3E Links readers are early adopters of sustainable policies, products, and practices, and agents of change who educate friends and colleagues about the triple bottom line. Please share your issue of 3E Links with others and encourage them to subscribe by e-mailing info@sustainablepittsburgh.org.

Events

Not Just Leed: Leading the Way to Practical, Cost-Saving, Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions

Thursday, March 26
7:30 am – 4:30 pm (Breakfast and lunch included)
Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods, Cranberry Twp
Cost:
- $90 for ASCE, EWRI, AEI, and C4S members
- $120 for non-members
Deadline to register: March 24, 2009
Register online at www.C4SPgh.org/know.html
For more information, contact: Matthew Mehalik, Sustainable Pittsburgh, at mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org, 412-258-6644 or Bob Dengler at rdengler@GFNET.com, 412-922-5575 x 378

This all-day conference features renowned experts on real-world, practical, cost-saving, sustainable solutions for infrastructure design, including energy policy, water resources systems, buildings and community sustainability initiatives. Come learn about the latest advancements and solutions. This conference is perfect for businesses, engineers, architects, non-profits, and government agencies interested in our region’s infrastructure from a sustainability perspective.

Hosted by:
American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section
Environmental & Water Resources Institute
Architectural Engineering Institute
Champions for Sustainability

Resources

Diversity: Corporate Leadership and Issues for Our Region

Thursday, March 19
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Kurtzman Room, William Pitt Student Union, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland
Free to attend. To register contact: ethics@gspia.pitt.edu or 412-648-1336

Join the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership, Sustainable Pittsburgh, and the CORO Center for Civic Leadership in a presentation by Keith Caver, Vice President and Practice Leader, Executive Development, Executive Solutions Group, Development Dimensions International (DDI) and President of Caver Consulting, LLC.

This free, public presentation will focus on corporate strategies for encouraging diversity as well as personal strategies for career management and development. The panel discussion will focus on strengthening SWPA through diversity and leadership development. Panelists include: Victoria Chester, Manager, Corporate Diversity & Employee Programs, Highmark; Lee Hipps, Director of Non-Profit Technology Practice, Ceeva, Inc.; Darrell Smalley, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young; and Doris Carson Williams, President and CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce. Sala Udin, President and CEO of Coro Center for Civic Leadership, will moderate the panel. A reception with refreshments will follow.

Not Just Leed: Leading the Way to Practical, Cost-Saving, Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions

Thursday, March 26
7:30 am – 4:30 pm (Breakfast and lunch included)
Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods, Cranberry Township
Cost: $90 for ASCE, EWRI, AEI, and C4S members/ $120 for non-members
Deadline to register: March 24, 2009
Register online at www.C4SPgh.org/know.html
For more information, contact: Matthew Mehalik, Sustainable Pittsburgh, at mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6644 or Bob Dengler at rdengler@GFNET.com or 412-922-5575 x 378

This all-day conference features renowned experts on real-world, practical, cost-saving, sustainable solutions for infrastructure design, including energy policy, water resources systems, buildings and community sustainability initiatives. Come learn about the latest advancements and solutions. This conference is perfect for businesses, engineers, architects, non-profits, and government agencies interested in our region’s infrastructure from a sustainability perspective.
Hosted by:
American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section
Environmental & Water Resources Institute
Architectural Engineering Institute
Champions for Sustainability

Register Now: 2009 9th annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference

"Sustainable Community Essentials: applying the policy and practice"
Thursday, May 21
9:00 am - 5:00 pm (continental breakfast and lunch included; evening reception to follow)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Keynote speaker: Douglas Farr, AIA, author of Sustainable Urbanism and founding principal of Farr Associates
Cost: (Conference with lunch) Early Registration: $30. After May 1: $50 (free to elected officials)
Register Now

- Keynote: Douglas Farr, AIA, author of Sustainable Urbanism and founding principal of Farr Associates, an architecture and planning firm regarded as one of the most sustainable design practices in the country. Having a mission to create sustainable human environments, Farr Associate's unique niche is in applying the principles of LEED at the scale of the neighborhood.

- Update by James Ritzman, Deputy Secretary for Planning, PennDOT, on the Federal Stimulus Package and PennDOT Smart Transportation Initiative

- Panel review of sustainable community initiatives around the region featuring:
Mark Alan Hughes, Director of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
Murray Rust, Montgomery & Rust, Inc.
Jason Dailey, Cranberry Township
Jesse Jon Salensky, Vandergrift Improvement Program
Nathan Wildfire, Sustainable Policy Coordinator, East Liberty Development, Inc.

