Earth Hour and Permaculture

To make a statement about climate change, Saturday evening, March 26, 2011, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM, is Earth Hour. In Pittsburgh, PA, the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, Hamerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon University and other "iconic" structures in Pittsburgh will be dark for that hour. Thanks Bill Peduto of Pittsburgh City Council! Let's all turn out our lights from 8:30 to 9:30 tonight and see what it is like to be with some more natural light rhythms.

As part of the Permaculture Design Course sponsored by Phipps Conservatory, I spent the afternoon walking around a house in the Point Breeze area whose owners have done everything possible to save energy and be as mindful as possible in their lives. They've installed an amazing wood burning stove, energy efficient windows, some that absorb heat and some that repel heat depending upon the orientation, that's north, south, east or west, and lots and lots of extra insulation to seal up all holes and cracks. They even have, and use two home made composting toilets. Of course a Permaculture landscape, complete with a pond with goldfish swimming around, and what I'll call their two year old urban food forest are simply amazing. We are all on this path together!

Happy Spring and have fun with Earth Hour!

The Economics of Happiness trailer (high resolution)

Training for Transition T4T in Monroeville!

Mark your calendar for April 9 and April 10, 2011 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day for Training for Transition. The training, sponsored by Transition Pittsburgh, will take place at the Cedars in Monroeville and is co-sponsored by Sustainable Monroeville and the Cedars. Carpools will be set up from the city. This course is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to catalyze, support and engag­e your community Training4Transition delves into both the theory and practice of Transition that has worked so well in hundreds of communities in the U.K. and around the world.



• Explore ways of increasing community resilience
• Learn to describe the challenges of Peak Oil, climate change, and economic instability in ways that bring people together and inspire action
• Receive tools for community outreach, education and creating shared vision
• Learn ways to work with obstacles that have prevented our communities from responding to the challenges
• Learn how to facilitate community collaboration -- supporting existing activities and expanding the number and diversity of people involved
• Meet others in your region who share your concerns and want to transition to greater stability and security
• Become a part of a rapidly growing positive, inspirational, global movement!

Who should attend: People interested in learning ways to transition their community, people already creating a Transition Initiative, and communities wishing to become an internationally-recognized Transition Initiative.

Instructors: Tina Clarke, certified Transition Trainer will be making her forth trip to Pittsburgh! She will be joined by Fred Brown, of the Kingsley Association in Pittsburgh and certified TransitionUS trainer.

Cost: $160. Refreshments and study materials included. All food is Potluck! (Lodging not included.) If you can donate extra money for scholarships, your generosity will help those with low incomes to attend! A small amount of work-trade spots and scholarships are available.

Registration: Send an Email with your info (name, neighborhood, affiliations) to Jeff Newman: jnewman11@gmail.com or call 814-449-3552. There is more information at our website - http://transitionpgh.org/events/training-4-transition-2-days

TransitionPgh Meetup site - http://www.meetup.com/transitionpgh/events/16850577/
 Feel free to share this with anyone that might be interested!

One Woman Farm

Margaret Schlass of One Woman Farm will be speaking this coming Friday, March 11, 2011, at the Cedars in Monroeville. Go to the Cedars website for details. This is in conjunction with the Cedars coffee and tea house.

David Jacke in Pittsburgh! Food Forest Heaven!

Schwartz Market on Pittsburgh's Historic South Side is closing for the time being and planning for a new era in food systems and health and healing in America is beginning! Go to http://1317eastcarson.blogspot.com/ for some insights.

Join David Jacke at Chatham University and at the Phipps Garden Center the last weekend in March and through April 1. Details follow.

We will all learn together how to develop our own food forests, produce our own food on our own property and in our own neighborhoods. Clean water, pure air, real food and healthy bodies will move us into our healthy future!

Food, not lawns, is the next phase for Monroeville! Learn with us!

Healthy Land, Healthy Water, Healthy Community: Regenerating Pittsburgh from the Ground Up

Friday Lecture and Weekend Workshop by Permaculture Expert Dave Jacke

Okay, I changed my light bulbs to CFLs, I recycle and compost. What else can I do?! If you are looking for ways to delve deeper into lasting sustainable solutions, then this inspiring evening lecture and weekend workshop is just what you need to discover practical ways to create a healthy and vibrant life—and to regenerate the city in the process!  Liz

Friday evening, April 29, 7-9PM, Eddy Theatre, Chatham University, Pittsburgh

Regenerating Communities, Ecosystems, and Landscapes with Permaculture

During the Friday evening lecture, explore the forest gardening vision with Dave Jacke, author of Edible Forest Gardens, as he presents “Regenerating Communities, Ecosystems, and Landscapes with Permaculture.” Learn how to create high-yielding, low-maintenance backyards with lush ripe fruit and perennial edibles, and see ample examples of existing edible Edens. Discover how this systems design model can be used for backyard growing as well as community empowerment to create an abundant future right here, right now. This event takes place on Friday April 29, 2011, from 7-9pm, at Chatham University’s Eddy Theatre.

§       Suggested donation: $10.  No one turned away for lack of funds.  All are welcome.

