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Events

Governor, as public transportation withers so goes the Commonwealth

Sustainable Pittsburgh urges its 3E Links readers to respond today to the Allegheny Conference's call to action:

"Please let Gov. Corbett and the legislative leaders know that you believe the recommendations made by the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission appointed by the Governor are a good framework for addressing the state’s transportation crisis. Action is especially urgent given the 35% cuts the Port Authority will be forced to make in September 2012 if the crisis is not resolved."

Go to the Conference's website, and scroll down to the "Call to Action" where the Governor's contact information is found: www.alleghenyconference.org/Transit/Default.asp

3E Links subscribers likely resonate with the following list of the ways in which public transportation pays on the triple bottom line:

Economy
- Over 50% of downtown Pittsburgh workers and 25% of Oakland workers rely on public transportation. Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland are, respectively, the number 2 and 3 biggest contributors to Pennsylvania's economy and are the economic engines of southwestern PA.
- One bus takes 40 cars off the road, decreasing traffic congestion and commuting costs for all = more productivity.
- Fewer cars on the road = more available parking spaces.
- Fosters viable compact communities contributing to regional land efficiency and access to jobs.
- Gives consumers access to the retail economy.
- Increases property values and draws investment (transit oriented economic development).
- Reduces living costs per household, putting more disposable income into the regional economy.
- Connection to Pittsburgh International Airport and the world’s business community.
- Funding crisis is relevant to all transit systems in our region (4.6 million rides annually and growing; plus the Port Authority of Allegheny County's 230,000 daily riders and 65 million total passengers annually) and the state, as well as crumbling roads, bridges, and highways, i.e., all transportation infrastructure.
- Vital transit systems are a demand of young, talented knowledge workers who today have options and are highly discriminating in their choice of places to live and work.

Environment
- One bus removes the equivalent of 50 cars' airborne emissions for a region already struggling to meet federal regional air quality requirements and experiencing lives shortened because of pollution.
- Greater efficiency in consumption of precious regional resources.

Equity
- Access to opportunity thus allowing citizens to participate to their full productive potential.
- Facilitates the diversity vitality upon which our region's innovation was, is, and will be founded.
- A melting pot service for all walks (and those not so ambulatory) of life.
- Transit dependant citizens include our seniors, students, and those who don't own a car.
- Critical access to limited options for accessing healthy food.

Clearly we southwestern Pennsylvanians all benefit from keeping the wheels on the bus. Do let our Governor know your thoughts today.

These triple bottom line benefits of public transportation brought to you by Sustainable Pittsburgh's Board of Directors.

Resources

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

Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #5:
Hands-on Workshop: Resources for Getting Ahead

Friday, February 24
8:30 am – 10:30 am
Regional Enterprise Tower, 23rd Floor, 425 6th Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh 15219
Cost: FREE for Green Workplace Challenge participants; $25 all other businesses and organizations

Sustainable Pittsburgh is excited to announce the fifth of twelve of its year-long series of Green Workplace Challenge participant workshops.

Participants at this workshop will work with a team of experts and assistants who will help participants maximize their performance in the Green Workplace Challenge. The Green Workplace Challenge support team will provide one-on-one assistance to help structure Portfolio Manager Accounts, enter utility data, set the right baseline, and submit completed actions so that participants can quickly be credited with competition points. The workshop will also feature some time-saving recommendations so that competitors can get as many points as possible amidst tight time budgets.

This workshop will be especially helpful for:
- Small and medium sized businesses who do not have full time staff dedicated to sustainability programs but want to cash in on the benefits of energy saving and sustainability initiatives. Many small businesses can rocket themselves ahead in the competition in just a few hours of participating in this workshop.
- Large businesses that do have dedicated sustainability staff but need to navigate complex portfolios so that they can claim credit for their achievements as efficiently as possible.
- All participants who want to be able to ask questions about the Green Workplace Challenge Manual in order to maximize point potential.

Green Workplace Challenge participants register here.

All other businesses and organizations register here.

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.

