Apr 16: Sustainability Salon on Food

For our 51st Sustainability Salon, April showers will bring our annual springtime focus on Food (more below). 

Also, longtime salongoers will recall our January 2014 feature Bidder 70, and its subject Tim DeChristopher -- he'll be here along with Josh Fox for a free screening of Josh's new film How to Let Go of the World (and Love all the Things Climate Can't Change) on Wednesday, April 13th (7 p.m. at the Carnegie Lecture Hall;  more info and online registration here).

The speaker lineup for Saturday's salon has filled out nicely:   Jessy Swisher, Three Rivers Hub Program Coordinator of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, will discuss PASA's programs, the role of the regional offices, and the shift to a Sustainability Hub model, and the new SOIL Institute.  Pittsburgh's Open Space Specialist Shelly Danko+Day will update us on the city's new Urban Agriculture zoning code and other food initiatives like the Adopt-A-Lot program.  Executive Director Ken Regal of Just Harvest will talk about their important word addressing hunger, poverty, and economic injustice in our region.  And AJ Bisesi, Grow Pittsburgh's Community Garden Coordinator, will give a glimpse into GP's programs and some upcoming opportunities (for garden support and for employment).  We'll also have a couple of activities along with the salon:  Carnegie Museum of Natural History educator Lindsey Scherloum will be here with an interactive activity relating food to climate, developed by the Pittsburgh node of the Climate & Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP, which we featured in the December 2013 salon on Community Mapping), and Greg Schaffer, a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer, will have info and signups for democratic Get Out The Vote efforts as the April 26th primary approaches. 

I'm still working on finalizing the speakers for the next salon, but it will take place on May 21st.  Stay tuned for more details! 

Salons run 3-10 p.m. at Maren's house in Squirrel Hill.  Please don't arrive before 3 p.m.  We usually aim to start the program sometime around 4, after folks have had a chance to meet, mingle, and tour around an interesting and productive urban permaculture site.   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 to be added!).  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/or a trail map if you need 'em 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, 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;  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 topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, delectable potluck food and drink, and music-making through the evening.

Past topics have included getting money out of politics, Solarize Allegheny, climate (again, this time focusing on the upcoming COP21 negotiations), 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, community solar power, 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 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, 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 of any kind:  wine, beer, 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 homegrown or boughten.  Dishes containing meat or dairy are fine, though if it isn't really obvious please make a note of it.  


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. 

Apr 13: Josh Fox climate film screening

As part of his national tour, award-winning director Josh Fox (GASLAND) returns to Pittsburgh to present his new movie:

How to Let Go of the World 
...and Love all the Things Climate Can’t Change

Activist Tim DeChristopher (a.k.a. Bidder 70), who appears in the film, will also be with us for discussion.  

In the film, Josh Fox uses his deeply personal style to investigate the greatest threat our planet has ever known - climate change. After traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, Fox asks, "What is it that climate change can't destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?"

7 p.m at the Carnegie Lecture Hall (behind the main branch Carnegie Library in Oakland;  doors are around to the right of the main library entrance.  The film will be followed by a Q & A session with director Josh Fox.  You can view the trailer on Vimeo, and get your free tickets here.  Admittance is free, but donations will be appreciated (as will RSVPs).  The Lecture Hall is fully ADA compliant.

Co-sponsors include Pittsburgh 350, Allegheny County Clean Air Now, Clean Rivers Campaign, Clean Water Action, Divest Pittsburgh, Fight For $15, Fossil Free Pitt Coalition, GASP, Marcellus Outreach Butler,  MarcellusProtest, Mom's Clean Air Force, PennEnvironment,  Sierra Club-Allegheny Group, Three Rivers Rising Tide, Thomas Merton Center

Apr 9: Whole System Sustainability workshop

This PASA workshop takes a look at the sustainability of the farm system as a whole, through an exploration of renewable energy use and strategies to increase efficiency.  These strategies will help to improve business operations, reduce long-term costs, and reduce one’s carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Host Joe Bozzelli of Five Elements Farm will demonstrate his solar energy systems—both passive and active, as well as off-grid and grid-tied systems.  He’ll discuss the design of his straw-bale constructed home and the elements that makes it highly energy efficient.  And finally, he’ll discuss considerations of human energy, through development of the land, including placement of buildings and other elements in relation to each other.

Guest presenters will also be on-site to discuss and demonstrate water catchment and stormwater management options, considerations for solar energy installation, and ways that consumers can plug into renewable energy on the grid through their supplier.  Attendees will leave with connections to companies that may provide the “next steps” in the process for increasing the sustainability of one’s home, farm, or business.  Presenters include DECO Resources, Energy Independent Solutions, and our sponsor, Green Mountain Energy.  Equipment will also be available from Zero Fossil Energy Outfitters to demonstrate their “Bikerator,” a bike-powered generator used at this event to power an electric blender.  Come try your legs on the bike and enjoy a smoothie afterward!

1-4 p.m. at Five Elements Farm (405 Hogg Rd., Worthington, PA 16262).  $10 PASA members, $15 nonmembers.  Sponsored by PASA and Green Mountain Energy.  More information and online registration here.

Five Elements Farm is a family farm located in Worthington, PA.  Farmers Sara and Joe Bozzelli believe in growing simple, whole, healthy foods for their family and community, which is evidenced in their farm’s motto: “Family Food. Fresh & Simple.”  The land was a blank canvas when they began building their home in 2007, having previously been grazed for years by cattle, and then planted with corn and soybeans prior to their purchase.  Now, the farm is managed with as much reliance on the natural processes of the land and its inhabitants as possible.  All food produced at Five Elements Farm is Certified Naturally Grown, including vegetables and free-range eggs.  They operate a Market Style CSA, which allows them to meet the needs of their CSA members and their farm operation.  In addition to their growing practices, Five Elements Farm seeks to serve as a model of sustainability through their reliance on appropriate technologies to reduce their energy use and environmental impact.

Apr 9: Garden Resource Center grand re-opening

Come to the Grand Re-Opening of Grow Pittsburgh's Garden Resource Center to learn more about the GRC, sign up, and have fun!

A program of Grow Pittsburgh since 2013, the Garden Resource Center (GRC) reduces barriers to growing food while strengthening urban garden communities.  Users of the GRC can rent garden tools (e.g. shovels, tillers) like a library, and also get access to bulk garden materials like compost and straw.  


10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Garden Resource Center, 147 Putnam St. Pittsburgh PA 15206 (Larimer).  Free and open to the public.  Kids welcome!

Activites include a live broadcast by Andy Amrhein and Doug Oster of KDKA (10-11 a.m.) and a cooking demo by Chef Bill Fuller.

Spring Saver discount event (Grow Pittsburgh membership and Garden Resource Center registration all-in-one)

Sponsors: Brought to you by Grow Pittsburgh, Evey True Value Hardware, KDKA-TV | CBS Pittsburgh, and Barmy Soda

Apr 2- May 15: Permaculture Design course

Earn a Permaculture Design Certificate with Three Sisters and Phipps:

Permaculture is synonymous with ecological and regenerative design, and features holistic approaches that integrate natural environmental processes with human-made systems to enhance both human and environmental health. Permaculture design is rooted in agriculture and horticulture, yet is far-reaching and interdisciplinary in nature, connecting city planning, ecology, architecture and technology. During this 11-session course, students will visit Pittsburgh’s premier examples of permaculture in action to get a sense of what is possible in urban sustainability. Students then will put their new knowledge into action by co-designing a space at Phipps Garden Center.
The course will be led by Darrel Frey, Juliette Olshock and Liz Lynch, plus guest instructors.

9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day, based at Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park but with frequent field trips around the area.  Dates are Saturdays and Sundays during spring: April 2, 3, 9, 16, 17, 23 and 30;  May 1, 7, 14 and 15.  Tuition is $990 ($940 for Phipps members).  For more information and to register, please go here.

Apr 1: State of Sustainability talk by Mark Dixon

Kicking off CMU's Sustainability Weekend is a keynote address by Mark Dixon, back from the COP21 Climate Summit.

4:30 - 6 p.m. at CMU's Cohon University Center;  more details will appear here and on the Sustainability Weekend web site.

Mar 31: Bernie Sanders in Pittsburgh

A Future to Believe In 

Rally in Pittsburgh on 3/31

OFFICIAL EVENT

Join Bernie Sanders for a rally in Pittsburgh, at the David Lawrence Convention Center.  Doors open at 7:30 (the event is slated to start around 10:30, from what I gather).  

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Admission is first come, first served. Crowd entrance through the East Lobby Entrance.

For security reasons, please do not bring bags and limit what you bring to small, personal items like keys and cell phones. Weapons, sharp objects, chairs, and signs or banners on sticks will not be allowed through security.  Information about public transit and parking options are at the main event site, along with a quick RSVP form:  https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/44pm9

Mar 31: The Anthropocene epoch

The Anthropocene Epoch in Cosmic Evolution (a lecture by David Grinspoon)

Informed by comparative planetology and a survey of the major transitions in Earth history, Dr. Grinspoon will offer a taxonomy of planetary catastrophes meant to illuminate the unusual nature of the “Anthropocene”, the current epoch of human-driven planetary-scale changes, and reframe our current environmental and technological predicaments as part of a larger narrative of planetary evolution. This saga has now reached the pivotal moment when humans have become a dominant force of planetary change, and geological and human history are becoming irreversibly conjoined. Is this a likely or even inevitable challenge facing other complex life in the universe? Possible implications for exoplanet characterization and SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) will be considered, as well as the choices our civilization faces in seeking to foster a wisely managed Earth.

4 p.m. in Room 154 of the Chevron Science Center at Pitt.

This talk is sponsored by the Department of Geology and Environmental Science, and co-sponsired by the Year of Humanities, the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Honors College. For more information, click here, or contact Daniel Peluso at danielpeluso@pitt.edu.

David Grinspoon, Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute, is an astrobiologist who studies the possible conditions for life on other planets. He is on the science team for spacecraft that are currently exploring Mars and Venus.   In 2013, he served as inaugural Baruch S. Blumberg/NASA Chair in Astrobiology at the John W. Kluge Center of the United States Library of Congress, researching and writing a forthcoming book about human influence on Earth, seen in cosmic perspective. His book, Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction. Grinspoon was awarded the 2006 Carl Sagan Medal for Public Communication of Planetary Science by the American Astronomical Society. 

Mar 31: Environmental Rights of PA Communities

Thomas Linzey, executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) will speak about the environmental rights of Pennsylvania communities, and the growing struggles of PA communities in protecting their environments from industrial waste and pollution. 

6 p.m. in HSS 225 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (the new Humanities and Social Sciences Building, on Grant Street on the IUP Campus).  Free and open to the public.  

Is a corporation’s right to inject toxic waste greater, and more important, than a community’s right to govern itself and protect its water supply?  A community in Indiana County, Grant Township, is joining a nation-wide movement to reject corporate control of their land and resources.  

When the EPA issued a permit for a Class II injection well to dispose of waste water from hydraulic fracturing in their community, residents resisted by adopting a Community Bill of Rights Ordinance that secures community rights to local self-governance, and clean air and water.  As a result of this ordinance, a multimillion dollar energy corporation is suing Grant Township, claiming that the Ordinance violates the corporation's personhood rights, as well as other provisions of the US constitution.  

CELDF, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, is a non-profit law firm working with Grant Township, and a growing number of communities across the state and nation as they spearhead a movement to establish rights for people and nature over the systems that control them.  Linzey is a graduate of IUP, and has been featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, the Nation, and in 2007 was named one of Forbes Magazine’s ‘Top Ten Revolutionaries.’ 

Mar 31 - Apr 3: Sustainability Weekend at CMU

CMU Sustainable Earth is proud to present 
Sustainability Weekend 2016
Carnegie Mellon’s inaugural sustainability-focused conference

Environmentalism often gets a bad rap - some may associate it with recycling water bottles, hemp, and a general dislike for traditional personal hygiene. While some stereotypes are based off of fact (others less so), in 2016 we want to be thinking about environmentalism in the larger context of sustainability. In organizing Sustainability Weekend, our goal is to pique your interest and show you this larger context. Sustainability is holistic: it is political, personal, economic, and social. It can dialogue with everything from urban planning to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Come learn, network, and have fun!

Schedule below;  additional info on speakers and location is online here.  Registration $10, free for CMU community.  Please register online here.

University Lecture Series - Thursday, March 31
4:30 - 6:00 PM Bea Johnson, Zero Waste Home
Porter Hall 100

Kickoff - Friday, April 1
4:30 - 6:00 PM Keynote: The State of Sustainability
Mark Dixon, COP21 Pittsburgh

Main Programming - Saturday, April 2
9:30 AM Doors Open
Continental Breakfast

10:00 AM - 11:15 AM Pittsburgh 2030 Districts
Aurora Sharrard, Green Building Alliance
Martin Altschul, CMU Facilities Management Services
Aftyn Giles, Sustainability Coordinator Pittsburgh

11:30 AM - 12:20 PM Public Art & Its Role in Sustainability
Elizabeth Monoian & Robert Ferry, Land Art Generator Initiative
Christine Mondor, CMU School of Architecture

12:30 - 1:00 PM  Break/Lunch

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Frick Environmental Center Field Trip
Tours guided by:
Peg Hard RA, MBA, LEED AP
Mike Cornell, Patty Himes, Taiji Nelson, Naturalist Educators, Pittsburch Parks Conservancy
Spots are limited. Check the registration page for details on how to secure your spot!

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Thread: Responsible Fabric from Ground to Good
Dan Leber, Thread

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Environmentally-Preferable Purchasing
Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, Women for a Healthy Environment

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Frick Environmental Center and the Living Building Challenge
Noah Shaltes, LEED AP, Project Manager, PJ Dick
Patricia Culley, LEED AP, Associate, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Jess Demoise, EIT, Project Coordinator, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
Maureen Olinzock, Sustainability Coordinator, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Environmental Justice in Flint, Michigan: A Case Study
Jacqueline Patterson, NAACP

Mar 31: Zero Waste Home

Zero Waste Home

Bea Johnson, Speaker, Author and Lifestyle Expert

The world-acclaimed author of Zero Waste Home, a.k.a. the “priestess of waste free living”, will share her tribulations and secrets to reducing her family’s trash to a quart jar per year. Through this upbeat presentation, you'll discover the amazing advantages that the zero waste lifestyle has to offer: they might be very different from what you’d expect!

Bio: Bea Johnson and her family are dedicated to living a Zero Waste lifestyle; they generate a mere quart of waste per year.  Through her blog and with her book, Zero Waste Home, Bea inspires a growing international community to live simply and take a stance against needless waste.  Her passion and positive outlook have earned her appearances on TV and in publications around the world.  Grand prize winner of “The Green Awards” in 2011, she regularly speaks at universities, corporate events and conferences.  She has become the spokesperson for the Zero Waste lifestyle or, as The New York Times puts it: “The Waste-Free Priestess”.

4:30 p.m. in Porter Hall 100 auditorium at CMU.  

Other highlights for the weekend will include a State of Sustainability Talk with Mark Dixon from COP21 on Friday, April 1 at 4:30 pm and a featured talk from Jacqueline Patterson from the NAACP (national office) on Environmental Justice in Flint, Michigan:  A Case Study on Saturday, April 2, at 4 pm. 

To register for the Sustainability Weekend 2016, visit 

Sustainability Weekend Facebook 2016

Registration Link for Sustainability Weekend 16

Mar 30: Forum on Pittsburgh's Climate Future

Right now, we have a unique chance to influence the state and national fight over climate change, steering the country away from dirty fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, and towards a clean energy future powered by wind and solar.  All because in the next year, we'll have to develop a Clean Power Plan to slash carbon pollution from power plants.

This is a pivotal moment in the fight for climate action—and we need you to be a part of it.  Join PennEnvironment for an educational forum on Pittsburgh's Climate Future for a panel of community leaders, environmental advocates, and public health professionals, including Grant Ervin (Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Pittsburgh), Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis (Executive Director of Women for a Healthy Environment), and Kirsi Jansa (Environmental Documentary Filmmaker, Sustainability Pioneers and Gas Rush Stories).

