Commit to a more Sustainable Pittsburgh region. Take the "I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh" Pledge: sustainablepittsburgh.org/iam

Events

p4 Pittsburgh Forum Broadcasting LIVE April 16-17

Due to overwhelming demand, the p4 Pittsburgh Forum will be broadcast LIVE tomorrow and Friday. Please join virtually on:

April 16 from 8:30 – 5:45pm
and again on
April 17th from 8:30 until 11am and again from 3:15-4:30pm

Learn more about p4 Pittsburgh at p4pittsburgh.org
Use this link to view the live broadcast of p4 Pittsburgh

Commit to a more sustainable Pittsburgh region:

Offered by Sustainable Pittsburgh, the “I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh” pledge is an invitation for folks to stand up and be counted as leaders in the movement to bring on and sustain the good life in our Pittsburgh region.

As part of this month's celebration of Earth Day, you are invited to proclaim “I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh” and make your contributions known by taking our pledge. Commit to any 6 of the sustainability actions contained in the pledge checklist and you become part of the ongoing progress in making Pittsburgh the greatest place anywhere to live, work, and play!

Join our community of sustainability leaders: Post a photo of you taking a sustainable action in the "I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh" photo album via Sustainable Pittsburgh's Facebook page. Feel free to use the hashtag #iamsustainablepgh.

Take the pledge here.

Connect with Sustainable Pittsburgh:

Sustainable Pittsburgh welcomes your support:

Events Continued

Resources

Green Workplace Challenge (GWC) 3.0 Workshop #5: "Connecting with Solutions to Reduce Impacts: Provider Fair"

Friday, April 24
8:30 am - 10:30 am (Registration begins at 8:00 am)
Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, One Wild Place, Pittsburgh 15206
Cost:
$10 for Green Workplace Challenge Participants
$25 for SP/C4S Member Nonparticipants
$35 for Nonmember, Nonparticipants
More information

Come to this workshop to connect with many regional organizations that offer solutions for becoming more sustainable and improve your competitive position in the GWC. The GWC Competition Guide contains many actions that encourage GWC participants to engage with knowledgeable community organizations to help them improve their capacities for saving money, energy, water, waste, commuter impacts, and air emissions, among many other opportunities.

Participants will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with representatives with many community partners who can help you make progress and adopt more sustainable operational practices.

Participating Community Partners:
- Bigbelly
- CommuteInfo
- Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
- eLoop, LLC
- Group Against Smog and Pollution
- Mitsubishi Electric
- NORESCO
- Performance Systems Development
- Scalo Solar
- Solarize Allegheny
- Workscape Inc.
- Zero Waste Pittsburgh
- Zipcar
and more to come...

C4S/EWRI/ASCE 7th Annual Sustainability Conference
Practical & Innovative Solutions for Creating Sustainable Communities

Tuesday, May 5
8:30 am – 3:30 pm (8:00 am registration)
Home of Mayor John Fetterman, Former Superior Motors Site, 1215 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, 15104
More information and registration
Contact: Jonathan Shimko at jonathan.shimko@tetratech.com

Featured Speakers:
John Fetterman, Braddock Mayor
Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, Assistant District Executive– PennDOT District 11-0
Amy Kessler – EVP, Head of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs and Founder, Turning Earth and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Biogas Council
And more!

Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Champions for Sustainability (C4S) once again joins the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Pittsburgh Section and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) Pittsburgh Chapter for a full-day event that looks at the connections of creative innovation and practical solutions to help our communities become more sustainable.

The event offers a range of policy-oriented and technical presentations for sustainable community solutions. Presenters will cover such topics as transforming a culture of abandonment into a platform for entrepreneurial activity, reinvestments that build community and meet core needs, and access to transit. Sessions will focus on several cutting edge technologies, such as green solutions for managing stormwater, and opportunities for biogas to manage waste and provide power.

The event takes place in the heart of a community investment project, the now-home of Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, located above Superior Motors: Community Restaurant & Farm, a project in progress by famed restauranteur Kevin Sousa.

Engineering Sustainability 2015: Innovation and the Triple Bottom Line

April 19-21, 2015
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Register now
View program

This focused conference will bring together engineers and scientists from academia, government, industry, and nonprofits to share results of cutting-edge research and practice directed at development of environmentally sustainable buildings and infrastructure.

