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Events

Register Today!

Greening Fields and Facilities – Allegheny County Success Stories

Healthier alternatives for managing municipal greenspace & facilities

Friday, July 17
8:30 am – 12:30 pm (8:00 am registration)
South Park Golf Course
More information
A program of Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh

This program features David Brown, ScD of Environment and Human Health Inc., a national non-profit that studies human health and environmental hazards. Dr. Brown will discuss the broad range of toxins in our environment. His information and local examples of successful efforts to reduce pollution, will prepare participants to better identify the environmental and health needs and opportunities in their own communities. Dr. Brown’s remarks are part of a broader workshop intended to get participants out of the classroom to see solutions in use by local communities.

“Greening Fields and Facilities” will focus on day-to-day operations in recreational areas and public buildings. One of the teachers is a goat from Steel City Grazers – a first! Attend this program to learn about how Allegheny County’s South Park Golf Course makes compost tea to care for the greens, how to manage invasive plant species and weeds without herbicides and how green cleaning and recycling make public facilities and events healthier for everyone.

Additional speakers include:
David Carter, South Park Golf Course
Carrie Pavlik, Steel City Grazers
Kathy Hrabovsky, Allegheny County Sustainable manager
Michelle Smith, University of Pittsburgh
Chelsea Holmes, Women for a Healthy Environment

“Greening Fields and Facilities – Allegheny County Success Stories” is one of two sessions addressing common concerns in local government of protecting local residents from pollution and environmental health risks and identifying opportunities for public safety and reduction of environmental impacts. The sessions are titled collectively as Local Communities/Healthy Communities.

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Resources

Register today! Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #8
"Renewable and Alternative Energy"

Thursday, July 30
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, 799 Pinkerton Run Rd., Oakdale 15071
Registration
More information about the Green Workplace Challenge

Join Sustainable Pittsburgh for the 8th workshop of the 2014-2015 Green Workplace Challenge (GWC). The GWC is a yearlong competition for employers in southwestern Pennsylvania to track and measure performance in energy, water, waste, and transportation. The July workshop focuses on renewable and alternative energies. Attendees need not be participants in the challenge.

Featured speakers:
- Lonnie Mattison, Sustainability Engineer, FedEx Ground
- Sharon Pillar, Project Director, Solarize Allegheny and Vice President, SmartPower
- And more

Highlighting the Implementation and Research Behind Community Crime Reduction Strategies: A Closer Look at Efforts Underway in Pittsburgh

Tuesday, July 14
11:45 am - 1:15 pm
Pittsburgh Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, One Oxford Centre, Downtown Pittsburgh
Free to attend; prior registration is required.
Participation is limited to the first 50 registrants.
For more information on the session or to suggest a subsequent topic please contact Joseph Ott at (412) 261-7947 or joseph.c.ott@clev.frb.org
Registration

The Pittsburgh Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is pleased to announce the next session in its quarterly learning series designed specifically for the busy professional. This session will highlight the practical implementation and research behind crime reduction efforts through community development real estate activities. A listing of the research and associated white papers that will be discussed are below.

Session Presenters:
Kendall Pelling
East Liberty Development Inc.

Victoria Hill & Tayo G. Fabusuyi
Numeritics

Eric Jester
CEO, New Burgh Real Estate

Research and Associated White Papers
- Report of the ELDI Crime Study
- Crime Trend and Property Prices White Paper
- Crime Reduction Strategy White paper
- Crime Strategy Implementation White paper

Free Webinar: Sustainability in the City of Dubuque

Thursday, July 16
2:00 pm Eastern
Register at sCityNetwork.com/Dubuque

On Thursday, July 16, Cori Burbach, sustainable community coordinator for the City of Dubuque, Iowa, will present a one-hour webinar highlighting the city's key sustainability projects and programs.

In 2008, Burbach became the first municipal sustainability coordinator in the state of Iowa after Mayor Roy Buol and the Dubuque City Council resolved to thread sustainability into every major city project and strategic plan. She'll explain how the city's leadership in sustainability spawned a relationship with IBM, making Dubuque a test bed for the company's Smarter Planet research projects.

Learn how a focus on green infrastructure, waste-to-energy, adaptive reuse and transit-oriented development has helped Dubuque transform from an economic disaster in the 1980's to a "Masterpiece on the Mississippi" in recent times.

