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Ask people to put their signature on something, and they know you’re serious, and if they do it, you know they’re serious too.
So goes the philosophy underpinning the proposed “Cleveland Compact” – a regional sustainability document whose purpose is to outline a vision, define core values, and secure personal commitments from all individuals – from public officials and CEOs to community activists and the general public. The compact’s goal is “building an economic engine to empower a green city on a blue lake.”
The compact (currently in draft form) asks people to be aware of social and environmental impacts before choosing to do or buy something, contribute to a sustainable economy, and minimize their carbon footprint. Of course, it’s not binding and getting people to “promise” to do everything in the public compact will be impossible.
But if people look at a compact as a menu of options and they take on what they can handle, they will be well on their way to doing their part. Whatever your audience, a menu of options is a great way to begin to secure buy-in for sustainability – you’re asking people how they would like to help, not telling them what to do.
Cleveland sports teams are not known for finishing in first place. But, when it comes to being a sustainable city, Mayor Frank Jackson insists that “Cleveland can and will be the first and we will do it best.”
The mayor, who is just starting his second term, envisions a 10-year effort to create “Sustainable Cleveland 2019: Building an Economic Engine to Empower a Green City on a Blue Lake.” It’s catchy and the ThreePs are well represented: People (city), Planet (green city on a blue lake), and Profit (economic engine).
The playbook has been written and it’s now available online in the form of the final report from this year’s first Cleveland sustainability summit. Here, you’ll find 28 key initiatives (think of them as offensive plays), covering everything from advanced energy, green building and communications, to local foods, transportation and “waste to profit.”
By putting out such a complete report, it’s open for all to see, evaluate and use. This, of course, means that even competing cities have the benefit of the same playbook – call it leveling the playing the field or sharing the wealth.
Quality of ideas is important, but it only gets you so far. At some point – in Cleveland’s case, that’s the next nine and a half years – the winner is decided by the determination of the players and the excellence in execution. In a city where “wait ‘til next year” is a familiar refrain, the building and rebuilding begin immediately, and we have until 2019 to get it right.
Sustainability communications is front and center in the preliminary report resulting from this summer’s Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit.
Among the 28 recommended initiatives are:
- Development of comprehensive communications and branding program
- A campaign to engage the region’s 1.6 million people
- Creation of a public compact called “The Cleveland Promise” for individuals and organizations to sign and adhere to
- Extensive networking, partnerships and collaboration
These are in addition to technical initiatives related to advanced energy, green buildings, healthy living, local foods, business innovation, transportation, land use, waste to profit, and water.
Kudos to summit leaders for recognizing the value of communications now and on ongoing basis.
The possible next steps coming out of Cleveland’s Sustainability Summit, chaired by Mayor Frank Jackson, were wide-ranging – a mix of the immediate and the longer term; the feasible and the unusual; and the visionary and, of course, the outlandish. Here’s a sampling (with no bias as to which ideas fit in which categories):
1. A pledge to lead, and encourage others to lead, a sustainable life; with the pledge punctuated by “so be it.”
2. Introduction of a “GrOhio” program with the goal of training 10,000 farmers to grow 10 percent of Ohio’s food within 10 years.
3. Creation of a Freshwater Institute to capitalize on Cleveland’s Lake Erie waterfront.
4. Development of an advanced energy center and sustainable design and manufacturing center.
5. Designation of Cleveland to Toledo as an alternative energy corridor.
6. A citywide commitment to green buildings, including new buildings and retrofits.
7. Creation of an economic development fund for sustainability; successful entrepreneurs would pay back the money they receive so the funds could be recycled for additional entrepreneurs.
8. A “waste to profit” program, including making insulation out of phone books and other common waste.
9. A traveling road show to take the sustainability message and tools into neighborhoods and other small group settings.
Last week’s Sustainability Summit in Cleveland produced 1,000s of ideas for building a sustainable Cleveland, “a green city on a blue lake.” That brings up the question, “What is a sustainable city?”
Based on what we discussed last week and my own experiences, here is my top 10 list of important traits:
1. Increasing generation and use of renewable energy, striving toward 25 percent
2. Primary and secondary education that produces smart kids and good citizens
3. Access to, and enjoyment of, natural resources including green space and waterfront
4. Solid corporate citizens operating and expanding their businesses
5. Entrepreneurs who create “green” jobs and sustainable products and services
6. Modern public transit system and efficient, well-designed highway system
7. A strong urban core, safe urban neighborhoods and suburbs that feel connected to the urban core
8. Strong, active coalition of green building advocates
9. Personal, professional and organizational ways to get involved in the movement
10. Metrics for tracking progress – “What gets measured, gets done”
What does your list look like? What cities are doing the best job? What other cities might emerge as leaders?
Mayor Frank Jackson: Cleveland is heading in the right direction, but “will we be first” in building a truly sustainable city, “a green city on a blue lake”?
Van Jones from the Obama Administration: “Not every city” is as focused on sustainability as Cleveland is. “You can build the future here.”
Tom Morley of Lube Stop: Lube Stop’s EcoGuard re-refined oil change now accounts for 47 percent of its oil changes.
Attendee: Define zero waste as the combination of nothing to landfalls, no waste or misuse of land, and no waste of human potential.
Attendee: Ideas for “Renovating the Rust Belt”
City of Atlanta sustainability coordinator Lynette Young: Leadership + Collaboration + Timing = Innovation
Sustainability attorney Dave Nash: “Building a sustainable economy is the only way for Cleveland to move forward.”
Corporate Cleveland, government agencies, local institutions and nonprofits have high hopes for the upcoming Cleveland sustainability summit, which will be held August 12 – 14 in downtown Cleveland. The event and the action items that come out of the event are designed with one goal in mind: “building an economic engine to empower a green city on a blue lake (Lake Erie).”
Energy and environmental lawyer Dave Nash of McMahon DeGulis believes a commitment to sustainability is “the best hope to turn around the Great Lakes economy.” Clearly, everyone knows it won’t be easy, as the goal is to create and begin implementing a 10-year plan.
The program will include keynote addresses by CEOs, city officials, institutional leaders and others; roundtables and group exercises involving people from all walks of life; and a mix of soul-searching and big dreaming.
Everyone there will be looking and listening for the big ideas, but hopefully never losing sight of the devil in the details and the execution of day-to-day activities that drive long-term success. Communicating goals, programs, progress and next steps will be critical; ignoring the communications challenges and opportunities would be fatal.
Registration for the event is still open if you’re interested in joining us.
Done right, telling a story is simple: Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. And, of course, practice what you preach. It’s called reinforcement.
Unfortunately, in communicating sustainability, we often don’t follow those basic ideas. In fact, we do just the opposite. It’s called mixed messages.
Mixed messages are everywhere – recycling is important but there aren’t enough recycling bins. We want people to buy local food, but many communities have such stringent land use requirements that it just won’t work.
And here’s the latest, ridiculous example: Earth Hour starts at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow. The World Wildlife Fund wants us to turn out our lights for 1 hour to conserve energy. Many downtown office buildings in Cleveland and other cities are participating (it’s not exactly a significant sacrifice during a weekend evening, but it’s a start).
Unfortunately, tonight, we’re being asked to leave the downtown lights on to “light up Cleveland” for a national basketball television audience.
That’s what I call mixed messages. And being in the dark about what motivates the average person.
