Saturday was a good day. We woke up early and made ourselves a good ole country breakfast…err…tried. Corey set the recipe for pancakes in front of me and wished me luck. The problem was, the recipe was for 2lbs. of mix, and there is no way we could eat that much. So, I set about using my common sense and public school math skills to freestyle the recipe. I set out to make pancakes…I ended up with a plateful of crepes?

Oh well…moving on. After breakfast we headed down to Fontenelle Forest for a composting workshop co-hosted by the Green Omaha Coalition. We were shocked by the turnout; there were probably 70 people there.

Topics ranged from ‘Composting for Beginners’ and ‘Composting with Worms’, to ‘What to do with Finished Compost.’

I am very interested in the Vermicomposting. It would be nice to have it as an available option during the winter. From what I learned, we can make a homemade setup for our basement. We should be able to compost all winter with no risk of smell. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

My attention started to drift near the end. I have a hard time sitting still inside on a nice day.

So Corey and I decided to wander around the forest to check out the Eco Huts display. The display includes practical interactive displays sharing information about the environment and our homes. The displays were amazing. I’m so happy to see these learning opportunities available to kids.

“Omaha—smack dab in the middle of America,” starts the city profile on SustainLane. Omaha ranks #25 on the site’s sustainability index of the nation’s 50 biggest cities, notably beating the front-range Colorado city of Colorado Springs and sunny San Diego, CA.

The site’s peer-reviewed, national study ranks cities by at least 16 factors, including each city’s ability to maintain healthy air, drinking water, parks and public transit systems, as well as a robust, sustainable local economy with green building, farmers markets, renewable energy and alternative fuels.

“We’re beginning to see the top- and bottom-ranked cities move farther apart, with the cities taking sustainability seriously increasing in desirability nationwide and enjoying better odds of long-term economic prosperity,” said SustainLane Media CEO James Elsen. “Specifically, the top 15 cities are creating more vibrant city centers and offer higher quality air, water, food and transportation choices that yield smaller carbon footprints per resident than those at the bottom of the list. We predict that the lower-ranking cities will increasingly struggle to sustain their resident and business populations and local economies.”

Why does Omaha rank where it does?

The city markets its own brand of compost called OmaGro. Omaha also recently switched to single stream recycling and has upped the types of plastics it accepts, making it easier for residents to divert waste away from landfills.

On the the transportation front, the city would do well to turn its attention to upping public transit ridership. In our survey, it 48th of 50 in this department. Mayor Mike Fahey is thinking about resuscitating the city’s old streetcar system; he might also consider offering alternative transportation subsidies, as many higher-ranking cities do.

The biggest limitation to making Omaha more sustainable may lie in getting more people to buy into the idea of living green, says the mayor’s deputy assistant, Andrea Fox. To help with outreach, the city is collaborating with the Green Omaha Coalition, a group that aims to promote a healthy, sustainable community through public-private partnerships, educational programs, and proposing policy solutions.

SustainLane.com is the web’s largest people-powered guide to sustainable living. The site connects interested consumers with the tools and information on everything related to green, including:

• The largest directory of local, green-friendly businesses in the United States with over 20,000 small business listings;
• Consumer-generated how-tos, news and product reviews of new green offerings in the marketplace; and
• A community of likeminded individuals willing to share information and personal experiences with each other.

I’ve found the site to be a rich resource for information on virtually any sustainability topic.

Yesterday I rode my bike over to the UNO campus and the KVNO studios to record a podcast for the Pollution Prevention Regional Information Center (P2RIC).

P2RIC is federally funded and tasked with providing information and resources to businesses, agencies, and P2 specialists in EPA Region 7 (Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri). They find ways to encourage resource and information sharing in the P2 community.

The ‘Success Stories‘ project at P2RIC aims to tell the stories of businesses who are going green in a viable manner in order to provide models and encouragement to other businesses. I met Rick Yoder, one of the key player in the program, through the Green Omaha Coalition. After sharing information about Harvest, he asked me to submit a company profile for consideration as a ‘Success Stories’ feature.

Over this last month I went through a submission process and preliminary interview. My approach to sustainable marketing was apparently interesting enough that it was worth sharing. So yesterday I met with Jennifer Korrell in the studio and recorded an interview that will be featured soon by P2RIC.

When the podcasts are online I’ll post a link.

The Omaha Green Coalition hosted a great informational meeting today in Dundee with a series of speakers sharing how to get around the city without relying exclusively on cars.

Clyde Anderson (pictured), a retired Union Pacific civil engineer and transportation planner, started the meeting by discussing varied alternative transportation optionsin the city. He had some insightful and informed commentary on city planning in both the old city and western suburbs. His main focus was clearly on promoting use of the MAT bus system.

A representative from Omaha Community Bike Shop talked about all of the great work that their non-profit was doing to encourage the Midtown community to use bikes for transportation. He talked about mentoring kids and teaching self-reliance. I’ve been to the shop, and will volunteer there tomorrow. It blows me away how great the place is. They have a whole basement full of used bikes that volunteers can earn by donating time to the cause.

Tammy Dodge shared a bit about what ActivateOmaha has going on. In particular she reviewed some of the updates announced recently about cycling and pedestrian initiatives that I talked about in a recent post. She spent some extra time talking about getting bike racks on buses in Omaha and a cool Walking School Bus program that the city is getting involved in. Shockingly, she says that school principals in OPS can dictate their own policies towards kids walking or riding bikes to school. She said that some principals actually restrict kids from doing it at all. How backwards is that? If you want to learn more about kids being kids, and actually getting to school in a healthy and safe way, check out Safe Routes to School.

There was an extended conversation about safe cycling and the Bicycle Commuter Challenge. Recent announcements by the mayor were highlighted as hopeful developments in the city.

There were a couple of guys there talking about their local club promoting self-made biodiesel, and some discussion of the new Metro RideShare carpooling program. I found a great overall review of some of these initiatives in a recent Omaha By Design e-newsletter.

Corey and I walked away very happy with our experience at the meeting. We are also feeling good about our choices to sell our second car and bike or walk to more destinations.

I first learned about the Green Omaha Coalition (GOC) from a friend. I started my sustainable marketing business last year and want to focus on developing solutions for my community. My first exposure to the group was when they hosted an Omaha Chamber of Commerce ‘Academy’ session on green business. It was an interesting seminar and I was impressed with the comprehensive approach to sustainability.

The GOC brings together interested local experts, businesses and advocates to make meaningful local change. Corey and I went to our first official meeting at Elmwood Park last weekend, where we learned about all of the counsels. We are most interested in the Green Business Counsel (GBC), so we hooked up for a cup of coffee with Marcella who runs it.

She has invited us to join the steering committee to help market the GBC to get the message out and recruit more members. I’m drawing up a project profile, and then we are going to work together to define our timelines and responsibilities. I couldn’t be more excited.