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Events

REGISTER NOW!

Climate Change Uncertainties: Opportunities for Business Innovation?

Thursday, March 27
7:30 am – 4:30 pm
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh North, Mars, PA
Registration: $100/person; Special Student Rate: $35 Registration fee includes continental breakfast and lunch.
Registration form is online at www.C4SPgh.org (Under Staying in the Know); otherwise contact Jerry Swart at 412-262-6291 - jerry.swart@fedex.com or
John Quinlisk at 412-503-4537 - John_Quinlisk@URSCorp.com.
Registration deadline is March 21

Three of Pittsburgh’s business, engineering and environmental professional organizations are coming together to convene a regional conversation about climate change, its impacts and responses. Climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint--all of these terms and issues continue to appear in conversations in the media. Many of these conversations are heated and controversial. One thing is clear about this situation: these issues will present challenges to businesses and individuals, simply because of the degree of interest people have in the topics and resulting worldwide concern and debate. Interest in climate change topics has already prompted foreign, federal, and state governmental considerations and actions.

To meet these challenges, the Pittsburgh section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE), and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), in association with the Allegheny Mountain section of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA), and Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Champions for Sustainability (C4S) network invite the region’s business, engineering, and environmental professionals to a one-day seminar focusing on climate change.

Resources

Public hearing on education

Friday, March 7
1:00 PM
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Schenley High School Auditorium, 4101 Bigelow Boulevard, Oakland
For more information, contact Aimee LeFevers at 412-728-8224 or aimee@goodschoolspa.org.

The State House Appropriations Committee is bringing a public hearing to Pittsburgh this Friday to discuss the Governor's proposed budget as it relates to education and the achievement gap in K-12 education. Please consider attending the hearing and learning from the dialogue that will take place. As the coming months unfold during the budget process, the same dialogue will occur in individual communities and counties--and will be subject to answering the same questions. Consider attending and bringing a few activists with you.

The Course in ZONING

March 11, 18, 25, 2008 (all Tuesdays)
6:00 pm - 9:30 pm
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg - Hempfield Room, Chambers Hall
COST: $95.00 payable to the PA State Association of Boroughs
Contact: Ms. Terri Dickow of PSAB at 800-232-7722 ext. 42 or download the registration form
SPONSORED BY: Local Government Academy and SGPWC

The 3-night PA Municipal Planning Education Institute (PMPEI) Course in Zoning is an in-depth “nuts and bolts” course in the drafting, amending, administering, and monitoring of zoning ordinances. Course topics include the MPC authority for zoning, basic and advanced zoning techniques such as overlay and performance zoning, flexible regulatory techniques, planned residential and traditional neighborhood development regulations. Ordinance reviews, map problems, and ethical issues.

Sustainability and Smart Growth Brown Bag Forum

Wednesday, March 12
11:30 am - 1:30 pm
NOTE ROOM CHANGE: Davis Room, 23rd Floor, Regional Enterprise Tower, Downtown Pittsburgh
No fee to attend. Bring a bag lunch; dessert provided.
RSVP info@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6642
Featuring:
Ty Gourley, Institute of Politics
Regional Water Management Task Force

The Regional Water Management Task Force, created in mid-2006, is designed to build on previous studies of southwestern Pennsylvania’s water and sewage-related problems—which are widely considered to be among the most challenging in the nation—and to achieve consensus on policy solutions.

The Task Force is currently drafting its initial recommendations and will soon be seeking input from the region in order to improve them. This brownbag lunch will be one opportunity to be involved in providing feedback to the Task Force on its activities and eventual recommendations.

Endorsed by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the Task Force includes representatives of 11 southwestern Pennsylvania counties. Carnegie Mellon University president Jared Cohon serves as chair.

Sponsored by:

cityLIVE! 6: “LABOR=GREEN!”

Wednesday, March 12
6:30 pm
New Hazlett Theater, North Side
Free!
Respond to: rsvp@nowall.com

Good jobs, Green jobs. Want to know more?

