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Events

Green Chemistry: Solutions for a Healthy Economy

Saturday, September 20
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Powers Conference Center, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA
Registration: Adults $25.00; Students $10.00
Act 48 credit will be available for teachers.
Register online
Agenda

Sustainable Pittsburgh is serving as a collaborator for the Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: “Green Chemistry: Solutions for a Healthy Economy”. This conference addresses the underlying need to design the toxicity and hazardous component out of consumer products and the processes that make them. The conference draws together 15 outstanding speakers including Dr. Paul Anastas, the founder of the principles of green chemistry, Dr. Terry Collins, Thomas Lord Professor of Green Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh recipients of the EPA Green Chemistry Awards, and entrepreneurial companies who are using green chemistry to solve problems. Dr. Ruth Etzel and Dr. Bruce Lanphear will address the epidemiology and the pediatric implications of significant environmental contaminants, with an emphasis on how designing them out of the system can improve the prognosis.

Participate in Interactive Workshops:

Health Impact of chemicals in the environment
Students Sustainability initiative
Teaching green chemistry –high school
The green chemistry curriculum for training chemists and engineers
Institutional barriers to green chemistry in the mainstream
Doing business under the European R.E.A.C.H. standards

Events Continued

Resources

Putting Intergovernmental Cooperation to Work: Employing Multi-municipal Planning to Link Communities and Conserve Costs

Friday, September 19
8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Sheraton Station Square
Free, but pre-registration is required.
More information

Development patterns of the last 20 years have resulted in the spreading of residential, commercial, and office development over a wide auto-dependant area. A significant consequence of this trend is to largely separate where people live and where people work. In an era of rising fuel costs, this produces a dilemma for both employers and employees.

Local governments have a key role in responding to this situation. By moving from existing systems of intergovernmental cooperation to vital systems of intergovernmental coordination, local governments can help citizens save money, improve the quality of life and shore up their municipal budgets.

Sponsored by Comcast, and in partnership with the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, the 2008 Road to Excellence Conference will focus on access to employment, multi-municipal planning, developments of regional impact and tools currently available that expand intermunicipal coordination.

2008 National Park(ing) Day

Friday, September 19
For more information, visit http://pghparkingday.wordpress.com/.
Contact: Emily Craig at 412-258-6636 or emily@riverlifetaskforce.org

Join this annual celebration of transforming parking spaces into temporary public parks: Build your own park :: Help others build parks :: Visit Park(ing) Day parks near you. A collective of artists, activists, businesses and citizens, Park(ing) provides a unique opportunity for people to collaborate, not compete, to transform parking spaces around the city into temporary active or passive ‘green’ spaces. The goal is to showcase the possibilities for reducing pollution and land development impacts from automobile use. The Pittsburgh Park(ing) Day event is being organized by the following groups: Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, Land Trust Alliance, Office of City Councilman Patrick Dowd, Office of Public Art, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Riverlife, The Trust for Public Land, and REBAR.

Green Chemistry: Solutions for a Healthy Economy

2008 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference
Saturday, September 20
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Powers Conference Center, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA
Registration: Adults $25.00; Students $10.00
Act 48 credit will be available for teachers.
Register online

The Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: “Green Chemistry: Solutions for a Healthy Economy” addresses the underlying need to design the toxicity and hazardous component out of consumer products and the processes that make them. The conference draws together 15 outstanding speakers including Dr. Paul Anastas, the founder of the principles of green chemistry, Dr. Terry Collins, Thomas Lord Professor of Green Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh recipients of the EPA Green Chemistry Awards, and entrepreneurial companies who are using green chemistry to solve problems. Dr. Ruth Etzel and Dr. Bruce Lanphear will address the epidemiology and the pediatric implications of significant environmental contaminants, with an emphasis on how designing them out of the system can improve the prognosis.

