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Events

Resources

Embracing local markets in SWPA

The recent Champions for Sustainability (C4S) event, “Celebrate and Build Local, Sustainable Markets”, presented a forum upon which to highlight the ever growing trend of “buying local” here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. From coffee to clothing to produce to green building—small businesses are developing innovative strategies and diverse networks, making the links that are good for business, for our neighborhoods and people, and for the environment.

For a brief recap of the event and to learn more about how local markets are beneficial, click here.

Resources Continued

Pittsburgh Black Family Reunion

"The State of the Black Family"
August 2 -3
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Mellon Park
Contact: 412-371-3689 or blackfamilyreunion2008@gmail.com

This fifth annual event, hosted by the Community Empowerment Association, will feature arts and crafts, a Peace in the Hood Basketball Tournament, R&B, jazz, gospel, and hip hop concerts, dance, poetry, vending, and workshops. Accepting in-kind donations and volunteers. For more information, visit www.ceapittsburgh.org.

Transfer of Development Rights Workshop

Wednesday, August 6
9:00 am - Noon
Richland Township Municipal Building, 4011 Dickey Road, Gibsonia, PA 15044
Cost: $30
Register online at www.localgovernmentacademy.org or contact: Anita Lengvarsky, Local Government Academy, at 412-237-3171 or info@localgovernmentacademy.org

Attend this session to learn about Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and their potential benefit to our region. TDR is a land use planning tool that works by engaging market forces to redirect growth to established areas. The nuts and bolts of a TDR program will be covered including basic steps to implement a program, how to create a market plan, and how to gauge if the TDR program is successful. Case studies and lessons learned will also be shared.

Speakers: Ray Reaves, LGA Multi-Municipal Planning Grant Manager
Dan Zimmerman, Warwick Township Manager, Lancaster County

Shared Municipal Services Roundtable Discussion

Thursday, August 7
11:30 am - 1:30 pm
LGA Office (CCAC Administration Building/College Office), 800 Allegheny Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Easily accesible from the 16D (visit www.portauthority.org) or free, convenient parking is available next door
Cost: FREE
Please bring a brown bag lunch, drinks and cookies will be provided.
More information

At this roundtable leaders from 10,000 Friends of PA will share a proposal for improved Municipal Service Sharing in Pennsylvania. Attend this roundtable to discuss this idea as a way to enhance intergovernmental cooperation.

Shared Municipal Services Legislation Proposal (Draft)

Speakers: Judy Schwank, President and CEO, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Edward Wilson, Vice President for Policy and Research, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania

Your Environmental Road Trip (YERT.com)

Saturday, August 9
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Rachel Carson Homestead 613 Marion Ave., Springdale, PA 15144
Free
Contact Mark Dixon at mark@yert.com or 415-672-5537 for more details.

YERT is headed into Pittsburgh for the finale event of their national road-trip adventure, and they'd love to see you there! Ben, Mark, Julie, and Erika spent the last year traveling to all 50-states, interviewing over 800 citizens and leaders about environmentally pressing issues, then turning the footage into quick, fun environmental videos at YouTube and other sites online. The team brings with them news of the "YERTy-est Awards," some green tunes, and the fastest comprehensive rundown of the entire trip that you may ever see. The infamous "Bag Monster" will make an appearance for the kids. Everybody who attends the event will receive a free YERT ChicoBag! (While supplies last). Learn more and watch over 40 videos at www.yert.com.

Braddock Organick

Sunday, August 10
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Braddock
Cost: $50; $45 for Slow Food members
RSVP required; receipt of payment confirms registration. Contact: vredpath@aol.com or 412-343-7354

Slow Food Pittsburgh, along with Grow Pittsburgh and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman are hosting Braddock Organick, an organic pig and lamb roast in Braddock. Learn more about local foods in this area. Local, organic vegetables will be available for tasting from Braddock Farms, in addition to many other organic treats.

Rippey Street Cohousing Open House Meeting

August 16
3:00 pm
5620 Rippey St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
For more information email cohousing@eastliberty.org

Rippey Street Cohousing is an effort to convert a former 20-unit apartment building into 12-14 condo units with cohousing amenities. Cohousing is a kind of intentional community composed of individually-owned, private homes with full kitchens, bathrooms, and the like. It is a community that is planned, owned, and managed by the residents. Through spatial design and shared social and management activities, cohousing facilitates intergenerational interaction among neighbors for social, economic, environmental, and practical benefits.

Shaping A Sustainable Pennsylvania – DCNR’s Blueprint for Action

Interaction Session
Tuesday, August 26
2:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Four Seasons Ski Lodge, Boyce Park, Monroeville
Please RSVP to jdupes@state.pa.us, or call 717-705-0031, at least two weeks prior to the meeting you plan to attend.

