Check out videos of a sample of certified sustainable municipalities: youtube.com/user/SustainablePGH

Events

Relevant to All Entities - Sustaining Value exercise at forefront of upcoming Sustainable Pittsburgh Board & Team Retreat

Core to being ever more sustainable is looking under the hood to ensure an organization is adaptable, innovative, and adding value. The image below shows a process Sustainable Pittsburgh adapted* as the focus of next week's Sustainable Pittsburgh annual two-day Board/Team retreat. How might the Sustaining Value Cycle benefit your organization or business?

*Adapted from the great book, The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution: Real-Time Strategic Planning in a Rapid-Response World

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Resources

REGISTER TODAY! Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #10: Local Food

Thursday, September 24
8:30 am – 11:00 am (8:00 am registration)
Pittsburgh Public Market, 2401 Penn Avenue, Strip District 15222
Learn more about the Green Workplace Challenge at www.gwcpgh.org
Register here

Join Sustainable Pittsburgh for the tenth and final workshop of the 2014-2015 Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge. This workshop will showcase opportunities to integrate local food sources and services into Pittsburgh’s workplaces.

Featured Speakers
- Rebecca Bykoski, Program Manager, Sustainable Restaurant Designation Program, Sustainable Pittsburgh
- Alyssa Davis, Market Assistant Manager, Pittsburgh Public Market
- Erin Hart, Director, Farm to Table Pittsburgh
- Jeff Lackey, Implementation Engineer, Woods of Plenty
- Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue

Who should attend?
All Green Workplace Challenge participants, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) managers, sustainability managers, business leaders and community leaders who are interested to connect with our region's growing sources and services of local food.

Bike Parking Design: Building Active + Engaged + Healthy Communities

Friday, September 4
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Point Park University, 201 Wood Street, Pittsburgh 15222
More information

Speakers:
Dan Yablonsky, BikePGH
Eric Osth, Urban Design Associates
Jonathan Kline, Studio for Spacial Practice
Kristin Saunders, City of Pittsburgh
Lena Andrews, Action Housing

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the many benefits that biking and pro-bike infrastructure + policy lend to the creation of dense, healthy and environmentally sustainable urban environments.
2. Discuss how to integrate various types of biking parking into both the urban environment and architectural projects, and see examples of these strategies in local projects.
3. Explain how architects are utilizing Pittsburgh’s and other city zoning codes to build creative bike parking facilities that save client costs and increase community health and wellness.
4. Identify a number of preferred bike racks and brainstorm with colleagues on how they’re incorporating them into designs.

DEP to hold webinar on Clean Power Plan

Wednesday September 9
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Speakers will include DEP Secretary John Quigley and DEP Policy Director Patrick McDonnell.
Register here

In addition to the webinar, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is announcing more than a dozen listening sessions and a 2-month comment period on the federal Clean Power Plan to hear from Pennsylvanians about the plan to cut carbon pollution. Fourteen listening sessions in locations across the state will take place between September and November.

In addition to the listening sessions, DEP will accept comments on Pennsylvania’s compliance with EPA’s Clean Power Plan through November 12, 2015. DEP is soliciting comments on the Clean Energy Incentive Program component of the CPP and on the EPA-proposed Federal Plan that serves as a model rule for states developing their state plans. DEP is also soliciting comments on specific compliance related questions which are available on the Department website.

Comment submissions can be made here: http://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment/ or emailed to ecomment@pa.gov or mailed to 400 Market Street P.O. Box 2063 Harrisburg, PA 17105. Click here for the full schedule of listening sessions.

Shredding Event!

Saturday, September 12
10:00 am - Noon
100 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh 15219 (Event in Parking Lot 1 next to Hot Metal Bridge. Entrance via Second Avenue.)
For more information, contact Senator Jay Costa's office at (412) 241-6690.
View flyer
View map

What to bring: All documents you no longer need that contain personal information including Social Security, credit card, and bank account numbers. Also bring credit card statements and applications, bank statements, cancelled checks, income tax forms, insurance records, medical and retirement pension fund information. PAPER ONLY PLEASE. NO BINDERS, BINDER CLIPS OR BOOKS.

Consumer fraud and identity theft are a significant concern. To raise awareness and to promote prevention, Senator Jay Costa is hosting a shredding event to give individuals the opportunity to have unneeded documents destroyed free of charge. Document shredding will occur onsite with the shredded paper later to be recycled.

This event is for individuals only, no businesses please. Three (3) box limit per car.

Food Drive - This event will accept non-perishable food items for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Donation of items not required to participate in Shredding Event.

