Celebrate the life and work of Nelson Mandela with a keynote by Trans Africa chair, actor, and activist Danny Glover. Elie Kihonia will lead everyone into the theatre with his drummers and dancers.
2-5 p.m. at the Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, 271 Paulson Ave. in Lincoln-Larimer. Organized by Sala Udin-Howze, Trans Africa, the United Steelworkers,and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. For more information, call or email Sala Udin (412-600-6090, sala@salaudin.com).
Dec 14-15: Holiday Open House
A new Pittsburgh source for toys, silks, and eco-goods: Our Children Our Earth!
Unique products for you, your children and your home! Come to the Holiday Open House for a relaxed
place to shop where you can experience many cool products you thought only
available online; where friends, cookies, and the perfect gift (perfectly
kind to Mother Earth) can all be found!
Eco-goods (reusable, nontoxic versions of many things you use every day), wooden toys, play silks, baby toys, puppets, cooperative games, kids’ jewelry, play food, dolls, architectural building blocks, castles, scarves, puzzles, fairies, wooden modeling beeswax, & more.
Holiday Open House hours: Sat. Dec. 14, 10:00-5:00 and Sun. Dec 15, 1:00-5:00
at 125 Woodshire Dr., Pittsburgh (412) 772-1638
Additional hours available by appointment
Check Facebook for additional open house hours
Dec 14: Sustainability Salon on Community Mapping
What can we learn about our community through geography? What stories can maps tell? What connections emerge? The 23rd Putting Down Roots Sustainability Salon & Sing will focus on several different community mapping projects.
Pittsburgh is part of a multi-city collaborative called the Climate & Urban Systems Partnership. One of the components of this initiative, pioneered at the New York City hub, is a regional map showing climate change indicators. As Pittsburgh is sharing its interactive educational activity kits with the other cities, we are also implementing New York's model mapping project here. Project leader (and Carnegie Museum of Natural History's director of learning research) Mary Ann Steiner and the Pittsburgh CUSP team will talk about the project as a whole, discuss how the map can reveal Pittsburgh's stories, and lead a design charrette to figure out what local examples of climate impacts, adaptations, and mitigation programs we can display in the Pittsburgh version.
Another local mapping project is being spearheaded by the New Economy Working Group of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Social Justice. It will highlight local businesses, activists, and resources supporting a diverse, sustainable, cooperative, and democratic economic system for our region. Mark Dixon is leading this effort, and will bring us up to date on the progress so far as well as the philosophy behind this kind of New Economy.
We'll also hear from Alexis Rzewski, who recently completed detailed trail (and stairway) maps of Frick Park and the South Side Slopes. And we'll have an update from Sam Thomas on GASP's Bike Air Monitor program, showing crowd-pedaled pollution maps of our region.
Note that I'll be sending out directions and such, and any late-breaking info, to all the RSVP'd folks by the morning of the salon if not before. One of these days I'll streamline this process a bit (assistance would be welcome -- thanks to Beth for all her help so far with the transition to EventBrite), but for now it takes a while to to dot all my i's and cross all my t's.
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For the uninitiated, a Sustainability Salon is an educational forum, a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues, a house party with an environmental theme. We usually have featured speakers on a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.
Past topics have included environmental journalism, grassroots action, community solar power, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, solar power, trees & park stewardship, alternative energy & climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings & discussions (led by the filmmakers) over the winter with both YERT and Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, and more food.
For the uninitiated, a Sustainability Salon is an educational forum, a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues, a house party with an environmental theme. We usually have featured speakers on a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.
Past topics have included environmental journalism, grassroots action, community solar power, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, solar power, trees & park stewardship, alternative energy & climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings & discussions (led by the filmmakers) over the winter with both YERT and Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, and more food.
Quite a few people have asked me what sorts of food to bring -- and my answer, as always, is whatever inspires you; I believe in the "luck" part of potlucks. Tasty noshings for the afternoon, hearty main dishes or scrumptious salads and sides for dinner, baked goods from biscuits and breads to brownies or baklava -- and/or beverages of any kind: wine, beer, hard or sweet cider (the latter we can mull if you like), juice, tea, whatever (I've got the kombucha covered, though it's always fun to compare). The more the merrier! Local fare is always particularly welcome, whether homegrown or boughten. Dishes containing meat are fine, though if it isn't really obvious please make a note of it.
