Feb 23: Sustainability Salon on Activism (& Life) in the Years Ahead (Part III, Mutual Aid)

 

We are in a new world.  Turbulent political times, global climate disruption, pandemics, and artificial intelligence are among the many ways in which the ground has shifted beneath us.  This month, for the 157th Sustainability Salon, we'll continue our series on 

Activism (and Life) in the Years Ahead           

(Likely just on Zoom, unless it's surprisingly warm for this time of year.)  

In this series, we're talking about how the political landscape is changing, and what that means for human rights, civil rights, the environment, jobs, retirement, health, healthcare, protesting, privacy, and just getting by.  We consider how best to continue moving forward:  greater community connections, more policy efforts at the local level, and with greater care for safety along the way.  We've discussed COVID caution and community care, the Climate Action Plans in the works in our own region (and opportunities for input), and learned about the structures that influence our strategies.  

This month:  Mutual Aid  ...As the new federal administration takes power (and tries to take even more), we are already seeing the increasing uncertainty faced by so many in our country.  Social safety nets, programs on which people have depended for decades, may be losing funding (along with scientific research and foreign aid projects and energy progress and parks, to name a few) while at the same time living costs are rising, in part because of mass deportations and short-sighted trade policies.  If we can't turn to the government, in many cases we can turn to each other.  Building community connections, learning from each other, sharing what we have, and asking when we need.  At this event, we'll share a number of ongoing mutual aid initiatives, and ways that you can plug into them.  

Mutual aid and street outreach group Community Care and Resistance in Pittsburgh also stands firmly on the side of the unhoused and recently-incarcerated.  We'll hear from CCRIP co-founders 1Hood Media's Muhammad Ali Nasir (who goes by his emcee name MAN-E) and County Council member Bethany Hallam.  Both also members of the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board, and MAN-E was recently appointed to the Homeless Advisory Board. 

As Brown University's Costs of War project has shown, war is expensive.  While the US administration lays waste to aid programs in this country and abroad,   Food Not Bombs is an international, all-volunteer  movement that feeds the hungry while advocating for peace and defending the unhoused.  The Pittsburgh chapter holds several food distribution events every week, and connects people in all sorts of ways.  The Everybody Deserves Care Clinic helps look after unhoused Pittsburghers' medical needs.  And with activities on many fronts, the Our Streets Collective shows up for folks here and elsewhere during crisis with material support, jail support, therapy, harm reduction, and connection to shelter and other resources.  Our friend Nicky will share the work of all three of these groups.  

To broaden the notion of mutual aid into new sectors, local nonprofit involveMINT is creating a community asset and connections map to link together disparate organizations, businesses and individuals to be able to give, share, or exchange resources without conventional money.  They're building new software, using frameworks based in social science.  involveMint founder Daniel Little will share their approach.  

As always, you can check back here on MarensList for any updates! 

Upcoming salons:  March will bring the first installment in our annual two-month focus on Food.  On April 13th we'll look at building with wood, from many perspectives including sustainability;  in May we'll have Food Part II.

There's always a whole lot of other important events happening in our region (or online);  please check out the list below for a few of 'em.

It'll be too cold on Sunday to have food outside (so that we could remain masked indoors), and so we'll gather via Zoom.  We aim to start around 4 p.m., and generally 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 Eventbrite, you'll receive the Zoom registration link right away. Along about Saturday night/Sunday morning, I'll send it out again, with directions and 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:

•  Feb 8:  Climate rally in Pittsburgh -- 11 to noon at Flagstaff Hill.

•  Through Feb 16:  Unreconciled, a one-man play about child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, an extraordinary and worthwhile performance.  At the Barebones Black Box Theater in Braddock;  more information and tickets here.

•  Feb 17:  President's Day march against fascism and tyranny with the 50501 initiative ("fifty states, fifty protests, one day").  Noon to 3 p.m., starting at the Federal Building, 1000 Liberty Ave. downtown.  

•  Feb 17:  Another protest against the new administration's attacks on education, research, medicaid, diversity, the environment, national parks, international aid, and pretty much everything else we value, in Squirrel Hill.   Join Indivisble, Mondays with McCormick, Progress Pennsylvania, Partners for Progress SWPA, and 1Hood Power.  Noon at Forbes & Murray.

•  Feb 18:  Preview clips and discussion of the upcoming PBS documentary Single-Use Planet.  3 p.m. online;  information and registration here.  (note the local screening of the film on the 20th)

•  Feb 20:  Join the Black Appalachian Coalition (BLAC) and the Environmental Protection Network for a transformative conversation to protect community resources, build collective power, and amplify our resilient stories.  3-4:30 p.m., register here.

•  Feb 20:  Premiere screening of the new documentary Single-Use Planet.  7-10 p.m. at the Harris Theater;  information and registration here.

•  Feb 22:  27th annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit creates opportunities to learn, connect, and act on behalf of racial justice.  9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the CCAC Allegheny campus.   Sliding scale;  more information and registration here.

•  Through Feb 23:  Quantum Theatre's The Return of Benjamin Lay, the story of a radical abolitionist.  At the Braddock Carnegie Library; more information and tickets here.

•  Feb 23:  Demonstration for Democracy -- and if you can, bring a letter to a senator -- they'll be collected and delivered to each of our Senators, Fetterman and McCormick.  12:30 p.m. at Forbes & Murray; more information here.

•  Feb 27:  Shale Gas and Public Health conference presented by PSRPS, PALWV, and the Duquesne University Department of Environmental and Energy Engineering.  Online and in-person at Duquesne University.  9-4:30, free;  register here (where you can also find videos from past years).

