Close to 200 people gathered Tuesday evening at the Great Lakes Brewing Company's Tasting Room for 2005's kick off meeting for Entrepreneurs for Sustainability.

The organization's founder, Holly Harlan, set the stage by having local entrepreneurs, like Kathleen O'Neill Web of the Coit Road Farmer's Market and Jim White of CLEER TEC, perform a skit sharing how their work is contributing to the vision of a Sustainable Economy in Northeast Ohio.

Calvin Robinson of The Cleveland Clinic's Huron Hospital in East Cleveland shared that the hospital's CAO Gus Kious, MD has announced that the hospital aims to reduce their waste by 50% in 3 years and that they will use Sherwin William's low VOC paint for all projects.

Network mapping expert and entrepreneur Valdis Krebs spoke about the power of human networks in innovation and entrepreneurism.

The most powerful part of the meeting was the time then spent in small groups discussing what actions and visions each of us is going to take this year to claim our place in the transformation process.

The part of the meeting I was most impressed with was the number of people there and the demographic profile. This wasn't a room full of Birkenstock wearing folks 35 and under. The majority of the room was over 45 and many were everyday business people of Northeast Ohio. Certainly a sign that people are realizing the Sustainability is SMART business.

www.e4sustainability.org