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A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
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Resolve to be Green in 2020
It's that time of year when we may be less diligent about adhering to the resolutions we made just a few weeks ago. My list seems to always have the same things: Eat healthy food, exercise regularly, read more books, spend less time on social media and more time interacting face-to face with the people in my life. Yet our hectic schedules often seem to get in the way. Maybe it's time to look outside traditional goals to focus on what we can resolve to do in our lives that will improve our community, our state, our nation, and the planet.
On the Green Energy Ohio website, you will find a few suggestions:
Make 2020 Green
. We can also resolve to use fewer indoor and outdoor chemicals when there are so many environmentally-friendly and equally effective alternatives. Reduce your use of plastics, even if the paper straw gets soggy! Ditch those personal care products that contain micro-beads (they're everywhere!). One of my heroes, John Muir, said "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." Even though GEO's primary focus is sustainable energy systems, we recognize that there is no single solution to the challenges facing us. And that we can't wait for others to act; we need to take responsibility too. Becoming engaged with Green Energy Ohio is a great first step!
This is GEO's 20th Anniversary year, and we are committed to expanding our outreach, our programming, and our services to members and supporters. There will be many ways for you to participate in the celebration, to learn and share, to advocate and enlighten. I look forward to seeing you soon!
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Jane Harf, Executive Director
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The Green Energy Ohio Annual Awards Ceremony and Reception
The Green Energy Ohio Annual Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held on Friday, April 17 at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden! Voted Greenest Zoo in America, the Cincinnati Zoo is the perfect location to celebrate GEO's 20th Anniversary. Details and registration information will be coming soon, as well as some exciting new features.
In addition to our Green Achievement Awards in the Business, Academic, Nonprofit and Community/Government categories, we are presenting two awards to leaders whose public service over time has supported and advanced the GEO mission.
The 20
th
Anniversary Green Leadership Award for Service to the State will be presented to Governor Ted Strickland
The 20
th
Anniversary Green Leadership Award for Service to the Region will be presented to Brewster Rhoads
Both men's careers represent an unwavering commitment and outstanding leadership on sustainable energy development, environmental protection, natural resource enhancement, and improved quality of life for Ohioans.
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FEBRUARY/MARCH GEO EVENTS
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Green Energy Ohio has a number of other events scheduled in the coming months and we invite you to join us when we're in your area. See the
GEO website
for more details and events.
On Thursday, February 6, GEO is participating in the REI
Opt to Act
program at their Beachwood location with a presentation featuring Ohio
clean energy success stories; how individuals and businesses can take advantage of various options; and how we can all become advocates for a sustainable future. It's free ~ follow the link to sign up.
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GEO is also hosting a Wind in Ohio Workshop in collaboration with Northern Ohioans for Wind (N.O.W.), Apex Clean Energy, and the Miami University Institute for Environment and Sustainability. The workshop will take place Wednesday, February 19 at 6:30 pm in Harrison Hall, room 304, on the Miami campus in Oxford.
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GEO is partnering with the Greater Akron Innovation Network for Sustainability (GAINS) to host a showing of the climate documentary
The Human Element
on Wednesday, March 11 from 6:00 pm-8:00 pm at the Trailhead at Cascade Lofts, 21 West North Street in Akron.
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On Monday, March 16, GEO will host the fifth showing of the
The Human Element
sponsored by the Oxford Seniors Ecology Club. The event will take place from 6:00 pm-8:00 pm at the Oxford Senior Center, 922 Tollgate Drive. Co-sponsors include the Miami University Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, and the Hopedale Unitarian Universalist Community.
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Gentle Giants: How “doing the right thing” has made
Talan Products, Inc. a world-class leader
by Erin Fisher
In Northeast Ohio, there is no shortage of industrial manufacturers. Yet, despite their long list of industry peers, Talan Products Inc. has always managed to stand out. Tucked away in an industrial complex on Cochran Ave, Talan Products Inc. is revolutionizing the industrial manufacturing industry.
CEO Steve Peplin founded Talan Products, Inc. in 1986 with just $2,100 and two partners. Today, the contract manufacturing company now sees $50,000,000 in sales annually. Their 34-year history is marked by consistent financial stability, even during economic downturns and sector fluctuations, and their success is only projected to grow.
Their secret to success? Steve attributes much of their success to their partnering philosophy and core values, “We partner with our customers, we partner with our employees, we partner with our suppliers – everyone is on the same team.”
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FROM THE GEO ARCHIVES:
TWO DECADES OF SUPPORT FOR WIND ENERGY
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Wind energy accounts for approximately 1.5% of Ohio's in-state energy generation. However, the economic benefits of the wind industry’s presence in Ohio are far greater and can be seen throughout local communities. Capital investments, job creation, opportunities for landowners, and support for community services ~ including school systems ~ are evident.
Green Energy Ohio has supported wind development throughout our 20-year history. From the Ohio Wind Power Conference and Trade Show in 2002 to our Wind in Ohio Workshop in 2020, we have educated our members and supporters on the potential of wind energy. We have opposed policy initiatives that would undermine wind development. And, we have written letters of support for the LEEDCo Icebreaker Wind installation ~ a project to which GEO made an early and important contribution.
GEO’s predecessor, SEED, began to examine the prospects for off-shore wind in the mid-1990’s. Those early discussions led to the development of a feasibility study for how the necessary data for assessing the wind power potential on Lake Erie could be captured in a peer-reviewable format. The Cleveland Water Intake Crib was chosen as the installation site since it was the only structure in the Lake that could support a tower of the height needed for a reasonable estimate of the wind potential. Prior to this study, the only wind data from the Lake were from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) buoys at water level, and those data were only available for about six months of the year.
Please click
here
to read the rest of the story.
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OUR OHIO PARTNERS: GUEST COLUMN
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The Citizens' Climate Lobby
by Torrey McMillan and Jackie Savoka
Looking for an organization working on federal legislation to reduce carbon emissions? Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization building the political will for national policies to address climate change.
CCL is focused on what it sees as the single most impactful solution to climate change — putting a fee on carbon at the point at which it enters the US economy and returning the revenue from the fee to the American public in the form of a monthly dividend. This approach incentivizes energy efficiency and low-to-no-carbon energy sources using market forces to drive these changes, making it appealing across the political spectrum. In fact, this approach is
supported by hundreds of economists
in the US, including twenty-seven Nobel Laureate economists, 4 former Chairs of the Federal Reserve, fifteen former Chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers, and two former Secretaries of the US Department of Treasury.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, HR 763, is a bill currently in the U.S. House of Representatives that would enact a carbon fee and dividend. An
independent analysis
of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy and Rhodium Group found that if enacted, the bill would result in, "economy-wide net GHG emissions reductions of 32–33 percent by 2025 and 36–38 percent by 2030," with reductions of 82-84% by 2030 in the power sector. Additionally, the study projects a "shift from carbon-intensive energy sources to low- and zero-carbon energy sources. Coal is nearly eliminated from the power sector by 2030, with solar, wind, nuclear, and natural gas with carbon capture and storage all providing significantly larger generation shares compared to a current policy scenario."
In order to generate the political will necessary for passage of this act, CCL trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with elected officials, the media and their local community. Get involved! CCL has 465 chapters across the United States, with 16 in Ohio. To learn more and find a chapter near you, go to
citizensclimatelobby.org
.
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With every significant rain event, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways.
In
Rising
, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place.
Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities, Rising amplifies the voices of those who are on the front lines of climate change in this country.
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