•  Feb 28:  Green Drinks with Wild Ones;  come learn about the why's and how's of native plants and natural land care.  6-8 p.m. at Velum Fermentation.  More information here. 

•  Mar 4:  "Why is My Electricity Bill So High?" Learn who controls energy prices in this webinar from PennFuture, Conservation Voters of PA, the Black Appalachian Coalition, Keystone Energy efficiency Alliance, Sierra Club PA, and 412Justice.  More information and registration here.

•  Mar 8:  Celebration of Seeds -- the 13th annual seed swap, workshops, and a raffle.  10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with Grow Pittsburgh and Phipps Conservatory at the Carnegie Library main branch (Oakland).  More information and registration (encouraged) here.

•  Mar 26:  Wild Ones symposium, Naturally Connected: Strengthening Communities by Reimagining our Role in Native Habitats.  5:30 at the Frick Environmental Center; $35; information on FB, tickets here. 

•  Mar 29:  Communitopia's Pittsburgh Youth Climate Action Summit. 10-4 at Museum Lab;  information and registration here.

•  Apr 13:  Sustainability Salon on building with wood, and related topics.    

•  Apr 28:  GASP and Allegheny Land Trust lead a springtime walk at Barking Slopes Conservation Area.  6-7:30 p.m.; $10.  Register here.

•  May 23-25:  The Heartwood Forest Council gathers forest-protection activists to share knowledge and provide support.  Keynote speaker will be Dr. Joan Maloof, author and founder of the Old-Growth Forest Network.  At Camp Crestfield in Slippery Rock.  More information here (registration page yet to come).

•  May 26:  Save the date for the third annual Back to Roots: Native Plant Fest.  Pique your curiosity about native plants and your local environment!  More information in this FB event.  11-3, free, Monroeville Community Park West.  

•  May 29:  The third annual Solarpunk Future -- a day of talks, workshops, tabling (organizations and vendors), art, fun, and hopeful visions for the future.  10-2 and 3-7 at the David Lawrence Convention Center.  More information here.

•  Again, I encourage folks to sign up for the Indivisible Grassroots Pittsburgh email list, which will bring you lots more listings, more frequently --email Debra.

•  Training and running AI models requires a lot of energy and water demand for power and cooling. Big tech companies are currently meeting data center resource demands with fossil fuel energy and huge water withdrawals—actions that clearly contradict their sustainability commitments.  Climate Action Now has a petition to pressure Meta to clean up their act.  

•  The US DOE is currently accepting comments on their recent report on the energy, economic, and environmental impacts of LNG exports.  The Better Path Coalition has made it easy for you to submit a comment -- go here to start!  

•  Energy Transfer is suing Greenpeace for $300M because they supported the Indigenous-led protests at Standing Rock (claiming that Greenpeace orchestrated the protests).  This is a classic SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), and itself worthy of protest.  Greenpeace has a petition you can sign.  

•  Liquid and solid waste from gas and oil extraction (much of which is radioactive) is currently being stored in a building (part of a former steel mill, which was never cleaned up properly in the first place) near the municipal drinking water source for thousands of people in Martins Ferry, Ohio.  The facility had a permit for 600 tons at a time, but held as much as 10,000 tons.  It is in the floodplain of the Ohio River, and waters rose up to the front doors this spring.  This petition, by Concerned Ohio River Residents, asks officials to halt waste processing there and keep it out of the Source Water Protection Area, clean up the site, and conduct environmental testing and monitoring.  This practice is insane;  we have to stop legitimizing dangerous extractive industries.  

•  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!  

•  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 two years 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.

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

•  The Rachel Carson EcoVillage is still looking for a few more members.  Curious?  You can sign up for an introduction session or sign up as an “inquirer” to have more information sent to you.

•  Have you seen the recent film Single-Use Planet (hopefully soon to appear on PBS), or  The Story of Plastic, or the PBS docs Plastic Wars and Fenceline?  (and/or join us for Plastic Paradise at a winter film salon seven 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 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.   Beginning in early 2012, salons were originally a potluck mini-conference;  the event has been either on Zoom or outdoor/hybrid since March 2020.  This event series was featured in the Pittsburgh Media Partnership's Pittsburgh Story project on Civic Catalysts -- here's a piece by The Allegheny Front. 

Past topics have included activism in the coming years, COVID caution and community care, nature education/volunteer programs, air quality, stories that inspire, forest protection, a celebration of the 150th salon, a closer look at our quarter-acre, reducing single-use plastics, water campaigns, climate campaigns, consumerism, air quality campaigns,  movement-building and sustained campaigns, abandoned oil and gas wells, hope (finding it, creating it, using it), addressing environmental causes of cancer, a development proposal for Frick Park, single-use plastic legislation, home energy efficiency (and legislation to help fund improvements), the UN's COP process for climate negotiations, alternatives to single-use packaging, our region's air (part I and part II), activist art and America's Energy Gamble, advocacy opportunities, social justice games, fixing Pennsylvania state government, climate action, forest restoration, the history of American consumerism, regional air quality, preserving Pittsburgh's forests, climate modeling, approaches to pipelines, pipeline hazards, the legacy of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the judiciary and fair elections, consumption, pandemics and air,  election law and activism, air quality and environmental justice, social investment,  local economies, the economics of energy, mutual aid networks, ocean health, the rise of the radical right, the back end of consumption, approaches to activism on fracking & climate, air quality, technology, and citizen science, single-use plastics, election activism, election law, whether to preserve existing nuclear power plants, advanced nuclear technologies, passenger and freight trains, consumption, plastics, and pollution, air quality, solar power, youth activism, greening business, greenwashing, the petrochemical buildout in our region, climate/nature/people, 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, food, food, 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!).