The Blue-Green Alliance, a strategic partnership of the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers, envisions a nationwide green economic renaissance, with revitalized manufacturing, green building, safer chemical usage and global warming solutions that will grow this new job sector. And cityLIVE! kicks off the national green jobs conference (first of its kind, to be held in Pittsburgh on March 13–14) with a dialogue sharing the best thinking about the link between economic opportunities and environmental situations. Speakers include Donele Wilkins, Executive Director, Detroiters for Environmental Justice; Dave Foster Executive Director of the Blue-Green Alliance; and Rich Overmeyer, a Principal of GSP Consulting. Discussion will be moderated by Nathaniel Doyno, President of Steel City Biofuels.

National Green Jobs Conference Set for Pittsburgh

March 13-14, 2008
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
For more information and to register, visit www.greenjobsconference.org.

Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference will launch a nationwide dialogue about moving our country rapidly toward leadership in promoting the benefits of a new green economy.

The conference has been designed for advocates representing local, state and federal policy makers; labor; business; the environment and public health; economic and workforce development specialists; investors; and scientists and technology experts. It will accomplish three objectives:
• Provide a forum for strategic interaction between the different constituents comprising the developing new green economy;
• Showcase key policy initiatives for the rapid expansion of green job growth and economic development; and
• Demonstrate to the importance of public and private investments in the emerging green economy and launch the public discussion on these ideas.

“U.S.-China Relationship and its Implications for Pennsylvania”

Wednesday, March 19
11:00 am - Noon
University of Pittsburgh Teplitz Moot Courtroom, Pitt Law Building, Ground Floor (Oakland)
Free
Register at www.ridgway.pitt.edu.
For details please visit our website or call Patricia Hermenault at 412-624-7396.

U.S. Senator Robert Casey will moderate a discussion of the true nature of the U.S.-China relationship and its implications for Pennsylvania. Panelists will include Professor William Keller, Professor Thomas Rawski, Dr. Sasha Gong, and Professor Wenfang Tang (invited). The panelists will take questions from the audience at the end.

Hands On Pittsburgh

Wednesday, March 26
5:30 pm - 6:00 pm Registration with Hors d’oeuvres/Cash Bar
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Presentation and Dinner
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Networking
Rivers Club Ballroom, One Oxford Centre, 301 Grant Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
$40 for Rivers Club members, $50 for non-members
RSVP by 3/19/08 to 412-391-5227 or contactus@riversclub.com.

Come learn how a sustainable environment and green economy in Pittsburgh can benefit your personal, business, and social life. Discover how to immediately apply simple, Eco-friendly tips that can truly make a difference! George Hoguet one of 1000 volunteers in the U.S. whom have been trained to present the work of former Vice-President Al Gore, "The Climate Project", will be presenting the slide show from the global warming film, “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Climate Change Uncertainties: Opportunities for Business Innovation?

Thursday, March 27
7:30 am - 4:30 pm
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh North, Mars, PA
Registration: $100/person; Special Student Rate: $35 Registration fee includes continental breakfast and lunch.
Registration form is online at www.C4SPgh.org (Under Staying in the Know); otherwise, contact: Jerry Swart at 412-262-6291 - jerry.swart@fedex.com or John Quinlisk at 412-503-4537 - John_Quinlisk@URSCorp.com

Three of Pittsburgh’s business, engineering and environmental professional organizations are coming together to convene a regional conversation about climate change, its impacts and responses. Climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint--all of these terms and issues continue to appear in conversations in the media. Many of these conversations are heated and controversial. One thing is clear about this situation: these issues will present challenges to businesses and individuals, simply because of the degree of interest people have in the topics and resulting worldwide concern and debate. Interest in climate change topics has already prompted foreign, federal, and state governmental considerations and actions.

To meet these challenges, the Pittsburgh section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE), and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), in association with the Allegheny Mountain section of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA), and Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Champions for Sustainability (C4S) network invite the region’s business, engineering, and environmental professionals to a one-day seminar focusing on climate change.

