April 27: Bioneers Monday. Join the Three Rivers Bioneers and Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest as we bring a special screening of Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater on April 27th at 6:30pm.
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (and University of Pittsburgh alum) Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy.
The event is free, and open to the public, with performance by Vanessa German and reception to follow. Special thanks to the Sprout Fund for their support! For more information, contact Maureen at mocopeland@gmail.com. Check out the Three Rivers Bioneers website at www.3riversbioneers.org.
Apr 21: A new tomorrow: talk and film
April 21: Earth Day Eve, A New Tomorrow: talk by Dr. Christian Jooss, materials physicist from Gottingen, Germany on "Climate Protection and Jobs: Technology Inspired by Nature for a Comprehensive Closed-Loop Economy." Also, a screening of The Greening of Southie.
Sponsored by Pittsburgh Green Innovators, Rachel Carson Homestead Association, USW Local 3657 Women of Steel, Blue-Green Alliance, Steel Valley Printers, and the IUP Labor Center.
Talk 5:30-7 p.m., film screening 7:30-9 at Connelley Trade School (1501 Bedford Ave., Pittsburgh), along with refreshments and fellowship. For more information, call Lauren Horne at 412-818-4075.
Apr 18-25: Green Week at the Aviary
April 18-25: Green Week at the National Aviary on the North Side -- a host of environmental topics
on tap at Pittsburgh's premier bird park. On several days, if you wear green you'll visit for half price.
More info: Aviary events
Apr 17: Green Drinks with Deno De Ciantis
April 17: Green Drinks. On the third Friday of each month, there's an informal gathering of sustainability-minded folks from 5-9 p.m. The next guest host will be Deno De Ciantis, Ed. D., director of the new Penn State Center - Engaging Pittsburgh which will act as a feedback mechanism that assesses and meets community needs using research and training resources from the entire Penn State system. University Outreach, The College of Agricultural Sciences, and Extension have partnered to support this effort. Emphasis will be in the area of Community Development and vitality.
Current work includes
- Biomass and Alternative Energies
- Entomology and Plant Pathology
- Green Roof and Rain Garden Technology
- Urban Agriculture and Food Production
- Urban/Community Greening and Vacant Lot Remediation
- Sustainability and Engineering
The Penn State Center – Engaging Pittsburgh is also using it's broad range of resources to develop partnerships with all of the colleges in the institution. The focus is to connect and engage the entire University with local partners in Teaching, Research and Outreach/Extension activities. This initiative finds stakeholders to identify regional needs and then develops key strategic relationships to connect PSU with Pittsburgh area corporations, organizations, individuals and communities as well as with public officials.
Coming soon...
In the effort to establish a central and unified location for all of Penn State’s outreach efforts through the development of the Penn State Center – Pittsburgh, Deno has been active in with the Green Innovators Project. Green Innovators is a community wide collaboration of parties brought together by Congressman Doyle and Senator Ferlo who are interested in issues of sustainability. The intent is to develop the former Pittsburgh Public Schools Connelley Vo-Tech Center into a regional and national beacon for work in the fields of sustainability and energy. Feasibility studies regarding ownership models as well as creating a conceptual design and plan are underway.
Deno serves on a variety of committees regarding issues such as sustainability, alternative and renewable energy, and workforce development and is currently on the Board of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, having recently completed a two year term as president. He also serves on the Board of the Autumn House Press, a local nonprofit publisher of poetry and fiction, serving our region and the nation while functioning as an energetic ambassador for our region’s remarkable literary scene.
Deno is looking forward to meeting fellow green innovators and brand new green drinkers alike-- so stop by and say hello!
Where: Arsenal Bowling Lanes
212 44th Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15201 (off Butler Street in Lawrenceville) Tel: (412) 683-5992 Map it.
For Port Authority Bus Routes, go here: http://www.portauthority.org
For more information call Susan Benn 412-766-7747.
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What is Green Drinks?
Every month, people who work in the environmental field or have in interest in a greener planet meet up for drinks at places all around the world at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.