Greening Fields and Facilities – Allegheny County Success Stories

Friday, July 17
8:30 am – 12:30 pm (8:00 am registration)
South Park Golf Course, E. Park Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
Cost: $20 (Or $35 for both July 17 and July 30 programs. See next event listing for July 30 program details. Michael P. Lynch Scholarship Fund (MPLSF) communities are eligible for a 50-percent discount for this event.)
A Sustainable Development Academy program of Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh
More Details and Registration via the Local Government Academy

This program features David Brown, ScD of Environment and Human Health Inc., a national non-profit that studies human health and environmental hazards. Dr. Brown will discuss the broad range of toxins in our environment. His information and local examples of successful efforts to reduce pollution will prepare participants to better identify the environmental and health needs and opportunities in their own communities. Dr. Brown’s remarks are part of a broader workshop intended to get participants out of the classroom to see solutions in use by local communities.

“Greening Fields and Facilities” will focus on day-to-day operations in recreational areas and public buildings. One of the teachers is a goat from Steel City Grazers – a first! Attend this program to learn about how Allegheny County’s South Park Golf Course makes compost tea to care for the greens, how to manage invasive plant species and weeds without herbicides and how green cleaning and recycling make public facilities and events healthier for everyone.

Municipal mangers and other personnel will benefit by attending, as they will gain an increased understanding of the role of local government in addressing common health and safety concerns facing this region.

Additional speakers include:
David Carter, South Park Golf Course
Carrie Pavlik, Steel City Grazers
Kathy Hrabovsky, Allegheny County Sustainable manager
Michelle Smith, University of Pittsburgh
Chelsea Holmes, Women for a Healthy Environment

“Greening Fields and Facilities – Allegheny County Success Stories” is one of two sessions addressing common concerns in local government of protecting local residents from pollution and environmental health risks and identifying opportunities for public safety and reduction of environmental impacts. The sessions are titled collectively as Local Communities/Healthy Communities.

Webinar: Carpet Recycling

Tuesday, July 28
1:30 pm - 2:45 pm Eastern
Registration

This webinar will discuss market-based solutions to increase landfill diversion and recycling of post-consumer carpet, as well as advancements regarding designing carpeting for recyclability.

Speaker: Anthony Cline - Director of Operations, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE)

This webinar is part of the Sustainable Materials Webinar Series, provided in partnership by the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center (RMC). Recordings of the monthly Webinar Series will be available for those who cannot attend or need to reference the Webinar. For more information, visit either partner's website, National Recycling Coalition or the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center.

At a Moment’s Notice: Rail Transportation Emergencies, Community Response and Health

Thursday, July 30
9:00 am - 12:30 pm (Registration is at 8:30 am. Please arrive early to allow time for security sign-in to the building.)
Allegheny County Emergency Operations Center, 400 N. Lexington St., Office 200, Pittsburgh 15208
Cost: $25 (Michael P. Lynch Scholarship Fund (MPLSF) communities are eligible for a 50-percent discount for this event.)
A Sustainable Development Academy program of Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh
More Details and Registration via the Local Government Academy

Increases in rail traffic have resulted in increased concerns about the risk of and response to tanker-car derailments and spills. Several high profile accidents have residents and local officials alike giving new scrutiny to the cargo on the trains that have run through their communities for generations. What commodities are moving through our region on the extensive network of rail lines located here? What should communities do before finding themselves in an urgent situation? What is the range of situations for which they should be preparing? What are the protocols when emergencies occur?

This program will discuss how local, state and national agencies are preparing and responding to rail accidents. Additionally presenters will review the potential long-term health and environmental consequences of rail accidents, and the responsibilities for avoiding, addressing and mitigating environmental damage.

Speakers include:
Alvin Henderson Jr., Chief Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services
Robert Full, Chief Deputy Director, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
Timothy Solobay, Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner
Joseph Taylor, Hazardous Materials Compliance Officer, Norfolk Southern

This is the second of two sessions addressing common concerns in local government of protecting local residents from pollution and environmental health risks and identifying opportunities for public safety and reduction of environmental impacts. The sessions are titled collectively as Local Communities/Healthy Communities.

