Hello and happy end of quite the month of April 2020: This month will be one to remember for sure!
Join ReImagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus (TCWAC+) on Monday evening, May 4, 2020 at 6:30 pm for a few hours as we continue to envision sustainable economic development initiatives for our communities.
Speakers for this month's webinar include Denele Hughson from Grow Pittsburgh and Rhea Homa. Denele Hughson is the Director of Farm Education at Grow Pittsburgh and a resident of Turtle Creek. She will discuss how Grow Pittsburgh grew from a mere idea to a successful and influential nonprofit benefiting the greater Pittsburgh area; how they acquired funding and people-power; what obstacles they overcame; and valuable lessons that they learned for building a local non-profit. Rhea Homa is a Verona resident who will speak to low-waste living practices that have helped her and her husband survive the pandemic.
We will also have ample time to breakout into our project groups and continue moving forward with our ideas. If you haven't attended a meeting before or are not yet involved with a project group, this will be a great opportunity for you to learn about the projects and become engaged.
Please register on this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6NzbhPKVJt4J-y2JbuICh5KtkSyKgrW2SQDdY6ZFe5Ux9UQ/viewform. We will email all registered participants a Zoom link prior to the webinar.
Contact Kelly at kelly.yagatich@climatereality.com with questions.
Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Happy Day and Save the Date: Monday, May 4, 2020 to Reimagine TCWAC+ starting from your yard, and April 19 and 22 for Earth Day at 50!
Passover 5780
Easter Sunday
Save the Dates:
Pittsburgh Earth Day at 50 on-line: April 19, https://www.eventbrite.com/o/pittsburgh-earth-day-2020-29557815443 & April 22, 2020 national Earth Day!
The next Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus on-line gathering is on Monday, May 4, 2020. Denele Hughson from GROW Pittsburgh will be the featured speaker for the May 4th meeting of Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus. Denele is an agricultural educator, the Director of Farm Education at Grow Pittsburgh and a resident of Turtle Creek. She will discuss how Grow Pittsburgh grew from a mere idea to a successful and influential nonprofit benefiting the greater Pittsburgh area; how they acquired funding and people-power; what obstacles they overcame; and valuable lessons that they learned for building a local non-profit.
Easter Sunday
Save the Dates:
Pittsburgh Earth Day at 50 on-line: April 19, https://www.eventbrite.com/o/pittsburgh-earth-day-2020-29557815443 & April 22, 2020 national Earth Day!
The next Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus on-line gathering is on Monday, May 4, 2020. Denele Hughson from GROW Pittsburgh will be the featured speaker for the May 4th meeting of Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus. Denele is an agricultural educator, the Director of Farm Education at Grow Pittsburgh and a resident of Turtle Creek. She will discuss how Grow Pittsburgh grew from a mere idea to a successful and influential nonprofit benefiting the greater Pittsburgh area; how they acquired funding and people-power; what obstacles they overcame; and valuable lessons that they learned for building a local non-profit.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Moving Gracefully, Organizing, and Thriving in Viral Times; Monday April 6, 2020 6:30 - 8:00 PM on-line
From Kelly Yagatich of the Climate Reality Project:
I hope this finds you well. Like every other group, our top priority is ensuring the health and safety of all of the people who are engaged in the Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus initiative during this uncertainty, while also making sure that we don’t lose our sense of community and purpose in the panic. The regularly scheduled Monday, April 6, 2020 will be a Zoom meeting from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. We want to provide you with the resources that you need to keep your families healthy while also providing you with tools to continue organizing around the projects we’ve started. The topic of this event will be “moving gracefully, organizing, & thriving in viral times.” Here is the description of what we will cover in the meeting:
With travel, events, and in-person meetings canceled, you might be wondering how to stay connected to your community and continue advocating for positive change. Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus invites you to a virtual meeting to learn more about how to practice mindfulness and meditation at home, how to put together simple, inexpensive meals using plant-based ingredients, and how to use online tools to connect with other community members and organize. With these tools, you can continue planning campaigns to promote health and wellness and sustainability in your communities. Together, we can overcome the obstacles posed by COVID-19 and work to impact our communities in a positive way to bring safety, equity and sustainability to our region. From 6:30 to 7:30, we will provide you with the skills that you need to maintain a healthy mind and body in this time and resources to continue organizing virtually from your home. From 7:30 to 8:00, we will provide an optional virtual space for people to meet in their project groups from the last meeting and continue collectively organizing.
With travel, events, and in-person meetings canceled, you might be wondering how to stay connected to your community and continue advocating for positive change. Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus invites you to a virtual meeting to learn more about how to practice mindfulness and meditation at home, how to put together simple, inexpensive meals using plant-based ingredients, and how to use online tools to connect with other community members and organize. With these tools, you can continue planning campaigns to promote health and wellness and sustainability in your communities. Together, we can overcome the obstacles posed by COVID-19 and work to impact our communities in a positive way to bring safety, equity and sustainability to our region. From 6:30 to 7:30, we will provide you with the skills that you need to maintain a healthy mind and body in this time and resources to continue organizing virtually from your home. From 7:30 to 8:00, we will provide an optional virtual space for people to meet in their project groups from the last meeting and continue collectively organizing.
In order to attend, you must register in advance via this Zoom link. Once you register, you will be provided with a link for the meeting on April 6th in your email inbox. You can also find all of this info (and share it with your friends) through the Facebook event. We hope that you will be able to join us and that you will invite your friends to join us as well.
Again, we understand that this is a difficult time for many people, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or other members of the ReImagine TCWAC+ planning team if there is anything we can assist you with, if you have ideas for future topics that we should cover, or if you have any questions or concerns.
All the best,
Kelly
Kelly Yagatich | Regional Organizer - PA
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
URGENT! Attend October 3 Citizen's Night and October 8 Council Meeting at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal Building
Happy Autumn!
Listen to Greta Thunberg's wise words at the recent United Nations Climate Summit and then get busy acting locally in Monroeville, PA in early October by contacting your councilperson to let him or her know your thoughts about two critical issues:
1) We must be sure Monroeville does NOT sell the Municipal pool property. This property is specifically for recreational use in perpetuity according to documents we've seen.
2) We must be sure Monroeville council votes to put in place a protective of the citizens oil and gas ordinance at the November, 2019 meeting after being advertised in October, 2019.
Locally, what is going on here in Monroeville, PA and how can you be involved? Read the articles recently published with links below. Both articles were published by Trib Total Media in September, 2019 in The Times Express by Dillon Carr.
Actions for Citizens:
Please contact your councilperson and let him or her to vote to take the pool sale off of the table. If you do not live in Monroeville, please call Mayor Nick Gresock and Municipal Manager Tim Little to let them know selling the pool property is not ok.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/monroeville-pool-up-for-sale-making-way-for-turnpike-commission-purchase/
Please call your councilperson and ask him or her to be sure the proposed oil and gas ordinance is advertised this coming month. Then ask that this updated protective of the citizens ordinance be voted in at the November, 2019 council meeting.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/monroeville-residents-propose-oil-and-gas-ordinance/
We must fill the council chamber on both Thursday, October 3 at 7:00 pm for Citizen's Night and Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 pm, for the next council meeting. Please mark your calendars, and plan to speak up about two critically important issues:
Council plans to vote to sell the Monroeville Municipal pool property on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 unless citizens rise up to say NO WAY! Council has been claiming that the turnpike commission has asked for that property to use to widen the turnpike. We were told at a council meeting not too long ago by one of the councilpersons that the property would be taken by eminent domain. This simply is not true. We have not seen any documentation that states this. Some of the pool members found out that the turnpike does not plan to widen that portion of the road until nine years from now. We also have learned that:
1) The property on the other side of the turnpike from the pool is also owned by the Municipality of Monroeville. We have asked why there has not been discussion about the turnpike using that property to widen the road and to leave the pool property alone.
2) The property the municipal pool sits on was condemned in 1974 and given to the Municipality of Monroeville. This 10 + acre property was to be used only for recreational purposes according to the condemnation documentation. It is therefore illegal to sell this property and to use it for any purpose other than recreation.