7-9 p.m. at Phipps Conservatory's Botany Hall (the small but grand building to the left of the glasshouses, near Panther Hollow Bridge).  You can find more info and RSVP on the Facebook event page.

Mar 30: Fracking and Health forum in Mars Twp.

Arm Yourself With Knowledge:  Join Moms Clean Air Force for an informational program and interactive panel discussion on unconventional gas development or "fracking" in an informal setting.

Presenters are:
-Dr. Marsha Haley, MD, Radiation Oncologist, “Public Health and Safety”
-Dr. Cynthia McCormick Richburg, Ph.D., Audiologist, “Environmental Noise and its Effects on Health and Well-being”
- Lisa Graves Marcucci, Environmental Integrity Project, “Restoring Public Participation”
- Environmental Organizations – Update on Methane Rules and Regulations

6:30 p.m. at the Mars Area Public Library (107 Grand Ave, Mars, PA 16046).   Please contact Patrice Tomcik with questions at ptomcik@momscleanairforce.org or 412-999-2360.   Sponsored by: Moms Clean Air Force, Sierra Club, and Clean Air Council

Mar 28: Dear President Obama film screening

The Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host the Pittsburgh première of Jon Bowermaster's new film Dear President Obama, The Clean Energy Revolution Is Now!

Under President Obama’s watch, drilling and fracking expanded rapidly across the United States.  And that means there are now more than 15 million Americans currently living within a mile of an oil or gas well.  They're facing the real-world consequences of our national energy policy. Shouldn't they have a say in what that energy policy is?

You'll be inspired by the community members, whistleblowers and scientists exposing the impacts of President Obama's "all of the above" energy policy and calling for a real clean energy revolution instead.  After the film, we'll hear from filmmaker Jon Bowermaster, and from local coalition partners.  We'll also talk about our major mobilization this summer, the March for a Clean Energy Revolution.

Narrated by Mark Ruffalo, Dear President Obama takes a journey through more than 20 states to examine the impacts of drilling and fracking for oil and gas — hear directly from the people living on the front lines. 

7 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 N. Highland Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15206.  RSVP here!  Sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, Marcellus Outreach Butler, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Continuing Education Program, Food & Water Watch, and Clean Water Action.

"Dear...President Obama" is an Oceans 8 Film, Written and Directed by Jon Bowermaster and narrated by Mark Ruffalo.  The film takes a cross-country look at drilling, highlighting its variety of contaminations, the  stories of its victims, the false promise of an economic boom, with a focus on clean energy  solutions that would allow us to proceed towards a future that does not rely on yet another dirty  fossil fuel extraction process.  Interviews with scientists, health professionals, geologists and whistle-blowers provide the core  information we think will convince the current President and those that will follow to join the "anti-  drilling" majority growing across the United States and call for fossil fuels to be left in the ground.

 See more on the film's website: http://www.dearpresidentobama.com/about-the-film/

Mar 26: Gardening and microclimate

Join your friends and neighbors, and fellow gardeners for a talk by Master Gardener and Edgewood homeowner Mrea Csorba:  Create a Healthy Garden:  Install a Micro-Climate!

Learn the basics of how to create a healthy zone around your home in an urban setting to control for air pollution, noise pollution, and use heat and cool cross-currents for effective, optimal well being.Techniques to be introduced: erecting wind, air and sound barriers with landscape trees and shrubs; cool zones for summer comfort and solar zones for winter savings; wind tunnels for cross-ventilation and fungal control.  

11 a.m. meet & greet, lecture 11:30 - noon at the Wilkins School Community Center.  Please Register here (free of charge, donations accepted).

Upcoming garden lectures include 

LET’S MAKE A PLAN 

 An actual plan of your garden plot! Grid-lined paper and tracing sheets provided.

CHART THE ARC OF THE SUN

That is, it’s path across your garden space throughout the day and seasonally.

NOTE WIND TUNNELS 

Track good and undesirable air currents that bring harsh winds, cool breezes, even, air pollution.

Mar 22, 23, 24: The Messenger -- film about songbirds

Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania is kicking off the public phase of its centennial campaign, celebrating 100 years of connecting the people of southwestern Pennsylvania to birds and nature.  The centennial date is March 24, 2016, and three screenings of the visually stunning film The Messenger will be accompanied by an introduction to the plans for Audubon sites and programs in our regions.