- Workshops tracking new "Essentials of Sustainable Communities" resources (14 topics from which to choose via conference registration)

- Reception featuring table displays by lead organizations per the 14 Essentials of Sustainable Communities

Today's difficult times are placing extraordinary strains on our region's communities. Rising costs of all types are putting a tight squeeze on municipalities and residents. Expectations and needs are also increasing. The policy and practice of sustainable development offers solutions. Come learn how your community, municipality, or county can put sustainability to work to save taxpayer dollars and avoid costs, meet needs equitably, conserve resources, and attract investment. Sustainability is central to professional management of local government and a collective imperative for Southwestern Pennsylvania's competitiveness and quality of life. Learn how to accelerate your community's success on environmental stewardship, social equity, economic development as well as fiscal viability and organizational capacity to learn, innovate and adapt.

Presented by:
Community Design Center of Pittsburgh
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 Community Development Network, Sustainable Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics

PMPEI Course in Zoning Administration

Mondays, March 16, 23, 30, 2009
6:00 pm - 9:30 pm
North Huntingdon Township Municipal Building (main meeting room)
Registration Fee: $95, payable to Smart Growth Partnership
Registration Form
Contact: Smart Growth Partnership at 724-552-0118

This is an in-depth course for zoning hearing board members, zoning administrators, planning commissioners and elected officials in the basic principles and practices for administering municipal zoning ordinances.

Reduce Diesel Emissions for School Buses

CALL TO ACTION!
Press Conference:
Monday, March 16
6:30 pm
In front of the Board of Education
341 South Bellefield Street

Public Testimony:
7:00 pm
School Board Meeting
Conference Room A
341 South Bellefield Street
To testify, you must be a City of Pittsburgh or Mount Oliver resident.
Please call 412-622-3600 this week to get on the agenda.
if you are going to testify, please RSVP to klawson@cleanwater.org or gasp@gasp-pgh.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT Tom Hoffman 412-523-2255.

Join GASP and Clean Water Action and testify at the Pittsburgh Public School Board Meeting Monday March 16. These groups are urging the School Board to protect students’ health by reducing diesel emissions from school buses by 90%. Diesel emissions have been linked to respiratory ailments, heart attacks and cancer. They are most dangerous to kids because their bodies are still developing. There is an available technology, a diesel retrofit, which can reduce emissions by 90%. One school bus company is already retrofitting 50 of its buses. Help us encourage the School Board to require the same for all the yellow buses in the district.

The Black and Gold City Goes Green - Kickoff event

Tuesday, March 17
11:00 am
Regional Enterprise Tower, Downtown
RSVP online at http://my.pennfuture.org/gogreenpittsburgh or by phone: 412-258-6680

This project, part of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative and managed by PennFuture, is a community action plan to cut global warming pollution by ordinary citizens of Pittsburgh. The plan consists of a series of monthly actions, all with little or no cost, that families and individuals--anyone--can take that will make a measureable reduction in the heat-trapping gases they produce. Participants will be able to keep track of the environmental improvement they are making, and will also be able to see how the rest of the city is doing. Pittsburgh is the first city anywhere to create a citywide citizen action campaign to cut global warming!
There is no cost for your group to join the campaign (although donations are accepted!). Just sign up at http://my.pennfuture.org/gogreenpittsburgh or call 412-258-6680. Your participation will be listed on the website and in selected print materials.

Visitability Tax Credits: Getting the Most Out of Your Residential Projects

Thursday, March 19
Noon (Registration begins 11:45 am); Lunch will be provided.
PCRG Conference Room, Uptown
Cost: PCRG Members FREE; Government & Bank Partners $12; Non-members $15
Please RSVP by March 16, 2009.
For more information and to RSVP, contact: Sarah Stutts at sstutts@pcrg.org or 412-391-6732 x210.
www.pcrg.org

The Residential Visitability Design Tax Credit Program is designed to encourage new construction and renovation projects to make it possible for disabled individuals to visit residential housing and older Pennsylvanians to more ably age in place. Lucy Spruill, Director of Public Policy and Community Relations at United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Pittsburgh will discuss how to get the most out of residential projects at this Lunch & Learn from the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group. For more than ten years, Lucy was Director of the CLASS Attendant Care Program and, more recently, the Director of Public Policy and Community Relations. In her current position, she is responsible for developing and implementing public policy positions for UCP of Pittsburgh and strengthening relationships between UCP and other community organizations and constituencies.

