Green Buckeye

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention recently:

• It's not too late to nominate someone for SWACO's 2008 Central Ohio Emerald Awards. Deadline is Friday, March 14.
• This year's Leadership Hilliard class is creating the Hilliard Evergreen Team and is looking for volunteers to help make Hilliard greener (Hilliard Northwest News)
• Katie Archibald of Greener Footsteps, a sustainability consulting firm, is now publishing Sustainable Living Ohio, a monthly newsletter.
• World Water Day is March 22. We don't seem to have a local celebration, so you might want to participate virtually.
• John Wirtz at Xing Columbus has created a nice google map of COTA Park & Ride locations.

It's becoming more and more difficult to keep up with Central Ohio's sustainability-related news!

Labels: news

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention recently:

• Sweeping transit proposal unveiled (Columbus Dispatch)
  
• Green-energy advocates rally around legislation (The Plain Dealer)
  
• Burying the problem: Battelle could be at forefront of solutions to global climate change (Columbus Dispatch)
  
• Calfee, Halter & Griswold adopts the Eco-Buck Program (Two Wheeling blog)
  

Labels: news

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention recently:

• Paul Bonneville's report on the Columbus streetcars initiative (Columbus RetroMetro)
• Call for entries for an environmental awareness art show (The Walker Evans Effect)
• Which candidate can launch us into world leadership in the coming energy revolution? (No Impact Man)

Labels: 2008 Presidential Primaries, arts, news

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention recently:

• Columbus 2012 Bicentennial running neighborhood meetings this week
• New Albany and MORPC partner for Carpool to Work Day Thursday, 2/21/2008
• Xing Columbus reminds us you can still show your support for the Ohio Hub Plan by signing the petition
• Earth Day 2008 organizers are looking for event sponsors and worksite nominations
• A new faith-based group focusing on climate change and energy is forming in Columbus - Ohio Interfaith Power and Light

Labels: news

Bloggers who attended the Columbus 2012 Citizen Summit posted their reviews and reflections this week:

• The Mayor Got His Marching Orders (Xing Columbus)
• Citizen Summit Makes Plans for 2012 Birthday Party (Mad Cow-Town)
• Amy on the summit (I Found It Interesting)
• City Pride...Bicentennial Style (One Girl Revolution)
• 2012: Thoughts on the Citizens' Summit (John Ross of Columbus Alive)
• More thoughts on 2012 (John Ross of Columbus Alive)

Tag: Columbus 2012

Labels: news

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention this week:

• Ed Begley Jr. will speak at Otterbein College February 13
• Review and reflections on the conversion of the Columbus Wild Oats grocery store to Whole Foods (The Restaurant Widow)
• SWACO accepting Emerald Award nominations through March 14
• Franklin County converting to high-efficiency LED traffic lights (Mad Cow-Town blog)
• Gov. Strickland has directed ODNR’s Division of Forestry to pursue forestry certification through two internationally recognized organizations – (The Nature Conservancy)

Labels: events, news

These articles, news items, and opportunities for action came to our attention this week:

• Sunflower Market stores going out of business (Dispatch)
• A pizza joint Al Gore could love might be coming here (Dispatch)
• MORPC seeking nominations for annual awards (ThisWeek Bexley)
• Smart Car dealership to open in Columbus (The Walker Evans Effect)
• Petition to support the Ohio Hub Passenger and Freight Rail Development plan
• Petition to Talk Show Hosts - What are they waiting for?
• Earth Hour 2008 - March 29, 2008

Labels: events, news

Green Buckeye congratulates Central Ohio's MiraCit Development Corporation on garnering the 2008 Inspiring Energy Efficiency IMPACT Award from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance for the GreenView Estates "green" subdivision project. Partners in the project include the Building Industry Association (BIA) of Central Ohio, and the Affordable Housing Trust.

Dr. Edgar Posey of Miracit, Susan Ashbrook of the City of Columbus, and Meera Parthasarathy of Columbus Green Building Forum will accept the recognition at MEEA's annual conference in Chicago tomorrow.

You can read more about GreenView Estates and the award in the press release (opens a pdf).

Thanks to MiraCit, BIA, the Housing Trust, and other non-profits like Columbus Green Building Forum for "LEEDing" the way in energy efficient buildings for Central Ohio!

Labels: awards, green building, news

While Green Buckeye has been dormant, other local bloggers have been covering the green beat:

• Columbus 43215 on Dominion Goes Green
• Restaurant Widow on The Greener Grocer opening at the North Market
• Austin Kocher on the Columbus Bikeways Plan, courtesy of Consider Biking
• Pia Brady of MORPC on the new Center for Energy and the Environment

Labels: news, resources

Months ago I listened to a podcast that featured John Mackey of Whole Foods talking to Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I was impressed that Mackey reached out to Pollan, who had criticized Whole Foods in the book. Listening to Mackey talk, I thought he sounded sincere in his desire for Whole Foods to do the right thing. He was educated and passionate about organic foods and corporate farming. He seemed self-aware and conflicted about the impact of Whole Foods on the organic food movement.

