Bloomington Commission On Sustainability monthly meeting - August 2011
Shortly after the beginning of my first semester at SPEA, I had the opportunity to attend the August meeting of the City of Bloomington Commission On Sustainability at Bloomington City Hall. This provided me a unique perspective on how Bloomington is attempting to incorporate sustainable practices and ideas into how the city is run. What I remember most about this meeting was that BCOS was discussing two proposed roundabouts that had been approved by the city and were scheduled to begin construction shortly.
A few people on the Commission were very strongly opposed to these roundabouts, claiming that they would contribute to growth of high speed traffic and suburban sprawl in the areas that they were being built in. Within the confines of civil discussion, there was pretty vehement opinions expressed from BCOS and from the city engineer that had come to answer questions about the plans for the roundabout. My read on the situation was that the BCOS member that expressed the most opposition to was concerned for actual issues of sustainability, while the city engineer's main argument for going forward with it was because the federal government was funding a large portion of it, and so it was necessary to do it so that we wouldn't "miss out" on those funds. The problem I see with the engineer's perspective was that Bloomington still has to spend a significant portion of its budget on this project in order to get the federal funds.
This particular agenda item brought to light another issue regarding BCOS and its role with the greater city government. Even though BCOS was concerned about whether the roundabouts are a good idea at all, the roundabouts had already been approved by the city and slated for construction prior to BCOS having even heard about the proposed construction. So while it seems like a progressive move for Bloomington to have a whole department devoted to sustainability issues, it is also pretty clear that the new department has yet to be fully integrated into the structure of the city to the point that they have a chance to do much that is actually useful towards moving Bloomington in a more sustainable direction. Until BCOS can pull more weight with big decisions regarding the Bloomington community, it will unfortunately only serve as so much green-washing for the city.
Big Red Eats Green
Due to the potential for rain it was moved at the last minute from Dunn Meadow to the Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union. I helped the various organizations set up their tables and then walked around and checked everything out after I was finished setting up.
I heard many comments from people attending the event as to how cool of an event it was and how they should have it as a monthly event. It was really cool to see such a positive reactions by the student body in general. By all accounts it was a great success with a lot of student traffic, even though the location had been moved.
Green Drinks - Bloomington
Throughout my semester, I'd heard about and wanted to attend one of the Green Drinks events at Upland Brewery, but always seemed to have a schedule conflict or something else going on. Luckily I was able to attend the last one of the year on October 26th. The speaker for this event was none other my esteemed profession Bill Brown; Director of Indiana University's Office of Sustainability. He spoke on what the various sustainability interns were accomplishing at IU.
The biggest personal benefit that came of attending this event was that I meat Jami Scholl a food policy blogger and author, and got to have an enlightening conversation with her about food, sustainability and many things that fall between the two. From what I've read of it (admitted not much, yet) My Edible Eden (Jami Scholl's blog) is interesting and has a lot of good information on it. I would recommend checking it out and contacting her directly if you have more detailed questions for her. She is a very amiable and smart person.
I'd been slowly learning more about food policy and it's effect on sustainability throughout the semester due to a couple of my classmates being particularly interested in it. When you talk to someone about something they care deeply about, you can't help but learn more about it and become more interested yourself. After meeting Jami, I made sure to put those friends in contact with her, since they would definitely benefit with talking to her about what she does and writes about.
Cider Fest
The last event that I attended was Cider Fest at the Bloomington Community Orchard. It was a brisk Halloween morning, which turned out to be a perfect day to enjoy hot, freshly made apple cider and all sorts of delicious homemade goodies that were brought by various people. The Orchard was started in large part due to the devotion and work of Amy Countryman, a fellow classmate of mine. While the orchard is still in its infancy, it's a cool idea that I hope continues to get support from the community. The whole idea of the Community Orchard ("Free Fruit For All") is intriguing and completely worthy of it's own post, but what I found most interesting about this event was the sense of community that was present among those in attendance. There was face painting and apple bobbing available (although I didn't really see anyone taking advantage of the bobbing) and was just generally a neat event. Wassailing took place as well but I abstained due to earplugs not being available for everyone in attendance.
Here are a few of the pictures that I took at the event. I'm in the center picture with Megan. Thanks to Megan and Mary for being so photogenic. The face painting seemed to be a hit with everyone.
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