Renewal

How To Find a Bathroom When You Need One

This one's kind of funny but kind of handy, too.

Imodium, the anti-diarrheal folks who help keep you from spilling your guts (ha ha), present this online bathroom finder. It's pretty simple. Punch in a zip code or city and you'll get a map of public bathrooms in the area. I've had a couple of travel experiences where this really would have helped.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This American Life Film Thursday

This American Life brings its unique stories on national subculture and street level philosophers to the movie theater. Watch with people from around the country at this simultaneous national screening. $20. 8 p.m. May 1. Showcase Cinemas Springdale, 12064 Springfield Pike, Springdale, 513-671-0140.          

Walking the Labyrinth Versus Reading About It

I've read quite a bit about labyrinths in the past few years. Here at CityBeat we've talked about them a number of times including this story on the now defunct Burnet Woods Labyrinth.

The labyrinth is not a maze, but a winding, usually symmetrical path that leads the visitor to its center and then out again. You might recall that Daedalus was supposed to have built one for King Minos in Crete to hold the minotaur.

The idea seemed interesting and I liked the cadence and strangeness of the word, but figured there was little I could learn from the experience. After all, I could imagine what it was like and this Aristotelian method was enough. I was surprised at how moving the experience was when I actually did it.

During my recent trip to San Francisco I walked the Grace Cathedral Labyrinth at the top of Nob Hill. I carried my son (21 months) and it took about forty minutes to get to the center and then back out again.

Here's what I learned:

- It's a deeply meditative experience and I felt encompassed by it. Random thoughts on my day-to-day problems slipped away. (Though, to be fair, I was on vacation.)

- The labyrinth is a metaphor for life. You enter (are born), move to the center, and then move back out (you die). You can choose to walk with the flow or God or whatever you understand as destiny or you can jump track and walk somewhere else. I think you learn more when you work with the natural trends in life.

- I found myself watching my feet most of the time so I could stay on track. Towards the middle of the experience I found myself able to raise my head and look at the greater beauty around me. Mostly I look at my feet (the daily day-to-day) in life, too. Looking at the bigger picture provides a context, order and beauty to the experience.

Locally, you can walk the labyrinth at the Grailville Retreat Center in Loveland. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free. Grailville, 932 O'Bannonville Road, Loveland. 513-683-2340.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

Green Your Life: Join the Green Movement

Northside resident Braden Trauth is teaching a new class about Permaculture, which is as much about establishing a culture of permanence as it is permanent agriculture.

Trauth says the class is based on the idea that modern and historic farming methods destroy the ecosystem, limiting biodiversity and strip-mining the soil of its nutrients. By extension, modern culture works through the same process of planetary exploitation and environmental destruction.

Permaculture teaches ways to make environmentalism a sustainable lifestyle and treats the problem holistically rather than as an issue of energy or trash.

"We're looking at a low energy future," Trauth says. "It really makes sense that we're at war for oil."

But it's more than just what happens when the oil runs out, he says. Alternative political, technological and cultural structures are needed.

Trauth's 72-hour course has already begun, but he hopes to make it an annual event. Read more at www.permacultureactivist.net or get involved in with other local activists and educators through CityBeat's Green Listings on page 07. You can also get involved at the Cincinnati Earth Institute's Global Warming Course. Free. 7 p.m. April 16. Imago Earth Center, 700 Enright Ave., Price Hill, 513-921-8455.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.

Green Your Life: Compost

Composting is one of the simplest ways to go green in your daily life. There's simply no reason to throw away materials that can be composted in your back yard.

Practically everything you use in your kitchen will readily break down and fertilize your soil. Meat and bones are usually not a good idea for compost as they attract scavengers, though they will compost, too. Grass clippings are best left to fertilize your newly cut lawn, though if you have an excess, clippings are rich in nitrogen and can be used in the garden.

Your home compost collection can be as simple as a plastic container in your kitchen (with a tight lid) that you empty once a week. You can place the items in an open compost pile in your back yard or spend the money on a commercial composting box.

A low-cost way to make a do-it-yourself compost box is to get a 5-gallon bucket, remove the handle and drill large holes all over the bucket with a keyhole drill. You'll want a lot of holes, but keep them at least six inches from the lid.

