Cincinnati on Climate Change

Many cities and states have developed plans to help mitigate climate change.  The city of Cincinnati has developed the Green Cincinnati Plan (GCP).  The GCP was approved in June of 2008.  Cincinnati is one of more than 1,000 U.S. cities that has committed to reducing its contribution to global climate change (cincinnati-oh.gov).

The Green Cincinnati Plan

The GCP identifies more than 80 specific recommendations for how to reduce contributions to global climate change.  These recommended actions generally share common themes: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on non-renewable energy sources, saving more money that the recommend actions cost, support local job creation/economy, help clean Cincinnati, and rely on voluntary actions rather than regulatory.  For a full look at the GCP click this link à http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/linkservid/4B125529-56A3-4675-929CEADF49B3663F/showMeta/0/  

Implementing the Green Cincinnati Plan

A Steering Committee was established with members from business, government, and environmental, academic, and civic organizations. Quarterly meetings serve as status updates and direction setting interfaces (Cincinnati-oh.gov).  After one year of establishing the plan, implementation activities and projects had begun for more than 60 recommendations.  Below are some examples of activities and projects

  

Effectiveness

I feel that these efforts are sufficient, but some not attainable.   In my opinion Cincinnati has established a few very effective ideas to meet the short-term goal that are most definitely attainable.  The two biggest ideas would be The Cincinnati Streetcar and a Hybrid Bus System.

Cincinnati Streetcar

Local transportation is large contributor of greenhouse gases, much of it from personal cars and light trucks.  A rail transit is a strategy that would save people money and alleviate congested highways.  Cincinnati is talking about constructing a Streetcar system, a fleet of electric powered streetcars that would operate along a 7.9 mile route between Downtown and uptown (cincinnati-oh.gov).  According to Cincinnati-oh.gov, the streetcar vehicle production is underway.  Below is a screenshot from the Green Cincinnati Plan.

Screen shot from CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN - The Green Cincinnati Plan

Hybrid Bus System

Thousands of people travel on buses each day throughout Cincinnati.  Establishing a Hybrid Bus system would be great for the climate.  The GCP proposes that all Metro buses purchased in the future should be diesel-electric hybrids rather than standard diesel vehicles.  According to the document, Metro currently operates 390 40 ft. diesel buses.  Replacing these buses with diesel-electric hybrids will save fuel and significantly reduce CO2 emissions (GCP).  Below is the estimated greenhouse gas reduction to be achieved, according to the Green Cincinnati Plan.       

Screen shot from CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN - The Green Cincinnati Plan

Work Cited

"CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN The Green Cincinnati Plan ." City of Cincinnati. 231. Print. <http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/linkservid/4B125529-56A3-4675-

"Green Cincinnati Plan." City of Cincinnati. Office of Environmental Quality. Web. 29 Mar 2013. <http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/citywide-efforts/climate-protection-green-cincinnati-plan/>.

Cocoa Chocolate of Western Africa

Do You Eat Chocolate?

By: Brian Snodgrass

**Note: this is 1 of 5 videos that BBC produced.  Highly recommend watching the other 4! (Youtube)

I had no clue that about 60% of the chocolate in chocolate bars most likely come from cocoa beans in Western Africa (Ghana and Ivory Coast).  In addition, there is an enormous amount of child labor and child trafficking put into cocoa bean farming.  Children are smuggled from Burkina Faso into both Ghana and Ivory Coast because the tropical climate is perfect for cocoa bean farming.  Some of these children don’t see a single earning from the 10-12 hour days.  Billion dollar chocolate companies purchase thousands of pound of beans each year from western African ports.  

The next time I’m in a store I will most definitely think twice before purchasing a candy bar.  When I buy a chocolate bar I will be sure to look for the Fair Trade logo.   The logo (see below) is a certification system designed to allow consumers to identify goods which meet agreed standards.  In the chocolate case, the small farms don’t have market access therefore they rely on a middleman.  The middleman is usually unfair to the small farms.  Buying a product with the logo assures that the small farms in western African get a fair price, which allows them to have money for clothes, food, and school fees.

Fair Trade Logo (Google Images)

As a society we can address the problem of child labor and child trafficking by making the public more aware of the problem.  Airing documentaries on television is an excellent way to target the public.  Also labeling products is another way to address this problem.  As mentioned above, the fair trade logo has been slapped on a few big name products, which allows the consumer to identify goods that met agreed standards.  In addition, governments could sign laws or have international agreements to ban child labor/trafficking in western Africa.

 In 2000, BBC published a documentary about child labor, human trafficking, and farming cocoa beans in western Africa.  As a result, Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Eliot Engel developed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, signed in 2001.  The Harkin-Engel Protocol is an international agreement intended to end the worst forms of child labor and forced labor in the production of cocoa.  The US government attempted for the big name candy companies to put child labor free logos on their products, but the companies were not in favor of this idea.  

