Entrance to Press Briefing Room and media facilities at the White House (seen in the distance)

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Did you know that it’s Air Quality Awareness Week? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service urge Americans to "Be Air Aware" during Air Quality Awareness Week, May 2 - 6, 2011.

Didn't I see you at the big MetroHealth "Clean Up Mittal For Real" Air Quality Awareness Week Rally down at Public Square, today...? At Mayor Jackson's "Cleveland Thermal Kills Children and our Economy" Rally at Cleveland State, Monday? At the special City Council Meeting declaring their War Against Environmental Injustice From Air Pollution In Urban Cleveland!?!?

Of course not! There are no Air Quality Awareness events ever in Northeast Ohio - no in-depth reports on mainstream media about the harm caused by pollution - and there have been important findings released here recently about the poor air quality in unreal NEO, which is real news.

On November 20, 2004 - about a month after I set up realNEO, as I was still configuring the site - one of the first "books" I established was called "Dear Peter", in honor of Clevelander Peter B. Lewis, Chairman of Progressive Insurance. As I added "categories" to the site, and moved away from using books for general content management, I made "Dear Peter" one of the first categories on realNEO, allowing members to designate their content to be listed with other "Dear Peter" content. I doubt most realNEO visitors have ever noticed Dear Peter exists, or known the meaning.

For decades, Peter Lewis has been one of Northeast Ohio's most inspiring and demanding leaders. I dedicated a category on realNEO to Peter Lewis because he has inspired me to "disrupt IT" with his proactive, positive challenges of authority in Northeast Ohio and worldwide. I know the Lewis family to be high quality intellects truly committed to the betterment of this community and the world, and I support their pursuits here. They challenge me to push the envelop for realNEO.

Before realNEO was dedicated to Ed "Citizen" Hauser - while Ed was still alive and working FOR REALNEO - we were dedicated to Peter "Billionaire" Lewis... since November 20, 2004:

Until marijuana is legal for economic development in Ohio - and then America-wide - I will be sorting through the various MMJ proposals being developed for Ohio and the world and will keep realNEO readers informed of important developments, like... from the Columbus Dispatch, today:

The Daily Briefing: Billionaire Peter Lewis floating marijuana ballot issue
Monday, May 2, 2011  10:16 AM - By Alan Johnson - The Columbus Dispatch

I strongly recommend all Cleveland-area schools be required to implement the following cheap, simple, educational program to raise public awareness of our poor air quality in Cleveland, teach area children and their friends and families about the harm of pollution, and protect our children from excessive pollution and the mental and physical damage that causes them, their families and our society and economy.

To do this properly, each school should feature modern, effective air quality monitoring equipment, offering students and stakeholders an exceptional learning experience... and better health. The flags don't even need to be physical - they may be virtual, and presented via the Internet so all parents and concerned citizens may always monitor the air quality and health of our next generation of Clevelanders.... from real Greenversations from DC:

Raising the Flag for Air Quality Awareness

Posted on May 2nd, 2011 - 10:30 AM

Last week, I joined security officer William Jones when he visited a group of students at the First Environments Day Care Center located on EPA’s Research Triangle Park campus. The purpose of our trip was to raise a yellow flag on the pole in front of the school.

When Officer Jones asked if the kids wanted to help him, they cheered in unison, “YES.”  They eagerly held the flag while Officer Jones hooked it to the chain, watched as he raised it – and promptly asked why the flag was yellow. Officer Jones explained that the yellow flag meant that the kids could play outside, “because the air quality was pretty good today– not the best like what a green flag means.”

Industrial hemp has played a significant role in American history. In fact, in the early 1700's American farmers in Virginia were required by law to grow it. Today, healthy and sustainable hemp products are sold across the country, but American farmers are prohibited from growing this crop.

Sunday, May 1 · 3:00pm - 5:00pm

Mayfield Regional Library
6080 Wilson Mills Rd
Cleveland, OH  

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The Ohio Medical Cannabis Act of 2012

A Message From The Campaign

Apr 27, 2011

For the better part of a decade, advocates have attempted to pass bills in the Ohio General Assembly to provide Ohio's sick and dying citizens with safe access to medical marijuana (cannabis). However, when confronted by this issue, our state's elected leaders simply shy away. While the effort to pass a bill in the statehouse is still being pursued, there is another way citizens can enact change.

If a group of citizens feel strongly that an issue has not properly been addressed by the Ohio General Assembly, they can propose an initiated constitutional amendment to the people for a statewide vote. This is the route we've decided to take, placing the issue before the voters on November 6, 2012.

------How Do I Make and Install a Rain Barrel?   
Click here for our handout on rain barrels which describes the system we use and how to build it/install it. 

