August: Sarah Palmisano

SUSTAINABILITY CITY FELLOW
The City of Pittsburgh

Sarah’s work as an SCA Sustainability Fellow in the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency generally falls into four categories: education and outreach, continuing personal education, internal work, and volunteering.

Education and outreach work includes things like hosting or tabling at appropriate events, symposiums, or conferences as a representative of the Mayor’s Office or the SCA. Education and outreach for August: Helped organize the SCA Green Cities’ group project (Community Day) in the neighborhood of Hazelwood. My responsibilities included volunteer recruitment, community awareness, information gathering/obtaining a permit, as well as general logistics on the day of (e.g. ensuring project leaders have the necessary supplies, signing in volunteers, helping with the raffle, and general set-up).

Continuing personal education includes attending various conferences, symposiums, workshops, or classes to increase awareness and understanding of a wide variety of sustainability and environmentally-related topics. Personal education for August: Attended the Allegheny Green and Innovation Festival to learn about local sustainability initiatives/organizations.

Internal work describes work being done within the Mayor’s Office to incorporate sustainability into City operations and services. Internal work for August: Met with a General Services representative to help better understand how to implement the environmentally preferred purchasing policy; made significant progress on recycling in the City-County Building (e.g. ordered new recycling bins, created signage and a recycling guide for the City intranet, drafted memo to City employees); led the Sustainability Commission meeting to discuss language/finalize recommendations for the second version of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan; started gathering information/conducting interviews for a series of case studies on the City’s environmental projects to share with surrounding municipalities/general public.

Volunteering is anything that she finds fun and worthwhile to help a good cause or a good friend after hours! Volunteering for August: 2010 Hothouse (Sprout Fund benefit) – ticket sales and admission