3) What is the hurry by council to sell this pool property? We have been asking for four months who owns the gas and oil rights underneath that property. No complete answer has been provided yet. Mr. Wratcher, the municipal attorney for the Municipality of Monroeville was formerly employed by APEX, a gas extraction company that is working in this area in the fracking industry. Is this a conflict of interest? Why is it that Mr. Wratcher is not able to figure out an answer to this question of who owns these mineral rights in a timely fashion especially as a former gas industry employee?
4) Could it be that the municipality owns the gas rights under this property? Could it be that the gas industry is eyeing these gas rights for fracking infrastructure or for other types of gas lines? We know that a fracking well pad is proposed for 0.4 mile from this site just into Penn Township, Westmoreland County right next to both the pool and the Heritage bike and Walking Trail. This is unacceptable. If it is true about the gas rights being owned by the municipality of Monroeville, we need to be sure that those rights are never used for fracking infrastructure such as pipelines and /or compressor stations, or any other fracked gas or other extractive industry infrastructure. Why? This property is for the use of Monroeville citizens for recreational use. Gas infrastructure does not belong underneath. In addition, this infrastructure does not belong near schools, homes, religious institutions, or businesses in our town.
Think Globally and Act Locally: Get involved in local Monroeville politics for a clean air and water and just future for all,
With gratitude,
David Mintz, Lois Drumheller, Madeline Havrilla, and Elisa Beck for Sustainable Monroeville
Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Listen to Greta Thunberg's wise words at the recent United Nations Climate Summit and then get busy acting locally in Monroeville, PA in early October by contacting your councilperson to let him or her know your thoughts about two critical issues:
1) We must be sure Monroeville does NOT sell the Municipal pool property. This property is specifically for recreational use in perpetuity according to documents we've seen.
2) We must be sure Monroeville council votes to put in place a protective of the citizens oil and gas ordinance at the November, 2019 meeting after being advertised in October, 2019.
Locally, what is going on here in Monroeville, PA and how can you be involved? Read the articles recently published with links below. Both articles were published by Trib Total Media in September, 2019 in The Times Express by Dillon Carr.
Actions for Citizens:
Please contact your councilperson and let him or her to vote to take the pool sale off of the table. If you do not live in Monroeville, please call Mayor Nick Gresock and Municipal Manager Tim Little to let them know selling the pool property is not ok.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/monroeville-pool-up-for-sale-making-way-for-turnpike-commission-purchase/
Please call your councilperson and ask him or her to be sure the proposed oil and gas ordinance is advertised this coming month. Then ask that this updated protective of the citizens ordinance be voted in at the November, 2019 council meeting.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/monroeville-residents-propose-oil-and-gas-ordinance/
We must fill the council chamber on both Thursday, October 3 at 7:00 pm for Citizen's Night and Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 pm, for the next council meeting. Please mark your calendars, and plan to speak up about two critically important issues:
Council plans to vote to sell the Monroeville Municipal pool property on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 unless citizens rise up to say NO WAY! Council has been claiming that the turnpike commission has asked for that property to use to widen the turnpike. We were told at a council meeting not too long ago by one of the councilpersons that the property would be taken by eminent domain. This simply is not true. We have not seen any documentation that states this. Some of the pool members found out that the turnpike does not plan to widen that portion of the road until nine years from now. We also have learned that:
1) The property on the other side of the turnpike from the pool is also owned by the Municipality of Monroeville. We have asked why there has not been discussion about the turnpike using that property to widen the road and to leave the pool property alone.
2) The property the municipal pool sits on was condemned in 1974 and given to the Municipality of Monroeville. This 10 + acre property was to be used only for recreational purposes according to the condemnation documentation. It is therefore illegal to sell this property and to use it for any purpose other than recreation.
3) What is the hurry by council to sell this pool property? We have been asking for four months who owns the gas and oil rights underneath that property. No complete answer has been provided yet. Mr. Wratcher, the municipal attorney for the Municipality of Monroeville was formerly employed by APEX, a gas extraction company that is working in this area in the fracking industry. Is this a conflict of interest? Why is it that Mr. Wratcher is not able to figure out an answer to this question of who owns these mineral rights in a timely fashion especially as a former gas industry employee?
4) Could it be that the municipality owns the gas rights under this property? Could it be that the gas industry is eyeing these gas rights for fracking infrastructure or for other types of gas lines? We know that a fracking well pad is proposed for 0.4 mile from this site just into Penn Township, Westmoreland County right next to both the pool and the Heritage bike and Walking Trail. This is unacceptable. If it is true about the gas rights being owned by the municipality of Monroeville, we need to be sure that those rights are never used for fracking infrastructure such as pipelines and /or compressor stations, or any other fracked gas or other extractive industry infrastructure. Why? This property is for the use of Monroeville citizens for recreational use. Gas infrastructure does not belong underneath. In addition, this infrastructure does not belong near schools, homes, religious institutions, or businesses in our town.
Think Globally and Act Locally: Get involved in local Monroeville politics for a clean air and water and just future for all,
With gratitude,
David Mintz, Lois Drumheller, Madeline Havrilla, and Elisa Beck for Sustainable Monroeville
Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Happy Mothers of the Earth Day!
Happy Mother Earth Day!
Feeling compelled as a Mother today to post about Mother Earth, as our voice is her voice. Let's tell the new story of our regenerative future. Stand up and speak your truth in the midst of all of this madness. Let's tell the new story, and let's begin this new era today!
If you live in Monroeville, call and e-mail your councilperson to show your support to put a protective of the citizens detailed and updated gas and oil ordinance in place right away following the lead of Oakmont. Ask your council member why he or she has not yet acted on the recommendations of Sustainable Monroeville. Then please let us know if their answer to you is satisfactory. Ask your councilperson what regenerative future ideas are being implemented into the consent decree stormwater management plans for the Municipality of Monroeville. Will residents be educated and required to attach rain barrels on each of their downspouts at the expense of the municipality through the fee we are paying yearly? Will the community be educated about installing rain gardens and bio-swales in their landscapes? Will we work together as citizens to create Food, not Lawns laden with chemicals? Will we put ordinances in place to grow pesticide-free food everywhere?
If you are not already planning to vote, put May 21, 2019 on your calendar. If you live in Allegheny County, be sure to vote for Jenkins for District Attorney and if you live in East Pittsburgh, be sure to vote for Jonathan Reyes for East Pittsburgh Council at Large. Vote for Patricia DeMarco in Forest Hills!
Get involved in your local community to the best of your ability. Learn all you can and then ACT!
Join Protect PT! PT stands for Penn Township and Trafford, our neighboring communities who are dealing with many potential fracking wells and infrastructure in their community several of which are less than a mile from our community of Monroeville. Attend Sustainable Monroeville events with your family, friends and neighbors to keep up to date.
If you know anyone in the state of Colorado, or if you have $5.00 or much more to spare, please support dianaforcolorado.com. Diana Bray is my childhood friend and is the ONLY environmental candidate who states her opposition to fracking running for U.S. Senate from the state of Colorado. The competition is fierce, so if you feel called, PLEASE support her campaign!
Here's a few interesting excerpts from David Korten's 2015 book titled Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth.
From Chapter 5 titled Children of a Living Earth, pp. 74-75:
"Acting as a community in concert with Earth's physical structures and forces, Earth's diverse species filtered excess carbon and a vast variety of toxins from earth's air, waters, and soils and sequestered them deep underground. In so doing- whether by luck or deep cosmic intention-they created environmental conditions necessary for the birth of a species with a capacity for conscious, creative, self-reflective choice far beyond any other."
"In a collective trance induced by the idolatrous Sacred Money and Markets story, we of that species now devote our best minds and technologies to extracting and releasing those sequestered carbons and toxins back into Earth's atmosphere, waters and soils as money-seeking corporate robots exploit and suppress Earth's natural processes to make a quick buck, Our acceptance of this insanity is the ultimate demonstration of the potentially fatal consequence of living by a fabricated Sacred Money and Markets story."
from page 76:
"Hope lies in the evidence that we are reawakening in what I believe to be a fundamental truth of our existence. We humans, like all other beings, are both product and instrument of creation, not its purpose. We belong to Earth, and our health and well-being are inseparable from her health and well-being."
David Korten goes on to elaborate about Living Communities and moving from Abuser to Healer. There is hope. So let's get busy changing ourselves and therefore lovely, amazing, nurturing Mother Earth!