Following is a listing of topics covered and corresponding speakers for this event:
• Human impact on climate change – William Easterling (Dean, PSU, College of Earth and Mineral Science)
• Natural cycles on climate change – Dr. S. Fred Singer (Science & Environmental Policy Project)
• Impact on business – Kathryn Klaber, Vice President (Allegheny Conference on Community Dev.)
• Regulatory issues – Krish Ramamurthy (Chief, Division of Permits, Bureau of Air Quality, PA DEP)
• Legal framework and carbon emissions trading – Harry Klodowski, Esq. (Betts, Hull, & Klodowski LLC)
• Measuring our impact – carbon footprint – H. Scott Matthews (Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University)
• Possibilities of offsetting carbon – George Hoguet
• Climate action and leadership – Chris Steffy P.E. (Industrial Energy Engineering)

The Inside Scoop on the New Pennsylvania Standards For Residential Site Development

Professional Development Program for professional planners and municipal officials
Friday, March 28
Noon Registration; Program from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg - Hempfield Room, Chambers Hall
3 AICP CM credits
COST: $50 for members of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association; $60 for non-members (Checks Payable to PPA)
SPONSORED BY: Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association and SGPWC
Registration information

Current planning trends encourage more sustainable, low-impact forms of design. However, a gap exists between the desire for these and barriers to their implementation in local ordinances. A new set of recommended standards -- backed up with research and case studies -- provide guidance to fill that gap. A comprehensive overview of this new document is the focus of this workshop. This course was developed by the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center (PHRC).

Save the Date - Rachel Carson Spirit & Nature Forum

Wednesday, April 16
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Chatham University, Shadyside
Tickets: $25 for adults and $10 for college students (dinner is included).
Register and pay online at www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org.

Rachel Carson Homestead will present a multi-faith gathering to discuss the reverence for nature contained in all world religions. Through this roundtable discussion, participants can explore how earth stewardship is a matter of faith and how sustainable living, including conservation efforts, green building and using renewable energy, are practices that can be embraced by all.

Participants include Reverend David Carlisle, Springdale United Presbyterian Church; Nusrath Ainapore, Islamic Center of Pittsburgh; Sharon Pillar of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, biologist Dr. Kanak Iyer, a representative of the Zen Buddhism Center of Pittsburgh (to be confirmed) and Dr. Elisa Beck, Founding Co-Chair of the United Jewish Federation Environmental Committee, Dr. Terry Collins of the Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, and Sister Mary Christopher of Felician Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Province.

Global Wealth Environmental Film Festival

March 31 - April 4
April 7 - April 10
7:30 pm
Advanced Technology Auditorium, Slippery Rock University
Free to the public
More information: 724-738-2030 or www.pafilminstitute.com

The PA Film Institute presents the largest environmental film festival in Pennsylvania. Featured films include, but are not limited to:
Monday, March 31 - "Hurricane on the Bayou"
Tuesday, April 1 - "Saving the American Wild Horse"
Wednesday, April 2 - "ToxicBust"

Volunteers Needed for the Allegheny County Household Hazardous Waste Collection

April 26, 2008
7:00 am until 2:30 pm
Settlers Cabin Wave Pool
Volunteers can work all day or half day shifts.
The shifts run like this:
•All day - 7:00 am till 2:30 pm (may not run that late)
•AM shift - 7:00 am till 11:30 am
•PM shift - 10:00 am till 2:30 pm
To volunteer either all day, or for the am or pm shift contact Michael Stepaniak at Michaels@ccicenter.org or call 412-488-7452. For more information visit www.swpahhw.org .

Sponsored by the Southwestern PA Household Hazardous Waste Task Force. Tasks will include directing traffic, taking surveys, handing out educational materials, checking materials in trunks and assigning a dollar value, traffic counting, and other important tasks. VOLUNTEERS WILL NOT HANDLE HHW OR UNLOAD VEHICLES. There will be a brief training session prior to the start of the event. Lunch, beverages, and t-shirts will be provided.
New in the 2008 Season:
To show the Task Force’s appreciation for our volunteers each will receive:
A $10.00 gift card
Free Disposal of HHW (up to 5 gallons) and
A chance to win exciting items that have been donated by local organizations.

8th Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Smart Growth Conference

Revitalize the Region: Seize Market Interest to Redevelop Core Communities
Friday, May 16
Omni William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh
8:30 am - 3:30 pm (continental breakfast and lunch included)
Keynote speaker: Christopher Leinberger, Metropolitan Land Strategist & Developer
Cost: Early Registration: $30. After May 1: $40 (free to elected officials)
To register call 412-258-6642 or info@sustainablepittsburgh.org

Presented by:
Local Government Academy
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development
Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
Sustainable Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics

For sponsorship and tabling opportunities call 412-258-6643.