Meet n' Greet Mixer

Thursday, March 19
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Schenley Park Ice Skating Rink Lodge

Through the efforts of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission, most of Pittsburgh’s 89 neighborhoods participate in an active network called the Clean Pittsburgh Stewards. Stewards organize "Redd Ups," recruit thousands of volunteers and maintain communications between neighborhoods, city departments and support groups in order to reduce blight in the City. This meet and greet will feature the unveiling of the “Bob Awards”, a tribute to the late Mayor Bob O’Connor and his dedication to “Redding Up” the City through the combined efforts of volunteers and Public Works staff. The Clean Pittsburgh Commission will also issue its 2008 State of the City Report detailing activities involving litter prevention, illegal dumping, vacant lots and buildings, abandoned cars, graffiti, recycling, greening, fines and enforcement. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is scheduled to address attendees. City Council members and City department heads have been invited to attend.

“Are You Bee-Curious?” Informational Sessions

Monday, March 23
7:00 pm
Penn State Agriculture Extension, 400 N. Lexington St., Point Breeze
Free and open to the public
No need to register.

Burgh Bees is pleased to announce: “Are You Bee-Curious?” Informational Sessions and The 2009 Beekeeping 101 Training! Join four of the founders of Burgh Bees—-Meredith Grelli, Alex Grelli, Robert Steffes and Jennifer Wood—-for an evening exploring the amazing craft of beekeeping. These sessions are designed to answer your questions about beekeeping and to help you decide if you want to participate in the full-year beekeeping training. Burgh Bees recommends you attend a “Bee Curious?” session if you haven’t been to visit an apiary and want to learn more about what it takes to become a beekeeper. The same informational session will be held on April 1 at the East End Food Coop. Registration forms for the 2009 Beekeeping Training will be available at these “Bee Curious?” sessions.

Green Friends Inaugural Event

Thursday, March 26
7:00 pm
Construction Junction, Point Breeze
Free
Contact: Glenn Gilbert, Green Friends Development Company at 412-726-1698 or www.greenfriends.biz

This event introduces Green Friends to the region as a green design/build company determined to make a difference. Please join us for this discussion on the current and future status of green building in Pittsburgh. The Event is free for interested parties and is B.Y.O.B. although some snacks and water will be provided.

Global Warming: Making the Transition to a Just and Sustainable World

Sunday, March 29
1:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Oakland
Cost: Free for PennFuture and Phipps members; $10 for non-members
To register: www.pennfuture.org/events or by calling 1-800-321-7775

Join PennFuture for their 4th annual global warming conference and hear nationally-known Jerome Ringo, president of the Apollo Alliance, speak about green jobs, environmental justice, and global warming.

James Thorne, senior director of science from Natural Lands Trust will be discussing global warming impacts in Pennsylvania. Other presenters include Kasey Gillette, legislative director to Sen. Bob Casey; Lindsay Baxter, Pittsburgh's new sustainability coordinator; and PennFuture policy experts.

During the Action Expo, many tabling organizations will provide information about how to address global warming such as buying residential renewable energy, finding biofuels, getting energy audits, locating sustainable foods, etc.

Green$ense

Tuesday, March 31
8:15 am - 5:30 pm (Registration begins at 7:15 am)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Registration fees vary.
More details

From green jobs and the economy to entire neighborhoods and the implementation of innovative new ideas, Green$ense 2009 is a premier regional conference that offers a series of sessions outlining key steps to address these subjects. Whether you’re a professional in the building field or an interested citizen, the time has arrived to rethink and collaborate on best practices for buildings, neighborhood planning, and economic development.

Rain Barrel/Watershed Workshop

Thursday, April 2
6:30 pm -8:00 pm
East End Food Co-op
Fee: $30/person or $40/couple
For information and/or to register contact Nancy at 412-431-4449 x247 or nancym@ccicenter.org

Spring is here and with its arrival comes the first “harvest” of the season -- fresh, clean water! At this workshop you will learn how to harvest rainwater from your roof, store it, and use it in your landscape. Participants will learn about watershed issues, see how to assemble and install a retrofitted 55-gallon drum/rain barrel, and discover other rainwater harvesting options. Everyone in the class will receive the necessary hardware (not the barrel) to assemble and install a rain barrel for rainwater harvesting and on-site usage.

While enjoying this free source of precious water, you will be contributing to improved water quality in our rivers and streams, and reducing your contribution to combined sewer overflow (CSO), flooding and polluted urban/suburban runoff.

