We’ve previously discussed how to be environmentally conscious during the summer festival season.

However, did you know that you can borrow recycling containers for your next event?  There is a stock of 5-foot, bottle-shaped containers specifically for event recycling available to loan for any organization sponsoring an event in Hamilton County.  They provide the containers and liner bags, you provide the recyclables.

Find out more at the Hamilton County recycling container loan program website.

The Mayor’s green challenge to the city encourages everyone to increase recycling participation. Want to do your part and participate in the challenge? Recycling begins with your bin. Fill out this form to get a bin.

From the Get A Bin program:

Did you know that Mayor Mallory kicked off a new effort to increase recycling in Cincinnati? Cincinnati currently recycles 9% of its trash. The Mayor wants to see residential recycling increase by 15% by America Recycles Day on November 15. So, do your part now! Get a bin and use it! Together we will make Cincinnati cleaner and greener.

This week our I Make Cincinnati Green section will introduce you to an individual who is working on preserving greenspace and promoting green building throughout the county.

Meet Dean Neimeyer.

Do you make Cincinnati green? Submit your answers to the three questions below with a picture.

1. Who are you?
2. How do you make Cincinnati green?
3. What’s on your wish list for a greener Cincinnati?

At a rest stop along I-71 South about 40 miles North of Cincinnati, there are a few small examples of greening in Ohio. Instead of all business as usual, the park benches at the rest stop are made of recycled plastic.

Even the sign describing some of the state’s recycling initiatives is made of 95% recycled content.

It’s always seemed that rest stops would be a perfect place to display the benefits of alternative energy. With these facilities being so far from “civilization”, why not save the trouble of conducting electricity along long distances and utilize solar or wind power? A 1-2 kilowatt array ought to be enough to power some vending machines and the LED lights and energy star hand dryers in the restrooms. A rainwater catchment and filtration system could provide a good source of potable water. And what’s wrong with installing waterless urinals or composting toilets? Maybe there is a farmer nearby who could use the products of composted waste to help the crops.

Five large and influential Cincinnati institutions are joining together to form the new Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati.

The City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County Commissioners, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Public Schools and Duke Energy are promising to work together to share working ideas and to encourage more and greater efforts toward sustainability around the city.

Today at 3pm, the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati is holding a kickoff event at Eden Park near the bank of solar panels. Rumor has is that Mayor Mallory will arrive in an electric car.

Want to attend? Details for the event from the release:

On June 30^th 2008 the City of Cincinnati, the Hamilton County Commissioners, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Public Schools and Duke Energy Ohio will announce the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati (GPGC), a new collaboration to share best practices and encourage the adoption and implementation of environmentally friendly policies by the partners. The Green Partnership (which has been in the planning stages for over a year) will hold a public launch Monday June 30, 2008 at 3PM in front of the solar panels at the Cincinnati Parks Administration Building at 950 Eden Park Drive (look for the tent).

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, UC President Nancy Zimpher, CPS Superintendent Rosa Blackwell and Duke Energy Ohio President Sandra Meyer will arrive at the launch site in a fleet of electric cars, in a demonstration of their commitment to the partnership and its goals. (Several of these cars may be seen for the first time in Cincinnati!)

Together the GPGC partners employ and educate tens of thousands of people, operate thousands of buildings and motor vehicles, and manage tens of thousands of acres of land. All five institutions already engage in a broad range of environmental programs, and each institution has specific expertise and resources in such areas as education, energy efficiency and recycling. GPGC has formed project teams comprised of employees from all of the partners to address eight priorities that will increase the sustainability of the partner organizations. These priorities are:

· Communication and outreach

· Comprehensive recycling initiative

· Green buildings and energy use reduction

· Use of mass transit and alternative transportation options

· Environmentally preferred purchasing

· Comprehensive environmental education

· Fleet vehicle options

· Land and water management best practices

Each team will develop specific projects to be implemented over the next 1-3 years. These projects will apply directly to the operations, programs and facilities owned and managed by the partner institutions. More than 100 people from the partner organizations helped set the project agenda and develop the specific team objectives to be shared at the partnership launch.

See you there!

The first project of the recently passed Cincinnati Climate Protection Action Plan is happening this weekend. If the heat is on in your house, this one is meant for you!

Have a crummy older window air conditioning unit? Take it to the Best Buy in Tri-County to trade for a recycled future in exchange for a $50 credit towards an EnergyStar qualified window air conditioner. The program is this weekend only, act now!

Here are the details from the press release:

City of Cincinnati, Duke Energy, and Best Buy Partner to

Offer Energy Efficient Room Air Conditioner Deal

First project from the recently passed Green Cincinnati Plan

Cincinnati - The City of Cincinnati, Duke Energy, and Best Buy are teaming up to offer citizens the opportunity to trade in their old inefficient room air conditioners and receive a $50 rebate instant rebate for a new high efficiency room air conditioner at Best Buy. The trade-in program will be at the Best Buy at Tri-County Mall on Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29. The program is the first example of how the Mayor’s Green Cincinnati Plan will help citizens save money on their utility bills.

“I want to thank Duke Energy and Best Buy for partnering with the City to help people make their homes more energy efficient,” Mayor Mallory said. “The Green Cincinnati Plan will continue to develop partnerships that will help citizens save money and improve the environment.”

