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Events

SP Recognized with Energy Leadership Awards

This past May, the Pittsburgh Business Times recognized Sustainable Pittsburgh with two Energy Leadership Awards. These awards highlight the organization's performance programs and regional initiatives, which continue to elevate the policy and practice of sustainable development in southwestern Pennsylvania..

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Resources

Blast off the Starting Block
PGH Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #1: Getting Started with the GWC

Friday, July 29
8:30 am - 11:30 am (Registration begins at 8:00 am)
Union Trust Building, 501 Grant Street, 11th Floor Classroom, Downtown Pittsburgh 15219
GWC Participants: $10; Non-Participant/Sustainable Pittsburgh Member: $25; Non-Participant/Non-Member: $35
More information and registration

Keynote Speaker:
Andrew Kreider, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Consultant, US Environmental Protection Agency

Are you signed up for the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge (GWC) and ready to get ahead of the competition? Are you interested in competing but want to learn more before signing up by the 8/31 deadline? This 7/29 program is for you!

Hosted by Sustainable Pittsburgh, the GWC is a yearlong, friendly competition for businesses, nonprofits, universities, and local governments to engage employees and measure improvements in the areas of energy, water, waste, transportation, and more. The July 29th workshop, “Blast off the Starting Block – GWC Workshop #1, guides participants through the first steps of the competition, including how to set up GWC accounts, develop an individualized game plan, build baselines, and start tracking actions. At the end of this workshop, attendees will have a clear strategy for moving forward in the Green Workplace Challenge.

All are welcome to attend to learn more about the Green Workplace Challenge and get a leg up on the competition.

Film Screening: "Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch"

Saturday, July 23
7:00 pm
Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Chapel
Tickets are free; advance registration required.
More information, registration, and film trailer

Join the Pennsylvania Resources Council and Allegheny CleanWays for the next installment of their 2016 Films for a Better Planet Film Series! The July 23 screening features "Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" followed by a panel discussion with local experts.

Plastic Paradise shows how decisions at home and work impact ocean life hundreds of miles away, and how they have already started to impact health and global ecosystems. Meet other members of the green community and learn more about plastic, litter, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and more!

Defining Environmental Justice Communities in Allegheny County

Friday, July 29
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Allegheny County Health Department, 301 39th Street Building 7, Room 120, Pittsburgh 15201
Free to attend; lunch provided. RSVP.
More information and registration

The Allegheny County Health Department is looking for your input to select indicators to use in their identification of environmental justice communities. The Department's Plan for a Healthier Allegheny calls for targeted and focused strategies and investments to be made in areas of highest need. The Health Department is taking a data-driven approach in identifying these communities, and would like your feedback to inform the process.

RSVP so that an appropriate about of food can be ordered for lunch. Materials will be provided in advance of the meeting.

Hard to recycle collection

Saturday, July 30
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
North Allegheny High School, 10375 Perry Highway, Wexford 15090
More information/Event flyer
Overview

The Pennsylvania Resources Council is hosting a collection of several "hard to recycle" items on Saturday, July 30. Some items are free to drop off; others have a nominal fee associated with drop off. Materials accepted include cell and home phones, computers, VCRs, DVD players and cable boxes, small kitchen appliances, stereo speakers and more. Please see flyer for cost information and additional important details.

PA DEP Environmental Justice Advisory Board Meeting

Tuesday, August 2
8:30 am
DEP Southwest Regional Office, 400 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh 15222
Additional details forthcoming

The PA DEP Environmental Justice Advisory Board meets quarterly and all meetings are open to the public. Part of the meeting is open for the public to make presentations about current and future regional environmental concerns, especially as it impacts human populations. If you would like to provide public comments during this upcoming EJAB meeting, please email Nora Alwine or call (717) 783-2300.

BikeFest 2016

August 19-28, 2016
Various locations throughout the area.
More information

This twelfth annual BikeFest is a 10 day celebration of all things bicycling in Pittsburgh. Several activities are scheduled including bike-themed rides and events hosted by local organizations. PedalPGH is set for August 28th.

Equitable Transit-Oriented Development: Highlighting the Issues and Opportunities

Wednesday, August 24
9:30 am–1:45 pm
Omni William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh 15219
Free to attend; Pre-registration required.
Registration closes August 17.
More information and registration

Join the Pittsburgh Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Port Authority of Allegheny County for a symposium on Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD). This event brings together researchers and practitioners from across the country and the region to share data and best practices, fostering discussion about the future of ETOD in Pittsburgh.