And if you like to make music or listen to homemade music, don't forget the evening sing -- we typically run the gamut from Irish fiddle tunes to protest songs to the Beatles, and a fun time is had by all. Bring instruments if you play, and/or pick up one of ours. Conversations will continue through the evening, as well.
And if you like to make music or listen to homemade music, don't forget the evening sing -- we typically run the gamut from Irish fiddle tunes to protest songs to the Beatles, and a fun time is had by all. Bring instruments if you play, and/or pick up one of ours. Conversations will continue through the evening, as well.
Dec 12: UnLOCKing Doors fundraiser at the Mattress Factory
Join the Door Campaign as they launch their first fundraising event, unLOCKing Doors. This is an effort to engage community residents, leaders, workers and stakeholders with building an innovative aquaponic green house on the Northside. Help unlock the community, while trimming Quincy Kovi Swatson's locks.
5:30-8 at the Mattress Factory (500 Sampsonia Way on the Northside, 15212).
More information and registration at http://www.showclix.com/event/UnLOCKingDoors
5:30-8 at the Mattress Factory (500 Sampsonia Way on the Northside, 15212).
More information and registration at http://www.showclix.com/event/UnLOCKingDoors
Dec 12: Inspire Lecture with Bill Strickland and Jim Hartzfeld
A unique chance to hear from two champions of sustainable communities and businesses: Bill Strickland and Jim Hartzfeld!
Bill Strickland: MacArthur Genius Fellow, community leader, visionary, social architect, author, and more. You have a special opportunity to hear Bill tell an authentic Pittsburgh story of self-empowerment and transformation that has grown from his powerful and broad vision of arts, youth, and unlikely partnerships into a model that is being replicated throughout the United States via the National Center for the Arts and Technology.
Jim Hartzfeld: Two-term chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council, sustainable manufacturing pioneer, consultant to 40 Fortune 100 companies, and advisor to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. Hear Jim's experiences from his days with the legendary Ray Anderson and how he works to to develop sustainable enterprise through innovation, policy, and business development.
5-8 p.m. at Phipps Conservatory. Register here.
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Dec 12: Gas Rush Stories
Third monthly Gas Rush Stories Screening and Community Conversation at Point Breezeway, 8113 Reynolds Street! The screening lasts about 50 minutes, followed by free community conversation. Wine and popcorn provided.
Kirsi is fundraising for GRS Roundtable, a 53 min documentary based on the series, so there's a suggested donation of $5-15. No one turned away for lack of funds, though.
WELCOME ALL TO THIS NEIGHBORLY EVENT! Even if you cannot come tonight, come next time and bring a friend with you! Next GRS Nights at Point Breezeway will be on Thu Jan 9th and Thu Feb 13.
Dec 12: Film screening and Co-op discussion
Please come out for an initial discussion about the trajectory of the co-op, the role of coop members, and how we can hold the co-op accountable to our collective visions and values. (Discussion facilitated by Zoe Mizuho, EEFC member, member of the Big Idea Bookstore cooperative, and cofounder of CooperatePittsburgh).
The conversation will take place after the screening of "Food for Change" a documentary about food co-ops and their unique place in American's economic and political landscape.
6:30 PM in the Gemini Theater, adjacent to the co-op. This event is free, but if possible, call 412-242-3598 to reserve a spot.
Dec 12: Drones in Pakistan
Talha Rehmani is a Pakistani Fulbright Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. He will be speaking not only on the impact of drone strikes in his country but also on the ethics of drones use in general.
7 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave, Oakland. Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, PA ; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Thomas Merton Center, Anti-Drone-Warfare Coalition, Code Pink, and Veterans for Peace. For more information contact Scilla Wahrhaftig at (412) 315 7423 or swahrhaftig@afsc.org .
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Dec 10: International Human Rights Day Rally
In 2011 Pittsburgh City Council issued a proclamation declaring Pittsburgh the 5th Human Rights
City in the United States. It is time for our city to live up to its pledge to protect our citizen’s rights. On December 10th we will highlight the various human rights concerns we want our new mayor to address:
• Homelessness and poverty
• Protection for immigrants
• Education and city schools
• Worker rights
• Safe & healthy environment
• Public transportation
• Violence, sexism and racism
We encourage groups around the city to work to raise awareness of human rights on December 10 when the world recognizes the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Then, join other human rights defenders across the region to mobilize sustained pressure on public officials to make Pittsburgh a “Human Rights City.” Watch this site for more information on opportunities to help draft the new Human Rights Agenda for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh will inaugurate a new mayor in early 2014. Organizers and activists in Pittsburgh are discussing how to bring diverse groups together to advance a human rights agenda for our city. We invite your group to recognize International Human Rights Day on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.Together we will demand that the newly elected mayor Peduto make good on the promises he and others on the City Council made in 2011 to make Pittsburgh a Human Rights City.
4:30 PM at the City-County Building (414 Grant St., downtown). For more information contact Scilla Wahrhaftig 412 315 7423
Dec 10: Sustainability EXPOsed
Rediscovering sustainability -- ideas and innovations that are making businesses, governance, and community better for our region. Get ready for a whirlwind of ideas that will change the way you think about our region and the world – and sustainability itself. With 650 attendees, EXPOsed features 11 remarkable speakers in an exciting format to surprise, motivate, and lead to action. Roll-up your sleeves and get to work during the event through salon-style discussion, interaction with exhibitors, and a facilitated session by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to collect your recommendations as it develops its next three-year agenda, setting the stage for 2020 and beyond.
Help our region. Help your organization. Help yourself. Rediscover sustainability and the triple bottom line it offers to your organization and to our region.
Sustainability EXPOsed will feature presentations and exhibits designed to surprise, motivate, and lead to action. It will tap into professionals' and community leaders' interest in learning, sharing bold new ideas, and networking about sustainability innovations and applications that are shaping our region. And, timed to kick-off the Allegheny Conference on Community Development's next agenda-setting process, Sustainability EXPOsed has the potential to influence a broader regional agenda.
8:30 am - 4:00 pm (registration starts at 7:30 am) at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Registration $45 until 11/8, after 11/8 $55. Register by 11/8 and be entered to win one of four prizes from REI, totaling $500 in value! A few highlights are below; for information on other speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and collaborators, visit the event web site.
Keynote: Paul Hawken, with special introduction by Andre Heinz
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Paul is one of the most respected and widely read thought leaders of the sustainable business movement. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Larry King, Talk of the Nation, Charlie Rose, has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles, and his writings have appeared in numerous publications, including the Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Mother Jones, and Utne Reader.
He has written seven books including four national bestsellers, The Next Economy, Growing a Business, The Ecology of Commerce andBlessed Unrest. The Ecology of Commerce was voted in 1998 as the #1 college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, co-authored with Amory Lovins, has been read and referred to by several heads of state including President Bill Clinton who called it one of the five most important books in the world today. His books have been published in over 50 countries in 28 languages. Growing a Business became the basis of a 17-part PBS series, which Mr. Hawken hosted and produced. The program, which explored the challenges and pitfalls of starting and operating socially responsive companies, was shown on television in 115 countries and watched by over 100 million people.
Paul has founded several companies including some of the first natural food companies in the U.S. that relied solely on sustainable agricultural methods. He founded OneSun, an energy company focused on ultra low-cost solar based on green chemistry and biomimicry. Paul also founded the Natural Capital Institute, a research organization whose main project is the creation of the first open source platform for global social change, WiserEarth.
Sustainability EXPOsed will ignite enthusiasm about sustainability by pouring fresh ideas into a ballroom full of motivated leaders. Conceived as a combination ideas/best practices expo, conversational salon and regional strategic planning forum, Sustainability EXPOsed will provide a dynamic venue for exploring, challenging, and recommending innovative approaches to sustainability opportunities.
Help our region. Help your organization. Help yourself. Rediscover sustainability and the triple bottom line it offers to your organization and to our region.
Sustainability EXPOsed will feature presentations and exhibits designed to surprise, motivate, and lead to action. It will tap into professionals' and community leaders' interest in learning, sharing bold new ideas, and networking about sustainability innovations and applications that are shaping our region. And, timed to kick-off the Allegheny Conference on Community Development's next agenda-setting process, Sustainability EXPOsed has the potential to influence a broader regional agenda.
8:30 am - 4:00 pm (registration starts at 7:30 am) at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Registration $45 until 11/8, after 11/8 $55. Register by 11/8 and be entered to win one of four prizes from REI, totaling $500 in value! A few highlights are below; for information on other speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and collaborators, visit the event web site.
