a real need in the area: to connect everyday Cincinnatians with the things, news, events, ideas, and other people needed to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

Within that time, local green awareness has grown leaps and bounds. The City has a Green Plan, the local news outlets are keyed in to what people need to know, organizations and groups are evolving to protect and improve our lives, and area businesses are participating and offering ingenious products and services.

The tag line we’ve used, “It can happen here” is no longer applicable. We should now be saying “It is happening here”.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn and grow with you. We will be moving on to other pursuits and will say our goodbyes today. LiveGreenCincinnati.com is leaving the web on July 31st. We part with you here, and look forward to a ‘greater, greener Cincinnati’ in the future.

As a last order of business, I’ll take the opportunity to pass on the torch to anyone who wants to help Cincinnati move into a greener future. As this site is taken offline, we have a number of green Cincinnati URLs for sale. If interested in purchasing any of these web addresses, please contact us at info@livegreencincinnati.com before July 31st.

Many thanks for the chance to share your interests and passions.
~ The Live Green Cincinnati Team - Brianne & Suzanne

The Struggle.

My emotions and energy levels have been wishy-washy lately, as they relate to personal responsibility and environmental sustainability. Several days in advance, I cajoled several friends into going to the Esquire Theatre for an opening night screening of Food Inc. I knew what to expect from the film. but I could not have predicted my emotional response to several parts of the feature. Several times my eyes welled with tears. I immediately knew why.

Back to that point in a bit. First--I have high standards for others (and even higher standards for myself), which makes it difficult for some people to stomach my advice or criticism. My judgment is not based upon hatred or disdain but simply wanting people to challenge their limits, ideals, and ability to do more as global citizens. When I first became an environmental activist, I would have never admitted to it. I began to see the value of recycling and personal responsibility, as I became more uncomfortable witnessing a lack of both through off-campus living arrangements.

Upstairs neighbors in a house on Bishop Street had parties regularly. They would throw the countless bottles from their drinking games into the recycling bin, from the front porch, over the railing. Caps, labels, and whatever else would remain littered to the side of the house, between the porch and the driveway until I (or the landlord's parents) decided to pick them up. Even though I was brought up on having a recycling bin, at all but the last house in which I lived with my mother, I did not think so much about the volume of resource consumption or waste until my first independent domicile. Then, it was more an issue of personal responsibility and pride for one's abode.

While the aforementioned still holds true, since last summer, I have grown very sensitive about the conservation of post-consumer material resources. Since I moved into this apartment last September, I have diverged an unspeakable volume of recyclable materials from the garbage can. At the same time, more than ever, I notice the great deficiencies in our urban landscape of the simplest form of green street infrastructure: recycling containers.

Now, the reason for my emotional reaction to Food Inc. Despite all my activism--avoiding certain types of packaging, recycling, individual silent neighborhood and campus academic hall divergence campaigns, my current (yet fruitless, so far) research on urban agriculture at the UC Urban Farm--I feel like a hypocrite and I feel weak. I'm currently drinking a Mountain Dew Voltage, first allured by the beautiful color of the beverage, and next by the delicious taste. Before that was a Red Bull Simply Cola. When I think about my perceived hypocrisy, celebrity and political backlashes come to mind. Those people are vulnerable to the most petty insults, coming from those who are hardly perfect themselves. Now, me? It is what I battle inside my own head everyday--the self-criticism. (Not that I talk to myself but:) "Christian, seriously? A single-serving beverage? Wouldn't filling your Sigg bottle be more economical and sustainable?" Ohh, but sometimes that caffienated, sugary (sugar-like) sweet drink just grabs you by the neck and pulls you in. "Christian, did you really need to buy that 20 oz soda...that fountain Pepsi during break from class?" "Christian, why did you need that magazine? Oh, because it has a feature on urban farming?" Gotcha, self...that time.

One of the reasons why I refocused this blog was that I could be more transparent, struggling "greenie". Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from plastic, I'd like to say. Our habits are so ingrained yet despite my occassional break from my own ideals, I get frustrated with my roommates, when I cannot even count on them to check the plastic they are either throwing away, or placing into the recycling container for the right number. Twenty-four hours per day, I am conflicted about doing the right things--doing the things in which I believe. Consumerism is stilll alive and well though, and it is very hard to transform myself overnight into someone who packs his lunch everyday, phases out disposable towels, refuses every straw at a restaurant.

