This past Saturday, we had 12 volunteers who helped distribute 137 free energy-saving toolkits to residents in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The contents of the bags include CFL light bulbs, a smart power strip, LED night lights, window and door caulk, and various pamphlets with energy saving tips.
Each bag helps to avoid over 3,817 pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and saves each household over $100 in electricity costs per year. From the collective effort of our volunteers, we helped to avoid over half a million pounds of CO2 from being released, which is equivalent to taking 50 cars off the road or planting 6,082 trees. Those are pretty astounding numbers for just a few hours of volunteer work!
The Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign engages the residents of Pittsburgh in simple actions they can take at home in order to reduce their energy demand and, therefore, their carbon footprint since most electricity is generated from coal-fired power plants. The main focus is on promoting energy efficient products and behaviors, as well as educating individuals about using renewable energy to power their homes. This project was created by PennFuture in 2009 as the community aspect of the
Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI). The PCI raises awareness and engages Pittsburgh’s residents, businesses, government and institutions of higher learning in taking concrete actions that reduce heat-trapping gas and air pollution and its impact on our local economy and human health.
Neighborhood blitzes provide direct community involvement to help reduce Pittsburgh’s greenhouse gases—a major contributor to climate change— and improve the region’s air quality. According to an analysis by the Clean Air Task Force using 2010-2012 data, out of 338 urban areas surveyed, Pittsburgh’s air quality is in the dirtiest 10 percent for average annual particle pollution. This is a major cause of concern because poor air quality poses serious risks for public health, including heart and lung disease, cancer, asthma and birth defects, to name a few. (For more information related to the region’s air quality and what is being done about it, check out the
Breathe Project.)
Since the neighborhood blitz was adopted as a proactive outreach model in 2010, the Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign has organized 24 blitzes throughout 16 different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that have reached a total of 2,139 households.
Nicole Catino is PennFutute's 2014 Student Conservation Association Green Cities Sustainability Fellow and is based in Pittsburgh.
