Thanks, planets, debates

1. Grateful to God and all that get me through a day
2. Grateful to the evening at the planetarium
3. Grateful to the debates

First presidential debate took place Thursday in Mississippi with Jim Lehrer the moderator. The next debate is to be Gwen Ifill with the two vice presidential candidates. McCain did a lot better than I expected. He did not look tired and had no memory lapses or comments like the one about Putin being president of Germany or Spain being in Latin America.

The Plain Dealer headline said both did OK with no KOs. I agree. One poll on CBS taken that night with undecideds showed Obama won by about 50% and McCain won with about 40% of the undecideds. The rest of those voters were either unsure or thought it was a draw. I think Obama was better but McCain did not show 100% incompetence. Speaking of 100% incompetence I am looking forward to the new movie W.

The problems we are having with financial groups such as Lehman Brothers, UBS, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and others is a top story now. McCain floundered at first saying the fundamentals of the economy were sound but later saying by fundamentals he meant that workers were productive. This reminds me of his statement about the president of Spain where it sounded like he got it mixed up with Mexico then tried to back track. In back tracking it sounded like McCain said he did not want to speak with the president of Spain. I'm glad Obama mentioned how risky it is not to speak with an ally like that. I would worry with statements like this that McCain could even get us into a war. It is scary. Obama comes across as thoughtful and careful - what I would want in my president.

I really wanted to blog mostly about going to the Natural History Museum and planetarium with Rick and Barb and am getting side tracked. In addition to the show at the planetarium there was a members party and advance viewing of a presentation on race. Ok, I'll talk about the food at the party when I should be talking about the shows. :-)

At one food station there was black-eyed pea cakes with hot sauce, hummus, tabouli, pork, and pita bread. At the other station were vegeterian egg rolls, curried chicken, chicken taco tarts, and Swedish meat balls. What an interesting assortment. I like everything that I tried. There was also lemonade and a cash bar.

The show on race exceeded my expectations. I have actually been thinking about race the last few years or so. I keep wondering what race means. In some of the stations at the show race was defined as something that helps a culture stratify. In the US we defined race roughly at one time as white, black, and American Indian. Then, we used these definitions to give white people full rights under the constitution. At the same time we said as a culture that black and American Indians should not have full rights. This is unthinkably bad - evil even - and makes no sense to me. Another station at the show explained how you could be one race in one country and another race in another country, for example US and Brazil. Then, in a US census one year you could be one race (mulatto, Japanese) then another year another race (mixed, Korean or Asian). Some of the census figures are collected to help show areas of improvement in something like health care. But, alot of this classification is confusing to me. The most confusing is about Latinos and Hispanics. Should I go on?

Also at the museum after the planetarium show, we went to the planets and rocks section first and worked our way backward. This really gave an interesting view of the collection. I really enjoyed going through the museum this way. The outdoor exhibit was very good again. The raccoons were especially interesting in light of us having raccoons come to our back door often now. They have made Ivy hiss. The raccoons look very heavy to me - maybe getting ready for hibernation and not scared at all. They do not run away when they see me. They come very close to the sliding glass door. So much to blog about, so little time.

xxx
Our STC Publications Competition needs more great judges-- like you, for instance!

Although the applications have been coming in, we can always use more, to minimize the amount each judge has to evaluate. For details on being a judge, see http://neostc.org/comp/callforjudges2008.htm. Please complete the application before October 23.

An added perk for the two training meetings is FREE (courtesy of NEO STC) delicious food. And no need to worry about judging your neighbor's book. We are trading with the Atlanta STC, so we'll be evaluating their publications.

Judges training is to be 10/23 at Mavis Winkle’s on Rockside Road in Independence at 6-8PM. Judging is to take place 11/6 from 6-9PM at Rockwell Automation at 1 Allen-Bradley Drive in Mayfield Heights.

The cut-off date for entries is 10/15. We are looking forward to productive judging sessions where we provide constructive comments to all entrants.
Becoming a judge provides you with an opportunity to recognize the efforts of your peers, and is a rewarding experience!

Please contact Lori Neuman or Kristen Jackson if you have any questions

xx

An Adventure in Green Printing

After reading recently in Technical Communication the article about green printing, I wanted to share my own recent and related experience in green printing. This is the story of what happened when our Friends of Euclid Creek dinner dance fund raising committee attempted to find a green printer in the local area.

Why a Green Printer?

Our community group - The Friends of Euclid Creek - needed several hundred invitations for a dinner dance and fund raiser. As we represent an
eco-friendly group, we felt that an eco-friendly print was obviously
the way to go. Ideally, we would find a low-cost vendor who could also
provide some design assistance. As our search unfolded, the definition
of eco-friendly print job became more clear.

We approached the project with an open mind. Our
committee of four, which later grew to five, began with Internet
research. At first, it looked like our best bet was to find recycled
paper at a good price and do the
print job ourselves. We seriously considered this option but continued our research on better options.

Can Anyone in NE Ohio Help?

Then, based on a recommendation - actually someone from NEO STC, we found a
Cleveland-based printer who gave us a very good price and could provide us with the right turn-around town and design help.

The printer notes that it is doing its part in ensuring a sustainable environment. It states, "We've obtained both Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Chain-of-Custody Certification and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Chain-of-Custody Certification. Ask today how you can begin labeling
your marketing communication projects with the FSC or
SFI label to help communicate your sustainability
efforts."

FSC is an international, nonprofit
organization that develops standards for responsible
forest management, and accredits independent
third-party organizations to certify forest managers
and forest product producers to these standards.

