Oct 16: Green Drinks with Luke Ravenstahl

You are invited the 3rd Friday of each month, 5-9pm, to an informal gathering of folks who have an interest in a greener, more sustainable planet.

This month the event will be hosted by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who will expound upon the theme of

From Green to Greener: How the Mayor plans to build on his accomplishments

• In early 2007, Mayor Ravenstahl signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to implement local global warming solutions that will save taxpayer dollars and reduce energy use.

• Following this commitment, the City of Pittsburgh adopted the first Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan in August 2008,which established a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2023.

• In 2008, the City of Pittsburgh hired its first Sustainability Coordinator, as did the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority. Mayor Ravenstahl also created a $100,000 Green Initiative Trust Fund to support the City’s greening efforts.

• Under the leadership of Mayor Ravenstahl, the City has taken strides to improve energy efficiency, including replacing all traffic signals with energy-saving LEDs, engaging in an energy-efficiency streetlighting pilot study, and hiring an engineering firm to complete an energy audit of the City-County Building.

• In September 2009, The Western PA Energy Consortium, managed by the City of Pittsburgh, won a “Green Power Leadership Award” from the US EPA for purchasing 10% of electricity from renewable sources. This percentage will increase to 15% next year.

• Pittsburgh is one of only 25 U.S. cities to be named a Solar America City through Department of Energy. As part of this program, the City will be installing the first solar hot water heater on Pittsburgh Firehouse No. 34 in Woods Run in October, and has plans to install another 5 solar hot water heaters in 2010, eliminating the need to use natural gas to create hot water for showers and kitchens in those buildings.

• To foster non-motorized transportation, Mayor Ravenstahl created the position of Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator, who works to improve general bike parking, access, and safety throughout the city. The Coordinator is also working with a Pittsburgh non-profit (Bike Pittsburgh) to create an employee bike program that can be rolled out to other employers.

• In November 2008, the City expanded single-stream recycling city-wide, meaning citizens can place all recyclables in the same blue bag for curbside pick up, resulting in a 31% increase by tonnage.

• In 2008, the City planted over 700 trees and received a special Growth Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for developing a partnership with Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest.

• Mayor Ravenstahl created the Green Up Pittsburgh program, which aims to stabilize city-owned vacant lots with the goals of reducing blight, inspiring community pride, and promoting environmental values. To date, Green Up has greened over 100 lots, with the help of thousands of volunteers.

Please join us for some green conversation with the Mayor and each other.

5-9 p.m. at the Fire Engine House No. 25/Clemente Museum, 3339 Penn Ave., 15201 (412) 681-1268. Senator Jim Ferlo will introduce the Mayor between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Free parking; free appetizers and beer compliments of Senator Ferlo.

For Port Authority Bus Routes, go here: http://www.portauthority.org

FOR MORE INFO: pittsburghgreendrinks@gmail.com

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What is Green Drinks?
Every month, people who work in the environmental field or have in interest in a greener planet meet up for drinks at places all around the world at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.

These events are simple and unstructured. Make friends, develop new ideas, do deals and forge a new organic future. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help its spreading to other cities. Green Drinks meets on the 3rd Friday of each month from 5:00 - 9:00 PM...or later!! Put it in your calendar and count on it: Green Drinks is happening every month.

Save the Date 2009: November 20, December 18

Oct 15: Global Links 20th Anniversary celebration

Join Global Links in commemorating 20 years of sharing surplus, saving lives. IMAGINE going to the hospital and being unable to receive treatment because basic materials-bandages, needles, suture, syringes, blood pressure units-are unavailable. In the United States this situation is unthinkable. However, in many developing countries this happens every day. People around the world are literally dying for lack of even the most basic medical supplies.

At the same time, every year U.S. hospitals throw away an estimated 2,000 tons of unused surgical supplies worth over $200 million. This still useful material often ends up being landfilled or incinerated—needlessly adding to the pollution problem and the cost of healthcare in the United States.

Global Links is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that recovers surplus medical materials from U.S. hospitals and makes it available to hospitals that serve the poorest members of society in less developed countries.

Because poorly planned donations can be worse than no aid at all, each donation is carefully tailored to meet the needs of the recipient institution. Dedicated volunteers help Global Links to maintain high quality standards and low costs. Global Links spends less than 3% on overhead costs.