This conference, designed for communities in the region that desire to accelerate their redevelopment, will be rich in content, featuring tools, case studies, and technical assistance opportunities. A window of opportunity is growing for communities that are prepared to foster smart growth in step with the shift in the development market that is now occurring. Renewed interest in urban and core communities by developers and investors spells opportunity for restoring prosperity. This shift is fueled by demographic, economic, and cultural trends that are serving to revalue our core communities. Want to be better prepared to seize this market interest? This Smart Growth conference will help communities better understand the changing market, appreciate how to capitalize on their assets, comprehend what needs to done to participate in the market-based renaissance, and engage in a network to pursue mutual interests. Our region's sustainable growth depends on it.

Conference Highlights:
Project Region: The new regional transportation and development plan, plots a new smart growth course for Southwestern Pennsylvania focused on restoring and reinvesting in the region’s existing communities. Learn how the Region's Plan is aligned with emerging market interest in reinforcing existing places and targeted corridors with a strong emphasis on preservation, maintenance and operation of existing infrastructure.

Deal Makers and Breakers: To fully benefit from the Region's Plan, it's incumbent on existing communities to understand what developers and investors are looking for when they scan a region for opportunity. In a unique undertaking, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University (CURP) have collaborated to investigate new approaches municipal officials can employ to help attract new development to their communities. Project leader, David Soule will engage conference participants in discovering what is takes to attract smart growth investment. Furthermore, a consultancy will be launched to work with communities around the region to take a proactive, aggressive stance to meet the complex needs of firms looking to start up operations, relocate, or add new facilities.

Window of Opportunity: Keynote, Christopher Leinberger (see below), will demonstrate the shifting market now brewing in favor of “walkable urbanism” -- downtown and suburban downtown revitalization, New Urbanism, transit-oriented development, green field mixed-use development (“lifestyle centers”), regional mall redevelopment, among others. He will review ways the real estate sector is re-tooling how it designs, plans, regulates and finances to serve these markets to formulate and implement the next American Dream. A panel of regional developers and government leaders will discuss the trend of revaluing urbanity now stirring in our SWPA and how to accelerate market readiness.

Zoning for Smart Growth: Too often zoning techniques that shaped the growth of the American suburb create barriers to meeting today's community visions for traditional types of development. Gregory Heller of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission will be on hand to explore new innovations in zoning that provide flexibility to respond to changes in private market demand. Learn from Gregory and local leaders how your community can be an early adopter and zone the way to seize market interest to redevelop core communities.

Keynote Speaker:
Christopher B. Leinberger is a metropolitan land use strategist, developer, teacher, consultant and author helping to make progressive development profitable. He is a founding partner of Arcadia Land Company, a real estate development firm serving to create walkable communities in harmony with nature.

Leinberger is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution focusing on research and practices to help transform traditional and suburban downtowns to places that provide “walkable urbanism." He is also a professor and director of the Graduate Real Estate Program at the University of Michigan which focuses on downtown and suburban town center revitalization, transit-oriented development, new urbanism, and conservation development.

In his recently released book, The Option of Urbanism, Leinberger reviews how Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. He explains why government policies have tilted the playing field toward one form of development over the last sixty years: the drivable suburb. Conversely, Leinberger shows how the American Dream is now shifting to include cities as well as suburbs and how the financial and real estate communities need to respond by building communities that are more environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable.

Leinberger has written award-winning articles for publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal and Urban Land magazine. He has been profiled by CNN, the Today Show, and National Public Radio.

Conference support provided by:
The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
The Richard King Mellon Foundation

Great Outdoors Week 2008

May 16-25, 2008
Multiple dates and locations during this week

Come one, come all! The seventh annual Great Outdoors Week runs from Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 25, 2008! Great Outdoors Week highlights the amazing outdoor recreation opportunities Southwestern Pennsylvania provides. Various events are scheduled around the region during this week, including five signature events:
5/16 – National Bike to Work Day
5/17 – Venture Outdoors Festival
5/18 – Pedal Pittsburgh
5/20 – “Learn to Row” Indoor Session
5/25 – Rachel’s Sustainable Feast

Individuals from all skill levels and backgrounds are invited to participate. Visit www.greatoutdoorsweek.org for more details!