Many blessings for a wonderful day and lots of brand new beginnings! Hey, if you're not already eating a plant-based diet, try it out for one or two meals a week and gradually reduce your consumption of dairy, red meat, chicken and fish. Both your body and Mother Earth will thank you!
Join the Plant Based Eating Hub on June 30 at Temple David for a Pop-Up Plant-based eating event. It will be educational and delicious. Go to PlantBasedEatingHub.com for details!
And if you're feeling especially excited about our Regenerative Future NOW, attend Phipps' Conservatory's Big Green Block Party on Thursday May 16, 2019!
Namasté,
Elisa Beck on behalf of Panchamama, Mother Earth :)
Feeling compelled as a Mother today to post about Mother Earth, as our voice is her voice. Let's tell the new story of our regenerative future. Stand up and speak your truth in the midst of all of this madness. Let's tell the new story, and let's begin this new era today!
If you live in Monroeville, call and e-mail your councilperson to show your support to put a protective of the citizens detailed and updated gas and oil ordinance in place right away following the lead of Oakmont. Ask your council member why he or she has not yet acted on the recommendations of Sustainable Monroeville. Then please let us know if their answer to you is satisfactory. Ask your councilperson what regenerative future ideas are being implemented into the consent decree stormwater management plans for the Municipality of Monroeville. Will residents be educated and required to attach rain barrels on each of their downspouts at the expense of the municipality through the fee we are paying yearly? Will the community be educated about installing rain gardens and bio-swales in their landscapes? Will we work together as citizens to create Food, not Lawns laden with chemicals? Will we put ordinances in place to grow pesticide-free food everywhere?
If you are not already planning to vote, put May 21, 2019 on your calendar. If you live in Allegheny County, be sure to vote for Jenkins for District Attorney and if you live in East Pittsburgh, be sure to vote for Jonathan Reyes for East Pittsburgh Council at Large. Vote for Patricia DeMarco in Forest Hills!
Get involved in your local community to the best of your ability. Learn all you can and then ACT!
Join Protect PT! PT stands for Penn Township and Trafford, our neighboring communities who are dealing with many potential fracking wells and infrastructure in their community several of which are less than a mile from our community of Monroeville. Attend Sustainable Monroeville events with your family, friends and neighbors to keep up to date.
If you know anyone in the state of Colorado, or if you have $5.00 or much more to spare, please support dianaforcolorado.com. Diana Bray is my childhood friend and is the ONLY environmental candidate who states her opposition to fracking running for U.S. Senate from the state of Colorado. The competition is fierce, so if you feel called, PLEASE support her campaign!
Here's a few interesting excerpts from David Korten's 2015 book titled Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth.
From Chapter 5 titled Children of a Living Earth, pp. 74-75:
"Acting as a community in concert with Earth's physical structures and forces, Earth's diverse species filtered excess carbon and a vast variety of toxins from earth's air, waters, and soils and sequestered them deep underground. In so doing- whether by luck or deep cosmic intention-they created environmental conditions necessary for the birth of a species with a capacity for conscious, creative, self-reflective choice far beyond any other."
"In a collective trance induced by the idolatrous Sacred Money and Markets story, we of that species now devote our best minds and technologies to extracting and releasing those sequestered carbons and toxins back into Earth's atmosphere, waters and soils as money-seeking corporate robots exploit and suppress Earth's natural processes to make a quick buck, Our acceptance of this insanity is the ultimate demonstration of the potentially fatal consequence of living by a fabricated Sacred Money and Markets story."
from page 76:
"Hope lies in the evidence that we are reawakening in what I believe to be a fundamental truth of our existence. We humans, like all other beings, are both product and instrument of creation, not its purpose. We belong to Earth, and our health and well-being are inseparable from her health and well-being."
David Korten goes on to elaborate about Living Communities and moving from Abuser to Healer. There is hope. So let's get busy changing ourselves and therefore lovely, amazing, nurturing Mother Earth!
Many blessings for a wonderful day and lots of brand new beginnings! Hey, if you're not already eating a plant-based diet, try it out for one or two meals a week and gradually reduce your consumption of dairy, red meat, chicken and fish. Both your body and Mother Earth will thank you!
Join the Plant Based Eating Hub on June 30 at Temple David for a Pop-Up Plant-based eating event. It will be educational and delicious. Go to PlantBasedEatingHub.com for details!
And if you're feeling especially excited about our Regenerative Future NOW, attend Phipps' Conservatory's Big Green Block Party on Thursday May 16, 2019!
Namasté,
Elisa Beck on behalf of Panchamama, Mother Earth :)
Friday, November 9, 2018
Hydraulic Fracturing Waste, and Fracking in and around Monroeville, PA. You Tube Link to Citizen's Night Presentation 11/8/18
Here's the You Tube link to new news regarding hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking- related issues in Monroeville's Thomas Street Waste Management land fill and around Monroeville, PA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flSSWycOplI#action=share
If you'd like a copy of the map pictured in the presentation linked here, contact Mr. Tim Little, Municipal Manager of Monroeville. Mr. Little created the map based on neighboring communities and/or companies contacting Monroeville regarding upcoming and current unconventional deep gas well, aka fracking, development.
Google League of Women Voters and Shale and Public Health Conference to register for this FREE conference on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 9:00 am to 5:00 PM at the University Club on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Lunch is provided at the cost of $14.00, but the conference is FREE!
Check out Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook.
Blessings and Peace y'all!
If you'd like a copy of the map pictured in the presentation linked here, contact Mr. Tim Little, Municipal Manager of Monroeville. Mr. Little created the map based on neighboring communities and/or companies contacting Monroeville regarding upcoming and current unconventional deep gas well, aka fracking, development.
Google League of Women Voters and Shale and Public Health Conference to register for this FREE conference on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 9:00 am to 5:00 PM at the University Club on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Lunch is provided at the cost of $14.00, but the conference is FREE!
Check out Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook.
Blessings and Peace y'all!
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Groups of 10, what's in a lawn, and meeting dates for the rest of April and May, 2018
What is the history of Air Pollution in Western PA? Tonight, Wednesday, April 18, 2018 is the inaugural meeting of Groups of 10 at the Monroeville Public Library. Groups of 10 is a project of the Clean Air Council. For details contact Madeline Havrilla, maddiehav247@gmail.com
What's in a lawn? Or rather, why is it sooooo very important to understand why the answers to our civilizational woes are in the soil?
Civilizations rise and fall based on the quality and fertility of their soil. Soil is a living civilization under our feet! Or it ought to be...In the past 10 years in the state of PA, we've not been paying much attention to the state of our soil. Did I say the past ten years? Hmmmm, it's really more like the past 100+ years! With the industrial revolution in the U.S. and around the world, and the rise of the use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, on our lawns, on our food and other crops, and the rise of post WWII Agribusiness with a huge influx of genetically modified (GMO) crops, our soil and our physical health has gone to #@^&....Well, you get the idea!
Most recently deep Marcellus Shale exploration to force natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations thousands of feet, miles below us, (aka Fracking) using millions of gallons of our river water....specifically at the moment being planned for right here in Monroeville, PA, and occurring already in the surrounding communities of Penn Township, Murrysville, Upper and Lower Burrell, and elsewhere, we have not been respecting Mother Earth one bit...And with that, our once fertile Western PA soils are not so fertile anymore...Neither are the people for that matter. Studies have shown due to the agrochemicals from industrial farming and the chemicals used, produced and poured into our environment through the air and water in coal, nuclear, and gas exploitation, men's sperm counts are down and women are having trouble conceiving children. It's the issue of hormone disruption. Sexual confusion. Boys being born with undescended testicles or no prostate, and women's sex organs confused...No wonder our youth and young adults are so mixed up! Literally...physically mixed up due to the effects of hormone disrupting chemicals being ingested by mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers...Read the works of Theo Colburn and the Environmental Working Group for more information on this topic (EWG.org)
It's time to go back to no-till farming methods. It's time to do organic farming our front yards, our back yards and our side yards. It's time to vote people in that understand Life on this planet. It's time to reconnect with our Mother. Mother Earth, Panchamama! How? Scroll back to 2009 and 2010 up to the present on this very blog, sustainablemonroeville.blogspot.com, and Extra Extra, Read all about Permaculture and the culture of LIFE rather than us continuing on with the extractive industries and the Culture of DEATH. Our lives as human beings on Planet Earth depend on it!
It's time to wake up and smell the roses...if you can through some of the most polluted air in the world, here in these beautiful hills and valleys of Western PA...where the industrial revolution began and is in the process of ending as we have known it!
Be strong, be empowered, speak up and out whenever you can. Write, call, text, e-mail to your councilperson, your Mayor, your Municipal Manager...And then do it again! Your voice and most of all your VOTE matters!
Meeting Dates for April and May, 2018:
The next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville is on Monday evening, May 7, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library.
The next Monroeville Citizen's Night is Thursday evening, May 10 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal building.
The next council meeting is on May 15, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal building.
All municipal officials, the municipal manager and the Mayor are always invited to Sustainable Monroeville meetings. We're hoping they join us for the month of May and then plan a Town Meeting in council chambers. The citizens of Monroeville sure have a LOT of unanswered questions about how the Seismic Testing was conducted by Geokinetics and what plans Huntley and Huntley has for the development of Marcellus and Utica Shale exploration in our town...
Onward we Go!
Many Blessings for a wonderful springtime and remember to shine your light bright!
The truth will prevail,
Elisa Beck on behalf of
Sustainable Monroeville
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
SustainableMonroeville@gmail.com
Share this blog address with your friends and remember to report stinky air on the SMELLPGH App. Remind your friends to do the same!
What's in a lawn? Or rather, why is it sooooo very important to understand why the answers to our civilizational woes are in the soil?
Civilizations rise and fall based on the quality and fertility of their soil. Soil is a living civilization under our feet! Or it ought to be...In the past 10 years in the state of PA, we've not been paying much attention to the state of our soil. Did I say the past ten years? Hmmmm, it's really more like the past 100+ years! With the industrial revolution in the U.S. and around the world, and the rise of the use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, on our lawns, on our food and other crops, and the rise of post WWII Agribusiness with a huge influx of genetically modified (GMO) crops, our soil and our physical health has gone to #@^&....Well, you get the idea!
Most recently deep Marcellus Shale exploration to force natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations thousands of feet, miles below us, (aka Fracking) using millions of gallons of our river water....specifically at the moment being planned for right here in Monroeville, PA, and occurring already in the surrounding communities of Penn Township, Murrysville, Upper and Lower Burrell, and elsewhere, we have not been respecting Mother Earth one bit...And with that, our once fertile Western PA soils are not so fertile anymore...Neither are the people for that matter. Studies have shown due to the agrochemicals from industrial farming and the chemicals used, produced and poured into our environment through the air and water in coal, nuclear, and gas exploitation, men's sperm counts are down and women are having trouble conceiving children. It's the issue of hormone disruption. Sexual confusion. Boys being born with undescended testicles or no prostate, and women's sex organs confused...No wonder our youth and young adults are so mixed up! Literally...physically mixed up due to the effects of hormone disrupting chemicals being ingested by mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers...Read the works of Theo Colburn and the Environmental Working Group for more information on this topic (EWG.org)
It's time to go back to no-till farming methods. It's time to do organic farming our front yards, our back yards and our side yards. It's time to vote people in that understand Life on this planet. It's time to reconnect with our Mother. Mother Earth, Panchamama! How? Scroll back to 2009 and 2010 up to the present on this very blog, sustainablemonroeville.blogspot.com, and Extra Extra, Read all about Permaculture and the culture of LIFE rather than us continuing on with the extractive industries and the Culture of DEATH. Our lives as human beings on Planet Earth depend on it!
It's time to wake up and smell the roses...if you can through some of the most polluted air in the world, here in these beautiful hills and valleys of Western PA...where the industrial revolution began and is in the process of ending as we have known it!
Be strong, be empowered, speak up and out whenever you can. Write, call, text, e-mail to your councilperson, your Mayor, your Municipal Manager...And then do it again! Your voice and most of all your VOTE matters!
Meeting Dates for April and May, 2018:
The next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville is on Monday evening, May 7, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library.
The next Monroeville Citizen's Night is Thursday evening, May 10 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal building.
The next council meeting is on May 15, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal building.
All municipal officials, the municipal manager and the Mayor are always invited to Sustainable Monroeville meetings. We're hoping they join us for the month of May and then plan a Town Meeting in council chambers. The citizens of Monroeville sure have a LOT of unanswered questions about how the Seismic Testing was conducted by Geokinetics and what plans Huntley and Huntley has for the development of Marcellus and Utica Shale exploration in our town...
Onward we Go!
Many Blessings for a wonderful springtime and remember to shine your light bright!
The truth will prevail,
Elisa Beck on behalf of
Sustainable Monroeville
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
SustainableMonroeville@gmail.com
Share this blog address with your friends and remember to report stinky air on the SMELLPGH App. Remind your friends to do the same!
Friday, September 29, 2017
Call for Volunteers and Save the Dates!!
Hello, and Happy Beautiful Fall!
We need YOU whether or not you live in Monroeville, PA! We will reciprocate with other communities as it's time to come together and work together for Clean Air and Fresh Water for all of us. We share the same Airsheds and Watersheds, all of US!
We need callers to remind folks about the Sustainable Monroeville meeting this coming Monday, October 2, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library; the Citizen's Night meeting this coming Thursday, October 5, 2017, at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Municipal building, and for the Council meeting on Tuesday, October 10, 2017, at 7:00 PM where Monroeville council will be voting on amending the existing Oil and Gas Zoning Code to limit FRACKING to industrial zones in Monroeville, PA.
If you are available to make calls for one hour, or many hours, please contact Doug Shields of Food and Water Watch at dshields@fwwatch.org
If you are available to make calls for one hour, or many hours, please contact Doug Shields of Food and Water Watch at dshields@fwwatch.org
See the incredible exhibit called Petrochemical America at the SPACE Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA. It's there at SPACE through October 7, 2017. We do NOT want Monroeville, or the whole state of PA for that matter, allowing gas flares spewing pollution into our lungs anymore...
SAVE the DATES:
Monday, November 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM for the next Sustainable Monroeville meeting with Heather Harr of the League of Women Voters and also a speaker from the Environmental Health Project with open discussion.
Thursday, November 8, 2017 at 7;00 PM for Citizen's Night
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 7:00 PM for Council Meeting
Monday, November 13, 2017 for the FREE Shale & Public Health Education Day in Pittsburgh, PA, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Registration is open!
Monday, November 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM for the next Sustainable Monroeville meeting with Heather Harr of the League of Women Voters and also a speaker from the Environmental Health Project with open discussion.
Thursday, November 8, 2017 at 7;00 PM for Citizen's Night
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 7:00 PM for Council Meeting
Monday, November 13, 2017 for the FREE Shale & Public Health Education Day in Pittsburgh, PA, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Registration is open!
Blessings for our Regenerative Future NOW! Elisa Beck:)
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
This is NOT normal Western Pennsylvanians!
September 29, 2017
Erev Yom Kippur
Profound statement #1:
Let’s honor all who have served and are serving in the
League of Women Voters. I was exposed to the League as a little girl when I
went with my Mom to stuff envelopes…. Those were the good old days!
As the person coordinating Sustainable Monroeville events, I
was invited to be part of a conference call today, Friday, September 29, 2017,
for plans and updates leading up to the upcoming League of Women Voters Shale and
Public Health Conference scheduled for Monday, November 13, 2017. SAVE
THE DATE for this Day Long FREE conference that is NOT to be missed.
Registration is OPEN. Under the leadership of Heather Harr, the work of the League of Women Voters in Western, PA,
is fantastic! I honor all of the women and the one man, Don, on the call, for
their amazing work as we move into our Regenerative Economy NOW!
Profound Statement # 2:
Visit the important Petrochemical America exhibit at
SPACE Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA, running through October 7, 2017. Send your
friends and family there too! If you think you really understand what is going
on with the Shale Play in Western, PA, think again…
Profound Statements #3:
Using the Transition Town model of Rob Hopkins, based in the concepts of Permaculture
(There’s many Transition Town
books by Rob Hopkins, of Totnes, England), we are moving into this new way of
being in abundance, with the knowingness that the Earth is abundant, and
she will provide for us. Google
Transition US and See the Transition Town Pgh Facebook page. There are LOTS of
Transition Town projects going on all over Western PA. Sustainable Monroeville
is a Transition Town process!
