Racial Equity Consciousness Institute's Film Premier: "Illuminating the Vaccine for Racism"
2024-01-25 17:45 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Frick Fine Arts Building, University of Pittsburgh
“Illuminating the Vaccine for Racism” highlights the groundbreaking Racial Equity Consciousness Institute here at the University of Pittsburgh, including reflections from the faculty, staff and students who have participated in RECI. This film not only sheds light on the complexities of systemic racism, but also highlights the strengths within community and open dialogue.

The evening will feature:

Catered reception (courtesy of Roxanne’s catering)

Panel discussion with Ron Idoko and film participants

Reflection gallery (featuring art by Morgan Overton)

Standalone art exhibits by Sylvia Rhor which will be in the University Gallery (closes at 7 pm)

Access to the Library (closes at 7 pm)

Swag giveaways and more!

Organizer

Venue

GreenGov Council & Penn State Sustainability Institute Webinar Series: Encouraging Sustainable Behavior with Sustainable Pittsburgh
2024-02-09 13:00 - 13:45 | Virtual
Sustainable Pittsburgh was established in 1998 and has been advancing the goals of equity, environmental and economic success in Southwestern Pennsylvania ever since. Learn how Sustainable Pittsburgh works to encourage sustainable behavior by supporting Sustainable Pennsylvania Certifications, restaurant certifications, and many other initiatives that advance sustainable behavior.

Organizer

Venue

Lunch and Learn Series 2024: Your Health and Your Environment
2024-02-15 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-03-21 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-04-18 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
Organizer

Venue

GreenGov Council & Penn State Sustainability Institute Webinar Series: Sustainable Transportation – PA Turnpike
2024-03-15 13:00 - 13:45 | Virtual
The PA Turnpike was the first of its kind and received nationwide acclaim as an engineering marvel. It was touted as America’s First Superhighway when it opened on October 1, 1940, and was the national standard for superhighway design and engineering. Now the PA Turnpike is leading the way on sustainable transportation initiatives – learn how this iconic highway is transforming into a roadway of the future!

Organizer

Venue

CMU Energy Week
2024-03-19 08:00 - 2024-03-21 17:00 | Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Hosted by Carnegie Mellon’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, CMU Energy Week brings energy and sustainability leaders, including scholars, investors, and entrepreneurs, from across the nation to Carnegie Mellon University to combine forces and exchange ideas on the world’s most pressing issues in energy.

Organizer

Venue

GreenGov Council & Penn State Sustainability Institute Webinar Series: Sustainable Buildings Initiative
2024-04-12 13:00 - 13:45 | Pennsylvania
Buildings are responsible for a large percentage greenhouse gas operational emissions nationally. Penn State and the Commonwealth are partnering to advance sustainable building education, with a goal of improving building designs and construction practices in our portfolios. Join in to learn what’s coming next to advance sustainable buildings!

Organizer

Venue

Understanding the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS) and its Implications for Pennsylvania's Energy Landscape
2024-04-29 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
Hosted by the Energy Efficiency Alliance and Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia

Are you curious about the future of renewable energy in Pennsylvania? Join the Energy Efficiency Alliance and Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia for a comprehensive discussion on the Governor’s recent PRESS proposal and its potential impact on the state’s energy landscape.

During this one-hour webinar, expert panelists will delve into:

– The key components of the PRESS proposal

– The current and prospective roles of renewable energy and energy efficiency under existing and proposed standards

– Potential changes in energy sources and tiers under the new PRESS proposal

– How the state’s portfolio standard impacts economic growth

– Opportunities for workforce development and job creation in the clean energy sector

– Insights into why PRESS matters for PA’s clean energy sector

Esteemed panel of experts will include:

– Rob Altenburg, PennFuture

– Jason Campbell, Blue Delta

– Sharon Pillar, PA Solar Center

– Dan Siegel, E2

This event is tailored for advocates, businesses, regulatory and legislative staff, and elected officials keen on understanding the role of an energy portfolio standard in driving economic growth and the clean energy scene in Pennsylvania.

Organizer

Venue

Ignite Environmental Justice (Allegheny Valley)
2024-05-02 17:00 - 21:00 | Millvale Food and Energy Hub, 112 E. Sherman Street, Millvale, PA, United States
New Sun Rising and RiverWise invite you to receive support designing and pitching your community project.

Do you or your community envision a project that could improve health, climate resilience, and/or economic opportunity? Nonprofits, municipal leaders, and residents in Allegheny County are encouraged to get support by attending an Ignite EJ workshop. Participants will be better informed about how Environmental Justice relates to their community project and accessing federal Justice 40 grants, while receiving support to develop and communicate their project plan.

The Environmental Justice designation identifies communities that are considered disadvantaged due to exceeding the burden thresholds established in one or more of the following areas: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, waste & wastewater, and workforce development, and an associated socioeconomic burden.

Participants will be better informed about how Justice 40 and Environmental Justice relates to their community project as well as how to prepare for government funding opportunities. Learn more about our Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator and EJ census tracts in Allegheny County here.

Organizer

Venue

Bike to Work Day 2024
2024-05-09 08:00 - 17:00 | Pennsylvania
Visit one of the Commuter Cafés on your way to or from work. Even if you work from home have the day off, the only requirement is that you arrive by bike! Join or renew your BikePGH membership in person and hear about what BikePGH has going on this year. Biking is better together, so bring a friend!

7 – 10 AM, stop by the Commuter Cafés in Market Square and Schenley Plaza for free coffee, breakfast, and to chat with other bike riders. 4 – 7 PM, meet at the evening Commuter Café at Aslin Beer in The Strip District Terminal for a free drink, snacks on BikePGH, and to chat about bike/ped updates coming to the area.

Organizer

Venue

2024 Environmental Justice Summit: Reflections, Connections, and Collaborative Action in the Pittsburgh Area
2024-05-09 17:30 - 2024-05-11 12:00 | Pennsylvania
Co-hosted by CPHP and the Cancer and Environment Network of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The summit will address environmental health disparities, including cancer, due to environmental injustices and feature keynote speaker Sacoby Wilson. Multiple panels and activities throughout the day will engage attendees with community members, community organizations and academic researchers all interested in freeing ourselves and our communities from the environmental injustices that abound in our region. The summit includes a one-day academic symposium (May 10) with multiple community offerings.

Primary Goals

– To connect like-minded environmental justice scholars and practitioners

– To create a community of practice focused on addressing environmental injustices

– To offer community/healing events for people impacted by environmental injustices and/or working in environmental justice

Access Full Schedule & Speaker Information

Organizer

Venue

OpenStreetsPGH
2024-05-11 10:00 - 14:00 | Pennsylvania
OpenStreetsPGH is a free community event that opens miles of city streets for people to walk, run, bike, and explore spaces that would otherwise be used by motor vehicles.

Organizer

Venue

Building Up Heat Pump Contractor Networks: Lessons Learned from Massachusetts, Maine, and New York
2024-05-22 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
Easy access to qualified contractors is key to scaling up residential heat pump use. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it can be very difficult for consumers – even those highly committed to transitioning to high-efficiency, electric heating – to find a knowledgeable and skilled contractor.How can we transform the market to address this problem, especially as Pennsylvania rolls out its Home Electrification & Appliance Rebates and demand grows? We can start by learning from neighboring states who have made impressive headway on electrification.Join the Energy Efficiency Alliance for a webinar featuring speakers with expertise on New York’s, Maine’s, and Massachusetts’s residential contractor programs. They will speak to successes won and obstacles overcome in their programs, sharing lessons learned that other states can draw upon to formulate plans that work for them.

Organizer

Venue

Ignite Environmental Justice (Ohio Valley)
2024-05-22 17:00 - 21:00 | Whitted Media Content House, 507 Seventh Avenue, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, 15010
New Sun Rising and RiverWise invite you to receive support designing and pitching your community project.

Do you or your community envision a project that could improve health, climate resilience, and/or economic opportunity? Nonprofits, municipal leaders, and residents in Beaver County are encouraged to get support by attending an Ignite EJ workshop. Participants will be better informed about how Environmental Justice relates to their community project and accessing federal Justice 40 grants, while receiving support to develop and communicate their project plan.

The Environmental Justice designation identifies communities that are considered disadvantaged due to exceeding the burden thresholds established in one or more of the following areas: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, waste & wastewater, and workforce development, and an associated socioeconomic burden.

Participants will be better informed about how Justice 40 and Environmental Justice relates to their community project as well as how to prepare for government funding opportunities. Learn more about our Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator and EJ census tracts in Beaver County here.

Organizer

Venue

Ignite Environmental Justice (Monongahela Valley)
2024-05-30 17:00 - 21:00 | TBD
New Sun Rising and RiverWise invite you to receive support designing and pitching your community project.

