Program Manger: Lori Gaido Project Dates: Feb 2010 - Dec 2010 Email Address: lgaido@thesca.org [1]
Program Overview [2]
Program Summary
SCA’s Green Cities Corps program was developed to assist cities in the creation and implementation of climate action plans. This initiative is in support of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement developed to advance the execution of policies and actions to address climate change. Members of the Green Cities Corps engage in projects within the municipal and nonprofit sectors of Pittsburgh aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
Pittsburgh’s Green Cities Corps members work with the Pittsburgh Climate Initiatives’ organizational partners to execute the recommendations in the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, identifying and reporting the progress Pittsburgh has made toward its emissions reduction goal, and raising public awareness about Pittsburgh’s efforts to reduce the city’s GHG emissions.
Green Cities Corps Goals
SCA Green Cities’ goals are to:
· place trained and experienced college graduates with local agencies looking to mitigate climate change through local actions,
· develop and/or implement policies and actions which address sustainability, and
· provide meaningful opportunities to its’ corps members while building the capacity of our partners.
Pittsburgh Climate Initiative
The Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI) is a collaborative effort designed to lead area residents, businesses, government and institutions of higher learning in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. PCI organizational partners participate in each sector of the climate action plan including:
PCI Management, Municipal, Community, Business, and Higher Education.
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October: Adam Fedyski [6]
Sustainable Community Fellow
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
October was an extremely exciting month where I had the opportunity to get out and see and learn a lot about the western Pennsylvania region. Jake, Sarah, Lori the SCA Trail Towns crew and I went up to the Allegheny National Forest to team up with two SCA trail crews to do some serious trail work over two days. It was great to meet other SCA’s doing different work and share experiences. At the Frick Environmental Center, we wrapped up the first section of the first grade program “Habitat Explorers” with a fun stewardship activity where students made mud balls with meadow plant seeds and threw them into the meadow to help with seed dispersal. I spent a lot of time in the office organizing and recording numbers that will help the PPC in obtaining future grants. I also went to a couple conferences that furthered my knowledge of the region and gave me hope for the future of PA and the environment. The days are quickly passing by as I enter the final month and a half of the Green Cities program. Here are some of the October highlights:
October 2: Volunteered at the Bloomfield Neighborhood Blitz, organized by The Black and Gold City Goes Green and the Bloomfield Development Corporation. We went door to door in Bloomfield handing out home energy saving kits that included four CFL bulbs, information on the city’s recycling program, an opportunity for residents to cancel their junk mail to save unnecessary paper waste, and information on a program to pick up old refrigerators that may be plugged in and using excess energy. It was a lot of fun and a great way to reach people who otherwise may not have sought out these products and information.
October 6: Habitat Explorers- Meadow Stewardship. ## first grade students came to help us spread seeds in the meadow.
October 7&8: Trail work in the Allegheny National Forest with other SCA crews; helped clear fallen branches and trees, saplings growing on the trail, and other debris that made the trail difficult to use before.
October 22: Western PA Trails Symposium: I tabled for the PPC at this event, providing people with info on our recently completed Trails and Signage project in the city parks. I also attended a few workshops on the importance of trails, the future of them (including a GPS application that people can download on their smart phones with guided trail tours), and how they impact the local economies.
October 23: Three Rivers Bioneers conference: I volunteered as a room moderator for workshops on nonverbal expression and the importance of local and organic farming in a local economy. It was a very exciting conference and I plan to attend a Bioneers conference every year, regardless of where I end up geographically.
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October: Loralyn Fabian [9]
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FELLOW
East Liberty Development, Inc. and the SCA - dual placement
In summary, I have had two main projects to focus on in the month of October: A fall TreeVitalize planting and the Mulch Madness event. Throughout the month, I have been ELDI’s project lead on planning a TreeVitalize street tree planting that will occur on November 6th. I met with community contacts, school principals, and others to coordinate and plan the logistics for the day. A lot of time went into recruiting volunteers, and also coordinating logistics with our main project partner: Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
My other main project in October was the Mulch Madness event in partnership with Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest. I was ELDI’s project lead on this volunteer-based service event. I coordinated with FPUF on many logistics, recruited the volunteers, and provided the food. We ended up with enough volunteers and they really made a huge improvement along the Blvd!
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October: Sarah Palmisano [11]
SUSTAINABLE 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 October: Sent out an e-mail update from the Office of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency to 416 subscribers on a recent ICLEI milestone award, Duquesne Light’s Watt Choices rebate program, and an Alcosan community meeting to learn about the Wet Weather Control Plan.
