3E Links readers are early adopters of sustainable policies, products, and practices, and the people who educate their friends and family about the benefits of sustainable development. Be sure to pass your issue of 3E Links along to friends and colleagues. Subscribe by e-mailing info@sustainablepittsburgh.org

Events

Time is Running Out!

Register for:

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. Register by 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.

See below for more information.

Resources

Multi-Municipal Planning Basics

March 24 & 31, 2008
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Green Tree Municipal Center
Registration

This program is designed for teams of potential planning partners. Officials from neighboring municipalities that may be intrigued by the prospect of multi-municipal planning as a vehicle to plan for their shared future can attend this program at no charge and find out what such an endeavor would entail. As an added bonus, this program meets the training requirement for the LGA Multi-Municipal Grant Program. Should you decide you want to do a multi-municipal comprehensive plan and request grant support, you will have already meet the training requirement. Click here for more information on the multi-municipal planning grant program.

For more information about multi-municipal planning, contact Susan Hockenberry, Executive Director, Local Government Academy, at 412-237-3171 or shockenberry@localgovernmentacademy.org

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, will be presenting "The Climate Project" 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 (Native Energy)
• Climate action and leadership – Chris Steffy P.E. (Industrial Energy Engineering)

“How Green Does Your Garden Grow: Assessing Community Capacity and Aligning Local Instigations”

Kenneth Warren, Director of the Lakewood Public Library System, Cleveland, OH
Thursday, March 27
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
McConomy Lecture Hall, University Center, Carnegie Mellon University
Free Admission
Inquiries: Renee Roy at krr@andrew.cmu.edu

Greater Pittsburgh Transit Contingency Planning Briefing

Thursday, March 27
8:30 am - 9:30 a.m
William Penn Ballroom on the lower level of the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown
Registration and continental breakfast will be from 8-8:30 a.m.
RSVP by March 24. Click here to register.

The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce is inviting all interested businesses to attend a meeting to review the status and timing of the upcoming Port Authority labor negotiations and to brainstorm ideas about what companies can do – individually and as a group – to be better prepared to cope with a transit system shutdown should it come to that. A survey form will also be distributed that you can use in your organization to understand how much a transit shutdown could affect your workforce.

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).

Corporations and Environmental Responsibility

A Weekend of Lectures, Analysis, and Discussion
March 28-30, 2008
The Erwin Steinberg Auditorium, room A53, Baker Hall, Carnegie Mellon University

What role can corporations play in addressing environmental sustainability? What is industrial ecology? Do environmental public policies unduly restrict the activities of a free marketplace? Are corporations being transparent about their environmental stewardship? Are environmental problems like global warming only “negative externalities” for businesses? Join experts, practitioners and academics for an in-depth treatment of these and other complexities having to do with “Corporations and Environmental Responsibility”. For more details and the complete schedule go to: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/99-522/index.html

Explorers Club to Tackle Mt. Washington Hillside

Saturday, March 29
9:00 am - Noon (8:30 am arrival)
Grandview Avenue - Mt. Washington
Contact ECP's Matt Tolbert at 412-687-4354 or drt42@aol.com.

The Explorers Club of Pittsburgh (ECP) will be working with the Mount Washington Community Development Corporation (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) to hold their 17th annual Mount Washington Cleanup. Experienced rock climbers and mountaineers from the club will be using their climbing skills and equipment to safely remove garbage from the steep slopes of Mount Washington along Grandview Avenue. The public is invited to visit and observe as ECP members climb and rappel the mountainside from 9 am until noon.

Burning Waste Coal in PA: Boon or Bust?

Saturday, March 29
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue (Oakland)
Contact GASP for tickets at 412-325-7382.

Join GASP in examining the controversial issue of burning waste coal for energy. Two separate speakers will be featured:
Conrad Daniel Volz, DrPH, MPH with the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities & UPCI Center for Environmental Oncology
"Identifying coal fired power plant pollutants through examination of local fish"

Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project
"Cleaning up after Coal: What to do about Waste Coal and Coal Waste?"

