Claude Monet's paintings are pretty. For this reason some people love his work and other dismiss it as decorative and superficial. "Monet in Normandy", the exhibition on now at the Cleveland Museum of Art, brings us over 50 works by one of the world's best known painters and presents them in an intellectual manner that may even make you see those water lily tote bags and umbrellas in a different light.

MVRDV several years back produced a book titled Regionmaker.  The book was brought to my attention via Bill Scheele who presented during some of the very first colloquia at REI Tuesdays.  Bill initially saw the book at a book store on the West Coast, and purchased it because of the book’s unique use of dual languages (Dutch on the left page, English on the right hand page) and the use of binding the book together with different colored pages ( to distinguish the different chapters)  When I read through the book I told Ed Morrison that Regionmaker included a  thesis  confirming (with mathematical precision) Mr. Morrison’s “Quality Connected Spaces” economic stimulation philosophy.   Bill’s  newCAT  (interesting that MVRDV was under discussion in 2004 at REI, while it just hit the radar with CIA in 2007) was itself an effort to improve the local technology economy through expertise in digital art.   But back to MVRDV - if MVRDV designs their CIA University Circle job with the same high level of  innovation with which they designed their Regionmaker book - then we will have unique and stimulating architecture here in Cleveland.

The marketing and advertising industry is constantly teasing us with trendy, cool and largely superfluous products. To judge by investment in advertising, it takes more and more to achieve the same effect. With all that stimulation it is an effort asking just what we stand to gain.

 

View of Lake Erie and the Historic Coast Guard Station from the frozen beach of Wendy Park, on Whiskey Island, taken 02/15/07 around 5:30 PM, after a classic NEO blizzard, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here http://www.aweo.org/Lake.html  is another viewpoint on wind turbines which I take seriously, in particular regarding the inconsistent bi-polar goals of corporations and the need for conservation.  I can't give credit to the author because though I Googled I can't get back to original newspaper publication.  Please post author if anyone can.

I was flying back from little auditing in Chicago and we were routed over lake erie.  My phone camera resolution sucks!   Islands visable include South Bass Island (AKA Put-in-Bay), North Bass Island (Closest), Middle Bass Island, and either Sugar Island, or Rattlesnake Island.

My father tells me storeies of folks driving accross from Sandusky / Catbwa out to Pelee back when he was young (1950's).  The lake use to freeze.   These days, just about every year some fools 4-wheeler or snowmobile falls thru the ice.

 

 

 

Maybe we should see if we could make a buck (or more likely a statement) selling Cuyahoga River cocktails or Lake Erie highballs. If the idea is that enough alcohol will eliminate the need to address our water quality issues, then the folks who have the money to address these issues ought to be happy to swill away on these high powered drinks.  Add enough absinthe and sugar to some Cuyahoga River water and you've got a drink that we might call the Ohio Obliterator. Drink this and forget the Clean Water Act ever happened...

 

The Genesis Project   :  Creating a New Garden of Eden Inside the Earth

Sudhir Kade Raghupathy

Creator and Futurist

When I saw this windmill made of hopefully reused cafeteria supplies I immediately knew it had to be posted up with the rest of the windmill wonderment on RealNeo.   

Thanks RealNEO for giving a local home to windmill pr0n of all sizes and flavors!

   

    An exciting day it was for the steering committee of Great Lakes Bioneers Cleveland.
Most of the members were on hand for the initial planning retreat which took place at the CanalWay Center, near the banks of our river that burned.

    The planning retreat was facilitated by Gloria Rivera and Paula Cathcart, the organizers from the Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit site that has been up and running for 2 years. Cleveland's planning has been in gear since 3rd quarter 06 approximately when steering comm. members were funded to travel to other satellite sites in our reagion to learn more.

Great Lakes Bioneers Cleveland recently received approval to host a beaming site. CSU will host the event via live satellite uplink from the primary conference site in San Raphael, CA.

    What is Bioneers????

    Bioneers was conceived to conduct programs in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity, traditional farming practices, and environmental restoration.  Our vision of environment encompasses the natural landscape, cultivated landscape, biodiversity, cultural diversity, watersheds, community economics, and spirituality. Bioneers seeks to unite nature, culture and spirit in an Earth-honoring vision, and create economic models founded in social justice.

Bioneers are biological pioneers who are working with nature to heal nature and ourselves. They have peered deep into the heart of living systems to devise strategies for restoration based on nature's own operating instructions. They come from many cultures and perspectives, and all walks of life.

Today, a growing movement for sustainable agriculture and locally grown food has emerged in Northeast Ohio, garnering increasing support and acceptance. Not only does this movement address many environmental and social concerns, it also offers innovative and economically viable opportunities for growers, consumers, policymakers, home gardeners, and many others in the food system. As this quiet revolution takes shape across the United States, activists in Northeast Ohio are on the leading edge and have the ability to transform the region.