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 October: Attended the 2010 Smart Growth Conference to learn about sustainable growth and investing in sustainable communities.
Internal work describes work being done within the Mayor’s Office to incorporate sustainability into City operations and services.
Internal work for October: Continued interviews for a best practices manual and met with collaborating partners to discuss how the manual will be used; attended a Shade Tree Commission funding presentation for Mayor Ravenstahl and took minutes; attended Pittsburgh Climate Initiative meeting.
Volunteering is anything that she finds fun and worthwhile to help a good cause or a good friend after hours!
Volunteering for October: Participated in the Black and Gold City Goes Green’s “Bloomfield Blitz” to hand out kits to Bloomfield neighbors helping them save electricity and informing them about green initiatives; traveled to the Allegheny National Forest to do 2 days of trail work with another SCA crew; helped GTECH prepare a vacant lot for a future sunflower planting by spreading compost.
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October: Katrina Brink [14]
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE FELLOW
Penn State Extension in Allegheny County
The Pittsburgh Garden Experiment
Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
Summary: The best way to describe October is, “whirlwind!” So much happened it’s hard to know where to start. There were a lot of opportunities for professional development, which I happily seized and I am grateful to the organizations that made it possible for me to take part in them. At Penn State Extension we wrapped up this season of Exploring the Small Farm Dream and I did a write-up on a local Thanksgiving meal, which just made me really hungry. For the Food Policy Council we got the BlogSpot up and running, and will be posting more regularly once we have our structure in place. The Pittsburgh Garden Experiment held its last two regular events of the season and we went into high gear to finish planning for the 1st Annual Harvest After Party benefit concert featuring Bruce Comings of Becoming Projections and the Mon River Ramblers, a Pittsburgh bluegrass band. I was also fortunate enough to attend a conference in New Orleans, where I learned about much of the wonderful food justice and agricultural sustainability work going on around the world. It was a great month, full of beautiful fall leaves, great Creole food and the authentic music of New Orleans!
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October: Claire Miziolek [19]
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FELLOW
GTECH Strategies
Summary:
October was a very active month a GTECH. Though most of our sunflower sites were already harvested, the GTECH team spent much of the month winterizing the sites and gearing up for winter activities. That includes development for all projects as well as ramping up our educational efforts. Our Green Economy Initiatives are largely independent of weather and have been continuously active. GTECH has also been expanding our ReFuel Pgh Project and the oil donations from restaurants and individuals have been rolling in! It's been very exciting to see all of the projects going on and generally everyone has been very busy through October!
Green Economy Initiatives:
--Met with the Urban Leadership planning team 10/6 as well as Action-Housing 10/8 to discuss the project.
--1st GJAB (Green Jobs Advisory Board) Executive Committee Meeting on 10/7
--1st GJAB Outreach Committee Meeting on 10/11
--1st GJAB Research Committee Meeting on 10/13
--Helped teach about the VAN system to the Urban Leadership Institute on 10/30
--Attended and took minutes for the GJAB meeting on 10/26
--Attended the first SW PA Regional Green Team Meeting on 10/26
Education:
--Worked on a letter of Inquiry for a grant to fund education initiatives.
--Met with Operation Better Block to discuss education collaboration
--Taught a lesson about Green Communities to a class at Carlow on 10/19.
--Worked to revamp and expand GTECH's educational curricula in anticipation of future teaching engagements.
Reclamation:
--I worked to help analyze several vacant lots in Troy Hill as part of a large project.
--Help plan a large-scale harvest event for the Dwayne Cooper Garden of Hope which was on 10/26. My tasks included ordering food, coordinating entertainment/activities, and creating a visioning poster for the future of the project.
--Spread 25 cubic yards of compost with volunteers from CMU, Pitt, and Green Cities at our Wilkinsburg site on Peebles St on 10/10.
--Attended a community meeting for Millvale green projects on 10/19.
--Cleaned up GTECH's S. Oakland sunflower project with an Americorps group.
Administration/other:
--I took and synthesized notes for GTECH's weekly staff meetings and reclamation team meetings.
--I attended and represented GTECH at the PennFuture Green Power award ceremony.
--Attended the Black and Gold City Goes Green Partner Luncheon on 10/13
--Attended the Smart Growth Conference on 10/15
--Presented my work this year to a group interested in SCA
--This month I worked to collect submissions for and distribute GTECH's October Newsletter.