Resources

Greed In the Name Of Green

To Worshipers of Consumption: Spending Won't Save the Earth

Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction . . . in consumption. . . . We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate. The culture of obsolescence has become so deeply ingrained that it's practically reflexive.

Top 12 Green-IT Users: No. 1 Highmark Inc.

Highmark Inc. spent about $45,000 each month on electricity in its old data center, a 24,000-square-foot, Tier 1 facility in Camp Hill, Pa. The company's new data center, built entirely of recycled building materials and certified as a leader in energy and environmental design by the U.S. Green Building Council, is an 86,000-square-foot, Tier 3 facility with some 28,000 feet of raised flooring. The new data center is three times bigger than the old one, but its electricity costs are the same: $45,000 per month. Thanks to an array of energy- conserving technologies — including server virtualization and next-generation air- and equipment-cooling processes — the medical insurer has not only kept its energy costs in check, but has also expanded operations and increased production since building the data center in 2005.

More

An Economic Blueprint? The Candidate Who Has One Should Find a Receptive Ohio

What if the federal government empowered metros to use transportation spending to achieve sustained prosperity and sustainable growth in exchange for greater accountability on congestion and greenhouse gas emissions?. . .However, in a fiercely competitive global economy, states and metros cannot go it alone. Of all states, Ohio is in a political position to demand fresh solutions. The time for tough questions and frank responses has arrived.

The reason why companies greenwash their products.

The uncomfortable fact for many green marketers--and targets of that marketing--is that genuinely going green would mean giving up most of the products and services that clutter our consumer culture. It would mean simplifying, valuing time and people over stuff. How can most products avoid the sin of the hidden trade-off? With a simple label: "You don't really need this."

Urban Redevelopment Authority Requires Energy Star

Residential construction financed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority must now meet certain federal energy-saving standards. . .The URA is asking developers to meet the standards of the Energy Star program, a joint federal effort by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to establish standards of energy efficiency in products and buildings.

Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator

This equivalency calculator may be useful in communicating your greenhouse gas reduction strategy, reduction targets, or other initiatives aimed at reducing GHG emissions.

Zipcar Makes the Leap

The car-sharing darling makes its play for the mainstream by emphasizing economics and lifestyle over environmental impact.

The Burnham Plan Centennial

The vision for the Plan’s 100th anniversary is to inspire our region’s communities, leaders and institutions to build on the success of the Burnham Plan and act boldly together to shape our future. . .Bold Plans. Big Dreams. This is the legacy of the Plan of Chicago. In 1909, Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett collaborated with the Commercial Club of Chicago and others to create a new plan for the greater Chicago region. Today, their Plan still inspires us to be visionary, think regionally, recognize the value of beauty and conservation, and to plan – and implement – systematically. The year 2009 will be a time to look back 100 years for inspiration, and appreciate the big dreams that led to Chicago’s sweeping lakefront, the “emerald necklace” of County Forest Preserves, and a tradition of thinking comprehensively about the region’s development.

Study shows how growth may fit around T stations

Dense housing, improved parking and pedestrian-friendly retail shops would sprout around three South Hills T stations under a Transit Revitalization Investment District planning study presented Wednesday night at the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building.

Signing Your Economic Stimulus Over to the Saudis?

Maybe one reason is that Wall Street and consumers alike realize that unless oil prices drop significantly—-which may well happen if we fall into a recession—-many will be emptying that newfound stash just to pay for the increase in gasoline and other energy prices this year.

Smart Growth Implementation Assistance 2008 Request for Applications

The Development, Community and Environment Division (DCED) in U.S. EPA’s Office of Policy Economics and Innovation is seeking applications from states, regions, and communities that want to develop in ways that meet environmental and other goals.

Clarke Thomas: We can't have it all But Pennsylvania can levy a graduated income tax to reduce property taxes and improve schools

In sum, those hoping for a more just Pennsylvania tax system should bend their efforts toward amending Article VIII to allow a graduated income tax. Shake your heads as you may, but this is the only long-term answer to many of Pennsylvania's problems at all levels of government.

Study: Gender pay gap big in Pittsburgh

The pay gap between male and female professionals in the Pittsburgh area far exceeds the national average across most industries and occupations, according to a new study.

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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 in 2008 from:

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Dollar Bank
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Roy A. Hunt Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation



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