This week’s installment is the second half of my November 2019 Pennsylvania election guide. The post includes information on our statewide ballot amendment (Marsy’s Law), a heated Allegheny County race (District Attorney), and the roles of local elections, such as school board and borough council. Also attached at the bottom is my election spreadsheet with information on the candidates for various races.
Back by popular demand is my guide for the Pennsylvania general election, focused on Allegheny County. It contains no candidate recommendations from me, but only information I have been able to cobble together from various sources. This week’s post includes an overview of the Pennsylvania court system to help you understand five of the options that will be on your ballot anywhere in the state.
Roughly forty percent of the energy used in the United States goes to power buildings (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.), and nearly half of that energy is used by commercial buildings. Businesses can play a huge role in combatting climate change, starting with improvements in their own facilities. However, before you start saving kilowatts, the first and most important step is examining your organization’s culture.
I recently came across a link for “Plastic-Free July” in my Facebook feed. As the name would suggest, the mission is to reduce or eliminate plastic use during the month of July. I have kept up with a lot of my habits from my zero-waste Lent this past spring, but, I thought this new challenge was worth a look.
Several months ago I saw an article posted on a sustainability website that suggested upcycling your Christmas tree to make beer. As the article correctly states, there is a precedent for using tree components in brewing. However, the article incorrectly implies that using your Christmas tree is the best way to go about making something drinkable.
Going into Lent this year, I realized that food would be my biggest challenge – whether eating while traveling, fueling/recovering from running, or just finding a way to make sure I got some nutrition during my long, busy days. This week I spent some time in the kitchen, cooking more in one day than I have during all of Lent so far, creating almost no waste.
This week brought with it an interesting challenge: hosting a party. How could I plan for 20-ish people at my house and generate no/minimal waste? Ultimately, I could have handled this problem by not having a party, but that wouldn’t really help me figure out how to change my behavior.
This week I decided to stop at my favorite hot dog shop for dinner, knowing my order would involve (compostable) single-use service items. That experience begged a closer look at what “compostable” really means and if using these environmentally-friendly dishes, cups, and silverware really makes a difference.
Starting with the 121 company links listed on www.papowerswitch.com, I worked my way through each website, determining who had residential plans in Duquesne Light territory. As of February 1, that number turned out to be 55. I recorded whatever information I could from each site, asking for further information when it was possible.
Much to my surprise, a few weeks ago Christian got some promotional mail from a third-party supplier advertising a green electricity plan, and instead of putting it straight in the recycling, he quietly put it on top of my mail pile. With that subject effectively broached, I set to work doing the research that had been on my to-do list for a few years now.