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Thanks to Susan Miller for pointing out an important article in the 02/03/07 Plain Dealer regarding the war to eliminate lead poisoning in our region by 2010 - an outlandishly aggressive objective, as Cleveland ranks among the top five cities nationally for lead poisoning. In 2004, St. Luke's Foundation funded what has been the most important collaboration ever for the future of Northeast Ohio: the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC), aligning over 80 agencies and organizations at local, regional, state and federal levels toward the common objective of lead eradication in our region within the next three years. On February 1, 2007, St. Luke's brought together the leadership of many other foundations for the expressed purpose of convincing as many foundations as possible to join them in funding the next three years of GCLAC initiative. The article states the objective of raising $3 million from foundations to leverage for far greater support from government sources.

 

The following survey results from a BBC poll should not come as a surprise to anyone - the world, including the people of the United States, is unhappy with the US role in the world these days... "among Americans, the number of those who viewed their country's role positively fell to 57% - six percentage points down from last year and 14 percentage points down from two years ago.See a full article on this posted below and linked at BBC News here.

 

This is just a little plug for those in the know.... we have begun pulling together the final data regarding just how green our major renovation at the Moebius Nature Center really was.

Thank you Norm for beginning the practice of locating your photo banners for the readership.  We have been enjoying great panoramic views, but depending on where we live, some of us had no idea where to go to personally enjoy the view.  Let's make a catalogue of these Cleveland banners.

I watch the BBC 11 PM World News, rather than the local Northeast Ohio news, because I want an international perspective on affairs in America and world-wide. To learn what is happening in Northeast Ohio, I use the Plain Dealer as one frame of reference but depend on personal research, involvement in the community and connectedness through networks and alternative media, increasingly found through the Internet, to know what is happening in the region.  The main reason I find it necessary to look outside the US mainstream for news is well documented by a project out of Sonoma State University called Project Censored, "which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."  Below is their list of stories over-looked and/or self-censored by the country's major national news media in 2007 - how does this fit with your observations on the world as reported by mainstream media in NEO and America?

 About three weeks ago, I received the first "Letter to the Editor" in the history of REALNEO. Lots of people send me press releases and event info and tips on cool content, but never has someone sent an opinion editorial to be posted for them (probably because REALNEO is open for anyone to create an account and post content and comments themselves). The letter to the editor was titled "Lead Paint - You Are Idiots" and was received from someone named Kim Falk (he authorized publication of his name) and the email address was from Sherwin Williams. A little googling and I learned he is an employee there - a very enthusiastic and loyal one, to be sure... he was responsible for Sherwin-Williams donating paint to help in the repair of the Pentagon after 9/11. So I was not surprised to read he is protective of his company in defense of them being sued over lead. Still, I was intrigued by the language he uses in his editorial, published below.

Just in case you missed the international headlines on the subject..  lets break it down for you.  But first some local background... Out in Aurora, accross from Geauga Lake, Walmart built its store on class 1,2,and 3 wetlands in some of the most protected wetlands in our state.  All it takes is money, right?  The developer "Heritage Development" had environmental reserves of 7M$ and only paid a fine of 1.2M$  What a bargin.  Nature Bats Last.   But go look at nature fighting back.  See the cracking pavement sidewalks from the hydric soils... HA HAA.  Take note of the isolated pocket of forest in the middle of the parking llot, it was a concession!    Then last week I read about the walmart atop cityview landfill.  Sky high levels of vinyl chloride, illness clusters covered in a recent free times or scene.     With that frame in mind....now onto the latest scoop that is NOT from YOUR back yard:

Your opinions and feedback are important! Attend this Public Open House to Learn About the Next Steps for the Cleveland Innerbelt Plan. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) invites you to attend a Public Open House to review the Recommended Preferred Alternative. ODOT officials and their consultants will be available to answer questions.

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Attend this lecture, the Distinguished Law and Technology Lecture, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, in person or through WEBCAST LIVE. Robert P. George, Princeton University, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University is a memeber of the President's Council on Bioethics. He previously served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and as a Judicial Fellow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. Professor George is author of Making Men Moral: civil Liberties and Public Morality (1993) and In Defense of Natural Law (1999). His most recent books are The Meaning of Marriage, edited with Jean Berthke Elshtain and The Clash of Orthodoxies. Professor George's articles and review essays have appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Review of Politics, the Review of Metaphysics, and the American Journal of Juriprudence. He has received numerous awards, including the 2005 Bradley Prize for Intellectual and Civic Achievement. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several boards of directors.In addition, he is of council to the law firm of Robinson & McElwee.

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Three articles in the Sunday, January 14, 2007, Cleveland Plain Dealer really caught my attention. 1. "Power shifts, and a fast-track bill is derailed"; 2. "Gloomy forecast" and 3. "Lost confidence in Bush? So has he"  - especially the last one, where Elizabeth Auster writes, about President Bush, that "he now seems shaken by the prospect that his vision of a free and stable Iraq may be fading along with his power to achieve much else." Because of this, despite "Gloomy forecast", I expect most important aspects of the Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, Ohio, US and global economy to improve dramatically over the next 2, 4 and 10 years. In fact, I can't think of an area where there won't be significant improvements. Think of the growth I expect like when an economy is freed from a dictatorship and people are allowed to be free and thrive - markets open up - that is America, now that Bush has been replaced by democracy.