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Work Cited

Google Images.  Waywood.wordpress.com.  Blog. 15 March 2013 http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=fair+trade+logo&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=DEFDUd3MOZe64AObo4CwBQ&biw=1275&bih=668&sei=DkFDUY7LNs7h4APD7YD4CA#imgrc=AHi1nPqFjXjDGM%3A%3B8ByMM_U6bXrlbM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwaywood.files.wordpress.com%252F2008%252F07%252Ffairtrade_logo.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwaywood.wordpress.com%252F2008%252F07%252F22%252Ffair-trade-foul-play-spin%252F%3B1000%3B1175

Youtube. Chocolate The Bitter Truth 1 of 5 Child Trafficking BBC Panorama Investigation.  Runi Travel Videos.  15 March 2013.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD85fPzLUjo&playnext=1&list=PLOA_8QHMLBOFAQ8K%20ZWLT2NI40NASFCAMA  

All Recycling Program

In 2010 University of Cincinnati switched to a new recycling program, known as All Recycling.  Members placed All Recycling containers all throughout campus to promote its new recycling program.  The All Recycling containers located throughout campus carry the following labels to identify their purpose (See below).  Since 2010, UC has seen an increase in the amount of recycling and the number of trashcans located on campus.      

Logo found on recycling bins (Recycling @ UC)

List of recyclable materials (Recycling @ UC) Click for acceptable items for ALL RECYCLE program

In 2010, the University of Cincinnati recycled just over 4,600 tons of material, an increase of about 23 percent over the year before when UC recycled more than 3,700 tons of materials (Recycling @ UC).  We can thank the new All Recycle program for this dramatic increase.   According to Rick Wiggins, director of UC Facilities Management, UC currently diverts 65 percent of its waste stream into recycling, with the goal of taking that figure to 70 percent by 2019 if not sooner (M.B. Reilly).  “I’m anticipating that 2011 should be even better.  The 2010 rise in recycling occurred even though we only had our All Recycling program in place for six months of last year.  So, in 2011, we’ll have our All Recycling program up and running for the entire year.  That should bring even better results,” he stated. 

The overall meaning of this program is so that UC can decrease the amount of waste sent to the landfills.  In the past decade UC has reduced that amount by nearly 50 percent.  In addition to the All Recycling program, UC has a few other programs, one being the Bearcat Recycling program. 

   Bearcat Recycling

Bearcat Recycling is the University of Cincinnati’s program to recycle at special events and athletics games on campus.  This program started in 2007 as “Tailgate Recycling.”  Volunteers’ main focus was to recycle during tailgating at home football games.  By 2008, this program expanded to include recycling during the games and it 2009 it expanded to other large events such as the Sigma Sigma Carnival. 

With help from the new 2010 All Recycling program, the Bearcat Recycling was expanded to include all special events and athletics games on the Uptown Campus.  Most importantly, this was accomplished because of a grant from the ODNR for additional carts and bins and funding from student activity fees with enabled the Office of Sustainability to hire twelve Sustainability Advocates to staff the program (Bearcat Recycling).    

Bearcat Recycling Stats and contact info for recycling at a specific event (Bearcat Recycling)

Interviews

Carlton Brett, University of Cincinnati, Professor of Geology 

After interviewing Carlton Brett, who has been a professor at the university for many years, he was able to shed some light regarding recycling here at the university.  He stated that, "Recycling is a great thing at the university and the All Recycling Program is very beneficial to the campus."  In addition, he said, "people are starting to not use the recycling bins as much as they did in 2010 and 2011."  This made me realize that a new approach should be taken to get people to start using the bins like they once did.  A good idea could be to make the trashcans a fluorescent color to get peoples attention.

Patrick Cullen, University of Cincinnati Geology Student

Patrick Cullen has been a student here at the University for 4 years, and will be graduating this Spring.  The first question that I asked Pat, was if we was aware of the All Recycling program, his response was no, but he did say that he uses the recycling bins every now and then.  He also stated, "I think recycling is a great idea for the university.."   

(Interviewed with Cheyenne Hassan on 3-7-13) 

Work Cited 

"Bearcat Recycling." UC.edu. N.p.. Web. 8 Mar 2013. <http://www.uc.edu/af/pdc/sustainability/campus_initiatives/recycling_and_waste/bearcat_recycling.html>. 

Brett, Carlton, and Patrick Cullen. Personal Interview. 7 3 2013.

"Recycling @ UC." Facilities Management. University of Cincinnati. Web. 8 Mar 2013. <http://www.uc.edu/af/facilities/services/recycling.html>. 

Reilly, M. B. "Recycling Grows at UC – By Tons at a Time." UC News. 20 4 2011: n. page. Print. <http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=13485>.