When there is a death, it is possible it comes in one of many ways. Often at the hand of others, or self inflicted, or by medical reasons, or by chance.     IMO the death of a loved one that is by Suicide   ---snip--

U.S. Suicide Statistics (2001)

Emergency Room Visits

• Emergency room visits for self-inflicted injury: 400,000

All suicides

CLEVELAND ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME STREAMING

Cleveland Confidential Book Tour Featuring

Cheetah Chrome, Mike Hudson, Bob Pfeifer and David Thomas

Event begins at 7:00 pm EST today (Monday, April 11th, 2011).  Copy and paste URL into your browser to enjoy the live stream:

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On Thursday, April 7th, 2011, on the Green rooftop of the Environmental Health Watch Building, Environment Ohio released a new report showing that smog-forming pollution from Ohio’s power plants puts children’s health and Ohio’s environment at risk - Environment Ohio - Clean Air Program Reports - Dirty Energy’s Assault on Our Health: Ozone Pollution - 2011-04-07.  From the press release for the news conference announcing this report:

Power plants create the ingredients for dangerous ozone pollution, commonly referred to as smog, and the report ranks which power plants emit the most smog-forming pollution in Ohio and nationwide, and highlights the latest findings about how smog impacts our health and environment.

The report comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to finalize a standard in July to help reduce smog pollution, which could save up to 12,000 lives per year. Yet Congress and industry lobbyists are working to keep EPA from doing its job by threatening to block rules that limit dangerous air pollution. Environment Ohio is urging Senator Sherrod Brown to stand up for Ohioans’ health and support the EPA.

I had the good fortune to attend the first World's Fair held in Japan - Expo '70 (日本万国博覧会, Nihon bankoku hakuran-kai). The theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind" and one of the main principles of the master plan was that the wisdom of all the peoples of the world would come together in this place and stimulate ideas. The Expo featured demonstrations of early mobile phones, local area networking and maglev train technology. At age 9, I rode Bullet Trains 100 miles an hour and thought the world could be no more modern than "modern" Japan, of 1970. 

At the same time I was exposed to the modern power, wisdom and vision of all the world-peoples' progress and harmony at 日本万国博覧会, in Osaka... 福島第一原子力発電所 was being born, in Okuma, representing the ultimate in "power"-wisdom and vision of that nuclear age. The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the grid around 40 years ago, in 1970, and the world hasn't really evolved our "power"-wisdom beyond that now-ancient "modern" time... as our 1970s "modern" energy technology and world are melting-down.

Today's environmental tip: Be sensible! The Earth might seem like it has abundant water, but in fact only one percent of all water on the planet is available for humans. Buy fixtures and products that are water efficient - you can use less water to get the same job done just as well. When you go shopping, look for the WaterSense label to find water efficient products.

Today's environmental tip: Be extra aware of environmental conditions where older people live! As we age, our bodies become more sensitive to chemicals and environmental conditions. So you should carefully use products such as pesticides or cleaning solvents near areas where older adults live and sleep. Always follow the directions on the product package or label.

EPA Celebrates National Public Health Week April 4-10, 2011

Posted on April 4th, 2011 - 10:30 AM

By  Administrator Lisa P. Jackson

When we talk about environmentalism, it typically brings to mind sweeping vistas and wide-open landscapes. Some people might think of saving the whales, protecting spotted owls or preserving old-growth forests. Those things are critically important – but they only tell part of the story. When the modern environmental movement got its start in the 1960s, it took hold in our nation’s cities and was led by people concerned about pollution in the air they were breathing, toxins in the water they were drinking and chemicals on the food they were eating.

The effort to safeguard our environment started – and continues to be – an effort to safeguard our health.

Living in Cleveland, fighting against excessive polluting by popular local industrial interests, I've found environmental and climate awareness here brain-dead... zombified... people walking in an unnatural smog, accepting unnatural death around them. So I appreciate a mathematical explanation of how an entire city of 500,000 may become dominated by environmental zombies - from today's Climate Progress, which references a study of the proliferation of zombies finding they will drive humanity to the collapse of civilization.... I believe this effectively explains Cleveland (and much of America) today:

The model showed two equilibria: the disease-free equilibrium (with no zombies) and the doomsday equilibrium (where everyone is a zombie). The application of a linear stability analysis showed that — in the absence of further interventions — the disease-free equilibrium was unstable and the doomsday equilibrium was stable. This finding was not promising.

Simulations based on a city of roughly 500,000 people demonstrated that an entire such city would be replaced by zombies [rapidly]. Were this mass replacement of a population to occur in a city such as Washington, DC, it may be unlikely anyone would notice.