Keynote: Paul Hawken, with special introduction by Andre Heinz
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Paul is one of the most respected and widely read thought leaders of the sustainable business movement. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Larry King, Talk of the Nation, Charlie Rose, has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles, and his writings have appeared in numerous publications, including the Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Mother Jones, and Utne Reader.He has written seven books including four national bestsellers, The Next Economy, Growing a Business, The Ecology of Commerce andBlessed Unrest. The Ecology of Commerce was voted in 1998 as the #1 college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, co-authored with Amory Lovins, has been read and referred to by several heads of state including President Bill Clinton who called it one of the five most important books in the world today. His books have been published in over 50 countries in 28 languages. Growing a Business became the basis of a 17-part PBS series, which Mr. Hawken hosted and produced. The program, which explored the challenges and pitfalls of starting and operating socially responsive companies, was shown on television in 115 countries and watched by over 100 million people.
Paul has founded several companies including some of the first natural food companies in the U.S. that relied solely on sustainable agricultural methods. He founded OneSun, an energy company focused on ultra low-cost solar based on green chemistry and biomimicry. Paul also founded the Natural Capital Institute, a research organization whose main project is the creation of the first open source platform for global social change, WiserEarth.
Sustainability EXPOsed will ignite enthusiasm about sustainability by pouring fresh ideas into a ballroom full of motivated leaders. Conceived as a combination ideas/best practices expo, conversational salon and regional strategic planning forum, Sustainability EXPOsed will provide a dynamic venue for exploring, challenging, and recommending innovative approaches to sustainability opportunities.
Dec 6: Benefit concert for youth program & the Philippines
An evening of music featuring The Raging Grannies, Smokestack Lightning & friends, and recording artists Callán and Mark Dignam, will perform to benefit the American Friends Service Committee PA Youth Program and the National Nurses' Relief Group for the Philippines.
7:30 (door at 7) at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. Suggested donation $12 ($6 for students/unemployed). Tickets at the door. For more info, contact Scilla Wahrhaftig, 412-315-7423 or swahrhaftig@afsc.org .
7:30 (door at 7) at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. Suggested donation $12 ($6 for students/unemployed). Tickets at the door. For more info, contact Scilla Wahrhaftig, 412-315-7423 or swahrhaftig@afsc.org .
Dec 4: Environmental History lecture
The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes
Conevery Bolton Valencius, Assistant Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Boston
In the winter of 1811-1812, powerful earthquakes shook the Mississippi Valley. These quakes were big news in 1812: some people thought they were bringing God’s judgment, and others thought they would inflame war between Americans and Native tribes. People recorded the tremors, argued about them, and tried to discern their causes. Yet by the late nineteenth century, they had been forgotten. Why? This presentation, from a newly-published history, traces how environmental transformations, the Civil War, and changes within seismology erased memory of the New Madrid quakes—and how recent science is bringing them back to scientific and civic attention.
Lecture: 4:30 - 6:00 PM, Reception: 6:00 - 6:30 PM in Porter Hall 100 at Carnegie Mellon University. Free and open to the public. More information on CMU's Environmental History lecture series here.
Conevery Bolton Valencius, Assistant Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Boston
In the winter of 1811-1812, powerful earthquakes shook the Mississippi Valley. These quakes were big news in 1812: some people thought they were bringing God’s judgment, and others thought they would inflame war between Americans and Native tribes. People recorded the tremors, argued about them, and tried to discern their causes. Yet by the late nineteenth century, they had been forgotten. Why? This presentation, from a newly-published history, traces how environmental transformations, the Civil War, and changes within seismology erased memory of the New Madrid quakes—and how recent science is bringing them back to scientific and civic attention.
Lecture: 4:30 - 6:00 PM, Reception: 6:00 - 6:30 PM in Porter Hall 100 at Carnegie Mellon University. Free and open to the public. More information on CMU's Environmental History lecture series here.
Dec 2: Deadline for supporting Gas Rush Stories funding
Have you seen Gas Rush Stories? Please help Kirsi get funding ($10,000) to continue her amazing documentary series about shale gas extraction, and vote for GRS Trailer at the Sprout Fund film competition. Watch the trailer and like it here BEFORE DEC 2nd:
And please serve the common good and get your peeps to vote for GRS also! Six out of ten Americans don't know about shale gas drilling http://www.climatecentral.org/news/americans-uninformed-about-fracking-says-new-study-16762 at the time when shale gas exploration is rapidly expanding. The academic community is feverishly trying to catch up with the development to be able to answer some very essential questions - like how much methane is leaking to the atmosphere from this development. The scientists that presented their work at Duquesne Facing the Challenges research symposium this week are VERY concerned about this - and the main media stays pretty quiet about this. Gas Rush Stories is an easy and old-school journalistic way to learn about this complex issue.
