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Events

Join Sustainable Pittsburgh as a 2012 member!

Sustainable Pittsburgh has made significant gains in 2011 in accelerating the policy and practice of sustainability in southwestern Pennsylvania, from engaging businesses in the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge to 130 municipalities assessing their sustainability via the Sustainable Community Essentials Rapid Assessment to celebrating the tenth anniversary of Great Outdoors Week, and much more.

Membership contributions to Sustainable Pittsburgh help make this work happen. Please join Sustainable Pittsburgh this year as a member. Help your Sustainable Pittsburgh to accelerate the policy and practice of sustainable development for southwestern Pennsylvania's prosperity. Learn more by visiting membership page. We thank you for your support.

December 8 - Decision Strategies for Green Workplaces:
Biggest Bang for the Buck

Participants at this workshop will learn how to identify and formulate strategies for conserving energy and water with related emissions reductions to meet their organizational objectives and improve their competitive position for the Green Workplace Challenge. Each participant will select from a portfolio of choices to optimize their green action strategies to get the “biggest bang for the buck.” The workshop also features training on Excel-based and web-based tools to develop optimal resource allocation strategies.

A business or nonprofit need not be participating in the Green Workplace Challenge to participate.

The workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Robert Sroufe and Dr. Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam, both faculty members in the Sustainability-MBA program at Duquesne University. This workshop is the third of 12 in a year-long Green Workplace Challenge series.

Click here for more information.

Resources

Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #3:
Decision Strategies for Green Workplaces: Biggest Bang for the Buck

Thursday, December 8
8:30 am – 10:30 am
Regional Enterprise Tower, 23rd Floor, Fetterolf Room, 425 Sixth Ave, Pittsburgh 15219
FREE for Green Workplace Challenge participants; $25 all other businesses and organizations
Green Workplace Challenge participants register here.
All other businesses and organizations register here.

Sustainable Pittsburgh is excited to announce the third of 12 of its year-long series of Green Workplace Challenge participant workshops. Participants at this workshop will learn how to identify and formulate strategies for conserving energy and water with related emissions reductions to meet their organizational objectives and improve their competitive position for the Green Workplace Challenge. Each participant will select from a portfolio of choices to optimize their green action strategies to get the “biggest bang for the buck.” The workshop also features training on Excel-based and web-based tools to develop optimal resource allocation strategies. The workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Robert Sroufe and Dr. Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam, both faculty members in the Sustainability-MBA program at Duquesne University.

Final days to register! 11th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference “Smart Growth is Smart Business”

Keynote:
- Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView "Smart Capital for Smart Growth"

Also featuring:
- Robert Lang, Professor of Sociology and the Director of Brookings Mountain West at the University of Nevada and Fellow of the Urban Land Institute

Tuesday, December 13
8:00 am - 4:15 pm (Registration begins at 7:30 am)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown Pittsburgh
Networking Lunch Included
Cost: $45
More information and registration
View video testimonials on the conference web page!

Business leaders increasingly recognize 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. With the business case of smart growth apparent, the conference will galvanize a 'businesses for smart growth' initiative for southwestern Pennsylvania to spur economic prosperity and extend our region's signature livability to more persons.

The conference will focus on three interrelated smart growth imperatives:
"Business opportunity while building community and regional economy"
- Innovative Finance for smart growth solutions for urban real estate, housing, and metropolitan infrastructure
- Blight and Abandonment - business and economic stakes
- Green Infrastructure - savings for businesses, dividends for developers and communities

Be sure to visit the conference website for more information, including a speakers' list.

Marcellus Shale Organizer Training Workshops

Saturday, December 3
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Monroeville Public Library

Saturday, December 10
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Carnegie Library of Squirrel Hill

RSVP here.
For more information, contact Erika Staaf at estaaf@pennenvironment.org.

These workshops are designed to provide citizens with the skills to protect their Western Pennsylvanian communities from deep shale gas drilling. Whether new to activism or experienced in Marcellus Shale issues, this training will help you take the fight to the next level.

You’ll learn from PennEnvironment staff and other organizers in the area how to:
Effectively engage with decision makers on the shale gas issues,
Generate media coverage,
Hold your elected officials accountable in tackling the Marcellus Shale gas drilling issue.
And, you’ll get to meet more people working on these issues so you can band together to protect your community.

Keeping our waterways free from harmful chemicals

Monday, December 5
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm (program starts at 12:45 pm)
Regional Enterprise Tower, 23rd Floor, A.E. Hunt Room, 425 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh 15219
Cost: $95; $50 for students
3 CEUs available
To register, contact Mary Ann at (412) 263-1000 or mvf10@psu.edu. Checks can be made payable to Penn State and mailed to:
The Penn State Center, Liberty Center, 1001 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Where to the chemicals in water go? Learn principles needed for management. Register this week for Penn State Center’s final workshop of 2011 on water quality awareness, presented by Dr. Jack Watson, Ph.D.

What runs off, what infiltrates, what stays in the soil and what moves to ground-water? Identify key controllers of chemical fate, followed by participants' work on a case study of municipal effluent reuse on soil with three different land vegetation types.

Case Study Topic: Fate of carbamazepine applied to soil in treated municipal wastewater effluent.

Dr. Watson is Professor of Soil Science, Interim Department Head, Crop and Soil Sciences Department and Former State Associate Director, Cooperative Extension, Penn State.

Marcellus Shale Development: The PA Municipal Experience To Date & Possibilities for the Future

Tuesday, December 6
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm (Workshop site registration: 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm)
Various Locations in Southwestern PA: Live & Video Teleconference
Cost: $25 per person
Pre-Registration is required. Registration Deadline: December 3, 2011
More information

Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania has resulted in local municipalities having to make decisions and take actions on issues such as infrastructure, municipal services, regulatory controls, and community planning. Municipalities throughout Pennsylvania have experienced various levels and stages of development as well as the community issues that result. These experiences have provided municipal officials with a unique perspective on how to more effectively address municipal and community needs and concerns related to natural gas issues.

This program will provide a venue for officials to share their breadth of experiences and gained knowledge and skills. By learning about the lessons learned and actions taken by other local officials, participants will be able to draw upon the experience of others when facing issues and considering decisions.

This program has been submitted to APA for 2.5 AICP CM credits by the PA Chapter of the American Planning Association.

The Imperative of Integration: Race and Education

Friday, December 9
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
School of Social Work Conference Center, 2017 Cathedral of Learning, 20th Floor
Lunch will be provided; registration is not required.
(412) 624-7382 / www.crsp.pitt.edu

The University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Center on Race and Social Problems, as part of the Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Fall 2011 Speaker Series, presents "The Imperative of Integration: Race and Education" featuring Elizabeth Anderson, Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan.

Dr. Anderson is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1987 and previously taught at Swarthmore College. She is the author of Value in Ethics and Economics (Harvard UP, 1993), The Imperative of Integration (Princeton UP, 2010), and over 60 articles in journals of philosophy, law, and economics. Her research interests include feminist theory, democratic theory, and critical race theory. She has written extensively on affirmative action and racial integration, antidiscrimination law, and egalitarianism.

American Experience Distinguished Lecture: Dr. Robert D. Reischaer

Tuesday, December 6
4:00 pm
O'Hara Student Center, University of Pittsburgh, 4024 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh 15260 (Formerly the Concordia Club)
Free and open to the public; seating is limited.
RSVP at AE.HONORSCOLLEGE.PITT.EDU
Parking is available at the Soldiers and Sailors garage.
Questions? Call (412) 624-1514 or email: kac15@pitt.edu

The Honors College and the Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law & Public Policy announces Dr. Robert D. Reischaer as the American Experience Distinguished Lecture speaker on Tuesday, December 6. Dr. Reischauer is the President of the Urban Institute, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, and is a nationally know expert on the federal budget, Medicare, and Social Security.

Dr. Reischauer will discuss the budget reductions impasse and the nation's need to adapt to inevitable economic changes. Governor Dick Thornburgh, former Attorney General of the U.S. and U.N. Under-Secretary General, will moderate the audience discussion.

WEBINAR: Updating Local Codes to Cultivate Green Infrastructure and Foster Sustainable Stormwater Management

Tuesday, December 13
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST (Noon – 2:00 CST)
Free Register here

This free 2-hour webinar, sponsored by the US EPA, will offer practical strategies and case studies for amending zoning language, development standards, and review processes to improve MS4 stormwater permit compliance and encourage sustainable stormwater management approaches, including green infrastructure practices.

What You’ll Take Away:
* Technical information relevant to planners MS4 permits and green infrastructure
* Relevant examples and strategies for zoning, standards and manuals, review procedures to support green infrastructure implementation
* Practical strategies for making green infrastructure the “default setting” in your codes and review processes

Who Should Attend:
* Municipal, County, and Regional planners
* Municipal and County stormwater program and engineering staff
* Public works officials
* State stormwater, environmental planning, and watershed program staff

Speakers Include:
* Bob Newport, U.S. EPA
* Juli Beth Hinds, Tetra Tech, Inc.
* Karen Knittel, City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the Webinar.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Resources

Letter to the Editor: Transit riders, the time is now to formulate a backup plan

The irony is that elected officials -- who believe raising revenue for roads and transit will hurt the economy -- are rendering our economy a calamitous blow by starving its lifeblood: affordable mobility that links us to opportunity, to jobs, to health care, to living. Public transportation is at the heart of our shared prosperity.

The Nov. 29 article "Port Authority Braces for Another Slash to Service" is a must read for all who -- or whose employees -- depend on the bus or the T. We have about a 10-month window to contingency plan. Van and carpools, 4/10 work weeks, bike commuting, telecommuting, new parking accommodations are among strategies to consider now. Our advance warning is here. It's time to get our transit backup plan in order. We all, riders and our economy, depend on it.

