The mind of a growing child is an impressionable thing. As a line taken from the musical Into the Woods states, ???Careful the things you say, children will listen. Careful the things you do, children will see and learn.??? And in fact, majority of the things children hear and see come from the place they spend majority of their time: school. So, in light of developing a more sustainable community, what can we do in order to show the youth the importance of practices that aid the environment rather than being detrimental to it? And how can we then expand that to the Oberlin community in order to positively move towards the goal of carbon neutrality? On the table is a plan that will address both of these issues: the construction of a consolidated, high performance, carbon neutral K-12 campus.

Technology to display video has come a long way since its start in the 1800???s. From analog to digital, VHS to BluRay, and even as you look at your computer, how we receive information (and entertainment) via a screen has changed drastically in order to make a more informed society. But are we informed about the right things in all the right places? While information about the world continues to grow and become more easily accessible, how about what???s happening in Tappan Square this weekend? Or what is my favorite local business doing on the sustainability front? How is the electricity and water I use daily moving through the City of Oberlin? With the launch of the new Environmental Dashboard at Prospect Elementary School and the Oberlin Public Library, this information will be more accessible and relevant to Oberlinians than ever.

It may be the Southern boy in my heart, but the Collard Green festival in my hometown was always a highlight of my childhood. Everyone in the small, rural town would gather at the town hall and partake in a feast of all sorts of dishes, children would run around on the carnival rides, and it was a real town bonding experience. But the best part of it all was the fact that a majority of dishes brought were made with produce grown by local farms. This is probably why I was excited to hear that City Fresh, a local CSA (or community-supported agriculture) is continuing to push for local foods through a new partnership with Lorain County Community College (LCCC). Starting in June, weekly boxes of food from local farms is now available for subscribers to purchase at the new LCCC City Fresh stop.

City Fresh is a program of the New Agrarian Center, a non-profit organization that distributes locally grown seasonable vegetables and fruit to residents of Lorain, Cuyahoga, and Summit Counties. The majority of fruits and veggies are grown without the use of pesticides or genetic modifications, and even the vehicles that delivery produce use old vegetable oil. And you can guarantee that the supplies are fresh, as they are picked up within 24 hours of harvesting. Access to this incredible program has become even easier for residents of Lorain County with the establishment of the new pick-up location.

After being in Oberlin for a full school year now, I???ve been fascinated by the local businesses and restaurants in town. All offer many goods and services at reasonable prices and still do very well, despite a Wal-Mart and several fast food restaurants located less than two miles away from downtown Oberlin. Sometimes, however, I wonder why I don???t just go down to Wal-Mart for convenience or their ???low low prices.??? And now, after listening to Michael Shuman???s passionate elegy for local investment, I no longer have that question to answer. And if I were a business owner, I???d listen up too. On April 10th, Michael Shuman, economist and prize-winning author, spoke at Oberlin College with the purpose of debunking myths about investing in your local community and promoting ways that Oberlin can get in on the action of supporting local business.

These myths actually seem credible at first glance. For example, one popular myth is that local businesses are not as profitable as their larger counterparts. As Shuman stated, ???If it were true that local, small businesses were less competitive. . .then we would have seen a dramatic drop in the small business economy.??? In fact, there has been no drop in the economy of home-based and local business compared to larger corporations. As Peter Buffett writes in the introduction to Shuman???s latest book, locally owned businesses have ???maintained their share of the US GDP since 1990???. Another myth is that local businesses lack a competitive edge, which, again, is false. This can easily be seen with a concern for everyone: oil prices. Rising oil prices means that local production of oil for consumption in the immediate area will become more competitive as foreign imports become more expensive. Shuman argues similar consequences with durable products as well. And one just has to walk down Main Street of Oberlin to see local competitiveness in action.