"Business of Brownfields" Conference

April 15-17, 2009
The David L. Lawerence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Registration information available online at http://www.eswp.com/brownfields/

This year's event begins with a river cruise aboard the Pittsburgh Explorer, the first environmentally "green" boat of its kind. The tour will examine some of Pittsburgh's best and brightest example of brownfields development around the 3 Rivers. The reception will feature Allegheny County Director of Economic Development, Dennis Davin. Mr. Davin will discuss many of the developments and opportunities in and around the region. At the conclusion of the reception, join fellow conference attendees at PNC Park to see an early season game with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Technical Conference will begin on Thursday, April 16 with an Opening Session featuring Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Following this session, attendees can choose from 2 concurrent breakout sessions on a variety of topics, including:
• Sustainable Development
• Regulatory Perspectives
• Innovative Site Investigation
• Remediation Technologies
• Visions for Redevelopment

Sessions will be offered throughout the entire day on Thursday, April 16 and until 12:00 noon on Friday, April 17. Additionally, more than 20 exhibitors will be on hand presenting information on the technical, legal financial, governmental and social importance of brownfields development.

29th Annual Recreation Resource Planners Conference

Get to the Point: Pittsburgh 2009
April 27 - May 1, 2009
Hilton Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Early Bird Registration Extended to March 20!
Visit www.narrp.org for more details.

This event is the premier annual conference focusing on the topic and profession of outdoor recreation planning. The 2009 conference theme, Creating Sustainable Communities through Regional Recreation Planning, is an important and timely concept for to convene around (and in what better a place than Pittsburgh!).  Join NARRP and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to foster connections among the nation's leading recreation planners, to learn from each other, generate new ideas for collaborative approaches among planners within state and federal agencies, the private sector, as well as university programs.

Resources

Pennsylvania town to become energy self-sufficient

The borough of Smethport, Pa., plans to implement a community-wide woody-biomass powered combined heat and power (CHP) system...Inspiration for the project resulted from a trip to Austria, said Smethport Mayor Ross Porter. Last year a delegation of educators and state and federal officials traveled to Austria to investigate renewable energy opportunities. As part of the trip, the delegation visited the Austrian town of Güssing, which is a model green energy community that generates the majority of its own energy and serves as a research hub in Europe for a variety of renewable energy projects.

Green for All's new boss

This year, the green jobs movement will be focused on helping to ensure equal access to the money in the green aspects of Obama's recovery package, while winning jobs and justice in the upcoming federal climate legislation. To be successful, the green justice forces need to be able to work from the bottom-up and the top-down. Now we will be much better able to - on both fronts.

More

Advocating proven and ready-to-go ways to create more jobs quickly & responsibly with stimulus dollars

While states develop these lists of transportation projects to be funded with stimulus money, Smart Growth America has partnered with state and local groups across the country to release a report showing the many ways the money can be used in each state to address their citizens' transportation priorities and get the biggest bang for the buck. This report, Spending the Stimulus, lays out 20 ways that state officials can and should spend the federal funding on ready-to-go projects that will address long-neglected transportation priorities while providing speedy and robust job creation and economic recovery.

Smart Growth America invites letters to Governors

Tell your Governor that your state's transportation stimulus should be spent on smarter transportation investments for a better future.

Transportation for America Advocating Complete Streets

Complete streets are a cost-effective way to improve safety and accessibility for everyone using the road, allow people to safely fight climate change by leaving their cars at home, and encourage active lifestyles that will reap benefits for a generation. We must change our road-building habits, and that change can start with this complete streets legislation. But Sen. Harkin and Rep. Matsui need more support for their proposal from their colleagues on Capitol Hill to make complete streets a reality.

Pennsylvania Helping Local Governments Reduce Greenhouse Gases, Combat Climate Change

The investment was part of nearly $300,000 for seven municipalities in total made through the Department of Environmental Protection's Local Government Greenhouse Gas Pilot Grant Program. The other municipalities receiving support for their efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are located in Allegheny, Bucks, Butler, Centre and Crawford counties.

Highmark Facilities Reduced Energy Consumption by 5.6 Percent in 2008

Highmark Inc. announced today that its energy conservation efforts in 2008, such as the installation of energy-efficient lighting and the reduction of lighting and heating and air conditioning usage, resulted in an average 5.6 percent decrease in energy consumption for the company and a savings of some $329,000 in energy costs.

