Rachel Carson Legacy Conference

The conference opens with views of a sustainable future, and a message from Senator Casey urging support for his legislation rescinding the Marcellus Shale exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.This Conference examines the health, environmental and community effects we will experience from Marcellus Shale drilling and offers solutions from other places.

We urge precautions be taken to protect our air, water and fertile land from the effects of development. We focus on building the infrastructure and the economic and social structure to move to a renewable and sustainable energy base soon.. Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert of Sweden, founder of The Natural Step framework and principles will give the keynote address, followed by Mayor Ken Melamed of Whistler British Columbia whose community has implemented a sustainable policy. We have several presenters discussing energy systems based on wind, solar, anaerobic digestion of municipal sewage or dairy manure to produce methane in a sustainable way while solving other water and land use issues. This is a provocative discussion with an eye toward moving forward now to a sustainable future.

Register at www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org

Field Trip to Westmoreland Conservation District September 22, 2010

Join Us! Visit the Westmoreland Conservation District and learn about green rooftops, permeable pavement, solar and more. Formal tour with Kathy Hamilton, landscape architect, and Sustainable Monroeville 2:00-4:00 PM September 22, 2010; Informal self-guided tour of grounds 5:00-7:00 PM with Jesse John Salensky. http://www.wcdpa.com/

In collaboration with the Turtle Creek Watershed Association and the Monroeville Public Library.

Upcoming Events, August, 2010

Here are three upcoming events you might be interested in:

1) This coming Friday evening, August 27 at the Blue Slide Park in Squirrel Hill, there will be a showing of the movie Gasland followed by a discussion with Josh Fox, the creator of the documentary. Live music at 8:00, outdoor movie screening at 8:30. Rain Date, August 28.

2) Sunday, August 29, the Rachel Carson Homestead Sustainable Feast on the Ninth Street, now Rachel Carson Bridge. Cost is $10.00. Noon to five PM.

3) Tuesday evening, August 31 at 7:00 PM at the Coliseum 7310 Frankstown Avenue, a joint meeting of Transition and groups forming around the Marcellus Shale issue. Come Learn!

Elisa Beck
http://www.sustainablemonroeville.com/
http://www.transitionpgh.org/

September, 2010 Meetings of Sustainable Monroeville

Join us on Wednesday, September 1 from 7:00-8:30 PM at the MPL for our regular September meeting. No official speaker, so come prepared with long introductions and brainstorm and plan future sustainable projects in our town! We will re-schedule Mark Dixon of YERT at a future date!

See prior post for another exciting meeting on September 15!

Elisa Beck

Sustainable Monroeville

http://www.sustainablemonroeville.com/

http://www.transitonpgh.org/

In Danger of Falling Food: Free documentary screening and discussion

In Danger of Falling Food: A Community Discussion
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Monroeville Public Library Gallery Space

Cosponsored by Sustainable Monroeville

Please join us as we view and discuss In Danger of Falling Food, an hour-long documentary about the permaculture concept featuring Australian ecologist Bill Mollison. Mollison was born in 1928 and has been called the father of permaculture, an integrated system of design encompassing not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology but also money management, land access strategies and legal systems for businesses and communities. The aim is to create systems that provide for their own needs, do not pollute and are sustainable. Mollison received the 1981 Right Livelihood Award for for developing and promoting the theory and practice of permaculture. The discussion will focus on permaculture strategies in Monroeville and will be facilitated by Kate O'Brien, Jeff Newman and Elisa Beck of Sustainable Monroeville.

Mark Hudson
Head of Adult Services
Monroeville Public Library
4000 Gateway Campus Blvd.
Monroeville, PA 15146
412-372-0500x13

Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: September 24, 2010

If you pick two conferences to attend this year in Pittsburgh, make this one of them!

Challenging Marcellus Shale:
Consequences and Alternatives
Keynote Speaker: Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Ph.D., MD - one of Sweden’s foremost cancer scientists and the founder of The Natural Step.
Register Here
September 24, 2010Pittsburgh, PA

The 2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference : Challenging Marcellus Shale - Consequences and Alternatives will address the health, environmental and community effects Pennsylvania will face with the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields.
We have gathered people from New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania with experience and expertise in evaluating hte results of the deep shale fracking industry. The Alternatives approach will be highlighted by keynote speaker Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt of Sweden founder of The Natural Step process for reaching a sustainable economy. He will be followed by Ken Melamed, Mayor of Whistler, B.C., who will describe the Whistler 2020 plan as implemented based on Dr. Robert's approach and a panel of renewable and sustainable energy businesses illustrating current economically viable applications of renewable energy systems. Learn more and register

Gasland - Free Film

Join us for a free community screening of GASLAND, an eye-opening film about the controversial form of gas drilling called "fracking."

Time: 6pm
Date: August 5th
Location: 518 Foreland Street, Pittsburgh, PA

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is a process to extract oil and natural gas deep within the earth. Drillers blast water, sand and chemicals 8,000 feet into the ground. The natural gas industry says fracking will create jobs and provide cheap energy for decades. But the truth is that fracking poses a serious threat to clean air and water, biodiversity, and the health of our communities. Companies are now drilling, or seeking to drill, all throughout the Marcellus Shale: a region in the Appalachian Basin that includes large chunks of Pennsylvania which contain largely untapped natural gas reserves. And Halliburton – yes, Halliburton – is building a huge outpost in Williamsport, PA to service decades of drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

The PA Department of Environmental Protection has granted five permits for fracking sites in Allegheny County. They list two of those sites as "active."

About GASLAND - When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."