Tickets: $75 per person* Click to reserve tickets via our online donation form. Please note the number of tickets you need in the comment field. Or call Sarah Ubinger at (412) 361-3424 ext. 214 by October 8, 2009.

Your support provides health and hope for the people we serve. Please consider taking that next step with an additional donation of $20 or more.

*$57.00 of your ticket cost is tax deductible.

Read our special anniversary newsletter. (202 KB)PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE LITERALLY DYING FOR WHAT

6-9 p.m. at Roberto Clemente Museum at Engine House 25: 3339 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15201. Business attire. Free on- and off-street parking available. For directions, click here.

Oct 14: Food Irradiation lecture at CMU

"Atomic Food: Mediating Food Irradiation in Cold War Europe: Promoting Peace Producing Perishables Producing Profits?" by Prof. Dr. Karin Zachmann of Technical University, Munich, Germany. Sponsored by the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, the International Relations and Politics Program, and the Center for History and Policy.

4:30PM, Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A on the Carnegie Mellon campus. Free and open to the public.

Just Harvest harvest celebration dinner featuring keynote speaker Raj Patel, author of Stuffed And Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Seed of Justice award will be presented to the East End Food Co-op, for their strong leadership in social justice circles. For more information, visit Just Harvest.

5:30 (reception & silent auction); 6:30 (dinner & program) at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Tickets $45, VIP $75.

Oct 11: Public Star Party

Share the wonders of the night sky! Please join the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh at their Mingo Creek Park Observatory site, in Washington County's Mingo Creek County Park, as they host public star parties. Dress warmly! Bring something to drink; there's no running water. Arrive before dark, and park your car at the bottom of the hill. Wander amongst the members' telescopes on the hill. Enjoy sharing views through the members' telescopes, as you make your way to the club's observatory atop the hill. Once there, look through the club's permanent 24" RC and 10" refractor. Also enjoy the displays and astronomy videos. The planetarium continues to be under renovation. The star party ends, depending on conditions, sometime after it started -- typically between 9 p.m. and midnight, or later. www.3ap.org

October 11 and 24 at the Mingo Creek Park Observatory, Washington County (conditions permitting).

Oct 10: Ecofest in Regent Square

Third Annual Wilkins School Community Center Ecofest with family activities, art show, flower planting, information and education, and free recycling/reuse of bicycles, computer monitors, cell phones, digital cameras, chargers, adapters, TVs, and microwaves (during event hours only!).

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wilkins School Community Center 7604 Charleston Ave. Regent Square, 15218. Free & open to the public.

Oct 9-10: Compost celebration at Phipps

Celebrate Composting in this season of Happy Early Rot! at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

We all know that Obama and all the various heads of state attended a gala there a couple of weeks ago. Well…here’s a more modest, but stimulating, affair for the rest of us! Over the past months, Phipps has extended its organic waste diversion efforts to include all its greenhouses, its cafeteria (front and back) and its catering. Come celebrate composting with Phipps Conservatory, the Pennsylvania Resources Council, friends and neighbors. Learn some things. Share your interest in this important frontier. Snack and mingle.

Friday, October 9

6 p.m. in Botany Hall: “Composting: the Big View”

A free lecture/slide-show by Nick Shorr of PRC.

Nick discusses how interest in ‘helping things rot’ — both directly, in our backyards, and indirectly, through diversion of compostable waste of the institutions where we work, eat, go to school, etc — may be a real pivot in our relations with Nature. He places this frontier in the history of human-Nature relationships, and of agricultural change; and asks us to consider how we can help maximize the regional benefits of this vast resource frontier. Before joining PRC, and leading their institutional composting program, Nick taught global agricultural history to undergraduates at Wake Forest, Indiana University, Dickinson College, Chatham and Carnegie Mellon. He has worked on farms in three states; managed farmers’ markets; worked on composting facilities and in community gardens in New York City; and did dissertation fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon.

6:45 p.m.: Light Food & Refreshments, courtesy of Phipps

7 p.m. in Botany Hall: Backyard Composting workshop.

A workshop by Lauren Seiple (PRC). $40 (or $50 per couple). Fee includes attendance and a composting bin.