Profound Statement #4:
All
we need to do is change our minds.
What do I mean by this? Well, I have been working in the area of our Regenerative
economy for over a decade, and perhaps from the day I was born, or even before
that, who knows? I am not
originally from Western, PA. I was
born in Washington D.C., and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. I’ve lived in
Western, PA, for my whole married life, twenty-seven years next month. I
realized about a month ago something about the impact the extractive industries
have had on hearts and souls of those who have lived, raised their families,
worked, and played in Western, PA, for generations. The social,
emotional, physical and spiritual effects of being in an area for 150 years
that has been, and continues to be, LOADED with both Air and Water pollution
has been profound.
Profound Statements #5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and more!
Smelly air, and water
we cannot drink from any of the rivers, is NOT normal. Childhood Asthma rates, Cancer rates, Congestive
Heart Failure Rates and Neurological defects and Dis-ease rates through the
ROOF are NOT normal. The rates of Attention Deficit Disorder to Autism around
all of the uncapped Coal fired Power Plants spewing lead, mercury and who knows
what else on our heads and for use to breathe in and drink in our water is NOT
normal.
This is NOT normal Western
Pennsylvanians!
I realized about a month ago that for people who have grown
up around here, in Western, PA, smelly air seems normal to them, because it’s
always been, in their memories that way.
Connecting to municipal water systems with the mythology thinking this water
will be safe since their water wells have been contaminated, is NOT o.k. As the
City of Pittsburgh is grappling with the lead issue in their municipal water
system, what about the levels of Cadmium in the water? Has anyone looked at
Cadmium levels? Well that Zinc Smelter plant that sat on the property where the
still proposed Shell Oil Petrochemical Plant is planned for in Potter Township
in Beaver, PA, that Zinc Smelter plant produced Cadmium too, to coat the water
pipes that were installed all around Pittsburgh, and all around the U.S.A. perhaps
a century ago….Somehow, those lead pipes must be putting Cadmium into the water
supply of Pittsburgh…or perhaps the whole country? Is anybody looking at that,
Yet?
I smelled exhaust growing up in a suburb of Washington D.C.
in the 1960’s until emission control laws were put into place. I did not smell stinky air at any other
time, other than when I was in a car with the windows open. I smelled fresh
air. The flowers blooming in the spring and summer. The smell of falling leaves
in the fall. O.k., the smell of burning wood in fireplaces, on occasion, too. I
now know that’s not such a great thing either… When I went camping in the Great
Smoky Mountains in the early 1980’s, we drank water from the streams. We bent
down, cupped our hands, and drank, and I’m here to write about it!
Here in Western, PA, the native immigrants have become
acculturated to smelly air and polluted water. It is not alarming to some that Acid Mine drainage rust colored water
flows through our streams to this day. What? Please know it is time
NOW to continue to correct this situation. From abundance thinking. From the
knowingness that The More Beautiful World
We ALL know in our Hearts is Possible, (Charles Eisenstein) is here NOW! We must simply change our minds. It’s a
simple thing to do, though it does take courage. Let go of fear, and let’s get busy, together, in community,
implementing our new Permaculture edible perennial landscapes on our front
yards, back yards, side yards, our vacant lots, apartment house roofs, the
roofs of our malls, and all of our buildings, in our highway median strips too!
We will see the beauty manifesting in front of our very eyes in a very short
time frame. In two to three years, a beautiful Permaculture landscape can come
to fruition. Using perennials, plants that come up from the ground year after
year, without needing to replant, is a blessing. There is some work involved in
the first year or two, but then the work- load goes way down and the landscape
becomes self- sustaining, just as nature herself. The idea of working along with nature and giving back more than we
take, is what life has always been about, until this Western culture became
carried away with the extractive culture of violence and rape. The deep
Marcellus Shale play is the Pinnacle of the vile and violent culture of Rape.
We cannot continue raping the earth, injecting deeply back into her with our
even more toxic extraction products including the radiation we violently
removed, and expect anything long term in return. Mother Earth will have
nothing left to give to us. Once we are gone, she, Mother Nature, will survive
and thrive without us.
This is where we are in our Western Extractive Culture at
this moment in time. It is time for us to turn the tides. It is time for us to
go back to Mother Earth. Forgive ourselves. Forgive each other. And get busy
learning from the Indigenous wisdom of the great Native American teachers who
surround us, and from our very own indigenous cultures. It is time to come Home to ourselves.
There is deep history in coal, steel, oil and gas here in
Western, PA. The first oil well in the country was commercialized here in Oil
City, PA. The first Nuclear Power Plant in the country was built in
Shippingport, PA, in Beaver County, one half hour north of Pittsburgh. There is
continued Nuclear Power Plant presence on that site, just miles from the
proposed Petrochemical site. The
South Side of Pittsburgh continues its gritty, bar laden Thursday through
Saturday evening reputation as an after effect of when the men left the steel
mills in the afternoon and headed to the South Side bars for a few drinks on
their way home. We are a deeply committed sports town too. A family town. An
ethnic town rooted in the steel belt, rust belt, coal belt of an industry that
was booming and busting for about 150 years…
Until just about 30 years ago, when Pittsburghers decided it
was time to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and create a New Economy. And that is just what we
are seeing now; under the leadership of Mayor Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh has been
re-inventing herself. Now, since 2016, as a designated Biophilic City, with
several Living Building Challenge projects under our belts, we, including
Monroeville, PA and the collaborative of communities who choose to join, are
well on our way to be the first area in the country who rose up so far above
the polluted Rust Belt legacy of its past, we are becoming a destination for
the world to see!
Come to Pittsburgh, have a conference in the Greenest
Convention Center in the World just as the Climate
Reality Project is doing in mid-October, 2017 attracting people from all
over the world! Visit the Frick
Environmental Center, a certified Living
Building Challenge Building! Check out the business Amazing Books and Records on the South Side housed in a Living Building Challenge of an Existing
Historic Structure Project at 1317 East Carson Street.
Come to Monroeville where the bike paths will soon extend to
Washington, D.C., where the farmer’s market happens on Saturdays sponsored by
the Lion’s Club and the Monroeville Parks, where this compact suburb is a great
place to be with many Municipal Parks, and Boyce Park, a County Park.
I shared my experience with the League of Women voters Group
today on the phone. I thank them for letting me speak. One of them asked if
there was a place they could go to read about this idea that this pollution to
this day is NOT normal. It is NOT normal for a person to have to report every
day or two on the SMELL PGH APP that they have symptoms from smelly air, like a
headache, or filled sinuses, or fuzzy thinking and that the air smells like
industrial pollution like sulfer, or putrid like a skunk. It is NOT normal to
have to do so much treatment to water before being able to drink from the
river… It is NOT normal to allow
injection wells that have water that is so toxic it must be put somewhere other
than into conventional water treatment. It is NOT normal to attempt to put
toxic FRACK water into injection wells in abandoned, undermined coal country
with our exquisite geological formations when we do NOT know where that toxic
water will ultimately end up. Or do we? That water will ultimately end up IN
our drinking water.
No,
Western PA, none of this is normal.
What’s the good news? What is the new normal we are moving
towards? Come to our next Sustainable Monroeville meeting this coming Monday
evening, October 2, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library to speak
freely about your ideas and hear updates about our new Seismic Testing
Ordinance, our soon to be updated Oil and Gas Zoning and how we here in
Monroeville, PA, are protecting ourselves and working towards our Regenerative
Future. Hear Jim Lomeo, former Mayor of Monroeville, Elisa Beck of Sustainable Monroeville, and Doug
Shields of Food and Water Watch, a
national non- profit.
Join in public discussion at Citizen's Night at the Monroeville Municipal building on Thursday evening, October 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM and come to the October 10, 2017 at 7:00 PM Council Meeting where the amendment to limit Fracking to Industrial Zones in Monroeville, PA will be voted in, we hope!
See you around town!
Elisa Beck:)
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Saturday, February 11, 2017
The Way We Live Documentary Screening with Tom Jefferson LIVE! Monday evening, March 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM. Whole Food Plant Based Pot Luck at 6:00 PM!
Hello and Happy Full Moon! Mark your calendar for the next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville on Monday, March 6, 2017. Get ready for an AMAZING EVENING!
