Oct 21: Sustainability Salon on Community Inclusion

Including and Engaging Underserved Communities   

[the 70th Sustainability Salon will take place on November 18th!]

This October, on the heels of the Climate Reality training in which many of us participated (1400 total, from thirty-odd countries;  what an amazing three days!), the 69th Sustainability Salon will take a look at how well -- or poorly -- Pittsburgh's less-well-off neighborhoods are faring in the closely-linked realms of environmental and social justice.  How much of the environmental health burden of polluting industries and aging infrastructure falls on low-income communities?  How widespread is an understanding of how climate, pollution, and public health relate?  How fairly are the costs and benefits of environmental improvements like energy efficiency, public transit, and air and water quality standards distributed?  How can the voices of minorities and low-income folks be included in the policy conversation?
There may be some exciting, late-breaking additions to the speaker roster (I'll post them here when confirmed -- see below for the latest!), but the lineup will include these amazing activists:

On the climate front, we'll have Nicki Aviel of the Sierra Club's Ready For 100 campaign.  Ready for 100 has been reaching out into traditionally underrepresented communities to get input on the city's new Climate Action Plan and help make sure that the plan is as effective and equitable as it can be as we make the necessary transition to 100% renewable energy. 

We'll return to last month's theme of air quality monitoring, in the context of stressed communities, with Harold Rickenbacker,  GASP board member and PhD candidate in Pitt's Civil & Environmental Engineering program.  Harold has been working to characterize indoor and outdoor air in Homewood, Larimer, and East Liberty.  
And we'll hear from Laura Wiens, director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit.  PPT is a grassroots organization of riders, drivers, and advocates working to defend and expand public transit because transportation is a human right: everyone should have access to safe, affordable, and environmentally-sustainable transit operated by union drivers paid living wages.  Laura will be talking about communities that have mobilized to restore bus service in transit deserts, the campaign for affordable housing near good transit, and the fight for equity with the BRT and Proof of Payment proposals.
Also, I am pleased to announce an additional speaker:  Pitt toxicologist, public health researcher, and  GASP board member James Fabisiak will join us to share his insights on environmental justice in Pittsburgh's communities and around shale gas facilities.

Salons run 3-10 p.m. at Maren's house in Squirrel Hill.  Please don't arrive before 3 p.m.  We 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.   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 air quality monitoring, informal gatherings that turn out to have lots of speakers, 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.