Christov Churchward's August Update
With the Pittsburgh Green House (PGH) project ramping up, I allocated most of my time this month to ACTION-Housing, Inc. Although I was able to do some work for the urban forester, the summer months are less conducive to tree work as Lisa spent the majority of her time running around doing TreeVitalize assessments and making sure the Batman filming wasn’t causing too much damage to our urban canopy.
The tree-planting project on the Busway is still moving ahead as scheduled – Rosedale Block Cluster was unable to provide knotweed removal services, but Eisler Landscaping has taken the lead on that and will be spraying the evil knotweed within the next few weeks. I am taking the lead on the TreeVitalize application, which is due in mid-October.
My tree PowerPoint is almost complete, but I have suspended working on it until a later date as there is currently no need for it and my time is better spent on more pressing matters. I have just begun, and will continue to work with Lisa next month on drafting bids to contractors for various TreeVitalize plantings.
Work with ACTION-Housing, Inc. on the PGH is in full force. I spent a number of days this month inside the Green House doing deconstruction work in preparation for our contractors to start making it the beautiful home we’ve designed. Through our deconstruction efforts we have diverted three cabinet sets, lots of scrap metal, and two rooms worth of ceiling tiles from the landfill with anything resalable being donated to Construction Junction.
On the technical side of things, we have finalized Paul Schifino’s infographics and letterhead designs. I have been working on improving and updating the infographics, which is a fluid process as technology and information are constantly changing. I was fortunate enough to meet the Carnegie Museums’ database manager, Jacob Gordon, at an Excel class, where he offered to create the database for the PGH pro bono. Thank you, Jacob! I have begun developing an Energy 202 class, which will focus on reading utility bills and using online tools to measure home energy efficiency in order to make the most cost effective home improvements.
The September newsletter – Recycling – turned out very well. We increased distribution by 42 people (36 print, 6 online). I consulted a graphic designer at an SCA training about the layout and received some very valuable critiques. Starting next month, in order to better reflect the fact that the newsletter does not revolve around one central issue (e.g. recycling), I will create a standardized subject heading that does not mention the content of our feature story. I will also realign the header so that readers’ attention will be drawn to more pertinent information. Besides the helpful suggestions, she said the newsletter looked great.