To participate, bring your old inefficient air conditioner to the Best Buy at 865 E Kemper Rd, Springdale, OH 45246. The old air conditioners will be collected in the parking lot. Citizens will fill out a rebate form and receive either a $15 gift card to Best Buy or a $50 instant rebate if they choose to buy a new high efficiency ENERGY STAR qualified room air conditioner. There is a limit of three recycled air conditioners per household. The promotion runs from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Saturday and 11:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Sunday.

“The Green Cincinnati Plan encourages residents to make their homes more energy efficient because it saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and saves money,” said Larry Falkin, Director of the Cincinnati Office of Environmental Quality. “Buying EnergyStar appliances is an easy way of knowing that you are making a wise decision, and this trade in program makes it an even better deal.”

Using a high efficiency ENERGY STAR qualified room air conditioner instead of a regular air conditioner will cut your cooling costs by 10 percent. This is equal to about $64 in savings over the lifetime of the unit. Products that have the ENERGY STAR have met strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy and have been tested as the most energy efficient products on the market.

The air conditioner turn-in program is part of Duke Energy’s commitment to increase the use of energy efficiency as an environmentally friendly way to meet the demand for energy from residents and businesses. Duke Energy Ohio’s energy efficiency programs are available to both residential and non-residential customers and include rebates on energy efficient appliances and lighting and other programs to help customers manage their energy use. Sandra Meyer, President of Duke Energy Ohio, was active in helping the City develop the Green Cincinnati Plan as part of the company’s efforts to support sustainable communities.

The turned-in air conditioner will be collected and safely recycled by Rumpke.

Carol Coletta of Smart City was recently the guest blogger on the Soapbox Cincinnati website. Her second post mentioned that a huge way to decrease pollution and climate change in a city is to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). The average individual currently drives 12,000 miles per year. Carol suggests that an ideal goal for VMT in a modern city is 3,900 miles per year.

But what can be done to create an adequate incentive to encourage Cincinnatians to reduce their annual automobile driving miles by more than two-thirds?

An effort of this magnitude would have to be powerfully supported and encompass the participation of the entire county. We have a few ideas to start the brainstorming:

1. Massive contests. Perhaps the government can ask individuals to register their current odometer numbers in conjunction with renewing your auto tags. When your annual renewal comes up the next year, turn in your new mileage counter and be entered into a drawing to win a gas card. Any individual who drives 5000 miles or less in that one year is entered to win a new (highly fuel-efficient) car.
2. Tiered individual incentives. Individuals who wish to participate agree to visit an official booth once every 6 months to have their odometer mileage recorded. For each visit that you reduce your annual VMT or stay below the 5000 annual miles threshold, you receive a gift (Reds tickets, gas card, free vanity plate, or a donation made in your name to Ohio Wildlife). If after 3 years you have reduced your VMT by 2/3, you are entered into a drawing to win a major prize (a new fuel efficient car, a $5000 tax credit, or a free bus pass for life).

Any other ideas?

Just this week Cincinnati city council voted to pass Mayor Mallory’s Green Cincinnati Action Plan. This is incredible news! The plan has goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly through a list of recommendations. In order for this goal to be met, residents, businesses, and local industry will have to make some environmentally conscious changes. We can all help work together to change the city for the better.

The Office of Environmental Quality and a team of over 150 volunteers worked hard over the past few months to put the plan to improve environmental conditions in Cincinnati together. You will be hearing a lot more about how this plan will go into action soon.

Want to read ahead? You can find the latest draft of the city’s plan online.

One of the wonderful things about trees is the cooling effect that their shade can create for us people on the ground. A few weeks ago we took a walk up to Mt. Adams to see a local pottery show. It was a beautiful sunny day that would have been incredibly hot on that blacktop were it not for the shade generated by one great old tree that covered nearly the entire driveway loop.

A hot parking lot in the sun is a good example of what’s called the Urban Heat Island effect. The combination of trapped heat and solid, heat-storing elements like concrete and blacktop often creates surface air temperatures of up to 10 degrees higher than nearby rural areas. Grassy or tree-shaded areas tend to avoid the urban heat island effect and stay cooler. Green roofs will help reduce the urban heat island effect in a city, as well as reduce storm water runoff.

One of the artists had love for the trees too. Funny how you never see concrete, blacktop, and the urban heat island effect celebrated at pottery shows. We do hope to start seeing more and more green roofs in Cincinnati though, and rumor has it that there’s a perfect patch of flat roof right outside the Mayor’s office on Cincinnati’s City Hall.

Thanks to some recent city improvement efforts, walking around town is about to get easier. On a recent hike from Downtown to Mt. Adams, we spied these signs near the steps and walkway over Columbia Parkway up to the east side of Mt. Adams.It’s much simpler to get out of the car and get somewhere by foot or by bike if the paths are cleared of overgrowth and occasionally patched. We definitely appreciate the city being attentive to the walkways around downtown.

By the way, the walk from Downtown to Mt. Adams is steep, but the view from the top is great and there are plenty of places to stop for a rest and reward yourself with a drink or an ice cream. Get out and get some fresh air this summer, but leave the car in the garage.