Future Leaders Initiative for Students

September 21-24
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
Special Student Rate: 15-$30 per day. Special form must be completed by September 12th to get this deal (thereafter the discounted rate is $20-$40 per day)
More information

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and the College and University Recycling Council (CURC) are pleased to partner with Novelis to introduce the Future Leaders Initiative at its 2008 Congress in Pittsburgh September 21-24. NRC is offering a special discounted student rate. The initiative opens the door for student leaders to interact with recycling professionals and learn about industry trends and best practices, while exploring how you can translate your campus experience into careers in the field. In addition to discounted registration, special sessions and networking opportunities for students have been added to this year's program.

"Working Towards Zero Waste"

College and University Recycling Council (CURC)
Workshop: "Working Towards Zero Waste"
Sunday, September 21
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Carnegie Mellon University
Fee: $80.00 -- includes a tour, speakers, round table discussions, and lunch.

Spend the day learning about recycling programs at colleges and universities from all over the country. For general NRC conference sign up information visit www.nrc-recycle.org.

Cranberry Goes Green

Monday, September 22
9:00 am — 11:00 am
Cranberry Municipal Center, Council Chambers Room, Cranberry, PA
FREE to attend
Call the Chamber Office to reserve your seat: 724-776-4949

Sustainability is an awareness of the Environment, Economy, and social Equity (the three E’s). Decision-making processes that consider the positive or negative impacts to the three E’s produce successful results, the positive benefits of which are long-lasting. “Cranberry Goes Green!” will be a panel discussion about how individuals, organizations, communities, businesses and homeowners can make every-day decisions with sustainability in mind. Learn about this community’s efforts and what you can do!

League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh Fall Public Meeting

Tuesday, September 23
4:30 Reception - Light refreshments - 2501 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
5:00 Lecture - 2700 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
University of Pittsburgh, Wesley W.Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland
Parking available: The Soldiers and Sailors Garage, The Carnegie Museum Lot as well as on-street parking.

You are invited to attend a presentation by University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, Chair of The Citizen’s Advisory Committee on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of City-County Government. This presentation is a follow-up to the report issued on April 3, 2008 and endorsed by both Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato.

The League’s positions on a possible city/county merger include addressing impartial apportionment of legislative districts, minority representation, employee rights and benefits, equitable tax burdens, resolution of legacy costs, and providing the ability for other municipalities to join the merged government if they so desire.

Climate Change Update: Recent Federal and State Developments Affecting Business & Industry

A free webinar
Wednesday, September 24
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
RSVP by September 19 to Vicki Landa at vlanda@bccz.com or 412-394-6537. Please provide email address and phone number at time of registration.

Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir, P.C. invites you to particiate in a free climate change webinar discussing recent U.S. EPA proposed rulemakings regarding the regulation of greenhouse gases, underground carbon sequestration wells, Pennsylvania legislative deveopments, and emerging litigation issues. This is an opportunity to receive a concise and timely update on climate change legal issues that may affect your business from experienced attorneys in BCCZ's Climate Change Group ahead of the upcoming rulemaking comment deadlines.

Reinhabiting Campus Neighborhoods: A Statewide Symposium

Wednesday, September 24
10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Crimson Event Center, Olive K. Folger Hall, Indiana, PA
Fee: $70 PA Chapter of APA Member; $75 PLCM or PSAB; $85 Non-Member
More information

This fall, two symposiums on the issues surrounding “campus neighborhoods” will be offered by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) in cooperation with the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities (PLCM) and the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB).

The central focus of the symposium revolves around the conditions and future of campus neighborhoods in college towns. “Campus neighborhoods” are the ring of neighborhoods situated immediately adjacent to the college campus proper. These are typically neighborhoods of single family homes that have been converted to student housing. These “studentified” neighborhoods are often subject to conflict, blight, and displacement effects--effects that erode the fabric of the community and negatively impact the “bottom line” of the host municipality.