I nearly cried that night in the theatre for two reasons: I am a hypocrite and I have given in to the inherent customs of modern consumption and service. My tears also symbolized the endless struggle I have continued to assume, encouraging people I appreciate to buy into what I see as selfless desires. As those who know well my history of anxiety and academic struggles, I am a glutton for punishment. I do not desire to reach perfection, but I never see my efforts as being enough. I...we can always do more, but we rarely do. Despite the complaints about life's tribulations, most of us live a life of leisure by our own rules. We are inexplicably linked to the lives of others though, and we have a responsibility. It leads me to end with to self-manufactured adage to posted above the sink, about two months ago.

"Please wash your own dishes. YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AFFECTS US ALL."

My mind and nerves are in a constant state of motion and activity.

Headliners to wrap up the month of June

This weekend was an absolute blast:

• Black Moth Super Rainbow at Southgate House in Newport, KY
  
• Enon (and The Damn Thing--not pictured) on Cincinnati's Fountain Square as a part of Midpoint Music Festival's Indie Summer series
  
• The Octopus Project performing their "Visual Music" at the third annual Last Call Film Festival at The Rudyard Kipling in Louisville, KY
  
• Julie Doiron at the Art Damage Lodge in the heart of the neighborhood of Northside in Cincinnati, OH.

Media Phish: "Blue carts beat blue bags"

The following feature will be a sporadic look a various archived news articles that I have kept around for one reason or another. I tend to keep a newspaper from every trip I take in another city, whether it is a formal paper or an entertainment publication. When I revisit these papers, I gain some interesting, additional perspective on things, which I may care much more about than I had when I bought or picked them up originally. They also give me an opportunity to look back on the times in which I was living--experiences, current events, etc.

I picked this paper up when I ventured up to Chicago to see the incredible Office, along with their good Detroit friends, Freer. It was a free show at Schuba's, run through myopenbar.com. This was during my only summer quarter off, as I am in a five-year co-op schedule, which requires me to be in class every other quarter and working for a relevant firm during the other quarters. So, of course, I spent all my money trying to get out of town. Oh, and pissing off my douchbag of an employer at the video store. There have been many employer-upsetting trips to Chicago over the years. Ahh, memories.

------

I most certainly did not have a green perspective at the time, although I did recycle at my old place in Corryville. Usually my neighbors on the upstairs floor would flood the recycling bins with their empties of cheap beer and broken glass, leaving little room for me to recycle what I had anyway. I was beginning to theorize about ways that recycling could be enhanced in Cincinnati. Considering the small size of our green recycling bins through Rumpke, I thought that a good nudge would be to mandate recycling bins be purchased through the city, as many others have done in the past. Recycling carts would also be mandated, but their size would double the size of the provided garbage bins.

Many cities have their own methods to encourage or require recycling. In San Francisco, they require three containers at your residence--recycling (green), compostables (blue), and waste (black)--or you will be fined. It seems to be working though. The city is approaching its goal for 75% of waste diverted by January. Many other cities in the West have similiar programs that would seem to infuriate typical midwesterners. However, when the discussion of green jobs comes up, the construction of additional recycling facilities should be a priority. It is the crux keeping many cities in the region from taking recycling and waste reduction seriously. There are just not enough outlets for our post-consumer materials.

The following article explores the trial-and-error and processes of Chicago's recycling program. Sharing it with you is meant to spark some thoughts (in your own mind) or discussion (outside your own mind) about ways that we can encourage greater recycling rates in our own community.

Blue carts beat blue bags

From The Chicago Tribune; Thursday August 9, 2007, Section 1, page 1 & 18:
(http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/aug/09/news/chi-bluecartaug09)

Photo taken from flickr user Mark 2400.

New beginning.

Now is the time to relaunch my blog, in the manner which I have discussed with my peers many many times. As the tweet-lengthed description shown above states, focuses will include urban life, my foray into green extremism, and ramblings/rumblings from hell.

First, most of the urban matter will concern the city of Cincinnati, but will also include my experiences in and thoughts of ones I have explored. Second, my life transformed in many ways about a year ago, one of which was a more environmentally conscious mission of living. Many rants will include my own struggles with the change in lifestyle and knocks against those who act as definitive green resources--green monsters, I will call them. Last, there will be elements of a personal blog here, but I ask you to treat it as an inevitable spew of concerns or thoughts to keep my sanity. The latter will graciously include a few features that expound obsessions of mine.

