Want
to see YOUR banner ad here? Become
a Business Member.
March
30, 2006
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Know
somebody that would appreciate receiving 3E Links?
Please forward 3E Links to them and suggest they simply send a note to info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
asking to be added to the distribution list.
EVENTS
(Click on Links)
·
Champions
of Sustainability "Transportation
- The Key to a Prosperous Future"
·
Mid-Atlantic
Environmental Leadership Institute (ELI)
·
6th
Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Smart Growth Conference
RESOURCES
·
Purchase Table Display
Space at the 6th Annual 2006 Smart Growth Conference
·
Special Report:
Investing in Wind
·
US Senators Say
Renewable Energy Deserves Full Funding
·
Taylor Woodrow named to
sustainable corp. list
·
Changing the Game:
Leading Corporations Switch from Defense to Offense in Solving Global Problems
·
Penn Future Podcast: The
Health Impacts of Mercury
·
Rendell administration
urges EPA to withdraw proposed mercury emissions regulations
·
Solar Energy’s Bright
Future
·
TOD: Connecting
Neighbors to Neighborhoods and Communities to Regions
·
Should the City of
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, PA Governments Merge?
·
Time Magazine Special
Report on Global Warming
·
IFC Launches Web-based
Private Sector Guide to Biodiversity
·
Businesses should take
lead in 'green' technology: forum
·
Revitalizing the
Economic Life of Cities - Eliot Spitzer
·
We don't walk, so we're
running out of gas
·
PNC goes 'green' in
building branch at Mount Nebo Pointe
·
Tax Shift Aims to
Steer Chinese to Smaller Cars
·
Allen County
Commissioners warm to merger
·
Champions of
Sustainability Online Audio Library
Tomorrow
Friday,
March 31
9
– 11:30 am
Community
College of
Monaca,
Hosted
by
Monday,
April 10
6
– 8 pm
Hill
House
Hosted
by Hill House Association
Wednesday,
April 19
6
– 8 pm
Corporate
Hosted
by
Thursday,
April 20
6
- 8 pm
Delmont,
Hosted
by Blairsville Improvement Group and Vandergrift Improvement Project
No
Fee to Attend
Register:
info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
subject “Regional Forums” or phone 412-258-6644
Building toward the May 19, 2006 Smart Growth Conference, a series of
regional forums will be held to identify a focused set of broadly supported
policies to revitalize the region's core communities as regional economic
assets.
These forums are designed to do the following:
·
Serve as an opportunity for public input
to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission's updating of the long range
transportation and development plan "Project Region."
·
Consider community needs and identify
common barriers as well as opportunities for sustainable redevelopment.
·
Build on existing efforts to provide
technical assistance to develop a resource network for sustainable
redevelopment. Attending each
forum will be resource/technical assistance partners who will be ready to
follow-up.
·
Review a set of currently emerging state
and regional policy options and assess their match to local needs.
·
Enhance understanding of our
communities’ interdependence.
·
Demonstrate that the needs of individual
communities are often mutually shared across the region.
·
Grow consensus on a focused set of public
policy solutions and collaborations for their implementation to renew SWPA.
The forums are hosted by the Regional Coalition of Community Builders, PA
Department of Economic Development,
To register for this and/or other upcoming forums, either email info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
or telephone 412-258-6644.
Please continue to check your 3E Links e-news service for forums scheduled
in your region.
Friday,
April 28
8
am - 9:30 am
Omni
William Penn Hotel, Downtown
Keynote:
Anne Canby, president of the national Surface Transportation Policy Project www.transact.org
9:45
a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Transportation Update session
No
fee to attend; but you must be registered in advance
To
register, call (412) 258-6642 or email info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
Anne Canby, president of the national Surface Transportation Policy
Project will address the critical role of transportation to the economic
vitality of regions as well as its importance to redeveloping communities and
social equity. She'll conclude introducing a reaction panel of local
leaders who will discuss what's at stake given the window of time for the
Governor's Transportation Finance and Reform Commission to make recommendations
for long-term reliable funding solutions to address the on-going transportation
funding crisis. A local
reaction panel will follow. Panel
members are: Micelle L. Mixell, AICP;
Mary Jo Morandini, Beaver County Transit Authority; and Richard C. Feder, AICP,
Port Authority.
Following the Champs forum, the public is also invited to attend a
transportation update session. This will include introduction to the 2006
Transportation Funding Initiative to be held in the same location from 9:45 a.m.
