Posted March 17, 200817 yr Falkin: Go Green, Cincinnati He's hoping to get city on 'green' bandwagon BY JANE PRENDERGAST | March 17, 2008 Check out this resume objective: "A professional position where my passion for nature, environment experience and management skills can be used to promote sustainability." That's the first line on the resume of Larry Falkin, Cincinnati's environmental boss. City Manager Milton Dohoney hired him last summer after City Council agreed in 2006 to establish the Office of Environmental Quality, which Falkin now directs. The previous Office of Environmental Management closed in 2001, and Mayor Mark Mallory promised during his 2005 campaign that he would re-establish it. The first high-profile step showing the city's renewed focus on environmental protection - a Cincinnati climate protection plan - is expected next month. More than 140 volunteers have been working for months to help Mallory's steering committee come up with goals for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/NEWS01/803170345/1077/COL02
March 17, 200817 yr Reducing Cincinnati's greenhouse gases BY RANDY SIMES | URBANCINCY January 2008 The City of Cincinnati has established a Climate Protection Steering Committee (PDF 48kb) to help the City figure out how it can be more environmentally responsible and to examine the City's Climate Action Plan. Study results have shown that Cincinnati has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions since 2000, and is 6% more carbon efficient than the national average. That's great, but more can be done...MUCH more. The newly established Committee has recommended that Cincinnati, "...reduce its GHG emissions by 10% by 2012 (short term goal); 40% by 2027 (mid term goal); and 86% by 2050 (long term goal)." This long-term goal also falls in line with what most scientists consider the necessary reduction (80% by 2050) in order to stabilize the planet's climate at a "tolerable level." So how do we accomplish this...well the second highest source of GHG emissions, in Cincinnati, is transportation. At the same time Cincinnati has no rail transit alternative for local/regional commuting patterns. It seems that it might be about time to start looking into such alternatives. Graph Credit: United States Environmental Protection Agency
April 25, 200817 yr Mayor's climate plan seeks 2% yearly emissions cut Friday, April 25, 2008 - 11:49 AM EDT Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory released a climate protection plan today designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent per year (using 2006 as a baseline) through 2028. The proposal was unanimously approved by a steering committee Mallory appointed in November. The mayor will review the panel's recommendations and send the plan to Cincinnati City Council, the mayor's office said in a statement. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/04/21/daily60.html
May 4, 200817 yr I caught the whole spiel on the public access channel and was very moved by Mark Mallory's words. It's great to see politicians take action on things that they won't be recognized for and won't totally see the benefits of while they're still in office. No doubt some of the stipulations amount to a rather unsexy plan in the eyes of the masses but it's something that should be done, nonetheless.
May 4, 200817 yr "All new Metro buses purchased should be diesel-electric hybrids, at an estimated cost of $6 million" to refit the entire fleet it would be about 43 million based on a premium iof 120k for a hybrid and 385 buses left to replace
June 24, 200816 yr City vows to go green Lots of eco-options listed, but no price tags http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080623/NEWS01/806230326/1168/NEWS
June 28, 200816 yr With green plan in place, Cincinnati council considers direction Mayor suggests focusing on ideas with quickest impact http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/06/30/story21.html Early priorities listed in the article: Cincinnati's partnership with Duke Energy and the Best Buy store in Tri-County to encourage city residents to take old air-conditioning units to the store to be recycled. In exchange, participating residents will get $50 toward the purchase of a new, Energy Star-rated room air conditioning unit, Falkin said. (The promotion takes place June 28-29). Councilman Chris Bortz's introduced motion on June 24th that called on the city to create a green roof incentive program, which would encourage a building owner to install a more expensive green roof through a no- or low-interest loan program that could be repaid as the owner realizes the energy cost savings from the roof.
June 29, 200816 yr Cincinnati environmental effort to start http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/NEWS01/80629003/1055/NEWS Members of The Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati: City of Cincinnati Hamilton County University of Cincinnati Duke Energy Cincinnati Public Schools 8 priorities of The Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati: [*]Communication [*]Comprehensive Recycling [*]Green Buildings [*]Mass Transit and Alternative Transportation Options [*]Environmentally Preferred Purchasing [*]Environmental Education [*]Fleet Vehicle Options [*]Land and Water Management
February 2, 200916 yr Cincy wants you to eat less meat Attention lovers of goetta, The Precinct's King Sirloin and Montgomery Inn ribs: Cincinnati would like you to eat less meat. Yes, even in this city symbolized by a flying pig and once called Porkopolis, officials worry about residents leaving too big of a carbon footprint. So as part of the Green Cincinnati Plan to make the city more environmentally friendly, proponents want you to at least think about choosing fruits and vegetables more, meat less. "Nobody wants Jeff Ruby to have to take out an ad that says, 'Why are you hurting my restaurant?' " said Daniel Oerther, chairman of the University of Cincinnati's environmental engineering department who leads the city's food task force. The group, which met for the first time Thursday, drew about 20 people, some of them vegetarians. After more meetings, the task force will make recommendations to City Council about how best to encourage people to re-think their diets. Read full article here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090202/NEWS0108/902020308/1055/NEWS
February 2, 200916 yr This is probably the lamest "green" idea I've ever heard. I wish they'd use the money for the "meat awareness campaign" to increase awareness of the streetcar plan or a potential light rail proposal.
February 2, 200916 yr This is probably the lamest "green" idea I've ever heard. I wish they'd use the money for the "meat awareness campaign" to increase awareness of the streetcar plan or a potential light rail proposal. I agree. I think this is ridiculous. While I think it's good to encourage people to eat more produce and buy it locally, I think telling people to eat less meat may backfire. I do eat meat and dairy products, but I could easily go a few days without eating any meat. However, I suddenly have an urge to go to Avril's and buy several pounds of steaks and sausages.
February 2, 200916 yr This seems like a reasonable effort on the City's part. It may not have a significant impact on our region's overall carbon footprint, but the suggestion in and of itself with turn a few heads and make people look at the way they consume food differently.
February 2, 200916 yr While reading this "idea" all I could think about was this: Seriously though, these are the kinds of initiatives that give environmentalists a bad name. Not to mention the emphasis is on greenhouse gas emmisions, but I'll save that for the global warming thread... I hope these people can think of something better to do with the semi-arid western Plains states, too. Not much you can grow there, but cattle do exceptionally well.
February 2, 200916 yr This seems like a reasonable effort on the City's part. It may not have a significant impact on our region's overall carbon footprint, but the suggestion in and of itself with turn a few heads and make people look at the way they consume food differently. Doubt it. It is more than likely going to help cement the view in most people's mind that Cincinnati's leadership is completely clueless. As somebody who does not hold that opinion, I get upset when they come out with something crazy like this. How much is Cincinnati paying to have this taskforce? What kind of value is it adding to the city as a whole? I'm sorry but this seems like a 'feel good' initiative and programs like this need to be redirected in this economy.
February 2, 200916 yr It should be noted that the reduction in meat consumption is one of 80 Emission Reduction Measures. Before everyone starts questioning the validity of this effort over this one press release I suggest going and reading the Climate Protection Action Plan that explains in great detail the rationale and reasoning behind each of these 80 measures and the overall plan. Here is a tidbit of information from the Reduced Meat Consumption section... Summary of specific issues – A 2006 report by the United Nations‘ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Livestock’s Long Shadow, found that the production of animals for food is responsible for over 18% of the planet‘s greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than twice that of the office buildings and homes (8%) and nearly 40% more than transportation emissions (13%). This figure represents 9% of the planetary carbon dioxide emissions, 37% of the methane (mostly from livestock flatulence and waste matter) and 65% of the nitrous oxide; the latter two gases having 23 times and 296 times the global warming potentials of CO2. The report concluded ―The livestock sector emerges as one of the... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global‖ and finds it must become a major policy focus. A 2005 University of Chicago report, Diet, Energy and Global Warming found that the added burden of meat diets above plant based diets accounts for 6% of US total greenhouse gas emissions. The Standard American Diet (SAD), of which around 28% of the caloric intake is derived from meat, produced 1.485 metric tons CO2 equivalent emissions (per person per year) more than an all plant based diet (a conservative figure). A red meat eater‘s mean diet increased this number to 2.52 tons CO2e. This is the equivalent difference between driving a sedan (Camry) and an SUV. A diet of just 20% meat produced an added GHG burden of 1 ton CO2e per person annually; this is the difference between a year of driving a standard sedan (Camry) and the highest efficiency hybrid (Prius). With 80% of annual world deforestation connected to animal agriculture, an area the size of a football field is razed every second, a practice which has been termed ―"the 'hamburgerization' of our forests." A single SAD meal levels 55 square feet of rain forest. Estimated greenhouse gas reduction to be achieved – 26,400 tons by 2012 (10% reduction in meat consumption x 20% of the population and 100% reduction by 3% of the population x 1.6 tons/person); 52,800 tons by 2028 (20% reduction in meat consumption x 20% of the population and 100% reduction by 6% of the population x 1.6). The goal will be to have all Cincinnati residents, on average, eat meat one less day per week by 2012, which would be a 14% reduction in meat consumption. The projected GHG emission reductions are based on a more conservative forecast of actual behavior.