There is a solution: "the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to attack hard and attack often":

Thanks to Laura McShane for pointing out an excellent article on lead poisoning research at Case Western Reserve University, in the Fall/Winter 2010 Think Magazine - with multimedia features - on-line at Getting the Lead Out: Fifteen years after being effectively removed from the U.S. market, the prolific danger of leaded gasoline becomes clearer. 

This reports on Childhood lead exposure and uptake in teeth in the Cleveland area during the era of leaded gasoline - a recent Case Western Reserve University-affiliated analysis of the lead burden of Cleveland children through the period when leaded gasoline was introduced and later phased out (from about 1930 to 1990), surfacing critical implications.

Comparison of relative temporal changes in lead concentration in tooth enamel and lake sediments, and relative changes in the total amount of lead additives to gasoline. Maximum absolute values and symbols are:  4.94 μg/g (teeth, smoothed data, uninterrupted line), 72.7 ppm (“new core Lake Erie sediment, triangles), 41.1 ppm  (Graney et al., 1995 Lake Erie sediment, open circles), and 253,000 mt of lead additives to gasoline produced in the US, closed circles (see Methods).

 It is important information that I (and others agree with) So I quote; "  A CAREFULLY MANICURED SET OF FACTUAL PREMISE DO NOT NECESSARILY AMOUNT TO TRUTH. (see more below)

U.S. Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide Map (red = most polluted, blue = least polluted)

I'm certain more people than ever in history are interested in the subject of global air pollution monitoring, as a deteriorating cluster of nuclear power plant disasters in Northern Japan are already contaminating the Earth's atmosphere with deadly radioactive emissions, which will blow across the Pacific Ocean and in other directions to all points downwind until they settle back to Earth, on us, our land, in our water, and into our food-streams.

From the Wall Street Journal's Monday, March 13, reporting about nuclear fallout from the meltdown in Japan, which has taken many turns for the worst since then...

If the Japanese nuclear core were to melt, certain radioactive materials, such as iodine, strontium and cesium, would also be released. These particles are one-quarter the size of a grain of salt and can be carried by winds. The larger the grains, the more quickly they would fall out of the air.

EPA's 2005 National Air Toxins Assessment looks at human health impacts from estimated, chronic inhalation exposures based on emissions data from the
2005 National Emissions Inventory for hazardous air pollutants, assuming these emissions remain constant throughout one's lifetime

On March 11, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a press release (below) and held conference calls supporting release of the fourth update of the National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) - a computer tool that helps federal, state, local governments and other stakeholders better understand the potential health risks from exposure to air toxics.  The EPA  states: "the National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) contains 2005 emissions data submitted primarily from the states for 178 pollutants. Models are used to make broad estimates of health risks for areas of the country.  The tool is not designed to determine actual health risks to individuals living in these areas." "Because the data submitted varies from state to state, it is also not possible to use the data to compare risks between different areas of the country."

As someone who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, which the Federal EPA and their NATA prove is highly polluted and unhealthy, I truly appreciate access to all environmental data management and mapping services the EPA may provide, as real-time as possible. These federal government tools offer citizens access to information that allows us to make better life-decisions - like where to live - and empowers us to be better environmental stewards - like shutting down coal pollution in our own backyards.

Wherever you live in America, there should be some near-by gathering, event, public meeting or celebration in support of Hemp History Week - May 2nd-8th 2011 - and if there isn't, you may help organize one in your community. Check their website for planned events - and how to organize events - and do it ASAP, as events registered by March 15th may get hemp product samples to distribute, and that is worth hustling-for.

The sponsors and supporters of Hemp History Week include Vote Hemp, the Hemp Industry Association, and leading hemp manufacturers, natural foods retailers, celebrities, farmers, historians and hemp advocates. "Hemp History Week is all about celebrating the goodness of hemp", and that is something all these organizers and millions of other people are working hard to make legal in every state across America - like New Mexico is succeeding with this week - to making hemp agriculture legal in America and worldwide, as is the mission of Vote Hemp and other advocacy organizations, large and small.

Data provided by U.S. Census Bureau.

Cleveland Sees Plunge in Population, reports the Wall Street Journal today, announcing: "A larger-than-expected exodus from Cleveland during the past decade shrunk the city's population by 17% to about 397,000, according to U.S. Census data released Wednesday." That's right, Cleveland's population has crashed below the 400K floor for the first time since around the start of the 20th Century, which triggers all sorts of unsustainable, shrinking, un-re-imaginable financial and political realities for leadership and citizens here.

Perhaps the only silver lining is that this proof of Cleveland political and leadership failure will have a significant price of leaders' heads. From the Wall Street Journal:

Political observers said the decline could tilt the balance of political power in one of America's most hotly contested swing states.

"Ohio is expected to lose two congressional districts, and this big decline in Cleveland suggests that both could come out of northeastern Ohio," a Democratic stronghold, said John Green, a University of Akron political-science professor.