June 30: Sustainability Salon Takes a Closer Look

The first salon, on home solar

Sustainability Salons have taken place every month for over twelve years now.  And each time, Maren has convened a group of experts around a particular topic or theme -- and facilitated a lot of lively discussion (and sometimes catalyzed action of various kinds).  Speakers have included grassroots organizers and executive directors, educators and students, university researchers and citizen scientists, farmers and foragers, physicians and photographers, ecologists and entrepreneurs, architects and authors, filmmakers and historians and politicians and artists and journalists.  During these events attendees, gathering in person and/or online, often have questions about the house and gardens, and our local ecosystem, or their own gardens and other projects -- but Maren is usually pretty busy hosting the event, so those conversations get short shrift! 

 

Maren is currently in the process of becoming a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist (a training and volunteer program similar to the Master Gardener, Tree Tender, and Community Composter certifications she also holds), and based on some of the PaMN coursework has been inspired to share some of what she has learned, as well as take more time to answer your questions, in the context of our quarter-acre on the edge of Frick Park.  Mind you, the "Master" in these program names doesn't mean that one knows everything;  far from it!  But participants in these programs do know quite a lot more than the average bear (or man).  Nor is our landscape a perfect (or tidy) native-plant showcase;  we always seek to remove invasives and add natives and implement permaculture principles, but other priorities include food production, biodiversity, and always keeping things growing on the land to create habitat, protect soil structure and biology, and to create more soil (which increases resilience to droughts and floods, and sequesters carbon).  

Weather permitting (and it looks good, with rain winding down by midday), for the 149th Sustainability Salon we'll rove around our site together making discoveries and fielding questions, and will bring remote attendees (and those who remain on the porch due to limited mobility) along via Zoom.  Quite a departure from our usual format, this will also be very interactive -- lots of folks have their own experiences and expertise to share!  Since we won't see all there is to see year 'round in this one afternoon, we'll have a slide presentation with more flora and fauna, as well. In either case, you'll wind up with a few new tools with which to learn about your own space.

The next Sustainability Salon, celebrating 150 sessions, will be on July 14th.  

There are also a whole lot of other important events happening in our region;  please check out the list below for a few of 'em.

If the weather cooperates and we're in person, folks can arrive starting at 3 p.m.   But we'll have to see how the forecast develops for that day -- we'll either be in-person and mostly outdoors (hybrid -- also accessible via Zoom), or just on Zoom, depending on the weather!  Weather update:  looking good so far;  rain should end in the morning.  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 Eventbrite (still working on changing my 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:

•  ASAP!  There's a time-sensitive opportunity to further community solar as part of the final state budget this year!  We are looking for a resident of PA senate district 41 (Armstrong, Indiana, and part of Jefferson and Westmoreland Counties) to help write and submit a letter to the editor of the Indiana Gazette to pressure State Senator Joe Pittman, urging him to support the Senate version of HB1842.  Please give me a call or text (four one two - 418 - 49 four three) if you live in the district and would like to help with this!

•  June 27:  The Shell petrochemical facility in Beaver County has been chalking up violation after violation ever since it began operations in 2022.  Food & Water Watch and partners are hosting a meeting to discuss those violations and learn how to identify the power players via the practice of Power Mapping.  In-person (5-8 p.m.) and via Zoom (6-8 p.m.).  More information and registration here.  

•  June 27:  Join Penn State Extension for a webinar on edible and medicinal mushrooms in Pennsylvania.  6 p.m. via Zoom;  more information and registration here. 

•  June 28:  Conservation efforts benefit from Indigenous knowledge and participation in land and water management.  Looking across the country, Indigenizing Coastal Conservation will bring together Native and non-Native scholars, organizers, and conservation professionals for a free virtual roundtable about California coastal ecosystems (6 p.m. EDT; more information and registration here).  

•  June 29:  SolarPunk Future -- an afternoon of food, fun, and hopeful visions of our future (also featured in last August's salon).  Thought-provoking performances, interactive art, talks and panel discussions, exhibitors, and a sustainability-focused job fair!  1-5 p.m. at Velum Fermentation on the South Side;  lots more info here.  

•  July 2:  Allegheny County Council meeting that will include an amendment to the Climate Action Plan legislation -- come pack the room to support an inclusive and transparent public process, and a focus on environmental justice for the CAP.  (5 p.m. in the Gold Room (4th Floor of the County Courthouse, 436 Grant St.). 

•  July 10:  Allegheny Land Trust presents Nature Nearby:  Birding in Your Backyard.  6 p.m. at Carnegie Library (Squirrel Hill branch).

•  July 12:  Whirlwinds of Danger -- ever see the folks at protests sporting dayglo green caps?  They are volunteer observers for the National Lawyer's Guild, which also provides phone support in case things go awry.  Consider attending this fundraiser for the Pittsburgh chapter of NLG!  (7 p.m. at Spirit, in Lawrenceville)

•  July 14:  For the 150th Sustainability Salon, we're gonna have a party!  The pandemic did me out of the 100th-salon party, and the ten-year party, but 150 is also a pretty round number!  

•  Aug 10:  East Side Environmental Justice Resource Fair will grow community capacity and provide community members with resources to educate and equip those most impacted with solutions to environmental injustice, often due to race and/or socioeconomic status.  11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Homewood Brushton YMCA (7140 Bennett St.).  Food, fun, and childcare provided!

•  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.

•  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?  You can 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 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 either on Zoom or outdoor/hybrid since March 2020.

Past topics have included 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!).