February 2, 200916 yr This sound like a reasonable idea. I'm making a solid attempt to go 'vegetarian' for three days of the week in a long term effort to become entirely vegetarian for health and moral reasons. I tried going cold turkey over a year ago and miserably failed. It's not as difficult as most make it out to be -- or as expensive, and it does have its justifications. I was in Park+Vine before and after the event, and a lot of people were discussing this very topic. It was very encouraging.
February 3, 200916 yr This seems like a reasonable effort on the City's part. It may not have a significant impact on our region's overall carbon footprint, but the suggestion in and of itself with turn a few heads and make people look at the way they consume food differently. Doubt it. It is more than likely going to help cement the view in most people's mind that Cincinnati's leadership is completely clueless. As somebody who does not hold that opinion, I get upset when they come out with something crazy like this. How much is Cincinnati paying to have this taskforce? What kind of value is it adding to the city as a whole? I'm sorry but this seems like a 'feel good' initiative and programs like this need to be redirected in this economy. I'd have to agree. It just fuels the fire for those who are chomping at the bit to find ANYTHING negative on the city. Focus on obesity and just how walkable many of our older neighborhoods really are. That would put a bigger dent in our carbon footprint that this.
April 14, 200916 yr Cincinnati State builds solar-electric car for Parks Department, forwards city's green agenda http://www.soapboxmedia.com/innovationnews/61greencar.aspx Cincinnati is going green with the help of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Under the supervision of Cincinnati State faculty and students, a team of 20 eager students from Clark Montessori High School are assembling a solar/electric car. Once complete, the Cincinnati Parks Department will use this car for maintenance and other rounds. "Time Warner donated this electric car kit to the Cincinnati Parks," says Larry Feist, project leaders and head of the renewable energy program at Cincinnati State. "The Cinci Parks in-turn asked Clark Montesorri School to assemble it. They asked me to help. So I got some of my Renewable Energy students to help out." And thus the Cincinnati Parks Department has an eco-friendly car that runs entirely on electricity, which is recharged via solar panel. Ultimately, this project is representative of the city's push to step up its green efforts. Mayor Mallory's Green Cincinnati Plan and steering committee, of which Feist is a member himself, are two clear examples of this commitment in action. Those interested in joining the green dialog can attend a Green Energy Ohio event on April 25 at Cincinnati State.
April 14, 200916 yr ^That is a great story. It's awesome to see local colleges helping the city, and to see the city branching out to CPS to help engage the students. This is a win for everyone involved, all while helping green the city.
April 16, 200916 yr Price Hill is city's greenest neighborhood Last fall Price Hill residents and community leaders teamed up with the city to create a contest to prove their assertion Price Hill is the city's greenest neighborhood. They were right. Price Hill was recently declared the winner of the Green City Challenge. In October, Price Hill Will, the community councils, Imago and the Enright Eco-Village announced Price Hill is the greenest neighborhood in Cincinnati, and worked with Vice Mayor David Crowley to establish the green challenge. "It makes sense," said Kara Ray, community organizer for Price Hill Will. Read full article here: http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20090415/NEWS/904150351/
April 21, 200916 yr Make your eating more earth friendly What’s for dinner? With Earth Day celebrated this week, that question takes on new meaning. Food issues have increasingly criss-crossed environmental ones, as it has become obvious that the global food production and consumption leaves a super-sized carbon footprint. In many different regions, people are changing their food habits to protect natural habitats, using less oil and helping to create more environmentally sustainable ways of producing food. The Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region is part of that trend, as seen in the increase in neighborhood farmers markets and the easy availability of an organic cup of coffee. Even the city of Cincinnati’s Green Plan includes recommendations for food choices that have less impact on the environment. Here are some ways you can If you want to “green up” your diet: Buy local: U.S. food production is based on the efficiency of specialized, large-scale farms concentrated in certain parts of the country. The production relies on oil for fertilizer and machinery fuel, transportation and processing of some foods. The government also heavily subsidizes corn and soy production an both are used in a variety of food sources. Read full article here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090421/ENT01/304210079/1055/NEWS
April 22, 200916 yr Loving Café is a very nice addition that just recently opened. If you haven't... try it out!
