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Events

Green Workplace Challenge 1st Qtr celebration/Workshop #4 -- THIS FRIDAY!

Friday, January 27
8:00 am – 11:45 am
Fairmont Pittsburgh, 510 Market Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
FREE for Green Workplace Challenge participants; $25.00 for non-participants.
Breakfast Provided

Come celebrate the early achievements of the bold cadre of companies and organizations that have risen to the call for action and competition through the Green Workplace Challenge (GWC)!

Learn from and interact with a panel of competing companies to learn what drives them to compete in the GWC, what actions they have implemented, and how different strategies are paying off.

The event begins with an inspirational keynote by Dr. Valerie Patrick, Bayer Corporation's Sustainability Coordinator, about the market opportunities, innovation drivers, and the financial returns that Bayer is pursuing in the spirit of competition embodied in the GWC. Dr. Patrick's remarks will be followed by a formal recognition of all competition participants.

For the second portion of the program, attendees can engage with a panel on innovative lighting and energy efficiency technologies that have direct benefits to energy savings (and GWC competition points). Lastly, workshop organizers invite attendees to share their concerns and needs about their own greening strategies with experts during a closing networking session.

Discover what regional impact the competition has already accomplished in just 4 months, recognize the achievements of the competitors, and learn how your organization can adopt what has worked for these leaders.

This workshop is ideal for representatives from businesses and organizations that are looking to gain insight on strategies that result in reduced costs, utility savings, and more sustainable operations. The media is invited to attend.

For more information, including registration, agenda, and list of speakers, please visit the registration page.

Resources

Green Workplace Challenge 1st Qtr celebration/Workshop #4 -- THIS FRIDAY!

See who the leaders are!

Friday, January 27
8:00 am – 11:45 am
Fairmont Pittsburgh, 510 Market Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
FREE for Green Workplace Challenge participants; $25.00 for non-participants.
Breakfast Provided
For more information, including registration and agenda, please visit the registration page.

Come celebrate the early achievements of the bold cadre of companies and organizations that have risen to the call for action and competition through the Green Workplace Challenge (GWC)!

Learn from and interact with a panel of competing companies to learn what drives them to compete in the GWC, what actions they have implemented, and how different strategies are paying off.

The event begins with an inspirational keynote by Dr. Valerie Patrick, Bayer Corporation's Sustainability Coordinator, about the market opportunities, innovation drivers, and the financial returns that Bayer is pursuing in the spirit of competition embodied in the GWC. Dr. Patrick's remarks will be followed by a formal recognition of all competition participants.

For the second portion of the program, attendees can engage with a panel on innovative lighting and energy efficiency technologies that have direct benefits to energy savings (and GWC competition points). Lastly, workshop organizers invite attendees to share their concerns and needs about their own greening strategies with experts during a closing networking session.

Discover what regional impact the competition has already accomplished in just 4 months, recognize the achievements of the competitors, and learn how your organization can adopt what has worked for these leaders.

Who should attend: This workshop is ideal for representatives from businesses and organizations that are looking to gain insight on strategies that result in reduced costs, utility savings, and more sustainable operations. The media is invited to attend.

REGISTER NOW: Complying With & Enforcing Idling Laws

Webinar Wednesdays, a program of the Sustainable Development Academy
Wednesday, February 15
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
View Flyer

The Sustainable Development Academy is a partnership between Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh. This particular webinar will be presented by GASP (Group Against Smog and Pollution). Topics include:
- Overview of Act 124, the Diesel-Powered Motor Vehicle Idling Act
- Economic environmental, and human harm caused by unnecessary idling
- Obtaining proper signage for facilities to comply with the act
- Local government’s role in enforcing the Act Penalties for violations

For more information including registration, please visit www.localgovernmentacademy.org

Building Value Chain Capacity: Sustainability's Role in Product Purchasing and Service Procurement for Healthcare

Thursday, March 8
8:00 am – 10:30 am
Regional Learning Alliance, 850 Cranberry Woods Drive, Cranberry Township 16066
Also available in webinar format-- details forthcoming.
Cost: $15 for Sustainable Pittsburgh/C4S Members || $25 Nonmembers Students: Special Rate
Breakfast Provided
More information and registration

Featuring keynote by Gary Cohen, Health Care without Harm: "Embedding Sustainability in Healthcare's DNA through Purchasing and Acquisition"

Given the scale and scope of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s healthcare sector, both supply chains and information technology emerge as important, regional areas for sustainability and opportunity. Come learn from regional leaders who are working to build the capacity for our healthcare sector’s sustainability through their supply chain and information technology strategies and practices.

