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September 27, 2007
Sustainable Pittsburgh
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412-258-6642
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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
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Events
Allegheny County Household
Hazardous Waste Collection - Volunteers Needed
Rachel
Carson Legacy Conference
3 Rivers
Wet Weather Sewer Conference
Information
Forum: Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission - Understanding &
Intersecting with the TIP and CMAQ
Urban
Tree Planting: Making Large Shade Trees Sustainable
Planning
Together: Lessons Learned
Coordinated
Mobility: A Unified Transportation Management Solution
Global
Problems, Global Solutions: Saving our Earth and its people
Green
Building Products Summit
4th
Annual Regional Equitable Development Summit: "Most Livable Region By
Growing Opportunity for All"
Resources
Cleaning Up China
China in
Three Colors
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Information Forum: Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission - Understanding
& Intersecting with the TIP and CMAQ
Friday, October 5
10:00am to 11:30am
Regional Enterprise Tower,
31st floor (Downtown Pittsburgh)
No fee to attend
Registration: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
or 412-258-6642
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
(SPC), having recently completed Project Region and adopted The Region’s new
Long Range Transportation and Development Plan as a result, is now focused on
implementation mechanisms including development of the Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP) by JUNE of 2008. The TIP serves to determine a host
of targeted regional transportation investments in programs and
infrastructure projects within fiscal constraint. A visible element of the
TIP development process will be the recommended program of projects for the
Congestion and Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ).
Come learn about and how to navigate these important regional prioritization
processes and gain insight of how to intersect to advance your community
development and redevelopment needs in step with Project Region.
This information forum being presented by SPC is timely given that both TIP
and CMAQ development processes for selecting projects are just beginning. The
forum will begin with a video presentation of the region’s plan, include
staff TIP AND CMAQ presentations, and engage participants in Q&A.
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Resources Continued
Outsourcing
Works, So India Is Exporting Jobs
U.S.
Trying to Block Calif. on Emissions
The
Climate Change Peril That Insurers See
A Price
on Carbon
Welcome
to the PA Adoption Exchange Photo Album
Walking
to a 'green' school: Impossible new-century dream?
To go
green, live closer to work, report says
Global
corporate climate change report released
AIA
Pittsburgh: The State of Sustainability: The challenge of designing for the
future
DuPont Targets More Rapid Growth Through Sustainable Packaging
Public
Transportation's Contribution to Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Parking
spaces outnumber drivers 3-to-1, drive pollution and warming
Bayer
Judged "Best in Class" Globally for Climate Protection
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Allegheny County Household Hazardous Waste Collection -
Volunteers Needed
Saturday, September 29
Location: Boyce Park Four Seasons Ski Lodge parking lot (Monroeville)
Contact: Michael Stepaniak at 412-488-7452 or michaels@ccicenter.org
Please provide shift preference (all day, am or pm--more info below) and
contact information (name, phone, e-mail).
The
Southwestern PA Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Task Force needs additional
volunteers for this weekend's HHW collection event. The event is scheduled to
run from 9:00am until 1:00pm. Below are the shifts needed for volunteers:
* All Day - 7:00 am till 2:30 pm (may not run that late)
* AM shift - 7:00 am till 11:30 am
* PM shift - 10:00 am till 2:30 pm
Tasks will include directing traffic, taking surveys, handing out educational
materials, checking materials in trunks and assigning a dollar value, and
other important tasks. VOLUNTEERS WILL NOT HANDLE HHW OR UNLOAD VEHICLES.
There will be a brief training session prior to the start of the event.
Lunch, beverages, and a t-shirt will be provided. Detailed event day
information will be forwarded to all volunteers the week of September 24th.
For more information on the SW PA HHW Task Force and the remaining 2007
collections visit www.swpahhw.org.
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Sustaining the Web of Life in Modern Society
Saturday, September 29
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA
Adults: $25, College Students: $10, High School: FREE
Limited Seating
Register online at www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org.
This 2007 inaugural Rachel Carson Legacy conference will address the topic
of “Sustaining the Web of Life in Modern Society.” E. O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus, Department of
Entomology, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University,
will present the keynote address. Sessions include: Global Warming;
Perspectives on the Health of our Oceans; Environmental Leadership; and
Changing the Way We Live.
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October 3-4, 2007
Check-in/registration begins at 8:00 a.m. on Oct. 3.