Saturday & Sunday, April 30 & May 1, 9AM-4PM 1059 Shady Ave, Phipps Garden Center

Regenerating Pittsburgh from the Ground Up

Join Dave Jacke and regional permaculture teachers for a two-day workshop, April 30^th and May 1^st, at Phipps Garden Center on Shady Avenue. Gain a fresh perspective on functional relationships in plant and human communities. Experience permaculture principles and learn how to replicate the way nature works to provide us with everything we need – food, energy, shelter, medicine, biodiversity, beauty, health, enjoyment - with minimal work in the long run. Engage with other Pittsburghers in real solutions to our region’s most pressing environmental challenges.

§       Sliding scale fee for the weekend workshop is $150- $200.  Discounts for groups of 5 or more, pay only $125 per person. Scholarships available, please ask.

§       Pre-registration required, please visit PittsburghPermaculture.org or call Juliette at 412-780-5833. 

Kevin May LIVE! "The Two Trees"

The next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville will feature Kevin May, Philosophical, Cultural Recyclist and Transitioner speaking about life and good living. Join us on Monday evening, March 7, 2011, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Monroeville Public Library. We'll also do an update on our work including recycling and Permaculture Design and implementation of a vegetable garden this spring.

Annual Pot Luck Dinner

Join us on Monday evening, February 7, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM for our second annual pot luck dinner in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library. Please bring along a dish that has one locally sourced ingredient or a raw food dish.

Last year we asked folks to bring along a dish with one locally sourced ingredient and it got us thinking! One member of the group brought ham from Isaly's, another a potato dish from the prepared foods section of Whole Foods that had locally sourced potatoes. Be creative! This will be a zero waste event so bring your plate, silverware and cup too!

Food and Social Change

Anna Lappe will speak at Chatham University on Food Activism and social change on Wednesday evening, January 26, 2011, at 5:00 PM. Book signing follows. Admission is free. For more information call 412-365-2473 or email ajulier@chatham.edu. Directions and parking information are located here.

Her lecture, “Firing-Up Food Activism, Cooling-Down the Planet,” promises to be an inspiring talk about sustaining communities and encouraging innovative and democratic solutions to hunger, inequality, and environmental degradation. Ms. Lappé’s journey through the global food system shows us where the problems reside and what people across the globe are doing in everyday actions to challenge and change our world. Her most recent books include “Diet for a Hot Planet” and “Hope’s Edge.”Go to Chatham University website for details.

Join us at the next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville on Monday evening, January 7, 2011 in the program room of the Monroeville Public Library at 6:30 PM for a pot luck dinner. Bring along a dish that has one locally sourced ingredient, or a non-meat raw foods dish. Also bring a place setting so this can be a zero waste event. We will compost our food waste!
This will be our second annual pot luck dinner. We all needed to think long and hard about the local ingredient challenge in February. Here we go again! See you soon. :)

Living Building Renovation

Check out this video by Kevin May of the Cultural Recyclists and learn something about a fascinating project in Pittsburgh's historic South Side. What can we learn from this work out here in the Pittsburgh suburbs?

Alternative Electricity Suppliers

Join us on Monday evening, January 3, 2011, for our first meeting of the New Year! We will be planning speakers and happenings for this calendar year and hearing Joni James talk about an opportunity to fundraise for our organization.

Bring along your electric bill if you are ready to have your energy supplied by 20% wind energy or 100% wind energy.

Coffee for a Change and Cedars Coffee House

Join the Gateway Interact Club for their annual Coffee For a Change Event. This event creates awareness about fairly traded, shade grown and organic coffee and other fair trade products. Building New Hope's coffee will be sold in addition to coffee from Equal Exchange and there will be lots of great musical entertainment by the students. The event is at North American Martyrs On Saturday evening, December 11, 2010, starting at 7:00 PM.

Also on December 11, 2010, is a tea and coffee house at the Cedars Hospice in Monroeville. Details can be found on the Cedars website.

Idea Charette

Join us on December 8, 2010, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. We'll be hosting an Open House. at 1317 East Carson Street, the home of Schwartz Market. This will also be an idea charette. What is a charette anyway? In this case, a gathering of people interested in creating the new vision for a space in Pittsburgh's Historic South Side. We are forming a food cooperative in the building and also creating accessibility to the second and third floors and the roof to hatch green non-profits and businesses. We'll give tours of the historic warehouse to those that are interested. We will ask for your name and contact information and how you'd like to be involved in the project.

Building New Hope, a Pittsburgh based nonprofit organization, will be offering samples of their organically certified (OCIA), shade grown coffee from El Porvenir, a worker owned farming cooperative in Nicaragua. Artemis Environmental will display products. Architectural drawings for proposed development as a Living Building will be displayed.

The event is free and open to the public. We are engaging the South Side community and beyond in the development process. Integrative systems thinking is our future!
Special thanks to Artemis Environmental, Building New Hope, Councilman Bruce Kraus who will be making an appearance, and the South Side Local Development Company.

Please contact elisabeck@aol.com if you would like to exhibit at this event.