The built environment, which includes buildings, the transportation grid, and water collection and treatment systems, helps to sustain our economy and way of life, but at the cost of heavy resource use and waste generation. Buildings alone consume a substantial percentage of the materials produced globally each year and require significant amounts of energy for operation. Transportation grids are material-intensive, and the maintenance requirements of aging infrastructure in the developed world are stressing the abilities of municipalities to maintain viable systems. Renewal of urban water infrastructure with new, more sustainable systems delivering higher performance is a critical need, as failing infrastructure systems in many cities impact economic vitality and quality of life for residents. Stormwater management systems in many cities are inadequate and based on old paradigms, exacerbating flooding problems and leading to sewer overflows. Water also is interlinked with energy production and use, as significant amounts of water are required for energy generation, and production of high purity water with current membrane technologies requires significant amounts of energy.

Be Informed, Make a Difference Speaker Series - Part 2

Tuesday, April 21
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (Doors open at 6:30)
Science Stage, Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Ave., Pittsburgh 15212 (Free parking available)
More information and registration

Join Women for a Healthy Environment as Dr. Heather Stapleton presents her expertise on flame retardant exposures and impacts to human health, as well as a discussion on those most at risk, which might surprise you! This event will also include a screening of Toxic Hot Seat, which follows a courageous group of firefighters and mothers, journalists and scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose a shadowy campaign of deception that left a toxic legacy in our homes and bodies - a campaign so cunning, it's taken nearly 40 years to unravel.

Dr Stapleton is the Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Management at Duke University. Her research projects are focused on identifying flame retardant chemicals in consumer products and exploring the routes of human exposure to these chemicals, particularly in children. In 2008 she was awarded an Outstanding New Environmental Scientist Award (ONES). In 2012 she testified in front of the US Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on human exposure and toxicity of new-use flame retardants.

Co-hosted with the American Chemistry Society.

Special thanks to The Pittsburgh Foundation for their support!

Environmentally Literate Healthcare Providers

Tuesday, April 21
7:15 am - 11:30 am
Magee Auditorium, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC
More information

This course will equip Healthcare Professionals with the tools to provide anticipatory guidance to their patients. The course will also equip individuals with knowledge and science of environmental health principles as well as their application in health care settings . It will include information on the inclusion of environmental health principles in physician and nursing education.

Pittsburgh Earth Day - Take the I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh pledge!

Wednesday, April 22
Several celebrations throughout the city!
More information

RSVP for specific events:
Business Breakfast: http://www.showclix.com/event/PghEarthDayBusinessBreakfast
Hotel Monaco Pre Party: https://www.showclix.com/event/PghEarthDayChrisJamison/pre-sale
Sustainability Soiree: http://www.showclix.com/event/SustainabilitySoiree

Pittsburgh Earth Day is a citywide celebration dedicated to educating, inspiring, and celebrating sustainability in the region. Honoring the transformation from Pittsburgh’s Steel City past to a thriving home for green innovation, LEED certified development, farm to table initiatives and environmentally-friendly events, Pittsburgh Earth Day honors the collaboration of businesses, community organizations and green purveyors that are changing the landscape of our region.

Be on the look out for how YOU can make a difference in continuing the region's embrace of more sustainable development. Come Earth Day, we can all take the "I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh" pledge. More information coming in the days leading up to Earth Day on April 22.

45th Annual Earth Day celebration features screening of "The Power of One Voice"

Wednesday, April 22
Two screenings of "The Power of One Voice": 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Several activities planned between 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Duquesne University, Laura Falk Lecture Hall inside Mellon Hall
Free and open to the public
To RSVP for the film screening, please send an email to envscience@duq.edu
OR join the event on Facebook
View flyer

Celebrate the 45th Annual Earth Day with a special event at Duquesne University! Activities will begin at noon in the Mellon Hall Lobby:
• Learn more about the Ecology Club, Evergreen, and Pure Thirst;
• Enjoy light refreshments;
• Calculate your carbon footprint;
• Check out scientific posters about environmental research;
• Learn what the Catholic Church teaches about environmental stewardship; and
• Enter a drawing to win one of three prizes!