Do you or your community envision a project that could improve health, climate resilience, and/or economic opportunity? Nonprofits, municipal leaders, and residents in Allegheny or Beaver County are encouraged to get support by attending an Ignite EJ workshop. Participants will be better informed about how Environmental Justice relates to their community project and accessing federal Justice 40 grants, while receiving support to develop and communicate their project plan.

The Environmental Justice designation identifies communities that are considered disadvantaged due to exceeding the burden thresholds established in one or more of the following areas: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, waste & wastewater, and workforce development, and an associated socioeconomic burden.

Participants will be better informed about how Justice 40 and Environmental Justice relates to their community project as well as how to prepare for government funding opportunities. Learn more about our Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator and EJ census tracts in Allegheny and Beaver County here.

Organizer

Venue

Open Streets Pittsburgh - The Historic Hill District to Northside
2024-06-29 08:00 - 17:00 | Pennsylvania
This event series is organized by Bike Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization that works on behalf of the Pittsburgh community to transform our streets and communities into vibrant, healthy places by making them safe and accessible for everyone to bike and walk.

Organizer

Venue

Cutting Costs and Emissions: Inflation Reduction Act Webinar featuring Rep. Houlahan
2024-07-16 10:30 - 11:30 | Virtual
Join this virtual event to hear from special guest speaker Congresswoman Houlahan along with other panelists on how the funds from the Inflation Reduction Act are bringing a whole range of benefits to Pennsylvanians, including of course solar energy. We will be learning more about how these funds will be implemented through the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, what that will mean for solar projects around the state, as well as an in-depth look at how YOU can access tax credits to both save money and help protect our environment!

Co-sponsors: Conservation Voters of PA, Pennfuture, PennEnvironment, Reimagine Appalachia

Organizer

Venue

Watt Works? Industrial Process Electrification Summit
2024-08-01 08:00 - 15:00 | Pennsylvania
Are you ready to dive into the world of industrial process electrification? Join us at the Watt Works? Industrial Process Electrification Summit where experts in the field will share their knowledge and insights, as well as technology providers will showcase the latest in this field. This in-person event will take place on Thursday August 1, 2024 at DLC Woods Run Campus. Get ready to learn, network, and be inspired by the possibilities of electrifying industrial processes. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to be part of the electrification revolution!

Organizer

Venue

Economic Policy IS Environmental Policy - An Intro to Sustainable Economics
2024-08-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
PennFuture is embarking on projects that connect economic development and environmental issues in order to promote a healthy economy, healthy communities, and a healthy environment. This webinar introduces this work and breaks down our recently released report “Economic Policy is Environmental Policy: Prioritizing Environmental Progress in Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development”. This report outlines the ways that the DCED can be leveraged to support Pennsylvania’s transition to clean energy and how that transition can improve quality of life for communities and create family-sustaining jobs for workers.

Organizer

Venue

How Cities Can Take Advantage of Direct Pay
2024-08-22 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
The Inflation Reduction Act provides tax incentives for the production of and investment in clean energy through a tax credit monetization called elective pay, also known as “direct pay.” For the first time, these clean energy tax benefits are available to entities that have been historically excluded from claiming them—such as state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and other tax-exempt entities like schools, hospitals, places of worship, and many more.Lawyers for Good Government have recently launched the Clean Energy Tax Navigator, a project-specific tool to help tax-exempt entities learn about elective pay eligibility and requirements.Local government officials and decision-makers are encouraged to register for an upcoming webinar on August 22nd at 2 PM EST to learn about the tool and ways to weave various funding sources to maximize clean energy project financing.

Organizer

Venue

Community Data Justice Collaborative Information Session
2024-08-23 12:00 - 12:45, 2024-09-13 12:00 - 12:45 | Virtual
This is an initiative of the Data Justice in Pittsburgh’s Black Neighborhoods project. Data Justice in Pittsburgh’s Black Neighborhoods is a project of the Black Equity Coalition (BEC) that aims to build decision-making power for Black Pittsburghers and those that have been most-impacted by residential segregation and disinvestment by creating public processes and public power over data as it is used, governed, and disseminated in the City of Pittsburgh.

The Community Data Justice Collaborative are residents nominated from the public and from community organizations that will engage in decisions that the City of Pittsburgh makes about data, technology, and policies that will serve as the foundation of the City’s emerging data governance process. The BEC will engage the Community Data Justice Collaborative and city data stewards in participatory activities to find consensus around how the city uses data and technology.

Organizer

Venue

Organizing 101 and Direct Action Training - PART 2
2024-08-31 10:00 - 2024-09-01 16:00 | Pennsylvania
Join fellow community justice and MOVEMENT members/LEADERS from across Southwest PA for a two-day intensive training on Organizing and Direct action to make change! Partake in a hands-on learning environment to empower leaders with tools, techniques, innovations and old-school best practices to generate deep community engagement.

Organizer

Venue

Skyrocketing PJM Capacity Market Prices: What Happened and How Can We Fix It?
2024-09-09 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
At the end of July, power grid operator PJM experienced record-high costs to secure the electric grid capacity needed to ensure stable operations. Prices spiked, yielding a 9-fold cost increase for the 13-state territory, saddling consumers with a $15 billion bill for 2025-2026. These record costs for capacity expose serious implications for the reliability of the system, as well as increasing costs for all electricity consumers.

Get the real story on the drivers behind the price spike, including the difficulty in bringing new capacity online in the PJM region and the lack of reliability from natural gas generation. We’ll cover the interconnection queue, fossil vs. renewable energy sources for reliability, transition planning, and related FERC orders (1920, 2222, 2023) to help you understand what’s happening and what steps can be taken to solve this challenge.

Featuring:

–Jon Gordon, Director, Advanced Energy United

–Tom Rutigliano, Senior Advocate, Climate & Energy, NRDC

Organizer

Venue

RISE PA: A Game Changer for Industry and Union Labor in Pennsylvania
2024-09-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
Join Evergreen Action, Ohio River Valley Institute, PA DEP, Conservation Voters of PA, and labor and industry groups to discuss a game-changing Pennsylvania pollution reduction program that will create upward of 6,000 new jobs! You’ll hear from:

– Louie Krak, Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator, PA Department of Environmental Protection

– Rob Bair, President, PA Building and Construction Trades Council

– Katie Blume, Political and Legislative Director, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania

– Jeff Mauk, Director, Policy Network, Eastern Region, CERES

– Joanne Kilgour, Executive Director, Ohio River Valley Institute

By tackling the state’s biggest source of climate pollution, RISE PA will make sure Pennsylvania residents experience improved air quality, along with more good-paying job opportunities. But to effectively do so, potential applicants need to start thinking now about their application and potential partners.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about RISE PA and how it will help businesses and communities like yours thrive.

Organizer

Venue

IRA Tax Credits for Local Governments and Other Tax-Exempt Entities
2024-09-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Pennsylvania
Presented by the SWPA Municipal Project Hub

Presentation and discussion of the Impact of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Tax Credits on Local Governments and Other Tax-Exempt Entities by representatives of the United State Department of the Treasury and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Governor’s Office, Critical Investments.

The IRA’s Elective Payment provision (also called Direct Pay) creates a generationally unique funding environment for tax-exempt entities (including local governments, school districts, nonprofits, faith-based organizations) considering novel and clean energy projects (solar, geothermal, heat pumps, hydro). Organizations pursuing these projects – having completed them – can apply to the IRS and receive the value of the Tax Credit associated with the investment in the form of a direct check from the US Treasury. That payment could be between 30-50% of the value of the energy project.

Representatives from the US Treasury will present this opportunity as it affects local governments and other tax-exempt entities. Representatives of the Governor’s Office, Critical Investments will comment on plans the Commonwealth is pursuing to maximize the value of these Tax Credits in and to the Commonwealth.

A Q&A and discussion period will follow the presentation. Please note that this event will be held in person and virtually. Please note your attendance type during registration.

Organizer

Venue

Week Without Driving PGH
2024-09-30 00:00 - 2024-10-06 23:59 | Pennsylvania
Whether we live in suburban towns or city neighborhoods, everyone in Allegheny County deserves safe, reliable, dignified access to the places we need to go. Across the county, 30% of the population does not drive a car.

The Week Without Driving is a nationwide movement to link the needs of disabled individuals and people of all ages with environmental movements and accessible community planning. Together, we will illustrate challenges and opportunities for non-drivers and call for change that improves mobility for all.

Join Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Access Mob Pittsburgh, BikePGH and AARP Pittsburgh in pledging to take a Week Without Driving, and call for true mobility options for all in Allegheny County. You can participate as an individual, organization or elected official.

Organizer

Venue

2024 Commonwealth Sustainability Week
2024-10-07 12:00 - 2024-10-11 13:00 | Virtual
Provided by: PA GreenGov Council and Penn State Sustainability

Join us for the fourth annual Commonwealth Sustainability Week! The week’s events will feature daily webinars, each featuring subject matter experts followed by an open question & answer discussion providing folks the opportunity to share their questions and receive feedback in real-time.

Organizer

Venue
