Pass It On 2006 - Recycling

The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District is a great source for Clevelanders who are looking for information on how to alleviate their impact on local landfills and the world's resources by recycling and reusing usable items. The CCSW offers tips on how you can dispose of certain items, where you can find recycling centers in your city and where you can donate usable items to be reused by those in need.

They offer a great variety of online publications including office recycling schemes, latex paint disposal and halting unwanted mail (my personal scourge).

My favorite by far is the Pass It On: A Resource-Full Guide to Donating Usable Stuff. With it you can find a new home for all that stuff that clutters your house that you don't ever use (and probably won't) without the guilt of throwing it out because you think that someday, you may be able to put that 5 1/4" floppy drive and old cross country skies to use. Heck, some of the stuff can even be tax-deductible if you are into that sort of thing.

Of course there are other resources (tons of them really) that you can use. There are online resources such as Freecycle which is an online bulletin board which allows you to seek for items to find and list items you would like to give away or there is the wonderful Craig's List where you can sell your old items (or look for a job or find a new apartment or house or best friend).

So get rid of your old skies and Apple IIe's and enjoy the openness and overall well being that comes with leading a simple clutter free life. Or simply replace the older items with newer energy efficient things. Someone, somewhere is probably looking for a cheap pair of skies right now.

Tremont Art Walk

The Tremont Art Walk is held the 2nd Friday of each month and as lucky October Friday the 13th is the second Friday you can expect the usual large bunch of local artists and art lovers wandering around Tremont, poking their heads into galleries between the hours of 6pm and 10pm and perhaps grabbing a bite or drink in some local establishment during or after.

Here is the current gallery list that relates to the attached map.

It is one of my favorite things to do and just wanted to let others know.

What happened to Westerville, Ohio?

Remember way back when Westerville, Ohio was awarded a $839,016 2003 ThirdFrontier Project Grant for their 250-kilowatt hydrogen power generator that became operational in November of 2004? I sure didn't until I saw a video on it on the "One Degree" website posted about earlier here. Supposedly this 250KW unit splits hydrogen from natural gas and electrochemically converts it into electricity. Enough electricity to power 180 homes, according to Green Energy Ohio's website.

I am just amazed. First that I don't remember hearing about this. Second that if this program has proved successful why is it not more widespread? Why are there not little hydrogen to electricity generators spread out all around town and villages? Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition seems to be running a relatively up to date web site (I admit I haven't had the time to fully check it out yet) so apparently similar programs, including the 3rd Frontier program are still active.

If anyone has any useful information they would like to share, please comment or email. I am looking for similar programs or attempts at medium scale electricity generation via hydrogen or anyone who has tries to work with OFCC or 3rd Frontier.

I do not suffer under the illusion that because my knowledge is limited on a subject that everyone else is also unaware so I apologize if I am repeating common knowledge at times.

Weather Channel - One Degree Climate Change

Weather Channel, which runs a website that I personally check at least once a day has just released "One Degree Climate Change", another web site devoted to global warming and combating human climate change effects. At first I was intrigued by the promise of a couple of broadband webcasts about climate change but upon investigating a little bit closer I found dozens or webcasts about everything from drought in the Midwest to hydrogen powered autos to tips for home remodeling.

Their mission statement is pretty dang provocative too.

"Throughout the world, people are confused about climate change and global warming. Many do not believe there is a crisis. Others simply absorb the media sound bites and cannot tell fact from opinion. While there are excellent resources and educational websites devoted to climate change, some may be concerned that these sites have hidden political or financial agendas.

For this reason we created One Degree.

One Degree will leverage the trusted scientific resources of The Weather Channel. One Degree's mission will be to present an open, balanced dialogue around the scientific facts concerning global climate change. We will provide a place where sound science can be heard and a forum where all people can question and debate. The site will leverage what the Internet does best; an exchange of rational ideas from both experts and non-experts with questions. In addition, One Degree will look at how climate change may already be affecting the lives of individuals, families, communities and businesses.

The site's name, One Degree, is a reference to the one degree of warming the earth has experienced in the past 30 years and how something so seemingly small as a single degree can change the world."

And so another website joins the long list of sources I scour looking for that bright lining. Yay.