Lauren has taught this workshop to hundreds of Pittsburgh-area residents over the past two years. Her topics include

Ø The benefits of composting

Ø How composting works

Ø What you should & shouldn’t compost

Ø How to set up and maintain an effective compost pile with minimal fuss and effort

To register, please call Lauren at 412-431-4449 ext. 325, or laurens@ccicenter.org

Saturday Oct 10, 10am-2pm

Ø Short video on organic waste diversion at institutions

Ø Table with literature on composting workshops and initiatives in the region

Ø Unveiling of the new, improved café patron recycling/composting station

Oct 9: Sustainability and computer science seminar

Customizing Commute Ecology: a community-empowered road for electric vehicles by Illah Nourbakhsh.

While the auto industry continues to make incremental progress toward competitive electric vehicles, we pose a strategic question: can we effect disruptive change in the economics of electric vehicles by improving the systems-level interaction of a vehicle with each unique commuter? This talk will motivate and describe ChargeCar, a new CREATE Lab project that combines direct community engagement with a hybrid supercapacitor-battery energy management system to increase EV efficiency while decreasing battery duty. We will describe a prototype hybrid system, a national urban commute warehousing program, a regional economic development strategy, and early analytical results based on energy models and actual commute data. Following the talk and discussion we will offer demonstrations and rides in an electric car at the Gates Highbay.

1:30PM, Rashid Auditorium (GHC 4401, near the Forbes entrance to the Hillman Center)

Oct 8: Talk at CMU on US environmental impact

The Global Environmental Impact of the United States in Peacetime and Wartime by Richard Tucker.

In the twentieth century a major driving force for global environmental deterioration was the vast reach of the American economy, in its worldwide search for natural resources. Throughout history empires (whether political/military or economic) have captured distant natural resources, domesticating distant ecosystems.The American empire has been no exception, but it has been the most momentous of them all (though China’s new global surge may soon surpass it). In the peacetime economy, American investors and their local collaborators have transformed ecosystems throughout Latin America and across the Pacific into Southeast Asia, to produce agricultural crops, timber products and minerals for export. American consumers have provided the largest market for these products. We are only beginning to recognize the global ecological consequences of corporate enterprise and consumer culture. We have paid even less attention to the international impact of the United States military’s demands for resources (timber, minerals, and petroleum) for use in wartime and for maintaining the world’s most far-flung military establishment in peacetime, especially during the Cold War.

4:30 pm in Porter Hall 100 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Oct 6: Hilary Masters book signing

Hilary Masters: Readings, Book Signing of his new books: How the Indians Bury their Dead, In Rooms of Memory

Revered Carnegie Mellon English professor Hilary Masters will be reading from and signing copies of his two new books at the Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore. In September, 2009, Masters released a book of short stories, How the Indians Buried Their Dead, and a book of essays, In Rooms of Memory. Hilary Masters, born in 1928, resides in the North Side of Pittsburgh and has taught English at Carnegie Mellon since 1983. After graduating from Brown University in 1952, Masters’ career included work as a press agent, a journalist, a freelance photographer, a political candidate, and finally a writer and professor. Since 1967 he has published nine novels, one biography, three books of short stories, three books of essays, and a work of nonfiction.

4:30PM at the Carnegie Mellon Book Store, in the University Center.

The event’s facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/mcnnql

Hilary Masters’ website: http://www.hilarymasters.com/

Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore’s website: http://www.cmu.edu/bookstore

About the books:

In Rooms of Memory: Essays

“In Rooms of Memory is one of the strongest personal essay collections in recent years—it is supremely companionable, ‘user friendly,’ and engrossing and amusing throughout. …burnished, distilled wisdom.”

--Phillip Lopate

How the Indians Buried Their Dead: Stories

“…he’s like the hummingbird of short story writers. I couldn’t put the book down.”

