John Jameson’s October Update

October was a busy month here at GBA. During the first half, I traveled to Toronto for the Greenbuild Conference with other GBA staff and SCA Fellows where we volunteered, learned, and networked with other professionals. The week following, the AASHE Conference was held here in Pittsburgh, and I put together a presentation on PCI that attracted 20 attendees. I attended several other presentations there and met sustainability officers from across the country as well. October saw the advancement of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan into final formatting and editing, as we have brought on a graphics design intern to help us finalize the layout and final look of the document. The October PCI Newsletter was sent out, but seemed to once again hit more spam folders than inboxes. For the November newsletter, I will be working to improve the open rate by further refining the newsletter. This month I coordinated with HECC member schools to organize the fall service event event, a tree planting day with 9 Mile Run. Unfortunately, volunteer coordinators at schools and I were unable to generate many signups, and the first snow of the season deterred those who had registed from coming, but in the end 2 students, 2 faculty members, and myself along with a host of community members helped 9 Mile Run Watershed Association get 20 new trees in the ground. Lastly, I organized and facilitated the October PCI Partners meeting where we discussed next year’s future funding, the Solar Decathlon competition, and ongoing programmatic activities.