DUE TO THE RAIN AND STORMS IN THE FORECAST, THIS MORNING’S SUNDAY ASSEMBLY WILL BE HELD VIA ZOOM ONLY! 

UNFORTUNATELY, there will be NO IN-PERSON EVENT as previously planned!

We are so sorry for any inconvenience this may cause!

Blog Post Contributed by Edward Wrenn, SAPgh Board of Directors

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

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!

Hello! If you’re new and reading this, WELCOME to Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh. If you’re a regular member of our community, we love you and are glad you are still here with us in 2021. As the new President of SAPgh (and in an effort to refresh our blog posting as a community), I am writing to reflect on our first quarter, as we revitalize after a tough year for everyone.  I’d also like to invite you to deepen your involvement with our community in 2021.  SAPgh has been fortunate to stay consistent and solid with our membership and programming throughout the pandemic, but we also have big goals and dreams for expansion and reconnecting, as the world (safely) opens back up throughout the year. We miss hugging you, we miss playing live music with you, and we miss drinking coffee IRL with you. Until those cozy days return, check out what we have put together on Zoom so far. We’ve had a lovely start to 2021 (how is Q1 almost over already?!), and hope you join us as much as you can this year. 

• These themes are on fire! (sung to the tune of Alicia Keys;) Our Programming Committee lined up an excellent and soul-inspiring flow for Q1 to keep us “Wondering More” & “Living Better.” Zoom Fatigue didn’t get us down! We started out January with the theme of Hope. Let’s be real, we were missing each other big time, as 2020 drew to a close. It was helpful to hear some of our community members share personal stories of finding hope amidst the despair of the past year, as well as to learn some psychology behind hopefulness! That led us to Pleasure in February, which requires some hopefulness for those of us who have experienced trauma, especially in our bodies. We read some of the most powerful work out there, from activists of all backgrounds, who are doing work around sexuality, embodiment, justice, and other areas where pleasure has historically been denied by the larger systems in which we exist. And of course, we couldn’t talk about Pleasure without talking about the ways womxn and femmes are often denied access to theirs, which leads us to… March’s theme of Women’s Empowerment. This theme feels especially POWER-full to celebrate Women’s History Month in 2021: we have our first woman sitting in one of the two highest offices in our country, and our current Board of Directors here at SAPgh is also comprised of a majority of femme & non-binary folx. Join us for this empowering celebration on Sunday, March 21 at 10am via Zoom. 
  • Wondering what you missed so far? Follow the links above to check out our new Archives webpage — this will continue to be updated with resources from our monthly Assemblies! 
• Solid Community. Our Community Committee experienced no interruption to our regular programming during the pandemic. We are excited to have experienced growth in this committee, with big plans and dreams for reconnecting more IRL, as our community gets vaccinated and things become safer in 2021. In the meantime, our monthly programming will continue as solidly and consistently as always. If you want to get involved in planning these or other social events, contact me! 
• Help us reach more of Pittsburgh. Our website is undergoing some major changes, as highlighted in my writing here! We are looking for someone to manage & increase our engagement on our socials (Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube). If that sounds like you, let our Outreach chair, Brandon, know! And, if you want to write a blog post, contact Lisa for more information. 
• How else can you get involved? We always welcome new faces on the “stage” at our monthly Assemblies. Our regular segments include songs, a reading, X is Doing Their Best, A Moment of Science, and a theme host/MC. If one of our upcoming themes in Q2 speaks to you, or if you’d like to be involved in the planning for our Q3 & Q4 themes, let our chair, Maevon, know so they can help you get involved! 
  • April: Recovery
  • May: Animals
  • June: Creativity

Again, thank you for being a part of our family here at SAPgh, and we hope to keep loving you with emojis on Zoom or hugs IRL this year and every year. 

Love,

Ashley 

The year 2019 is behind us and Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh is looking to expand its community to anyone seeking one. It was an great year for the community and we’re looking to carry that momentum into 2020.

I attended my first Assembly in 2014. At the time I was a lonely new agnostic that once had a sense of community through the church. I wasn’t sure how many people shared my views. I found Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh by searching, ‘atheist community’, and it happened to be around the time they were preparing for their first Assembly. When I attended my first Assembly I felt an instant sense of community, inclusivity and belonging. I have since become the Outreach Coordinator with the goal of giving as many people that same feeling as possible.

We are looking forward to the new year, and hope to expand the number of charitable acts in the community by growing our numbers. Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh also has new board members with fresh ideas who will help improve the organization. It’s going to be an amazing year!

The next Assembly is Sunday, January 19, 2020, at 10 AM – 11:30 AM at Community Forge, located at 1256 Franklin Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15221.