Oct 13: Sustainability Salon on Air Quality

 

Our region's industrial past earned Pittsburgh the monicker "Hell with the lid taken off".  Our air is not nearly as bad as it was a century ago, but it's not quite clean, either.  As autumn settles in, the 153rd Sustainability Salon will return to our annual fallfocus on Air Quality.  Weather permitting, we'll be in person (with a Zoom option).  It might be rainy, though, so please be sure to RSVP so you'll receive any logistical updates!  Update: Today’s forecast has been all over the place over the past few days (with different sources producing very different predictions!).  The chance of rain during salon time, however, is low enough that we’ll go ahead with an in-person event!  (still hybrid with Zoom)  The gathering looks to be fairly small, so if it does rain for some of the time we will duck inside.  However, we want to continue our practice of community care in the form of COVID caution;  sadly, the pandemic is still with us — and some participants are particularly vulnerable.  So we will have windows open, air cleaners running, and request that everyone wear a mask while we’re inside (all the predictions have a fairly narrow peak in the % chance of precipitation, before we’re likely to have supper — hopefully we’ll be back outside for that).  Please bring an N95 (or better) mask if you can;  if not, we will provide one.  

In his work with PennEnvironment, clean air advocate Zachary Barber helped bring a Clean Air Act citizens' suit against U.S. Steel for illegal pollution by Clairton Cokeworks following the catastrophic Christmas Eve fire in 2018.  That lawsuit wrapped up in January of this year and resulted in the largest penalty of its kind in PA's history, required tens of millions of dollars of pollution control upgrades, and established millions of dollars in clean air community funding.  He will reflect on lessons learned from the legal process, some blockbuster discoveries about what led to the fire and how local health authorities dealt with the aftermath, and what this outcome means for residents of the Mon Valley.

ROCIS (Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces) is launching their next air quality monitoring cohort – Cohort 61! - soon.  Team leader Linda Wigington will share a bit about this citizen science program, always educational for the participants as well as contributing to a greater understanding of air pollution in our region and how we can improve our own indoor air quality.  (This virtual cohort can include a limited number of participants outside of Southwestern Pennsylvania!) One organization that has had a lot to do with the improvement in Pittsburgh's air is the Group Against Smog & Pollution, or GASP.  Executive director Patrick Campbell will  share the recent and ongoing doings of this 55-year-old organization.  GASP serves many roles, including educating policymakers and the public, engaging communities in defending their right to breathe clean air, connecting youth and elders in creative projects, policy advocacy, legal action, permit reviews, a big new regional air monitoring project.  

Mark Dixon is a local photographer, filmmaker, and activist, mainly around climate and air quality.  He is currently putting the finishing touches on his third film, Inversion: The Unfinished Business of Pittsburgh's Air. Mark has been keeping a weather eye on air quality issues all around the region, and will share many key insights and help frame our conversation.  

Our program is still in development; check back for any updates!

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

Weather permitting, folks can arrive starting at 3 p.m.  Directions and other info will be forthcoming, in a separate email to all who RSVP.  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, over a yummy potluck supper) -- 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:

•  Most days this month:  Want to get outside to enjoy this lovely fall weather?  I'm dismantling part of the roof garden to prepare for some roof repairs, so there's lots of gardening activity -- it's always more fun with company, and educational to boot!  Contact me (text is best, or FB message, or email me as noted above) if you'd like to join in, get your hands in the plants, and go home with garden lore and produce!  

•  Oct 9:  State of Climate Advocacy webinar by the national Sierra Club.  7 p.m., online; more info and registration here. 

•  Oct 10:  LGBTQ+ Town Hall with PA State Representatives, hosted by Pittsburgh Equality Center and Steel City Stonewall Democrats.  6 p.m. at 2681 Sidney St., 15203. More information on this FB event page.

•  Oct 12:  Orchard Open House!  Remember Kretschmann Farm?  It was the region's biggest CSA farm -- and since their retirement, daughter Maria has continued orcharding, with After the Fall Cider.  She's holding an Open House with cider tastings, orchard strolls, and good company!  Free, noon to 4 p.m. at 257 Zeigler Road, 15074.

•  Oct 17: Join the Black Appalachian Coalition, the Ohio River Valley Institute, and Main ST for a Lunch & Learn session on maternal health.  Noon, on Zoom -- register here.

•  Oct 18:  Reimagined Recycling fundraiser and Trashed gallery opening.  6-9 p.m. at Atithi Studios and Ketchup City Creative.  Tickets here.

•  Oct 21 or 22:  Introductory webinar for ROCIS (Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces).  7 p.m. on Monday or noon on Tuesday.  Sign up here.

•  Oct 25:  Paint & Sip fundraiser for ReImagine TCWAC.  6-9 p.m. in North Versailles. More information and registration here. 

•  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.  

•  ReImagine Food Systems, which we've talked about at past salons (and is part of ReImagine TCWAC), is raising funds for the coming 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 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; 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 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 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!).