Bury the holey bucket and snap on the lid, and you have an in-ground compost container that keeps the critters away but lets worms in.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.

Green Your Life: Reuse Stuff

There is a secondary market for every item you use. Buying used means getting the most out of the energy used to fabricate and transport an item to market. It also means less waste in local landfills from packaging or discarded still-useful goods.

You can find nearly new clothes and housewares at local thrift stores, second-hand building supplies at Building Value (2901 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills, 513-475-6783) and local online classifieds are full of barters and sales. The quality is much better than at the old-school flea market, too.

Be sure to check out CityBeat's Backpage Classifieds (cincinnati.backpage.com), Craigslist (cincinnati.craigslist.org) and Cincinnati Freecycle (groups.yahoo.com/group/cincinnati_freecycle), where local people are giving things away.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.

Green Your Life: Eat Local

Valerie Taylor's Locavore Blog (cincinnatilocavore.blogspot.com) is all about eating local food and buying food from local vendors. Shortening the chain between consumer and producer means less fuel is used to transport your food and more accountability for farmers since their customers know them by name.

"Don't look at it as an all-or-nothing prospect," Taylor advises. "Just start by buying something local."

Taylor says she was a vegetarian for more than 20 years because she was troubled by unethical practices at factory farms. These days, she eats meat from local farmers who treat their animals well.

Taylor has a share of a cow and gets raw milk every week (it's illegal to buy it, so owning a share of an animal is a way around the law). She also gets her eggs, honey, maple syrup and vegetables from local growers.

"It's definitely more satisfying because it's more relational," she says. "I have such a strong relationship with my farmers that I feel bad if I'm unfaithful to them."

Food from local farms isn't exorbitantly expensive -- some items are more than at the grocery and some are less -- and is within the means of most people, Taylor says. Much of the food is organic, and all of it tastes fresher than frozen food that's been brought across the country to your local grocery store.

The experience is altogether different, too. Taylor says the eggs and the butter have deeper hues and richer tastes. And at the grocery, "you really can't know how it was raised." Another entry point to the local food movement is the Central Ohio Valley River Local Foods Guide, which is slated for May 19 release at Findlay Market. You can get an copy of the book early at a panel discussion on becoming a locavore that includes area growers and producers. $10 (or sliding scale fee, including a vegetarian dinner). 6 p.m. May 2. Imago Earth Center, 700 Enright Ave., Price Hill, 513-921-8455.

Sustainable Food
*The retail outlets listed are just a handful of the local farms and vendors that offer organic vegetables and humanely raised meat.

Chuckroast Coffee
Locally ground fair trade coffee.

Clifton Natural Foods
Natural foods, herbal supplements, vitamins and much more. 169 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights, 513-961-6111.

EarthSave Cincinnati
Promotes plant-based foods, sharing concerns about our environment, compassionate treatment of animals and better health. Features vegetarian potlucks and panel discussions on vegan living as a method for conservation. 513-929-2500.

Earth-Shares at Grailville
This community-supported agriculture program offers season garden subscriptions as well as community gardens. Also purchase certified organic seasonal vegetables May through October at their on-site stand. Call for details. 932 O’Bannonville Road, Loveland, 513-281-4855.

Findlay Market
This bustling inner-city marketplace offers deals on produce, meats, organic food and much more. Open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. 1801 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-665-4839.

La Leche League
Offers support and counseling for breast-feeding, the natural, no-waste alternative to expensive formula. 513-357-MILK.

Marvin's Organic Gardens
This local, USDA certified organic garden offers a full-service nursery. 2055 U.S. Route 42 South, Lebanon, 513-932-3319.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.

This Week In Wellness

Marvin's Organic Gardens’ first annual thinkGREEN event features live music, food, vendors and more. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. April 26 with presentations including “Learning to Live Green” at 10 a.m., “Basics of Composting” at 11:30 a.m., “Bird & Butterfly Gardening from the Ground Up” at 1 p.m., and “Alternative Energy Sources” at 2:30 p.m. 2055 S U.S. Route 42, Lebanon, 513-932-3319.

Bart Campolo, a national poverty activist and regular contributor to CityBeat’s Renewal Blog, will be lead a discussion on overcoming poverty in Cincinnati. The event is part of Vote Out Poverty Cincinnati, an initiative of Sojourners Magazine. Free. 7 p.m. April 28. Rohs Street Café, 245 W McMillan St., Clifton Heights, 513-381-7647.

Green Your Life: Recycle Properly

Curbside recycling in the Cincinnati area uses a single-stream system. This means everything accepted at the curb gets thrown in the truck and is separated later at the recycling facility.

Cincinnatians can get a recycling bin by calling 513-591-6000. Residents of other local municipalities can contact their individual Solid Waste Management Districts.

Plastics with a number 1 or 2 are accepted in local bins along with metal cans, glass bottles and most paper products, including junk mail. Butter tubs, egg cartons, plastic bags, pizza boxes and Styrofoam can't be recycled locally and must be thrown out or creatively reused.

Household hazardous waste such as technology waste, oil and paint don't belong in the garbage. They pollute groundwater and the earth. Instead, call Cincinnati's Household Hazardous Waste Hotline at 513-946-7700 or check out local recycling centers in our Recycling listings (page 07).

Yard waste can be composted on site, or you can place it out with your trash in paper yard waste bags obtained at area grocery and hardware stores.

Local Recycling

Hamilton County Recycles
The Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services offers news and information on local recycling programs. If you have waste materials and you’re not sure where to take it, this should be your first stop. 513-946-7734.

Hazardous Waste Collection
Hamilton County residents can dispose of hazardous waste including paint, pesticides, petroleum products, cleaners, batteries, drugs, fire extinguishers, mercury, fluorescent bulbs, antifreeze and more. Free. 2-6 p.m. Tuesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. Environmental Enterprises, Inc. 4650 Spring Grove Ave., Winton Place.

Paper Recycling
Recycling Express takes large quantities of paper and cardboard. 1050 Laidlaw Ave., Bond Hill, 513-641-5050.

Technology Recycling
Hamilton County residents can drop off computers and electronics for free at Technology Recycling Group. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Weekdays, 5139 Kieley Pl., Saint Bernard, 513-946-7734.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.

Green Your Life: Conserve Energy

"The first thing you need to do is insulate your house," says Jim Schenk, coordinator of the Enright Ridge Eco-Village. "The primary thing is reducing the energy consumption. It's not very sexy, but it makes a difference."

Schenk's Eco-Village is comprised of about 90 homes in upper Price Hill. He says about a third of the residents there are very involved in the project, which is an ecological urban revitalization campaign.

Scheck says the idea is achieving environmental preservation through a healthy neighborhood. The Eco-Village teaches homeowners to properly insulate their homes and to share resources through a food co-op, a community truck and community meals.

Schenk says he'd like to see homes in the neighborhood eventually get off the grid by using alternative energy such as photovoltaic cells, but energy conservation is really the first step. Proper insulation and better windows can cut heating bills by two-thirds, and using more efficient lighting and developing better habits can significantly slash energy bills.

Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) is getting in on the green building movement too. Pleasant Ridge Montessori School and Community Learning Center presently now under construction and includes under-floor air-delivery systems, and solar roof panels. Local architects will unveil their sustainable designs for other CPS buildings at a reception. $10 or free with CPS ID. 6-8 p.m. April 24. GBBN Architects, 332 East 8th St., Downtown, 513-541-4607. Reservations are requested by April 22.

Green Building and Energy

Building Value
Remodelers donate used or leftover building materials to Building Value, which resells these materials to the public. Prices are often a third the cost of new. Plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, architectural materials and much more. 2901 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills, 513-475-6783.

Green City Ecostruction
Activist Brian Garry’s green contracting company, practicing sustainable, fair trade building and repairs. 513-221-5878.

Green Energy Ohio
GEO should be your first stop for information and assistance in getting off of the grid. Meetings, financial assistance and more on alternative energy, including solar, hydroelectric, biomass and wind. 513-293-3241.

Hamilton County Planning: Committee on Green Building
Works toward balancing the needs of local developers with sustainable building practices. 513-946-4456.

US Green Building Council Cincinnati Chapter
The GBC promotes building with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and networks builders and developers interested in sustainable practices. It’s the 513-388-0020.

- Stephen Carter-Novotni

This originally ran as part of the story Unplug, Rethink and Simplify Your Life in our Green Issue.