3rd Annual Oakland Transportation Fair: Accessibility, Placing People at the Center

Wednesday, September 16
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
University of Pittsburgh’s Alumni Hall- Connelly Ballroom
More information

It’s an exciting time for transportation – especially in the Oakland community. Building off of the 2015 theme of Accessibility, Placing People at the Center, the 3rd Annual Oakland Transportation Fair is proud to connect attendees to an inside look at what’s happening in the world of transportation planning, policy, infrastructure and technology. Exhibitors will demonstrate how they are “Placing People at the Center!” This FREE and INTERACTIVE event is brought to you by the Oakland Transportation Management Association.

Inspire Speaker Series: Arlene Blum

Wednesday, September 16
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Pittsburgh 15222
Cost: $20; $10 for students
More information

Inspire Speakers Series Partners with the International Living Future Institute to Present: Arlene Blum

As it turns out, leadership and mountaineering have a lot in common. They both require self-confidence, self-motivation, passion, and grit to be successful. To create the communities, region, and world that embody values of sustainability (healthy, just, and regenerative), we need to cultivate a new generation of leaders who are inspired to find and take on their own Mount Everests.

Arlene Blum has blazed new trails physically and metaphorically, breaking barriers and changing minds along the way. She will share lessons learned on reforming policies that threaten human health, the safety of children, and the global environment; leading risky mountaineering adventures; and fostering women’s leadership.

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)
ATTN 3E Links subscribers: Use this special code when registering to get the Living Produce Expo's Member rate: SPMEMBER
www.livingproductexpo.org/

The Living Product Expo seeks to provide attendees with an opportunity to collaborate and learn. The goal of the Expo is to inspire manufacturers to think differently about every part of the product creation process.

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. Living Products improve our quality of life and bring joy through their beauty and functionality.

Imagine a Living Product whose very existence builds soil; creates habitat; nourishes the human spirit; and provides inspiration for personal, political and economic change.

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:
Arlene Blum, Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute
Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder & CEO, Hollender Sustainable Brands LLC
Bill Strickland, President and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation
John Warner, President The Warner Babcock Institute For Green Chemistry

What you will learn:
- How to reduce the impacts of your supply chain
- Identify new suppliers for your materials sourcing
- Apply practical tools and quantify new metrics to set and manage corporate sustainability goals
- How to measure and communicate the ROI of sustainability initiatives and innovation within your supply chain
- Bridge the gaps between your sustainability teams, operations teams, suppliers and marketers

Note special event session: Friday, September 18, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm:

Convening Summit: Pittsburgh Region Brainstorm - Accelerating Living Product Capacities in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Hosted by Sustainable Pittsburgh Champions for Sustainability (C4S) business network and Green Building Alliance
The Expo will address the evolving ecosystem where entrepreneurship, advanced design, and sustainability converge. This convergence positions manufacturing to build sustainability-oriented, high-value-added market opportunities. Come to this “Convening Summit” at the conclusion of the Expo to contribute to planning for what comes next and can be applied for this and other regions from Pittsburgh's hosting the Expo.

"Policing Reform, Community, and Ethical Leadership"

Thursday, September 17
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
University of Pittsburgh, 2017 Cathedral of Learning
Lunch is provided. Registration is not required.
More information

Join the Center on Race and Social Problems for its Fall 2015 Speaker Series. This September 17 event will feature Cameron McLay, Chief, City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

Chief Cameron McLay has made his career on results-driven ethical leadership. Since becoming Chief of the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police in September 2014, Chief McLay has drawn attention to the need for reform among police leadership and the need for building trust among community members. In his words, "Police reform is community reform. It is social-justice reform. And we all must join in."

Introducer: Susan A. Yohe
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer,
Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, PC

Susan A. Yohe has appeared on the list of Best Lawyers in America for seven consecutive years as recognition of her outstanding accomplishments in the practice and advancement of law. In her time with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, PC, Susan has spearheaded efforts to increase roles and preparedness among women and attorneys of color in law and business.

In support of the "Burgh Baby Diaper Drive", attendees are invited to bring diapers or a donation to support the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank. Donations are not required for admittance.

PARK(ing) Day Pittsburgh!

Friday, September 18
Website
facebook.com/ParkingDayPGH
Questions? Need help? Email: parkingdaypgh@gmail.com

PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, international event in which artists, designers, activists and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces. The event is an opportunity to have people think about how important public spaces are and how parks improve our communities. These park installations aim to transform urban environments designed for vehicle use into a communal space for public use.

Join this annual celebration of transforming parking spaces into temporary public parks!
Build your own park
Help others build parks
Visit PARK(ing) Day parks near you

ALCOSAN Open House

Saturday, September 19
9:00 am - 4:00 pm Rain or Shine
ALCOSAN, 3300 Preble Avenue, 1.5 miles from the West End Bridge via Chateau Street
Free admission, Free parking, Free hourly shuttle service (9am-3pm) from Port Authority's North Side T-station near PNC Park
More information
View the flyer

Be a part of the region's largest watershed and environmental festival, featuring hands-on environmental exhibits, treatment plant and laboratory tours, microbiology and watershed life demonstrations, and educational activities for all ages!