An FSC certification signifies that an organization
has in place a tracking system to control and verify
certain levels of FSC-certified fiber and that the
certified groups at least 10% of FSC-certified fiber
from FSC chain-of-custody sources. By achieving
certification to this standard, a group is able to the
Stevens Point mill, supply FSC-labeled products to its
customers.

Chain-of-custody is the traceable path logs take from
the forest,
through the pulp manufacturing process, to the paper
mill, all the way through
to the certified product sold to an end user.
Compliance with this standard
means that a group established and engages in "best
practices" to process pulp derived from certified
suppliers who obtain logs that have been: legally
harvested; harvested from areas where human rights are
not violated; harvested from forests where high
conservation values are embraced; harvested from areas
that have not been converted from natural forest to
plantations or non-forest uses; or not harvested from
genetically modified trees.

Chain-of-custody must be in place at all steps along
the supply chain in order for a printed label or
package to carry an FSC chain-of-custody label.

This is what we were looking for. We were happy we could find this
local connection. We learned later that the company that helped us is not the only Cleveland-based company that can provide this kind of printing. We are grateful, however, to the helped provided by Jeffrey T. Parsons, Vice President, Business Development at Academy Graphic Communication of Cleveland (www.visitagc.com) and his interest in supporting eco-friendly initiatives.

Would You Like More Information?

If you would like more information about the Friends of Euclid Creek, please visit
http://friendsofeuclidcreek.nhlink.net/.

For more information about sustainable forests please see http://www.sfiprogram.org/.

xx
Who Sponsored this Green Printing?

The Friends of Euclid Creek (FOEC) needed these
invitations printed for a dinner dance and fund
raiser. The Web site of the FOEC at
http://friendsofeuclidcreek.nhlink.net/ shows that the
mission of the FOEC is to "the social welfare through
the preservation and protection of Euclid Creek and
its associate riparian areas."

The mission is also to educate the public regarding
the benefits and importance of preservation and
protection of Euclid Creek through public
dissemination of information and communication with
public officials. Finally, the mission is to encourage
cooperative interaction among all of Euclid Creek's
watershed stakeholders in order to promote mutually
beneficial solutions for the preservation and
protection of Euclid Creek.

An ecofriendly approach is encouraged for all
activities and certainly for the printing of the
invitations for the fund raiser. The fund raiser
invited participants to discover and celebrate the
natural beauty of the Euclid Creek Watershed at an
event called Creek Dance, which the group plans to
make an annual event.

FOEC is a volunteer organization that works to protect
and restore the creek by helping people who live and
work in the watershed area become better stewards of
the land and water. Proceeds from the dinner dance
support FOEC projects throughtout the Euclid Creek
Watershed: Beachwood, Lyndhurst, Highland Heights,
South Euclid, Euclid, Cleveland, Richmond Heights,
Mayfield Heights, Willoughby Hills, Pepper Pike, and
Mayfield Village.

FOEC acts to protect and preserve the land surrounding
the waters of Euclid Creek, its waters, and its its
tributaries andto increase awareness of the benefits
and beautify of the natural environment in the
watershed.

The FOEC website is hosted courtesy of a community
service of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban
Affairs at Cleveland State University.



ACCOMPANYING GRAPHICS
>
> 1. Euclid Watershed graphics from web site
> http://friendsofeuclidcreek.nhlink.net/
>
> 2. Sustainable Forest graphics from web site
> http://www.sfiprogram.org/
>
> 3. The eco-friendly invitation (please contact me about this - jeanette.evans@sbglobal.net or telephone 44- 449 7867 )


What Else Can be Done?

The USDA Forest Service and Worldwatch Institute provide the following statistics:

- One tree produces 16.67 reams of paper or 8333.3 sheets.
- The average American worker now uses about 12,000 sheets of paper per year.
- 35% of the worldwide wood harvest ends up as paper
- A tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion, over a 50-year life span.
- One acre of trees absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.
- Two medium-sized, healthy trees can supply the oxygen required for a single person over the course of a year.
- Trees properly placed around a building can reduce air conditioning needs by 30% and save 20-30% in energy used for heating.
- The United States produces and uses a third of the world's paper. Forests in the southeastern U.S. now supply a quarter of the global total.
- The pulp and paper industry is the world's fifth largest industrial consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.

Rockwell Automation with an office in Mayfield Heights continues its push for green practices effective September 1, 2008, when it implemented a very simple, sustainable business practice that has the potential to save millions of sheets of paper per year.

All printer/copiers in offices including the one in Mayfield Heights were reprogrammed to default to duplex printing. Duplex is the setting that causes documents to print on both sides of the page.

This decision was made based on a highly successful pilot program that aimed to reduce the overall consumption of paper. In this pilot, a group of departments in Milwaukee set 6 units to default to duplex printing. After 45 days, the study revealed the duplex ratio increased from 6% to 23.47% and resulted in saving 18,527 sheets of paper.

The company goes on to explain that while there are exceptions where duplex printing is not an option, limit single-page printing should be used only when necessary. Employees will still be able to choose single-sided printing for critical print jobs where duplex printing cannot be used.

Implementing sustainable business practices such as this are just one way companies can contribute to an overall healthy environment. While this may seem like a small effort, it’s amazing how making a few changes in our day-to-day operations can have a large impact on the environment. Obviously, everything we do to conserve paper will have a positive impact.

Rockwell Automation is hoping to be a leader in environmentally friendly work practices.