- 11:00 a.m. (See http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/TLC/transportation_reform_and_funding_commission_testimony_01_26_06.htm).
Anne Canby will provide an update on the new federal transportation bill (SAFETEA-LU)
and update will be provided on the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission's
progress on the region's Transportation Improvement Program and Long Range
Transportation and Development Plan (Project Region).
Champions of Sustainability is supported by The Mellon Financial
Corporation and The Heinz Endowments. Media partner WDUQ 90.5 FM
May 15-19t
Cost: $100.
Contact Katie_Rodriguez@lcvef.org
by April 21.
http://www.lcveducation.org/programs/training/eli/index.html
The ELI is a rigorous
and demanding but highly effective program for strengthening individual
leadership skills. It is an intensive five-day program that actively
engages participants in the learning process through a challenging simulation
exercise. Participants put what they have learned during daytime
presentations and workshops into practice at night during their group simulation
work.
Coming Together to Revitalize Our Communities:
RenewSWPA Cross-Community and
Friday, May 19
7:30 am – 4:30 pm
Omni William Penn Hotel,
Keynote: David
Soule, Associate Director
Center for
Urban & Regional Policy, Northeastern University
Cost: Early
Registration: $30. Registration
after May 12: $40 (free to elected officials)
Call (412)
258-6642 for early registration
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/2006_Conference/main.htm
The 2006 SWPA Smart Growth Conference will address
strategies to revitalize the region's core communities and seek to identify a
set of policy opportunities around which there is consensus for collaboration.
Leading up to the conference, a series of
community forums will be orchestrated around the region to identify common barriers
and opportunities to redevelopment. Common needs and policy options identified
through the forums will be presented at the annual conference toward
developing consensus on policies to renew
Please mark your calendars for May 19 and
register today.
The annual Smart Growth conference and regional
forums are hosted by, Pennsylvania Department of County and Economic
Development, Regional Coalition of Community Builders, Southwestern
Pennsylvania Commission,
Cost: $150 for shared
table space/ $225 for a whole table
Contact: (412) 258-6646
or info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
For the first time ever
This is a prime
opportunity to show your product to 150 - 200 targeted community leaders, public
officials, city and county planners, community development organizations, and
many, many more! Please call (412) 258-6646 to reserve your table space.
For over a decade, wind has been the world's
fastest growing energy source on a percentage basis. The industry has been
growing at 28% a year for the past five years, and if growth trends continue at
this pace as is expected, wind capacity will double about every three or four
years….Wind installations grew by 25% in 2005 and now stand 59,322 megawatts
(MW) worldwide, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). New wind
installations hit a record 11,769 MW in 2005, up from 8,207 MW in 2004.
Over 50 countries now contribute to the global total, and as of 2004, the
industry employed an estimated 100,000 people.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_template.cfm?ID=1313
A bipartisan coalition of Senators led by Idaho's
Mike Crapo and Iowa's Tom Harkin is asking Senate appropriators to ensure
programs improving renewable energy production and resulting economic
development receive the full funding possible in the coming fiscal
year….Crapo, Harkin, and 20 other Senators signing the letter to the Chairman
and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural
Development, and Related Agencies, note that Section 9006 of the 2002 Farm Bill
has expanded the use of renewable energy such as wind, solar power, ethanol and
biodiesel.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/news/sbnews.cfm?id=9314
Taylor Woodrow Homes was the only home builder
named one of the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the
World," for its performance on environmental and social issues.
http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2006/03/27/daily9.html
Companies today
understand that corporate social responsibility (CSR) forms an inextricable part
of their reputations and brand identities. They spend ever-increasing amounts of
corporate resources on improving the social, human, and environmental conditions
under which companies operate. CSR activities contribute to social progress and,
as an unending torrent of sustainability reports and press releases attest, are
intended to enhance corporate images. Yet the world?s problems seem as
intractable as ever, and very few global companies have managed to rise above
the public relations din to truly distinguish themselves through their CSR
activities.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_template.cfm?ID=1318
In late 2004, PennFuture together with many other
sporting, health, faith-based, conservation, and women's organizations (now
numbering almost 70) petitioned the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB)
to create a rule requiring coal-fired power plants in the Commonwealth to reduce
their toxic mercury emissions by 90 percent. Power plants are the largest source
of mercury pollution, and
http://www.pennfuturepodcast.org/index.php?post_id=74497
On behalf of Governor Edward G. Rendell,
Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty today asked the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its proposed mercury emissions
reduction rule, which backs away from minimum requirements in the federal Clean
Air Act and slows down the timetable to achieve significant reductions of a
pollutant that is highly toxic and linked to many health effects.
http://www.ahs.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=2819&varQueryType=Detail
Related news article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05139/507051.stm
During the last year, solar power got more buzz
with each oil and natural gas spike. Venture investment tripled, according to
the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)—encouraged no doubt by
last year’s top three tech IPOs, all solar companies.
