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Events

Sustainable Pittsburgh's SCA Fellows advancing tools for progress

Sustainable Pittsburgh continues its partnership with the Student Conservation Association's Green Cities Sustainability Corps program with two talented young leaders joining our team. Amanda Virbitsky and Matthew Henderson are helping Sustainable Pittsburgh advance several key projects in our Champions for Sustainability (C4S) business network program aimed at increasing the pace of sustainability uptake among the region's businesses.

Amanda and Matthew work on developing SP’s priorities of: the Green Workplace Challenge, Sustainable Business Compact, and Sustainable Business Designation Program. These initiatives are part of our comprehensive strategy of creating incentives and leverage points for accelerating the policy and practice of sustainability in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Click here for brief overviews of what each Fellow is focusing on at SP.

Resources

SAVE THE DATE: 11th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference “Smart Growth is Smart Business”

Tuesday, December 13
Downtown Pittsburgh - Location TBD
Featuring: Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView

This year's conference will launch a 'businesses for smart growth' initiative in southwestern Pennsylvania. Filling a strategic gap, the event will solidify the bottom line business case and economic imperative for regional smart growth and galvanize business constituency.

Business leaders around the nation increasingly recognize that regional growth and development patterns -- guided by principles of smart growth and sustainability -- improve quality of life, lessen the cost of doing business, increase profitability, help reduce tax and infrastructure costs, and contribute to talent recruitment and retention.

Time is ripe for a business initiative focused on advancing our region's goals for more efficient and sustainable development to spur economic prosperity and extend this region's signature livability to more persons. The bottom line business case of smart growth is apparent.

Mark your calendars as the Smart Growth Conference is an invitation to address the ways smart growth is smart business:
- engage the private sector in harnessing smart growth market opportunity
- explore innovative means of ensuring financial feasibility of sustainable development
- channel the pattern and character of growth and development to improve productivity and hasten regional sustainability that protects and enhances business investments
- opportunities to have an impact on state, regional, and local planning and programming
- incentives to level the field for development and redevelopment to revitalize our existing communities
- the new economics nexus of land use, transportation, housing, and development

Keynote speaker Henry Cisneros is the executive chairman of CityView, an urban institutional investment firm which finances commercial and residential developers. His governmental experience and dedication to America's cities are important features of CityView's "Smart Capital for Smart Growth" strategy focused on urban solutions. Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Dallas and San Antonio, CityView has invested in and developed more than $2 billion in real estate assets for 45 projects in 30 markets across 13 states since 2003. CityView is one of the nation's premier institutional investment firms focused on urban real estate, incity housing, and metropolitan infrastructure and is a fully-integrated operating company with an active management approach. Prior to establishing CityView, Henry Cisneros served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and was the four-term Mayor of San Antonio, Texas.

The 11th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference is presented by:
Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Green Building Alliance; NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, Pittsburgh Chapter; Pittsburgh Technology Council; Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; Sustainable Pittsburgh; Urban Land Institute Pittsburgh District Council

Try a "bikepool" at the Bikepool Extravaganza!

Friday July 22
More information below. Details are also posted on the carfreefridays.org website.

A bikepool is a group of two or more people who bike to work or school together. The purpose of the event is twofold. First BikePGH wants to promote bikepools to potential bike commuters who are “interested by concerned.” Riding with others increases one’s presence on the street and helps people gain more confidence when bicycling. The second goal is to bring more attention to the bikepool matching service offered by CommuteInfo.

BikePGH has coordinated ride leaders for the one day event on the 22nd to give people an opportunity to try out a bikepool. More than twenty bikepools are posted on Google Maps.

People who sign up for the match program and ride regularly with a bikepool are eligible for the Emergency Ride Home benefit and are officially counted by CommuteInfo among the region’s residents who bike to work. Register online for the bikepool matching service at http://www.commuteinfo.org/bike

There are two “welcome locations:” Downtown in Market Square and at the parklet at Bouquet and Forbes in Oakland. There will be people stationed there with refreshments and breakfast bars from 7:30 am to 9:30 am.

All are welcome to join BikePGH to register on site for the program. In addition to the organizations previously mentioned, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and Oakland Transportation Management Association have all come together to support the event.

Family Outdoor Festivals

Saturday, July 23 - McKinley Park
Saturday, August 27 - Allegheny Commons
All events run from Noon until 4:00 pm
Free to the public. More information

Venture Outdoors Family and Community Programs will host three FREE festivals this summer. Each event features fun beginner-friendly activities. Try scaling the climbing wall, paddling a kayak on Lake Elizabeth, using a GPS unit to find treasures, or biking around the park! At the June 25th festival, kids can create their own sensory touch box with recycled materials provided by the Outdoor Classroom, and make a Squonk marionette with the Children's Museum. Hula hooping, nature activities, food and music from Pittsburgh's favorite DJ, DJ Nick Nice, will be offered at the event!

Special screening of THE LAST MOUNTAIN

Friday, July 22 8:00pm only
Saturday, July 23 4:00pm, 6:00pm & 8:00pm
Sunday, July 24 2:00pm & 4:00pm
Monday, July 25 - Wednesday, July 27 7:30pm - Monday's screening also features a lively panel discussion. See below for details.
Thursday, July 28 5:30pm & 7:30pm

Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh 15222
Tickets: $8.00; Seniors (62+)/ Students: $7.00; University Students: $4.00(Pitt /Point Park/ Art Institute /Chatham/Carnegie Mellon); PFM/ PCA Members: $7.00
Tickets cannot be purchased in advance unless otherwise noted; Box office opens 30 minutes before showtime.

Uncommon Productions/DADA Films invite you to join Producers Clara Bingham and Eric Grunebaum and Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, Environmental Integrity Project, National Wildlife Federation, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, PennFuture, and Sierra Club PA (add’l co-sponsors pending) for a special screening of THE LAST MOUNTAIN, a documentary film by Bill Haney.

A lively panel discussion will follow the screening on Monday, July 25. Panelists include:
Larry Schweiger, President & CEO of National Wildlife Federation
Michael Hendryx, Ph.D., Director, West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
Dr. Ben Stout, III, Professor of Biology, Wheeling Jesuit University
Lisa Graves Marcucci, Environmental Integrity Project

Clara Bingham will moderate the discussion.

About the film: The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental and public health concerns. The daring solution proposed by a small Appalachian community over a local battle over coal quickly takes on national significance. When Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. joins Appalachian families and activities, harnessing the power of citizen democracy to fend off the extraordinary power of "Big Coal," the conflict flares. With waitresses, college students, and former marines taking extraordinary risks to stave off the coal industry's lobbyists and politicians, the revolutionary fight for the future of Appalachia, and for the collective future, is revealed.

THE LAST MOUNTAIN is in top markets across the US this summer. Check here for listings.
For more information on the film, including trailer, visit www.TheLastMountainMovie.com

Managing Marcellus: An Evening of Deliberative Theater and Democracy

Wednesday, July 27
5:00 pm - 8:15 pm
WQED Studios, Oakland
More information

While the Marcellus shale is recognized as one of the greatest economic opportunities for Pennsylvania, the drilling and processing of natural gas poses significant challenges and threats to local infrastructure, the environment, and public safety.

What is the best role for communities to play in safeguarding local assets and protecting the environment? Is anyone doing it right? Managing Marcellus is a unique opportunity to explore the critical concerns of the Marcellus Shale and the various ways in which local leaders have sought to support the development of the industry with these concerns in mind.

The event is highly participatory and includes a reception, pre-reading and pre and post surveys, moderated small group deliberation, Q&A panel discussion and a special Deliberative Theater performance conveying the controversy and viewpoints of Shale drilling. Seating is limited and participants will be chosen by random, not first to sign up.

Green Drinks

Thursday, July 28
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh 15217
More information

This Green Drinks is hosted by Carolyn Speranza and the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill.

The American Jewish Museum of the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh's Anna L. and Irene V. Caplan exhibition "Too Shallow for Diving: the21st Century Is Treading Water," guest curated by Carolyn Speranza, includes sixteen artists and comprises painting, sculpture, video, installation, spoken word and photography. The artists' work inventively fuses aesthetic concepts with ecological observations as a catalyst for viewers to consider how human intervention impacts the future of water sources. Affirming their role in bringing unspoken conversations about our relationship with the environment to the surface, the artists created new work to facilitate dialogue regarding this most precious resource. The exhibition is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, The Buhl Foundation and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

Host: Carolyn Speranza - "As an artist and the source of the "Too Shallow for Diving" project, I delved into water not as an environmentalist, but as a person who is really interested in the world working for everyone. This stance includes each person planet-wide having access to the basic resources necessary for life. Like most artists, I envision and dream; on the flip side, as an engineer's daughter, I implement, build and problem-solve.

I invite you, the people working to make Pittsburgh greener in the areas of business, policy, technology and activism, to connect with artists who have created new ways to communicate the issues you care about."

Meeting the Challenge of Ethical Leadership
Corporate Governance, Risk Management, and Sustainability on a Global Scale

Thursday, August 4
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Doors open at 5:30 pm)
Lawrence Hall Ballroom, Point Park University, Downtown Pittsburgh
Free; the Pittsburgh Business and University Communities are urged to attend and network.
Register here

Please join Point Park University at this wine & cheese mixer focused on ethical leadership. Following is the event timeline:

6:00 pm - Welcome from Dr. Mike Haley, Heinz Chair of Management and Dr. Angela Isaac, Dean, School of Business

6:05 pm - Dr. Karen McIntyre, VP, Academic and Student Affairs
Welcome and introduction of Heinz executives

6:10 pm - John Kraus, Vice President at Heinz
Speaking on Corporate Governance, Compliance and Ethics

6:35 pm - James Traut, Director at Heinz
Speaking on Enterprise Reputation & Risk Management

7:00 pm - Brian Shuttleworth, Director at Heinz
Speaking on Operational Risk and Sustainability

7:25 pm - Dr. Karen McIntyre leading Q & A and open discussion

“Understanding Legal Issues Related to Marcellus Shale Gas Workshop”

Wednesday, August 10
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Eden Hall Campus of Chatham University, 6035 Ridge Road, Richland Township
Free and open to the public; pre-registration is required.
For more information about the workshop and to register online visit www.pasafarming.org/marcellusshalechoices.
Contact Leah Smith at leah@pasafarming.org or (412) 977-6514 with questions.

The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) has received a grant from the Colcom Foundation to develop action-oriented tools and trainings throughout western Pennsylvania to help farmers, rural land owners, and other citizens make informed, integrated decisions, understand legal issues, and engage in environmental monitoring and local organizing efforts related to Marcellus Shale Gas issues within their communities.

This third workshop in the Marcellus Shale Choices series will be facilitated by Ross Pifer, the Director of the Penn State Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center at the Dickinson College of Law. The workshop will review leasing information for those with leases, an overview of oil and gas law concepts, address surface owner issues, and share some recent case laws.

Save the Date! AASHE 2011: Creating Sustainable Campuses and Communities

Sunday, October 9 - Wednesday, October 12, 2011
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
More information

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is hosting its annual conference in Pittsburgh this year. Numerous workshops and speakers are scheduled. The opening keynote speaker is Dr. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate and Founder of the Green Belt Movement. Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org is the AASHE Student Summit keynote speaker.

Save the Date! Building Change Conference

Building Change: a convergence for social justice
October 13-15, 2011
Senator John Heinz Regional History Center
More information

Join the Three Rivers Community Foundation (TRCF) for a conference like no other: skill-building workshops, panel discussions, community dialogues on key issues, speakers, actions, art, films, roundtable talks, networking, entertainment, and more!