Here's the NYT's Andrew Revkin's Dot Earth blog yesterday, with his take on Gas Rush Stories:
Even more people need to see these films. Kirsi wants to continue with GRS, but cannot do it without funding. Please help her continue her work as a messenger of this highly important topic. Go to the Sprout Fund site and Like her series (click the heart in the upper right), and share this posting! Thanks.
Dec 2: Cafe Scientifique on Eco-Innovation
Eco-Innovation: Are We There Yet?
Have you seen products that call themselves "green" – and you wonder what that claim is based on? Misleading "green" claims have led some to question whether truly greener products are feasible without government support.
Join the discussion! University of Pittsburgh professor Eric J. Beckman will give a brief talk about eco-innovation and how we can enhance product performance while reducing environmental impact, then open the floor for questions. Discuss today's hottest science in an informal setting.
Join the discussion! University of Pittsburgh professor Eric J. Beckman will give a brief talk about eco-innovation and how we can enhance product performance while reducing environmental impact, then open the floor for questions. Discuss today's hottest science in an informal setting.
7 p.m. at the Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA (map). Meet in the lobby/main entrance to go in at 6:45 sharp!
Dec 2: Sustainable Monroeville on the Living Building Challenge
Please join Sustainable Monroeville for a Vegan holiday pot luck dinner, followed by Elisa Beck with a talk about What is the Living Building Challenge? and making plans for 2014.
Potluck dinner at 6 p.m. (Bring along a dish to share. Remember to bring along your own plate, silverware and a cup too!) and talk at 7 p.m. All meetings of Sustainable Monroeville are free and open to the public, and take place at the Monroeville Public Library.
Nov 23: Shale gas conference & health fair
This conference/health fair features nationally known experts presenting the latest research about shale gas extraction and public health, plus interactive exhibits.
Saturday November 23, 2013 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman Street Pittsburgh PA 15222 (5th Floor). Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. FREE and open to the public but you must register to attend. Lots more information and registration at http://shale.palwv.org (or call 1-800-61-SHALE (800-617-4253))
Saturday November 23, 2013 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman Street Pittsburgh PA 15222 (5th Floor). Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. FREE and open to the public but you must register to attend. Lots more information and registration at http://shale.palwv.org (or call 1-800-61-SHALE (800-617-4253))
Nov 23: Upcycle Make & Take
Future Tenant is teaming up with Habitat
for Humanity’s ReStore to present The
Upcycle Make and Take, a workshop for creating original holiday ornaments
out of recycled materials.
Future Tenant is
celebrating the possibilities of creating beautiful art while also being kind
to the earth. Surrounded by the
repurposed artwork of Tree Pittsburgh’s Arbor Aid exhibit, The Upcycle Make and Take event allows you to channel your own
inner artist! Guests will be able to get creative and do their own upcycling by
using a variety of recycled materials to create holiday ornaments.
Materials for this
event were generously donated by Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.
According to their mission, “The
Habitat for Humanity ReStore sells reusable house building and home improvement
materials to the public…All proceeds from the sale of donations help place
families in affordable shelter in the Greater Pittsburgh area. The ReStore
provides an environmentally and socially responsible way to keep good, reusable
materials out of the waste stream while providing funding for Habitat’s
community improvement work.”
To learn more about the ReStore, please visit their website at http://www.pittsburghhabitat.org/shop.html.
For more information about this event and other
Future Tenant programming, please visit www.futuretenant.org.
Future
Tenant is a non-profit art space located in downtown Pittsburgh at 819 Penn
Avenue dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging artists through exhibitions
that offer a cutting edge perspective on the Pittsburgh art scene.
Nov 21: Anthony Ingraffea in Butler
The Fracking & Your Health Speakers Series welcomes Dr. Anthony R. Ingraffea, Cornell University School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Tony Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum Professor and Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow in the College of Engineering at Cornell University. He is also Director of the Cornell Fracture Group and of the Cornell Center for Theory and Simulation in Engineering and Science. Author/co-author of over 200 publications in computational and experimental mechanics, and Principal/Co-Principal investigator of over $32M in sponsored R&D at Cornell, Ingraffea specializes in fracture mechanics and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Fracture Mechanics.
Dr. Ingraffea’s recent research projects have been sponsored by the NSF, NASA and DARPA and focus on development, verification, and validation of multi-scale, physics-based simulators of fatigue and fracture processes. Applications have been in a wide variety of material and structural systems.
7 p.m. at Succop Theater at BC3, 107College Drive, Butler, Pennsylvania 16001. This is a FREE event by the Fracking & Your Health Speakers Series. Sponsored by the Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy - See more at:www.psehealthyenergy.org
Tony Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum Professor and Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow in the College of Engineering at Cornell University. He is also Director of the Cornell Fracture Group and of the Cornell Center for Theory and Simulation in Engineering and Science. Author/co-author of over 200 publications in computational and experimental mechanics, and Principal/Co-Principal investigator of over $32M in sponsored R&D at Cornell, Ingraffea specializes in fracture mechanics and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Fracture Mechanics.
Dr. Ingraffea’s recent research projects have been sponsored by the NSF, NASA and DARPA and focus on development, verification, and validation of multi-scale, physics-based simulators of fatigue and fracture processes. Applications have been in a wide variety of material and structural systems.
7 p.m. at Succop Theater at BC3, 107College Drive, Butler, Pennsylvania 16001. This is a FREE event by the Fracking & Your Health Speakers Series. Sponsored by the Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy - See more at:www.psehealthyenergy.org
Nov 20: Idle Threat film screening
Can one man’s quest to make the world a better place for everyone to live in, really work? George Pakenham, self-described vigilante (and filmmaker), walks the streets of New York to stop what many see as a victimless crime: idling. What they don’t realize is how they are contributing to asthma air pollution and the oil crisis. In order to raise awareness, Pakenham goes door-to-door – that is, car door-to-car door – explaining to unknowing drivers that they are breaking the law when they idle for more than three minutes. He just wants the law to be enforced. (2012; 60 min)
The director is scheduled to attend.
With Short: Gas Rush Stories: Renewable Energy Experts by Kirsi Jansa.
7 p.m. at the Harris Theater (809 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222). Tickets are $9, available here. Part of the 32nd Three Rivers Film Festival, co-presented with the Breathe Project.
Nov 19: Gerald Friedman on Single-Payer Health Care
Save Lives, Save Dollars: The Economic "Cents" Behind Single-Payer Health Care Reform
A public talk by Economics Professor Gerald Friedman, University of Massachusetts--Amherst, and author of the Economic Impact Studies of the single payer model for Pennsylvania (would be established by State Sen. Jim Ferlo's SB400) and for the US.
7-9 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, 605 Morewood Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Co-sponsored by Health Care 4 All PA, University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work, and the Church. For additional information, email Bob Mason or visit www.healthcare4allpa.org.
Nov 18: Film screening Robert Reich's "Inequality for All"
Inequality for All is a new documentary that blends facts, infographics, interviews, and profiles of families whose lives have been scarred by the new economy. All of that is backgrounded against the story of Berkeley Professor Robert Reich’s lifelong work to push for a just economy—including his frustrations serving as Labor Secretary during President Clinton’s first term. The film highlights the fact that working families and the middle class are getting crushed while the super-rich game the system and that idea that it is up to us to build an America that works for all of us.
Sponsored by the CMU Center for the Arts in Society, Make it Our UPMC, The Pittsburgh Collaborative for Working Class Studies, One Pittsburgh, the Thomas Merton Center, the Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival “Faces of Work,” the CMU English Department, and the CMU Office of Student Affairs.
Inequality for All ties the vast increase in income inequality to the loss of unionization, the diversion of economic growth from wages to CEO compensation and profits, the financialization of the economy, cutting taxes for the wealthy, and the failure of government to keep investing in education and infrastructure.
We invite you to join us for a free screening. Robert Reich himself will be Skyping into our venue for a Q and A. At the screening we will highlight some of the ways we fight inequality here in Pittsburgh and the surrounding region.
Sponsored by the CMU Center for the Arts in Society, Make it Our UPMC, The Pittsburgh Collaborative for Working Class Studies, One Pittsburgh, the Thomas Merton Center, the Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival “Faces of Work,” the CMU English Department, and the CMU Office of Student Affairs.
6:15 p.m. (doors open at 6) in McConomy Auditorium of the Carnegie Mellon University Center (5032 Forbes Ave, 15213 -- near Forbes and Morewood. Parking is free after hours in the Morewood lot, parking area #3 on this map). Sponsored by university and community groups including the Center for Arts in Society at CMU, OnePittsburgh, the Humanities Center Film Festival "Faces of Work," and the newly-formed Pittsburgh Collaborative for Working Class Studies. For more information, contact Kathy M. Newman (Professor of English): email knewman4@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-983-7094.
Nov 18: City Council hearing on green infrastructure
Join the Clean Rivers Campaign for Investing in Opportunity: Growing Community Benefits Through Green Infrastructure
Join the CRC at 10am (or 9:30 if you want to attend the press conference) for an important and timely discussion with the Pittsburgh City Council on how we can maximize our largest-ever public investment to stop water pollution and solve multiple community needs at the same time by investing in green infrastructure. Expert panelists from PWSA, DC Water, the Blue Green Alliance, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and others will share their perspectives and experiences on how green infrastructure has the potential to solve water quality problems, create family-sustaining jobs, and revitalize communities.
It's our responsibility to ensure that public investments in infrastructure create economic opportunities and healthy communities for generations to come. Help us pack the Council Chambers and show our elected officials that Pittsburgh is ready for strong leaders who make smart and fair investments that benefit local people and create healthy, safe communities.
Join us and show the City Council that Pittsburgh residents are READY to go green!
Post Agenda Hearing at City Council is at 10 a.m., press conferences at 9:30 a.m. at City Council Chambers, City-County Building, 414 Grant Street, 5th Floor.
Get more details (including a map) and RSVP here:
Nov 18: Environmental history lecture -- Paul Sabin (POSTPONED)
CANCELLED DUE TO FLIGHT DELAYS -- WILL BE RESCHEDULED.
The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’s Future
by Paul Sabin, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University
Are we headed for a world of scarce resources and environmental catastrophe, or will market forces and technological innovation yield greater prosperity? In this lecture, Yale University professor Paul Sabin will draw on an iconic story to examine the historical conflict between environmentalists and their conservative critics and trace the origins of the political gulf that separates the two sides. In 1980, the iconoclastic economist Julian Simon challenged celebrity biologist Paul Ehrlich to a bet. Their wager on the future prices of five metals captured the public’s imagination as a test of coming prosperity or doom. Ehrlich, author of the landmark 1968 book The Population Bomb, predicted that rising populations would cause overconsumption, resource scarcity, and famine—with apocalyptic consequences for humanity. Simon optimistically countered that human welfare would flourish thanks to flexible markets, technological change, and our collective ingenuity. Sabin's lecture will weave the two men’s lives and ideas together with the era’s partisan political battles to show how the clash between environmental fears and free market confidence helped create today’s gaping and rancorous political divide.
Lecture: 4:30 - 6:00 PM, Reception: 6:00 - 6:30 PM in the Peter/Wright/McKenna Rooms in CMU's University Center. Free and open to the public. More information on CMU's Environmental History lecture series here.
The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’s Future
by Paul Sabin, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University
Are we headed for a world of scarce resources and environmental catastrophe, or will market forces and technological innovation yield greater prosperity? In this lecture, Yale University professor Paul Sabin will draw on an iconic story to examine the historical conflict between environmentalists and their conservative critics and trace the origins of the political gulf that separates the two sides. In 1980, the iconoclastic economist Julian Simon challenged celebrity biologist Paul Ehrlich to a bet. Their wager on the future prices of five metals captured the public’s imagination as a test of coming prosperity or doom. Ehrlich, author of the landmark 1968 book The Population Bomb, predicted that rising populations would cause overconsumption, resource scarcity, and famine—with apocalyptic consequences for humanity. Simon optimistically countered that human welfare would flourish thanks to flexible markets, technological change, and our collective ingenuity. Sabin's lecture will weave the two men’s lives and ideas together with the era’s partisan political battles to show how the clash between environmental fears and free market confidence helped create today’s gaping and rancorous political divide.
Lecture: 4:30 - 6:00 PM, Reception: 6:00 - 6:30 PM in the Peter/Wright/McKenna Rooms in CMU's University Center. Free and open to the public. More information on CMU's Environmental History lecture series here.
Nov 16: Sustainability Salon on Environmental Journalism
How do the media -- print, broadcast, and online -- affect public perception of environmental issues? The 22nd Putting Down Roots Sustainability Salon & Sing will focus on environmental journalism, with a terrific group of speakers:
• Don Hopey, lead environmental reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and president of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and David Templeton, coauthor of the groundbreaking Mapping Mortality series.
