July 30: Solarize Ross Township launch

Join Ross Township officials to find out how solar can benefit your home or business through an exciting new program called - Solarize Allegheny. The Solarize Ross Township team will provide in-depth information about how you can go solar through the Solarize Allegheny campaign. Pizza and refreshments will be served.

Solarize Solarize Ross Township is a local campaign under the Solarize Allegheny umbrella - a project funded by the Heinz Endowments and managed by non-profit organization SmartPower - to double the amount of solar energy throughout Allegheny County over two years. Ross Township is one of three communnities that will host the campaign over the next 16 weeks. Through Solarize Ross Township, residents and businesses will have the opporutnity to learn more about the benefits of solar energy through a robust on-the-ground outreach campaign. In addition, Solarize Allegheny connects residents and business owners directly to local, pre-screened, qualified solar installers who will offer competitive bids, guidance and help them get solar on their homes and businesses. With the dramatic drop in solar prices, the 30% federal tax credit and no-money-down financing, solar is now affordable as your monthly electric bill. Installers and existing solar owners will be available to answer your questions.

Come and find out why Solar Makes Sense for Ross Township and for your home or business!

7-8:30 at the Ross Twp Municipal Center. Free and open to the public, but please register online (so we know how much pizza to get!)

Visit our website at www.SolarizeAllegheny.org for more information about the project.

Have questions about Solarize Ross Township Launch?

Jul 30: Beat the Heat Rally

Pittsburgh Beat the Heat Rally, with ice cream! The EPA is expected to finalize limits on power plant pollution later this month--and the coal companies are not going to be happy. Help show Senators Casey and Toomey that we support the Clean Power Plan -- come for a rally in downtown Pittsburgh to support climate action. Free ice cream included!

12:30 to 1 p.m. in the courtyard of the County Courthouse Building (436 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219). To ensure that enough ice cream is on hand, please RSVP online.

Jul 30: Shift Change film on cooperatives

What if all kinds of workers owned their workplace, and each worker had an equal vote in decisions about running the business?

SHIFTCHANGE tells the story of worker-owned cooperatives in cities across the country. Join us for a film screening and discussion! Meet others interested in starting and supporting cooperative businesses! Cooperatives – many are worker-owned businesses like the ones in the film – are being established here! Check out Pittsburgh’s own list of co-ops at www.CooperatePGH.org

6 p.m. at the Carnegie Library's Homewood branch, 7101 Hamilton Ave. A discussion will follow about methods being used in Homewood that could be utilized in other areas of the City of Pittsburgh.

Jul 30: Oakland bike infrastructure projects public meeting

Come hear an update from Kristin Saunders, the City of Pittsburgh’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator on upcoming bike infrastructure improvements coming to Oakland. The city plans to install a bike lane on Bayard and Bigelow Streets in North Oakland and needs our input.

6:30pm at the Oakland Career Center, located at 294 Semple Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

July 25th: 42nd Sustainability Salon & Sing

The 42nd Putting Down Roots Sustainability Salon & Sing will take place on Saturday, July 25th. Rather than our usual series of talks and discussion on a particular topic (you can find links to past events and speakers below), this time we'll let the conversation roll on its own, enjoying time together inside and out during this beautiful season! If it's not pouring rain (like most of the summer so far), we may fire up a grill (or two, to separate vegan options) for the potluck, as well as the usual anything-goes (more on that below). Among the topics that will probably come up for discussion is the COP21 Climate Summit in Paris this December (and related events), and political races this year and next -- O yes, we're hosting a fundraiser for Senate candidate Joe Sestak on August 1st!

Please mark your calendar for the 43rd Sustainability Salon on August 22nd, when we'll see what the Group Against Smog & Pollution has been up to, and learn about the connection between air quality and autism. Please be sure to RSVP if you might come to any of our events... and read on for important information:

Salons run 3-10 p.m. at Maren's house in Squirrel Hill. Please don't arrive before 3 p.m. We usually aim to start the program sometime around 4, after folks have had a chance to meet, mingle, and tour around an interesting and productive urban permaculture site. This time, we'll just let the conversations flow.
Please email me (at maren dot cooke at gmail dot com) with salon in the Subject line to RSVP (yes or maybe), or click on the link in your EventBrite invitation (if you're not already on my list, please email me to be added!). Please RSVP each time -- it helps greatly in several ways. Among other things, attendance varies widely, and these events have been so successful that we need to begin limiting attendance. So RSVP early if you can, to ensure your participation! The free virtual "tickets" on Eventbrite may run out (you don't need to print any tickets, by the way, just be on the list). Also, weather and such can be unpredictable and it's good to know who to contact if there's a change -- and I'll send directions and/or a trail map if you need 'em on Friday or Saturday. Be sure to include salon in the Subject line, as I receive a ridiculous amount of email every day. And if you're new, please let me know how you heard about the Salons!

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. 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.

As always, 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. So if you don't have it yet, please be patient! One of these days I'll streamline this process a bit, but for now it takes a while to to dot all my i's and cross all my t's. (All the extraneous requests for the address don't help; I have lots of other stuff I send out with it, but don't like to let them go unanswered so it adds hours to my prep time. If you RSVP properly (see above), you should get the info by the morning of the salon!)