At 6:00 PM we'll have a whole food, plant based pot luck dinner. Please bring your own plate and utensils and we'll pack in, pack out and have a zero waste event! Beginning at 7:00 PM, we'll screen the documentary. The Way We Live, filmed and produced by local Pittsburgh documentary filmmaker and photographer, Tom Jefferson. Mr. Tom Jefferson has been involved in filming and educating the world wide community about climate change and social justice related to EcoWarriorship for a very long time. Here's the link to the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0YDgBxLz3s Tom will join us for Q&A and brief discussion before and after the film. We'll also explore local ACTION opportunities.
Sustainable Monroeville meetings are free and open to the public. There is a $5.00 or more suggested donation for this meeting to compensate Mr. Jefferson for his amazingness.
Blessings again and again for a Happy Healthy 2017 for all of us!
Elisa Beck:)
LIKE Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
At 6:00 PM we'll have a whole food, plant based pot luck dinner. Please bring your own plate and utensils and we'll pack in, pack out and have a zero waste event! Beginning at 7:00 PM, we'll screen the documentary. The Way We Live, filmed and produced by local Pittsburgh documentary filmmaker and photographer, Tom Jefferson. Mr. Tom Jefferson has been involved in filming and educating the world wide community about climate change and social justice related to EcoWarriorship for a very long time. Here's the link to the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0YDgBxLz3s Tom will join us for Q&A and brief discussion before and after the film. We'll also explore local ACTION opportunities.
Sustainable Monroeville meetings are free and open to the public. There is a $5.00 or more suggested donation for this meeting to compensate Mr. Jefferson for his amazingness.
Blessings again and again for a Happy Healthy 2017 for all of us!
Elisa Beck:)
LIKE Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Monday, December 5, 2016
Adam Tuznik of Clean Water Action and IMPORTANT Action items this week and next week!
Happy December !
What does our Regenerative Future look like? What is a Tessla-Style Positive Energy Plant anyway? There's one in Russia that will take care of all of the energy needs of that country should the grid there go down.... So you say? What does that energy plant look like, and what does it do? How do we facilitate one of those Tessla`style plants in this Pittsburgh region on a site being prepared right now in Beaver County so we bring the Western PA region into the new moment of our REGENERATIVE FUTURE NOW as an incredible leader!
Donald Trump spoke with Al Gore for close to 90 minutes today and they talked about Climate Change! Hmmm. Did Al let Donald know how monetarily profitable, how gratifying, how unifying, how simply AMAZING the Regenerative Future will be for all of us? What is this new story you're telling me? It seems so different from what I am used to...How do I integrate all of it?
Try this for three minutes:
1) Connect with your heart. Go inside yourself. Connect with your heart in a way you feel comfortable with. Touch your heart with your hand, put your hands in prayer in front of your heart, or simply put your hands wherever you'd like and think of your heart.
2) Close your eyes. Slow your breath. Five seconds for an in breath and five seconds for an out breath. Three cycles of this breathing series...
3) BE compassion, gratitude, thankfulness. Count your blessings.
Adam Tuznik spoke with us tonight at our December 2016, Sustainable Monroeville meeting about Clean Water Action's initiatives including discussion about The Clean Water Rule, The "Clean" Power Plant, and the victory closing the Shenango Coke Works Plant. He mentioned the combined sewerage overflow issue and the Consent Decree...We asked about including composting toilets in the discussion of Permaculture planning to reverse the sewerage overflow issue.... Tough subject during a pot luck dinner! We missed Mya Zeronis and wonder where she is. We hope she is doing well... We talked about the importance of eating lower on the food chain as an action towards lessening our footprint on Mother Earth. We modeled taking care of ourselves by sharing a delicious whole food, plant based vegan meal together.
ACTIONS:
Mark your calendar to take a trip to Potter Township in Beaver County on the following dates: December 7, 2016 at 5:30 PM for the Press Conference regarding the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Location: Potter County Municipal Building
December 13, 2016 at 3:00 PM for the final hearing and likely vote on land use issues for the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Location: Potter County Municipal Building
December 15, 2016 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM for a Public Hearing about the Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Register to speak at this public hearing with Ms. Alwine at 412-442-4137. Location: Central Valley High School, 160 Baker road, Monaca, PA15061
December 17, 2016 at 10:00 AM to visit the site at the intersection of routes 376 and 18 one half hour north of Pittsburgh, PA to carry water protector and air protector signs outside the fence line of the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant site and to raise awareness in the area about REGENERATIVE ENERGY alternative ideas for this site that Shell Oil will be able to implement for the protection of our entire Pittsburgh region and to create a power of 10 more jobs than those that will be created by the proposed Cracker Plant!
Send a letter to John Weinstein, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alcosan expressing your concern that not enough Regenerative Ideas are being included yet in the solution to the consent decree.
Learn about the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and how we can DIVEST from fossil fuels and INVEST in our REGENERATIVE FUTURE!
Many Blessings for our REGENERATIVE and Restorative FUTURE that is NOW!:)
Elisa Beck :)
sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com
What does our Regenerative Future look like? What is a Tessla-Style Positive Energy Plant anyway? There's one in Russia that will take care of all of the energy needs of that country should the grid there go down.... So you say? What does that energy plant look like, and what does it do? How do we facilitate one of those Tessla`style plants in this Pittsburgh region on a site being prepared right now in Beaver County so we bring the Western PA region into the new moment of our REGENERATIVE FUTURE NOW as an incredible leader!
Donald Trump spoke with Al Gore for close to 90 minutes today and they talked about Climate Change! Hmmm. Did Al let Donald know how monetarily profitable, how gratifying, how unifying, how simply AMAZING the Regenerative Future will be for all of us? What is this new story you're telling me? It seems so different from what I am used to...How do I integrate all of it?
Try this for three minutes:
1) Connect with your heart. Go inside yourself. Connect with your heart in a way you feel comfortable with. Touch your heart with your hand, put your hands in prayer in front of your heart, or simply put your hands wherever you'd like and think of your heart.
2) Close your eyes. Slow your breath. Five seconds for an in breath and five seconds for an out breath. Three cycles of this breathing series...
3) BE compassion, gratitude, thankfulness. Count your blessings.
Adam Tuznik spoke with us tonight at our December 2016, Sustainable Monroeville meeting about Clean Water Action's initiatives including discussion about The Clean Water Rule, The "Clean" Power Plant, and the victory closing the Shenango Coke Works Plant. He mentioned the combined sewerage overflow issue and the Consent Decree...We asked about including composting toilets in the discussion of Permaculture planning to reverse the sewerage overflow issue.... Tough subject during a pot luck dinner! We missed Mya Zeronis and wonder where she is. We hope she is doing well... We talked about the importance of eating lower on the food chain as an action towards lessening our footprint on Mother Earth. We modeled taking care of ourselves by sharing a delicious whole food, plant based vegan meal together.
ACTIONS:
Mark your calendar to take a trip to Potter Township in Beaver County on the following dates: December 7, 2016 at 5:30 PM for the Press Conference regarding the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Location: Potter County Municipal Building
December 13, 2016 at 3:00 PM for the final hearing and likely vote on land use issues for the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Location: Potter County Municipal Building
December 15, 2016 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM for a Public Hearing about the Shell Oil Cracker Plant. Register to speak at this public hearing with Ms. Alwine at 412-442-4137. Location: Central Valley High School, 160 Baker road, Monaca, PA15061
December 17, 2016 at 10:00 AM to visit the site at the intersection of routes 376 and 18 one half hour north of Pittsburgh, PA to carry water protector and air protector signs outside the fence line of the proposed Shell Oil Cracker Plant site and to raise awareness in the area about REGENERATIVE ENERGY alternative ideas for this site that Shell Oil will be able to implement for the protection of our entire Pittsburgh region and to create a power of 10 more jobs than those that will be created by the proposed Cracker Plant!
Send a letter to John Weinstein, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alcosan expressing your concern that not enough Regenerative Ideas are being included yet in the solution to the consent decree.
Learn about the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and how we can DIVEST from fossil fuels and INVEST in our REGENERATIVE FUTURE!
