Earth Day and Beyond

Blog Post Contributed by Edward Wrenn, SAPgh Board of Directors

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Earth day is this Thursday, April 22, with activities happening during the next few days. We also need Earth Month, Year, Decade, Century, Seven Generations, etc. There are many environmental organizations and activities in our area to join in symbiosis!

Earth Day Events in and Around Pittsburgh:

• One easy, important action for this Earth Day: Learn about and consider supporting The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act of 2021. The Plastic Pollution Coalition website (https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org) is great overall and provides information about this bill and how to ask legislators support it.
• History of earth day and some things going on this year: https://www.earthday.org, Their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/PittsburghEarthDay
• The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy also has events all April (some already over):  https://pittsburghparks.org/earth-day/
• The Pittsburgh Vegan Society at Phipps is having Every Day I s Earth Day, noon-1, 4/22: https://3989p.blackbaudhosting.com/3989p/Every-Day-is-Earth-Day–and-for-Everyone
• Penn Future (https://www.pennfuture.org) has a number events listed on their website! Click here to find out more!
• And last, but certainly not least, our friends at Pittsburgh Freethought Community had this to share:

Happy Earth Day from PFC! This Thursday, April 22, is the 51st anniversary of Earth Day. Join us in celebrating by reading our statement about how you can (re)dedicate yourself to creating a healthy and sustainable planet for all life that will benefit for generations to come. Visit the official Earth Day website to learn more about what you can do for environmental justice. Image credit

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Other environmental groups, activities beyond Earth Day:

I am especially interested in reducing plastic waste. I am on the steering committee of PASUP- Pittsburghers Against Single-Use Plastic, and I encourage you to join us by going to our website pasupnow.org and submitting your email address. We also have a very helpful website about recycling in the city of Pittsburgh: recyclethisnowpittsburgh.com.

• One of our members hosts a monthly environmental salon, virtual now but hopefully in person again soon- info RE this and other events- http://marenslist.blogspot.com
• Another, ‘Becca Stallings has the blog site The Earthling’s Handout- https://articles.earthlingshandbook.org She and I are working on a business plan to provide sustainable lifestyle coaching/consulting.
• https://myplasticfreelife.com/plasticfreeguide/ also has good suggestions about alternatives to plastic. Reimagined Recycling accepts # 5 plastics for reuse and needs volunteers to help sort and to learn

And even more local organizations! (sorry for who I left out)

• Audobon Society of Western PA especially for native plant sale
• The Breathe Project, which focuses on the petrochemical industry
• Biophilia at Phipps Conservancy
• CCL (Citizens Climate Lobby)
• Climate Reality Project
• GASP (Group Against Smog and Pollution)
• Green Building Alliance
• Grounded Strategies
• Isaac Walton League, Allegheny County Chapter
• No Petro PA
• No Plastic Please
• OVER (Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance)
• POPCO (People Over Petro Coalition)
• PRC (Pennsylvania Resource Council)
• Sierra Club of Allegheny County
• Sustainable Pittsburgh
• Numerous Community Gardens are great places for learning, wonder, and community. Grow Pittsburgh has a map of some of them:  https://www.growpittsburgh.org/garden-and-farm-resources/community-gardens/

Here’s to Earth Day and greener Pittsburgh area!