Energy Star Podcasts

The fine people at Energy Star are well aware that our current society concerns itself with a plethora of electronic devices and love with technology. They are attempting to utilize this very technology to spread awareness about what they do and why they do it.

Discussions range from attempting to get manufacturers to compete for efficiency to our ignorance of "vampire" power usage and it's national impact. If you find yourself wondering what the advantages to the Energy Star program or just curious why people would take the time to rate and study lighting to blackberries this would be a good primer. At the very least there might be some new tips (unplug your phone charger when not using it!) or ideas (are CFLs already on the way our with the new LEDs coming online?) that you implement next time you are done charging your camera batteries or shopping for a new washer and dryer.

So far there are only two Podcasts up but more are coming soon.

Happy post b-day celebration: Mel @ Music Saves

Happy Post Birthday Mel!

Mel and her husband Kevin run a wonderful music type store named Music Saves in Collinwood on Waterloo next to the Beachland Ballroom. I love those guys and earlier this week was Mel's birthday. They plan on celebrating it TONIGHT with ice cream and music and saving.

You can find out MORE about them at the Music Saves Myspace Thingy (MSMT)
Wish I could find the photos of the shop that I had taken. I got a ton somewhere around here but I sure don't know where so instead enjoy a nice image I lifted from their myspace page.

City Fresh Forums, with stew and cider!

The New Agrarian Center is a group that connects the rural

countryside of Ohio to the urban centers of Cleveland through the connection of food. Their goal is to spread the knowledge and skills to create a more sustainable and stronger regional food system in Northeast Ohio by promoting the idea of broad health. "Healthy land, healthy communities, healthy individuals, and a healthy economy."

I know I had mentioned City Fresh before as they were involved in Burning River Fest and really impressed my girlfriend and me with their urban classroom projects where they borrowed unused commercial land and turned them into teaching gardens which then sold their goods to local restaurants and in a market to raise money to sustain the program.

A statistic pulled from their webpage points that Cuyahoga County spends close to $7 billion annually on food but that most of that money leaves the region instead of purchasing goods locally. The New Agrarian Center, City Fresh and the George Jones Farm hope to rectify this by creating programs

based on these core principles:

-Connecting the needs of urban and rural communities in Northeast Ohio
-Promoting food security for our communities through reliable access to local foods
-Restoring the critical ecosystem services needed for a secure food system and healthy watersheds
-Using food and the production of food as a gathering point for community, including connections between youth and elders
-Fostering collaborative partnerships with business, government, and civic organizations
-Strengthening the agrarian economy through local provision of food, energy, and materials

Collectively these three groups focus on separate but interconnected areas. City Fresh concentrates on food access for inner-city businesses and residents, George Jones Farm concentrates on youth education and training on a community supported farm and the Agrarian Learning Network sponsors learning workshops and public events to build local food skill building and awareness.

Recently City Fresh has released the following upcoming events.

October 19th, Forum on Local Foods and Urban Ecology

November 2nd, Forum on Community Development and Local Food Economies

November 16th, Forum on Nutrition, Mental Health, and Local Food Systems

All forums will be held at the Urban Community School (4909 West Lorain Street) from 6:00-8:00pm. Starting at 6pm, there will be a stew featuring local ingredients, local apple cider, and bread. Short films on local foods in Northeast Ohio by LESS Productions will also be playing. Forums begin at 6:30 and go until 8:00pm.

This should be a great opportunity to network and learn about some local food events and programs if you are looking for a place to purchase local food, learn about urban gardening or volunteer in your community.

City Artists at Work: Superior Corridor

October 7th and 8th, 2006 (Saturday and Sunday)
Around the Quadrangle and Midtown
Cleveland, Ohio
Sat. 1-6pm
Sun. 1-6pm

Artists whose studios are located in the areas of The Quadrangle, Inc. and Midtown Cleveland have joined together to create an event to publicize this part of the city where many Cleveland artists work. The event, City Artists at Work will bring together about sixty artists whose studios are located in thirteen separate buildings.

Above statement stolen from the actual City Artists at Work web site.

Or you can grab this flyer.

University Circle Promotion Lit. (Warning: Confusing)

I got this forwarded to me yesterday. I enjoy getting notices about events in the city or little Cleveland-centric websites that concentrate on development and planning and I love tree-hugging/ hippie websites (hint hint hint). Not the patchouli hippie but the tech savvy veggie lovin' bring da noize sort of hippie.

University Circle Inc. (?) or someone hired Blue Robot to put together some sort of online or cd-rom type promotional media. The company (Blue Robot) looks like they have some of the tech stuff down pat. I even like some of the graphics, however interspersing images of hip and successful areas/buildings sort of gave me a mixed message. I understand "hey, this is what University Circle COULD be" but as a promotional item if I was not familiar with the area I might mostly go "There is no way in heck that [pictured building] is here at the Circle!" or " University Circle looks like Chicago?" and even "Who the hell are they trying to fool by making University Circle look like [insert cool city here]?"

Besides, I have to argue with the mindset of doing what everyone else is doing. This town is bright enough to move in its own direction. Maybe. Probably. I think the trick is to take the successful ideas and model our plan after them, adjust it to fit our scale and purpose. It sounds rather simple but believe me, just try to lay out a logical plan for light rail to connect Rocky River on through to Cleveland Heights and tell me where that gets you. Seriously, try it out.

Anyway, the University Circle thing does look pretty impressive. Check it out.

Run with that building theme: Cleveland Skyscrapers.com

Yesterday I posted about the Marcel Breuer building that currently resides upon the site for the new County commissioners Administration building. This sparked some discussion today around what passes as the water cooler in the new office (mostly a co-worker's desk where I was sipping from my water jug) about the fate of the Breuer building and what the honest to god proper response should be. At lunch I stared at the building for at least 10 minutes trying to take in the panels, determine the floor to floor height, imagine it cleaned and pristine and as an icon for the city. I still cannot come to a decision on it. Luckily, it isn't mine to make.

This made me start thinking about the city. I love the tectonics of the urban fabric. The size and shape and color of the buildings, how they interact with the sidewalk, how they compress views on the street or create windows and vistas. This is why I studied architecture, because I am geeky about what buildings are and what they do to the world around us.

Imagine my heart felt joy when I stumbled up a site dedicated to Cleveland skyscrapers. I say stumbled upon because I had seen it before and loved it but put it in a dark corner of my mind only to later resurface in one of those moments that makes me slap my forehead and wonder how I remember to not confuse the order in which people should inhale and then force the air back out again. I felt very dumb.

There are some beautiful images of actual buildings interspersed with some proposed plans and ideas. Not all of them wonderful but some of them (and I was amazed by which fell into this category) made me grin and hope that they get built because I wouldn't mind at all passing them as I traveled around the town.

I love this city, and my passion for it grows each day as I travel through it, noticing some new detail or experiencing some new moment.

Good times.

When should we preserve old buildings?

The Cuyahoga County commissioners office will decide on Friday which proposal to accept for the design of their new office headquarters on the south east corner of East 9th and Euclid. There are six firms currently shortlisted ( I can't find the names and won't post a partial list) but only one has decided to use the existing structure.

The existing building was designed by Marcel Breuer and is a prime example of brutalistic form in an urban scale. The large concrete paneled building rises stories above the neighboring structures and creates an imposing dark facade on a sporadically rhythmic street. Personally I could go either way in keeping it. Yes it was done by a great designer but does that alone necessitate it's status as a permanent fixture? Steven Litt has argued that it should stay but also that Cleveland needs new standards of design excellence. So what is the solution? Breuers design is heavy and imposing and does not provide the county with the image of openness and progressive thinking that it wishes to convey.

I don't have the answer right now as I have not been privy to the entire discussion and wish to withhold judgment until I learn more. Until then I know that there are things I must research and even some meetings (such as AIA Forums) that I ought to attend.

The journey for the county so far has been long and arduous and Cleveland does not quite have the design voice to give it a place on the map yet. There are great public art projects, wonderful museums, inspiring plays and concerts but our skyline is a collection of mean and stark structures. Nothing that makes the heart sing or gives voice to our inner soul. This is the city that has created the "Western Reserve" design movement, we have sins to atone for that. We should either hold on to our past and create a celebration around it or cut from it quickly and rise to the sky a monument that will give the entire nation pause as it fixes it's gaze upon our wonder.