Volunteer:
--This month, I helped out at the Black and Gold City Goes Green Bloomfield Blitz! My team handed out CFLs and information to 15 houses!
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October: Jake Baechle [24]
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS FELLOW
Sustainable Pittsburgh
On the first of October Jake attended a PCI meeting to discuss the new PCI logo and tagline, as well as discuss funding for the group. The next morning Jake volunteered at the Bloomfield Blitz which was hosted by the Black & Gold City Goes Green campaign and Bloomfield Community Development. Here Jake and other volunteers went door to door handing out CFL light bulbs, recycling bags, and information on how to cancel junk mail.
During the first full week in October Jake hosted the BCC Goals meeting, visited a landfill, and spent two days doing trail work in Allegheny National Forest with SCA crews. The BCC Goals meeting discussed potential goals and established a format for the new edition of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan Business section. At the Imperial Landfill Jake had the opportunity to see the day to day operations including off gas capturing and burning. The trail work with SCA was a great opportunity to do some hands on work and network with SCA crew members in various fields of work.
The following week Jake hosted the BCC Events subcommittee meeting and helped Sustainable Pittsburgh complete final preparation for the Smart Growth Conference. The events subcommittee discussed grants to potentially fund the Green Office Challenge. The Smart Growth Conference was an overall success with over 400 people in attendance and great presentations from key figures on sustainable development.
Throughout the end of October Jake worked to prepare for upcoming programs. The final BCC meeting of the year will take place on November 2nd. Matt and Jake are also preparing one last major BCC event that they anticipate will take place on December 7th and will focus on organizations creating their own greenhouse gas inventories.
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October: Jamie Eberl [26]
SUSTAINABLE CITY FELLOW
The City of Pittsburgh
Recycling
- Met with management and housekeeping staff at Kane Ross, Kane Glen Hazel, Kane McKeesport, Shuman Juvenile Detention Center, and the Police and Fire Training Academy to tour facilities, discuss where they are with recycling, and determine what additional resources are needed from the County to assist with their recycling plans.
- Contacted purchasing for copies of all waste hauling contracts for the County sites visited.
- Made a list of recommended locations for recycling bins in each location visited.
Green House Gas Inventory Phase 2
- Met with PEC and representatives from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), including facility managers from all campuses, to present how the County had conducted its Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Climate Action Plan and answer questions about what would be required of CCAC to complete an Inventory and Action Plan.
Green Nurture
- Continued communication with GreenNurture staff to troubleshoot issues and make suggestions about the GreenNurture website and program.
- Set up a meeting between County employees who have had technical problems with the program and GreenNurture staff and web developers to try to figure out a solution to the technical problems being experienced.
- Responded to additional County employees who expressed interest in being part of GreenNurture and added these additional contacts to the system.
- Monitored GreenNurture message boards and added comments to eco-action posts.
- Updated GreenNurture spreadsheet with new posts.
LEED for Existing Buildings
- Met with Evolve Architecture to discuss methods of benchmarking and comparing the energy efficiency of County buildings.
- Used utility usage data previously entered into Utility Manager to calculate the Energy Utilization Index (EUI) for several County buildings to allow for their energy efficiency to be compared.
- Attended the LEED-EBOM task force meeting and discussed the findings of comparing the EUI of the four Kane Regional Centers.
- Researched individual site attributes and default values needed to create profiles for County-owned buildings in Energy Star portfolio manager.
Utility Manager
- Organized groupings to be added to Utility manager for comparison purposes once the tool went live.
- Set up user defined charts to generate output of all utilities for comparison purposes and EUI calculations.
- Reviewed individual Parks, Public Works, Kanes and Shuman accounts to check for missing or incomplete data.
- Began inputting incomplete data for various parks accounts to make sure a complete utility listing is available for all accounts for at least 2008- mid 2010.
- Communicated with LPB energy about technical issues around uploading data to Portfolio Manager from Utility Manager.
South Park Redevelopment
- Attended and took notes at weekly check-in meetings with the Parks Department, Parks Foundation, and County consultants.
- Replied to emails from citizens about the project and forwarded people who contacted the sustainability office about the project to GAI to be included in focus groups and/or invited to public meetings.
- Attended County government focus group about project at South Park.
- Attended project design charrette at South Park.
- Met with GAI consultants and steering committee to review the possible redevelopment plans.
