The Big Green Bus

Cleveland once, Cleveland twice

John Beardsley

Categories: cleveland, green building

Aug 20, 2008 10:10 am

    Far be it from me to claim authority on the subject, but it seems that every street number in Ohio is 5 digits long. I remember it from visiting my mom's hometown when I was younger, and it seems the same these days. Cleveland was one stop on the bus tour where, to begin with, I wasn't really sure why we were going through, or what our connection to the place was, or would be. But arriving in and around the city and spending a day and two nights in that city on Lake Erie, it was clear that there was a lot going on, and a lot to be learned from the people who live in and love Cleveland, Ohio.

    We started with a money-end-up look at the green roofing business, by grace of the hospitality of Brian Lambert of the Garland Company. He showed us around the old 5th 3rd bank building on Cleveland's west side, which is home to several Cleveland-based and national environmental organizations. The building is a beautiful turn of the century brick structure with restored classical interior spaces, embellished and sumptuously colored. Apparently about 15 years ago, however, the place was a complete squatter house, and in terrible shape.

    Enter: Sadu Johnston, environmental wunderkind from Oberlin college. Under Johnston's leadership, Cleveland's Green Building Council, which predates the USGBC, experienced a flourishing hay day in the mid 90's. Since then, however, the CGBC and much of the city's green momentum has known something of a dearth of strong leadership. 3 days before our visit, in fact, Johnston's successor had stepped down, making the leadership vacuum all the more palpable.

    Between the economic approach to environmentalism demonstrated by the Garland Company's sustainable designs division and the visible need for strong and creative leadership experienced by Cleveland environmentalists, the day was a lesson in the real-life exigencies posed by environmental issues. As a group of 12 young students with big ideas and bigger dreams, but lacking perhaps in practical day-to-day familiarity with business and political systems, our visit to Cleveland proved an eye-opening and inspiring one. Never have I felt at once so aware of what was necessary, and what I needed to learn to take part in the coming changes.

 

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