Making the Connection: Air Pollution and Physical Activity

Thursday, September 24
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Networking/refreshments 5:00 pm - 6 pm; presentation begins at 6:00 pm)
Allegheny General Hospital, Magovern Conference Center, 320 East North Avenue Pittsburgh 15212
Free and open to all but registration is required
Continuing Medical Education credits available
More information and registration

This event features CDR Director Tegan Boehmer, PhD, MPH, epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. She currently serves as the Acting Lead of CDC’s Healthy Community Design Initiative, National Center for Environmental Health. She’ll present on her research interests including the intersection between physical activity and air pollution exposure, health effects of traffic-related air pollution, and role of the built environment and community design on population health, including physical activity levels, obesity, air pollution exposure, and respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

The other speaker is Dr. Albert Presto, Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He investigates the contributions of primary and secondary pollution with ambient measurements, laboratory experiments, testing of pollution sources, and atmospheric modeling. Dr. Presto will discuss regional air quality issues and his collaboration with medical professionals to develop detailed studies of pollutant exposure on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis and to better understand the relationships between pollutant emissions and adverse health effects.

Climate Action: Creating Bridges to Clean Air

Tuesday, September 29
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 77 Melwood Avenue, Pittsburgh 15213
Suggested donation of $5
More information

An evening showcasing selected film episodes from artists/activists, followed by a panel discussion from esteemed members of the community including Kirsi Jansa, Joylette Portlock, Jeaneen Zappa, Angela Bakaysza Garcia, and Patricia M. DeMarco.

Co-hosted by Moms Clean Air Force, Sustainability Pioneers, Conservation Consultants, Inc., PennEnvironment, Sierra Club, Don't Just Sit There - Do Something and Communitopia.

PA Chapter of the American Planning Association - 2015 Annual Conference

October 18-20, 2015
Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh, 1000 Penn Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh 15222-3835
More information

With 500 planners expected, 49 classroom sessions, 5 mobile workshops, up to 14.5 CM credits (including law and ethics) and a new "Fast-Fun-Fervent" format showcasing 7 presenters, 7 topics, in 7 minutes, join the PA Chapter of the American Planning Association for this annual conference in Downtown Pittsburgh.

In particular, on Tuesday, from 8:15 am - 9:45 am, check out the "Sustainability: Fad, Fashion or Reality?" session featuring local sustainability experts. Moderated by Ray Gastil, AICP, Director of Pittsburgh City Planning, panelists include:
- James Brasuel, Editor of Planetizen
- Andrew Butcher, CEO-Co-Founder, GTECH
- Beverly Cigler, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Penn State University
- Court Gould, Executive Director, Sustainable Pittsburgh
- Christine Mondor, AIA, LEED AP, Chair, City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission.

Resources

3 Paid Sustainability Fellowships Available

The Student Conservation Association (SCA) has three openings in its full-time, paid Pittsburgh Sustainability Fellowship.

1) Sustainability Fellow: Transportation Coalition & Policy Research

2) Sustainability Fellow: Small Business & Municipality Certification

3) Sustainability Fellow: City Parks

Applications can be submitted via http://thesca.force.com/members. Questions can be sent directly to Miriam Parson at mparson@thesca.org.

Once an application is created, the candidate can search for the position title and then add it to their application. SCA is conducting rolling interview to fill these immediately, with end dates in late December.

Take the Regional Workforce Diversity Indicators Survey Today!

Vibrant Pittsburgh and the *Regional Workforce Diversity Indicators group created a survey to help the region gain a better understanding of how its residents view, understand and experience key diversity-related issues in the workplace and the community. Their goal is to leverage the results from this survey to develop a series of best practice tools that will help our region attract, engage, onboard, and retain diverse talent. In order to do this, we need your help.

Please invite your employees, colleagues, or constituents to take the survey. All survey responses will be confidential, anonymous and vital in our efforts to create best practices tools. The survey is available until Sept. 20.

*The Regional Workforce Diversity Indicators Group, co-led by leaders from Vibrant Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Today, includes collaborators from the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board; the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; The University of Pittsburgh, University Center for Social and Urban Research; The Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh; and with support from Gabriella Gonzalez, Ph.D., senior social scientist with RAND Corporation and Vice President and Secretary of the Vibrant Pittsburgh Board and Chair of the Return on Investment Committee.

Make My Trip Count--Take the Survey!

Most days of the week, you travel to work or school. How many days? Where do you start and where are you going? Most importantly, how do you get there? We’re interested in your answers.

