Oct 30: Arbor Aid 2009

Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest presents Arbor Aid 2009, a fundraiser featuring art created from reclaimed wood along with music by Life In Balance and The Turpentiners. Arbor Aid celebrates the possibilities presented to us by trees as resources within our city. Rather than chip or log urban trees that need to be removed, FPUF encourages giving them a longer life by repurposing them as art, furniture, flooring and everything in between. Food & libations from the East End Brewing Company, the East End Food Co-op, Kate Romane, Six Penn Kitchen, Tazza D-Oro, and Whole Foods Market.

7-11 p.m. on the 6th floor of Guardian Storage at 2839 Liberty Avenue. Tickets $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $20 for Tree Tenders. For tickets or more information, visit FPUF or call 412-362-6360.

Oct 28: Global Food webcast

Global Food: Great Decisions webcast
Webcast of program by World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh
http://www.worldaffairspittsburgh.org/greatdecisions.jsp

6:00-8:00pm in Baker Hall A53 (Steinberg Auditorium)

Oct 25: PASA Sunday Supper Jamboree

Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture
Join PASA at the Jamison Farm in Latrobe, PA, on October 25, 2009 from 11AM - 5PM for a Buffet Supper featuring fresh ingredients from regional farms, a Square Dance with Award Winning Appalachian Musician Chance McCoy & Friends, Auction and other fall festivities!

Bring your Family, Friends and Fiddles* for a Day of Fall Fun on the Farm!
*Other Instruments are also welcome!

Tickets:
* $55 (General Ticketing)
* $45 (PASA Members)
* $10 (Kid 12 & Under)
* ** This event is BYOB **

Farm Fresh Supper:
* Served Family Style at 1PM
* Artisan Breads
* Pulled Jamison Lamb Shoulder
* Herb Grilled Pasture-Raised Chicken
* Scalloped Somerset Spuds from Laurel Vista Farm
* Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples and Blue Cheese
* Local Greens & Beans
* Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese
* Fresh Apple Cobbler & Building New Hope Coffee
* Fresh pressed Cider & BYOB

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS ONLINE
or call the PASA Western Regional Office at 412.697.0411 to purchase tickets by phone or for further information!
All proceeds benefit the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

11AM - 5PM at Jamison Farm, 171 Jamison Farm Lane, Latrobe, PA 15650


Oct 24: Regional Apple Festival and pie contest

Pittsburgh Regional Apple Festival and Pro-Am Apple Pie Baking Competition
Music, fun, and apples in surprisingly many forms. Fire up your oven and bring a pie to be judged (and then eaten)! Fabulous apples, cheese, to taste and buy; pie a la mode (with Oh Yeah ice cream); family entertainment: music, jugglers, and lots to learn about Western Pennsylvania's rich apple heritage.

11-2 at the Union Project at Negley and Stanton; free! For more information, contact Don at dongibbon@earthlink.net .
Food Routes





Slow Food Pittsburgh

Oct 24: Public Star Party

Share the wonders of the night sky! Please join the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh at their Mingo Creek Park Observatory site, in Washington County's Mingo Creek County Park, as they host public star parties. Dress warmly! Bring something to drink; there's no running water. Arrive before dark, and park your car at the bottom of the hill. Wander amongst the members' telescopes on the hill. Enjoy sharing views through the members' telescopes, as you make your way to the club's observatory atop the hill. Once there, look through the club's permanent 24" RC and 10" refractor. Also enjoy the displays and astronomy videos. The planetarium continues to be under renovation. The star party ends, depending on conditions, sometime after it started -- typically between 9 p.m. and midnight, or later. www.3ap.org

October 11 and 24 at the Mingo Creek Park Observatory, Washington County (conditions permitting).

Oct 23-25: Pittsburgh Eco-Drama Festival

A series of staged readings of four new award-winning plays about the environment and ecology.
Plays include Song of Extinction by E.M. Lewis, directed by Jeffrey Carpenter, Friday at 8 p.m.; Girl Science by Larry Loebell, directed by Sam Turich, Saturday at 2 p.m.; Odin's Horse by Robert Koon, directed by Lisa Ann Goldsmith, Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Atomic Farmgirl by C. Denby Swanson, directed by Anya Martin, Sunday at 2 p.m.


The readings will take place in the auditorium of the Environmental Charter School at Frick Park in Regent Square. Parking is limited; please use alternative transportation where possible and park on side streets if necessary. Admission is free. For more information, email Dr. Wendy Arons at warons@andrew.cmu.edu.

As an added eco-performance bonus, two new short plays by CMU students and local playwright Jay Ball will be presented as part of a late-night ec0-cabaret hosted by the Waffle Shop from 11p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday night. These plays feature references to GASP, among other fascinating elements.

Oct 23: Groundwater Up fundraiser

A night of live music and dance performances to benefit the Groundwater Up Project. It will include performances by Mike Stout, the members of the Pillow Project dance company, and the screening of the short film “Narmada Rising” by the Groundwater Up Project’s Tarini Manchanda.

Friday October 23, 7-10 at The Space Upstairs (214 N. Lexington above Construction Junction). $10 at the door.

“Trickle Down, Groundwater Up” is a forthcoming documentary film that explores the challenges of consuming and accessing water in New Delhi, India. These challenges are examples of the social and ecological impacts of globalization…

…but there’s still hope!

It also tells the stories of people who are working from the groundwater up to reclaim access to the most vital natural resource, and, in turn, to regenerate their ecosystems and communities.

rusty water pump in New Delhi, 2007

Oct 23: GASP 40th Anniversary: 40 Environmental Heroes

GASP is commemorating 40 years of environmental advocacy and education. Come celebrate with us!

Oct 22: Urban Farming talk at CMU

Talk on growing food in urban settings by Dickson Despommier from Columbia University, proponent of the Vertical Farm model.

4:30pm, Porter Hall 100 (Gregg Hall)

Oct 21: Just Harvest harvest celebration dinner

Just Harvest harvest celebration dinner featuring keynote speaker Raj Patel, author of Stuffed & Starved. Seed of Justice awardee: East End Food Co-op, for their strong leadership in social justice circles.
For more information, visit Just Harvest.
5:30 (reception and silent auction); 6:30 (dinner and program) at the Omni William Penn Hotel

Oct 19: International relations talk at CMU

American Politics: A View From Home and Abroad by Andrew Sullivan, British blogger, author, and political commentator. Part of the Giler Humanities Scholars/International Relations and Politics Program Speaker Series.

7:00pm in Rashid Auditorium in the Gates Center for Computer Science.

Oct 19: Sustainable Transportation Choices for Monroeville

Please join a community discussion about how we can create a sustainable transportation system that works for everyone in Monroeville and southwestern Pennsylvania. Panel will include Marilyn Skolnick (Transportation Committee, Sierra Club Allegheny Group), Lee Szymkiewicz (Education Coordinator, Group Against Smog and Pollution), Tom Klevan (Coordinator of Regional Transit Projects, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission) and Michael Hodes (Monroeville resident). The discussion is open to all, so please bring your ideas, issues, questions and concerns as together we consider the future of transportation in Monroeville and the Pittsburgh region.

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Monroeville Public Library Gallery Space.

Oct 16-18: Beaming Bioneers!

Bioneers
The first Three Rivers Bioneers conference takes place this October 16-18, 2009 at the Pittsburgh Project on the Northside. The Three Rivers Bioneers (3RB) conference is a leading-edge forum highlighting breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet.

As a satellite conference of Bioneers
, 3RB provides a hub for people who are hungry for change and are working to make a real difference in their local communities. Bioneers is a nonprofit educational organization hosting the national Bioneers Conference in California for its 20th year. 3RB will broadcast live fifteen visionary speakers from the national conference to Pittsburgh, including Andrew Weil, M.D. and Michael Pollan. Weil is the nation’s foremost authority on holistic medicine and Pollan is author of the bestselling The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food.

The Three Rivers Bioneers Conference will also feature local leaders in the areas of green jobs, sustainable agriculture, and environmental restoration. Among the forty local presenters will be keynote speakers Khari Mosley, Pittsburgh's liaison for Van Jones' organization Green for All, and Greg Boulos, Western Region Director of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). In addition to the keynotes we'll have a Water Restoration Panel moderated by Janie French, Director of Green Infrastructure at PA Environmental Council. Finally, the conference is rounded out by tours, as well as local and organic food, art installations, spoken word performances, participatory theatre, and much more. Our full schedule is available here.

3RB endeavors to give residents the tools and inspiration to be catalysts for change in their own community. According to organizer Maureen Copeland, "Combining Bioneers national speakers with presentations from Pittsburgh's brightest and most passionate change agents -- in addition to interactive art, music, and wellness activities -- makes for an event to inspire and re-energize Pittsburgh for our greatest work ahead."

Three Rivers Bioneers builds upon the success of two previous conferences hosted by the Urban Ecology Collaborative—the Green Forum and MERGE (Methods to Engage Residents in Grassroots in the Environment). Providing a space to learn, network, and reflect, 3RB is an incubator for ideas and strategies that inspire positive change. A youth studio, activist network room, and peace garden complement the daily workshops and speakers. The Pittsburgh Project, a community development center on the Northside, provides the backdrop for the 3RB conference.

About the Urban Ecology Collaborative
The Urban Ecology Collaborative is a ten-city collaborative that cultivates healthy, safe and vibrant cities through collective learning and united action. UEC does this by developing a unique multi-city network for urban ecosystem research and restoration that makes the connections to issues of social justice; combining programs in education, urban forestry, and advocacy to address common urban ecosystem issues; and creating an integrated toolkit for sharing these strategies.

About Bioneers
Bioneers is a nonprofit educational organization that highlights social and scientific innovations inspired by nature and human creativity. Its acclaimed annual national conference brings together people passionate about making a difference and serves as an incubator for new strategies for just and sustainable change. Through the conference, recordings, books, a radio series, online social network and other resources, Bioneers provides the tools and inspiration to help people connect with each other and catalyze positive change in their own communities.

The Pittsburgh Project is at 2801 North Charles Street, Pittsburgh 15214. Registration for the three-day conference is $99 until October 11th, $125 thereafter, $75 for low income attendants and students, or $45/day.

For more information, contact Maureen Copeland at 412.334.2072 or mocopeland@3riversbioneers.org .


Oct 17: Animal Rescue League Harvest Fest

The Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center is having their annual Harvest Fest benefit event on October 17. There will be hayrides, kids' games, food sales, bake sale, auctions, raffles, and educational programs. This event benefits the Wildlife Center in Verona, with all proceeds going directly to animal care.

12-4 p.m. at the Wildlife Center in Verona: 6000 Verona Road, Penn Hills, PA 15147. For more information, contact Jillnadzam@hotmail.com.

Oct 16: Green Drinks with Luke Ravenstahl


Pittsburgh Green Drinks Logo

You are invited the 3rd Friday of each month, 5-9pm, to an informal gathering of folks who have an interest in a greener, more sustainable planet.






This month the event will be hosted by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who will expound upon the theme of

From Green to Greener: How the Mayor plans to build on his accomplishments

  • In early 2007, Mayor Ravenstahl signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to implement local global warming solutions that will save taxpayer dollars and reduce energy use.

  • Following this commitment, the City of Pittsburgh adopted the first Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan in August 2008,which established a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2023.

  • In 2008, the City of Pittsburgh hired its first Sustainability Coordinator, as did the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority. Mayor Ravenstahl also created a $100,000 Green Initiative Trust Fund to support the City’s greening efforts.

  • Under the leadership of Mayor Ravenstahl, the City has taken strides to improve energy efficiency, including replacing all traffic signals with energy-saving LEDs, engaging in an energy-efficiency streetlighting pilot study, and hiring an engineering firm to complete an energy audit of the City-County Building.

  • In September 2009, The Western PA Energy Consortium, managed by the City of Pittsburgh, won a “Green Power Leadership Award” from the US EPA for purchasing 10% of electricity from renewable sources. This percentage will increase to 15% next year.

  • Pittsburgh is one of only 25 U.S. cities to be named a Solar America City through Department of Energy. As part of this program, the City will be installing the first solar hot water heater on Pittsburgh Firehouse No. 34 in Woods Run in October, and has plans to install another 5 solar hot water heaters in 2010, eliminating the need to use natural gas to create hot water for showers and kitchens in those buildings.

  • To foster non-motorized transportation, Mayor Ravenstahl created the position of Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator, who works to improve general bike parking, access, and safety throughout the city. The Coordinator is also working with a Pittsburgh non-profit (Bike Pittsburgh) to create an employee bike program that can be rolled out to other employers.

  • In November 2008, the City expanded single-stream recycling city-wide, meaning citizens can place all recyclables in the same blue bag for curbside pick up, resulting in a 31% increase by tonnage.

  • In 2008, the City planted over 700 trees and received a special Growth Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for developing a partnership with Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest.

  • Mayor Ravenstahl created the Green Up Pittsburgh program, which aims to stabilize city-owned vacant lots with the goals of reducing blight, inspiring community pride, and promoting environmental values. To date, Green Up has greened over 100 lots, with the help of thousands of volunteers.

Please join us for some green conversation with the Mayor and each other.

5-9 p.m. at the Fire Engine House No. 25/Clemente Museum, 3339 Penn Ave., 15201 (412) 681-1268. Senator Jim Ferlo will introduce the Mayor between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Free parking; free appetizers and beer compliments of Senator Ferlo.

For Port Authority Bus Routes, go here: http://www.portauthority.org

FOR MORE INFO: pittsburghgreendrinks@gmail.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 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.

Save the Date 2009: November 20, December 18

Oct 15: Global Links 20th Anniversary celebration

Join Global Links in commemorating 20 years of sharing surplus, saving lives. IMAGINE going to the hospital and being unable to receive treatment because basic materials-bandages, needles, suture, syringes, blood pressure units-are unavailable. In the United States this situation is unthinkable. However, in many developing countries this happens every day. People around the world are literally dying for lack of even the most basic medical supplies.

At the same time, every year U.S. hospitals throw away an estimated 2,000 tons of unused surgical supplies worth over $200 million. This still useful material often ends up being landfilled or incinerated—needlessly adding to the pollution problem and the cost of healthcare in the United States.

Global Links is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that recovers surplus medical materials from U.S. hospitals and makes it available to hospitals that serve the poorest members of society in less developed countries.

Because poorly planned donations can be worse than no aid at all, each donation is carefully tailored to meet the needs of the recipient institution. Dedicated volunteers help Global Links to maintain high quality standards and low costs. Global Links spends less than 3% on overhead costs.

Tickets: $75 per person* Click to reserve tickets via our online donation form. Please note the number of tickets you need in the comment field. Or call Sarah Ubinger at (412) 361-3424 ext. 214 by October 8, 2009.

Your support provides health and hope for the people we serve. Please consider taking that next step with an additional donation of $20 or more.

*$57.00 of your ticket cost is tax deductible.

Read our special anniversary newsletter. (202 KB)PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE LITERALLY DYING FOR WHAT

6-9 p.m. at Roberto Clemente Museum at Engine House 25: 3339 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15201. Business attire. Free on- and off-street parking available. For directions, click here.


Oct 14: Food Irradiation lecture at CMU

"Atomic Food: Mediating Food Irradiation in Cold War Europe: Promoting Peace Producing Perishables Producing Profits?" by Prof. Dr. Karin Zachmann of Technical University, Munich, Germany. Sponsored by the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, the International Relations and Politics Program, and the Center for History and Policy.
4:30PM, Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A on the Carnegie Mellon campus. Free and open to the public.

Just Harvest harvest celebration dinner featuring keynote speaker Raj Patel, author of Stuffed And Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Seed of Justice award will be presented to the East End Food Co-op, for their strong leadership in social justice circles. For more information, visit Just Harvest.

5:30 (reception & silent auction); 6:30 (dinner & program) at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Tickets $45, VIP $75.


Oct 11: Public Star Party

Share the wonders of the night sky! Please join the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh at their Mingo Creek Park Observatory site, in Washington County's Mingo Creek County Park, as they host public star parties. Dress warmly! Bring something to drink; there's no running water. Arrive before dark, and park your car at the bottom of the hill. Wander amongst the members' telescopes on the hill. Enjoy sharing views through the members' telescopes, as you make your way to the club's observatory atop the hill. Once there, look through the club's permanent 24" RC and 10" refractor. Also enjoy the displays and astronomy videos. The planetarium continues to be under renovation. The star party ends, depending on conditions, sometime after it started -- typically between 9 p.m. and midnight, or later. www.3ap.org

October 11 and 24 at the Mingo Creek Park Observatory, Washington County (conditions permitting).

Oct 10: Ecofest in Regent Square

Third Annual Wilkins School Community Center Ecofest with family activities, art show, flower planting, information and education, and free recycling/reuse of bicycles, computer monitors, cell phones, digital cameras, chargers, adapters, TVs, and microwaves (during event hours only!).


10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wilkins School Community Center 7604 Charleston Ave. Regent Square, 15218. Free & open to the public.

Oct 9-10: Compost celebration at Phipps

Celebrate Composting in this season of Happy Early Rot! at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

We all know that Obama and all the various heads of state attended a gala there a couple of weeks ago. Well…here’s a more modest, but stimulating, affair for the rest of us! Over the past months, Phipps has extended its organic waste diversion efforts to include all its greenhouses, its cafeteria (front and back) and its catering. Come celebrate composting with Phipps Conservatory, the Pennsylvania Resources Council, friends and neighbors. Learn some things. Share your interest in this important frontier. Snack and mingle.


Friday, October 9

6 p.m. in Botany Hall:Composting: the Big View”

A free lecture/slide-show by Nick Shorr of PRC.

Nick discusses how interest in ‘helping things rot’ — both directly, in our backyards, and indirectly, through diversion of compostable waste of the institutions where we work, eat, go to school, etc — may be a real pivot in our relations with Nature. He places this frontier in the history of human-Nature relationships, and of agricultural change; and asks us to consider how we can help maximize the regional benefits of this vast resource frontier. Before joining PRC, and leading their institutional composting program, Nick taught global agricultural history to undergraduates at Wake Forest, Indiana University, Dickinson College, Chatham and Carnegie Mellon. He has worked on farms in three states; managed farmers’ markets; worked on composting facilities and in community gardens in New York City; and did dissertation fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon.


6:45 p.m.: Light Food & Refreshments, courtesy of Phipps


7 p.m. in Botany Hall: Backyard Composting workshop.

A workshop by Lauren Seiple (PRC). $40 (or $50 per couple). Fee includes attendance and a composting bin.

Lauren has taught this workshop to hundreds of Pittsburgh-area residents over the past two years. Her topics include

Ø The benefits of composting

Ø How composting works

Ø What you should & shouldn’t compost

Ø How to set up and maintain an effective compost pile with minimal fuss and effort

To register, please call Lauren at 412-431-4449 ext. 325, or laurens@ccicenter.org


Saturday Oct 10, 10am-2pm

Ø Short video on organic waste diversion at institutions

Ø Table with literature on composting workshops and initiatives in the region

Ø Unveiling of the new, improved café patron recycling/composting station

Oct 9: Sustainability and computer science seminar

Customizing Commute Ecology: a community-empowered road for electric vehicles by Illah Nourbakhsh.

While the auto industry continues to make incremental progress toward competitive electric vehicles, we pose a strategic question: can we effect disruptive change in the economics of electric vehicles by improving the systems-level interaction of a vehicle with each unique commuter? This talk will motivate and describe ChargeCar, a new CREATE Lab project that combines direct community engagement with a hybrid supercapacitor-battery energy management system to increase EV efficiency while decreasing battery duty. We will describe a prototype hybrid system, a national urban commute warehousing program, a regional economic development strategy, and early analytical results based on energy models and actual commute data. Following the talk and discussion we will offer demonstrations and rides in an electric car at the Gates Highbay.

1:30PM, Rashid Auditorium (GHC 4401, near the Forbes entrance to the Hillman Center)


Oct 8: Talk at CMU on US environmental impact

The Global Environmental Impact of the United States in Peacetime and Wartime by Richard Tucker.

In the twentieth century a major driving force for global environmental deterioration was the vast reach of the American economy, in its worldwide search for natural resources. Throughout history empires (whether political/military or economic) have captured distant natural resources, domesticating distant ecosystems.The American empire has been no exception, but it has been the most momentous of them all (though China’s new global surge may soon surpass it). In the peacetime economy, American investors and their local collaborators have transformed ecosystems throughout Latin America and across the Pacific into Southeast Asia, to produce agricultural crops, timber products and minerals for export. American consumers have provided the largest market for these products. We are only beginning to recognize the global ecological consequences of corporate enterprise and consumer culture. We have paid even less attention to the international impact of the United States military’s demands for resources (timber, minerals, and petroleum) for use in wartime and for maintaining the world’s most far-flung military establishment in peacetime, especially during the Cold War.