-- Ann Beattie, author of ‘Park City’

“Sophisticated, strong, devilish at times, teasing the reader with a complex situation, then dropping it. Henry James with libido”

-- Rick DeMarinis, author of ‘The Mortician’s Apprentice’

Oct 5: South Africa lecture at CMU

HUMANITIES CENTER LECTURES

Declarations of Dependence: Labor, Personhood, and Welfare in South Africa and Beyond by James Ferguson, Stanford University. South Africa has in recent decades gone through a wrenching transformation from a labor-scarce society to a labor-surplus one. Labor scarcity through most of the 19th and 20th centuries led to forms of social solidarity and social personhood that had significant continuities with the pre-colonial past (continuities that are obscured by conventional narratives that emphasize the rise of capitalism as a complete and comprehensive break with the past). In recent decades, however, economic restructuring has radically reduced demand for low-skilled, manual labor, and mass unemployment has become a durable structural feature of South African society. This new situation is more radically different from the past than is generally recognized, and calls for new ways of thinking about social membership, work, "dependency", and social assistance. It is suggested that the South African experience reveals, in an extreme and clarifying form, a set of processes that are occurring in many other parts of the world. Better understanding such processes may help us to find our way past some of the current impasses in progressive politics.

4:30 pm in Porter 100, Gregg Hall, free and open to the public.

Oct 4: Scavenger Hunt in Deer Lakes park

Join the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club for a scavenger hunt in Deer Lakes Park. Find flags in the woods using a topographic map & compass. It's a great way to learn about your natural surroundings, catch detail of terrain and streams, recognize mappable features, and at the same time, mix it with the exhilarating excitement of finding something as insignificant as a flag. Free instruction for beginners available on site.

Start anytime between 11 AM and 2 PM. More details on the WPOC web site.

Cost: $4/map (group or family doing the event together and using one map pays only $4).

Oct 1: Ghandi birthday commemorations at CMU

A series of three events on the eve of Ghandi's birthday:

Ghandi's Legacy Through Popular Media, presented by OM. Gandhi's ideals and values, and his legacy. Clips from the film Ghandi.

4:30 pm in Danforth Lounge in the University Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

Yoga & Meditation Presented by ART OF LIVING

Take a few deep breaths and relax. Come and get a deeper insight into how to eliminate stress, rid the system of negative emotions, heighten awareness, and increase mental focus. Join us for a short meditation and introductory talk on how to make this chaotic thing called life an art!

5:30 pm in Danforth Lounge

GANDHI- More than a Freedom Fighter

Som Sharma and NS Srinivasa

Join these two prevalent Pittsburgh figures as they go beyond Gandhi's role as a political figure into his personal life. They will look into his childhood experiences and how they molded his principles.

7 pm in Danforth Lounge

Sep 30: FRESH screening at EEFC

The documentary film FRESH will be shown at the East End Food Co-op in Point Breeze, accompanied by discussion -- and fresh-popped organic popcorn.

7 p.m. at EEFC, 7516 Meade Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208; free and open to the public.

Sep 30: Majora Carter talk at CMU

Talk by Environmental Justice Advocate Majora Carter: The Heinz College's Institute for Social Innovation and School of Computer Science's Project Olympus invite you to join us on September 30th for an evening with Majora Carter. Majora simultaneously addresses public health, poverty alleviation, and climate change as one of the nation's pioneers in successful green-collar job training and placement systems.

Born, raised, and continuing to live in the South Bronx, Majora founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 to achieve environmental justice through economically sustainable projects informed by community needs. Her work has garnered numerous awards and accolades including a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, one of Essence Magazine's 25 Most Influential African-Americans in 2007, and one of the NY Post's Most Influential NYC Women for the past two years.

Majora is a dynamic and engaging speaker, and we hope you will join us for this exciting event. Majora's full bio is available at
http://www.majoracartergroup.com/bio/360-word-bio.aspx.

6-7:30 p.m. in Newell Simon Hall, room 3305, Carnegie Mellon campus. Free and open to the public.

Sep 17-29 Events related to the G20 meeting

It'd be hard to come up with an exhaustive list of events surrounding the G20 meeting and the coal conference just before it, but here's a stab at it. Check out 3riversconvergence.org for updates, the ULS site for CMU events, find a list of permitted demonstrations at this City website, and look here for transportation information.

Tuesday, September 29 4:00pm – University of Pittsburgh

International Week Event Lecture: Today’s Interdependent World Order

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

Saturday, September 26 9:30am – The Waffle Shop, 124 South Highland Avenue

COINTELSHOW: A Patriot Act--an evening with Larry Bogad and Special Agent Christian White

Hosted by Michael Chemers, Associate Professor of Drama, Carnegie Mellon

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

Friday, September 25

Third Annual Rachel Carson Legacy Conference

When Chemicals Disrupt: Managing Our Risks

RachelCarsonHomestead.org

Thursday, September 24

Press Conference with testimony by monks from the Saffron Revolution in Burma, followed by a Peace Walk.