"The Power of One Voice, A 50-Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson" will be screened at 4pm and 7pm in the Laura Falk Lecture Hall. Popcorn will be served! The 52-minute documentary will be followed by a brief panel discussion with the film's producer, Dr. Patricia DeMarco, who will be joined by Dr. John F. Stolz, Director of the Center for Environmental Research and Education; Dr. Brady Porter, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences; and M.S. candidate Lauren Drumm, President of the Ecology Club.

This event is organized by the Center for Environmental Research and Education with support from the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, the Division of Mission and Identity, the Department of Theology, and the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Duquesne University.

Parking for Duquesne University visitors is generally available in the Forbes Garage. Visitors should mention the Earth Day event to the parking attendant in order to be charged the affiliated rate. View campus map and directions here.

"The End of Black Metropolis?"

Thursday, April 23
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
2017 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland
Lunch Provided. Registration Not Required.
As part of Pitt's Spring Food Drive, we invite you to donate non-perishable (canned or boxed) food items. Admittance is not based on donations.
More information

Join the University of Pittsburgh Center on Race and Social Problems in the School of Social Work in welcoming Mary Pattillo PhD, Harold Washington Professor, Professor of Sociology & African American Studies at Northwestern University. Dr. Pattillo will be introduced by Hide Yamatani, PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Pattillo's areas of interest include race and ethnicity (specifically the black middle class), urban sociology, and qualitative methods. Pattillo uses the city of Chicago as her laboratory and strives to be an expert in Chicago history, politics, and social life. In her book, Black Picket Fences (University of Chicago Press, 1999), Pattillo investigates the economic, spatial, and cultural forces that affect child-rearing and youth socialization in a black middle class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Black Picket Fences won the Oliver Cromwell Cox Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association.

Her second book, Black on the Block (University of Chicago Press 2007) focused on gentrification and public housing transformation in North Kenwood - Oakland on Chicago's South Side. The book develops the concept of "middlemen" and "middlewomen," the roles that black professionals play in working alternatively to mediate or exacerbate racial and class inequality. It won the Robert Park Book Award and a proclamation of the City of Chicago.

Current research projects include a study of how parents negotiate school choice and how families make housing choices in Chicago. Pattillo also has a growing interest in race in Latin America, and is a member of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Research Network on How Housing Matters for Families and Children. Pattillo is a founding board member and active participant in Urban Prep Charter Academy, the first all-boys public charter high school in Chicago.

Stand Against Racism Rally

Friday, April 24
12:00 pm
Point Park University, The Village Park, Intersection of Wood Street & Boulevard of the Allies
Contact: (412) 255-1466 or visit ywcapgh.org

Join the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh and members of the community for an afternoon rally! The Stand Against Racism is an annual movement of the YWCA with the goal of bringing people from across the community together to raise awareness that racism still exists --and that we must take a stand to address it.

Making the Connection: Air Pollution & Heart Health

Thursday, April 30
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Networking and refreshments begin at 5:00pm; program begins promptly at 6:00 pm.)
Allegheny General Hospital, Magovern Conference Center, 320 E. North Avenue, Pittsburgh 15212
Register
Continuing Medical Education Credits offered. This event is jointly provided by Group Against Smog and Pollution and Allegheny General Hospital

Did you know air pollution can affect heart health and can trigger heart attacks and strokes that cause disability and death? One in three Americans has heart or blood vessel disease and is at higher risk from air pollution.

Not only does air pollution exacerbate existing heart problems, but it may also play a role in the development of heart disease in otherwise healthy people.

Join Wayne Cascio, MD and Director of EPA's Environmental Public Health Division to learn about the connection between air pollution and cardiovascular health. Dr. Cascio has spent more than 25 years as a cardiologist helping people take care of their hearts. Now he is bringing a broader view of public health to EPA by leading research on the links between exposures to air pollution and maintaining a healthy heart.

In addition, James Fabisiak, PhD, Associate Professor in Environmental & Occupational Health and is part of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health will present. Dr. Fabisiak is one of the authors of the Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report and will discuss the air pollution challenges our region faces.

