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Events

Resources

Need a last minute stocking stuffer??

Pick up one of these!

This full color, glossy poster features a bold image of planet Earth and reinforces the message that by not being more sustainable, we jeopardize our future.


A great gift for the "hard to buy for"--looks great in or out of a frame!
Poster size: 28" in length and 16" high

Resources Continued

Needed: female representatives in Harrisburg

The Winnning Edge
January 25-27, 2008
Chatham University, Pittsburgh
Tuition fee: $200 (Covers registration, all instructional materials, and meals) Scholarships may be available to assist in the cost of registration, travel or childcare.
Registration and Scholarship Deadline: January 9, 2008
Registration materials can be downloaded at www.chatham.edu/pcwppp and www.pawcf.com.

As you may or may not know, PA is one of the lowest ranked states in the country for female representation in its State House.

Run Baby Run is a bipartisan initiative Chaired by Elsie Hillman and Jeannie Caliguiri to encourage women to run for State Legislature. Thanks in part to Run Baby Run's efforts in 2006, Western PA has three new female representatives in Harrisburg.

If you have considered running for office yourself (and you're a woman), consider attending the Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy's bipartisan women's campaign school. Enrollment is limited in order to allow maximum personal attention and instruction. Applicants are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, so register early.

GHG Inventory Software Workshop

Save the Date!
February 7, 2008
More details about the February 7 workshop will be available in the weeks ahead. Immediate questions can be answered by Dr. Stan Kabala at 412-396-4233, kabala@duq.edu or Lindsay Baxter at 412-396-4749, lindsay_baxter@hotmail.com.

The Center for Environmental Research and Education (CERE) of Duquesne University and Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) will offer a free, half-day workshop to demonstrate how individuals can use software tools to conduct inventories of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from campus activities and operations. This workshop is designed for faculty, students, and staff who are interested in completing an inventory of the carbon footprint of their campuses.

A CERE team of faculty and graduate students completed an inventory of Duquesne’s GHG emissions in 2007. The team, headed by Dr. Stan Kabala, will share practical insights about the inventory process that they learned along the way. Jennifer Andrews of CA-CP will discuss campus carbon footprints and carbon calculators and describe the support that is available from CA-CP.

Resources

E.P.A. Says 17 States Can’t Set Emission Rules

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday denied California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles...The E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, said the proposed California rules were pre-empted by federal authority and made moot by the energy bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday. Mr. Johnson said California had failed to make a compelling case that it needed authority to write its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks to help curb global warming. The decision immediately provoked a heated debate over its scientific basis and whether political pressure was applied by the automobile industry to help it escape the proposed California regulations.

PPG Industries To Cut GHG Emissions 10% From '06-'11

PPG Industries (PPG) said Wednesday that it set a goal of reducing its energy intensity by 25% from 2006 to 2016 and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 10% from 2006 to 2011. The Pittsburgh chemicals, coatings and fiberglass products maker said the targets are part of its continued commitment to sustainable practices. PPG previously committed to reducing its global greenhouse gas emissions intensity from sources in the U.S. by 18% by 2012 from a 2002 baseline. It achieved this mark in 2006, six years earlier than projected. The company said it has reduced its energy use by just over 1% annually for the last five years, saving about $40 million overall. Meeting its new energy savings goal would realize a savings of $15 million to $20 million a year at today's energy prices, said the company.

Pittsburgh's New Year's Ball Ornament Eco-Friendly

Sustainable Pittsburgh, a local nonprofit that seeks to bring sustainable solutions to communities and businesses in the Pittsburgh region, will mitigate the carbon emissions associated with lighting and lifting the ball through the purchase of carbon credits from Pennsylvania farm energy systems. Purchasing carbon credits helps build and support new clean and renewable sources of energy, creating sustainable economic benefits for local communities. Overall, the ball will use approximately 6,000 watts of energy."Creating a healthier environment also helps to create healthier communities and healthier people," said Byron Falchetti, president of Standard Property Corporation, the real estate subsidiary of Highmark.

The Green House as Classroom

Environmentalism may turn out to be the biggest thing to hit the construction industry since aluminum siding (which happens to be recyclable). By 2012, green building could be a $20 billion business. . .according to a National Association of Home Builders’/McGraw Hill market forecast. But some builders are unfamiliar with the new materials and how to use them. And buyers may not know enough about them to request them.

Biofuels Issue Brief

By 2050, energy demands are expected to more than double. Biofuels have the potential to meet some of that demand, but will need to be properly managed. If governments can create the right framework conditions through proper market incentives and other policy measures, biofuel production could have net positive environmental and social impacts.

