August 27, 2015
Sustainable Pittsburgh


412-258-6642
E-mail us

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

Events
SAVE THE DATE! Green Workplace Challenge Workshop #10: Local Food

Hard to Recycle Collection Event

Bike Parking Design: Building Active + Engaged + Healthy Communities

Take Back Drugs Day

Inspire Speaker Series: Arlene Blum

Register Today! Living Product Expo and Conference

RAIN First Annual Conference

PARK(ing) Day Pittsburgh!

ALCOSAN Open House

Allegheny Green + Innovation Festival

PA Chapter of the American Planning Association - 2015 Annual Conference












Join us at the Living Product Expo and Conference!

September 16-18, 2015
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh PA 15222
ATTN 3E Links subscribers: Use this special code when registering to get the Living Produce Expo's Member rate: SPMEMBER
More information

Sustainable Pittsburgh is pleased to be a Community Partner for the Living Product Expo and Conference coming up in a few weeks here in Pittsburgh. This inaugural Living Product 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.

SPECIAL SESSION:
Convening Summit: Pittsburgh Region Brainstorm
Accelerating Living Product Capacities in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Friday, September 18
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm


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.


Connect with Sustainable Pittsburgh:
LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING?

Your financial support allows Sustainable Pittsburgh to perform its role of accelerating the policy and practice of sustainability for the region through our policy efforts, performance programs, advocacy, convening, and partnerships. Become a contributing member today:

Resources
Help Wanted: SCA Sustainability Fellow

Sustainable Pittsburgh Calls On Local Employers To Help Improve Air Quality

Dinette earns Sustainable Pittsburgh’s first Gold Plate

Why This East End Eatery Wins Praise for 'Sustainability'

Regional Workforce Diversity Indicators Survey - Help Promote the Survey

Fracking near schools
DEP fails to keep drillers a healthy distance from children


The most polluted cities in America

The American lawn is now the largest single ‘crop’ in the U.S.

12 Pittsburgh organizations that turn waste into resources







SAVE THE DATE! 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

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. More details to follow.

Back to Top
Hard to Recycle Collection Events

Saturday, August 29
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Heinz Field Gold 1A Parking Lot
View event flyer for important details
Contact: www.prc.org or (412) 488-7490 x236

Materials collected free of charge include:
- computers and peripheral equipment
- stereos
- ink and toner cartridges
- cell phones, home phones
- CFL bulbs
- microwave ovens
- expandable polystyrene packaging material
- VCRs, DVD players, and cable boxes

Additional items that can be dropped off include televisions (suggested donation of $5 to drop off), as well as several additional items each with an associated drop-off fee. Items that have a fee for drop-off include:
- batteries, CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks
- fluorescent tubes
- small Freon-containing appliances
- small kitchen appliances
- large stereo speakers and vacuum cleaners
- tires

Back to Top
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.

Back to Top
Take Back Drugs Day

Friday, September 11
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Multiple Locations
For a list of locations and additional details, check out the flyer.

Bring your unwanted, unused, or expired medicine as part of the Take Back Drugs Day. UPMC Police will be on site to ensure all material collected is handled in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws. This event is held in support of the DEA's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day (Saturday, September 12, 2015).

Back to Top
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.

Back to Top
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.

Back to Top
RAIN First Annual Conference

Thursday, September 17
8:45 am - 3:00 pm (Registration at 8:15 am)
Carnegie Science Center, Works Theater, 1 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh 15212
Cost: $20, includes conference, breakfast, lunch & admission to H2o Exhibit at Science Center
rainmatters.org/rain-conference

The River Alert Information Network (RAIN) will host its first annual conference, “Celebrating and Enhancing Source Water Protection” on Thursday, September 17, 2015, at the Carnegie Science Center’s Works Theater. The one-day conference will focus on ways to protect drinking water supplies in the Ohio River Basin and efforts already underway to improve emergency response to potential spills or contamination events.

Conference sessions will cover pertinent topics such as:
- ‘measuring what matters’
- a vision for safe drinking water in the Ohio Basin
- the RAIN Early Warning Network - a source water protection tool of choice
- perspective from the PA Department of Environmental Protection
- continuous in-stream monitoring trends
- opportunities for partnership with RAIN
- building regional resiliency through safe drinking water and
- water quality tools that boost drinking water protection such as green infrastructure and household hazardous waste collection.

Speakers and moderators include:
- James Good, Executive Director of Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority
- John Ashton, Asst. Manager, Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County
- Ron Bargiel, Water Quality Manager Environmental Management and Compliance, Pennsylvania American Water
- Gina Cyprych, Chair of RAIN and Laboratory & Water Quality Manager at Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority
- Ronald Schwartz, Assistant Regional Director, PADEP Southwest Region Office
- Dustin Shull, PADEP Water Program Specialist
- Robert Winters, Protective Security Advisor, Pittsburgh District – US Dept. of Homeland Security
- Jan Lauer, District Manager, Allegheny County Conservation District
- Kevin Gurchak, Manager of Environmental Compliance, Allegheny County Airport Authority and incoming Chair of Three Rivers Pollution Response Council
- Stanley States, Ph.D.

Back to Top
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

Back to Top
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!