Make My Trip Count is a survey of Pittsburgh region commuters to figure out how Pittsburghers regularly travel to work or school – and how that commute could be improved. Whether you’re on a bus, in your car, riding a bike, using your own two feet, or traveling by other means, you’re making commute trips multiple times per day – and we’re interested in improving your options and access.

Especially if you make regular trips into Downtown, Oakland, and the North Shore, we need your input. Aggregate results will inform transportation and commute improvements across the Pittsburgh region to reduce traffic, delay, and environmental impacts.

Along with providing more complete information behind regional transportation system decision-making, this survey is also the 2015 transportation reporting mechanism for Pittsburgh 2030 District Property Partners.

Alaska increases wind power capacity in utility-scale and distributed-scale projects

Net wind electricity generation in Alaska has increased every year since 2012 as utilities and independent power producers diversify their electricity portfolio by adding wind projects, which are seen as an alternative to petroleum (often diesel) generators. At the same time, relatively mild winters in Alaska have contributed to declines in electricity generated from petroleum, coal, and natural gas.

Balancing flood protection and fun in Pa.'s river towns

The amphitheater, which has a floating stage, is a big asset for Lock Haven. It gives people a reason to visit, stay and spend. But the real value of this space has nothing to do with the theater itself. It has to do with what the theater is built into — a levee system that protects the city from flooding. . . Lock Haven was at the front of a trend that's growing quickly. Communities that were cut off from the river by flood protection have gone back and added amenities. Sunbury and Wilkes-Barre, two floodwall cities, have added gates, parks and water features to draw people back to the river. Even Williamsport, with its 1936 levee, has found a way to pave a walking path on top.

More

Clean up the Shenango coke works

To put this in perspective, all of us who own a car in Allegheny County must have an annual emission inspection. If your car does not pass inspection, you cannot drive it. You must pay to fix it. Why don’t the same rules apply to the second-largest polluter in Allegheny County when it exceeds emission standards and breaks the law?

Navigating Sustainability and Your Fiduciary Duty

Fiduciaries are tasked with the decision to buy, sell, or hold assets. There is no passive behavior as a fiduciary; there is no "do nothing" task. Those who defend an obsolete interpretation of fiduciary duty sometimes justify the active omission of sustainability considerations by asserting that sustainability dynamics somehow have no impact on financial assets. Overwhelming evidence now shows, however, that they are simply mistaken. Sustainability is an important factor in the long-term success of a business.

U.S. Mayors Step Up As Key Advocates for Climate Change Action During UN Conference in Paris

This group of mayors, called the Local Climate Leaders Circle, includes mayors of Atlanta, Boulder, Chula Vista, Columbus, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, West Palm Beach, and councilmembers from Santa Monica and King County, Wash. . . The partners are working closely with these cities on a range of efforts including updating measurements of their greenhouse gas emissions, preparing local projects to better access needed financing, engaging citizens on climate action and meeting with high-level representatives from the U.S. government and international community to advance a climate accord that benefits city action, recognizing that the most ambitious local goals can only be achieved alongside an enabling national and international framework.

400 PA Academic Leaders Urge Gov. Wolf, Sen. Casey To Tackle Climate Change

Professors, researchers and lecturers at 29 Pennsylvania universities, as well as Harvard and Georgetown Universities, signed the letter to demonstrate the need for state lawmakers to take action based on the body of scientific research on climate change. At least 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree that human activities are very likely the cause of global warming trends in the last 100 years, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters and in other peer-reviewed scientific journals.

“The debate on global climate change is entirely a political one, not a scientific one,” said Dr. Michael Zdilla, associate professor of chemistry at Temple University and one of the signatories.

New Pittsburgh Transit Video

We all have places to go and courtesy for fellow commuters is important whether you're on the bus, on a bike or on the sidewalk. Port Authority and Bike Pittsburgh are excited to share this video, created to demonstrate how to share the road while following the rules.

Bracing your financial portfolio for climate change

“The investment landscape has reached a tipping point, where it’s become clear that managing climate exposure — by both minimizing climate risk and pursuing climate opportunities — is not only good for the climate, it’s also good for bottom line,” said Buchner...A Guardian article discusses how MSCI, a provider of indexes and analysis tools, found that investors who divested away from fossil fuels outperformed “conventional investors” by 13 percent to 11.8 percent.

4 myths about climate change and investment risk

As the global economy transitions to a low-carbon path over the coming years, businesses may face challenges in some or all of these areas, depending on their business model and ability to adapt. When these risks threaten negative financial returns for investors and lenders, this is called “carbon asset risk.”… This is a pivotal time in the history of our economy, as many sectors and industries look to overhaul their business models and operations. Meanwhile, entirely new industries are on the rise. As the floor shifts beneath the feet of financiers, the ones that proactively and accurately assess and manage the various effects from climate change are most likely to succeed in the decades to come.

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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