At the full-day symposium, a series of mini-lectures will introduce the issues surrounding campus neighborhood planning. Each of these mini-lectures will be followed by an interactive discussion anchored by panels from college towns across the region. In this discussion participants will square their experiences with other host communities through a series of question and answer sessions. Participants will return to their communities with a greater understanding of methods employed and lessons learned by other host communities.

Women’s Health & the Environment Conference

Thursday, September 25
8:00 am – 4:30 pm
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
Free
Questions: 412-641-4059 or sue@mcmahon-cardillo.com

Join women – and men who care about the women in their lives – from around the region and beyond for the second conference on Women’s Health & the Environment: New Science, New Solutions. The conference will feature nationally renowned environmental scientists, writers and activists who will share the newest science in three areas essential to health in our everyday lives: air, water, and food. Experts also will address the health affects of personal care products that are supposed to enhance the quality of our lives. In addition to explaining scientific data that show how toxins in our environment negatively affect our health, presenters will share solutions that can create a healthier environment for you and your family. For more information visit www.womenshealthpittsburgh.org .

Pittsburgh Design Fair for House and Garden

Sunday, September 28
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Grand Hall at The Priory, North Side
Tickets: $5 in advance; $7 at the door.
The Deutschtown House Tour occurs on the same day in the same neighborhood. Combo tickets to both the Design Fair and House Tour are available for $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
To purchase tickets and for more information, visit pittsburghdesignfair.org or call 412-391-4144.

This year’s Design Fair features the theme of Green Living, and highlights a range of eco-friendly services and products such as flooring, windows, kitchens and baths, and landscaping for a healthier, more energy efficient home. The Pittsburgh Design Center—a sponsor and featured exhibitor at last year’s Design Fair—is expanding its presence at this year’s event by offering informal consultations with some of the region’s finest interior designers. Questions about furniture, accessories, lighting, kitchens and baths, fireplaces, architectural finishes, fabrics, and even garage floor coatings and finishes can be addressed to experts. Also new at the 2008 Pittsburgh Design Fair for House and Garden is an extended demonstration area at the outdoor Blumengarten, across the street from The Priory’s Grand Hall, showcasing the green practices of rain barrel water collection and composting. The Pittsburgh Design Fair for House and Garden is an event of the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh (CDCP).

In Celebration of Wild Places: Connecting People to Nature

Wednesday, October 8
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, Oakland
Tickets: $15 for adults; $5 for those under 18
More information

The Sierra Club, Allegheny Group and six other groups are sponsoring a slide lecture by African-American nature photographer Dudley Edmondson, who has spoken on this theme across the country at the invitation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The slide program will be followed by a panel discussion of the challenges and benefits to the minority community of expanding participation in outdoor activities. Panelists include:
•Bill Strickland, president and founder of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild
•Mamie Parker, former asst. secretary, US Fish and Wildlife Service
•Mario Browne, Center for Minority Health, University of Pittsburgh
•Sarah Jamella Martin, Wilderness Educator, Pittsburgh Public Schools
•and Dudley Edmondson.

Get Energy Smarter Community Expo

Sunday, October 12
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
64 South 14th Street (at East Caroson), South Side
Free
Contact: 412-431-4449

Hosted by Conservation Consultants, this family friendly expo will feature numerous exhibitors, giveaways, and contests! Get energy saving tips for the home, register to win a free home insulation package and trade in 3 of your old bulbs for 3 new energy saving bulbs. For more information visit www.getenergysmarter.com. And don't worry - Sunday the 12th is a Steelers bye-week!

Energy from Biomass and Waste

October 14–16
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
More information

"Energy from biomass and waste" can make a significant contribution to oil-independence and climate protection with clean power, heat, and vehicle fuels. The technology opens up new earning potentials and markets (domestic & international) for the waste management & power generation industry, as well as for new market players such as the agricultural sector. At this conference, more than 100 exhibitors will showcase the latest in sustainable energy production and safe waste handling. Over 1,000 delegates are expected to attend. The low entrance fee includes admission to the expo and all conference sessions.