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh
North (Cranberry, PA)
Registration: $60 on or before 9/28. After 9/28 registration is $65.
www.3riverswetweather.org
This
annual conference is designed to educate and share lessons learned for
overcoming the wet weather problems that have plagued the Pittsburgh
region for decades. The conference schedule will feature educational sessions
on such topics as case studies of approaches to water-quality testing,
citizen testing and source tracking, design considerations for stormwater “best management practices” (BMPs) and cost benefit analysis of sewer rehabilitation
projects.
Additionally, 54 exhibitors will display and demonstrate technologies to help
communities find new, cost-effective ways of restoring aging and
deteriorating sewer systems that often experience sewage and stormwater overflows during wet weather. For registration
questions, please call the Local Government Academy
at 412-237-3171. For all other questions about the conference, contact 3
Rivers Wet Weather at 412-578-8375.
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Information Forum: Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission - Understanding & Intersecting
with the TIP and CMAQ
Friday, October 5
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Regional Enterprise Tower,
31st floor
No fee to attend
Pre-registration to: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
or 412-258-6642
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
(SPC), having recently completed Project Region and adopted The Region’s new
Long Range Transportation and Development Plan as a result, is now focused on
implementation mechanisms including development of the Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP) by JUNE of 2008. The TIP serves to determine a host
of targeted regional transportation investments in programs and
infrastructure projects within fiscal constraint. A visible element of the
TIP development process will be the recommended program of projects for the
Congestion and Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ).
Come learn about and how to navigate these important regional prioritization
processes and gain insight of how to intersect to advance your community
development and redevelopment needs in step with Project Region.
This information forum being presented by SPC is timely given that both TIP
and CMAQ development processes for selecting projects are just beginning. The
forum will begin with a video presentation of the region’s plan, include
staff TIP AND CMAQ presentations, and engage participants in Q&A.
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Friday, October 12
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Penn State University, Greater Allegheny Campus, McKeesport, PA 15132
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: OCT 5, 2007
REGISTRATION FEES: INDIVIDUAL $125, TEAM (3 or more from same organization)
$100, MEMBER Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest $ 75
For a workshop brochure or more information, contact Mark Remcheck
at mar15@psu.edu or 724-228-6940.
This workshop is designed for those who help
plan redevelopment in towns and cities – from landscape architects and urban
planners to highway engineers and municipal officials. Henry Arnold, the
keynote presenter, has extensive experience designing urban tree plantings
using innovative site preparation techniques which address volume of root
space, porosity of the growing medium, drainage, and supporting pavement in
the root zone. He will illustrate how combining design and technical
expertise can result in populating our urban areas with large, long lived
shade trees.
Six afternoon break-out sessions will be offered on topics such as, caring
for newly planted trees and tree selection; and sharing examples of
successful planting projects.
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Sustainability and Smart Growth Forum
Monday, October 22
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Location: Fetterolf Room, 23rd Floor, Regional
Enterprise Tower, 425 Sixth Ave., Downtown Pittsburgh
Bring a brown bag lunch -- dessert provided.
Free to attend.
Register: email info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
or call 412-258-6642
Sustainable Pittsburgh is partnering with
the Local Government Academy
to focus in on multi-municipal comprehensive planning. Various municipal
leaders will share what's working, benefits and
lessons learned. Current speakers include: Cindy Davis, Butler
Township; Chris Rearick,
Municipality of
Murrysville; Ray
Reaves, Consultant; and Joy Wilhelm, Mackin
Engineering. More details to follow.
Sponsored by:
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October 23-24, 2007
Pittsburgh, PA
Fee: Tuition shall be waived for federal, state and local government
employees who work in transportation or related areas. Fee for contractors
and consultants: $300.00
Contact: 732-932-1700 or msirleaf@nti.rutgers.edu
To register, go to www.NTIONLINE.com
and look under Management Development.
Presented
by the National Transit Institute, this course will provide a look at
creative approaches to resolving fragmented transportation systems to a more
seamless network with a customer-focused mindset. The objective of this
course is: --Identify ways to forge partnerships with community players to
coordinate multimodal transportation options around
the needs of the customer; --Develop an understanding of the customer travel
needs of today; --Create awareness of the opportunities; --Present elements
of mobility management and planning techniques; --Identify and promote the
benefits of mobility management for communities; --Identify funding resources
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October 26-27, 2007
Friday - 7:00pm; Saturday - 9:00am to 5:00pm
LaRoche
College, North Hills (9000 Babcock Blvd, Pittsburgh, 15237-5808)
Free admission
To register, visit www.laroche.edu/global
or call the Office of College Activities at 412-536-1071.
Space is limited; early registration is encouraged.