Register Today! Living Product Expo and Conference

September 16-18, 2015
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh PA 15222
Cost:Living Future Members $620, Non-Members $820 (Full Three Day Pass)
www.livingproductexpo.org/

The Living Product Challenge re-imagines the design and manufacture of products to function as elegantly and efficiently as anything found in the natural world. Living Products are informed by biomimicry and biophilia; manufactured by processes powered only by renewable energy and within the water balance of the places they are made.

Join the Living Futures Institute for the inaugural Living Product Expo in Pittsburgh, PA. The Expo is a groundbreaking new event that will bring together leading minds in the product industry and ignite a revolution in the way materials are designed, manufactured and delivered.

Featured speakers:
Professor Vivian Loftness, Former Head of the School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
John Warner, President The Warner Babcock Institute For Green Chemistry
Arlene Blum, Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute

Who should attend?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) managers, sustainability directors, business leaders, product designers, industrial engineers, professors, and students.

Resources

Funding opportunity for municipalities - applications due Aug. 3 at 9am

Does your community have greenspace that needs an upgrade or some TLC? Interested in engaging youth to become more involved?

The Heinz Endowments Summer Youth Philanthropy interns based at Sustainable Pittsburgh, in collaboration with SP and Local Government Academy, are please to present “Bring Youth Outdoors”, a funding opportunity that aims to help municipalities while creating positive experiences for youth outdoors through educational workshops, recreation, and volunteering.

By getting outdoors, youth are exposed to health benefits of outdoor time as well as greater awareness and appreciation of their community. A total of $25,000 in grant funding is available for awards to municipalities that aim to meet the interns’ project goals. The deadline to apply is August Monday, August 3 at 9:00 am.

View the "Bring Youth Outdoors" RFP*
The application process consists of two parts:
1) First the municipality must complete and submit an application via The Heinz Endowments online form.
2) Next, the applicant must review and answer the questions listed in the Request for Proposals. These answers should then be included with the online form as an attachment.

For questions, please contact the lead Heinz Intern at Sustainable Pittsburgh, Liz Vargo, at evargo@heinzinterns.org.
*Eligible are municipalities that have earned or pledged to earn the Sustainable Pennsylvania Community Certification.

One year after: Observations on the rise of innovation districts

In the year since we released “The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America,” Brookings has visited or interacted with dozens of leaders in burgeoning innovation districts in the United States and Europe. In so doing, we’ve sharpened our knowledge of what’s happening on the ground and gained some important insights into how cities and metros are embracing this new paradigm of economy-shaping, place-making, and network-building.

A thoughtful conversation about the Pope’s Encyclical

This week, an extraordinary private conversation took place online among a group of sustainability thought leaders. It began with an essay distributed by email, written by Terry Yosie, President and CEO of the World Environment Center (and an occasional GreenBiz contributor). He provided a critical assessment of the Pope’s Encyclical on climate change — including whether and how it might impact the global climate treaty negotiations taking place this year, culminating at COP21 in Paris.

The essay, distributed to about 80 of Yosie’s associates (including me), ignited a response — initially from Bob Langert, former McDonald’s sustainability head (and a GreenBiz columnist), with responses from, among others, a former EPA head, a former White House climate official, two distinguished sustainability professors, a corporate sustainability executive, and one of the foremost thought leaders on sustainability.

More

Dubuque Comes Back in a Big Way

The city had reinvented itself as a “Masterpiece on the Mississippi.” But, how did that happen? In a word, said Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol, “Collaboration.”

The Oil Price Roller Coaster

RMI Chief Scientist Amory Lovins takes a closer look at oil price volatility, and what recent cheaper per-barrel prices mean for the clean energy revolution.

Iowa Makes a Bold Admission: We Need Fewer Roads

Cash-strapped metro areas have started to urge their state DOTs to make similar realizations about driving trends. In Ohio, where vehicle mileage also peaked around 2004, a number of metropolitan planning organizations have pushed for a new policy toward highways that focuses on maintenance over expansion, Streetblog’s Angie Schmitt reported in April. For some of these places, letting the road network shrink, as Iowa proposes, might be the wisest option.

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 2015 from:

Alcoa Foundation
Bayer USA Foundation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
FedEx Ground
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Henry L. Hillman Foundation
Levin Furniture
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates, LTD
PITT OHIO
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