This is one of six sessions happening across the state this summer and fall to allow the public to provide input on how well the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is carrying out the goals and actions contained in its strategic plan, Shaping A Sustainable Pennsylvania – DCNR’s Blueprint for Action, and what the agency’s priorities should be for the future. The sessions will also provide a forum to collect citizen and stakeholder input on recreation as DCNR develops Pennsylvania’s Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan this year. Prior to attending, please re-familiarize yourself with the Blueprint for Action. If you are unable to attend, but are interested in submitting comments, please submit them by November 5 to the e-mail above.

Farmers Market on Wheels

August through September
North Side, Munhall, West Mifflin, Crafton, and many other locations
For specific dates, locations, and times, contact the American HealthCare Group at 412-563-8800.

“Farmers Market on Wheels” is a traveling Farmers Market serving senior centers and senior residences in Western Pennsylvania. The program works exclusively with local farms. There are 29 markets scheduled at senior facilities throughout Western Pennsylvania, mostly within Allegheny County. Exhibitors representing local farms, food purveyors and wellness providers displaying information are present at the markets. The Farmers Market Alliance of Western Pennsylvania is committed to developing vibrant farmers markets that can sustain local farms, so that local farms remain - a part of our economy; - a part of our landscape; and our best source for truly fresh nutritious foods

Resources

Grants Available For Improvements That Reduce Energy Consumption Or Prevent Pollution

Pennsylvania's Small Business Advantage Grant Program is now open for applications. The Advantage Grant Program will accept completed Advantage Grant applications until August 29, 2008, or until the allotted funds are fully committed to eligible projects. The Small Business Advantage Grant Program provides a 50-percent match of up to $7,500 for equipment or processes that reduce energy consumption, promote pollution prevention, and increase profitability. Examples include high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, motion sensors that shut off lights when rooms are empty and auxiliary power units that allow long-haul truckers to turn off their engines during layovers without sacrificing heat and electricity.The program is open to small business owners whose business or facility is located in Pennsylvania. An eligible applicant must be a for-profit business enterprise that is a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship or other legal entity with no more than 100 employees and is a separate legal business entity at the time the application is submitted. Applicants may be manufacturers or service providers.

Fay-Penn promotes production purchase of local goods

Called "Think Local, Produce Local, Buy Local," the initiative aspires to bring together local business owners, family farmers, commercial developers and consumers to look at ways to expand home grown, independent businesses and family farms. . .Junk also said that spending $100 at a locally-owned independent business can generate as much as an additional $80 in the community. "Spending $100 at a big box chain store can produce as little as $30 in other local economic activity,'' he said.

More

Heavy? Your neighborhood may be to blame

“The older neighborhoods had a reduced level of obesity because they were generally built with the pedestrian in mind and not cars,” said Ken Smith, a co-author of the study and professor in the department of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah. “This means they have trees, sidewalks and offer a pleasant environment in which to walk.”

Calif. Field Goes from Rush to Reflection of Global Limits

Today, on an arid square of land the size of Manhattan, thousands upon thousands of black derricks crowd the landscape, bobbing gently up and down and sipping crude oil from the field discovered a century ago. The wells aren't gushers these days, but they still squeeze out a few barrels a day here, a few more there. Chevron has injected steam into the reservoirs, coaxing the sedimentary rock into giving up millions of barrels of heavy oil that was too thick and sticky to retrieve using the technology of decades past. But the Kern River field, like most U.S. oil fields, is in decline.

Coal price soars, electric rates close behind

While worry and hand-wringing has centered around higher food and gasoline prices, coal prices have shot skyward even faster with much less fanfare. And that increase promises to drive electricity costs much higher too. . . Spurred by a tight coal market made tighter by a series of extreme weather events earlier this year in China, Australia and South Africa, the spike in coal prices could add another 30 percent to electric rates that were already projected to increase more than 50 percent when rate caps for most power customers in the state expire in January 2011, said Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Tyrone Christy.

Power Plant: Camelina finding new purpose as biofuel source

A PSU Cooperative Extension educator, Mr. Hunter hails camelina oil as an attractive biofuel source because the plant is low maintenance. Long ignored in North America as little more than a weed, camelina requires little fertilizer, no tilling and is spry enough to bat leadoff in an early-spring crop rotation. Camelina also has an oil content that's roughly twice that of soybeans, a more popular biofuel resource. It also can be far cheaper to grow than either soybeans or canola, reports the Great Northern Growers Cooperative and other agronomists in Montana, the mother lode of camelina research.