These events are very simple and unstructured. Make friends, develop new ideas, do deals and forge a new organic future. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help its spreading to other cities. Green Drinks meets on the 3rd Friday of each month from 5:00 - 9:00 PM...or later!! Put it in your calendar and count on it: Green Drinks is happening every month.
Put these on your 2009 calendar: April 17, May 15, June 19, July 17, August 21, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18
Apr 10: Globalization lecture at CMU
April 10: Globalization, the Indian Economy, SEZs and Popular Struggles, a talk by Kunal Chattopadhyay, professor of history at Jadavpur University.
Capitalist development in India after independence (1947) had been based on a strong state sector, protectionist trade policies, and some amount of state support for peasants and unionized workers. Partly this had corresponded to the needs of a relatively weak indigenous capitalist class desiring protection from strong international capital. As Indian capital became stronger it wanted an easing of the state controls from the mid-1980s, but popular struggles of various kinds made it difficult for the state to go in for liberalization in a big way till the economic crisis of 1990, which came at the same time as the rise of Hindu communalism in India and the crisis of the Soviet bloc, thereby also disorienting the hitherto strong left forces.
India therefore turned to globalization willingly. IMF officials remarked on this, comparing it with the difficulties they faced in dealing with government officials of many other countries of the South. Privatization and state policies geared to assisting the private sector resulted in a rise in the growth rate, but it also increased social disparities, and resulted in growing social unrest.
One aspect of globalization was a new thrust on SEZs. An earlier version, the Export Promotion Zones, had been in existence for quite a while, but till the 1990s, these were few and were not seen as really good profit making zones. This changed after 1991. Then, the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, proposed a further change, towards SEZs in more or less the Chinese model. Though the 2004 election campaigns saw the rout of the NDA with its open advocacy of further doses of neoliberalism, its successor, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress, also pursued a similar policy. An all India SEZ Act was passed in 2005 and its rules were formulated by 2006. However, popular resistance proved to be quite dramatic, in a number of areas, from Kalinganagar in Orissa to Nandigram in West Bengal. But since practically all major political parties are in government in some province, and since all provincial governments have also accepted the SEZ scheme, the result is, the anti-SEZ struggles have often developed under shifting alliances, or as social movements without major parties in command, something relatively unusual in India.
India therefore turned to globalization willingly. IMF officials remarked on this, comparing it with the difficulties they faced in dealing with government officials of many other countries of the South. Privatization and state policies geared to assisting the private sector resulted in a rise in the growth rate, but it also increased social disparities, and resulted in growing social unrest.
One aspect of globalization was a new thrust on SEZs. An earlier version, the Export Promotion Zones, had been in existence for quite a while, but till the 1990s, these were few and were not seen as really good profit making zones. This changed after 1991. Then, the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, proposed a further change, towards SEZs in more or less the Chinese model. Though the 2004 election campaigns saw the rout of the NDA with its open advocacy of further doses of neoliberalism, its successor, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress, also pursued a similar policy. An all India SEZ Act was passed in 2005 and its rules were formulated by 2006. However, popular resistance proved to be quite dramatic, in a number of areas, from Kalinganagar in Orissa to Nandigram in West Bengal. But since practically all major political parties are in government in some province, and since all provincial governments have also accepted the SEZ scheme, the result is, the anti-SEZ struggles have often developed under shifting alliances, or as social movements without major parties in command, something relatively unusual in India.
4pm in Adamson Wing (Baker Hall 136A); free and open to the public.
Apr 8 & 18: Sierra Club Environmental Film Festival
April 8 & 18: Sierra Club Environmental Film Festival
During this FREE film festival, there will be two evenings of engaging and thought-provoking films with an environmental theme. The event is family-friendly, refreshments will be available for a small donation, and donations will be accepted to offset cost of films.
