2019 Sustainability Summit
Attracts over 600 participants
The 2009 Cleveland Sustainability Summit held at the Cleveland Convention Center Wed 8/12- Fri 8/14 was an amazing success. As a participant in the three day event, I found myself thoroughly engaged in the Appreciative Inquiry process; something that I had never done before. The energy, commitment, leadership, and passion to empower people to change our communities still resonate within me. The collaboration between the participants, mostly strangers at the time, proved to be an enlightening opportunity to learn about how art, culture, manufacturing, natural resources, watershed management, access to healthcare for everyone, job creation, and much more are intricately interwoven under the umbrella of sustainability. These different arenas can either positively or negatively impact one another, and as this Summit is over in terms of being last week, the spirit and commitment from me and over 600 other comrades continues to thrive.
Our commitment to this evolution of sorts toward a sustainable Cleveland is more than just an after glow from an incredible experience. It is our long-term duty to create momentum, establish new partnerships, and make tangible progress for the transformation from the “me” culture to the “we” culture here in our backyard.
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have the potential to become the “greenest” city in the Country. We have the capacity to re-create lost manufacturing jobs, but instead of steel, we can make all of the components to solar, wind, geo-thermal, and hydrogen cell technologies. Additionally, the significance of the health of Lake Erie cannot be understated as an economic driver toward the revitalization of our communities and this City. Since nearly 20 percent of all fresh water on Earth exists within the Great Lakes, we not only must protect it from pollution, invasive species, and climate change, but we must capitalize on using this majestic entity as a center for tourism and downtown revitalization.
As this City sits poised to make fundamental changes toward embracing the ideas of sustainability, the real change will need to come from me and you. Are we willing to adjust our habits and behavior for the greater good? Or will we continue to live in our comfort zones staying with the status quo?
Check out photos of the Sustainability Summit here
by Cool Cleveland contributor Mike McNutt, Watershed Coordinator, Tinkers Creek Watershed Partners, Cuyahoga County Board of Health (:divend:)