Cleveland City Council should rescind its involvement in AMP-Ohio's proposed coal-fired utility in southern Ohio. A fifty year commitment to coal is the wrong direction, for Cleveland Public Power (CPP), its customers and the environment. Instead, CPP should develop a comprehensive plan for energy need and energy sources, that includes efforts to reduce demand through conservation, insulation, wind, solar and other alternative sources.

Technology is such an important wildcard in the social consciousness picture, whether we speak of the most innovative approaches to community development using WI-FI and FOSS in tandem or we celebrate some of the latest advances in product development.  While bumbling bureaucratic banter restricts radical progress at the nexus of environment and technology (current Ohio legislation insiduously inculcates clean coal and nuclear power measures as green and renewable technologies and considers a 35 MPG mandated standard by 2020 significant) some very innovative R&D experts have launched their media campaign to expedite progress by demonstrating how very close we are to a 100 MPG standard.  I was heartened by a full page ad which recently manifested via a variety of media outlets - I happened to catch the one in this week's issue of US News and World Report.

Pacific Northwest is example of energy boom — and worried biologists

By year's end, more than 1,500 turbines will be churning out electricity in the windy gorge. Until now, most of the projects have gone up in wheat fields — cultivated land that long ago drove away the rodents that raptors hunt. But as wind energy developers move into wilder areas along the ridge of the gorge, near canyons and shrub-covered rangeland, birds could be at risk from the 150-foot blades of giant turbines.

While not currently a powerhouse in Free Open Source Software (FOSS), Northeast Ohio is positioned to begin excelling with FOSS in some very strategic ways that may add great value to the regional economy. 

Because of FOSS, we may now bridge the digital divide more quickly and completely here than has any other large urban center in America, we may soon have the highest percentage of workforce properly educated for the new economy, and we may lead the world in some fields of application development and technology innovation with global, open standards, all if the region now embraces FOSS..

I received an informative email this afternoon from Richard McDougald Enty, Planning Team Leader, Programming & Planning Department, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, about some of their Transit Oriented Development initiatives and vision. It is very exciting to see this as an active subject for discussion and planning here. I am a strong supporter of Transit Oriented Development and consider it the core foundation on which we should rebuild the City of Cleveland and surrounding suburbs.  Here is the vision from RTA:

 As an excellent sign of the times, on November 13, 2006 it was announced "Carbon Neutral" is the Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year. Unlike what is typically defined here as underpinnings of sustainability, being Business as Agents of World Benefit, I see this trend toward individual social responsibility reflects the real world, being Individuals as the Agents of World Benefit, and, in fact, I believe it is only through individuals as agents that businesses act as agents of anything, and so the rising of Carbon Neutral as the word of the year is very hopeful for the future of the world... this reflects social consciousness becoming mainstream.

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

 “Even when it comes to a problem as big as global warming, doing Just One Thing can have an enormous, positive impact on our planet. For instance, replacing four light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs will keep a ton of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that causes global warming, out of the air. And if everyone in the U.S. unplugged their electronics, such as TVs, computers, DVD players, and stereos when they're not using them, we'd prevent 18 million tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. Just One Thing is so easy--and so effective.”

I am really appreciative, this morning. After posting what was certainly the saddest news I can imagine, about the hardship my staff has suffered as a result of a lack of appreciation from my former business associate, Peter Holmes, I opened up this week's CoolCleveland and found that their crew had featured TWO postings from REALNEO. I am very touched and thankful to Thomas and his team for noticing REALNEO and taking an interest in the thoughts posted here - thank you. Please show appreciation back to CoolCleveland... if you are not a member, see what you've been missing... subscribe at CoolCleveland - all free - this is a real NEO must,  and send feedback to CoolCleveland letters at the links below, and supporting the upcoming CoolCleveland/Tech/Ingenuity party at Fat Fish Blue, July 13, and the Ingenuity Festival, as described below... but first, here's the nice write-up about REALNEO from CoolCleveland today, July 5, 2006:

I had the bad fortune to need to drive around NEO this afternoon, so I was exposed to some of the dumbest people on Earth, all over town, and their socially repugnant Hummers and other gas guzzlers, and the poor behavior of many NEO drivers in general. The First Hummer was some jerk cruising around town at probably 8 MPG, yacking away on his cell phone... probably busy trying to rule the world...

 The following story with its links ran in CASE Daily (Case's online newpaper) today. Do feel like you have entrepreneurial genes? I think I do! Please post your thoughts
"Do genes influence who will be entrepreneurs?"