Conference
host La Roche College will join with other sponsor organizations to once
again bring to the public this free conference that focuses on awareness of
important global issues. This year, the theme focuses on U.N. Millennium Goal
No. 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability. Yet the vision for a better world
goes beyond global warming and the earth's sustainability issues. Individuals
must continue to affect change in such areas as gender equality, human rights
and poverty...This year's featured speaker is Erin Brockovich,
a former law firm file clerk who won one of the nation's largest class-action
lawsuits in history when she found that a public utility company was
contaminating a town's water supply and causing its residents to become ill.
Now director of research for the same California
law firm, Masry & Vititoe,
Ms. Brockovich continues her fight against
environmental concerns.
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Green Building Products Summit
Monday, October 29
9:00am to 4:00pm
Location: The
Regional Learning Alliance (Cranberry, PA)
Fee: $95 until October 1; $125 after October 1
To see the full agenda or to register, click here.
Green
Building Alliance's (GBA's) one-day conference will
feature a number of key speakers including Rebecca Flora, Executive Director
of GBA & Chair-elect of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and Katie McGinty, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (Invited). Key sessions include: Overview of Life
Cycle Analysis, LEED®, and Green Building Product Standards; a Panel
Discussion including key PA manufacturers and the Regional VP of Home Depot
providing their perspectives on Green Building Products and what it means to
their businesses; a presentation by Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company on
financial incentives/discounts they provide on insurance products related to
Green Building Products; Information on training & educational programs
on Green/Sustainable Building Products; How GBA’s
Green Building Products Initiative can provide assistance to you; a unique
opportunity to set up one-on-one consultation meetings with the various
speakers and panelists at the end of the program. In addition to the packed
program, this event will also provide attendees with opportunities to meet
with many other manufacturers, specifiers &
buyers of green building products (i.e. architects, engineers, contractors,
building owners) and other industry professionals.
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Friday, November 16
Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow
Blvd., Oakland
Keynote: The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs Annual Wherrett Lecture on Local Governing presented by David
Rusk, author of Cities without Suburbs, Baltimore Unbound, and Inside
Game/Outside Game
Register: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
or 412-258-6642
The Summit
will feature the opportunity for community leaders to become involved in
aiding the region's leading institutions in advancing goals to narrow the
disparities gap. The Summit
will feature reports by regional leaders on their vision for, current
activities, and needs for assistance in achieving regional equity across a
range of critical public services, investments, and governance. David Rusk
will provide remarks and serve as master of ceremonies in facilitating
deliberations. Come participate and learn how you can help in advancing
policy and practice for regional equitable development to expand opportunity
and bolster the region's productivity and competitiveness.
Presented by:
--University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International
Affairs: Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership
--Sustainable Pittsburgh
More information is available on Sustainable Pittsburgh's website .
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Resources
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...A large share of the world’s polluting industries have
migrated to the largest low-wage country of all, China, helping to turn big swaths
of its landscape into an environmental disaster zone... China makes
more than a third of the world’s steel, half of its cement, about a third of
its aluminum. It also consumes more coal than the United
States, Europe and Japan combined. Its environmental
degradation is a match for Dickens at his bleakest: airborne pollution causes
more than 650,000 premature deaths a year... The problem doesn’t stay there. China is about to surpass, or has already
surpassed, the United
States as the world’s biggest emitter of
greenhouse gases.
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China in Three Colors
For China,
going from communism to its state-directed capitalism, while by no means
easy, involved loosening the lid on a people who were naturally
entrepreneurial, risk-taking capitalists. It was tantamount to letting a
geyser erupt, and the results of all that unleashed energy are apparent
everywhere. Going from dirty capitalism to clean capitalism is much harder.
Because it involves restraining that geyser — and to do that effectively
requires a system with some judicial independence, so that courts can
discipline government-owned factories and power plants. It requires a freer
press that can report on polluters without restraint, even if they are
government-owned businesses. It requires transparent laws and regulations, so
citizen-activists know their rights and can feel free to confront polluters,
no matter how powerful. For all those reasons, it seems to me that it will be
very hard to make China
greener without making it more orange.
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India
is outsourcing outsourcing. One of the constants of
the global economy has been companies moving their tasks — and jobs — to India. But
rising wages and a stronger currency here, demands for workers who speak
languages other than English, and competition from countries looking to
emulate India’s success as
a back office — including China,
Morocco and Mexico — are challenging
that model.
