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

Resources

a network for sustainable business and community solutions

Inaugural event!

"The Practice of Sustainability: Translating Vision into Action"
Thursday, December 6
8:30 am – 2:00 pm
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Conferencing Center
For more information or to register, click here

Because of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s emergence as a world wide hotspot for advancements and innovations in sustainability policy and practice, Sustainable Pittsburgh has launched Champions for Sustainability (C4S). C4S brings together a new network of entrepreneurs, companies large and small from many different industries, community leaders, university researchers, educators, and other social ventures.

The Practice of Sustainability: Translating Vision into Action is an intense, triple bottom line-focused, half-day event to help business and community leaders determine ways to accelerate sustainable solutions. This event is the first in a series of “how to” networking opportunities presented by C4S.

Event Overview
- Featured Keynote by Albin Kälin, Chief Executive Officer for Management, EPEA, Hamburg, Germany: “Cradle to Cradle Design and Business Structures”
- Panelists from Western Pennsylvania’s Business Community will share their experiences of how they are translating ideas about sustainability into action.

Visit the newly launched C4S website, to learn more about the network.

Learn more about C4S on the Allegheny Front: click here.

Resources Continued

"The Practice of Sustainability: Translating Vision into Action"

Thursday, December 6
8:30 am – 2:00 pm
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Conferencing Center
For more information or to register online using PayPal, click here.

The Practice of Sustainability: Translating Vision into Action is an intense, triple bottom line-focused, half-day event to help business and community leaders determine ways to accelerate sustainable solutions. This event is the first in a series of “how to” networking opportunities presented by Champions for Sustainability, a network for sustainable business and community solutions. Champions for Sustainability is a program of Sustainable Pittsburgh.

Event Overview
- Featured Keynote by Albin Kälin, Chief Executive Officer for Management, EPEA, Hamburg, Germany: “Cradle to Cradle Design and Business Structures”
- Panelists from Western Pennsylvania’s Business Community will share their experiences of how they are translating ideas about sustainability into action.
www.C4Spittsburgh.org

Pittsburgh Public Schools Public Hearing for the application of The Environmental Charter School at Frick Park...an Imagine School

Monday, December 10
6:30 pm
Pittsburgh Board of Education - 341 South Bellefield Street, Oakland - 1st. Floor Conference Room
Contact: Barbara S. Hicks - barbleeh@verizon.net or 412-242-1469

City residents may speak for 3 minutes - call 412-622-3600
Non city residents may attend to support speakers and environmental school Everyone should wear a green shirt, sweater or blouse to public hearing.
For more info go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pghenvironmentalcharter

Our Region's Plan Open House

Monday, December 10
12:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Xplorion Lobby, Regional Enterprise Tower (425 Sixth Avenue, Downtown)
Contact: Southwestern PA Commission - 412-391-5590 or www.projectregion.org

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) invites you to celebrate the release of the Region's Plan! Join SPC for an open house to learn more about how they are taking the Region's Plan from Vision to Action. Stop by for coffee and refreshments, and share how everyone can continue working together to make Southwestern Pennsylvania one of the best places to live, work, play, and invest!

SPC is the region's forum for collaboration, planning and public decision-making.

Local Foods Happy Hour

Friday, December 14
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
WYEP Community Broadcast Center
67 Bedford Square, Pittsburgh 15203 (South Side)
Space is limited. Email RSVPs to info@alleghenyfront.org or go to www.alleghenyfront.org

The Allegheny Front, environmental radio for Western Pennsylvania, celebrates the holiday season with its 2nd Annual Local Foods Happy Hour. Enjoy live music while sampling local produce, cheeses and meats, vegetarian soups, locally brewed beers, regional wines and non-alcoholic drinks. During the event, the Allegheny Front will be taping elements to air in a special broadcast. Be a part of radio in the making at WYEP's Community Broadcast Center, on Pittsburgh's Southside. A $5 donation will be requested at the door.

The Allegheny Front features environmental news, interviews and stories about Western Pennsylvania. It airs on WYEP 91.3-FM in Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 7:00 pm and Saturday at 6:30 am. To listen online and for a station listing, go to www.alleghenyfront.org

"Creating Community in the 21st Century - Intro to Cohousing"

Sunday, December 16
2 - 4 pm
Squirrel Hill Library, corner of Forbes and Murray Ave. Free parking under the library
Register: TPCHG@aol.com or 412-963-1971
Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Cohousing Group

A free introduction to Cohousing in Pittsburgh. Learn about creating, building and living in Pittsburgh's first Cohousing Community.

Environmental Leadership Days

Leading the Way for a Sustainable, Eco-Friendly, Green Region
December 12-13, 2007
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Fifth Avenue Place • Center Court (Downtown)
www.FifthAvenuePlacePA.com

With the new year just around the corner, make "going green" one of your resolutions! Representatives from Sustainable Pittsburgh, Green Building Alliance, and the Rachel Carson Homestead will be on hand with information and giveaways. The first 500 guests to visit one of these non-profits’ tables will receive a free compact fluorescent light bulb! CFLs use up to 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs and pay for themselves in less than six months. On Wednesday, December 12 meet international environmental expert, Devra Lee Davis PhD, MPH. She will be personalizing copies of her latest best selling book The Secret History of the War on Cancer.