• Kathy Knauer, executive producer of The Allegheny Front, Pittsburgh's own environmental radio show on Essential Public Radio, along with reporter Reid Frazier, fresh back from a foray down to Louisiana to learn about the implications of a Shell facility planned for Beaver County
• Sharon Walsh, editor of the regional online news outlet, Public Source
• Bill O'Driscoll, who covers a host of environmental issues for the Pittsburgh City Paper
• Kirsi Jansa, an environmental journalist from Finland known locally and beyond for Gas Rush Stories, which we featured in our February Salon.
Timothy Puko, the writer responsible for much of the Tribune-Review's great environmental coverage, was hoping to join us as well but will be out of town.
The next Sustainability Salon, on December 14th, will be about several Community Mapping projects. January 11th we'll have the first of our wintertime film screenings, along with the usual potluck and sing, winter weather permitting!
• Don Hopey, lead environmental reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and president of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and David Templeton, coauthor of the groundbreaking Mapping Mortality series.
• Kathy Knauer, executive producer of The Allegheny Front, Pittsburgh's own environmental radio show on Essential Public Radio, along with reporter Reid Frazier, fresh back from a foray down to Louisiana to learn about the implications of a Shell facility planned for Beaver County
• Sharon Walsh, editor of the regional online news outlet, Public Source
• Bill O'Driscoll, who covers a host of environmental issues for the Pittsburgh City Paper
• Kirsi Jansa, an environmental journalist from Finland known locally and beyond for Gas Rush Stories, which we featured in our February Salon.
Timothy Puko, the writer responsible for much of the Tribune-Review's great environmental coverage, was hoping to join us as well but will be out of town.
The next Sustainability Salon, on December 14th, will be about several Community Mapping projects. January 11th we'll have the first of our wintertime film screenings, along with the usual potluck and sing, winter weather permitting!
Bring food and/or drink to share if you can, along with musical instruments if you play. Check back on MarensList (where you can find information on all sorts of environmental and social justice events), for updates. If you'd like to start making your own kombucha, please bring a pint jar along. And if you aren't yet on my list, if you're interested in Sustainability Salons (and our occasional house concert, simply contact me and I'll put you on my email list.
Note that I'll be sending out directions and such, and any late-breaking info, to all the RSVP'd folks by the morning of the salon if not before. One of these days I'll streamline this process a bit (assistance would be welcome -- thanks to Beth for all her help so far with the transition to EventBrite), but for now it takes a while to to dot all my i's and cross all my t's.
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For the uninitiated, a Sustainability Salon is an educational forum, a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues, a house party with an environmental theme. We usually have featured speakers on a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.
Past topics have included grassroots action, community solar power, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, solar power, trees & park stewardship, alternative energy & climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings & discussions (led by the filmmakers) over the winter with both YERT and Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, and more food.
For the uninitiated, a Sustainability Salon is an educational forum, a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues, a house party with an environmental theme. We usually have featured speakers on a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.
Past topics have included grassroots action, community solar power, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, solar power, trees & park stewardship, alternative energy & climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings & discussions (led by the filmmakers) over the winter with both YERT and Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, and more food.
Quite a few people have asked me what sorts of food to bring -- and my answer, as always, is whatever inspires you; I believe in the "luck" part of potlucks. Tasty noshings for the afternoon, hearty main dishes or scrumptious salads and sides for dinner, baked goods from biscuits and breads to brownies or baklava -- and/or beverages of any kind: wine, beer, hard or sweet cider (the latter we can mull if you like), juice, tea, whatever (I've got the kombucha covered, though it's always fun to compare). The more the merrier! Local fare is always particularly welcome, whether homegrown or boughten. Dishes containing meat are fine, though if it isn't really obvious please make a note of it.
And if you like to make music or listen to homemade music, don't forget the evening sing -- we typically run the gamut from Irish fiddle tunes to protest songs to the Beatles, and a fun time is had by all. Bring instruments if you play, and/or pick up one of ours. Conversations will continue through the evening, as well.
And if you like to make music or listen to homemade music, don't forget the evening sing -- we typically run the gamut from Irish fiddle tunes to protest songs to the Beatles, and a fun time is had by all. Bring instruments if you play, and/or pick up one of ours. Conversations will continue through the evening, as well.
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