Tag Archive: Water
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Practical Lessons in Winning Public Support for Infrastructure Project
Leave a CommentLet’s face it – winning public support for unfunded infrastructure mandates is difficult to do. Public officials (both elected and unelected) constantly struggle to communicate the value of infrastructure investments in a way that builds broad-based support from constituents. This session covers the best strategies for planning and successfully engaging the public on difficult-to-win topics like infrastructure investments, tax increases, and municipal compliance activities.
Speaker: Mark Heckmann, Castle Shannon Council President
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Practical Lessons in Winning Public Support for Infrastructure Project
Leave a CommentLet’s face it – winning public support for unfunded infrastructure mandates is difficult to do. Public officials (both elected and unelected) constantly struggle to communicate the value of infrastructure investments in a way that builds broad-based support from constituents. This session covers the best strategies for planning and successfully engaging the public on difficult-to-win topics like infrastructure investments, tax increases, and municipal compliance activities.
Speaker: Mark Heckmann, Castle Shannon Council President
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Join us for I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh
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Challenge Yourself and Others to Take Small Actions for Big Collective Impact
Looking to make your community an even better place to live, work, and play, but not sure how? Be part of Sustainable Pittsburgh’s new bi-annual competition that sparks collective action for a more sustainable Pittsburgh region. Invite your residents (and friends and coworkers!) to participate in I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh, a free, 3-week competition that champions hometown pride and your personal commitments to being more sustainable!
I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh is based on the online EcoChallenge platform, and just as the EcoChallenge has engaged more than 200,000 people around the world, I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh enables all our region’s residents to take small steps that lead to big changes. As an added bonus, participants can earn prizes for making strides in their sustainable behaviors and for sustainable practices they have already mastered.
The Spring competition starts February 27th! Participating individuals can be part of teams at campuses, communities, or workplaces, or they can do it on their own. Learn more and register today at www.IAmSustainablePGH.org. Please share this opportunity with your town through social media, email, or newsletters. Contact Sustainable Pittsburgh for resources.
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Cafe Sci: Straw Forward
Leave a CommentDoors 6 pm; Event 7-9 pm
FREE
Register here
Please join us for an insightful panel discussion at Carnegie Science Center’s Café Sci! Learn more about the larger issue of plastic pollution and go behind the scenes with the team that created the art installation, Straw Forward.
Straw Forward is a collaborative effort of restaurants, businesses, and nonprofits to collect used and littered plastic-based items and turn them into a work of art in order to raise awareness and foster meaningful dialogue around the global-scale issues of single-use plastic waste and plastic pollution.
The Straw Forward art installation is made from yarn made from saved plastic bottles, plastic barrels, a pool solar cover, pool noodles, Styrofoam, over 25,000 plastic straws, plastic bags, crates, and other discarded plastic items. All items used were donated, gathered from participating collection locations, or picked up as litter.
The Straw Forward art installation will be visible for public viewing at the Carnegie Science Center through February 15, 2019.
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SCDN Webinar: Urban Agriculture – From Vacant Properties to Green Space
Leave a CommentNovember 15 @ 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Register Here
FREEThe presence of vacant properties is a challenge that municipalities face every day, but these spaces can be utilized to benefit the community in several ways: returning properties to the tax rolls, improving community engagement, fostering economic development, and combating food insecurity.
Interest in urban agriculture and community gardening has seen a major resurgence in the last 15 years. As municipal leaders seek ways to improve the quality of life for their neighborhoods, community gardens have shown to cultivate resident engagement and productive community partnerships. Utilizing vacant lots as green space in some communities has also revealed an improvement in air and water quality, helping with stormwater issues and even calming local traffic.
As a response to rising interest in community gardening, Grow Pittsburgh formed in 2005 and has since become a go-to resource when it comes to self-sustaining urban agriculture in the region. Join Local Government Academy in partnership with Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Sustainable Community Development Network (SCDN) as we host speaker Rayden Sorock, Director of Community Projects at Grow Pittsburgh, for a webinar describing best practices for starting an urban agricultural project. Learn which policies municipalities can adopt to facilitate growing food, and then hear from Rebecca Bradley, Manager of Wilkins Township, about a real community garden project.
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PCCA Floodplain Management Course
Leave a CommentFloodplain Management Course 273
PA Construction Codes AcademyThis is the field deployed version of the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) MI E273 course. This course is designed to provide an organized training opportunity for local officials responsible for administering their local floodplain management ordinance. The course will focus on the NFIP and concepts of floodplain management, maps and studies, ordinance administration, and the relationship between floodplain management and flood insurance.
This course is intended for local officials responsible for administering local floodplain management ordinances, including but not limited to floodplain management administrators, building inspectors, code enforcement/zoning officers, conservation agents and commissioners, planners, city/county managers, attorneys, engineers, and public works officials. Federal/State/regional floodplain managers also are encouraged to attend. The course is designed for those officials with less than 3 years of floodplain management experience.
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Rain Barrel Workshop at Upper St Clair Library
Leave a CommentPennsylvania Resource Council’s Watershed Awareness/Rain Barrel Workshop raises awareness of watershed issues, demonstrates how to install a 55-gallon rain barrel, and introduces other rainwater harvesting options.
Participants will also receive a FreeGarden RAIN 55-gallon rain barrel (seen below). Designed with the homeowner/gardener in mind, it is affordable, attractive, and easy to install.
Cost: $80/person and $85/couple
*any couple where the second attendee is under 18 should choose the individual registration as their second party is freeYou can pay in one of three ways:
-Send a check in mail
-Pay with PayPal
-Bring cash or check with you to workshopAll Payment information is included in confirmation email. The PayPal option will be offered at the end of the registration process. Contact 412.488.7490 ext. 247 if you have questions.
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Flood Proofing Workshop for Homeowners
Comments Off on Flood Proofing Workshop for HomeownersCome learn about the recommended Flood-Proofing Method for your home. All homeowners are invited to attend – learn about flood-proofing techniques.
During the first hour, the USACE National Nonstructural Flood-Proofing Committee will discuss elevating structures, dry flood-proofing and filling the basement. Homeowners, during the second hour, will have an opportunity to learn about insurance options, federal grant programs, and possible low-interest mitigation loans.
Federal and State agency representatives will be on hand to discuss other floodplain management topics, such as the National Flood Insurance Program, Community Rating System, and flood forecasts and warnings.
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Flood Proofing Workshop for Community Officials and Homeowners
Comments Off on Flood Proofing Workshop for Community Officials and HomeownersCome learn about the recommended Flood Proofing Methods for your home. All community officials & homeowners are invited to attend – learn about flood proofing techniques!
The USACE National Nonstructural Flood Proofing Committee will discuss elevating structures, dry flood proofing and filling the basement. Homeowners, will will have an opportunity to learn about insurance options, federal grant programs, and possible low-interest mitigation loans.
Federal and State agency representatives will be on hand to discuss other floodplain management topics, such as the National Flood Insurance Program, Community Rating System, and flood forecasts and warnings.
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Webinar: Maintaining Streams in Your Community
Leave a CommentFlooding is a problem. Municipalities face an ongoing struggle to prevent damage and disruption to residents and businesses caused by flooding, which is often both time-consuming and costly to fix.
What can municipal leaders do? When does the DEP need to get involved? What other resources are out there?
Join Local Government Academy in partnership with the Sustainable Community Development Network (SCDN) of Sustainable Pittsburgh in this webinar featuring Greg Holesh, the Environmental Group Manager and Permitting and Technical Support at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), as he details the causes of flooding for communities of the southwestern region, as well as how to smartly mitigate stream maintenance with and without DEP notification, pre-approval, or permits, and what you can do to reduce and prevent flooding in your neighborhoods.