On October 30, 2019, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto publicly announced his opposition to additional petrochemical development in Western Pennsylvania. Responses to the Mayor’s comments were substantial and swift, quickly generating the kind of polarization that has become all too familiar in public discourse about important and contentious topics.

“ADAPT. PIVOT. TRANSITION. TRANSLATE.” These are the words that have been ringing through my mind of late. If you are in a position of leadership, some version of them has probably been on your mind lately, too.

They’re all storytellers, but instead of oral narrative, they use art to provoke thought, convey emotion and stimulate conversation. Certainly, one topic that’s sparked reaction this year is COVID-19, a global virus that’s affected everyone directly or indirectly.

As I sit here, in Aliquippa, in the stillness of my nearly hundred-year-old home, I am disciplining myself to be mindful of the past instead of only fixating on the uncertain future. I am reminding myself to wonder about all the residents of this community who came before me. I’m thinking about the families who traveled to this country from far flung lands, who made a place for themselves here despite all odds. I’m reflecting on the young men and women who went off to war and never returned, and the mothers and fathers who were left behind to mourn. I’m thinking of stories of the Great Depression and the indelible mark such hardships impressed on an entire generation of our foremothers and forefathers. I’m thinking of what it must have been like to live in communities whose entire economic world collapsed with the demise of the steel industry. I’m reflecting on those who, even now, suffer tremendous poverty all around us—those for whom the lessons many of us are about to learn are neither new nor uncommon.

A solar co-op formed for Butler and Beaver county residents is looking for property owners who are curious about the potential cost savings and process of using solar power. The group will host an informational meeting at 1 p.m. on March 30 at the Butler Public Library on North McKean Street.

BEAVER — RiverWise, a newly formed nonprofit project of the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth, recently received a $160,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to fund a year-long pilot program aimed at using Beaver County’s rivers and their surrounding communities as wisely as possible.

Neighbors in both Beaver and Butler Counties, Pa., have formed a solar co-op to save money and make going solar easier, while also building a network of solar supporters. The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Riverwise, and Solar United Neighbors of Pennsylvania are the co-op sponsors. The group is seeking participants and will host its first information meeting on Saturday, March 30 (details below) to educate the community about solar and the co-op process.

On April 24, a diverse group of community and urban development leaders packed into the Millvale Food & Energy Hub outside Pittsburgh for 3 days of intense conversations to design their neighborhoods of the future. The 8th EcoDistricts Incubator hit the road for the first time, since its launch in 2012 to set up in Pittsburgh in service to a diverse set of “Legacy city” projects that represented blighted urban neighborhoods, brownfield redevelopments, former manufacturing sites, areas in the pathway of toxic pollutants, and neighborhoods dwarfed by nearby sports arenas and hospitals. Incubator participants brought creativity and energy despite years of battling City Hall and private developers for clean air, access to healthy food, more parks, better transit, and infrastructure investment. Communities from Pittsburgh and its boroughs and downtown Cleveland comprised the thirteen projects.

New Sun Rising is an innovative 501(c)(3) community development organization building vibrant communities through culture, sustainability, + opportunity in the Pittsburgh region.

Beaver County is going through some big changes. Shell is building a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker which will use ethane from the region’s natural gas to produce the building blocks of plastic. The plant will bring an anticipated 600 jobs to the region, but also air and water pollution.

The five nominees for Pennsylvania’s River of the Year include the Ohio River and an obscure but environmentally unique waterway, Buffalo Creek in Armstrong and Butler counties.

The five finalists for 2020 River of the Year represent everything that’s right – and everything that’s wrong – with Pennsylvania’s 86,000 miles of rivers and streams. With online voting set to close in a matter of days, we hear campaign pitches from the sponsoring organizations that nominated them.

It’s Day 1, the first morning of the EcoDistricts Incubator at the Millvale Moose in Millvale, PA, a former fraternal lodge in a Pittsburgh suburb across the river from downtown. Millvale, previously home to steel and industrial workers, has been revitalizing after the industrial collapse took the wind out of the sails of many of Pittsburgh’s formerly vital communities. The Moose represents Millvale’s resurgence with a funky mix of startup businesses and community organizing providing a second chapter for this historic meeting hall. In 2018, EcoDistricts began talking with Pittsburgh area urban and community development leaders about bringing the Incubator program to Pittsburgh, a region that was looking for new tools and strategies to promote neighborhood and district-scale sustainable development. After months of planning, the Incubator kicked off.

To go outside, or to stay indoors? A slice in both directions was made at the Commissioners’ work session on March 11.

Buffalo Creek in Butler County is in third place in online voting being conducted to identify the Pennsylvania River of the Year.

Facebook Live with "Magnify Your Mission"- Amy Fazio

Although none of us expected to be sheltering in place during the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, we can still take a moment out of our day and reflect on our gratitude for the planet. On this day of remembrance, celebration and advocacy, we have the opportunity to reflect more deeply on the state of our planet and our role in addressing the massive ecological crisis we are grappling with. Before we were gripped by the coronavirus outbreak, we were being told by scientists and public policy makers that we have only have a decade to massively decarbonize to avoid calamity.

Daniel organizes communities, volunteers, and projects that are focused on creating a healthy future in Beaver County, PA. RiverWise's mission is "to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County." They help people to think about how their decisions (as individuals, businesses, organizations, and communities) affect the future of the region.

Why is connectivity important? Hear from Daniel Rossi-Keen of RiverWise, one of our Community Partner Awardee's to be honored tomorrow during the 2020 Vibrancy Awards.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the people of southwestern Pennsylvania have learned much about who we are, who we want to be, and the need for unity and leadership in the face of loss and uncertainty. The pandemic continues to cause great change, even as we navigate what it means to reopen. Recent events in Minneapolis and across the nation are reinforcing the critical need to intentionally address racism and develop systems that work for everyone.