ABC News (Reuters), June 5, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2041245

For so many reasons, University Circle and its institutions and the surrounding neighborhood are core to what I value in NEO, and I look forward to seeing all that continually expand in significance to me, the region and world. But, University Circle is a small geographic domain, which must be optimized for 21 organizational stakeholders, and their 1,000,000s of stakeholders, including everyone associated with Case, University Hospitals, the VA, CIA, Cleveland Museum(s), Institute of Music, Orchestra, etc., and all others in the community.

In visioning for a better region and future here, consider a broader interpretation of University Circle from the small cultural, healthcare and university center of Cleveland to the center of the entire University Community of NEO.

Sustain-a-palooza - April 18 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Adelbert Gym – will highlight what Case and others in Cleveland are doing to create a more sustainable environment on campus and in the area. A central component of the event will be spotlighting faculty and student work and research. Bring your old cell phones, ink jet cartridges and eyeglasses for recycling, and enjoy food, entertainment and door prizes. Those interested in volunteering should contact susan.woolf@case.edu or call 368-4330 by the end of today.

I'm pleased to say the 03.21.2006 Excellence Roundtable featuring Steven Fong gave PD Architecture Critic Steven Litt a chance to catch up with Dean Fong, and be the first to learn huge news for this region... See http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/entertainment/

KSU dean wants architecture grad program moved to Cleveland
Kent State University will move its entire graduate program in architecture to Cleveland "as soon as possible."

So says Steven Fong, the new dean of KSU's College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

Fong, who assumed the post at KSU in December, described his plans publicly for the first time Tuesday in an interview following a public forum at the university's Urban Design Collaborative in Cleveland.

Don't believe what you read in the papers about East Cleveland - it should be annexed by Cleveland - it is "the problem" - Brewer is a loose cannon - etc. I've been volunteering on many very large, significant initiatives to benefit the people of East Cleveland, supported by the Cleveland Foundation and other area foundations, Case, Kent State and CSU and other learning institutions, the city and county departments of health and development, OneCleveland, and scores of private citizens with something to offer a community needing support... we believe in East Cleveland and are taking our time, energy and resources to follow that belief. An excellent example of such community-based faith and collaboration is just forming to strategize how East Cleveland can become ecologically sustainable, and you are invited to help! Be part of a solution... here are some draft notes from our last meeting, which will update continuously herein after... add your comments and participate.

Pictured from left to right: Julius Ciaccia- Director of Public Utilities, Councilman Matt Zone, Andrew Watterson- Cleveland Sustainability Manager, and David Beach- Director, Ecocity Cleveland.

An E4S Third Tuesday Networking Event

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Herb Crowther assembled an excellent and diverse panel of experts with a range of backgrounds, affiliations and interests related to the future of "energy" and implications on Earth and here in NEO - "scientists, entrepreneurs, energy specialists, economic development and community development professionals". The session flowed as follows:

"Prelude to the
New Energy Debate in Northeast Ohio"

From TransTech and the New Energy
Roundtable (NER)

To find Ohioans walking the walk to make NEO a Green region by a blue lake, one needs look no further than the non-profit organization E4S. Learn more about this fantastic organization and contribute related insight here

Earlier this week, Governor Taft dedicated a utility-scale fuel cell power substation in Westerville. Learn more. Fuel Cell Works carried the story.

Fuel Cell Today, a publication from the UK, also picked up the story.

Developing a sustainable community, defined by the UN as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". How we may accomplish this for future generations of NEO is developing here!

As NEO looks toward sustainable development, our scientific research and engineering community should become involved in Earth friendly technology development - an interesting example was just reported out of MIT, showing fuel cells in a green light.

People who complain there aren't leaders in Northeast Ohio fighting each day to improve our economy and quality of life are themselves ignorant and to blame for the problems in this community. Innumerable exceptional, dedicated, capable and effective leaders fight day in and out to improve everyone's lives here, every day - it is the people who do not participate actively in this process who are our region's "quiet crisis"?. Each day we have opportunities to be solutions - visit the REALNEO calendar frequently to get up to speed and learn where, when and how to make differences in the future of this community, participate in forums on-line, find and share insight with our community leaders, and take personal responsibility, now.

Important outside speaker is making presentation on the
history of the electric vehicle, to contextualize for the future - overflow
crowd at Case... mix of students and others - shows this is a topic of great
interest. Interesting the event comes just an hour after the close of the Wind
Power Conference - the time for sustainability in NEO has come.

Notes from on-site:

From Crain's Cleveland Business, a very cool story about a local industry leader taking the lead in alternative energy vehicles - an electric scooter, with many key components manufactured by NEO's Parker Hannifin.

If you visit their website and check out the product brochure you'll see this product is hot. May be a while before we see any in the streets of Cleveland... but perhaps we can convince Parker & Vectrix to make us one of the first communities for USA distribution (how about putting an assembly line here, as well?!?)... beginning in 1996... read on, in Crain's: