NEOSCC Board approves release of Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Products Member organizations to now consider Vision for approval The Board of Directors of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) yesterday voted to release the Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Products and Framework documents to NEOSCC member organizations for review, consideration and potential vote of approval. The NEOSCC Board will take a final vote on approval of the Vision at its February 25, 2014 meeting. You can review the board meeting presentation above. “Over the course of the last year, NEOSCC has engaged residents, elected officials, and experts throughout our 12-county region in a rigorous scenario planning process to identify the choices we can make now to help create a Northeast Ohio that is more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable in the future,” said Hunter Morrison, NEOSCC Executive Director. “Based on input and feedback from residents and leaders, the overarching…
biodiversity
Today kicks off the next round of Vibrant NEO Open Houses where we will look at Alternative Scenarios – different potential futures for Northeast Ohio – that could result from different choices. These are critically important discussions. The entire Vibrant NEO process is an attempt to help the residents of Northeast Ohio define what we want for the future, and then determine what choices we need to make in order to get to the future. The first round of workshops in early May helped to define a baseline for discussion – i.e. what will Northeast Ohio look like in 2040 is we continue our currents trends. (You can learn more about these findings here.) We gathered input from residents at those workshops, and later through ImagineMyNEO, our online planning tool which is still open for use. That input has helped us create Alternative Scenarios that you can view and discuss at our Open…
What are you doing April 30, May 1 or May 2? Creating NEO’s Future Depends on You? Speak up and voice your opinions about OUR home! What brought you to Northeast Ohio? What keeps you here? What do you value most about Northeast Ohio? What will keep you and your family here in the future? The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) will be hosting a series of workshops to create a vision for a Vibrant NEO in the year 2040. Workshops will be two hours long and will be held at various locations throughout the region. Please feel free to pick the time and location that is most convenient for you, regardless of your county of residence. Your help is needed to help NEOSCC focus the workshops on issues that are most important to YOU – today and in the future! CLICK ON THE BLUE LINKS BELOW TO REGISTER! ALL WORKSHOPS…
During the course of developing the NEOSCC Conditions and Trends Platform, we developed 33 findings across the subject matter areas of economic development, transportation, housing, the environment and quality connected places in Northeast Ohio. In order to communicate some of these findings, we have developed the Digi-NEO program which highlights different facts about the region’s successes as well as its challenges. Visit our Digi NEO Gallery to learn more about our region.
Join Earth Day Coalition for EarthFest 2013 at this year’s new location, the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, on Sunday, April 21 from 10am-5pm. In partnership with the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, we will be celebrating Advanced and Renewable Energy. Presented and organized by Earth Day Coalition since 1990 and now in its 24 year, EarthFest is Ohio’s largest environmental education event and the longest running Earth Day celebration in the nation. NEW this year: • Advanced and Renewable Energy exhibit area next to the Fairgrounds’ dramatic 500kW wind turbine and Energy Education Center. Attendees will learn first hand about exciting initiatives in our region as well as home products and conservation methods that utilize advanced energy sources, minimize emissions and maximize efficiency. Additional exhibit areas will include 175+ exhibitors in Clean Transportation (with Ride-and-Drive), Local and Sustainable Food, Green Home Improvement, NEW Lawn & Garden, Health and Fitness, Community Works and…
What are Vibrant NEO 2040 and Scenario Planning? VibrantNEO 2040’s scenarios will tell stories about our possible futures, based on where Northeast Ohio is today and the choices we might make about how we use our land and how we invest our resources. Once we create these scenarios, we will be able to compare how successful they are at achieving our common goals for the region, judge which choices would be best for Northeast Ohio’s future, and create a shared vision and framework for the future around those choices. You are invited to attend an upcoming workshop to share your voice in the conversation. We have selected six city locations throughout the region for your convenience. Pick a date and location that works for you! April 30: Oberlin (Lorain, Medina, and western Cuyahoga) Warren (Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula) May 1: Cleveland (Central Cuyahoga and inner-ring suburbs) Canton (Wayne and Stark)…
As the last post of the year, we thought it would be good to focus on a creating a more sustainable holiday. Every year, there is a debate about which is more environmentally friendly: artificial or natural Christmas trees. Regardless of what you chose this year, you can’t leave it up forever. There are a number of ways you can dispose of your natural Christmas tree to reduce the environmental impact. Here is a great infographic from GOOD.is on some of those the ways. Click on the image below to visit the original post.
“iNaturalist is a place where you can record what you see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.” iNaturalist (http://www.inaturalist.org/) is a smartphone and web-based data gathering program designed to provide an ecological learning and teaching platform for amateur and professional naturalists alike. The world is full of naturalists and many hikers, hunters, birders, and beachcombers record their observations of the environment around them. If the record of observations is comprehensive enough, it may be possible for scientists and land managers to monitor changes in biodiversity, and allow anyone to use the comprehensive record of life to learn more about nature. A comprehensive record of nature is the primary purpose of iNaturalist. According to its website, iNaturalist began as the Master’s final project of Nate Agrin, Jessica Kline, and Ken-ichi Ueda at the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Information in 2008. Nate and Ken-ichi continued…
NEOSCC Consortium Member, the Green City Blue Lake Institute has launched a wonderful new website: The new site is based on a three-step process: Explore: Until you experience Northeast Ohio and the natural systems that support life here the soils, the water, the plants and animals, the climate it’s hard to know how to take care of this place. So the first step is to explore the bioregion, root yourself here, learn to love your home territory. Live: Empowered with the intimate knowledge of place, you can begin to improve your own life. You can lead a healthier, more fulfilling life that has less environmental impact. Transform: Beyond the changes you can make in your own life, we all need to work together on big, complicated things like the design of more sustainable cities, buildings, and transportation systems. We need a sustainability policy agenda and projects that transform the region. What…
With the weather, rainfall and flooding in the news, we thought it an appropriate time to discuss the Environment Work Stream findings. Are environmental conditions in Northeast Ohio getting better or worse? The answer to that question depends a lot on the type of environmental issue being considered. Here is a bit of a summary for rainy day reading. Since the 1970s, the region has made a lot of progress cleaning up what is typically thought of as “pollution.” Industry has reduced emissions from smokestacks and effluent pipes. Wastewater treatment plants are doing a much better job treating sewage. And some of dirtiest sources of industrial pollution have closed down or moved to places with lower environmental standards. As a result, the air and water are cleaner than they used to be. But other types of environmental issues have been harder to address. These are “nonpoint” sources of pollution —…