This evening, the Norman City Council will vote on the Porter Avenue Corridor Plan. The Norman Sustainability Network steering committee is endorsing this plan because it will put Norman on the path to improved walkability, encourage local, community-centered businesses, and provide better access to alternative transportation.

The status quo in the Porter corridor is not sustainable. Since the street was first designed, traffic has increased enormously. In many areas sidewalks are non-existent or poorly maintained, and the overall streetscape is not walkable or aesthetically appealing.

The plan being voted on today does not force any businesses or residents to make changes, but it ensures that any changes that are made will follow a clear plan for the overall area. This plan is designed to foster a vibrant, community-focused center of commerce that is friendly to bicycles and pedestrians, much like we have seen with Main Street in recent years.

While no city funds have yet been allocated to improve the streetscape, passing the Porter Corridor Plan is the necessary first step. We need a plan on the books to be eligible for federal grants and to form the basis for public-private partnerships to redevelop the area. Change will continue no matter what the Council does, but we have an opportunity to point that change in the right direction.

We urge all Norman residents, especially those living in or near the Porter Corridor, to attend the City Council meeting today, 6:30pm, at 201 W Gray St, and speak about why it is good for Norman. If you cannot attend, please contact your city councilperson before the vote. You can find their contact information at http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/content/city-council.

Thank you for supporting Norman and efforts toward a more sustainable future.

Bokoshe-In the Air We Breathe from Jar of Grasshoppers on Vimeo.

Registration is now up for the 2010 Conference, which will be held June 11-12 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Many people have worked hard to put together a program we feel will enrich, empower, and energize everyone from the most seasoned OSN member to someone who knows little about sustainability.

Register here: http://www.oksustainability.org/2010-form-confreg.php

Our Friday keynote speakers include Michael Patton, well known as the head of The Metropolitan Environmental Trust and a champion of OSN’s efforts in Tulsa and throughout the State, and some citizens from Bokoshe, Oklahoma whose resiliency and perseverance in fighting a coal ash dump that is poisoning their town will be an inspiration for all.

Saturday’s keynote speaker is Katharine Hayhoe. She is a researcher from Texas Tech and will bring insight on the research on climate change and how to communicate the science behind it to everyday Oklahomans.

Paul James, the Gardener Guy, is also speaking on Saturday on the benefits of and the ability to do organic gardening.

Our tracks at this year’s conference include a sustainable business track on Friday featuring panels and speakers on the ECO tourism program, sustainable planning for small businesses and manufacturers, and energy independence for business. Friday also includes a green buildings track that will feature the team coordinating OSN’s stimulus grant. This will be the first opportunity for you to hear about the work plan for the grant and how you can help the team make a very powerful impact on Oklahoma buildings. This opportunity will be buttressed by Sustainable Tulsa’s Craig Immel and his green buildings taskforce, which has designed a very exciting track that will provide the tools you need to ensure the construction of green buildings and neighborhoods in your community.

Saturday features a two hour homeowners’ workshop where those supplying the essential services for greening the home will be connected with homeowners looking to build or create a sustainable home. It will be a one stop shop for information. We’ve also lined up a really exciting tour of the Homestead School in Edmond. They’ve done some incredible stuff to get off the grid and will demonstrate some practical ways for you to do the same. Saturday also includes a first of its kind personal and organization action track specifically for chapters and OSN members. The purpose of the track is to engage chapter members and supply knowledge and skills needed to run an even more effective chapter and make the sustainable changes we want to see in our communities.

We hope to see you all there!

NSN is sponsoring recycling at this year’s Norman Music Festival. This is the first time the festival has put so much effort into care for our environment. Help us make it work well so that next year we can do even more!

We will collect bottles and cans from our bins on Main Street and at the food court on Gray and Crawford. Work gloves will be provided. We will work in shifts from 12pm-8pm, Sunday, April 25th.

We want to have at least 2 volunteers for each of the following shifts.  Many hands make light work!  Please contact kjoymc@gmail.com to sign up:

noon-2 main street
noon-2 food court
noon-2 sorting

2-4 main street
2-4 food court
2-4 sorting

4-6 main street
4-6 food court
4-6 sorting

6-8 main street
6-8 food court
6-8 sorting

Contact Kara Joy at kjoymc@gmail.com right away if you can help.

Thanks so much!

Please join NSN, OUr Earth, and the Sierra Club Red Earth Group for a free screening of Tapped!, a new documentary about the big business of bottled water. Producer Sarah Olson and Director Stephanie Soechtig will be on hand for a Q&A after the film.

When: 7pm, Tuesday, April 6
Where: Norman High School Auditorium, 911 West Main St.

Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car and I.O.U.S.A., this timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water.

Tapped’s Producer Sarah Olson and Director Stephanie Soechtig have taken their mobile showroom on the road, collecting pledges from people to reduce their bottled water use and trading empty plastic water bottles for reusable stainless steel Klean Kanteens.  This mobile translucent recycling container began the “Get Off The (h20) Bottle” tour in Los Angeles with an empty cabin that will be filled with the public’s empty water bottles by the time the team ends up in New York City on Earth Day (April 22nd, 2010).

You can download a flier for this event here.