6th Annual Public Officials Design Charrette (PODC)

Friday, November 21
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Greentree Municipal Building
Free; lunch will be provided.
Open to limited number of municipalities. Please call 412-258-6643 to discuss your needs.
Requirements for municipal participation: attendance from your municipality must include at least one elected official, a municipal staff person, and one community leader.

Sustainable Pittsburgh's Sustainable Community Development Network, AIA Pittsburgh, and the Local Government Academy are now welcoming interested municipalities to propose to be "clients" for this free, half-day, hands-on, charrette-style consultation.

Up to five municipalities will be selected to benefit from the assistance of a team of pro bono experts. The municipality identifies a pressing sustainability challenge or opportunity and we assemble a team of experts to be on hand to work through the issue and generate practical solutions. Issues may relate to: main street revitalization, infill development, transportation access, energy efficiency or resource conservation, community development, a social or human service concern, community or green space, etc.

Resources

Apple Announces 'Cleanest' iPods

At the company's September event, CEO Steve Jobs touched on the environmental aspects of the new Nano, which has arsenic-free glass and doesn't contain any PVC, mercury or brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

Updated Green Seal Cleaning Products Standard Focuses on Kids, Vulnerable Populations

The standard sets environmental requirements for cleaning products used in professional and public settings. The guidelines cover institutional and industrial general-purpose, restroom, glass and carpet cleaners: products that are used to clean offices, institutions, warehouses and industrial facilities.

More

The Role of Communication in Sustainability

Speaking on the first panel, WBCSD Managing Director - Communications, Lynette Thorstensen, gave some international perspectives on communication and sustainability, noting the 8 success factors for sustainable development driven by business: leadership from the top, fundamental link to core business, central to products and services, employee engagement, sharing success and failure, transparency and clear goals and targets, respectful and sustained stakeholder engagement, future relevance and viability. But, she asked, how do we communicate these?

Sustainability in Practice: the View from Business

Pursuing sustainable development is a prerequisite for success in this resource and carbon constrained world, but minimizing resource use and pollution makes firms also more competitive, more resilient and more likely to win and retain customers. It can also help them attract the best brains on the market. In addition, it addresses concerns of investors and insurers regarding company exposures to regulatory and other liabilities. Business cannot succeed in societies that fail. There is no future for successful business if the societies that surround it are not working.

To Be Strong Again: Reviewing the Promise of Smaller Industrial Cities

Our nation's smaller industrial cities can be attractive, welcoming places to live. Despite challenges, they possess tremendous assets and amenities and deserve coordinated attention and action, according to the PolicyLink report, To Be Strong Again: Renewing the Promise in Smaller Industrial Cities. Cities like Scranton, Pennsylvania, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Youngstown, Ohio, are increasingly seen as the ''best of both worlds'' -- simultaneously offering many of the amenities of big cities and the community-spirit of small-towns.

Sustainable Green Printer applications now being accepted

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP Partnership), a collaborative effort by the PIA/GATF, SGIA, FTA, and NAPIM today officially opens the application process for printers to become registered SGP Printers. Registered printers will be listed on a registry for print buyers and customers to use when searching for sustainable green printers.

Xerox, DuPont and Bosch Free More Than 50 Eco-Patents for Public Use

When the World Business Council on Sustainable Development in January 2008 launched the Eco-Patents Commons in partnership with IBM, Sony, Nokia and Pitney-Bowes, it was an unprecedented step in the development of clean technologies. Here were leading companies -- and, in IBM's case, the U.S. company with the most patents, year after year -- giving away ideas so that other companies could either apply to their own operations or work from to develop their own, new and patentable inventions. Now, just nine months after the launch of the Commons, three more companies have joined, and have more than doubled the total number of eco-patents available with their new commitments.

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

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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