Resources

In Miles of Alleys, Chicago Finds Its Next Environmental Frontier

Chicago has decided to retrofit its alleys with environmentally sustainable road-building materials under its Green Alley initiative, something experts say is among the most ambitious public street makeover plans in the country. In a larger sense, the city is rethinking the way it paves things. In a green alley, water is allowed to penetrate the soil through the pavement itself, which consists of the relatively new but little-used technology of permeable concrete or porous asphalt. Then the water, filtered through stone beds under the permeable surface layer, recharges the underground water table instead of ending up as polluted runoff in rivers and streams.

Beaver Borough Spruces Up

Air date: Week of 11/21/2007
Story length: 2:18
Beaver Borough in Beaver County revitalized its downtown to attract more customers and create a sense of community and to compete with the growing suburbs. Erin Stacy reports that the project is paying off in this segment of our sustainable communities series.

More

Moon Township Preserves Green Space with Community Golf Course

Air date: Week of 11/14/2007
Story length: 2:19
Allegheny County’s Moon Township bought a tattered golf course and turned it into a golfing haven for residents, local employees on their lunch hours and visitors. Erin Stacy has the story, the first in our series on sustainable community projects.

Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation

On November 6—one year out from the ‘08 elections—the Metropolitan Policy Program launched a new national competitiveness initiative, Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation. The Blueprint offers a powerful and compelling argument: The ability of the United States to compete globally and to meet the great economic, environmental and social challenges of the twenty-first century rest largely on the health, vitality and prosperity of the nation’s major cities and metropolitan areas.

Pittsburgh joins carbon offset movement

As companies in Pittsburgh and across the country increase their focus on going greener, many businesses are looking for ways to reduce the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions. Some companies are taking that a step further, and working to eliminate their carbon "footprints" by going carbon neutral.

Allegheny Energy unit wants wind program

Allegheny Power, the electric subsidiary of Allegheny Energy Inc. has filed an application with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to offer a voluntary wind energy program to its Pennsylvania customers. http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/11/26/daily2.html

Land Use the Sustainable Way

The flooding of Girty’s Run and Pine Creek in Millvale over the past several years are tragic examples of how upstream development can seriously impact downstream communities. Sadly, says Kraynyk, “There’s no way they’re going to prevent it from happening again. We’re seeing similar events with much less rain.” Still, he praises Shaler’s plan to use federal funds to buy houses located in floodplains and suggests that now is the time to investigate other flood prevention opportunities. “There are lands upstream that are doing a great deal of rainwater interception. If we could protect them, we could keep that much water out of the streams and the floodplains. If we don’t protect them, it’s a lose-lose situation.”..ALT’s new plan to get the biggest bang for its land conservation buck does just that. It’s called GREENPRINT—A regional conservation agenda prioritizing land conservation for public good™.

Put the pedal to the Hot Metal: Bridge across Mon opens at last

Brenda Barrett, director of the DCNR's Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, said the new Hot Metal Bridge "demonstrates Pittsburgh's leadership in trail development." She said Pennsylvania is ranked fourth for rail-to-trail mileage and "is poised to become the nation's leader" in mileage when the passage and other rail-trails are completed.

Pittsburgh joins federal anti-obesity program for kids

Pittsburgh today is joining a federal anti-obesity program for children that pushes subtle changes at home. We Can! -- short for Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition -- is aimed at kids 8-13 and pushes commonsense steps to keep off weight, such as eating fewer high-fat foods, exercising more and spending less time staring at television and computer screens.

With $4.8 billion price tag to fund education in Pa., what's next?

Pat Browne, a Republican from Allentown, is hoping to have legislation passed by Christmas that would set up a commission to decide how to adjust school funding formulas in light of the costing-out study.

Chicago Green Roofs

This Chicago-based website provides an overview of creating green roofs, the benefits of green roofs, where in the City green roofs currently are, and many more resources.

New Montgomery Growth Policy Formalizes Focus on Public Transit

Montgomery County's new growth policy is likely to steer the next phase of the county's development into already urbanizing areas because for the first time it allows planners to consider public transportation when deciding where to allow development. The new rules, which the County Council approved 7 to 1 last week, will toughen standards regarding how many cars can spill onto the roads from new developments and how many new students cause schools to be deemed too crowded. But if the projects are built near public transportation, developers might be able to avoid some penalties and even move their projects to the head of the line for approval.

Connecting Working Families to Economic Opportunities in the Philadelphia Region: The Role of Employers

The brief highlights innovative ways employers and policymakers can help working families increase their skills, build financial assets, and move up in the world of work.

Voices from Forgotten Cities: Innovative Revitalization Coalitions in America's Older Small Cities

Though once known as cities with good jobs and places where families could achieve the American Dream, our nation's older small cities--like Youngstown, Ohio; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Lawrence, Massachusetts--and the people who live there are struggling to cope with a changing economy and diminishing resources. This brief examines the perennial challenges facing forgotten cities, identifies eight pivotal factors that contribute to a community's successful revitalization, and showcases three innovative coalitions that are overcoming barriers and mobilizing to achieve positive change.

Google investing hundreds of millions in green energy

"We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers," Page said. "We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal." Coal is burned to produce 40 percent of the world's electricity and is a major source of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. "Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Google's founders said there are budding technologies that can flourish with the proper backing.

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 2007 from:

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