4:30 pm in Porter Hall 100 at Carnegie Mellon University.


Oct 6: Hilary Masters book signing

Hilary Masters: Readings, Book Signing of his new books: How the Indians Bury their Dead, In Rooms of Memory

Revered Carnegie Mellon English professor Hilary Masters will be reading from and signing copies of his two new books at the Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore. In September, 2009, Masters released a book of short stories, How the Indians Buried Their Dead, and a book of essays, In Rooms of Memory. Hilary Masters, born in 1928, resides in the North Side of Pittsburgh and has taught English at Carnegie Mellon since 1983. After graduating from Brown University in 1952, Masters’ career included work as a press agent, a journalist, a freelance photographer, a political candidate, and finally a writer and professor. Since 1967 he has published nine novels, one biography, three books of short stories, three books of essays, and a work of nonfiction.


4:30PM at the Carnegie Mellon Book Store, in the University Center.

The event’s facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/mcnnql

Hilary Masters’ website: http://www.hilarymasters.com/

Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore’s website: http://www.cmu.edu/bookstore

About the books:

In Rooms of Memory: Essays

In Rooms of Memory is one of the strongest personal essay collections in recent years—it is supremely companionable, ‘user friendly,’ and engrossing and amusing throughout. …burnished, distilled wisdom.”

--Phillip Lopate

How the Indians Buried Their Dead: Stories

“…he’s like the hummingbird of short story writers. I couldn’t put the book down.”

-- Ann Beattie, author of ‘Park City’

“Sophisticated, strong, devilish at times, teasing the reader with a complex situation, then dropping it. Henry James with libido”

-- Rick DeMarinis, author of ‘The Mortician’s Apprentice’

Oct 5: South Africa lecture at CMU

HUMANITIES CENTER LECTURES

Declarations of Dependence: Labor, Personhood, and Welfare in South Africa and Beyond by James Ferguson, Stanford University. South Africa has in recent decades gone through a wrenching transformation from a labor-scarce society to a labor-surplus one. Labor scarcity through most of the 19th and 20th centuries led to forms of social solidarity and social personhood that had significant continuities with the pre-colonial past (continuities that are obscured by conventional narratives that emphasize the rise of capitalism as a complete and comprehensive break with the past). In recent decades, however, economic restructuring has radically reduced demand for low-skilled, manual labor, and mass unemployment has become a durable structural feature of South African society. This new situation is more radically different from the past than is generally recognized, and calls for new ways of thinking about social membership, work, "dependency", and social assistance. It is suggested that the South African experience reveals, in an extreme and clarifying form, a set of processes that are occurring in many other parts of the world. Better understanding such processes may help us to find our way past some of the current impasses in progressive politics.


4:30 pm in Porter 100, Gregg Hall, free and open to the public.

Oct 4: Scavenger Hunt in Deer Lakes park

Join the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club for a scavenger hunt in Deer Lakes Park. Find flags in the woods using a topographic map & compass. It's a great way to learn about your natural surroundings, catch detail of terrain and streams, recognize mappable features, and at the same time, mix it with the exhilarating excitement of finding something as insignificant as a flag. Free instruction for beginners available on site.
Start anytime between 11 AM and 2 PM. More details on the WPOC web site.

Cost: $4/map (group or family doing the event together and using one map pays only $4).

Oct 1: Ghandi birthday commemorations at CMU

A series of three events on the eve of Ghandi's birthday:


Ghandi's Legacy Through Popular Media, presented by OM. Gandhi's ideals and values, and his legacy. Clips from the film Ghandi.

4:30 pm in Danforth Lounge in the University Center at Carnegie Mellon University.


Yoga & Meditation Presented by ART OF LIVING

Take a few deep breaths and relax. Come and get a deeper insight into how to eliminate stress, rid the system of negative emotions, heighten awareness, and increase mental focus. Join us for a short meditation and introductory talk on how to make this chaotic thing called life an art!

5:30 pm in Danforth Lounge

GANDHI- More than a Freedom Fighter

Som Sharma and NS Srinivasa

Join these two prevalent Pittsburgh figures as they go beyond Gandhi's role as a political figure into his personal life. They will look into his childhood experiences and how they molded his principles.

7 pm in Danforth Lounge