Administrative Tasks
- Attended Black and Gold City Goes Green Partner Luncheon.
- Attended Pittsburgh Climate Initiative meetings.
Events
Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Smart Growth Conference
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October: Evan Endres [28]
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FELLOW
Penn Future
October was another busy month for the Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign. We had our first opportunity to run our pilot, Neighborhood Blitz program. We also had a Community Partner meeting and got moving on a new youth component.
The Bloomfield Neighborhood Blitz-
The Black and Gold City Goes Green had been working on developing a new model for outreach and recording carbon reductions in Pittsburgh Neighborhoods. This planning culminated with our, first ever Neighborhood Blitz that took place on Saturday October 2, in the Bloomfield Neighborhood, known as Pittsburgh’s Little Italy.
The plan was to rally volunteers from the community, 18 people came out including other SCA Green Cities Fellows, and have them go door to door. They would distribute some CFL light bulbs, remind their neighbors of how recycling works in the city and give them a free blue recycling bag. They also had the tools to offer residents the opportunity to cancel junk mail, and let them know about some other programs in the city. This was all done with the goal of recording carbon reduction.
The result was over 120 homes received kits including free light bulbs and other great freebies and we were able to record an estimated 133,000 lbs. of C02 reductions in a three-hour event.
Check out the YouTube video from the Bloomfield Neighborhood Blitz-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZJoPKUPKS0 [29]
The next step is to refine the offerings and work with other organizations within the city so that these door to door interactions can result in even greater carbon savings.
Fall Community Partner Luncheon-
The Black and Gold City Goes Green had a great opportunity to meet some its new Community Partners and say hello to our partners that have been with us since day one. 35 representatives from various Community Partner organizations came out to learn more about what the campaign is doing, offer insight into how its working for them and offer suggestions as we plan the next year.
Youth Community Partner Initiative-
After confirming our funding for the a new Youth Community Partner initiative the Black and Gold City Goes Green, along with coordinator that will work specifically on the youth project, started laying the groundwork to build Youth Community Partner groups. The Goal is to have at least three groups up and running by February.
These High-School aged young people will be learning about climate change issues and begin to formulate climate action plan for their community. Each group also has a budget for a carbon reduction service project. We are really looking forward to seeing what kind of plans these young people come up with. Stay tuned on the Black and Gold website, as we look forward to posting updates and comments from these youth.
www.TheBlackandGoldCityGoesGreen.com [30]
Our action theme in October revolved around transportation issues. Generally it was about getting people to choose alternative methods or walk or bike. With that in mind we partnered with Bike Pittsburgh and their Car Free Fridays campaign to offer a complimentary event. We called it The Black and Gold City Goes Green- Walking Bus. We hosted a breakfast and give away for those who would meet up with us in the Lawrenceville Neighborhood and walk downtown to work. Unfortunately we had very little attendance. This is an event will consider doing again with more publicity and when the weather is better.
I also learned, this month, that after the Green Cities Fellowship has concluded, I will be able to stay on at PennFuture as a full time member of the staff. The Green Cities Fellowship has given me the opportunity to build my skills and prove myself to the host organization.
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September: Loralyn Fabian [32]
EAST LIBERTY DEVELOPMENT, INC. and SCA
Sustainable Community Fellow
Two main projects ruled the month of September: A last minute TreeVitalize application, and a last minute grant application to the Sprout Fund. We decided to apply for a TreeVitalize grant for the S. St. Clair St. and Amber St. area of the East Liberty neighborhood. This particular application was rewarding because I had the opportunity to work alongside community contact Stephanie Raufer who lives on St. Clair St. Due to her Urban Studies background at Pitt, she was very familiar with the Allegheny County Assessment website; if only I had known about this site this spring! It was a great resource for researching property owners and their contact information, as opposed to trying to go through renters to get homeowner info. With only about a week to accomplish the project, Stephanie and I got an incredible amount of signatures! We hope to be awarded the trees in the spring of 2011.
The second larger project for the month was a grant application to the Sprout Fund for their Spring funding stream. Katherine at ELDI has always been intrigued by the innovative concept of green roofs on bus shelters, and with new bus shelters already being proposed for the neighborhood, we thought it’d be a great opportunity. After a lot of research and writing, I was able to accomplish about half the grant in a weeks worth of time, while Katherine finished it up. This is a very exciting project and I do hope ELDI is awarded. If they are, I may have the opportunity to work alongside a landscape architect in the area who has a ton of green roof/ecology landscape design experience!
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September: Claire Miziolek [34]
GTECH Strategies
Sustainable Community Fellow
Summary:
September has been a very full month. At GTECH, we have been harvesting the sunflowers at many of the sites that we planted this year. We have been working with community groups to come out and get the sunflower seeds from the sunflowers that grew tall this year. We have found that birds, especially gold finches, have really enjoyed the sunflower seeds this year! While many of the seeds have been pecked away, there still have been a great number a seeds at these sites and many volunteers to show for it.
This Month, I led many volunteer groups in our harvest activities. This included:
--Pulse at Pennley on 9/1
--Shecona Harvest on 9/8 in E. Liberty
--Swissvale Harvest on 9/11
--Millvale harvest on 9/11
--Mowed Millvale and Swissvale on 9/15
--Braddock outreach at the farm stand on 9/16
--Helped get materials together for Jeanette St., event was on 9/18
--Peabody on 9/19 in E. Liberty
--Tarentum on 9/19
--Sharpsburg harvest on 9/22, crazy downpour
--Elizabeth on 9/23, almost 100 preschoolers
--Braddock on 9/25
--Sharpsburg for 9/28
We have many current green economy initiatives. Some events this month included:
--Taking notes and helping facilitating for GJAB on Sept 14th
--Voter Activation Network training for the Urban Leadership Institute program on 9/21
--Green for All event discussion on 9/9, 9/21
--Coro NEXT program special discussion on 9/30
Other administrative duties:
--Collected and compiled GTECH Newsletter articles
--Took notes and compiled them for the GTECH Board Meeting on 9/16
--Took weekly Staff meeting notes and sent out action items
Community Engagement and education events:
--Met with 3 Rivers Connect, discussed education opportunities
--Attend Solutions for Society to hear Cheryl Dorsey speak.
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September: Jamie Eberl [39]
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Sustainable County Fellow
Recycling
- Followed up with several park managers after recycling bins were received.
- Met with County Recycling Coordinator about the recycling status at County buildings and parks. Set up a plan to meet with facility managers to determine what additional steps need to be taken to facilitate recycling in each individual building.
- Began drafting a recycling protocol for special events held in County parks.
Grants
- Reviewed, updated and organized grants spreadsheet, adding information and updating opening and deadline dates.
Green Nurture
- Continued communication with GreenNurture staff to troubleshoot issues and make suggestions about its website.
- Responded to additional County employees who expressed interest in being part of GreenNurture and added these additional contacts to the system.
- Monitored GreenNurture message boards.
- Organized a report format for GreenNurture posts into an excel sheet
- Met with GreenNurture staff via conference call to discuss software glitches, current levels of County participation, and how to increase participation.
- Drafted letter to all those who had pending invitations from GreenNurture to encourage them to sign up.
- Discussed with the County internal Green Action Team a method of determining the best eco-actions suggested on GreenNurture.
LEED for Existing Buildings
- Researched Energy Star portfolio manager categories to determine how Allegheny County properties could fit into these categories.
- Updated County-owned building spreadsheet to include square footage and ages of buildings.
Utility Manager
- Attended data input and report creation training sessions.
- Attended weekly update meetings.
- Used training module to become familiar with Utility Manager software before the launch of live version.
- Generated reports to double-check that previous data used to populate tool was added correctly and completely.
- Reviewed possible errors in data input process with administrative services.
- Reviewed individual Parks, Public Works, Kanes and Shuman accounts to check for missing or incomplete data.
- Organized hardcopies of 2008, 2009, 2010 bills that need additional data added to Utility manager accounts in preparation for software launch.
South Park Redevelopment
- Attended weekly check-in meetings with the Parks Department, Parks Foundation, and County Consultants.
- Compiled a mailing list with contact information for the project team and interested citizens.
- Attended project kick-off meeting with the project team at South Park Fairgrounds.
- Participated in the initial public input meeting about fairgrounds redevelopment at South Park.
Administrative Tasks
- Attended Green Action Team meetings and took notes.
- Attended Pittsburgh Climate Initiative meetings.
Events
ALCOSAN webinar: Green Infrastructure - What's Legal?