When: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 6-10 pm and Saturday, April 18, 2009, 6-10 pm
Where: Imagine Environmental Charter School, 829 Milton Ave., off S. Braddock Ave. near the Frick Park tennis courts in Regent Square
Contact for more info: Sierra Club Allegheny Group, www.alleghenysc.org, Don Gibbon at dongibbon@earthlink.net
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 FILMS:
- Dinner for Two - A funny animated look at conflict resolution - for all ages. (8 mins)
- Build Green - Exciting and up-to-date tour of green building, clever solutions to important problems. (44 mins)
- The Real Dirt on Farmer John - A touching, provocative and ultimately heart-warming look at the relationship of humans (and one particular human) to agriculture in our peculiar society. (82 mins)
- Coming Home: The Sacred Balance - Canada's David Suzuki shares a powerful and intimate look at the innate need for a close relationship with the earth. (53 mins)
- Powers of Ten - An enduring classic short, illustrating the magic of "scale," from the universal to the microscopic. (17 mins)
SATURDAY, APRIL 18 FILMS:
- Garden Song - If you want to get psyched for gardening, this should do it! (28 mins)
- Eden's Lost and Found: Philadelphia - If Philly can do it, so can we! How volunteer organizations have redeemed inner-city Philadelphia's environment on a shoe-string. (57 minutes)
- YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) - A zany, clever, fun, interesting and totally up-to-date look at what's happening nationwide in the environment, with Mark Dixon, the filmmaker. Not to be missed! Really first class fun. Great for all ages. (about 90 mins)
- Cheat Neutral - A satirical look at carbon offsetting. Does it really work? (13 mins)
- Black Diamonds - Mountain-top removal at its worst. How it's destroying our neighbors in West Virginia and what we can do about it. (72 mins)
During this FREE film festival, there will be two evenings of engaging and thought-provoking films with an environmental theme. The event is family-friendly, refreshments will be available for a small donation, and donations will be accepted to offset cost of films.
When: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 6-10 pm and Saturday, April 18, 2009, 6-10 pm
Where: Imagine Environmental Charter School, 829 Milton Ave., off S. Braddock Ave. near the Frick Park tennis courts in Regent Square
Contact for more info: Sierra Club Allegheny Group, www.alleghenysc.org, Don Gibbon at dongibbon@earthlink.net
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 FILMS:
- Dinner for Two - A funny animated look at conflict resolution - for all ages. (8 mins)
- Build Green - Exciting and up-to-date tour of green building, clever solutions to important problems. (44 mins)
- The Real Dirt on Farmer John - A touching, provocative and ultimately heart-warming look at the relationship of humans (and one particular human) to agriculture in our peculiar society. (82 mins)
- Coming Home: The Sacred Balance - Canada's David Suzuki shares a powerful and intimate look at the innate need for a close relationship with the earth. (53 mins)
- Powers of Ten - An enduring classic short, illustrating the magic of "scale," from the universal to the microscopic. (17 mins)
SATURDAY, APRIL 18 FILMS:
- Garden Song - If you want to get psyched for gardening, this should do it! (28 mins)
- Eden's Lost and Found: Philadelphia - If Philly can do it, so can we! How volunteer organizations have redeemed inner-city Philadelphia's environment on a shoe-string. (57 minutes)
- YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) - A zany, clever, fun, interesting and totally up-to-date look at what's happening nationwide in the environment, with Mark Dixon, the filmmaker. Not to be missed! Really first class fun. Great for all ages. (about 90 mins)
- Cheat Neutral - A satirical look at carbon offsetting. Does it really work? (13 mins)
- Black Diamonds - Mountain-top removal at its worst. How it's destroying our neighbors in West Virginia and what we can do about it. (72 mins)
Apr 3 & 4: Farm To Table Conference
April 3 & 4: 2009 Farm To Table Conference -- Keep it Real, Keep it Local. An educational health conference aimed at helping Western Pennsylvania consumers understand the benefits of eating locally grown food, and connect directly with local food producers. Features a local food tasting event, outdoor farmers' market, expanded health expo, live food demonstrations by chefs and dieticians, and local experts addressing health topics and local food resources.
Exhibits open 10-5 each day, and the local food tasting is Friday evening from 5-8 p.m. More details on the event schedule, information on speakers and exhibitors, map and directions to the David Lawrence Convention Center, and ticket sales are all online at 2009 Farm to Table Conference Details
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