SW PA Air Quality Partnership, Inc. Spring Meeting

Friday, May 1
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Botany Hall, Phipps Conservatory, 1 Schenley Drive, Pittsburgh 15213
Registration required. Please RSVP by April 27 to: bmallison@consolidated.net

Join the Southwestern Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership (SPAQP)for its Spring meeting. The meeting will include updates by representatives from the SPAQP, PA Department of Environmental Protection, Carnegie Mellon University Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, Port Authority of Allegheny County and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

The following topics will be discussed, in addition to a brief business meeting (15 minutes) prior to adjournment.
- Local and State Air Auality
- State of Regional Air Quality Research
- Regional Alternative Fuel Infrastructure and Implications
- Port Authority Transit's Green Initiatives and Air Quality Impact
- Regional Transportation Planning and Air Quality

The goals of the SPAQP are to encourage voluntary actions to reduce air pollution emissions, especially on Air Quality Action Days; increase the public’s understanding about the impact of air pollution, provide alerts for days with high air pollution levels, provide health effects information and guidelines to prevent or reduce exposure.

The Partnership forecasts Air Quality Action Days or days when the air quality is expected to be unhealthy to breathe. Using a color-coded scale, the forecast informs people about the predicted ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels and any precautions that need to be taken.

The Partnership was formed in 1995 and was the first Air Quality Partnership in the Commonwealth. Its membership is a mix of government, business, schools and individuals that work together on air quality education.

Resources

p4 Pittsburgh Forum Broadcasting LIVE April 16-17

Due to overwhelming demand, the p4 Pittsburgh Forum will be broadcast LIVE tomorrow and Friday. We hope this will enable thousands of people in Pittsburgh and around the globe to be a part of the inaugural p4 event. Please feel free to share this email with your colleagues.

Please join us virtually on:

April 16 from 8:30 – 5:45pm
and again on
April 17th from 8:30 until 11am and again from 3:15-4:30pm

Learn more about p4 Pittsburgh at p4pittsburgh.org

Dow's plan to bank $1 billion on natural capital by 2025

Perhaps the most notable of the company's 2025 goals is a mission to create $1 billion in value for the company — either through cost savings or new cash flow — by simply considering natural capital as part of major capital expenditures or investment decisions. . . The move also underscores a much broader discussion occuring around the feasibility of decoupling corporate or economic growth from environmental impacts. For the world's 1,500 largest company's — which have a combined $3 trillion annual toll on the environment — a one-to-one relationship exists between corporate revenue and the environmental damage that results from business operations, according to data provided by TruCost for the annual GreenBiz State of Green Business report.

The sustainability challenge of the Kraft-Heinz merger

In the company’s 10-K for 2014 (PDF), the term “sustainability” was not mentioned a single time. Also neglected was the term “climate change,” mentioned only twice. Within the entire 170-page report (PDF), two sections and a collective five paragraphs discussed the environment, with one section pertaining to environmental regulation and another to environmental laws.

Why Kraft has decided to abstain from listing climate change or environmental problem risk factors is unclear, especially considering two of Kraft’s notable competitors, Campbell’s Soup Company and ConAgra Foods, explicitly have done so.

More

Mayor orders ‘complete streets’ policy

The order, which charges planning director Ray Gastil with developing the policy, says the complete streets model has “been proven to increase public health and safety, spur new economic growth, enhance quality of life, reduce traffic congestion and traffic-related injuries and fatalities, and fill transportation gaps and improve connections between neighborhoods and people.”

Report: PA dishes out $3.2 billion in fossil fuels subsidies while state faces $1.5 billion deficit

A new report out Tuesday says Pennsylvania provided more than $3.2 billion in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, much of which went to the state’s booming natural gas industry, at a time when the state carries a $1.5 billion budget deficit and very little investment in the renewable energy industry.

Seattle Eco-District Fosters Green Development

In a post for ASLA's The Dirt, Katy Scherrer describes some of the ways the EcoDistrict is pushing city-scale sustainability. They include:

- Community solar power provided to low-income housing
- Green spaces with attention paid to pollination and ecosystem development
- Green-focused exceptions to Seattle's "outdated" land use code

Scherrer writes, "If more neighborhoods begin to adopt the EcoDistrict model — wherein a range of partner organizations work in concert — we could see stronger bottom-up pushes toward city-wide sustainability.

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.

Access the 3E Links Archive.

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 2015 from:

Alcoa Foundation
Bayer USA Foundation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
Richard King Mellon Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Henry L. Hillman Foundation
Pashek Associates, LTD
The PNC Financial Services Group
UPMC


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
307 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1500
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP