Progress Reports from the Field

COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY
SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW

Green House Gas Emissions Inventory
Made final edits and format changes to prepare for online publishing

Recycling
Followed up with PRC regarding recycling in County facilities
Inventoried downtown County facilities for newspaper recycling bin placement

Events

Grants
Heinz and RK Mellon Grants - assisted in applying for funding
Attended DEP meeting about upcoming grant opportunities
PEDA grants - researched required documentation, communicated with public works
department and County contractors regarding grant projects benefits/issues, determined
kWh savings/estimated cost savings associated with proposed grant projects

Conferences Attended

PennFuture Global Warming Conference
ALCOSAN Green Infrastructure Workshop
Green Pathways to Prosperity
Green Roof Breakfast
EO Wilson Conference on Biodiversity

GTECH STRATEGIES
Sustainable Community Fellow

June was a busy month here at GTECH! We finished our sunflower plantings, moved into the season of maintenance, and continued pushing forward green economy initiatives! In June, I:

Reclamation Projects
--Attended weekly reclamation meetings.
--Planted sunflowers in Sharpsburg with about 10 local residents on 6/5
--Planted sunflowers in Wilkinsburg at our Peebles St. site in terrible rain with a team of about 6 on 6/5. Finished the job with another team of about 6 on 6/10
--Planted sunflowers in E. Liberty at our Pennley site on 6/14
--Prepped, spread compost, and planted sunflowers with a group of 15 Braddock youth on 6/16, 6/18, 6/21, and 6/22
--Helped build garden beds and spread compost on our Francis St. Project in the Hill on 6/16
--Tilled the land on our Francis St. Project in the Hill on 6/17
--Planted sunflowers in Elizabeth with over 40 kids, ages 10 and under, on 6/17
--Helped fill beds with soil at the Francis St. Project in the hill on 6/19
--Planted sunflowers in E. Liberty on our Shecona site with about 12 community members on 6/22

Education:
--Taught a biofuels lesson to 4 classes (about 80 students) at City High on 6/11
--Taught lessons on Biofuels, Green Jobs, Urban Soils, and Land Use with the same group of 15 Braddock youth over the course of 6/16, 6/18, 6/21, and 6/22
--Helped lead a garden tour of SCA youth and others through the East End on 6/19
--Gave a presentation on Green Jobs for a group youth on 6/25 (helped out on 6/24)
--Discussed community and vacancy with the group of youth on 6/24 and 6/25

Communication:
--Figured out vendor, pricing, labels, and logistics to make signs for all of our sites.
--Went down to the printer, got 18 signs and about 50 partner labels made.
--Sent out the June GTECH Newsletter
--Gave a presentation on my work with GTECH to an Americorps representative.
--Spoke about GTECH with a group on a bike tour through E. Liberty on 6/18

Green Economy Initiatives
--Attended and took notes on the Green Jobs Advisory Board meeting on 6/1
--Attended and took notes on the Regional Task Force meeting on 6/8
--Attended and took notes on the Job Readiness Roundtable meeting on 6/10
--Attended and took notes on the GJAB Events and Outreach committee meeting on 6/15
--Took the lead on planning a July event, Green Jobs: Exploring the Opportunities in Braddock.

I also took a vacation to Alaska for the last week of June.

COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY
SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW

Green House Gas Emissions Inventory
Edited final document and power point slides
Researched and resolved outstanding issues

Recycling
Partnered with PRC to research recycling practices in all County-owned/leased properties,
attempted to establish baseline analysis of recycling programs

Events
Earth Day - Employee Energy Fair in Courthouse Courtyard
Coordinated the attendance of representatives from local power companies to distribute
energy savings kits to employees
77 employees signed the County Sustainability Pledge
35 people signed up with Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign

Recycling event
Partnered with Global links to collect medical supplies for Haiti
Collected 109 pairs of crutches, 65 canes, 22 wheelchairs, 36 walkers and various other
medical supplies for reuse

Regional Water Symposium
Assisted in planning and recruiting attendees from surrounding municipalities that have a
stake in regional wet weather issues

Grants
Maintained and updated database of funding opportunities

Conferences Attended
Women’s Health and the Environment Conference

PITTSBURGH PARKS CONSERVANCY
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FELLOW

June has been yet another exciting month. Our Walks in the Woods programs have begun. They are volunteer docent-led walks every Wednesday evening that take place in each of the four city parks: Riverview, Highland, Frick and Schenley (Go here for the schedule of walks). I prepared a packet for each of the docents, which included natural and cultural history facts, as well as things to do and the volunteer opportunities for each park. I also provided them with interesting historical photos, maps, and postcards to enhance the experience for those attending the walks. Shortly after my evaluation at the beginning of the month, my wish to become further involved in environmental education activities at the PPC was granted. Here are a few highlights from the month:

June 4- Worked with 36 members of the Americorps Literacy group on their site in Highland Park to fix deer exclosure fencing, remove 47 bags of garlic mustard, 3 tires, and plant 23 tree seedlings in open canopy areas.
June 6- Mitzvah Day with eleven members of Temple Sinai. We worked on removing invasive vines and garlic mustard in upper Frick Park.
June 11- City High Charter School Urban EcoStewards session. We worked with the students to implement erosion control techniques on the upper hillside of their site in Schenley Park. We secured jute netting in open areas, a biodegradable net that helps to keep the soil in place while attempting to grow vegetation there.
June 24- This was my favorite day of the month. In the morning, Marijke and I led a walk in Schenley Park for 8 and 9 year olds from the Carnegie Science Center Summer Camp. The walk focused on the importance of native plants and watersheds and included TWO scavenger hunts (one at the stream, one in the woods)! In the afternoon, I met up with Lori Gaido and a group of recent high school graduates who are serving internships through the Heinz Endowment Fund. I gave an informal presentation on the history of the PPC, the scope and importance of their work, and what I do at the PPC. That evening, I went to a pruning and invasive species workshop for PTAG volunteers in Frick Park. It was co-led by Matt from Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest and Erin from the PPC. I helped to coordinate schedules and set up the time and details for this event, and I even learned some things by attending it!
June 25- The final session of High School UES with City High. While all of their previous sessions focused on stewardship activities, this session was devoted to walking through the park to explore the nature that they had been working to protect this winter and spring. We also spent time brainstorming for their final projects, which will be presented at the end of the year picnic on July 9! I am very excited for their presentations. They are a fun group.
June 29- My first PPC blog was posted, recapping the spring volunteer season with pictures galore! If you have a keen eye, you can find three of the other Green Cities fellows in these pictures (one of them is close to impossible unless you know what his hair and clothes looks like!)
http://pittsburghparks.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/spring-volunteer-season-...

Community Day progress:

Miriam, Jake and I attended the Hazelwood Initiative member meeting on June 8 to present our project goals and ideas for the day to members of the community. We received a positive response and it helped to generate ideas for picking a date to host the event, as well as to hear what the community wanted to include in the day. Since then, we have worked on contacting groups in Hazelwood and honing in on what projects are feasible to complete for the day. We used the second half of our SCA meeting to visit Hazelwood and check out project locations and talk to some members of the community about the project. It looks like we are going to host it on Saturday, August 21. I am really excited about this. We will be working on contacting church and community groups this next month. I will be working to help out with outreach and recruiting volunteers for the day.

GREEN BUILDING ALLIANCE
CLIMATE FELLOW

In June 2010 my main priorities have been to coordinate Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI) Partner task force meetings and plan a workshop for the Higher Education Climate Consortium (HECC). HECC’s July workshop will present two case studies of local campus emissions inventories and climate action plans, with discussion of how local campuses can benchmark progress among each other. I am continuing research for Pittsburgh’s second climate action plan, with each sector developing recommendations. Finally, I have helped with footwork and planning for our crew’s service project in Hazelwood.