Putting Down Roots: Maren's List: 201802

"Mitigating Climate Change by Transitioning to a Renewable Resource-Based Economy"
Steven Cohen, Executive Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Climate change is the first widely recognized global crisis of environmental sustainability. Its solution requires the implementation of a transition from a fossil-fuel based energy economy to one built on renewable resources. This transition requires the development and diffusion of new technologies. The technological challenges of this transition will require significant political, organizational and financial resources and capacities. This talk will discuss the challenges of this transition and outline a path for meeting these challenges by the middle of the 21st century.

2 p.m. in William Pitt Union's Assembly Room (3959 Fifth Ave. 15213). Free and open to the public, but space is limited; please register online. Part of the Pitt Honors College lecture series on climate change; sponsored by the Honors College, the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Phipps Conservatory, and the National Aviary.

Do you love winter? Wonder why it's hitting 78°F in February? To complete our annual Wintertime Film Series, the 73rd Sustainability Salon will premiere a new climate film, Saving Snow, in collaboration with Citizens Climate Lobby and Adaptation Now. Saving Snow takes a look at the cascading impacts of climate change on snow, and what people who depend upon winter are trying to do about it. L. Ray Roberts and Hilary Schenker will bring us up to date on CCL's achievements with the Congressional Climate Caucus (and how you can get involved), and we'll talk about the new regional chapter of the Climate Reality Leadership Project.

For a window into the natural world, we'll hear from Christina Neumann of Apoidea Apiary about Project BudBurst, a citizen science initiative to quantify the ongoing modification of the seasons (and an upcoming training for participants). Mark Dixon will brief us on the climate implications of the impending Shell petrochemical facility in Beaver County. For another cinematic perspective on how climate change is altering human lives and livelihoods, David Randolph will bring his winning entry in the recent Carnegie Mellon/Point Park multimedia contest. And as always, resident climate scientist Neil Donahue will be here to weigh in. More is in the works; check back here for more details closer to the date!

Please be sure to RSVP, so that I can get a head-count, and also send you important information! (doesn't look like we'll have any icy-road alerts this time...).

The March and April salons will be on the topic of Food. I haven't pinned down the dates yet, as I'm still sorting out speakers, but will post them on MarensList as soon as I do.

Salons run 3-10 p.m. at Maren's house in Squirrel Hill. Please don't arrive before 3 p.m. We will 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 with salon in the subject line 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 (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 fracking, health, & action, globalization, ecological ethics, community inclusion, 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.

Putting Down Roots: Maren's List

Feb 27: Fracking in Fox Chapel area

Feb 26: Climate and renewables lecture

Feb 24: Sustainability Salon on Climate

Feb 13: Urban agriculture funding info