I hope to entertain enough for you to take something in mind to bed with you. There is an endless field of knowledge waiting to be explored, and I seek to keep it sane and (somewhat) mature.

Push push

Once again, it's been a long while since I last posted. The cause, this time? I tend to feel guilty when I have plenty of work to do, yet I consider blogging instead. Perhaps this does not make much sense, considering he times I go out to shows or bars, screw around on the internet, spend time wandering the city, etc. It will just require me to cut out some of time I spend staring at my screen, refreshing my last.fm page, satiating my need to see good design, statistics, and my music all in a beautiful real-time format.

Saying, my next few academic weeks will be hell. I have plans to launch a blog, sooner or later, that deals with urban and sustainable living at once. But first, I must complete several papers, reading a couple books, and keep my orb in check--all in the next week or so. My girlfriend is coming in to town this weekend because she landed an interview at a graphic design company in the suburbs. So, I can't imagine getting much work done then. The following weekend is when my mother and I go up to her graduation ceremony in Pennsylvania.

Melatonin, vitamins, allergy medicine, healthy eating, and sufficient sleep. I need all those components to remain constant.

Andy Rooney: Perusing the Christmas Catalogs

A quick blip. I got a kick out of this past Sunday's Andy Rooney segment on Xmas holiday sale offers. $20 gift card with the purchase of $100 or more. Hidden pictures calendars with Highlights for Children subscriptions. Free fudge. Hah.

The latter is what stuck in my mind: a memorable quote I'll remember until I become as old as Mr. Rooney (Andy, not Mickey).

Free is the worst kind of fudge.

Potent to me, for some reason. Feel free to substitute fudge for the alternative, whenever you fudge something up, for instance. Gasp.

Read the whole thing here.

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And on the site, the several movements at the end of Abbey Road are really connecting with me today. "Her majesty's a pretty nice girl. Someday I'm gonna make 'er mine." (and) "OH YEAHHHH, OH RIIIIIGHT. OH, you're gonna be in my dreams--tonigh-eet."

Sigh. :-)

"Don't let it be anymore"

As many as my friends are well aware, my efforts toward greater sustainability, community-oriented responsibility, and recycling has intensified greatly over the past year. After taking the first course installment, this past summer--called "People and the Environment I"--I began to ask myself many questions about why we do the things we do, and what comes next. Individual responsibility should and does come first when creating a social movement. My mission toward reuse, recycling, and "recollecting" refuse is a fire inside my core anymore. Look forward to reading about the internal conflicts I put myself through. I never denied that I wasn't a little crazy.

Anyway, I started reading about a small neighborhood called City Airport, outside Detroit, which has really bitten the dust since the 1960s and 1970s. It is where many auto workers once lived. But when plants began to close, whites moved out, blacks later moved out--now it's a hodgepodge of drug dealers and the dreadfully poor. Everyone is afraid to leave their hiding places; the neighborhood park and former school are abandoned and decrepit.

The following article is from a man who began writing for the Detroit News about the misfortunes and small victories in this struggling neighborhood, where only four to five homes remain on each street. There was an man who found an abandoned tire after returning from a barbecue in the park. He decided to take individual responsibility and roll it to the nearest dumpster.

http://community.detnews.com/blogs/index.php/neighborhood/2008/09/13/p449#more449

Somebody hit a ball over the backstop and across French Road during a batting-practice session at Fletcher Field last Sunday.

A little pooped from the previous day’s festivities – our second annual barbecue at the park – I was just watching from the bleachers along first base. So I got up, crossed the road, found the ball in the high grass along the City Airport fence line and then tossed it back into the park.

On my way back to the bleachers, I spotted a discarded tire near the Fletcher Field fence line and decided I didn’t want to leave it there. I put the tire back on its treads and started to roll it toward a dumpster on the Gilbo side of the park, which was put there the day before for cleaning up after the barbecue.

[More:]

It took me about 5 minutes to get to the dumpster, with the tire wobbling most of the way and falling altogether occasionally. I then picked up the tire and heaved it upward to get it over the dumpster’s 8-foot wall. Before I did this, I should have checked the interior of the tire.

