Wednesday, April 28, 2010

You Are What You Eat

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) always recommend eating more fruits and veggies and buying them organic if you can, but we know that sometimes they're too expensive or flat-out unavailable. That's why they have created the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides (download here). You’ll be able to know which fruits and vegetables have the lowest pesticide residues and which you should try to always buy organic. This guide was created in partnership with renowned medical expert on natural health and wellness, Dr. Andrew Weil. He shares below in his video that making healthy food choices is simple and leads to money saved and improved quality of life.


Sunday, April 18, 2010

Octopus Organic Gardening


The hardest thing about vegetable gardening is getting started. This is your chance to get inspired, get your hands in the soil and maybe learn a few things you didn't know about starting a vegetable garden in your back yard.

Join Jeff Jaeger of Octopus Organic Gardening on April 29th from 4:00-7:00 PM in Monroeville, PA. We will create two different styles of garden bed, discuss soil, compost, organic growing, and plant a few seeds, vegetable starts and maybe a surprise or two. We will also be sharing a simple pot luck dinner.

The fee for this small group event is $20 and all participants will go home with a packet of information and a small goody bag. Please RSVP and send questions to jefryone@gmail.com

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Rally To Save Our Forests

Start your day by making a difference, and join us for a rally to support our remarkable state forests on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 from 9-10AM at the Governor's office (301 Fifth Avenue).

You will hear from:

Jan Jarrett, PennFuture President and CEO
Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Council Member
Lisa Brown, Director of Operations and Outreach, Nine Mile Run Watershed Association
Tom Hoffman, Western Pennsylvania Director, Clean Water Action

Currently the state legislature is moving forward with a budget plan that relies on new natural gas drilling leases on state forest land to cover the budget shortfall - threatening our public natural resources and compromising public access to our forest land. We need forest heroes- our legislators and Governor Rendell must pledge not to support a budget that relies in drilling in forests. Instead, they need to enact a gas extraction impact fee to pay for the damage to natural resources and communities that drilling causes. Our legislators need to support the impact fee and the Save our Forests legislation (HB 2235), which puts a five year freeze on new deep natural gas drilling leases in state forests.Gather your friends and come downtown to show your support for protecting our state forests.If you'd like to attend this event, click here.

Best wishes, and let me know if you have any questions.
Joylette Portlock
Ph.D.Western Pennsylvania Outreach Coordinator
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)
412-258-6682

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Sustainable Needs Assessment: Final Presentations

As the intense period of activity related to completing sustainable community needs assessment projects increases throughout this final month of the spring semester, I wanted to send an invitation to you and your colleagues for attending the final presentation briefings and presentations of these projects.

The final briefings will take place from 5:30 – 8:30 pm on April 21 and 28, 2010 in Room 1000 of Hamburg Hall on Carnegie Mellon’s Campus. Light refreshments and beverages will be served for the occasion to celebrate the achievements the students have achieved for your community and six others in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Please RSVP if you and your colleagues are able to attend.

The specific schedule of presentations will take place as follows:
April 21, 2010
5:45 – 6:25 Verona Borough
6:25 – 7:05 Municipality of Monroeville
7:05 – 7:45 Swissvale Borough
7:45 – 8:25 Discussion

April 28, 2010
5:45 – 6:25 City of Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Hard to Recycle Center
6:25 – 7:05 Central Northside Neighborhood Committee
7:05 – 7:45 Wilkinsburg Borough
7:45 – 8:25 Tarentum Borough

In years past there were many opportunities to learn about many of the creative ideas that are proposed for several communities by seeing the presentations of several teams; however, attendance for all presentations for a given evening is not required. We want to respect the busy schedules that you keep. Please feel free to pass this invitation along to colleagues who have interacted with the student team and/or who would benefit from this event.

Please RSVP or direct questions to mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org