Key issues being discussed: Disability Rights, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, LGBTO Rights, Peace/Human Rights, Racial Justice, and Women, Youth and Families Issues.

TRCF is looking for more co-sponsors for the Convergence! Please spread the word to organizations and individuals working for social change. Direct interested parties to trcf@trcfwpa.org or (412) 243-9250.

Deadline for Arts, Films, and Performances has been extended to July 15th.

Resources

SCA Green Cities Fellows expand the work of Sustainable Pittsburgh

Continued from 3E Center:

AMANDA VIRBITSKY: Hi, my name is Amanda and my primary responsibility at Sustainable Pittsburgh is coordinating the development and implementation of the Green Workplace Challenge. The Green Workplace Challenge, launching in mid-September, is a year-long competition for businesses and property managers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Participants will track their electric, natural gas, and water usage, and receive points for reductions in usage, as well as for adopting sustainability-related policies and completing various actions related to sustainability. My job includes finalizing actions, recruiting participants and sponsors, maintaining the competition website, organizing events related to the competition, and reviewing/verifying documentation submitted by participants. So far, working at Sustainable Pittsburgh has been very rewarding -– not only am I responsible for a major project, but I also have a front seat to sustainability efforts taking place around the region and have been introduced to a number of influential figures. I look forward to getting the Green Workplace Challenge underway, and hope that you’ll follow the competition! Also, we'll have more soon about another important project I'm helping develop, the SWPA Sustainable Business Compact.

MATTHEW HENDERSON: My name is Matthew Henderson from Phoenix. I have been helping Sustainable Pittsburgh promote and implement the Sustainable Business Designation Program. This certification program is a great opportunity for small town businesses to take initiative in introducing a more sustainable approach to their business, community and region here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Most of my valued experience has been working closely with Sustainable Pittsburgh and Town Center Associates in creating toolkits to demonstrate to business owners the bottom line benefits of sustainability. Concurrently, I am making visits to private business owners informing them about the positive benefits of being Sustainably Certified through the program. As the year progresses I will develop outreach to highlight the many businesses that have truly made an impact on their sustainability and that of their communities. I enjoy getting to know the region and its history. I am coming to appreciate the region's rich legacy of progress and potential for sustainable development in the future from each town I visit. What allows me to fully appreciate my duties is confirmed through the people I meet and their stories about the “good ole days” and their eagerness to move forward in a progressive and sustainable manner for their children.

Other local organizations that are hosting Green Cities Fellows include: GTECH Strategies, City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Green Building Alliance, East Liberty Development, Inc. and others. To learn more about the Green Cities program, please click here.

For information on what SCA Fellows are working on in other organizations, please click here for more information

Making it OK to feel green in the hospital: Sustainable Pittsburgh's workshop

Since health-care providers are the biggest employers around -- and since it's never quittin' time at a hospital -- it's sound environmental policy to make their operations as green as possible.

It also makes sense for patients' health, not to mention cost-containment, findings Sustainable Pittsburgh is hoping to promote through their next "Improving Healing Environments: Strategic Environmental Solutions" workshop offered July 21. Representatives of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, UPMC, Global Links, eLoop and elsewhere will address how the industry can apply environmental principles and ideas to its energy use, waste disposal, infection control and cleaning, and operations and facility design.

Development Without Displacement

In 2009, FOCUS implemented a Development Without Displacement Program with environmental justice funding from the state DOT to help community groups and local governments develop strategies to ensure TOD does not lead to displacement of lower-income residents. The agencies’ efforts are complemented by a regional advocacy and organizing effort, the Great Communities Collaborative, which seeks to ensure that by 2030 all people in the Bay Area can live in complete communities, affordable across all incomes, and with nearby access to quality transit

More

An Interactive Webcast with Japan's Prime Minister on Renewable Energy Policy: A First for Japan

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 12, 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan met in his office with prominent experts for a discussion on the future of Japan's national renewable energy policy -- with tens of thousands joining online.

“Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment” now available

“Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment”, is published and available to the public online. The report provides a first-of-its-kind metropolitan measurement of the clean economy and its growth for some 39 low-carbon and environmentally oriented industry segments across the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.

Corbett panel's transportation plan would cost drivers, improve roads

Mr. Corbett appointed the commission of 40 volunteers from all sectors of the transportation industry to address an estimated $3.5 billion annual shortfall in funding needed to maintain the state's infrastructure and transit systems.

The panel came up with $2.7 billion of suggestions, the biggest of which were ending a cap on the tax on wholesale fuel prices and raising various vehicle and registration fees to adjust for the inflation that has occurred since they last were increased.

Neighborhood Sustainability the Focus of New Code Ideas in Seattle

A set of recommendations for changes to land-use regulations in Seattle is being highlighted by Mayor Mike McGinn as a way to both create sustainable neighborhoods and jobs. One of the authors of the recommendations explains.

Chuck Wolfe, member of a roundtable group of experts that has crafted recommendations, discusses how the changes to the code can help improve the way development happens in the city.

"While the initial menu of fixes is designed to avoid duplication and enhance the prospect for new construction, the group will continue to work on longer term issues in association with pending revisions to Seattle's Comprehensive Plan. Those revisions are mandated by the Growth Management Act and championed through a dynamic update process recently launched by the Department of Planning and Development and the Planning Commission.

The group's goal is broad and ambitious: to help Seattle residents live closer to where they work. The starting place is to simplify and update the city's Land Use Code, what Sightline's Eric de Place calls 'making sustainability legal.'"

Port Authority OKs study of Oakland-Downtown rapid bus line

Rapid bus has been likened to a light-rail system with much lower development costs. Extra-long buses operate between above-ground stations that are farther apart than typical bus stops. The vehicles usually run on dedicated bus lanes, with priority at traffic signals. Patrons pay fares in the stations, and screens display real-time information about the next arrivals. A rapid bus line developed in Cleveland has been credited with sparking $4 billion in development along its path. Local officials are hoping for similar results here. . . The project has received endorsements from Pittsburgh and county government officials, Oakland universities and hospitals, and organizations including Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Pa. ranks high again in power plant pollution

Another pollution report, this one focused on health impacts of toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, says Pennsylvania has some of the worst toxic air pollution in the nation, second only to Ohio upwind. But the continuing string of science detailing air pollution's effect on human health hasn't convinced House Republicans, who continue working to delay, and even block, the so-called Mercury Rule that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says will reduce toxic power plant emissions and save 17,000 lives a year.

Bill at odds with nation's values

Protecting the environment is a long-standing national priority that has support across the political spectrum. Efforts to undermine that goal should not be slipped into a funding bill. Yet that is exactly what the House Appropriations Committee did with its 2012 funding bill for the Interior Department and environmental protection. This bill does much more than just spread the pain of inevitable budget cuts. It imposes changes that will undo things the American people want done.

Pittsburgh gets pedestrian-friendly score

A study by Walk Score isn't surprising in that it puts Pittsburgh well behind more pedestrian-friendly cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston, the top three in the country in terms of walkability. The entire city receives a 64 rating in WalkScore's ranking, although Downtown -- centered around 550-598 Grant St. in Pittsburgh online -- received a 100 out of 100 to be named "Walker's Paradise." . . .The rankings take into account the ability for residents to live and work without a car. The company's Website ranks addresses by how close they are to grocery stores, schools, parks, public transit, restaurants, etc.

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

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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 ($1,000 and up) in 2011 from:

Allegheny County - Dan Onorato, County Executive
Bayer Corporation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
Dollar Bank
FedEx Ground
The Heinz Endowments
Highmark
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates LTD
Pittsburgh Quarterly
PNC Financial Services Group
Port Authority of Allegheny County
UPMC


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP