Looking Good and Being Green: It’s Complicated

By: Elly Helgen If you’re like me, you’d like to think you’re not materialistic enough to care about what’s trendy and “who” so-and-so is wearing. But if The Devil Wears Prada taught me anything, it’s that we’re all a part of the fashion industry, whether we like it or not. Unless you don’t wear clothes…

Three Rivers Mothers’ Milk Bank

  Board President, Nora Peace, of the Three Rivers Mothers’ Milk Bank of Pittsburgh said in an interview “Imagine a cause that can actually save lives and we’re here in Western Pennsylvania.” This is a cause that rings true to her heart.  All babies benefit from human milk. Breast milk is even more critical for…

How Sustainable is Sustainability in the Political Realm?

As a movement, Sustainability has been primarily focused towards the realm of decision makers in Washington by climate scientists and concerned philanthropists alike. In 2011, the EPA put forth a strategic plan that would have seen sulfur emissions from gasoline cut by almost 70%. This plan was lauded by the informed public and even the…

Soon To Be Restricted

Since Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, DDT, or dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, has been the most publicized pesticide banned by the Environmental Protection Agency. Pesticide use and its dangers were first brought to light by Rachel Carson but have remained a mainstream topic since. Whether you are a consumer purchasing produce, or a farmer considering spraying…

More Than Just Water: Lead in the Pittsburgh Environment

Issues about lead exposure has recently come to the forefront of the media’s attention, particularly with the recent news of high levels of lead in Flint Michigan’s drinking water. The site was also the stage for a past presidential debate where lead contamination was a major focus of the discussions. One candidate mentioned lead not…

Sourcing Sustainable Fish in Pittsburgh

Fish in Pittsburgh? Let me start by discussing where we’re located: Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is amazing in that we have many beautiful farms just miles away from the city, and abundant farmers’ markets with bounties of fresh produce… at least during the summer months. We are also lucky that great work raising sustainable meat is being…

Republican, Democrat, Independent, Undecided? We all have to eat!

Many people have decided who they are voting for in the primary election. Some have not.  If you are undecided, you still have time. Make sure you are registered in one of the parties or you are not able to vote on primary election day in Pennsylvania. What party you choose is none of my…

Indoor Agriculture

As access to cultivatable land becomes increasingly constrained due to overpopulation and urbanization, new technologies are positioning indoor agriculture as a viable and sustainable way to produce food now and into the future.  Indoor agriculture is a fitting solution to scale up food production in developed and developing countries alike and, considering input, promises to…

Clothing Line Dedicates Itself to Protecting African Wildlife

Baghdad is an elephant living in a national park in Gabon, located on the continent of Africa. Baghdad is one of only twenty-percent of African forest elephant left on Earth, whose trunks are long enough to touch the ground, making the value this elephant worth approximately a hundred thousand dollars as mentioned in The National…

Stormwater Woes

It is no secret that Pittsburgh, like many similar cities, has a water issue. This issue being that the amount of rainfall in the region coupled with the amount of hard, concrete surfaces (grey infrastructure) creates a water overload that water treatment plants, like Allegheny County Sanitation Authority (ALCOSAN), do not have the capacity to…