Gasland website - http://gaslandthemovie.com/

Marcellus Shale Info - http://www.marcellus-shale.us/

EcoLakewood and Sustainable Monroeville

Join us tomorrow evening, Monday, August 2, 2010 at 6:00 PM for a pot luck dinner and to hear Jen Goetchius speak at 7:00 in the program room of the Monroeville Public Library. Pot Luck: Bring a dish with at least one locally sourced ingredient if you can. Remember to bring a plate, cup, and utensils!

Jen Goetchius of Sustainable Monroeville was the creator of our Sustainble Monroeville website/ blogspot and facebook page and continues to post on these sites along with me. She also founded EcoLakewood outside of Cleveland and will be working with us to take Sustainable Monroeville to the next level! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow evening.

Marcellus Shale

Fracking is an activity that occurs in many parts of the country. While this gas extraction occurs within the state of PA and promotes the intention of "energy independence" the resources and most profits obtained from this gas drilling will not remain in the state; or possibly not even within the United States. See here for an overview.

While often coined to be "clean energy," fracking and gas drilling is NOT a clean energy process. The process actually creates imminent health issues, air pollution and both water quality and quantity issue. Within this New York Times link is a document whereby Weston Wilson, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee and whistle blower, reveals EPA's potential failure to protect America's groundwater. His belief is that EPA's conclusion (i.e that the fracking process posses no threat to drinking water) is based on unsound science and appears to be improper under the The Safe Drinking Water Act. (SDWA).

The SDWA was amended in 2005. These amendments are currently known as the The "Halliburton loophole". The Amendments actually stripped the EPA of its authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing. It is an amazing article and well worth reading.While the gas drilling companies maintain that the fracking process is not a new process, and point to the fact that this has been going on for decades; the reality is that there have been many changes to this process that need to be scrutinized. The fracking fluid also contains many cancer causing chemicals including benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde.The fracking process also contributes to an increase of green house gasses in the atmosphere. Methane is a Green House Gas 22-25 times stronger than CO2. The Fracking process emits Methane contributing climate change.

New cameras are now being used to show the quantity of these vapors not visible with the naked eye. In addition, this link documents the problems associated with water quality and quantity issues, for example, naturally occurring radioactive materials that are leached in the process are brought to the surface. Water quantity withdrawals are a problem; a gas well can require up to 8,000,000 gallons of water per frack and a well can be fracked up to 18 times.

How many wells are currently permitted in PA? Both NYC and Pittsburgh City council have acknowledged the problems are real and have enacted temporary moratoriums until further threats can be assessed. The EPA is taking public comment about the scope of a new proposed study on fracking and is soliciting public comment before pressing forward with enacting any final regulations related to the the fracking process Please make your voice heard by attending the public meeting tomorrow or by contacting your congressmen or state representatives.

Power of 32: July 27, 2010 6:30-9:00 PM in Monroeville Council Chamber

Power of 32 is the biggest regional planning project ever undertaken in the United States, involving 32 counties in four states, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland. The idea behind this undertaking is that to compete in a global economy takes the strength and cooperation of a whole region, and that to make this an attractive and vibrant and healthy place to live also takes the whole region working together. This organization recently learned about Sustainable Monroeville at the Monroeville Library, and would be so pleased if some of our members could join the Power of 32 community conversation which will take place at the Monroeville Council Chambers on July 27 at 6:30 P.M. Your passion is obviously critical to enhancing quality of life in the next 25 years, and your voices should be heard! These conversations are the first step in a three phase process to develop a citizen-driven agenda for action. The Library has fact sheets, and flyers about the July 27 meeting.

If you have questions, please contact:
Sue McLaughlin, Outreach Coordinator
Power of 32
412-606-9073

Tomer Nature Reserve in Murrysville, PA

Pia, of the Friends of Murrysville Parks, led a wonderful walk through the seventeen - acre Tomer Nature Reserve of the Westmoreland Conservancy this fine Saturday morning. Pia is a naturalist and has been facilitating an appreciation of all plants that are native to Western PA and the removal of exotic invasive species at Duff Park in Murrysville for ten years. Pia pointed out many beautiful plants that we want to keep in our wooded and prairie areas of our landscapes including Joe Pye Weed and Milkweed for butterflies and bees, Mayapple, Native Dogwood, Oak saplings, Blackberries and many more species.

Pia also pointed out and pulled out many exotic invasive plants. According to the colorful flyer Pia handed me following the hike, titled, "Help Murry the Squirrel Stomp Out Invasive Plants in Murrysville Parks," these invasives include Garlic Mustard, Bush Honeysuckle, Japanese and Giant Knotweed, Japenese Stilt Grass, Burning Bush, Barberry, Japanese Honeysuckle Vine, Multiflora Rose, and Tree of Heaven. We learned to identify almost all of these species and learned even in a nature reserve it is fine to remove these species from the reserve because they do not belong there.

Exotic invasive species choke out the native species by competing with them for basic soil nutrients, sunlight and water. Pia described how Japanese Stilt Grass uses a huge amount of water and grows so dense that native saplings are unable to germinate.

I enjoyed this hike with several others who reside in and around Murrysville and look forward to Pia's visit to Monroeville to educate us too! Thanks so much Pia, Buck the trailblazer, and the others too... Elisa Beck

July 19, 2010 Sustainable Monroeville Meeting -- Alternative Design Review

An Alternative Design Overview will be presented by Jeff Yeager of Octopus Organics and Jeff Newman of Steel City Soils, the Pittsburgh Garden Experiment, and Transition Pittsburgh. Meeting Date is Monday evening, July 19, 2010, at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library.

The 1-hour talk, will have 2 parts: evaluation techniques and permaculture principles for sub-urban applications. Learn about forest gardens, micro-climates, native-species, water and soil management. Both Jeffs will introduce ideas to hone your observation skills, add efficiency, and increase the production and health of your suburban homestead.

Feel free to bring along a locally sourced food snack to share. Questions? SustainableMonroeville@gmail.com