Save the Date! Earth Force Youth Summit

April 17 - April 18, 2008
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium
Additional details to follow in early April

Over 750 Grade school and Middle school students that have performed service learning projects will be gathering to share their results with each other and the community, while enjoying some educational fun at one of Pittsburgh’s greatest regional assets, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. Nearly 30 different projects are expected to be presented, representing projects that reduce water pollution, increase energy conservation, introduce recycling initiatives, establish organic gardens, reduce air pollution, or protect habitats and wildlife. In addition, students address community problems such as littering, social problems, and other urban issues.

Earth Force exists to create a new generation of environmental citizens who have the skills, knowledge, and passion to actively and effectively address environmental challenges. Earth Force primarily does this by preparing influential adults who work directly with youth: their educators, mentors, and after-school coaches.

Earth Day Celebration

Saturday, April 19
10:00 am - 9:30 pm
The Mall at Robinson

Join The Mall at Robinson for an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 19. In honor of Earth Day, The Mall is hosting a fun-filled day with eco-chic giveaways, plastic bottle sculptures and educational materials showcasing ways to incorporate environmental awareness into every day life.

On April 19 guests will be invited to visit Guest Services to receive a FREE eco-tote bag by dropping off 10 clean plastic water bottles and they can receive a free compact fluorescent light bulb by pledging to switch from inefficient incandescent bulbs. The Art Institute of Pittsburgh will unveil two displays out of 836 plastic water bottles (the average annual consumption for a family of four) in the Food Court at 10am. The Mall will also donate 5 percent of gift card sales on April 19 to the Sierra Club.

Please contact Shema Krinsky at shemakrinsky@forestcity.net if you are interested in setting up a table to promote your sustainable initiatives.

PIIN Annual Fund-Raising Banquet

Thursday, April 24
6:00 pm
Radisson Hotel, Greentree PA
For tickets and ads in program book: 412-621-9230 by April 5.

This banquet is in support of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network’s (PIIN’s) work for regional equity, sustainable development, public transit, housing, comprehensive immigration reform, cessation of gun violence, and other community issues. Keynote speaker: Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; author, Blow the Trumpet in Zion: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church.

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 .

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. Sponsored by the Southwestern PA Household Hazardous Waste Task Force.
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.

Affordable Housing Forum

May 13-14, 2008
Pittsburgh Hilton, Pittsburgh, PA
Registration: $99 (includes lunch, a tour of model housing sites, and an evening reception)
Please register and reserve your room at the Hilton by April 12, 2008 to guarantee a discounted hotel rate. See below for details.

The Affordable Housing Forum is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the key elements of the development process and cutting edge techniques to revitalize and manage your assets. The event will feature panelists, workshops, and a closing plenary. NOTE: Rooms have been set aside at the Hilton at rates that include breakfast ($129 single, $149 double, plus tax and fees, pre- during, and post-event). For complete registration information and a schedule of events, visit https://www.marcnahro.org. Contact Larry Cobb at 317-409-8171 or Ethicsworks@aol.com if you have questions or special ADA needs (before April 12). No refunds after April 10, 2008.

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

Resources

Coal Can't Fill World's Burning Appetite

With Supplies Short, Price Rise Surpasses Oil and U.S. Exporters Profit

Long considered an abundant, reliable and relatively cheap source of energy, coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide. An untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia's appetite has driven international spot prices of coal up by 50 percent or more in the past five months, surpassing the escalation in oil prices. The signs of a coal crisis have been showing up from mine mouths to factory gates and living rooms: As many as 45 ships were stacked up in Australian ports waiting for coal deliveries slowed by torrential rains. China and Vietnam, which have thrived by sending goods abroad, abruptly banned coal exports, while India's import demands are up. Factory hours have been shortened in parts of China, and blackouts have rippled across South Africa and Indonesia's most populous island, Java.

Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission promotes Smart Growth

More

The Next Page: Shining a light on why zoning and planning matter

The matter of this large LED billboard provides a perfect case study of the process. It is serves as a reminder of the deliberate legal process in place to guide planning and decision-making...Zoning Code is not the most exciting pastime. But its clear steps deliver checks and balances to safeguard the public trust. In Pittsburgh or any community, you are afforded a seat at the planning, design, and zoning table to sustain a just and prosperous community.