Panel to address "Models of Sustainable Purchasing: Strategies for Choosing Suppliers and Opportunities for Selecting Reusable Products in Healthcare Delivery"

Confirmed panelists include:
Kurt M. Duska, President, Engineered Plastics, LLC (Regional Healthcare Plastics Recycling)
Judith Focareta RN, MEd, Coordinator, Environmental Health Initiatives, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC
Brenda Jones, Senior Source Analyst, Supply Chain Division, UPMC

MOVEPGH Public Kick-Off Meeting

Thursday, February 2
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Porter Hall (Building #3B) just off of Frew Street (adjacent to Schenley Park), Carnegie Mellon University (signs will direct you where to go)
View Flyer
More information on MOVEPGH

MOVEPGH is the transportation section of Pittsburgh's first ever comprehensive plan, which is currently being developed.

This Public Kick-Off will feature a presentation on the project, as well as afford an opportunity to begin direct interaction with the public on this most vital project to the City and Region. Representatives of City of Pittsburgh Planning will be able to discuss the progression of the plan effort in more detail, as well as spotlight numerous public engagement events throughout 2012.

Urban transportation is all about moving people. Residents, commuters, and visitors need to get around efficiently for Pittsburgh's economy to keep moving. Walking, biking, driving, transit, waterways...they all have to work together.

MOVEPGH will provide a blueprint for livable communities and sustainable systems, and what kind of transportation network we need to keep them moving.

MOVEPGH will coordinate and prioritize investments that impact transportation, land use and the environment.

MOVEPGH will guide a complete multi-modal transportation system for our future.

“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.

Public Meetings for The Urban Forest Master Plan

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.

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 Administration, 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

Cleanup Crew

It's a position title only an organizational chart could love: "Sustainability Coordinator." Off the chart, those with the job are known as the green wizards of the nonprofit and for-profit worlds, testing new systems and practices that are good for people, the environment--and the bottom line.

Now Hiring at Sustainable Pittsburgh

Part Time Temporary Assistant
February 2012 – July 2012

Reporting directly to the Sustainable Pittsburgh Communications Manager, the assistant will be responsible for providing administrative and program support across the variety of Sustainable Pittsburgh program areas, most specifically the Outdoor Recreation Partnership.

This position provides opportunity to contribute to the success of Sustainable Pittsburgh while acquiring job skills and being part of a dynamic professional team working to accelerate sustainability in the region.

Green WorkPlace Challenge Gauges Progress

After four months of a Sustainable Pittsburgh challenge posed to local businesses to “green” their buildings and practices, the organization announced the aggregate energy savings on Friday.

House Transportation Bill: Can It Be Salvaged?

The long awaited Transportation bill unveiled this week by House Republicans, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,” follows an unsurprisingly partisan path to solving few of the country's transportation challenges.

While the APA has posted a good summary of the components of the bill, Ben Goldman, at Streetsblog, doesn't mince words in his reporting on the subject.

Goldman wrote about some of the bill’s controversial points last week: "the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act looks like a return to 1950s-style transportation policy. It is particularly unkind to transit and bike/ped programs, and to cities in general." To top it off, Speaker John Boehner has made it a priority to attach approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the bill, which relies on expanded oil and gas drilling royalties for funding.

Is there a ray of light for non-motorized transportation supporters?

In a separate piece, Goldman indicates that "the House transportation bill will be marked up by the Transportation & Infrastructure committee" on Feb. 2.

"The first amendment, introduced by Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), would restore the Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School programs, consolidated into a single “Transportation Improvement Program.” TE and SRTS have been two of the most important sources of funds for bicycle and pedestrian projects, and right now the House bill would eliminate dedicated funding for both programs."

Take Action Opportunity via BikePGH: New House Bill Reverses Decades of Progress

Last week, we knew the bill would be bad news for biking and walking. But we didn't think it would go so far as to completely cut every reference to bicycling and walking out of the federal transportation policy. House leadership is pressing to eliminate bicycling and walking in the transportation bill. . .

This is as urgent as it gets. Do you live in Representative Jason Altmire's District 4 (north of the City)? Mr. Altmire is on the House T&I Committee who is directly responsible for advancing the bill and is in a key position to save dedicated funding for biking and walking. If you live in Rep Jason Altmire's District, we urge you to CLICK HERE to let him know how important bicycling and walking is in his district.

