Chapter Conservation Teams 2021 Summer Webinar Series

Written by Jim Wylie, PA Chapter Chair 

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Chapter Conservation Teams

2021 Summer Webinar Series

 

In February, 2021 volunteer-led Chapter (statewide) Conservation Teams were formed around 8 broad topics:

conservation teams

 

The teams are still evolving, establishing roles for volunteers and defining priority projects, but one thing that all of the teams are jumping into is hosting a webinar series this summer.

 

Each of the conservation teams are hosting a 1-hour webinar this summer that we feel will be of interest to all Sierra Club members and supporters in Pennsylvania. No prior involvement in these topics is needed.

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Not every date and speaker is nailed down at this time, but this is what the programs are looking like now (this blog will be updated as needed and links to recordings added after the events happen).

         Not sure you can make it? Register anyway. Recordings will be shared with everyone that registers.

 Each 1-hour program will have time for Q&A with the speaker or panelists.

 

Solar for Everyone - Community Solar in Pennsylvaniasolar
Speaker:  Henry McKay, Solar United Neighbors
Date/Time: July 6
Hosted by: Clean Energy Team

Webinar Recording

 Description: What is Community Solar and how is it different from residential rooftop solar, utility-scale solar and purchasing renewable electricity from a 3rd party generator? How has it worked in other states? How could it work in Pennsylvania? What is the status of current Community Solar legislation in Pennsylvania and what can we expect in 2021? Solar United Neighbors is a national organization dedicated to representing the needs and interests of solar owners and clean energy supporters.

 

Strategies for Challenging Pipeline Projects:  The Mariner East and The Safety 7 case pipeline
Speaker:  Safety 7 team
Date/Time: July 14
Hosted by: Dirty Energy Team 

Webinar Recording

 Description: The “Safety Seven” Chester and Delaware County residents filed a lawsuit against Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners before the PA Public Utility Commission in order to halt construction of the Mariner East pipelines until serious safety concerns can be mitigated.  While the case is about safety, this project is destroying our environment and our communities to produce single-use plastics and prop up the dying fracking industry.   The outcome of this case will impact the air, water, and soil quality of PA and neighboring states, and the production and implementation of single-use plastics internationally.  We will hear an update from those involved in the case as well as how it fits in the broader fossil fuel picture and what lessons can be learned. 

 Image credits: iStock

 

The Health Impacts of Air Pollution tailpipe
Speaker: Dr Richard Tolin
Date/Time:  July 8 
Hosted by: Air Quality Team

Webinar Recording

 Description: Dr Richard Tolin will discuss the quantifiable and modifiable health impacts of air pollution and how individuals and policymakers can address mitigation.

Image credits: JT / The Environmental Blog on Flickr

 

Acid Mine Remediation water
Speaker: Dennis Coffman, Trout Unlimited
Date/Time:  July 7 
Hosted by: Water Quality Team

Webinar Recording

 Description: A presentation on Rausch Creek Acid Mine Remediation Site in Stony Valley. The Trout Unlimited Doc Fritchey Chapter's website at Rausch Creek Diversion Wells | Doc Fritchey Trout Unlimited, has the history, how it works, an 8 minute video and photos on the site. 

 

The upcoming funding crisis for public transportationbus
Speaker:   Laura Chu Wiens, Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Date/Time: June 21 
Hosted by: Clean Transportation Team

Webinar Recording

Description: Pennsylvania needs sustainable, long-term funding sources for public transit to support riders and transit workers that use and provide the lowest per-person carbon footprint method of transportation available: busses, trains, trolleys and shuttles for seniors.

Join Laura Chu Wiens, Executive Director of Pittsburghers For Public Transit and member of Governor Wolf's Transportation Revenue Options Commission, to learn about the new statewide coalition of transit riders, workers and advocates, called Transit For All PA! (website coming) -- and their Grassroots Transit Funding Platform. Funding sources for public transit need to be expanded and diversified. What are the options? 

Pennsylvania has large transit systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, medium-sized systems in cities like State College, Allentown, Erie, Lancaster, Scranton and Harrisburg, and shared-ride service for seniors and people with disabilities in every county of the state.  Transit is an urban and a rural issue; it is for people of all ages and abilities.  Transit funding matters to the entire state.

 

"The Story of Plastic", Zero Waste product reviews, Kids and plasticsplastic
Speaker:  Zero Waste team members: Carol Armstrong, Emily Davis, Fawn Contreras, Corrine Dieterle
Date/Time: June 22 
Hosted by: Zero Waste Team

Webinar Recording

fawnDescription: This webinar has 3 sections: a summary of the excellent documentary film "The Story of Plastic" (registrants for this webinar will recieved a link to view the film for free for until July 1); a report from Zero Waste team volunteers about a few “low impact” consumer products that propose to help us avoid single-use plastics and a discussion of what power kids hold in the fight against plastic, and how one library promoted kids to look closer at our plastic use along with sharing books to further the conversation.


Let's Get Pennsylvania -- and New York and New Jersey -- Their First National Parkland
Speaker: Don Miles, SC/PA Chapter Vice Chair, John Donahue, retired Del. Water Gap Natl. Rec
Date: June 30 
Hoste by: Public Lands Team

Webinar Recording

Description: The residents of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have never had a National Park in their states. Yet the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (a unit of the national parks system) has almost as many annual visitors as Yellowstone or Yosemite and is within a 3-hour drive of over 60 million people. Please join the immediate past Superintendent of the DWGNRA, John Donahue, PA Sierra Club Chapter Conservation chair Tom Au, and PA Chapter vice-chair Don Miles in a one hour discussion of how (and why) we should upgrade DWGNRA to full National Park status.

 

My journey to starting an urban farming non-profit in Pennsylvaniafarming
Speaker: Hawa Lassanah, Backyard Farming Coop
Date/Time: July 15
te by: Food & Ag Team

Webinar Recording

Description: Follow Hawa and her team as they establish an urban farming business for the benefit of the Lancaster County community. After a short video presentation, Hawa will be available to answer questions from those interested in following in her footsteps across Pennsylvania.

Image Credit: Sam Interrante