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U.S. Trying to Block Calif.
on Emissions
The Bush administration has conducted a concerted, behind-the-scenes
lobbying campaign to try to generate opposition to California's request to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, according to documents
obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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"The insurance industry must start actively adjusting in response to
greenhouse gas trends if it is to survive." The Association of British
Insurers has called on governments to "stem ominous weather related
trends" by cutting carbon emissions. U.S.-based companies AIG and Marsh
-- respectively, the largest insurer and broker -- have joined with other
corporate leaders to urge Congress to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 60
to 80 percent by mid-century. AIG's policy
statement on climate change "recognizes the scientific consensus that
climate change is a reality and is likely in large part the result of human
activities that have led to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in
the earth's atmosphere."
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The world's understandable skepticism of the United
States' seriousness in dealing with climate change will
be on full display this week during summits in New York
and Washington.
After all, President Bush has temporized and dithered while Congress has
refused to act. Even House and Senate energy bills, which in any case only
nibble at the edges of the problem, are stuck in legislative limbo. Yet there
is movement on Capitol Hill to slow the aggressive advance of global warming
by putting a price on carbon. A carbon tax would be the simplest and most
efficient way to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and that sadly is unlikely
to get far. But an encouraging bipartisan consensus may be building in Washington around the
second-best option, a cap-and-trade system in which government would set a
cap on the amount of carbon dioxide that could be emitted and would issue
allowances to emitting companies that could buy and sell those rights.
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Currently, Pennsylvania has 1,200
children waiting for an adoptive family to be identified...The children
featured are representative of Pennsylvania's
waiting children. Most are in the custody of a county children and youth
agency...The child narratives contain information to introduce you to a
child.
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Put aside, for a moment, “No Child Left Behind” teaching issues. Ask
instead: How are the kids getting to school? And when they get there, are
their school buildings satisfactorily “green” and healthy?...driving
Johnny and Jane to school isn’t such a safe choice... Seventy-five percent of
school-trip child fatalities, and 84 percent of injuries, occur in passenger
vehicles. And that doesn’t even count parents’ cars clogging roadways and
polluting the air; especially right beside schools.
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Up to now, climate policy has primarily focused on such things as higher fuel
economy for cars and trucks, cleaner fuels, greener building standards, lower
power plant emissions, and international treaties. But a growing consensus of
experts is also homing in on the everyday zoning decisions of local officials
and county planners...A hotly contested bill sponsored by Sen. Darrell
Steinberg (D-Sacramento) would require regional planning groups to set
targets for reducing greenhouse gases, and could stop millions of dollars in
federal, state and local transportation funds from being spent on roads that
could encourage sprawl.
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Paul Dickinson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) said,
“Increasingly, investors view good carbon management as a sign of good
corporate management. Our investors are using the quality of the disclosure
as a very useful tool to assess how seriously a company is taking the issues
of climate change. As CDP data plays an increasingly important role in
informing investors on a company’s approach to climate change, the pressure
is increasing on companies to respond. And by moving CDP data collection into
company supply chain management, CDP’s reach will
grow enormously.”
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AIA Pittsburgh:
The State of Sustainability:
The challenge of designing for the future
Across the spectrum, businesses are joining the “green” movement because
of marketability, and one can only hope that in their zeal to sell more
products, they will truly educate themselves and their customers. [America has]
become a first-cost, throw away society, and it will take longer to change on
the individual consumer level. It’s frustrating, but all the more reason to
help people make that shift that will lead to a better environment and better
quality of life. Architects have the responsibility to lead the mission of
educating the communities and citizens about sustainable design.
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DuPont Targets More Rapid Growth Through
Sustainable Packaging
"Sustainable packaging is a growing and important focus area for DuPont and is part of the company's overall commitment to
create shareholder and societal value while providing direct, quantifiable
environmental benefits for our customers and consumers along our value
chains," said Linda J. Fisher, DuPont Vice
President and Chief Sustainability Officer.
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This report addresses four questions. How much net CO2 is public
transportation saving in the U.S .from the current level of services being
offered? How much additional CO2 savings are possible if incremental public
transportation passenger loads are increased? What is the significance of
non-public transportation commuter use at a household level and what can
households do to save additional CO2? Are there favorable land use impacts
that public transportation contributes to that result in positive
environmental and social benefits?
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From suburban driveways to the sprawling lots that spring up around big retailers,
Americans devote lots of space to parking spaces – a growing land-use trend
that plays a role in heating up urban areas and adding to water pollution,
according to a recent study.
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For the third time in a row, Bayer has been included in the Climate Disclosure
Leadership Index, the first international climate protection index, with the
classification "Best in Class". This year, Bayer received this
commendation as the only German-based company in the chemical sector.
Independent experts ranked the world's 500 largest, listed companies. This
was announced by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) investor group in New York.
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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
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