Category: Environment
Green & Gold: Pens strike it rich in energy efficiency
By Alexandra Perry The Pioneer Before the Pittsburgh Penguins had a serious discussion about turning the all-new CONSOL Energy Center green, most of their intentions were built around cost consciousness, not sustainability. That all changed when the $321 million project’s managers, including LEED certified partners Chris Cieslak and Michael Bernard, deliberately showed Pens officials that [...]
Church Brew Works turns into an environmentally conscious restaurant
By Audrey Prisk The Pioneer Since day one of The Church Brew Work’s transformation from St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church to restaurant and brewery, owner Sean Casey committed to reusing and repurposing nearly everything in the building. Sixteen years into business, the restaurant feeds local farmer’s livestock with fresh vegetables, recycles spent grain and [...]
Edible Gardens: Communities taking root through common ground
By Rebecca Lessner The Pioneer Last spring Manchester Elementary School on the North Side started a vegetable garden with Green Up Pittsburgh, and soon the entire neighborhood was stepping in, growing it into something much more than tomato and pepper plants. With the help of Pittsburgh’s Green Team and Chelsea Peluso, the project quickly grew [...]
Silent Spring celebrates 50th Anniversary
By Lindsay Lawrence Point Park News Service Author and scientist Rachel Carson once wrote “man’s endeavors to control nature by his powers to alter and to destroy would inevitably evolve into a war against himself, a war he would lose unless he came to terms with nature.” These words still stand true today as this [...]
Electric vehicles charge into local garages
By Kimberly Smith Point Park News Service With gas prices nearing $4 per gallon, creating an alternative method of transportation is becoming more and more of a necessity for some people, and electric vehicles – otherwise known as EVs – are slowly rising to meet those needs. The CreateLab at Carnegie Mellon University has spent [...]
Some Ideas collective brings bands to Braddock
By Gregg Harrington Point Park News Service A few years ago, when friends Ian Shiver and Welch Canavan took a chance by moving to Braddock, Pennsylvania, a former steel mill town outside of Pittsburgh, they couldn’t foresee standing at a garage door leading to a punk show on a Saturday night in a desolate town [...]
Warm March, cool April, and a mild winter
Unusual Weather Patterns in Pittsburgh By Celeste Begandy Point Park News Service Summer heat in March, freeze warnings and snow in late April and an uneventful winter. So far, Pittsburgh has experienced some weird weather in 2012. “It certainly has been abnormal; I’ll tell you that,” said meteorologist Bob Reed said in a phone interview. [...]
Invasive plants pose a growing problem
By Emily Bastaroli Point Park News Service Large shrubs of beautiful white, exotic-looking flowers can be seen along Pennsylvania rivers and waterways. Vines with metallic blue fruits budding on them are growing in parts of Frick Park and along the Allegheny River. While these plants are appealing to the eye, they are dangerous to plants [...]
St. Patrick’s Day no party for city clean-up crews
By Andrew Goldstein and Alex Stumpf Point Park News Service For Mike Nichols, St. Patrick’s Day is not a day of partying and drinking. For him and others who work for the city of Pittsburgh’s Public Works Department, it is a day to clean up after the celebration of others. “It’s a lot of work, [...]
Bald eagles return to Western Pennsylvania
By Justine Coyne Point Park News Service The bald eagle has come back. Most often sighted on the seal of the United States, the bird all but disappeared from Pennsylvania three decades ago. For the first time in as long as anyone can remember, a pair of eagles nested in Allegheny County last year. “Normally [...]