It was full of dirty water, which splashed all over me – hair, face, shirt, pants. I was a mess.

As I headed back toward the baseball diamond, somebody along the route took one look at me and asked me what happened. I told him of my stupidity, that I should have known the tire was full of water.

He then offered this: “Why didn’t you just leave it (the tire) where it was?”

For some reason, what he said struck a sour note with me, really fired me up.

“That’s the problem,” I shot back. “Everybody leaves it.”

We just can’t leave it anymore.

Michael Happy is his name. He bares no resemblance to the animated character Mr. Happy, but I like this guy.

[Extended reading: http://www.utne.com/2008-11-01/Media/Bloggers-vs-Blight.aspx, UTNE Reader, "Bloggers vs. Blight: An online community beats back urban decay in Detroit"]

Now I would have rather that tire made it to a recycling facility, but in a place like City Airport, you do what you can. Anywhere else though, where resources are more plentiful, there's this:



http://www.rubbersidewalks.com/

Many cities in the United States have already started using rubber sidewalks in select areas, improving visual aesthetic in neighborhoods, prevented the razing of curbside trees in sidewalk buffers, improved walkability of the sidewalks--in terms of pedestrian health and route viability--and greatest augmented tree root health and drainage. Regional city Hamilton, OH seemed to be working towards implementing rubber sidewalks in its historic Rossville neighborhood, but I'm not sure what happened with the effort. The next time I'm in Chicago (12/31!), I'll be looking for their own rubber sidewalks, located near the Chicago Center.

The Fix _ 12/20/2008

I have been having such great luck with used music lately, so I decided to log it in some way. Shake-It Records, here in Cincinnati, has an expansive $1.88 section that seems to have some quality buys. Conveniently the price is $2 per selection after tax, so one can easily make a killing on disowned music.

Today I picked up the following:

764-HERO _ weekends of sound [Up Records - 2000] ($1.88)

Feels like much of the forgot late 90's band I enjoy who have a minor chord, chugging/creeping progression. It would be perfect music to delve deeper into depression as an angsty new adolescent. As a happy person with adult responsibilities, it's a wonderful opportunity to get lost in the swirling aura of empty study room aura and a longing voice of reason. Contains many stints of instrumental frustration with eventual splooge of powerful guitar force. Thanks, I've got your number.

Frank Black _ Frank Black [4AD/Elektra - 1993] ($1.88)

Anthrax _ Return of the Killer A's [Beyond Music - 1999] ($1.88)

AFrames _ 2 [S-S Records - 2003] ($1.88)

Atreyu _ A Death Grip on Yesterday [Victory - 2006] ($1.88)


I'll update this list with my takes and shakes when I get around to all of them. I also was blessed with several dozen free downloads from Rhapsody, so I have been taking advantage of out-of-print, hard-to-find, and other somethingdashsomethingdashsomethings. The first night I tried to redeem them, several of the codes didn't work, but others completely screwed up, granting me $10 credits instead of the normal 99 cent credits. Should I feel bad? Eh. It's not like when someone dropped a dollar in the lunch line back in grade school, feeling so guilty about keeping it that I handed it over to the lunchlady serving the "pizza". No, this is a ticket to obscurity. Like sexual fulfillment, sometimes you take what you can get, but you never know what you're going to get. All music ever created should be kept in print at least digitally.

The birthday was a wonderful one. Recaps forthcoming.

Meathook Manicure

I did, in fact, go on a 2 1/4-mile run, Friday night. Of course the first mile or so was rough, since I hadn't done it in so long. But at the midpoint, it hit me: "I've been waiting for this for so long." My run could have lasted longer, but I did not want any possibility of a tendinitis flareup to occur.

Well, I guess I'm a chump. It's currently 42 degrees outside--cold and rainy. Rather than gain inspiration from the runners I still see out there, I'm just sitting here...feeling lumpy. I decided not to run the 5K on Saturday, mainly so that I don't complicate the time spent while Emilie is in town.

Oh, and she told me today that she'll be going out for a run tomorrow...in upstate New York. You and I know what that means: I need to get out there and try for three miles.

And as I promised, and as no one cares... :-)


Perhaps it will end up being the "before" photo of a "before"/"after" diptych.