The Street Where You Live

As I was walking my dog, Enzo, this weekend, something buried in the leaves caught his eye and caught my attention. Enzo had found a candy wrapper presumably left over from trick-or-treaters this week and I grabbed it and threw it away before he could lock the pretzel bag in-between his jaws. As we continued…

Pittsburgh’s Top 5 Sustainability Organizations

Top 5 Environmental Organizations in Pittsburgh: 1. PA Environmental Council – pecpa.org PA Environmental Council (PEC) aims to rebuild and restore the original environments found in the Western Pennsylvania area. They do so through various initiatives in innovation, collaboration, education, and policy. The organization has been around since the 1970s and continues to work with the…

Northshore Keeps It Clean

In recent year Pittsburgh has been transforming from its steel roots to a green environment. People have become more environmentally conscious and are improving the world with simple things like recycling. Still, many people do not know what all they can recycle. This is where the Northshore Bin Initiative comes in. It is an initiative…

Sustainable Education? Sustainability Education? Education for Sustainability?

Whatever it is – we need it! Environmental education has truly proven itself as an incredibly influential and successful tool over recent decades. Working within the field myself, I have found this practice to be incredibly rewarding for a variety of ways, particularly that I am able to simultaneously and positively impact both children and…

Black, Yellow, and Green?

There is no doubt that Pittsburgh is notorious for its sports’ fans and the ultimate passion found throughout the city limits and beyond. A simple drive through the ‘burgh is sure to provide arguably obnoxious flashes of black and yellow memorabilia of some sort, flags waving in the yards of most Pittsburghers’, and one simply can’t walk down…

Beetles and Invasive Plants

                                                                                                    (http://www.nyis.info/) Non-native plant species are invading new regions at an unprecedented rate, exerting strong impacts on ecosystems and human welfare. When non-native plant species reach a high abundance, they have the potential to dominate an ecosystem, impacting not only individual resident species, but also entire population dynamics. Invasive plants are responsible for the degradation…

Recycle Mania at Chatham

Zachary J. Schmucker, communications and outreach assistant for Chatham University’s Office of Sustainability, introduces us to Recycle Mania and what Chatham University can do to help with the competition.

A Beginners Guide to Sustainable Gardening

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and wellbeing depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.” Sustainable farming or gardening makes efficient use of all materials being used including land, water, seeds, and products grown. By practicing sustainable behaviors…