April 28: Sustainability Salon on Food (Part I)

Happy Earth Day/week/month!  The 147th Sustainability Salon will return to our annual two-month focus on Food.  If weather allows we'll be in person, outdoors (with hybrid Zoom access for faraway folks) -- but please check back here as the date approaches, as it may be too wet or chilly -- in which case we'll still be on Zoom.  UPDATE (Friday):  the weather's looking good!

Tree Pittsburgh's Giving Grove program is part of a national initiative, offering fruit and nut trees (and berries!) to public spaces throughout Allegheny County.  Kimberly Bracken, who manages our local Giving Grove program, earned her Permaculture Design Certificate through Phipps Conservatory.  She always strives to incorporate permaculture design into the new and existing orchards she works with.  She is passionate about finding ways of growing food that also increase biodiversity, support pollinators and birds, and create beautiful gathering spaces for communities.

Do you love homemade bread, but can't get it together for the whole sequence of mixing and rising and punchdown and kneading and rising again?  Linsdsey Disler, in the Food Studies program at Chatham, will share fascinating lore and practical tips on quick breads, with all sorts of connections to history, forests, and women's well-being.  UPDATE:  Lindsey'll be away this time!  How about a garden tour instead?  

Molly Draper, also in Chatham Food Studies, has been exploring the landscape of indigenous foodways and land care.  

Check back here for updates!  The next Sustainability Salon (on either May 19th or the 26th) will continue our regular spring series on Food

There are also a whole lot of other important events happening in our region;  check out the list below!

We'll see how the forecast develops for the salon day -- we'll either be in-person (and mostly outdoors, but also accessible via Zoom)), or just on Zoom, depending on the weather!  Zoom salons (and the Zoom side for hybrid events), start around 4 p.m., when presentations begin, and usually wind down sometime around 7 or 8 (informal discussion may continue after that) -- join us for whatever time works for you!.   If you're not already on my salon email list, please email me (maren dot cooke at gmail dot com) with "salon" in the Subject line to be added -- and let me know how you heard about salons!  If you RSVP via Humanitix (a new platform!!), you'll receive the Zoom registration link right away. Along about Saturday night/Sunday morning, I'll send it out again, with other information, to all who have RSVP'd.  If you're new to Zoom, you may find my Zoom Reference Guide helpful

Other events and whatnot:

•  April 18:  The Black Appalachian Coalition and the Ohio River Valley Institute are partnering with  Patricia DeMarco, PhD for a Petrochemical Lunch & Learn series, delving deep into the connection between environmental pollution and our health.  April's theme is Water. Register here.

•  Apr 20:  Learn about sustainable food recycling practices, and discover how you can participate in InvolveMint's innovative Community Exchange Network at an Earth Day Food Recycling Event at the Hazelwood Food Recycling Site

•  Apr 22:  Happy Earth Day!  The theme this year is Planet vs. Plastics.  And especially for plastics, recycling is not the answer -- reduce, reuse, and rethink should all come first -- but it's certainly something that we should be doing.  Join PRC for a statewide webinar on how to do it as effectively as possible.  6-7 p.m.;  register here.  

•  Apr 24:  Join Food & Water Watch for Planet vs. Plastic, a deep dive into the history of the plastics industry.  4 p.m. online;  register here.

•  Apr 24:  Better Path Presents will take up road-spreading of fracking waste (which is very salty and also radioactive and laced with other chemicals).  7pm;  register here (those who register will also get a link to the event recording).  And please consider signing this letter to Pennsylvania officials urging them to ban the practice!  (signature can be for an individuals or an organization)

•  Apr 25:  If you operate a local business, and would like to explore this month's salon topic further, check out this all-day event by Humane Action Pittsburgh:  Serving Up SustainabilityMore information and registration here.

•  Apr 26:  The Pittsburgh Labor Choir presents a May Day concert7 p.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion in Schenley Park.

•  Apr 27 & 28:  Penn Garvin, who framed our recent four-part series on Movement-Building, will be in Pittsburgh for a two-day workshop on Strategic Organizing and Nonviolent Direct Action.  More details here!

•  May 1:  A concert celebrating the life and legacy of renowned musician and activist Anne Feeney, featuring Emma's Revolution, the Pittsburgh Labor Choir, Liz Berlin (of Rusted Root), Bev Grant, Evan Greer, Chris Chandler, Colleen Kattau, and Mike Stout.  Panel discussion at Heinz History Center at noon, concert starting at 6 p.m. at Mr. Smalls Theater (with a livestream option!).  Join us in using music to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable".  RSVP here.

•  May 1:  Allegheny Land Trust and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh present "Nature Nearby: Gardening with Native Plants".  6 p.m. at CLP -- Woods Run (1201 Woods Run Ave., 15212).  

•  May 24-27:  Heartwood Forest Council is coming to southeastern Ohio.  You can hear organizer Matt Peters talk about the organization and the gathering on this interview/podcast-style video (he starts talking about Heartwood a little after 12 minutes in -- more local stuff before that).  More information and registration here.

•  ReImagine Food Systems, which we've talked about at past salons, is raising funds for this year's operations (food gardens and hands-on education offered at no cost to residents in environmental justice communities, by volunteers).  If you have something to spare, you can contribute via GoFundMe.  And we're always looking for more volunteers, too!  Email reimaginefoodsystems@gmail.com.

•  Concerned Health Professionals of NY recently released the 9th Edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas & Oil Infrastructure.  Check it out!  

•  PA is considering legislation to (a) greatly increase the renewables portion of our electricity generation, and (b) enable community solar!!  The Pennsylvania Solar Center has made it easy to speak out to support this action

•  We know that only a tiny fraction of plastic has ever been recycled.  And yet, NPR has been airing sponsorship messages for the American Recycling Council, which is continuing to perpetrate the "recycling" hoax.  Does that make your blood boil?  The national group Beyond Plastics has a petition/sign-on letter to get them to stop -- please sign, for yourself or for an organization you represent!

•  It's been more than a year now!  You can support striking Post-Gazette workers here (and consider signing up for the alternative online publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress -- and maybe even cancel your P-G subscription until they start treating workers fairly!).  This strike has garnered national attention;  one recent picket even made it into Teen Vogue.

•  And speaking of solidarity, the Cop City controversy is still raging in Atlanta.  More information and a support fund are here.  There's also talk of a similar facility in the works for Pittsburgh.

•  Another forest that needs protecting is Sherwood Forest, in Mason Co., WA -- at risk of clear-cutting by a company headquartered here in Pittsburgh.  You can learn more (and donate to the legal fund if you can) here

•  PRC continues to hold online workshops about composting, rainwater harvesting, and waste reduction.  They have several Hard-to-Recycle events each year; 2024's are listed here.  For household chemicals, here's the link.

•  The Rachel Carson EcoVillage is still looking for a few more members, so they can start construction!  Curious?  Check out this introductory video -- or even better, sign up for an introduction session or sign up as an “inquirer” to have more information sent to you.

•  Did you see the film The Story of Plastic, or the PBS doc Plastic Wars?  (and/or join us for Plastic Paradise at a winter film salon six years ago?)  ...What if you could bring up imagery of the toxic impacts of plastic production, and commentary by the people and communities living with them, over the world?  You can do all that with the interactive Toxic Tours tool.  Check it out!  

•  Mask update:  Breathe99 masks (featured in a 2020 salon on Pandemics and Air (video), and one of TIME's 100 Best Inventions of 2020) are now being distributed by Our Children Our Earth, a local purveyor of alternatives to disposables (as well as classy wooden toys).  Contact Dianne via OCOE's Facebook page, or call (412) 772-1638 to coordinate a curbside pickup (or you can still order online).
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 (and often health, and justice, and politics);  it's a house party (if there weren't a pandemic) with an environmental theme.  Each month we have featured speakers on various aspects of a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, and (when in person) delectable potluck food and drink and music-making through the evening.   Originally a potluck mini-conference, the event has been mostly on Zoom since March 2020, except for some outdoor summer (and now hybrid!) salons.  
Past topics have included reducing single-use plasticswater campaignsclimate campaignsconsumerism, air quality campaigns movement-building and sustained campaignsabandoned oil and gas wellshope (finding it, creating it, using it), addressing environmental causes of cancera development proposal for Frick Park, single-use plastic legislationhome energy efficiency (and legislation to help fund improvements)the UN's COP process for climate negotiationsalternatives to single-use packaging, our region's air (part I and part II), activist art and America's Energy Gambleadvocacy opportunitiessocial justice gamesfixing Pennsylvania state governmentclimate actionforest restorationthe history of American consumerismregional air qualitypreserving Pittsburgh's forests, climate modelingapproaches to pipelinespipeline hazardsthe legacy of the Fukushima nuclear disasterthe judiciary and fair electionsconsumptionpandemics and air,  election law and activismair quality and environmental justicesocial investment,  local economies, the economics of energymutual aid networksocean healththe rise of the radical rightthe back end of consumptionapproaches to activism on fracking & climateair quality, technology, and citizen sciencesingle-use plasticselection activismelection law, whether to preserve existing nuclear power plantsadvanced nuclear technologiespassenger and freight trainsconsumption, plastics, and pollutionair qualitysolar poweryouth activismgreening businessgreenwashing, the petrochemical buildout in our region, climate/nature/peoplefracking, health, & actionglobalizationecological ethicscommunity inclusionair quality monitoringinformal gatherings that turn out to have lots of speakersgetting STEM into Congresskeeping Pittsburgh's water publicShell's planned petrochemical plantvisualizing air quality, the City of Pittsburgh's sustainability initiativesfossil energy infrastructure, getting money out of politicscommunity solar power and the Solarize Allegheny program, the Paris climate negotiations (beforeduring, 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 revitalizationsolar powerclimate changeenvironmental art, environmental education (Part I & Part II), community mapping projectsenvironmental journalismgrassroots actionMarcellus shale development and community rightsgreen buildingair qualityhealth care, more solar powertrees and park stewardshipalternative energy and climate policyregional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings and discussions (often led by filmmakers) over the winter with films on Food SystemsClimate Adaptation and MitigationPlastic Paradise, Rachel Carson and the Power Of One VoiceTriple Divide on fracking, You've Been Trumped and A Dangerous GameA Fierce Green FireSustainability Pioneersfilms on consumptionLiving DownstreamBidder 70YERTGas Rush Stories, and foodfoodfoodfoodfoodfood, food, foodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodand more food (a recurrent theme;  with California running out of water, we'd better gear up to produce a lot more of our own!).

 







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