It's disappointing to learn now that for years Mackey was surreptitiously posting comments on a Yahoo stock-market message-board that bad-mouthed rival Wild Oats. Why? Yeah, the company could potentially gain from such antics, but at what cost? He claims he was "having fun."

It looks like Mackey, aka "rahodeb," and his company will discover the long-term costs in loss of reputation in the coming days, months, and years.

Of course, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, even (or maybe especially and most publicly and sensationally) CEOs of large corporations. If we're lucky, the mistake is such that we can recover and learn from it. I hope Mackey gets a clue about transparency and integrity and recovers personally. His personal redemption, though, is not the end of the story.

What is most disheartening is that the cynics will say, "I told you so." They'll say that no successful businessperson is truly sincere about transparency, which is an aspect of corporate sustainability and the "triple bottom line." They'll say that people like me are naive about the way the business world really works. They'll say that they're justified in continuing with "business as usual." Because Mackey was a high profile example of someone who was - at least publicly - trying to do the right thing. And his fall from grace will be very expensive in terms of good will and momentum for the sustainable business movement.

Tags: "John Mackey", "Whole Foods"

Labels: business, news, sustainability

You can read reports of climate change actions from all over the country on the Step It Up website. So far, Central Ohio reports include Columbus and Delaware.

Labels: climate change, events, news

Neil Drobny of KFCB points us to the April 2 issue of Fortune, which features green business as "what could be the business story of the 21st century."

Note to my doubting little brother: I told ya so!

Labels: green business, media, news

In a town as crazy about football as Columbus, I would be crazy not to point out this story about the Super Bowl on Treehugger.

It turns out that the NFL has an environmental program, which looks to be pretty ambitious. It's exciting to me to find out that an organization that I would never expect to be environmentally conscious has apparently put quite a bit of thought into it. If the Super Bowl isn't mainstream America, I dont' know what is! It gives me a lot of hope that awareness of sustainability practices is growing and spreading.

So, what do you think? Does going carbon neutral add to the allure of the Super Bowl? Or does it feel like so much green-washing to you?

Labels: leadership, news

The ever-alert Ira Weiss regularly shares many links to stories of interest on the SRCO listserv. Earlier week he pointed out this one about the formation of Sustainable Worthington.

You can learn more by contacting one of the group's organizers, Lisa Staggenborg.

Labels: news, resources

Paul Bonneville at Columbus RetroMetro blog is initiating an extended conversation around the topic of streetcars in Columbus.

In addition to providing an extensive list of recent media coverage of the streetcars, he's begun an email list for people who want to continue to stay informed. Click over to the post on Columbus RetroMetro, and tell him Green Buckeye sent you!

Labels: news, resources

It appears that Ohioans are sweet on Green Drinks! This week Treehugger featured Green Drinks Cincinnati , which had its inaugural gathering in November.

A quick review of Green Drinks International reveals Ohio chapters in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus.

Hey Toledo, Youngstown, Athens, and Marietta - anything in the works?

And don't forget - Green Drinks Columbus meets this week at Surly Girl.

Labels: events, news, resources

Green Buckeye's focus is optimistic and local. My hope and plan is to share the good news of organizations and individuals in Central Ohio who are doing big and small things to make our little corner of the world greener.

Sometimes, though, bad news from around the globe needs to be shared so that we can remember why we're making these efforts.

A few weeks ago, the primary organization working to save the white-fin dolphin (baiji) declared the animal "functionally extinct." Six weeks of searching the baiji's Yangtze River home in China yielded not one sighting.

Think of it - a mammal that survived on this planet for 20 million years, with no natural enemies other than humans, is most likely gone for good. This is not our proudest moment as a species.

How many times does the alarm have to ring before we wake up to our responsibility to this planet and its inhabitants - whatever species they might be?

Labels: about greenbuckeye, news

Columbus Green Building Forum and Worthington Kilbourne High School's Home BASE are partnering to build an "energy efficient, high perfoming, sustainable, green, and affordable" home. The plan is that the home will be LEED-Gold certified, but the potential is there to reach Platinum certification.

The USGBC web site says:

A green home uses less energy, water, and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier and more comfortable for the occupants. Benefits of a LEED home include lower energy and water bills; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and less exposure to mold, mildew and other indoor toxins.

You can follow the project's progress on the Home BASE project blog. Pamela Willis of Suburban News covered the story here at SNPOnline.

Labels: news