Supply chains are a gateway to becoming more sustainable. Emphasizing the importance of green purchasing and its relevance to sustainability, Practice Greenhealth, a national organization for institutions in the healthcare community that have made a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly practices, states:
"[H]ealth-care organizations can influence their upstream supply chains to move toward more sustainable practices by working with supply chain aggregators commonly used in health care, such as group purchasing organizations (GPOs). Collaborative efforts with such suppliers can bring safer and cleaner products into health-care facilities. Due to their scale, when large health care facilities and companies green up their supply chains, they have a strong positive effect, due to the sheer volume of their purchases." (The Business Case for Greening Healthcare, Practice Green Health, 2008)

This event is a "must attend" for professionals in the healthcare industry who are interested in gaining knowledge and how-to assistance on a variety of topics related to green and aggregated purchasing in healthcare.

Public Meetings for The Urban Forest Master Plan

Community Planning Meeting: SOUTH
Wednesday, January 25, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
WYEP Community Broadcast Center, 67 Bedford Square 15203

Community Planning Meeting: WEST
Monday, February 13 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Banksville Park Shelter, Banksville Park

More information

As part of Tree Pittsburgh’s Urban Forest Master Planning process, the public is invited to give their input about the City’s trees at meetings beginning January 23rd. Participants who come to the public meetings will learn the details of the state of Pittsburgh's urban forest, and will have the opportunity to provide detailed input into the plan. All meetings are free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. The meetings will be informative and interactive.

Additionally, Tree Pittsburgh is collecting Pittsburgh’s Tree Stories, and specifically opinions about City trees, their maintenance, and funding for the urban forest with a short online survey at www.tellusyourtreestory.org. Residents are encouraged to share the survey with their neighbors, co-workers, and friends as Tree Pittsburgh gathers more data about the city’s opinion about trees.

Green Roof Bus Shelter Workshop

How to create unconventional green infrastructure in your neighborhood’s public right-of-way.

Thursday, January 26
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Room 234, 116 South Highland Avenue, East Liberty 15206
Questions? Contact Maggie Graham or Loralyn Fabian
Information on Green Roofs

East Liberty Development, Inc. and Tsuga Studios are hosting this January 26 workshop. Until there is a concrete, regional plan for urban green infrastructure, it will be up to individual communities, on a very local level, to continue implementing such projects. It’s okay to start small. When you begin with small-scale, feasible projects, there becomes opportunity to create a large-scale, educational impact. As more and more small-scale green infrastructure projects are implemented throughout communities, they will work together to create a larger environmental benefit across Pittsburgh. To create true environmental change in this city, one must first create a change in mindset.

This project is supported in part by the Spring Program, an initiative of The Sprout Fund in partnership with The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Farm to Table Lunch and Learn

Friday, January 27
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Pittsburgh Public Market, Smallman St & 17th St, Strip District 15222
Contact: Erin Hart, American HealthCare Group, (412) 563-8800 or ehart@american-healthcare.net
Register

Learn how to 'Eat Seasonal' with the Farm to Table staff. In addition to a presentation about local food resources, experts will be on hand each month to highlight or demonstrate the positive benefits of eating local. A complimentary lunch will be available from the food merchants, sponsored by Farm to Table and American HealthCare Group.

The January 27 event features Leah Lizarondo Shannon from Brazen Kitchen in a soup demonstration: Creamy Soups & Desserts...Without the Cream!

Farm to Table Pittsburgh is an educational program that provides opportunities for eating healthy local food in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Its goal is to bridge the connection between consumers and local food producers. Eating locally grown food benefits both one's physical health as well as local economic health. Farm to Table Pittsburgh is sponsored by American HealthCare Group, a local family business delivering wellness programs to corporations, school districts and community groups.

YERT Screening and "Take a Shot" Digital Media Contest

Sunday, January 29
2:30 pm
Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Strip District
Free and open to the public
Tickets are first come, first serve. To reserve free tickets, people are encouraged to call Steeltown’s offices at 412-622-1325 or email Rachel@steeltown.org.

"YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip" follows three friends on their cross-country road trip to all 50 states in search of the sustainable lifestyle. The screening begins at 2:30 pm, and is also open and free to the public. In addition, special guests include, Dr. Patricia DeMarco, Director of the Rachel Carson Institute, as well as Mark Dixon, filmmaker and star of YERT, who will both speak after the event. For more information about the film, please visit www.yert.com.

