The 86th Sustainability Salon will complete our two-month pairing on "Nuclear Surprises." Surprising, because many environmentalists would not have considered ever supporting nuclear, but might just do so after our discussions! In February, we learned about advanced small-scale nuclear technologies addressing most of our concerns about conventional nuclear: they're incapable of melting down, and instead of burning fuel that has to be mined, transported, refined, and kept safe from diversion into weaponry along the way, some versions can burn existing nuclear waste.
This time, we'll be looking at the here and now, when many nuclear power plants are failing to compete in an era of cheap gas. However, if they're shut down then more gas plants will be built (which will be in operation for many decades, compounding climate damage). Some states are considering keeping them online for a while while we transition to renewables -- another kind of "bridge fuel". Might Pennsylvania do this? Come to the March salon and find out!Speakers will include Tom Schuster, a senior organizer for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, will introduce the issue: two of PA's five nuclear power plants have announced plans to retire, and there is an effort underway in Harrisburg to prevent that from happening, as some other states have done. Can we decarbonize our energy system without nuclear? What are the environmental trade-offs? And what climate policies are realistic to enact in the current political climate in Harrisburg?
Michael Roth has done detailed analysis of the economics of this proposal, in terms of dollar cost per ton of avoided CO2 compared to the social cost of carbon.
Local policymaker/scholar/author/activist Patricia DeMarco will talk about the known and emerging genetic concerns surrounding nuclear power, and the ethical problem of pursuing or expanding use of technology for which there is no waste solution.
Instead of our usual sequential talks and discussions on different aspects of an issue, this time we'll have a panel discussion to allow for some more comprehensive conversation around this topic. Kate Fissell, volunteer for 350 Pittsburgh and Ready For 100, will moderate our discussion.
Following the talks and discussion, and returning to our recurrent theme of plastics -- a major health and environmental issue as the petrochemical hub invades our region -- we’ve initiated a monthly dinner-table conversation for those interested in how to avoid pervasive single-use plastics (SUPs), and how advocacy may be able to limit regional impacts. Quite a few local initiatives (No Plastics Please, What's SUP, SUPless Mondays, etc.), and this is a great place to connect with them!
The April salon, yet to be scheduled, will focus on food. As always, you can browse around MarensList for more events: the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival will include a talk on the climate crisis; you can learn how to evaluate water quality in a water monitoring workshop or how to advocate for stronger protection in a water activism training and lobbying session. On the plastics front, another film screening -- Plastics Paradise (which many salongoers joined us for two years ago) will soon be shown again in Squirrel Hill. Look out for an event on April 3rd with Ed Fallon, the instigator of the Great March for Climate Action back in 2014. And while the Young Voices for the Planet film series (inspiring shorts about kid-activists) didn't make it into our winter film series this year due to logistical considerations, I want to make sure that folks -- especially educators -- know about the workshops happening here this spring. The next one is on April 28th at Phipps. Teachers can earn Act 48 credits, and informal educators will find this workshop valuable as well!
Salons run 3-10 p.m. at Maren's house in Squirrel Hill. Please don't arrive before 3 p.m. We generally start the program not long after 4pm, after folks have had a chance to meet, mingle, and tour around an interesting and productive urban permaculture site. After the talks and discussion (hopefully by around 7:30), we break for a potluck supper. 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!).
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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 a trail map 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 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, 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.
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