Al Gore: Climate Crisis Interview with The Guardian

Al Gore was recently interviewed by The Guardian and there have been videos of the interview popping up all over the place. Even Stephen Colber(t) of the Colber(t) Repor(t) took some time out of his busy schedule to declare Al Gore as one of the top 5 threats facing this nation.

The video is about 40-some minutes long and actually rather interesting. It then ends with a short panel discussion. If you have the time and the concern for our world's climate you might want to take a look.

While not as exciting at "An Inconvenient Truth" I was still moved. I always find these sort of videos rather invigorating and scary. "See the crisis and demand action" indeed.

Absentee in Ohio

I am sure that most people are aware of the controversy surrounding the new electronic Diebold voting machines, especially most Ohioans. I haven't had the (mis)fortune of using one of them new fangled electronic devices and am secretly looking forward to it, despite my utter abhorrence with the lack of standard credit card swipe/signature thingies procedures at most retail stores. Even the tens of reports I have read or heard about how unreliable and insecure those dang things are. My girlfriend was suggesting we go the absentee route this election. I think I am still going to go in person. I enjoy the process and it makes me feel like I am important.

For those of you who are worried that Diebold is in cahoots with a certain political party and your vote won't count because you are gay or a minority or enjoy public radio the Ohio Secretary of State website has some interesting information regarding absentee voting.

1. Absentee voting usually begins 35 days before an election. That means that we are actually pretty dang close to the elections being open. As in, you can start voting.

2. Any Ohio voter can vote using an absentee ballot WITHOUT stating a reason. You only have to be registered to vote and submit a written request for an absentee ballot. You don't even have to use the application.

You must include the following information:

1. Your name;
2. Your signature;
3. The address at which you are registered to vote;
4. Your date of birth;
5. One of the following:
   1. Your Ohio driverÂ’s license number; or
   2. The last four digits of your Social Security number; or
   3. A copy of the your current and valid photo identification, military identification, current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and current address. (Note: You cannot use as proof of identification a notice that the board of elections mailed to you.)
6. A statement identifying the election for which you are requesting an absentee voterÂ’s ballot;
7. A statement that you are a qualified elector;
8. If the request is for a partisan primary election ballot, your political party affiliation; and
9. If you want the ballots to be mailed, the address to which you want them mailed.

Somewhere on the Secretary of State website is a deadline. I haven't found it. I am sure they didn't mean to make it very hard to find. That would defeat the whole purpose, right? Sure.

For your absentee ballot to be counted, it must be received as follows:

1. If cast from anywhere in the United States, whether returned in person or by mail, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
2. If properly returned from out-of-country, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections not later than the 10th day after the election.

Here is an even easier to read list of how you can cast an absentee vote in Ohio.

This democracy we enjoy is a human right only as much as we uitilize it. To become complacent and docile in our visions is to cease our quest for creating something better then ourselves. We were given a voice and it is our duty as social creatures, as a collective society, to shape our world in a way that gives us a future.

Besides, it is a good excuse to take some paid time off of work.

Alternative Fuels - What does it all mean?

All this talk of alternative fuels and un-conventional engine types can be a tad confusing. Some may argue that it could be too confusing. Do hydrogen cars actually burn the hydrogen? What is an FFV? What is the difference between bio-diesel and regular diesel. Heck, even I get confused at times since technology is changing so quickly and more and more people are weighing in with their opinions. Luckily the Union of Concerned Scientists have created an Online Glossary of alternative vehicle types and technologies.

Nationally there are some major problems with alternative fuels. There are few actual hydrogen refueling stations to provide fuel to the few hydrogen powered vehicles in the States (Honda has a test program in California) and the resulting solution of a home hydrogen refueling station might not seem very reasonable to some people (see apartment dwellers or those that like going on road trips).

Bio-diesel stations are still relatively rare across the US. The Midwest is starting to develop infrastructure for the production and distribution of bio-diesel but as you head west you might be forced to make a bee-line from one station to the next. Cleveland is lucky enough to have some local solutions AND a client base that wants to take advantage of those services.

However as alternative fuels become more mainstream in the United States these "novel" technologies will become cheaper and more available increasing our fuel self reliance and decreasing pollution caused by auto travel.