Back to Top
Allegheny Green + Innovation Festival

Saturday, September 26
11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Hartwood Acres Amphitheater, 4070 Middle Road, Allison Park 15101
More information

Featuring numerous local exhibitors, food and craft vendors and non-profit organizations, the Allegheny Green + Innovation Festival highlights innovation and sustainability in the region. At the Festival, learn how to reduce your carbon footprint and green your community. Interactive, educational exhibits have included bike-powered squirt guns, holistic health, renewable energy, alternative forms of transportation, and storm water retention, all designed to engage every age group.

This year's festival will be ZeroWaste and will be powered by ZeroFossil. Uber Pittsburgh is offering free rides to new users, up to $20. Users would be responsible for the cost of their return ride. Please download the Uber App, and then use the code “ACSUMMER” to take advantage of the offer. Please visit the following link for additional information: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/summer/index.aspx

AGIF occurs in conjunction with Hay Day - a fun-filled family event featuring a petting zoo, hay rides, inflatables, arts and crafts, and other activities for individuals, kids and families.

Interested in exhibiting at the Festival? Complete and return this form! Volunteers are also welcome. Email specevents@alleghenycounty.us.

Back to Top
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.

Back to Top
Resources
Help Wanted: SCA Sustainability Fellow

The SCA Sustainability Fellow will be responsible for providing support to Sustainable Pittsburgh’s 2014 – 2015 Green Workplace Challenge as part of its contributions to the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative. The SCA Sustainability Fellow will be managing the network and advancing the objectives of the Green Workplace Challenge program in the Pittsburgh area.

Applications can be submitted through the SCA system at http://thesca.force.com/members. Once an application is created, candidates can search positions and add the Sustainability Fellow: Green Workplace Challenge Actions to their application.

More
Back to Top
Sustainable Pittsburgh Calls On Local Employers To Help Improve Air Quality

“For example, in 2013, there were 239 days that the U.S. (Environmental Protection Agency) rated this region’s air quality as not ‘good,’” Mehalik said, referencing the six-level air quality index that ranges from “hazardous” to “good.” “That’s 65 percent of the year where there are some health risks.”

More
Back to Top
Dinette earns Sustainable Pittsburgh’s first Gold Plate

But beyond providing a chance to show off a bit, the new program lays out a framework for restaurateurs looking to make a change. Though the quest for greater sustainability is never-ending, the Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant Program provides a solid starting block. The application contains a list of quantifiable and achievable goals, and Sustainable Pittsburgh offers assistance to help restaurants earn and improve their ranking.

More

Back to Top
Why This East End Eatery Wins Praise for 'Sustainability'

Program manager Rebecca Bykoski worked with a 23-member advisory committee — made up of Pittsburgh-area chefs (including Finn), growers, academics and public policy professionals — to create the guidelines for the program. They looked at the certification criteria suggested by the Green Restaurant Association and the Sustainable Restaurant Association, as well as to existing programs in other cities, for models of how to structure the program. The committee also decided to include a social justice component in the mix. “I thought that was important. Most other programs just focus on the environment,” says Bykoski. . . Finn says that just by looking into the program, a restaurant owner might be encouraged to make a few easy changes to the way he or she does business. “There might be ideas on there that you’re not even thinking about,” she says.

More
Back to Top
Regional Workforce Diversity Indicators Survey - Help Promote the Survey

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. Our 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 let your employees, colleagues, or constituents know this survey is coming, and on September 8th, invite them to take the survey. All survey responses will be confidential, anonymous and vital in our efforts to create best practices tools.

The Survey Link: www.swpadiversity.com

*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.

Back to Top
Fracking near schools
DEP fails to keep drillers a healthy distance from children

Researchers found in a recent study that in areas closest to active wells, levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are linked with lung and skin cancer as well as respiratory effects, exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s acceptable risk level. The risk level decreased only by 30 percent 3.2 miles away from an active well. A survey in Pennsylvania showed that the closer residents live to gas wells and facilities, the more they reported specific health symptoms like headaches and sore throats.

Research in Colorado showed that residents living less than or equal to one-half mile away from gas wells are at higher risk of respiratory, neurological and other health impacts and have a higher lifetime risk for cancer than those who live at farther distances. Two times as many residents in Pennsylvania living less than 1 kilometer (0.6 of a mile) from gas wells have reported more respiratory symptoms per person than those living 1 to 2 km or more than 2 km away.

More
Back to Top
The most polluted cities in America

More than 138 million people, nearly 44% of the U.S. population, live in areas where air pollution reaches dangerously high levels during parts of the year. While exposure to low quality air has declined in recent years, some cities still experience alarming levels of pollution.

More
Back to Top
The American lawn is now the largest single ‘crop’ in the U.S.

While the overall volume of mowers could come down moving forward thanks to younger adults’ preference for living in denser areas, as long as there are “older and better funded consumers” in the market sales will continue to be steady.

More
Back to Top
12 Pittsburgh organizations that turn waste into resources

The World Bank predicts that globally we will generate six million tons of garbage per day and by 2100 reach “peak garbage” where we will be generating 11 million tons of garbage daily. . . Closer to home, many of us are unaware that Pennsylvania is the number one importer of trash in the United States—importing nearly 10 million tons of garbage a year, almost double that of number two-ranked Virginia.

More
Back to Top

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
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