The unexpected growth of business along the Great Allegheny Passage

There's no doubt, she said, that the 150-mile long biking and hiking trail from McKeesport to Washington, D.C., is transforming the town at a much faster pace than any of its 3,000 residents ever expected. . . In 2007, Somerset County officials counted 31 new businesses started as a direct result of the Great Allegheny Passage. The Trail Town Program, an arm of the non-profit Progress Fund and supported by government and foundation money, helped start 11 new businesses last year alone. Halfway into 2008, Trail Town has aided eight more, and assisted with another two.

Renters moving to urban centers to save on gas, commuting

Sick of filling up the tank for 60 bucks? Considering a place near work downtown and tossing the car keys? Prepare to pay higher rents as apartment dwellers flock to urban digs. Nationwide, rents near job centers and mass transit are rising faster than in other areas, according to New York-based real estate research firm Reis Inc. The trend is strongest in Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Portland, Ore.

Alcoa buses to debut at Olympics in China

From the outside, the two buses Alcoa created to send to China look like any other buses. But their structures, made with aluminum, have the makings to save thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and to reduce close to 100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the bus.

The Thinkers: Pitt professor looking looking for power in polymers

An expert in "smart materials," Dr. Weiland and her team at Pitt are working on a project in which they hope to use plastics known as ionic polymers to help generate electricity for the town of Vandergrift in Westmoreland County, 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. If her plans work out, the borough's historic downtown could one day get 20 percent or more of its electrical power from a mile-long array of tiny plastic devices wiggling away on the bottom of the Kiskiminetas River as it sweeps around the town.

Outdoor Task Force submits findings and recommendations to Governor

The 16-member task force named to develop key recommendations to strengthen the bond between citizens and the natural world is proposing the establishment of a Governor’s Commission on People and Outdoor Connections, among other recommendations submitted this week in its 40-page report to Governor Edward G. Rendell. More than 500 people provided input and ideas, which were then formulated into key themes and recommendations by the task force.

Let's go green with arena

Now is the perfect time to champion this Earth-friendly ethos, and the new arena is the perfect project: a high-profile building in a redeveloping city that needs to keep doing dynamic things to attract new businesses and residents. A major green-as-can-be project would put Baltimore on the cutting edge. There would be no sports arena like this. It would be a model for other public and private projects to come. All sorts of businesses would want to be associated with it.

Bradburn Village

Bradburn Village is a $220 million, 125-acre New Urbanist community located in suburban Westminster, Colorado. Four distinct neighborhoods are an easy walk from a pedestrian-friendly village core—-with shops, restaurants, office space, live/work units, and a mix of a residences interspersed with parks and community centers, adjacent to a regional open space trail system. Of the more than 300 single-family homes, 42 will be solar-powered, making Bradburn Village host to the largest solar-powered neighborhood in Colorado, according to representatives of McStain Homes. A total of 865 residential units is expected at buildout.

What Gets Measured Gets Done - WBCSD Launches Measuring Impact Framework

Business knows that "what gets measured gets done." In this spirit, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launches the Measuring Impact Framework to help companies measure and assess the impact of their business activities on economic and broader development goals wherever they operate. The Framework includes 3 components: Business case for measuring impacts entitled “Beyond the bottom line”, highlighting the experience of several WBCSD member companies ; 4-step methodology to identify, measure, assess and manage impacts; Excel-based user guide that helps companies carry out an assessment

EcoMarkets 2008 Summary Report

The EcoMarkets 2008 Summary Report informs our clients, partners and public audiences about the attitudes and practices of North American buyers towards environmentally preferable purchasing. . .Here’s a sneak-peek of some of the report’s findings:
- Over 78 billion dollars of purchasing power is represented in this study and the majority of survey respondents control at least half of their organization’s total procurement budget.
- Sixty-eight percent (68%) of North American organizations increased their green purchasing in the past 12 months and 91% of purchasers believe they will become more active green purchasers over the next two years.
- An overwhelming majority of survey respondents (72%) believe eco-labels contribute to better purchasing decisions.
- Purchasers identified the eco-labels they rely on most frequently to help make purchasing decisions. Results show that Energy Star (60%) and EcoLogo (27%) are the most frequently-used eco-labels.

Green acres may be the future place to be

In an era when you can get juicy watermelon, shipped from far afield, in icy Pittsburgh in January, empty lots slowly are being converted to small farms. There are urban farms in Braddock, Wilkinsburg and some in the city, for example. . .As described in Marlene Parrish's story on Braddock Farms, urban farms are intensely cultivated -- planted tightly and in planned progression to make best use of smaller acreage.

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Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support in 2008 from:

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