Aug 12: 67th Sustainability Salon

Update:  Our annual No-Topic salon will have some focus after all -- in addition to several STEM candidates following up on last month's science-in-politics topic (see below), we'll be talking about Al Gore's new climate documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.  In case you haven't seen it yet, note that there's a free screening on Friday the 11th, sponsored by the Heinz Endowments and the Climate Reality Project (have you heard that the Climate Reality Training is coming to Pittsburgh this October?  Applications are due by September 12th).  I'll also be talking a bit about a new project, Groups of Ten gathering to discuss pollution in our region.  Also note the continuing GASP exhibit at Assemble and the Town Hall Forum on the 17th (more below).

...In a departure from our usual format of talks and discussion focused on a single topic, this month we'll have more informal, free-flowing conversation.  Overall event timing remains the same (but I won't rearrange the furniture as much as usual.  And if the Right Folks turn up (you know who you are), we'll have a bit more time for music after the potluck supper.   

Also, by way of followup to last month's salon on Getting STEM into Congress, we'll have a few political candidates from the STEM world with us -- a great opportunity to get to know each of them.  Two Dem candidates for the 12th Congressional District (now Rothfus) will be with us -- biologist John Stolz (web and facebook), who was featured last month, and neuroscientist Tom Prigg (web and facebook) will both be joining us.  And nurse Michelle Boyle (web and facebook), running for State Senate in the 38th District.  

The September salon will be on Air Quality -- a regular fall feature (check back on MarensList for the date, likely the 9th or the 30th).  And in the meantime, you can get a dose of AQ and the arts at GASP's air quality exhibit Sources, Symptoms, and Solutions all month at the Assemble gallery in Garfield (after a great opening night during Unblurred and a fun Air Fair, the exhibit will also be open on August 14th and 21st!).  Also, if you would like to speak out in a public forum on air quality, climate, energy, or other related environmental issues, check out the Town Hall Forum coming up on the 17th. 

 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 not long after 4, after folks have had a chance to meet, mingle, and tour around an interesting and productive urban permaculture site -- but this time there is no program, so come hang out!.   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!).  

July's salon with Bill Peduto

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 (see below), 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, it's a mini-conference, it's a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues, it's a house party with an environmental theme.  We usually have featured speakers on various aspects of a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.

Past topics have included getting STEM into Congress, keeping Pittsburgh's water public, Shell's planned petrochemical plant, visualizing air quality, the City of Pittsburgh's sustainability initiatives, fossil energy infrastructure, getting money out of politics, community solar power and the Solarize Allegheny program, the Paris climate negotiations (before, during, and after), air quality (again, with news on the autism connection), 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, 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 (often led by filmmakers) over the winter with films on Food Systems, Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, Plastic Paradise, Rachel Carson and the Power Of One Voice, Triple Divide on fracking, You've Been Trumped and A Dangerous Game, A Fierce Green Fire, Sustainability Pioneers, films on consumption, Living Downstream, Bidder 70, YERT, Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, food, food, food, 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:  wine, hard or sweet cider (the latter we can mull if you like), juice, tea, whatever.  The more the merrier!  Local fare is always particularly welcome, whether homemade or boughten.  Dishes containing meat or dairy are fine, though if it isn't really obvious please make a note of it.  We refill a bunch of growlers at East End and provide a big batch of mostly-homegrown pesto (cheesy and vegan), and other things as needed.  More details will come after you RSVP (hint, hint!). 

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 green and 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.