Rachel Carson Conference – Challenging Marcellus Shale
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September: Katrina Brink [43]
PENN STATE EXTENSION IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY
PITTSBURGH FOOD POLICY COUNCIL
PITTSBURGH GARDEN EXPERIMENT
Sustainable Agriculture Fellow
Summary:
The growing season is wrapping up, so we are moving into teaching and planning fun events and the work to be done in the off-season. This month for Penn State Cooperative Extension I did some work on the blog, but mostly prepared my lesson plans for our fall offering of Exploring the Small Farm Dream. Some progress is being made with the Food Policy Council, and we have a consultant to help us, pro bono, with organizational development and structure. This will take place in early November. For the Pittsburgh Garden Experiment our benefit concert, The Harvest After Party, went into full swing and I solicited sponsorships and donations from area businesses and organizations that are involved in the urban agriculture scene in Pittsburgh. I have also been recording measurements at our two seed bomb test plots. Fall has been great so far and is poised to get even better!
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September: Sarah Palmisano [47]
CITY OF PITTSBURGH
Sustainable City Fellow
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 September: Participated in the City employee wellness fair to educate employees on new recycling plan for the City-County Building and general sustainability initiatives.
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 September: Attended the Rachel Carson Legacy Conference on to learn about consequences and alternatives to Marcellus Shale; attended a networking cruise on the Gateway Clipper.
Internal work describes work being done within the Mayor’s Office to incorporate sustainability into City operations and services.
Internal work for September: I am continuing to conduct interviews and compile information for a series of case studies on the City’s environmental projects. Also, significant progress was made in retrofitting recycling in the City-County Building. Changes include:
• Collection of “mixed paper” (rather than just newspaper) and plastics #1-5, glass, and certain metal products (rather than just soda bottles and cans);
• More recycling bins (including 5 recycling stations);
• Improved signage; and
• Outreach to city employees.
Next steps include monitoring the bins, continuing to work with employees and cleaning staff to ensure higher recycling rates, and retrofitting other city-owned buildings based on this model.
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September: Adam Fedyski [50]
PITTSBURGH PARKS CONSERVANCY
Sustainable Community Fellow
September ushered in a welcome change in the seasons, which led to an increase in volunteer and education activities outdoors. While August provided me the opportunity to catch up on office work, September gave me the opportunity to do what I enjoy most, which is working with and educating people in the parks. I worked with and educated over 600 people this month through the various PPC activities in which I participated. I feel like I have reached a time in my position where I can talk to, educate and excite anyone about the Parks Conservancy. I am thankful that this position is 10 months long. The continued time to work at one place in one position has provided me the opportunity to develop my abilities and confidence in myself. It has also helped me come to a better understanding of how to work in a team and complement the roles of other staff members to increase the efficiency and success of every event and presentation. Here are some of the highlights from the month:
September 10: Americorps Literacy Volunteer Day- Worked with 43 members of the new Americorps Literacy group in Highland Park. We fixed fencing around trees that were planted this year, watered them, removed invasive vines, built check dams on a hillside, and cleaned up litter.
September 14: Urban EcoSteward training on identifying and removing invasive plants late in the growing season.
September 16: First Aid/ CPR training with PPC staff- I set this up so that we would be more prepared for volunteer days and other public outreach events. We now have nine staff and one volunteer certified in First Aid and CPR/AED.
September 17: National Park(ing) Day- This is a nationwide event where organizations and individuals turn parking spaces into temporary public green spaces. I designed and built a parking space for the PPC that included plant material from the park as a base, potted seedlings, a park-themed bag toss, and info about Schenley Park and Schenley Plaza, which is where I set up our parking space. This was one of my favorite events of the year, as I was entrusted with planning and organizing the logistics and designing the space.
September 18: ALCOSAN Open House tabling- Talked to more people than I could count, though I estimated it was around 350 throughout the seven hour event. It was by far the most exposure we received at one event this year.
September 20 & 21: Watershed education walk with City High 10th graders (about 42 each day)- gave students an introduction to what a watershed is, the role it plays in their lives, and how their actions affect the watershed.
September 22: Habitat Explorers with the Frick Environmental Center- assisted the FEC staff in setting up and running their first grade program where students learned about and explored a meadow habitat. Students from four schools come to Frick Park six times throughout the school year to learn about meadow, woodland, and stream habitats. This was their first visit.
September 25: FontanaFest Tabling- represented the PPC at Senator Wayne Fontana’s festival on the South Side. This is the first tabling we have done in that area of the city, so we reached a new audience and informed them about the PPC and what we do.
September 28: Habitat Explorers- taught students about the exploration and discovery activity. Helped out with both the morning and afternoon sessions.
September 29: University of Pittsburgh’s Day of Caring- worked with 27 Pitt faculty, staff and graduate students to plant and mulch 130 trees and shrubs along the border of the Westinghouse Woods and the Bob O’Connor Golf Course in Schenley Park.
Also, on September 24, I attended the Challenging Marcellus Shale Conference. I learned about the environmental and health consequences, potential threats, and possible solutions for Marcellus Shale Drilling. The keynote speaker, Karl-Henrik Robert, traveled from Sweden for the conference to present on his book The Natural Step, which outlines the framework necessary for sustainable development in businesses, communities, and other projects. Rather than try to give answers to questions that nobody knows the answers to regarding Marcellus Shale Drilling, he outlined how sustainable development is achieved in any scenario. The conference increased my desire to learn more about the issue. It helped me think in a different way about the issues and how to approach them with any person, regardless of their political affiliation or background.
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September: Miriam Parson [54]
GREEN BUILDING ALLIANCE
Sustainable Climate Fellow
Summary:
In September 2010 my time has been focused on developing funding strategies for the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative. We have finalized the 2008 Pittsburgh Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report: A Five-Year Benchmark and it will be published online during the first week of October. I have also drafted all four chapters of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, each of which are under review by the leaders in each sector. The community and business chapters require the most development, and as such we’re working for more aggressive progress in October. I am also organizing outreach events with the Higher Education Climate Consortium’s member schools for October, for which I’m conducting two training sessions during the first week of October to teach volunteers basic skills in active tabling.
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Greening the Blues Festival [56]
The Pittsburgh Blues Festival brings together 8,000 – 10,000 Blues music enthusiasts each year to help the Food Bank feed thousands of people at risk of going hungry. This year the Green Cities Corps teamed up with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (GPCFB) to bring you three days of music and green. The Festival had sustainable practices embedded within it (such as composting, recycling and waste oil collection), but it also demonstrated the many sustainable practices that are occurring within the Pittsburgh region to mitigate climate change. Nineteen green agencies and six local food producers were stationed under the Green Tent during the weekend to promote sustainable environmental initiatives. There were hands-on cooking demonstrations and Creative Reuse arts activities. Raffles for awesome eco prizes (energy audits, rain garden assessments, etc.) were also given away!!
In coordinating the recycling and composting efforts for the 2010 Pittsburgh Blues Festival our 54 volunteers were instrumental in assuring the success of this effort.
Volunteers monitored the recycling and composting stations to prevent contamination by cycling through the stations redistributing inappropriate waste from the “compost”, “land fill” or “recycling” receptacles into the correct waste bins. Additionally, volunteers removed full bags of waste, replaced new bags into emptied bins, educated festival goers about recycling and composting, completed the end of festival sweeps each night and a few of our rock star volunteers worked as the last line of defense to sort through several hundred pounds of food waste to assure the compost was not tainted with any non compostable materials. .
Last year, 3 -4 garbage truck loads of waste were sent to the landfill every night of the festival. Because of our efforts only 1 truckload went to the landfill on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we ended with 2 garbage truck loads but still overall we diverted a total of 6 garbage truckloads of waste were diverted from the landfill. That is a 60% reduction. Not bad for our first year.
To learn more about the benefits of recycling and composting in the United States click on the fact sheet below to read the EPA’s 2008 report on municipal solid waste generation.
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August: Ray Whiteside [62]
CCI
Sustainable Community Fellow
SCA Community Day
During the month of August I was a part of the community outreach for SCA's Hazelwood Community Day held on August 21, 2010 in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hazelwood. The community day was a volunteer service project with activities such as helping with urban gardens, food forests, and building and installing rain barrels. In preparation for the event I along with the other Green Cities Fellows recruited Hazelwood residents to join the service project. To raise awareness and get Hazelwood involved we spoke at community meetings, passed out flyers throughout Hazelwood, went to speak to the pastors of local churches for recruiting, the local YMCA, and The Hazelwood Initiative.
Conservation Consultants Inc. (CCI)
At CCI, I have been creating a building tour script for performing tours for groups that visit the CCI Center, a gold LEED-EB (existing building) certified building. CCI engages communities with outreach programs to schools and community groups by using their green building as a teaching tool in energy conservation and responsible energy use.