Some solar stocks doubled in just the last three
months, including companies like Suntech Power, which went from an offering
price of $15 on December 14 to $37.83 on March 1, and SolarWorld, which went
from €116.69 (about $140) on December 1 to €233.39 on March 1.
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16118&hed=Solar%20Energy%19s%20Bright%20Future
Are you convinced that accessible, convenient
transit is a key to community vitality, but unclear about how to take advantage
of transit opportunities? Join Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Smart
Growth America, and Reconnecting America for a webcast series about the ins and
outs of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Explore TOD as a tool that can spur
planning and development, enhance housing and jobs, expand economic activity,
and positively change neighborhood dynamics. Learn about transit finance, and
hear on-the-ground best practices from small and large places across the
country.
http://www.lisc.org/content/calendar/detail/1292/
http://www.dlucarelli.biz/complexdecisions/Downloads/CityCountyMerger_DL_MH_TJ.pdf
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2006/03/27/editorial3.html
No one can say exactly what it looks like when a
planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind what you've
heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to
play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20060403,00.html
The International Finance Corporation, the
private arm of the World Bank, launched today a Web-based guide to help
companies operating in emerging markets understand, manage, and benefit from
biodiversity. The launch takes place on the occasion of the eighth meeting of
the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity...The
guide provides an overview of issues surrounding biodiversity, including its
importance to society and the relationship of biodiversity to business. Through
examples and links to other information, this Web-based tool helps businesses
understand both how they can manage the business risks from biodiversity issues,
and how they can capitalize on business opportunities, such as new markets, that
are associated with biodiversity maintenance and protection.
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/5264.html
Businesses should take a leading role in making
"green" technology available to the average consumer, or governments
will step in with heavy-handed environmental policies, experts said at a
business and technology forum. Executives from major firms packed an auditorium
in the San Francisco Museum of Art, where academics and technology veterans
brainstormed solutions to pollution and transportation woes. "Business has
a key role to play," said Bjorn Stigson, president of the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/24032006/323/businesses-lead-green-technology-forum.html
Our strategy for revitalizing the economic life
of cities has five components: First, we must revive commercial districts and
downtowns by making them vibrant places again. Second, we must transform former
industrial sites into usable land for growth. Third, we must stabilize and
strengthen neighborhoods. Fourth, we must connect colleges and universities to
downtowns. And fifth, we must promote smart growth by addressing the regional
infrastructure needs of our cities and their surrounding suburbs...Any
successful effort to revitalize cities must include a sustained commitment to
improve failing schools, ensure public safety and strengthen social services.
But our cities will not be able to sustain these vital initiatives if they don't
have a strong economic base. So I'm going to start by speaking first about the
crucial need to revitalize our urban economies.
I began my mental collection about a half-dozen
years ago when I noticed an intersection in Cranberry where it was illegal to
walk across the street in any direction at any time. If you ever reach the
corner of Route 19 and
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06089/677978-155.stm
PNC has built four green branches in the
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06089/677775-54.stm
Battling to control its energy bills, the Chinese
government on Thursday announced a sharp tax increase on big cars and a matching
reduction for smaller models. The
tax measures, issued by the Finance Ministry and published in the official
press, marked the latest step in a so-far fruitless government campaign to
persuade increasingly flush Chinese motorists to stop buying gas-guzzling
prestige sedans and heavy sport-utility vehicles.
House Bill 1362 gives local units of government
the ability to combine services or consolidate without requiring the state
legislature’s approval. The bill leaves it up to local governments what to
consolidate and what type of referendum will be required to approve it: for
example, having one countywide vote or giving city and rural residents different
votes.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/14112646.htm
“An internationally significant tutorial on the
concept and promise of sustainability.” Listen
to many of the Champions of Sustainability lectures from the comfort of your own
home or office. Also, if you use
iTunes, search “Sustainability” and see what comes up!
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/NewFrontPage/Champions_Inventory.html
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3E
Links is a free resource provided by