“We are excited to announce a lead gift by the Richard King Mellon Foundation, in addition to gifts and pledges from over 150 individuals and organizations.  This has already helped us to raise $4.5 million of our $7 million goal,” said Jim Bonner, Executive Director, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

ASWP has three public sites—Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve (Fox Chapel), Succop Nature Park (Butler) and Todd Nature Reserve (Sarver)—and each will see renovations and upgrades as a result of the centennial campaign.  Additionally, ASWP will open a new community center and park adjacent to Todd Nature Reserve, along the Butler-Freeport Community Trail.
ASWP is also introducing a suite of regional initiatives that will bring hands-on conservation and education programs into local homes, schools, parks, and communities.

The Centennial Campaign is chaired by Bill Schenck, Vice Chairman, TriState Capital Bank. ASWP will kick off the public phase of the campaign with free viewings of the documentary “The Messenger.”  The film tells the story about the mass depletion of songbirds on multiple continents, and about those who are working to turn the tide.  Prior to showing the film, ASWP will provide details to the audience of proposed upgrades and improvements to its three public properties.

All showings begin at 7 pm on the following dates.  Seating is limited and reservations are required by signing up at www.aswp.org:
• March 22 – Freeport Area High School, Sarver
• March 23 – Succop Theater at Butler County Community College, Butler
• March 24 – Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Cha

Mar 22 and other dates: Composting workshops

Upcoming PRC Backyard Composting Workshops

This PA Resources Council workshop thoroughly covers the importance and benefits of composting, the process, setting up a compost pile, proper maintenance, and ways of using finished compost. Participants will receive a FreeGarden EARTH compost bin with attendance. This bin is an ideal bin for urban and suburban areas and has an 82-gallon capacity.

Cost: $70 single/ $75 couple and includes one compost bin.

Upcoming PRC West Workshops:

February 27, 2016
Ross Township Community Center
1o:30AM- Noon
Register HERE

March 10, 2016
Phipps Garden Center
7-8:30PM
Register HERE

March 22, 2016
North Park – Rose Barn
6:30-8:00PM
Register HERE

March 30, 2016
South Park – Buffalo Inn 
6:30-8:00PM
Register HERE

April 5, 2016
Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department 
7-8:30PM
Register HERE

April 7, 2016
Boyce Park – Ski Lodge
6:30-8:00PM
Register HERE

April 16, 2016
Blueberry Hill Activity Center10:30AM-Noon
Register HERE 

May 14, 2016
Baldwin Borough Public Library
10:30AM – Noon
Register HERE

May 21, 2016Ross Township Community Center
1o:30AM- Noon
Register HERE

June 23, 2016
Phipps Garden Center
7-8:30PM
Register HERE

To register online click Register Here under the workshop you wish to attend or email compost@prc.org or call: (412) 488-7490 ext. 226

This workshop is made possible by the generous support of the Giant Eagle Foundation.

Mar 20: Empty Bowls Dinner

A community meal to fight hunger

The annual Empty Bowls is a simple community meal of bread and soup to help remind people of the one in seven residents of Allegheny County who are facing hunger.

This marks the 21st year that Just Harvest and Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank will co-host the event. Funds raised will benefit both organizations equally.

Pittsburgh’s Empty Bowls typically draws more than 1,500 people and in its past 20 years has raised more than $500,000 to fight hunger in our region.

The dinner features soup cooked by some of Pittsburgh’s top restaurants. Local personality soup servers, a silent auction of ceramic art and celebrity-autographed bowls, live music, children’s activities, and soup-to-go are part of the festivities.

New this year: two available seating times: 1:30-3:30pm and 4:30-6:30pm.

Each ticket-holder gets to choose a beautiful handmade bowl to take home. Tickets are $22 in advance (purchase here) and $25 at the door.   (Note that for online ticket sales, if you have a smartphone that can access email, you don't need to print the ticket or pay for a text;  you'll receive a confirmation email with the necessary code to show at the door).   Please call Just Harvest at (412) 431-8960 x106 with any questions.