9 am on the roof of the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, at 330 Sampsonia Way on the North Side; walk begins at 10.

3 pm -- the venerable U Kovida will speak at People's Voices/Public Tribunal.

5:00pm – Rangos Ballroom, University Center

The Honourable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

Wednesday, September 23

http://www.cmu.edu/g20/community/

8:30am-4:30pm - Rangos Ballroom, UC

Renewing Globalization and Economic Growth

www.cmu.edu/universitypress (report)

http://www.cmu.edu/g20/ac-event.html (registration)

Organized by Kiron Skinner, Carnegie Mellon University/Atlantic Council

G-20 Event

4:30pm – Margaret Morrison 103 (Breed Hall)

Power, Protest, Performance: A Panel Discussion

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

SustEnable: Outdoor screening of Carolyn Savery's SustEnable, a web-TV series depicting one woman's attempt to live a totally sustainable life in the city. The series provides educational DIY segments explaining how to craft a sustainable lifestyle, analyzes what strategies worked and failed, encourages grassroots action to combat climate change, and provides insight into a deep definition of sustainability. (One of the episodes features Maren's own green renovation.) 8 p.m. on the main quad of the CMU campus.

Burma VJ film screening -- documentary about the Saffron Revolution at the Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way on the North Side. Panel discussion and reception to follow, with monks from the Saffron Revolution.

G20 Bingo with Bill Peduto and various celebrity bingo callers, in support of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and The One Campaign. 7-10 p.m. at Cappy's Cafe on Walnut Street in Shadyside, with a live DJ, specials, and of course - bingo!

Monday, September 21

11:30am – Singleton Room, Roberts Hall of Engineering

Media Covering the Summit, Featuring Howard Fineman
http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

ACP/USW Climate Roundtable at Steelworkers headquarters -- 4pm at 5 Gateway Center

Coal Country film screening -- documentary on mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. 7pm at the Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave. Music to follow at the Sierra Club offices. (http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com)

The Age of Stupid film screening (premier). 7:30 pm at the Pittsburgh West Showcase Cinemas, 301 Park Manor Drive.

Sunday, September 20

G-6 Billion www.g6billion.org
Procession on 9/20, 2pm, and more
A collection of spiritual, religious, and other groups & individuals have come together to organize a procession on Sunday, 9/20 that will start on the North Side at 2pm and end near the Convention Center. They are also organizing educational activities and prayer in the days leading up to the G20 Summit as well as an event on 9/21, the UN's International Day of Peace.
Press Contact: Wanda Guthrie, wanda.guthrie@gmail.com, 412-596-0066

Coal Country film screening -- an important documentary on mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. 2pm at 120 David Lawrence Hall (3942 Forbes Ave) at Pitt (http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

8:30 am on at the Twentieth Century Club

7:00-10:00pm, McConomy Auditorium, University Center

The Peoples' Summit presents: Art & Humanity: Another World is Possible

The Peoples’ Summit, a program of informed dialogue about the economic, social and political problems facing the world, will take place from Saturday, September 19 to Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at several locations in the city of Pittsburgh. For more information, please visit www.peoplessummit.com

Friday, September 18 4:00pm – Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland

Challenges for G-20: Is the City of Champions the Black and Gold Standard for Global Economic Recovery?

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/september/g-20-events.html

Thursday, September 17

4:30pm – Porter 100, Gregg Hall

Joel Berg, New York City Coalition Against Hunger

Why We Have Hunger in America and How We Can End It

5:00pm - Posner Center

Constitution Day Celebration with Scott Sandage, Carnegie Mellon

Abraham Lincoln and the Lazarus Effect: The Death and Rebirth of the U.S. Constitution

Sep 25: Rachel Carson Legacy Conference on Endocrine Disruptors

The third annual Rachel Carson Legacy Conference will address the potential risks and solutions to human and environmental exposure to endocrine disruptors, from bisphenol A in plastics to phthalates in shampoo.