As part of my responsibilities at CCI I will be conducting these building tours. With no experience of giving a building tour I decided that creating a guide would be an effective way to become comfortable with giving a tour and learning all the green building details of the CCI Center. In preparation for the guide I went on two more building tours with my supervisor and listed in what order she visited each floor of the CCI Center and recorded all the information she presented. Included in the guide is a Q&A activity for each visited area of the tour to engage both a youth and adult audience. This guide is to be used as a rehearsal resource and ideally the guide will not only be used by me but also other staff who have not conducted the building tour. Hopefully I’ll be able to practice giving the building tour alone to get more comfortable with the presentation before delivering it to a large group. I hope to make this an easy and creative way for not only myself but also for other CCI staff and interns to learn how to give the CCI Center Green Building Tour.
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August: Evan Endres [64]
PENN FUTURE
Sustainability Community Fellow
In addition to the month to month operation and campaign communication I continue to develop new plans and create partnerships for that add value to the Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign.
This month’s partnership was most notably an alliance with Duquesne Light and their Watt Choices program in support of our Neighborhood Blitz pilot program. They have agreed to provide some energy saving devices that we can distribute door to door. This has a mutual benefit of provide us with opportunity for measurable carbon reduction and provides Duquesne Light with an opportunity for mandated peak load reductions. If the pilot Blitz is successful this could be a sustainable and scalable relationship.
August’s action was all about eating locally and choosing organic foods. In observance of this we arranged a week of tabling at City Parks Farmers Markets. We did a daily give-away of market cash to be used at the markets. This was successful in attracting attention to the campaign and getting some registrants and Community Partners.
I have also begun to explore and develop a new community partner’s competition. “Killing Vampires” will give Community Partner’s the ability to empower their constituents to identify and “Kill” vampires. Of course, I’m talking about electricity Vampires, devices that draw energy when not turned. We are in the planning stages of this event and currently gathering resources.
The SCA Hazelwood Volunteer Day was a great success. My own contribution was a bit muted by the end as I found myself a bit busier in August with B&G functions. I would like to praise my fellow Green Cities Fellows who took leadership of this event and ensured its success. It was too much fun to be counted as a “work” day.
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August: Claire Miziolek [66]
SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNITY FELLOW
GTECH Strategies
Summary:
August was hot and busy! On the reclamation site, we have been gearing up for sunflower harvest. On the Green Economy side, we've been moving forward with several initiatives. Around the office, August is when we said good bye to several summer interns and wrapped up several projects. All in all, August has been a full month running the gamut of activity.
SCA Community Day
For the SCA Community Day, which took place on August 21st in Hazelwood, I took on the role of logistical coordination. That included:
--Leading Conference calls on 8/2 and 8/12
--Leading in-person group meeting on 8/17
--Going down to Hazelwood to pass out fliers/mingle on 8/3
--Learning about tools with Josh Nard from SCA on 8/20
--The community day! With a great turnout! on 8/21
Green Economy Meetings
GTECH is the convener of many groups. This month I:
--Scheduled and took notes for the Regional Green Economy Task Force meeting on 8/2
--Scheduled and took notes for the Job Readiness Roundtable meeting on 8/6
--Scheduled and took notes for the Green Jobs Advisory Board meeting on 8/10
--Accompanied my colleague Khari to a press conference with the National Wildlife Federation about the affects of climate change on urban settings on 8/17
Green Economy Events
We are in the process of planning a large scale event to take place in October. For this, I:
--Met with key GTECH players on 8/12 and 8/17
--Met with Michael Sider-Rose of Coro on 8/13
--Met with an events committee on 8/16
--Toured the venue on 8/26
--Met with partners from Green For All on 8/26 and 8/27
Education/Speaking engagements
--I spoke to a group of youth in Beltzhoover about Vacant Land Strategies on 8/11
--I spoke to a group of youth in Beltzhoover about Green Jobs on 8/18
--Tabled for GTECH at the Rachel Carson Sustainable Feast on 8/29
--Tabled for GTECH for the Coro Community Study on 8/30
--Spoke with the Coro NEXT Leaders about the upcoming Green Economy event.
Administrative
--I also took notes and disseminated action items for the weekly Staff Meetings and the weekly Reclamation Meetings
Other
--I finalized and sent out the GTECH August newsletter on 8/4
--I finalized and sent out a grant application on 8/2
--Helped build a booth for Hothouse on 8/23, 8/25, and tabled at Hothouse on 8/28
--Bike on the Great Allegheny Passage on 8/27 with the SCA Green Cities/TTOC group
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