More

Port Authority braces for another slash to service

The Port Authority has begun preparing for service cuts that are more than twice the size of the reductions that took effect in March, when thousands of riders were stranded and others jammed into overcrowded buses. . . The authority faces a projected $64 million deficit in the budget for July 2012 to June 2013, caused by runaway health care and pension costs, rising fuel prices and insufficient revenues, including state and county aid that has mostly remained stagnant or decreased. . . A panel of transportation professionals appointed by Mr. Corbett recommended in August that the state raise nearly $2.7 billion per year in new revenue for roads, bridges, transit and other infrastructure by adjusting various vehicle fees for inflation and eliminating a cap on the wholesale fuel tax. . . In remarks in Pittsburgh last month, the governor signaled that transportation funding was not a top priority before year's end. There are six remaining session days on the Senate's schedule and nine in the House.

Transit cuts would cost employers a lot, too

I'm not sure how many in Harrisburg care about how Pittsburghers get to work. Although Downtown and Oakland are the second and third largest employment centers in Pennsylvania, you'd lose sleep about this only if you depend on that bus to get you around this county, and that eliminates pretty much everyone working in the state Capitol.

It wouldn't be a bad idea if bus and T riders got on the phone to their state representatives, senators and the governor, but it would be a better idea if their employers and office landlords made calls. Those are the people politicians are more likely to worry about.

Pittsburgh ranks in top 'green' cities

Pittsburgh was one of 14 cities and metropolitan areas touted Wednesday in Rooftops to Rivers II, a new report by the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council on efforts to reduce sewage and stormwater runoff. While Pittsburgh wasn't rated as highly as most of the other cities in the report, the council said all 14 have taken steps that should be emulated by municipalities across the country and encouraged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Heinz Endowments makes $1 million grant to cut diesel emissions

The grant is aimed at smaller construction companies working in Pittsburgh and will subsidize expensive retrofits of their bulldozers, graders and other diesel machinery with clean diesel technology, including sophisticated filtering devices and new, low-emission engines. . . The grant was announced Wednesday during a news conference at the Heinz offices Downtown, where Bobby Vagt, president of the Heinz Endowments, said future economic growth for the region's traditional industries and new high technology firms is possible only if the region sheds its reputation for dirty air and water and embarks on a broad-based private and public partnership to improve both. . . "Human capital and talent are empowering the success of the region. These people can go anywhere to work, and that's the battlefield we are fighting on to attract jobs," he said at the news conference. "Talent attraction and retention is the No. 1 issue for all technology companies."

2012 - Top 10 books in urban planning, design and development

This year is dominated by "big picture" books, with a number of prominent critics and commentators zooming way out to look at how cities can achieve sustainability, affordability and economic viability. Ed Glaeser's Triumph of the City was impossible to miss this year, whether you agreed with his conclusions or not. But you'll also find some beautiful coffee table books, a political history of bicycling and a detailed plan for incorporating agriculture into urbanism.

Earned Income Tax Credit

The EITC is a federal tax credit for low to moderate income working individuals and families. If you make less than $49,000 annually you should inquire as to your eligibility. Each year, millions of workers risk not receiving the credits they’ve earned because they don’t know they have to file and claim the credit to receive it. Many people will qualify for EITC for the first time this year because their income declined, their marital status changed, or they added children to their families. In Allegheny County, the Money in Your Pocket Coalition will be assisting eligible working individuals and families with free tax preparation in the coming months.

The Fracturing of Pennsylvania

The people of Amwell are no strangers to the price of development — the loss of a farm’s spring, the sinking of a family home when the coal mine burrows beneath it — or the price of its absence — shuttered mills and lost jobs. But given our energy needs, the use of fracking and the number of wells are likely to grow. The question is whether regulations to address environmental and health issues can keep pace with a booming industry.

Thinking Outside the Bus

The lesson of the Explorer is that when transportation finds the people who need to use it, and then gets them where they want to go, it can grow organically. In the next two years, the Explorer will have to stretch as a green industrial park opens at the site of an old naval base and the train line from Boston links to Brunswick. Anticipating this change, some nearby towns have begun to design connecting Explorer links of their own. The challenge will be to expand the route according to the desires of its passengers, rather than to accomplish abstract goals of local governments.

Lessons in Transit Innovation

What can we learn by comparing ourselves with Europe? A recent paper by Ralph Buehler and John Pucher in the journal Transport Policy looks at Germany, where the public transit systems have five times the market share compared to the United States, and have increased ridership while becoming more financially self-sustaining.

Bridging the Emissions Gap to Meet 2-Degree Target Do-able

Cutting emissions by 2020 to a level that could keep a global, 21st century, temperature rise under 2 degrees C is technologically and economically feasible, says a comprehensive new study released today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). . . The study, titled Bridging the Emissions Gap, brought together 55 scientists and experts from 28 scientific groups across 15 countries to examine the newest scientific research on the gap between the pledges that countries have made to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and what will be needed if we are to be on track to reach the 2 degree target by 2020.

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

Alcoa Foundation
Allegheny County - Dan Onorato, County Executive
Bayer Corporation
Bayer USA Foundation
Buhl Foundation
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