Almost 50 years after Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring warned the public, government agencies and even industry about the dangers associated with widespread use of synthetic chemical toxicants, we are now faced with daily exposure to substances that the chemical industry and some regulatory agencies say are safe, while scientists and researchers link exposure to hermaphrodization (male fish carrying eggs), low sperm count, breast cancer and more. From flame-retardants in carpets, furniture and clothing, to phthalates in children's toys and shampoos to bisphenol A (BPA) in soft-drink, beer and food can linings, plastic water bottles, dental sealant and other consumer products, endocrine disruptors are now present in more than 90 % of the U.S. population. Their ability to fool the human endocrine - or hormone - system into over-producing or under-producing normal levels of hormones are of particular concern when it comes to fetuses in the womb and young children during critical development stages. You can read more about endocrine disruptors in the Rachel Carson Health & Environment Series brochure (PDF). For more information and to register, go to the RCH web site.

Sept 22: How Green Will Your Funeral Be?

“How Green Will Your Funeral Be? Green up your departure from the planet," a class at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve.

We all will die. Some of us have made wills to cover the disposition of our property. Some have gone further and made living wills and provided specific funeral plans. But few of us have given detailed instructions to our families on our wishes for reducing the environmental impact caused by the disposition of our bodies.

If you don’t make a choice, your body will likely end up being disposed of in one of two ways: 1) it will be cremated in an unregulated and unfiltered crematorium that spews CO2, mercury compounds, NOX, dioxins and other poisons and carcinogens into the air and uses enough fossil fuels to drive a car 4,800 miles, or 2) it will be pumped full of toxic formaldehyde (about 2 gallons), displayed in a non biodegradable steel, bronze, and wood casket lined with synthetic pads and fabrics, dropped into a hole in the ground, dug and filled by a gas-guzzling backhoe and lined with a concrete burial vault, and then the grass on your grave will be weed-whacked, fertilized and mown in perpetuity by more gas-guzzlers. And the formaldehyde from your grave will eventually leach out and find its way into our drinking water sources, where it will need to be filtered out.

But you do have choices. Options range from simply eschewing embalming (it’s not required by law) to new processes like alkaline hydrolysis or freeze-drying to being shot into space or to simply being buried, unembalmed, in a biodegradable casket in a ‘green cemetery’ where you can become plant or tree food.

During this seminar Pete McQuillin, board president of Green Burial Pittsburgh, will explain all the ways you might green up your departure from the planet, and he will give us a progress report on GBP’s plans to start a green cemetery here.

7:00 - 8:30pm at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve (614 Dorseyville Road in Fox Chapel). For more information, email jbonner@aswp.org .

Sept 20: Art Harvest at EEFC

4th annual Co-op Art Harvest at the East End Food Co-op, part of Local Food Month. Peruse and purchase handmade wares by local vendors, enjoy local food and live music, and be creative with kids' crafts and other art-making opportunities for folks of all ages.

12-5 p.m. at EEFC, 7516 Meade St., 15208. 412-242-3598.

Sep 18: Green Drinks

Green Drinks, the third Friday of every month. 5-9 p.m. at various locations around town.

Sep 9: Sierra Club on Sustainability, pre-G20

Sustainability -- Do We Have What It Takes to Make It Happen? The Allegheny Group Sierra Club's monthly public meeting will be a prelude to the G-20 Conference, an open forum led by Court Gould (executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh) and Bill O'Driscoll (environmental reporter and columnist for Pittsburgh's City Paper).

Sustainable Pittsburgh has been all over the news in the run-up to the G-20 Conference, as a “go-to” source for information on Pittsburgh’s plans for a sustainable future. Bill O’Driscoll has written for some 20 years on environmental matters, most recently about the facts, myths and challenges of sustainability. Join us for an open conversation with these two community leaders to clarify your own thinking in this vital area of environmental principles. There’s lots of hot air in this subject. Let’s see if there’s anything solid!

We’ll also have a fascinating update on August’s Gamesa wind turbine program.

7:30-9 p.m. at the Phipps Civic Garden Center (5th & Shady Avenues in Squirrel Hill); free & open to the public. Conversation and refreshments will follow the program. For more information, email Donald L. Gibbon or call 412-362-8451.