Most Decembers, we talk about the general topic of consumerism -- with the goal of sending people forth into the holiday season to buy less stuff (and for what we do buy to be more local, handmade, useful, ethical, and sustainable; less plastic and corporate). Over the years we’ve done screenings of various documentaries about plastics and such, and had speakers from academia to activism — and quite a few local entrepreneurs who have businesses based on zero waste, no packaging, and alternatives to plastics and single-use products. For the 167th Sustainability Salon, we'll talk about making our buying choices more sustainable.
What is the most ethical way to shop for the things you want? Balancing value, sustainability, and style can feel like a no-win situation. Kristen P Ahern of Conscious Costume is a self-described nerd for art, theatre, history, and storytelling of all kinds -- with a mission to teach people about history, cultures, and each other through her work while building a stronger foundation for environmentally and ethically conscious art. (You may have met Kristen at SolarPunk Future or PASUP's Plastic-Free Picnic, where she organized a well-received clothing swap)! Kristen will speak about supporting local, circular, and sharing economies. She'll focus on the importance of ethical supply chains, and understanding our own role in our very complex supply and disposal chain.
We'll also hear about some local entrepreneurs and community markets -- check back on MarensList for more on those!
This salon will be on Zoom (possibly also in person if the weather is unseasonably mild). The program (and Zoom access) will start around 3 p.m. -- if it's hybrid, in-person folks will be able to enjoy snacks and drinks, as well as a potluck supper after the talks; it'll surely be too chilly to sit for hours in the shade out back, but food and drink would be outside (I still try to make salons a safe environment for medically-vulnerable people). As always, 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 other information, to all who have RSVP'd. If you're new to Zoom, you may find my Zoom Reference Guide helpful.
Note that starting in October, I shifted salons an hour EARLIER, at least for this fall and winter, and maybe beyond --the program will start around 3 p.m. Eastern. Why? During our sabbatical in Ireland this last year, I connected with many new friends and enviro-colleagues, some of whom have or will speak at salons, and others who are interested in attending. And there's generally a five-hour time difference (sometimes 4 or 6 hours because our savings-time shifts are on different dates). Also, logistics have evolved with in-person salons since 2021, so earlier should also work better here at our Pittsburgh site.
Other events and whatnot (times are U.S. Eastern):
• Dec 4-6: Join Food & Water Watch for a three-day organizing skills training. You'll be equipped with the knowledge and skills to win campaigns against fracking, data centers, and more. Free; breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided. More info and registration here.
• Feb 21: 28th annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit creates opportunities to learn, connect, and act on behalf of racial justice. This year's theme: Building Community for Lasting Democracy and Racial Equity.9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the CCAC Allegheny campus. Sliding scale registration; more information and registration here.
• I encourage local folks to sign up for the Indivisible Grassroots Pittsburgh email list, which will bring you lots more listings, more frequently -- email Debra.
• 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!
• 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.
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 data centers, local environmental authors (Part I & Part II) honey forests & friends, air science into policy, air quality education and engagement, farming and succession, building with wood, food justice, Mutual Aid networks, 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!).
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