Lake Mead May Dry Up by 2021

Researchers at San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography said Tuesday that America's largest artificial reservoir faces increasing threats from human-induced climate change, growing populations, and natural forces, like drought and evaporation.

Mayor goes after green energy jobs

Rodriguez said he heard that cities and regions in the United States are aggressively competing for companies like these to set up green manufacturing plants. “The jobs will be in making the wind turbines, the solar panels and electric cars. That’s what cities are focusing on. We need to do the same in Ontario or lose out.” The mayor said he is already active in finding green jobs.

Earth, wind and hire

America's chemical industry faces a similar danger, Mr. Foster said, as European chemical companies transform their operations to comply with European Union regulations on chemicals that became law in June. The regulations require companies to submit information about the chemicals they work with to a European Chemicals Agency database, and to substitute less dangerous chemicals for more dangerous ones. Leaders of the American chemical industry "ought to think about the long-term environmental impacts of substances that they manufacture and make use of," he said. "If we choose to resist. . .we'll lose" to European companies.

County can't meet new smog standards

The EPA estimated that 345 counties nationwide will not meet the new standard. In Pennsylvania, at least 12 of the 67 counties probably won't meet the standard, said Judith Katz, the EPA mid-Atlantic regional air division director. In addition to Allegheny, those counties include five in the Philadelphia area and Armstrong, Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland in the state's southwest. Allegheny flirted with attainment for smog-causing ozone after three years of low readings from 2004 through 2006, and petitioned the EPA for redesignation. But eight higher-than-allowed ozone readings on seven days last summer pushed the county back into nonattainment.

Community agreements help spread the benefits of publicly subsidized projects

Pittsburghers have begun a long overdue discussion that could make our region an international model for just and sustainable development. This conversation could prevent future generations of Pittsburghers from inheriting deferred dreams, squandered opportunities and unintended consequences. . .Whereas past debates focused singularly on how to attract development, we have finally begun to consider issues such as development standards and community benefits. Some have argued that this broader discussion is an impediment to much-needed economic growth. Some seem to view development standards and community benefits as being mutually exclusive from or diametrically opposed to economic growth. But around the country experts now see these issues as bound together and mutually reinforcing. . .Still, some economists ring alarm bells, suggesting that community input discourages investment. They should read a recent New York Times op-ed piece by economist and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who says the best way to remedy economic downturns in weak market cities such as Pittsburgh is "to increase the wages of the bottom two-thirds of Americans."

Totally Spent

These measures are necessary to give Americans enough buying power to keep the American economy going. They are also needed to overcome widening inequality, and thereby keep America in one piece.

Global warming to affect transport

"The time has come for transportation professionals to acknowledge and confront the challenges posed by climate change and to incorporate the most current scientific knowledge into the planning of transportation systems," said Henry Schwartz Jr., past president and chairman of the engineering firm Sverdrup/Jacobs Civil Inc., and chairman of the committee that wrote the report.

Combat poverty with a regional approach

As regional investments abound, we must be careful not to miss the opportunity to address the equally prominent and important local news stories of neglected city neighborhoods, crime, poverty and failing urban schools. . .One way to address this problem is creation of a regional tax base sharing fund. A community's contribution could be set as a percentage of overall growth in its tax base or limited to commercial-industrial growth. The money could be used to address problems in less prosperous communities. Otherwise, new communities will grow wealthier at the expense of older ones.

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Announces Criteria

At the NEHS Conference general session on March 12, the SGP Partnership announced its criteria for becoming a sustainable, green printer. The criteria will guide printers on their journey towards sustainability. Printers who meet these requirements and are verified will be listed on the SGP Partnership registry website (www.SGPPartnership.org), which can be used as a resource for print buyers.

PennFuture Podcast: Campaign for Great Green Jobs

It’s time to turn a new leaf. In America today, we are on the cusp of a major paradigm shift encompassing how we think about the environment, the economy and the way that these important areas of our lives interact. In the clean energy, carbon-constrained future, economic stability and job stability will grow together as we change the way we use and make energy.

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 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