If you don't live in his district, hang tight and please forward this email to someone who is - a family member, friend, high school chum or post the link above to your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter accounts. After the bill is out of committee this week we will need every single one of you to contact your Representative before it goes to the House floor for

More

4th Annual Sustainable Enterprises of the Future Conference: Call for Papers and Participants

The 4th Annual Sustainable Enterprises of the Future Conference will be held at Robert Morris University on April 18, 2012. The conference is currently accepting abstracts until March 1st and the papers will be accepted in a double blind review process. The conference committee is accepting papers on a variety of Sustainable Energy and Business topics, including:

Alternative Energy
Energy and Waste Practices
Energy Management
Environmental Policy
Sustainable Marketing
Biodiversity Issues
Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Sustainable Business Management

The Sustainable Enterprises of the Future Conference is Free for students and registration is only $50 before March 15th.

The Smart Math of Mixed-Use Development

Many policy decisions seem to create incentives for businesses and property developers to expand just about anywhere, without regard for the types of buildings they are erecting. In this article, I argue that the best return on investment for the public coffers comes when smart and sustainable development occurs downtown. We’ll use the city of Asheville as an example. Asheville realizes an astounding +800 percent greater return on downtown mixed-use development projects on a per acre basis compared to when ground is broken near the city limits for a large single-use development like a Super Walmart. A typical acre of mixed-use downtown Asheville yields $360,000 more in tax revenue to city government than an acre of strip malls or big box stores.

Sidestepping Zoning to Build Green in NYC

Even in New York City, it's a pain to try to "green" a building with insulation, overhangs, and other methods that violate zoning. Katharine Jose reports on the Zone Green Text Amendment, which addresses such impediments, and the team behind it.

"The amendment, which is currently under public review—meaning it’s been referred for comment to community boards, borough boards and borough presidents, before city planning approves a version for the City Council to consider—is the product of the Green Codes Task Force, a panel pulled together by the Bloomberg administration and the nonprofit Urban Green Council; last year it released an in-depth analysis of the city’s building codes, with a mission 'to remove zoning impediments to the construction and retrofitting of green buildings.'

National Forest Rules Overhauled for First Time in 30 Years

The Obama administration has finalized new rules for the 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands that will guide everything from logging to recreation and renewable energy development, writes Juliet Eilperin.

As Eilperin reports, the new guidelines, which were praised by environmentalists and scientists, will take effect in March.

"'The vision is laudable, and this is no small shift in how the national forests will be managed, from one of commodity extraction into a vision of protection, restoration and water preservation,' said Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist for the Oregon-based Geos Institute."

"In announcing the new procedures, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said they were crafted to enhance the nation’s water supplies while maintaining woodlands for wildlife, recreation and timber operations."

How-to guide launched to increase business competitiveness with sustainable value chains

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today launched a step-by-step guide to help businesses accelerate sustainable growth in their value chains. Collaboration, innovation, transformation features case studies from 10 leading companies demonstrating how sustainable value chains can create competitive advantage for business.

YWCA Tribute to Women - Nominations due February 8

The YWCA Greater Pittsburgh launched the Tribute to Women Leadership Awards in 1983 to affirm its mission to empower women and girls to reach their personal and professional goals. Since then, the YWCA has honored the achievements of more than 200 exceptional women, saluting them for helping to shape the direction of our region and improve the lives of others. Below is a list of past awardees, along with the category and year each woman was honored.

Ecosystem Economics: Navigating the Water-Food-Energy Nexus

When we talk about natural resource constraints on business -- such as shortages in water or increases in the cost of energy or agricultural products -- we tend to forget how deeply intertwined these commodities are. In the business community, just as in a natural ecosystem, an individual organism (in this case a company) is vulnerable to changes in the availability of these systemic inputs. The risks are greater than we realize because the availability of any of these key resources deeply affects the availability of the others. For example, it takes 95 liters of water to produce one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity; and each year, the U.S. uses 520 billion kilowatt hours -- or roughly 13 percent of all electricity consumed -- to move, treat, and heat water. With agriculture accounting for roughly 70 percent of water use, you can imagine how complicated it can become to maintain a steady supply of all three to industry, citizens, and municipalities. This interdependent nexus is now evolving in a way that will threaten the well-being of billions.

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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