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 various aspects of a topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.

Past topics have included reuse (of things and substances), neighborhood-scale food systems, other forms of green community revitalization, solar power, climate change, environmental art, environmental education (Part I & Part II), community mapping projects, environmental journalism, grassroots action, community solar power, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, more solar power, trees and park stewardship, alternative energy and climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings and discussions (led by filmmakers) over the winter with Rachel Carson and the Power Of One Voice, Sustainability Pioneers, films on consumption, Living Downstream, Bidder 70, YERT, Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, food, food, food, food, and more food (a recurrent theme; with California running out of water, we'd better gear up to produce a lot more of our own!).

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 or dairy are fine, though if it isn't really obvious please make a note of it.

If you haven't been here before, you may enjoy checking out our roof garden and solar installation (and now apiary!) as well as the many other interesting things around our place.

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.

Jul 25: Living & Eating Green Expo

Many vendors representing the various facets of living a healthy lifestyle such as nutrition, eco-living, and sustainability will be there to give you information to increase your knowledge and will also have products available.

The Living and Eating Green Expo will also feature workshops and free mini-lectures to help spark some seeds to enhance your health and the health of the planet.

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Soergel Orchards (2573 Brandt School Rd, Wexford, Pennsylvania 15090)

Jul 22: Urban livestock workshop

Bees, Goats and Chickens: You can raise them too!

New zoning will allow us to have chickens, goats and bees at home! All the resources you needed to get started in raising chickens, bees and goats will be in one room, as well as information on permitting and fees. Find out how this change was able to happen, and how you can be a part of improving food security and independence in the City.

Presenters include Burgh Bees, Pittsburgh Pro-Poultry People, Steel City Grazers, City of Pittsburgh Planning, and the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council.

6 - 8 p.m. at the Kingsley Center in Larimer. Free and open to the public -- all are welcome, and dinner will be provided!

Aug 1: Sestak fundraiser draft

Thanks to Fred Kraybill for this one.

This spring, I had the pleasure of joining Admiral Joe Sestak for a couple of miles of his epic walk across Pennsylvania. Our conversations on the road and elsewhere, and seeing him speak and take questions from fellow Pittsburghers, have left me with an impression of commitment, passion, ethics, statesmanship, and progressive values.
In 2010 I made phone calls, and canvassed for Joe on doorsteps in parts of Pittsburgh I didn't know existed. In the end, he narrowly lost to Republican Pat Toomey, and we've all seen where that has led us (see below for informative links). This time, we're upping our game: in order to give more local folks a chance to meet and talk with Joe, and to help line his coffers for the long road still ahead, Neil and I are hosting a fundraiser!

Please join us to meet and support Joe Sestak in his campaign to be the next U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. A former Navy Admiral and U.S. Congressman, Joe kicked off his Senate campaign by walking 422 miles across the Commonwealth, from Philadelphia to the Ohio border. At each stop, he spoke at length with local residents about issues affecting Pennsylvanians, and heard their concerns. Come and sit with us to hear what Joe has learned, not just from the walk, but also from his vast experience as he lays out what he will stand for in the U.S. Senate so that we may hold him accountable -- as put forward in his book, Walking in Your Shoes to Restore the American Dream.

4:30 at Neil & Maren's house in Frick Park. All the details and online RSVP are on the official invitation. Minimum donation is $100; attendees can either contribute online or bring a check to the event. After you RSVP, you'll receive an email with directions and other information.

If you need any further convincing about Joe's merits, here are a bio, a comparison of Sestak's and Toomey's careers, a quick comparison of their records on a few key issues, and more detailed contrast sheets on a whole host of topics.

Host Committee

Maren Cooke & Neil Donahue, PhDs

Hazel & Joseph Alan Cope

Zelda Curtiss, Esq.

Patricia DeMarco, PhD

David Eibling, MD

Dorcas Evans-Miller

Ron Gaydos & Eva Hui

Walter Goldburg, PhD

Barb & Dave Grover

Joe & Wanda Guthrie

Jonathan Harris

Chris Horwitz & Pamela Murray

Fred Kraybill

Marc & Christine Mondor, AIAs

Ken Regal & Judith Ruszkowski

Abby Resnick, MA & Roger Day, ScD

Briget Shields

Sam Taylor, PhD & Michael Douglas Henderson

Tom & Judy Thompson

Bruce Wilder, MD

Jul 20: Permaculture film screening: Inhabit

The Open Door and Garfield Community Farmwill host a free showing of this inspirational and highly educational film Inhabit on the ecological restoration, community, gardening and all things permaculture. Come join us! Whether you're just curious and want an introduction to permaculture or you're a seasoned veteran, this film is for you. http://inhabitfilm.com/

7 p.m. at the Union Project (Negley & Stanton)

Jul 6: Sustainable Monroeville is buzzing

Sustainable Monroeville will meet with two amazing local beekeepers, and continue working on Sustainable Community Certification Education and Documentation for the Community of Monroeville, PA.

7-8:30 p.m. at the Monroeville Public Library. Go to www.sustainablemonroeville.com for details.