News

Sustainable Columbus and nonprofit group Solar United Neighbors (SUN) will announce the launch of the Columbus Solar and EV Charger Co-op on April 19th.  The group will help Franklin County residents, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations go solar.  The co-op is launching off the heels of the city announcing that Columbus received a Gold SolSmart Designation Award. The Award recognizes the city’s expansion of solar energy use in their jurisdictions.

"Columbus is proud to continue our partnership with Solar United Neighbors to help residents understand and realize the benefits of going solar,” said City of Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. "Equitably transitioning to clean energy sources is critical to the Columbus Climate Action Plan, and this co-op is helping our community reach our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050."

The co-op is free to join and open to homeowners in the greater Columbus Area. Together, co-op members will learn about solar energy and leverage their numbers to purchase top-quality individual solar systems at a competitive price.

The facts cannot be denied. Andy Ginther accepted campaign contributions of $20,000 funneled to him through his friend, former neighbor, campaign contributor and convicted lobbyist John Raphael and the Ohio Democratic Party. The Columbus Dispatch reported on June 23, 2015, “Court documents, supported by campaign finance reports and sources with knowledge of the case, detail in September 2011 in which someone in Ginther’s campaign sent Redflex an email seeking a $20,000 campaign contribution.” 

Federal court documents show that former Redflex executive Karen Finley stated that Raphael was a conduit for delivering money to elected officials in Columbus. Ms. Finley sent Raphael an invoice that was labeled as a “success fee.” She stated that she knew the “success fee” would be passed onto local elected officials in the covert form of campaign contributions.  Raphael handed over Redflex’s “success fee” to the Ohio Democratic Party. The party then wrote Ginther a check for $21,000.

This isn’t your Crazy Mama’s off-campus anymore. Nor is it your Papa Joe’s or Mean Mr. Mustard’s.

Above on left is a picture sent to us by an Ohio State student of a marker board from an off-campus “House Ministry” of roommates letting everyone know how long they’ve self-restrained from watching porn (i.e., “Flogging your dolphin”).

The image on the right is a show poster from last year promoting a concert to raise awareness of “cult activity on campus.” Kool-Aid Man wrapped with a snake is a nice touch.

There are still pockets of cool campus, but those halcyon days (sorta) of the late 1980s and early 1990s are long gone. Replaced of course by the corporate-lame South Campus Gateway mixed-use complex.

Yet what also is a headscratcher is how Christian youth ministries have gained a startling foothold around OSU over the previous two decades. First was Xenos, which began in Columbus in the 1970s, and rebranded recently as “Dwell.” Xenos, as many are aware, is known for its off-campus group homes or “House Ministries.”

Germany has shut its last three commercial atomic reactors.  

Thus Satrday, April 15, 2023, marks a day that will live in joy and promise.

The world’s fourth-largest economy has gone post-nuclear.

While the conjoined atomic power and weapons industry wastes uncounted millions pushing yet another doomed-to-fail “nuclear renaissance,” Europe’s biggest economy has steered itself toward a sustainable green-powered future. 

For more than a half-century, a powerful Solartopian movement has fought reactor construction in Germany.  

A key early uprising came in the rural community of Wyhl, where thousands of No Nukers physically occupied the site of a proposed radioactive waste dump.  Films of the action circulated worldwide, helping to inspire mass non-violent occupations at Seabrook, New Hampshire, Diablo Canyon in California, and dozens of other reactor sites around the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Germany’s Green movement achieved significant parliamentary clout.  In early 2011, it set a massive national demonstration to shut the nation’s 19 reactors.

City of Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil says, “Andy Ginther continues to spout off about crime numbers being down and how he is going to make Columbus, Ohio “the safest city in America” while he reduces the police force. At the same moment, five homicides occurred within a 48-hour period between this past Saturday evening and late Monday afternoon. To date, there have been 44 homicides in Columbus.  On March 13th, the city of Columbus tragically recorded its 30th homicide of 2023. Since Ginther has been mayor, this is the second fastest time that Columbus has reached 30 homicides.”  

• The generating capacity of renewable energy in the U.S has surpassed coal for the first time in 2022.

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) has released data that shows that in 2022 for the first time renewable energy surpassed the generating capacity of coal on the U.S grid. This follows data in 2020 showing renewable energy surpassed nuclear energy as a generating source. 

Currently wind and solar account for about 14 percent of the power that's on the grid. Hydro is at about six percent and the other forms such as geothermal and biofuels account for another three percent. The renewable share of the U.S grid is around 23 percent in generating capacity. Coal is currently down to about 20 percent and nuclear is down to about 18 percent. The number one generating source is natural gas at about 40 percent of the generating capacity on the grid. https://www.eia.gov/

City of Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil states, “Today’s [April 3rd] homeowner repair loan forgiveness by Mayor Ginther was just another election year staged media event. Due to the city handing out home repair grants to eligible recipients for some time now, it is only fair to those homeowner repair recipients who have been required with paying back their interest free loans to be given the same treatment. The earlier recipients should have been given grants in the first place.”  

Motil continues, “Assistance with home repairs for seniors and those on fixed incomes is important. I have heard stories for years now how new residents who are purchasing tax abated luxury homes in desirable risk-free development urban neighborhoods are calling code enforcement officers on long-time residents who cannot afford repairs. Along with escalating property taxes, this is just one more adverse impact caused by gentrification.”    

• 2022 saw record growth worldwide for renewable energy with China providing about half of all renewables installed globally. 

A recent report demonstrates that renewable energy has grown 9.6 percent worldwide. This record rate of growth saw 295 gigawatts of renewables added to the various grids, resulting in a total of 3372 gigawatts of renewables worldwide. China accounted for almost half of new generating capacity with 141 gigawatts added. Europe followed a distance second at 57 gigawatts of generating capacity. North America added 29 gigawatts with the continent of Africa falling far behind with only 2.7 gigawatts of installed new renewable capacity in 2022. 

Worldwide installed renewable generating capacity is split pretty much evenly between hydroelectric, solar and wind. China is far ahead with 392 gigawatts of installed systems. In second place with a quarter of that amount or about 111 GW is the United States, followed by Japan, Germany and India.  

The first ever City Council district election is in November and roughly half the candidates met last night in a forum, not a debate, at the First Church of God on Refugee Road. The local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, which is often referred to as an “organization of organizations” of African American women, sponsored the event.

The mayoral and Columbus Board of Education candidates were also invited. Mayoral candidate Joe Motil took the stage to field questions from the audience, but Mayor Ginther did not show.

Council President Shannon Hardin, running in District 9 (Far East), was in attendance but did not take the stage to field questions. Both Councilmembers Shayla Favor, running in District 7 (downtown and Near East), and Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, running in District 8 (Southside and Southeast), were not in attendance or did not take the stage. Melissa Green, running in District 6 (Hilltop and Southwest), was in attendance but due to time constraints and because her district is uncontested, she was not asked to take questions on stage.

In a viral video that has racked up more than half a million views, students from Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS) urged Gov. DeWine and key legislators to deliver on their promise of fairly and fully funding public schools during the 2023 budget cycle. 

The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) – a grassroots people-centered power organization – helped create the viral video in collaboration with CAHS students. They released it last week on All In For Ohio’s Instagram page, along with an online petition to key legislators urging them to fully fund our schools. 

The video has attracted significant statewide and national recognition for hitting a nerve in the ongoing debate around public schools and charter schools.