Getting Down to Business In Sustainability 2.0

While early green efforts had a trial-and-error quality, the latest exhibit a get-down-to-business sharpening of focus. One strong new trend: a real wariness of greenwashing, and the need to analyze initiatives to test not for good intentions, but for impact. . .With the economy disintegrating, and the impacts of climate change advancing beyond all predictions, the imperative for new policy directions has never been clearer. Local innovations have been fruitful, but we need rigor more than ever now.

Transit Use Hit Five-Decade High in 2008 as Gas Prices Rose

More people rode the nation’s public buses, subways and commuter trains last year than in any year since 1956, when the federal government created the Interstate highway system, according to a report by a transit association. . .Although the federal stimulus law included $8.4 billion to help transit systems pay for construction, repairs and new train cars and buses, the money cannot, for the most part, be used to pay for operating expenses like salaries. So some systems are cutting routes, laying off workers and raising fares. Now many transit advocates, who have long said that transit gets shortchanged by a federal government that devotes far more money to highways, are turning their attention to Congress, which could pass a new transportation bill as early as this fall.

For Sale: The $100 House

So what did $1,900 buy? The run-down bungalow had already been stripped of its appliances and wiring by the city’s voracious scrappers. But for Mitch that only added to its appeal, because he now had the opportunity to renovate it with solar heating, solar electricity and low-cost, high-efficiency appliances...In a way, a strange, new American dream can be found here, amid the crumbling, semi-majestic ruins of a half-century’s industrial decline. The good news is that, almost magically, dreamers are already showing up.

Stimulus plans threaten green gains

Economic stimulus plans being rolled out across the world could commit countries to rapid growth in greenhouse gas emissions, cancelling some of the green initiatives included within them, analysis has found. The packages of tax cuts, credits and extra spending have been trumpeted for their environmental credentials by the governments proposing them, but a closer look shows that green spending account for only a small part of the bigger initiatives...Such increases in spending on high-carbon activities are a serious threat, according to a growing number of economists, politicians and environmental groups. They are concerned that a failure to “green” the huge fiscal expansion proposals will doom the world to ­decades of high-carbon economic growth and spell ­disaster for the planet. . .According to HSBC, about a tenth of the US's proposed tax breaks, extra spending and other incentives can be classed as green.

Climate Smart Communities

The Climate Smart Communities program from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is a state and local partnership to encourage climate protection. The program is centered around a pledge to combat climate change and includes the online resource, A Guide for Local Officials: Climate Smart Communities.

Residential Construction Trends in America's Metropolitan Regions

Across the country, many urban neighborhoods are experiencing dramatic transformations. Parking lots, underused commercial properties, and former industrial sites are being replaced by condos, apartments, and townhouses. In spite of the many impressive projects, a central question remains: Do such examples add up to a fundamental shift in the geography of residential construction? To answer this question, EPA examined residential building permits in the 50 largest metropolitan regions. The main goal was to clarify: 1) if there has been a shift toward redevelopment; and 2) in which regions the shift has been most significant. The trends indicate that the distribution of residential construction has significantly changed over time in many regions. In more than half of the largest metropolitan areas, urban core communities have dramatically increased their share of new residential building permits.

Lawmakers pitch tax credit for transit riders

"Mass transit use eases traffic congestion, diminishes highway and bridge wear and tear, reduces pollution and helps keep gas prices down," Mr. Fontana said at a news conference at the Port Authority's Downtown service center. "We should do all we can to encourage its use."

Working out is working, say health coach's clients

"If you draw a two-mile radius around this campus, you'll find some of the worst health statistics in Pennsylvania," Dr. Thomas said. "The people who are showing up are not the 'worried well,' " Dr. Thomas said. "These are the people at high risk. These are the people who have been missed."

New Home at Summerset at Frick Park Wins First Ever Western Pennsylvania Green Building Certification

The environmentally-friendly home was recently constructed by Montgomery & Rust, one of three companies building new homes at Summerset. The Gold certification means the home has met established criteria in seven key green construction areas including: • Site planning/development • Resource efficiency • Energy efficiency • Water efficiency • Indoor environmental quality • Homeowner education • Global impact

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

3E Links is sent as a service to Sustainable Pittsburgh Members and interested parties and is being distributed for informational purposes. The information above was provided by or obtained from the organizing institution or one of its representatives. Our distribution does not imply endorsement. To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail and type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Click here to access the 3E Links Archive. Use "Search" on SP's homepage for a great resource.

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 2009 from:

Bayer Corporation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Dollar Bank
The Giant Eagle Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Dylan Todd Simonds Foundation
University of Pittsburgh


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