This event also kicks-off the Steeltown Entertainment Project’s 2012 Take A Shot At Changing The World Digital Media Contest, open to middle school and high school students in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Students can win up to $10,000 in prizes by making short films that tell the stories of how Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers have changed the world, or by making a short film featuring their own personal plans for social change. For more information about the “Take a Shot at Changing the World” contest, please visit www.takeashotcontest.org.

PA DEP Secretary to Discuss Marcellus Shale and Innovation

Wednesday, February 1
11:30 am - Registration and Networking
12:00 pm - Program and Lunch
1:15 pm - Adjourn
Rivers Club, 301 Grant St #411, Downtown Pittsburgh
$49 Pittsburgh Technology Council Member | $175 Non-Member
Register: Online or at events@pghtech.org

Join Secretary Michael Krancer, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as he outlines the Commonwealth’s strategy to ensure and promote the responsible development of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale industry. As a key part of his presentation, Secretary Krancer will discuss the important areas where innovation and technology could improve the ways that we produce and consume energy in Pennsylvania.

Appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett in 2011, Secretary Krancer previously served as the Chief Judge and Chairman of the Pennsylvania Environmental hearing board, under former Gov. Ed Rendell.

The Pennsylvania DEP is charged with administering Pennsylvania’s environmental laws and regulations including those that deal with reducing air pollution, promoting safe water and ensuring that waste products are handled correctly. Additionally, the department is responsible for promoting advanced energy technologies and community revitalization.

For all of these reasons, don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a key member of the Corbett administration as he discusses issues that are important to Pennsylvania.

“Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self-Interest”

Wednesday, February 8
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
School of Social Work Conference Center, University of Pittsburgh, 2017 Cathedral of Learning, 20th Floor, Oakland
Lunch will be provided; registration is not required.
Questions? (412) 624-6304 / www.socialwork.pitt.edu

The University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work 2012 Speaker Series presents, Michael Eichler, Executive Director, Consensus Organizing Center at San Diego State University.

Mike Eichler is a faculty member of the School of Social Work at San Diego State University and the Director of the Consensus Organizing Center. He has over 20 years of experience in community organizing and is the creator of the method of consensus organizing. He has worked with unemployed steelworkers, casino owners, welfare recipients, bankers, corporate executives and the homeless bringing them together around common self-interest. He began his organizing career in Pittsburgh where he helped a neighborhood battle the illegal practices of racial steering and blockbusting by joining forces with a for profit real estate firm. When hired by Pittsburgh executives to help address economic problems caused by the closing of the steel mills, he brought the unemployed and the business leaders together to begin revitalization of the region. He was asked by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to expand his work throughout the country and organized new grass roots efforts in such diverse cities as West Palm Beach Florida, New Orleans Louisiana, Las Vegas Nevada, and Houston Texas. He started his own national non-profit, the Consensus Organizing Institute which trained organizers in the consensus organizing method.

He has been recognized for his contributions by receiving the Mon Valley Initiative’s coveted John Heinz Award and has been selected by San Diego State students as Professor of the Year in 2001, 2004 and 2005.

Webinar: Transportation Patterns and Impacts from Marcellus Development

Thursday, February 16
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Registration and more information
Contact: Carol Loveland at cal24@psu.edu or (570) 433-3040.

Featuring: Scott Christy, Deputy Secretary for Highway Adminstration, PennDOT, and Mark Murawski, Lycoming County Planning & Community Development

You're invited: STEM Education Series

Wednesday, February 29
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm (Cash dinner with speakers afterwards)
Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Avenue, North Shore
Registration is free. Deadline for registration is February 24, 2012.
Register by emailing Jane Konrad: konrad@pitt.edu.
More information, including agenda and speakers

Participation is invited to all interested in STEM education at the K-12 levels. Teachers may accumulate Act 48 professional development hours.

The STEM series is constructed to help K-12 teachers better understand STEM career tracks and to experience applications/results of these careers in the various areas.

This program will consist of two major parts, addressing the essential questions:

What is involved in a STEM career track?
What are some options?
Where can it lead?
Why is this important?

The Kick-off event will include two panels comprising outstanding leaders from the STEM areas:
1. Panel One: STEM area leaders – Career venues and values
2. Panel Two: STEM in Action - careers: addressing various STEM-based companies/organizations where teachers can experience real world application of STEM careers

Each teacher will receive a stipend of $100 for attending four of the workshops offered throughout the Spring of 2012.