July 14, 200915 yr Hamilton County Green initiative gets $4.8 million federal boost http://www.soapboxmedia.com/innovationnews/0714hamco.aspx Federal stimulus dollars are on their way to Cincinnati, paving the way for greater energy efficiency in Hamilton County government. Commissioner David Pepper and his staff are collaborating with a host of organizations to develop a strategy for using $4.8 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG). “Our approach will allow governments, businesses and individual homeowners across the county to save money over time by making strategic, sustainable investments in energy upgrades,” Commission President David Pepper said. “This program also helps generate job-creating economic activity across the county.” The City of Cincinnati, Duke Energy, Community Action Agency, Workforce Investment Board, Cincinnati Energy Alliance, and participants in the Hamilton County Climate Initiative all had a voice in developing the strategy. Hamilton County Government plans to spend its funds on hybrid vehicles and energy improvements on existing buildings and future construction, including the Banks Project. The County will also oversee grants and loans that eligible homeowners and small-business owners can access to improve energy efficiency. Hamilton County submitted its energy plan to the Federal Government on June 25th. Funds should be available within the next few months.
July 23, 200915 yr Hillside Trust building at Alms Park now powered with geothermal http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0721geothermalproject.aspx The Cincinnati Park Board has installed a geothermal system at a building within Alms Park with plans for two additional installations including the new Cincinnati Riverfront Park. The total project cost $22,000 with an anticipated payback period of about 20 years. The Hillside Trust occupies the building and director Eric Russo says that the new system provides enough power to satisfy all of their heating and cooling needs. The system is one of the first of its kind in the region and is another sign of the Park Board’s push to be environmentally conscience with their impact within nature. The Hillside Trust has also been working on several green initiatives that include new light wells within the building, and a hillside reclamation project behind the structure that cleared out all invasive species and reintroduced native plant life that also supports the hillside. The work on the geothermal project took a total of five days which included the trenching work, laying of lines, installation of the water furnace and the installation of a new vent system as the building was previously heated by a radiator and had no air cooling mechanism. Russo states that the work done by Cincinnati-based Bill Spade Electric, Heating & Cooling was not that invasive as they were able to use what is considered a ‘lateral system.’ In this system crews dug a five foot trench for a linear distance of about 600 feet. Once dug, some 3,000 feet of plastic flexible piping was laid which carries a mixture of water (85%) and alcohol (15%) to prevent potential freezing. The Geothermal project at Alms Park will allow the Parks to better manage their utility resources according to the Park Board, and is part of Cincinnati’s Climate Protection Action Plan. In addition to this, the Park Board will also be implementing new rain gardens, conducting energy audits and continue their reforestation efforts that net an average of 2,000 new trees per year within the City of Cincinnati. Park Board officials state that all of these initiatives make Cincinnati a more livable city for all of its residents.
October 19, 200915 yr Anyone know if the City of Cincinnati permits or bans clotheslines. I tried to search the municode and, although this appeared: Rule 26. Clothes Lines. No one shall shake or otherwise cleanse any rugs or other floor coverings, nor fasten to any tree or shrub any clothes line, nor hang up any clothes to dry or bleach on park property. (PR Rule 27, enacted by Resolution of Feb. 4, 1932; renumbered to Rule 26, Apr. 6, 1978) I haven't found anything for non-park, private property. Currently, a green response to the stringent clothesline bans across the county has been gaining some steam. http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/join-the-fight-to-legalize-clotheslines/
October 19, 200915 yr Anyone know if the City of Cincinnati permits or bans clotheslines. I tried to search the municode and, although this appeared: Rule 26. Clothes Lines. No one shall shake or otherwise cleanse any rugs or other floor coverings, nor fasten to any tree or shrub any clothes line, nor hang up any clothes to dry or bleach on park property. (PR Rule 27, enacted by Resolution of Feb. 4, 1932; renumbered to Rule 26, Apr. 6, 1978) I haven't found anything for non-park, private property. Currently, a green response to the stringent clothesline bans across the county has been gaining some steam. http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/join-the-fight-to-legalize-clotheslines/
December 4, 200915 yr City of Cincinnati wins OEC's coveted Public Servant award By Randy A. Simes, UrbanCincy | November 9, 2009 http://www.urbancincy.com/2009/11/city-of-cincinnati-wins-oecs-coveted.html Each year the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) recognizes individuals, groups, and businesses that have made significant contributions to improving Ohio's environment at their annual Environmental Achievement Awards ceremony. At this year's Environmental Achievement Awards, the City of Cincinnati will receive the "Public Servant" award for the implementation of several environmental initiatives in Cincinnati, which includes re-establishing the Office of Environmental Quality. At the same time, Communities United For Action (CUFA) will receive the "Environmental Watchdog" award for their work on spearheading the passage of the first Environmental Justice Ordinance in the country. The 40th Anniversary Green Gala dinner and awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 14 at the Columbus Athenaeum. Tickets can be purchased from $30 to $40 with group discounts available. To purchase your tickets today call the OEC at (614) 487-7506, or place your order online.
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