This Blog is DEAD!

So the final "cleanup" was yesterday at 12. I'd like to say thanks to all the Free the Planet chumps who said they would show up and never did. It's amazing how much they talk about "direct action" and never do anything! Anyway, I cleaned up a bit, the project never got the community involvement I was hoping for. Oh well. I'll be working on my other blog now: http://miahmobileblog.blogspot.com/

Location of Fridays Cleanup

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You can also check out information about the cleanup on the Facebook Group Page

See you there noon on Friday!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

So I happened to be at the Free the Planet potluck last night and was lucky in many ways. First of all the food was amazing, everyone brought a bunch of amazing vegetarian food. Secondly I rallied some of the members to do a cleanup with me. It is going to be this Friday May 30 at Noon. Everyone is invited. I'll post again with more information

Update

So I received a bunch of pickers, trash bags and gloves from Keep Franklin County Beautiful about a week ago. Things are getting pretty hectic with school ending and my moving to Boston. I'd like to get at least one more cleanup in before I leave. I have noticed that more trash has infiltrated the sites I have cleaned already so that's kinda frustrating. Oh well, I guess it's a never ending battle.

shpongle!

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Raging Ravine 2

The water going into the tunnel looked cool, kinda like a ripcurl. I walked out onto the structure, which was pretty sketchy. I could feel the whole structure shake when big logs hit it. I climbed halfway down the structure to get this shot, I was holding on with one arm so sorry for the shakiness. Pretty sweet nonetheless

The Raging Ravine 1

I was riding home from class today in the rain and I heard some raging whitewater behind my home (well more like brownwater). So I grabbed my camera and took some video. Check it out.

Homeless Camps

So I'm pretty sure someone lives here and I was curious what you all thought would be the best way to approach this situation. I was thinking I would leave a note or something. Ask them if they'd like to help and if not they could make a pile of stuff they don't want and we could get it out of there for them.

Graffiti

Here is a shot of some cool graffiti under the Calumet Bridge. It is some of the best I've ever seen. There are more shots in this slideshow.
Check out the Magic card graffiti spray painted on the concrete slab!

Someone Else Is Cleaning!

There used to be alot of logs and trash piled up between this metal structure (aka the gates of hell) and the concrete wall. When I walked down there the other day to take some shots I noticed the logs and trash were gone. Thank you very much to whoever did that!

Mother's Day Mother Earth Cleanup!

There is going to be a cleanup this Sunday May 11. I can't make it home for mother's day so I figured the least I could do was clean up Mother Earth and let all the Moms in my life know that I love and appreciate them. We'll be meeting at noon in the parking lot behind Tim Hortons. Click here to see the location on Google Maps. If you have gloves it would be good to bring them, I'll try to get some as well. Clean as long or as much as you want. I would recommend wearing pants and boots or other sturdy footwear. Hope to see you all there!

Dirty Dirty Ravine

Cycling Video

Octopus Incorporated

A couple friends of mine make these awesome cycling caps out of recycled wool. They are based out of Cbus, buy local! They gave me one of their hats for my birthday and I love it.

Check their website out here.

Poison!

So I found this shady box buried back in the ravine. It reminded me of a story I heard from my Mom. One of her friends sons, who was pretty young, found a grenade in the woods behind their house. It turned out to be live. Scary stuff out there, who puts it there! I'm sure this isn't going to be the first time I find some questionable items. But as you can see it says "Poison, Do Not Touch" really big on it, so I didn't. I wanted to post a picture of it on here to see if anyone could identify it. I think it might be some sort of animal poison trap but I'm not sure. Tell me what you think!

Sustainability Now! Conference

A friend of mine is organizing the Sustainability Now! Conference. It is on Friday May 16 and Saturday May 17. Keynote speakers include Kim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth. There will also be action workshops on Saturday with additional speakers. You can register here. You can also email mwelker@ctcn.net or bean.21@osu.edu

Glen Echo Ravine Cleanup Project Facebook Group

I've created a Facebook group for this project. I figured it would be a good way to spread the word as well as a good forum for comments and pictures. You can check it out by clicking here.

Things Learned from First Cleanup

A lot of the dirt / trash that is down there is just sitting on a concrete slab so it can be pretty slippery. I think ropes and harnesses are a good idea. Gloves are good too. I should go get those pickers that Keep Columbus Beautiful said I could use. I need dumpster space as well. And I need bodies! I'm hopefully getting a better camera today.

Photos from 3 May Ravine Cleanup

Time To Give Some Props!

So I have encountered a few people who have helped me so far. Here they are:

Dwayne: This guy is awesome!
Tim Hortons: They donated two big rolls of trash bags and broke a 20 for me
EHS Hospitality Managment / All Star Staffing: They donated dumpster space

Both Tim Hortons and EHS are located at the corner of Arcadia and High on adjacent corners.

Thanks!

Life is a Rich Tapestry

So I decided that I really needed to get down into the ravine and start picking up some trash. I've been talking about it a lot, now I need to follow through. So I woke up and went to Giant Eagle to get some trash bags. On my way back I passed a guy sitting on the wall near the ravine. We said hi and I walked up to my house. On my way back to the ravine with all my ropes and harness and other tools of destruction, the gentleman was still sitting there. He told me his name was Dwayne and that he had just got out of prison and that he was homeless. I told him I was there to clean this shit up. He proceeded to tell that the majority of the trash was from "bums" not homeless people. He made this distinction because bums don't clean up after themselves. He made a good point that it only draws more attention to where you are. He then asked me if he could help, I was super pumped. We made a small agreement that I would scratch his back if he scratched mine. I gave him one of my gloves and off we were!I set up a rope for him and he busted ass! I really had to work to keep up with him. He was a cool guy, we chatted while we worked. The weather started to turn sour so we started our way back up the hill. Then we took a picture of the trash and took it to a dumpster (more about that next). I gave him ten buck and told him I would be there next Sunday at Noon. What a crazy world we live in! A rich tapestry!

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