Many Blessings for our REGENERATIVE and Restorative FUTURE that is NOW!:)
Elisa Beck :)
sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Free Documentary Screening; Nathan Crane's Search for Sustainability: Sustainable Health! Wednesday< may 4, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM
Join us on Wednesday evening, May 2, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM for the next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the Monroeville Public Library. We will be showing the third documentary in Nathan Crane's Search For Sustainability Series. The title of the documentary is: Sustainable Health. Following the screening, there will be Q&A with Sustainable Health and Wellness Practitioners. Feel free to be one of those practitioners.... See you at the Library!
Details here: https://www.facebook.com/Sustainable-Monroeville-296298929312/
Many Blessings for abundant Health and Wellness,
Elisa Beck:)
Founder, Sustainable Monroeville
LIKE Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Details here: https://www.facebook.com/Sustainable-Monroeville-296298929312/
Many Blessings for abundant Health and Wellness,
Elisa Beck:)
Founder, Sustainable Monroeville
LIKE Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Herbal Medicine: Past and Present with Pharmacist Zeena Bassim in Monroeville or LIVE STREAMING Functional Forum in South Side
Hello and Happy April! The daffodils are blooming and buds are peeking out of the ground even through the coating of snow this crisp morning. In Monroeville this month, Sustainable Monroeville will be joining Monroeville Public Library Programming to hear Pharmacist Zeena Bassim speak about current uses of herbal medicine. Thanks to the amazing Mark Hudson of the Monroeville Public Library for his stellar programming! We will resume the Nathan Crane Search for Sustainability series in May with Episode 3 on Sustainable Health! See details below for April 4, 2016 at 7:00 PM:
Herbal Medicine: Past and Present
Monday, April 4, 2016
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Monroeville Public Library Gallery Space
Please join pharmacist Zeena Bassim for a presentation about historical and current uses of herbal medicine. The use of herbs as medication is the first form of healthcare known to civilization, and medicinal herbs have been used in all cultures throughout history. In many communities throughout the world, herbal medicine is still a central part of the healthcare system.
One of the best-known examples of an herb with medicinal uses is ginger, which has a long history dating back 2500 years in Chinese and Indian alternative medicine. The presentation will describe the benefits of ginger, how to use it effectively, and Ms. Bassim's own research on its effects. A number of other herbs and their benefits will also be discussed.
Zeena Bassim holds a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Baghdad and an M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Analysis from the University Kebangsaan Malaysia. She has worked as a professional pharmacist and taught as a lecturer on the Faculty of Pharmacy at Lincoln University.
This program is free and open to the public, and no registration is required. For more information about upcoming adult programs at Monroeville Public Library, call the Reference Desk at 412-372-0500 ext. 4.
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Here's another possibility for Monday evening, April 4, 2016:
In South Side on April 4, you can join other health care professionals and holistic practitioners for the Functional Medicine Forum LIVE streaming with James Maskell. The Forum topic this month is Adrenal Fatigue and Healthy Thyroid function.
Where? Schwartz Living Market, 1317 East Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
This month's Forum is Streaming from San Francisco. The event runs from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The LIVE Streaming is from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM with Q&A following from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Socializing, Snacking and Networking from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Registration link and more details here: http://meetup.functionalforum.com/pittsburgh-pa/
Where? Schwartz Living Market, 1317 East Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Free parking behind the Venue across Bingham Street for attendees!
Hope to see you tomorrow!
Elisa Beck:)
Sustainable Monroeville and you guessed it, Schwartz Living Market is another one of my passions, and that's where I'll be on April 4!:)
http://sustainablemonroeville.blogspot.com
http://1317eastcarson.blogspot.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Our rooftop and The Search for Sustainability Documentary Series produced by Nathan Crane
Hello and Happy February!
Join us to view the entire Search for Sustainability Series produced by Filmmaker Nathan Crane for the rest of the monthly Sustainable Monroeville meetings in 2016. The movies will be followed by discussion. The next Sustainable Monroeville meeting is on Monday, March 7, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. Episode # 2 of the series to be shared at the March meeting is titled Sustainable Food, Water, and Soil.
Sustainable Monroeville meetings are free and open to the public and take place in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library on the first Monday evening of each month. Please note: * July date will be posted soon.... See you at the movies!
Check out the link below to see the first in the series for free:
http://theselfreliancesummit.com/the-search-for-sustainability-home/
My personal Sustainability Lesson for 2015:
My big lesson in sustainability for 2015 was when we needed to put a new roof on our suburban Monroeville home. I wanted to put the greenest, most sustainable rooftop on the face of the planet on our home, but things did not end up that way.
What am I talking about? Well, a metal roof with solar panels, the more sustainable choice in my view would have cost about three times as much as the asphalt rooftop I eventually settled for. The best we could do was put an Energy Star rated rooftop, light in color on our roof. The shingles were made in a relatively local factory somewhere in Ohio....Why is it that the metal roof would be so much more expensive? My understanding is that the oil industry is so heavily subsidized that asphalt shingles which are oil based cost way less than other alternatives including composite materials and natural materials such as slate or ceramic roof tops....
The other rooftop revelation was that at this moment in time, there is not one place in Western PA or Eastern Ohio that will recycle asphalt shingle. A prominent roofing company in Western PA misled me initially saying that they would take the old shingle and have it recycled with an UPCHARGE. When I checked into this through the PA Resources Council and by following through myself, I found out that indeed this was NOT true. This roofing company was appalled when I told them the truth and they made sure they will not spread untruths any more. They also made sure the company that said they were recycling asphalt shingles, but were not, took that fictitious service off of their web site!
Elisa Beck :)
sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Join us to view the entire Search for Sustainability Series produced by Filmmaker Nathan Crane for the rest of the monthly Sustainable Monroeville meetings in 2016. The movies will be followed by discussion. The next Sustainable Monroeville meeting is on Monday, March 7, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. Episode # 2 of the series to be shared at the March meeting is titled Sustainable Food, Water, and Soil.
Sustainable Monroeville meetings are free and open to the public and take place in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library on the first Monday evening of each month. Please note: * July date will be posted soon.... See you at the movies!
Check out the link below to see the first in the series for free:
http://theselfreliancesummit.com/the-search-for-sustainability-home/
My personal Sustainability Lesson for 2015:
My big lesson in sustainability for 2015 was when we needed to put a new roof on our suburban Monroeville home. I wanted to put the greenest, most sustainable rooftop on the face of the planet on our home, but things did not end up that way.
What am I talking about? Well, a metal roof with solar panels, the more sustainable choice in my view would have cost about three times as much as the asphalt rooftop I eventually settled for. The best we could do was put an Energy Star rated rooftop, light in color on our roof. The shingles were made in a relatively local factory somewhere in Ohio....Why is it that the metal roof would be so much more expensive? My understanding is that the oil industry is so heavily subsidized that asphalt shingles which are oil based cost way less than other alternatives including composite materials and natural materials such as slate or ceramic roof tops....
The other rooftop revelation was that at this moment in time, there is not one place in Western PA or Eastern Ohio that will recycle asphalt shingle. A prominent roofing company in Western PA misled me initially saying that they would take the old shingle and have it recycled with an UPCHARGE. When I checked into this through the PA Resources Council and by following through myself, I found out that indeed this was NOT true. This roofing company was appalled when I told them the truth and they made sure they will not spread untruths any more. They also made sure the company that said they were recycling asphalt shingles, but were not, took that fictitious service off of their web site!
Elisa Beck :)
sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com
Like Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook!
Friday, January 29, 2016
You Are Invited: Filmmaker Mark Dixon on COP 21 Paris Adventures! Monday, February 1, 2016 at 7:00 PM in the Monroeville Public Library
Join us on Monday, February 1, 2016 at 7:00 PM at the Monroeville Public Library to hear Mark Dixon on his trip to Paris for COP 21 A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THE COP21 CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT
Mark Dixon, known throughout the region for his dedication to more sustainable solutions to our ecological and climate crisis, will be offering his impressions and experiences of the COP21 Climate Change Summit in Paris in December. Mark’s trip to Paris as a representative of western Pennsylvania was funded by members of the Pittsburgh ecological community. Before he left, he spoke to many groups including FUMC about the issues and dynamics that would be at play at the Summit. Now, after having attended the summit as a reporter and an observer, he will be sharing his impressions and insights to our church and the wider Pittsburgh community. This is a bit of planetary history that is crucial to every one of us. Here is your chance to get a first-hand account of an international history making event.
Watch Mark's presentation leading up to the summit: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/…
Mark's blog. Scroll down for a 10 minute video summary of the summit:
We'll also hear about an upcoming Hard To Recycle Event in the springtime in Monroeville, PA and the agenda for the rest of the Sustainable Monroeville meetings in 2016.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday evening & Many Blessings for all of us on this magical spaceship planet Earth!
Elisa Beck :)
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Sunday, January 3, 2016
The Search For Sustainability
Happy 2016! What an amazing time to be alive!
Join us on Monday evening, January 4, 2016 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM for the January meeting of Sustainable Monroeville. Searching For Solutions, the first part of a 12 part Searching For Sustainability documentary will be shown. Join us in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library. Free and open to the public!
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Nathan Crane is an award winning author, inspirational speaker, conscious filmmaker, and highly sought after publisher and promoter of personal growth teachings, books, events and training courses. Nathan is the founder of the Panacea Companies including The Panacea Community, Panacea Publishing, Inc., Panacea Life School, and Panacea Hope. He is the President and CEO of Integrated Health International, and produces highly transformational events that positively impact and transform hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. Nathan's full venture, product, and resource list can be found at www.nathancrane.comTuesday, December 1, 2015
December 2015, Sustainable Monroeville, and COP 21 in Paris
Hello and Happy December!
In honor of the COP 21 conference in Paris, we will not have a Sustainable Monroeville meeting in December, 2015. Why no meeting this month? No free movie? No talking about how to create and document a more Sustainable Monroeville and a more Sustainable Metro Pittsburgh and more Sustainable Western PA? Hey, we will save some greenhouse gases! There's never been a person in all the years we've been having these meetings at the Monroeville Public Library that has biked or walked to a meeting in these suburbs. Prove me wrong! Yes, there have been carpools....
How are we individually and collectively going to reduce our carbon footprints?
Take time to catch up with filmmaker Mark Dixon on his journey. Learn from him and all the others who have put amazing time and energy into creating our new reality!
Follow these links for day by day COP 21 updates:
on Facebook: Mark's Climate Journey to COP 21
on the Blog: https://markatcop21.wordpress.com
Here's the link to the climate lecture Mark presented at a recent meeting of Sustainable Monroeville and has presented all over the Pittsburgh region: https://plus.google.com/115412509729507569276/posts/QC5Jpj4jjtZ
Mark is THE representative lay person who has traveled to Paris from Pittsburgh. Follow Pittsburgh's amazing Mayor, Bill Peduto, to see what is going on during the talks and figure out how you can shift your awareness and consciousness and wrap your heart and spirit around the changes you can make as an individual. Think of how you can be involved in your community to shift awareness and make positive changes towards carbon neutrality!
And get ready for an amazing 2016 life changing time! Happy Holidays and Happy end of 2015 and 2016 and Way Way beyond!!
Blessings,
Elisa Beck:)
In honor of the COP 21 conference in Paris, we will not have a Sustainable Monroeville meeting in December, 2015. Why no meeting this month? No free movie? No talking about how to create and document a more Sustainable Monroeville and a more Sustainable Metro Pittsburgh and more Sustainable Western PA? Hey, we will save some greenhouse gases! There's never been a person in all the years we've been having these meetings at the Monroeville Public Library that has biked or walked to a meeting in these suburbs. Prove me wrong! Yes, there have been carpools....
How are we individually and collectively going to reduce our carbon footprints?
Take time to catch up with filmmaker Mark Dixon on his journey. Learn from him and all the others who have put amazing time and energy into creating our new reality!
Follow these links for day by day COP 21 updates:
on Facebook: Mark's Climate Journey to COP 21
on the Blog: https://markatcop21.wordpress.com
Here's the link to the climate lecture Mark presented at a recent meeting of Sustainable Monroeville and has presented all over the Pittsburgh region: https://plus.google.com/115412509729507569276/posts/QC5Jpj4jjtZ
Mark is THE representative lay person who has traveled to Paris from Pittsburgh. Follow Pittsburgh's amazing Mayor, Bill Peduto, to see what is going on during the talks and figure out how you can shift your awareness and consciousness and wrap your heart and spirit around the changes you can make as an individual. Think of how you can be involved in your community to shift awareness and make positive changes towards carbon neutrality!
And get ready for an amazing 2016 life changing time! Happy Holidays and Happy end of 2015 and 2016 and Way Way beyond!!
Blessings,
Elisa Beck:)
Sunday, November 1, 2015
FREE Virtual Sustainability Summit and Wanda Guthrie of the The Thomas Merton Center speaks her truth at the November 2, 2015 meeting of Sustainable Monroeville!
Hello there, and Happy November!
Join us on Monday November 2, 2015, at 7:00 PM to hear Wanda Guthrie, one of the original regional sustainability activists and pioneers talk at the Monroeville Public Library for the November meeting of Sustainable Monroeville.
From Wanda Guthrie:
"There is much movement in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area as people all over the world anticipate the decisions of the UN Paris Summit on Climate Change known as COP 21.
The Thomas Merton Center has a number of projects dedicated to environmental justice and climate justice. Our newest project is Pittsburgh 350 and we have been working together with other local groups to build momentum for local climate change actions and information.
We are working with 350.org to create momentum for local, national and international actions addressing fossil fuels and climate change.
Please come and hear about our OFF + ON CAMPAIGN, POWER THROUGH PARIS, and our very important DIVEST PITTSBURGH: Asking the City of Pittsburgh to Divest from all fossil fuels."
On another note check out this virtual Sustainability Summit starting tonight for 12 consecutive days, absolutely FREE!!! Here's the link: http://theselfreliancesummit.com/the-search-for-sustainability-home/
See y'all tomorrow evening in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library. This meeting is free and open to the public. Feel free to invite others and share widely!
Elisa :)
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Join Us on Monday, October 5, 2015 for Sustainable Monroeville on COP21 Climate Change negotiations with Filmaker Mark Dixon of YERT fame!
Dear Sustainable Monroeville fans and community members in beautiful Western Pennsylvania,
Happy early Autumn! We are honored to host Filmmaker Mark Dixon for the October meeting of Sustainable Monroeville on Monday evening, October 5, 2015 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library. Sustainable Monroeville meetings are free and open to the public so bring along a friend or two or three! Save some room for some delicious surprise dessert that surely will have something to do with our sustainable and regenerative future!
From Mark: "This December nations around the world will send delegates to the COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, France. This is quite possibly the most important climate-related event in all of human history, and Mark Dixon will be bringing his eyes, ears, and voice (and audio/video/photography gear) to this gathering to raise awareness about this important issue and urge responsible action by lawmakers – particularly in the Pittsburgh region.
Already an accomplished environmental filmmaker (YERT – Your Environmental Road Trip, and The Power of One Voice: A 50-Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson) and climate presenter, Mark Dixon further bolstered his awareness of the UN climate negotiations by formally representing Pittsburgh’s Mayor Peduto at an official UN COP21 precursor event: the World Summit Climate and Territories in Lyon, France. Based on this event and subsequent research, Mark has developed a detailed COP21 climate presentation to inform and entertain audiences with the drama and nuance around our civilization’s greatest attempt to address the climate crisis. Mark has pre-processed the complexities of the COP21 process and our collective global response so that you can be well-informed without devoting days of your life to working through all the details. We hope you can make it! More information at http://markatcop21.wordpress.com . And my crowdfunding campaign here: http://www.gofundme.com/xthcww . "
We look forward to seeing you on Monday evening, October 5. Hey, let's learn together about shifting consciousness and creating an even more beautiful world!
Many blessings for a restorative, regenerative future,
Elisa Beck:)
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Monday, August 10, 2015
Sustainability Pioneers Film screenings and Documentary Filmmaker Kirsi Jansa on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 7:00 PM; Whole Foods Plant Based Pot Luck dinner at 6:00 PM
Happy Summertime! We are so excited to be hosting documentary filmmaker Kirsi Jansa, creator of Sustainability Pioneers for our September meeting of Sustainable Monroeville on Monday evening September 21, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the downstairs program room of the Monroeville Public Library!
Join us for 6:00 PM for a Whole Foods Plant Based meal, followed by some amazing documentaries and discussion with Kirsi!
Here's the link for more details :
http://sustainabilitypioneers.com/screenings-community-conversations/
All meetings of Sustainable Monroeville are free and open to the public!
Elisa Beck :)
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