Biofuels and sustainability - Biofuels boom or bust?

Biofuels are becoming a boom industry across Latin America, but questions are being asked about their long-term sustainability.

Congress places a big bet on cellulosic ethanol

Congress is about to require billions of gallons of next-generation ethanol in the nation's gas tanks, but the mandate carries a big question: Is the industry up to the task? The energy bill that lawmakers are on the brink of approving would require the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2022. Starting in a few years, ever larger quantities of the fuel would have to come from "cellulosic" feedstocks -- grasses, wood chips and other plants -- instead of corn.

Cisco To Implement Department-Level Carbon Quotas

Cisco plans to launch a new program that will give each department within its business a carbon quota, BusinessGreen reports. The company will pilot the program early next year with a company-wide roll out possible in the second half of 2008.

Socially Responsible Investing Branches Out Over Asset Classes

A handbook published by Boston College's Institute for Responsible Investment (IRI) outlines how managers can diversify socially responsible investments. Institutional and high net worth investors have many different options for placing their money in socially responsible investments, outside of just buying screened stocks in publicly traded companies. The handbook helps mission-driven organizations to make investments that have positive societal ramifications across seven different asset classes.

American Planning Association Honors Pittsburgh Area’s “Project Region” with National Excellence Award

The recurrent theme of the policy discussions was restoring and reinvesting in the region’s existing communities. The outcome of the outreach process known as Project Region was a new regional transportation and development plan focused on a vision of “transportation and development that supports the regional economy and the communities within it,” with 16 policies hammered out in the Project Region workshops. The consensus policies set the expectations of how the region will reinforce existing places, economic activities and the connections among them with a strong emphasis on preservation, maintenance and operation of existing infrastructure. Limited expansion would be encouraged in the most cost effective development corridors linking existing communities. While there are major projects on the plan, virtually all of the plan’s major project resources programmed by the SPC are reserved for bridge restorations linking existing communities, limited extensions and operation of public transportation, and highway reconstruction and operations in existing corridors.

Winter Cities Show Cold Weather Can Be Cool

From Copenhagen to Quebec City to New York, people are flocking to outdoor markets and festivals, engaging in public activities and even gathering at sidewalks cafes during the coldest months of the year.

CleanTech Investing – The Green Gold Rush

Venture capitalists are increasingly investing large sums of money into the clean technology market and into businesses promoting renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. This trend has been called by the UNEP as the ‘‘world’s newest gold rush’’. Such investments not only help to advance development of clean technologies, they also help smaller companies with promising environmental ideas to establish a greater presence in the marketplace.

Baffling Bali: The climate-change deal is unclear, but clearly insufficient

"This is a problem of economic transformation, not environmental regulation," said Glenn Prickett, senior vice president at Conservation International. (Disclosure: My wife is on its board.) "The transformation needed will require far more than just passing one law or signing one treaty. It will require the same level of focus and initiative that the Bush administration is devoting to the war on terror. No political leader in the U.S. is approaching this issue yet with anywhere near the seriousness required."

PA - State is third in nation in amount of greenhouse gases

"The focus of this report's release is especially timely, coming as it does after the Bali conference which focused on cutting greenhouse gas emissions after 2012," said Meredith Montalto, Pennsylvania organizer for the National Environmental Trust. "Given that Pennsylvania is a top carbon dioxide polluter it carries special responsibility."

Ross offers settlement in lawsuit over housing

Faced with a lawsuit alleging housing discrimination, Ross commissioners have made an offer to settle the dispute with developers of a housing plan to be built on Rodenbaugh Avenue.

Smart Growth Tool Kit

Welcome to your online resource for smart growth implementation tools. This is a project of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute in cooperation with the U.S. EPA. You can start your smart growth plan by clicking on the tools (on the right) or following any of the links below. . .

Energy & Climate

It is hard to envision a "solution" to climate change and energy security that does not involve slowing the growth of our transportation emissions. To date, the national discussion of energy and climate initiatives has focused almost entirely on developing more fuel-efficient vehicles or lower-carbon fuels. Experts acknowledge, however, that all foreseeable technological solutions are sure to be overwhelmed by the continued growth in the number of miles we all drive. . .The good news, though, is that we can make enormous progress simply by shaping future building so that we create more communities where people can accomplish more by driving less. Numerous studies now demonstrate that when people are given the option to live in a less automobile-dependent place, they do indeed drive less.

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 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