The agenda features addresses from:
- Dan Bartholomay, Chief Executive Officer, Rail~Volution
- Michael A. Spotts, Senior Analyst and Project Manager, Enterprise Community Partners
- Dace West, Executive Director, Mile High Connects

Resources

ATTN Employers: Sign up to compete in the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge!

Commit to making the Pittsburgh region a better place to live, work, and play! Sign up for this year’s Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge (GWC) and see how your business/nonprofit/university/municipality can save money, engage employees, and gain positive public recognition. Since 2011, more than 200 GWC competitors saved nearly $9 million in energy, enough water to fill Heinz Field 93 feet, and enough CO2 emissions to account for over four days of flights from Pittsburgh International.

Join the cohort of employers driving Pittsburgh’s reputation for environmental transformation and sustainability. The GWC team can help you get started and identify the top actions you can take to start saving. Throughout the year, they’ll connect you with resources to stay on track.

Sign up today to compete!

Energy Innovation

Energy Innovation (EI) is a biweekly newsletter of the Energy for the Power of 32 initiative. It features news and events that are accelerating sustainable development for the power of 32. View the latest edition of EI using the link below.

Subscribe to Energy Innovation.

Read the latest issue.

Industries give Pa. clean energy policies mixed reviews

A central question surrounding employment is the role that clean energy plays in helping transition workers who have been laid off in the coal industry. The young boilermaker or welder whose work is drying up as coal-fired power plants shut down is making $75,000 to $90,000 a year — salaries that aren't being matched by jobs in clean energy, said Khari Mosley, regional programs manager for the BlueGreen Alliance, a national group advocating for both blue-collar workers and environmental issues. “The mismatch that we see is that jobs in the fossil fuel industry are high wage jobs, and jobs in clean energy generally aren't,” Mr. Mosley said. “One of the things we’re trying to figure out is how to bridge that gap.

One cracker = 36,000 cars: Shell and others shouldn’t dismiss community concerns about the Beaver County cracker plant

Using emissions data from a similar facility operating in Louisiana, we noted that such a plant would likely release significant amounts of air toxins known as volatile organic compounds as well as nitrogen oxides. These pollutants have adverse effects on their own, but one significant concern is their ability to promote the formation of ozone. Ozone is one of six air pollutants for which the Environmental Protection Agency sets standards because of its ability to exacerbate lung diseases such as asthma. The linkage between ozone and motor-vehicle traffic in many parts of the United States is indisputable. Therefore, I thought it useful to portray the cracker’s expected emissions in terms of motor-vehicle traffic to give readers perspective of its magnitude.

Who’s to blame? The white police/black community divide has been with us from the beginning, and there is a reason for that

I certainly do not have all the answers to the policing and race problem, but I offer these recommendations: 1) Make the racial composition of police forces mirror the racial composition of the communities they serve. 2) Punish equitably police officers, white or black, when they commit racial transgressions. We do our good police officers a great disservice when we fail to hold the bad ones accountable. 3) Create greater economic opportunities for young black males, as it is frequently their illegal or extra-legal efforts to make a living that results in their conflicts with law enforcement.

Pittsburgh, county tout economic benefits of immigrants

Betty Cruz of the mayor's Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative said the report marks the first time the city has been able to capture the data and day-to-day impact of immigrants in the region. . . The report, which is available online at http://www.renewoureconomy.org/research/advancing-the-pittsburgh-region/ said, in part, that the foreign-born population in Allegheny County holds $1.8 billion in spending power, or 6.3 percent of its total; and, in 2014, contributed $6.8 billion of the county's $89.6 billion GDP, as well as $217 million in state and local taxes.

June sets another global temperature record, extending a blazingly hot year

Nonetheless, it has been a staggering run for the planet of late. “This was also the 14th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken — the longest such streak in NOAA’s 137 years of recordkeeping,” NOAA reported. Both NOAA and NASA have rated every month this year so far as a record-breaker.

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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 2016 from:
Alcoa Foundation
ALCOSAN
Allegheny County
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Henry L. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates, LTD
The Pittsburgh Foundation
University of Pittsburgh
UPMC



Special thanks to the SP Members

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