Resources

Philly firm Onion Flats plans largest net-zero mixed-use development.

A pioneering green developer in Philadelphia is pushing the envelope of sustainability with a mixed-use project called The Ridge on the banks of the Schuylkill River, which is expected to become the nation’s largest Passive House, a net-zero energy building.

The Coming Shift to 'Climate Preparedness'

Utilities, the oil and gas industry, agricultural companies and insurers are building assumptions about rising temperatures and extreme weather events into their scenario planning. This is what's being called climate adaptation or climate preparedness. The payoff from investing in adaptation could be substantial.

More

The Hydrofracking Impact

Is natural gas the clean energy source it has been successfully marketed to be? My judgment? No. It may burn more cleanly than other fossil fuels. But the process to create the wells and then to transport the gas — even before and after the actual hydrofracking process — is so destructive of the natural and built environment that it is a wonder anyone can call it clean.

Awesome Video of a green roof bus shelter being installed in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood

Video documentation of a green roof bus shelter being installed in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, narrated by project leaders Loralyn Fabian and Katherine Camp.

Help Wanted: Communications Specialist

Scenic Pittsburgh, a project of the Pennsylvania Resources Council, and the only local organization dedicated to preserving our region’s scenic resources, is seeking a Communications Specialist to market and promote the SP message both online and in the traditional media.

State of Green Business Report 2012

The fifth annual edition of our State of Green Business report continues our efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. In addition to documenting what progress companies are making -- if any -- in improving their environmental performance, we track larger trends that will affect corporate America in 2012. This free, downloadable report measures 20 aspects of environmental performance, from carbon emissions to paper use and recycling, and attempts to answer the question, "Are we bringing a green economy into being?"

Sustainable Mobility Hits the Road

Another look at the biggest trends in sustainable business in 2012 reveal how smart transportation systems of tomorrow may derail some of today's most entrenched social norms -- namely, the rite or passage or a status symbol.

The Economic Risks of a Water Constrained World

We live in a thirsty world. Climate change, population growth and pollution make quenching this thirst dramatically more difficult. Our over-leveraged global water position is fundamentally unsustainable, and the business community is already feeling the pain. Consider:

• In a recent survey backed by 354 institutional investors, 59 percent of the 100-plus largest global corporations report exposure to water-related risks, with over a third already suffering financial impacts.
• Ongoing drought in Texas has devastated cattle and cotton production and threatened power blackouts. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports drought-related losses in Texas and six neighboring states totaling $10 billion.
• New Chinese government figures show that 52 percent of the country's industrial output -- over $4.5 trillion in value -- comes from regions facing serious water scarcity. Global banker HSBC warns that businesses operating in 14 water-scarce Chinese provinces need to plan for significant resource constraints.
• A recent study led by McKinsey and the World Bank projects that by 2030 world water demand will outpace supply by 40 percent under a business-as-usual scenario.

Alliance Benchmarking Report Ranks Cities and States on Bicycling and Walking

In a new report, Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report, the Alliance ranks all 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities on bicycling and walking levels, safety, funding, and other factors.

Save the Port Authority: We must invest in public transit or watch our economy wither

If the Fort Pitt Bridge were on the verge of collapse and faced closure, everyone across the region would recognize the need for action. Even those people who rarely drive on the bridge would understand immediately the impact its closure would have on the region and the daily commute. Public transit deserves no less consideration.

The Fallacy of Wetland Restoration

Sarah Laskow reports on new analysis indicating that in restored wetlands, plants, insects, and animals do not reach their former abundance, density or diversity.

Laskow reports on a new study of 621 wetlands sites from around the world that concludes restored wetlands regained only about three-quarters of their original biological performance. Restored wetlands also hold less carbon on average (23% less) than untouched wetlands. The results of the study may have a significant impact on the ways in which governments require developers to mitigate the impact of their projects.

"...the study’s lead author, David Moreno-Mateos, a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley, was surprised by how definitive the pattern was. 'It was clear it's happening all over the world and all sorts of wetlands,' he says...A few wetlands had been restored 50 or 100 years ago, but even they don’t perform as well as the ones they replaced."

For information on becoming a Member of Sustainable Pittsburgh, please visit our website.

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Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support ($1,000 and up) in 2012 from:

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
FedEx Ground
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates LTD
PNC Financial Services Group
UPMC


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP