Sustainable, Schmustainable
Right, so I’m writing about urban sustainability. This is a really broad term, which basically covers everything from local food production to renewable energy use to green building practices, etc., etc. Usually, I hear labels like this and shy away like it’s kryptonite, because so often you tend to get dumped into one of a few “eco-conscious crunchy” groups, or you get the “crazy stockpile-the-bunker” stamp. Let me be clear when I say that I am not a rabid environmentalist, nor do I camp on the other end of the spectrum with the doomers or the homesteaders. I’m a pragmatist, plain and simple, which is why I tend to roll my eyes when someone looks at my enthusiasm for “pioneer skills” and titters about how they want to live close to me when the shit hits the fan.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that the “green” stuff is hip right now, and all of the kids are trying to recycle and ride their bikes and be good little locavore vegans. I like how people think it’s way cool that I am trying to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle, and I am well aware that what I do isn’t for everyone. I just know that in reality, in the really real world, it will take a whole lot more people (and municipalities) to be willing make the lifestyle changes necessary to keep this big consumer train wreck of a culture from going completely belly-up. “Green” goods and services simply cannot remain in the luxury price bracket if there is ever to be a paradigm shift to make sustainable the norm.
I think Cincinnati is making an effort to do this. Attention is being paid to new construction – the new fire house in College Hill has a been constructed with a vegetated and reflective roof, a rainwater catchment system, rain gardens and pervious concrete, just to name a few features helping this structure in the effort to be awarded LEED Gold certification.
The streetcar effort is still moving forward, which I think will not only provide a necessary buttress for our ailing public transit system, but should act as a shot in the arm for steadily growing downtown commerce. New bike routes are being shopped to make travel safer and easier on two wheels. The City also launched a pilot program for urban farming last year, which I thought was a brilliant use for otherwise unused plots of land (can’t wait to hear about how it went last year, and if it is to be continued this year). Our recycling program is one of the most progressive in the region, now accepting pizza boxes (no food residue) and all plastic bottles (no lids).
Baby steps, I know, but I think that affecting lasting change in a community is like a smart weight loss plan: it took time and effort to get where you are now and it will take time and effort to get where you want to go. It takes commitment and sacrifice, which are two words that most people don’t like hearing in the same sentence, especially when there is something amusing on TV. I don’t expect everything to be hunky-dory overnight. Personally, I find little bits of change at regular intervals does the trick for me – example: I put my reusable shopping bags right back into the car / backpack when I finish unloading them, so I always have them when I need them. Have any of you recently adopted something new into your routine that could be considered “green”?
Dark Martha
http://www.consciousurbanliving.com
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Nice take on local things happening. But I must take issue with the idea that Cincinnati’s recycling program is “progressive”.
So, there’s a lot of freaking plastic that isn’t in the form of a bottle. Like those containers that hold salads, tofu, butter & strawberries. What about my OJ container? It’s paper, right? (Sorta.) What about all that plastic that accompanies electronics purchases? What about CD cases? What about my lip balm container or clothes hangers? And those gallon perennial containers that are ubiquitous in spring? What about foil? Is that bi-metal? Let’s not forget about other recyclable materials you can’t put in your bin like those damn plastic bags,lids, batteries, and lightbulbs.
I think many people are confused about what is and what isn’t taken. The city offers absolutlely no incentive to recycle, and it’s done astoudingly little in the way of awareness/education. God forbid you’re an apartment dweller or live outside city limits where you have to haul yourself. Once I lived in an apartment in Fairfield and inquired as to why the complex didn’t have a place for its recyclables. The look I received made me wish I had been wearing more absorbant underwear had I wet myself from fright.
Most our waste still goes in the landfill, and the city’s all right with that, and Rumpke too!
The tiny village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, was further ahead in its program years ago than Cincinnati is today. Progressive isn’t the word that comes to mind.
Sara – I use the term “progressive” because there have been positive changes made recently to the recycling program. Is the program perfect? Absolutely not! Now, all of these items you mention that aren’t taken – the city has yet to refuse *anything* that I put in our recycling bins, which do go above and beyond what is listed as “acceptable” – and they are taken by the recyclers, not the regular trucks. As to if they eventually end up in a landfill, the jury is still out on that, but that won’t stop me from putting them into the bin that I feel is the most appropriate. Perhaps if more residents voiced interest in a recycling option that offered incentives it would be considered by those who are in the position to make those kinds of things happen…
Good post – one can find better examples of recycling in other cities and one can find worse examples of recycling in other cities. You gotta start somewhere…what is newly green in my routine? Buying local (espcially food) and no more soda. Recycling cans becomes much easier when you don’t have any!
It kills me the way locals freak out over the cost of an investment that will save money in the long run. I think citizens should provide their own recycle bins but the Kindle thing ?
So, maybe people don’t care about saving trees – saving $20+k/year should be a big uniter. I think I’d use a different tech but we didn’t even get that far.
I think a big hurdle is getting past the “that’s how we always did it before” mentality.
speak of the devil… heard this announced on NPR earlier today: http://www.hcdoes.org/SWMD/survey.html
Here’s our chance to make a little noise about what we do and don’t want with the county recycling program!
Cheers-
DM
Goodness, if we keep witching about stuff, more progress may happen! Lookit: http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0209enhancedrecycling.aspx?utm_campaign=100%20&%20Counting&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Cincinnati%20to%20kick%20off%20new%20Enhanced%20Recycling%20Program%20late%20spring%202010
DM