How often do we really stop to think about our common infrastructure, and how greatly we depend upon it each day to do our jobs and take care of our families? Public infrastructure includes many different elements, including roads and highways, bridges, waste and sewer systems and water treatment and distribution systems, transportation systems... These are public works that we make use of every day.

And in the US, they need work. Physically, many structures are decaying. Systemically, the works haven't yet caught up to what we need in order to protect the environment in the present and long-term. Think for a minute. Under President Eisenhower, massive work was done to create interstate highways that crossed the country - this coincided time-wise with the explosion of the automobile industry. These efforts led to massive changes in our cities and our daily lives - the birth of the suburbs and shopping centers and malls, the deaths of inner cities and mom-and-pop businesses. We are now recognizing how the reliance on roads and cars has affected us in unexpected and not-so-good ways... but that's another story for another day.

In the 21st century, we are called on to re-examine our structures and systems in terms of safety, environmental, social, and economic needs. We have the ability to collaboratively imagine how we might meet our communal needs in better ways, taking into account what we now know about pollution, the effects of degraded environments on economic, physical, and mental health, the importance of community connections and relationships for our well-being, and so on. It is a different paradigm that we must use, as we imagine and create together.

In Pittsburgh, we have wonderful opportunities to think about these issues - and to act. We need our bridges to function as an integrated city - they need work. Our sewer and water systems are ready for an overhaul. We have willing and able citizens who need jobs. We have the knowledge, skill, and experience base within our citizenry to make these changes in ways that will protect the environment and our health and well-being. Let's talk.

First, from the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network comes an opportunity for people to be visible in showing both the need for jobs for citizens who really want to work AND the need for the nation to strengthen its physical infrastructure. According to PIIN, the Greenfield Bridge is structurally deficient and falling apart. Millions of unemployed people could be put to work fixing crumbling roads, bridges, and other infrastructure like this, across the country - let's urge our leaders to think about how this could be a WIN-WIN situation. Actually, let's become leaders - become part of a Participatory Democracy, as opposed to or even side by side with a Representative Democracy, speaking out directly about concerns and creating and communicating about possible solutions. 

If you want to be present at an event that will involve a conversation that addresses both the jobs issue and the infrastructure needs in a positive direction, consider coming to the Day of Action on the Greenfield Bridge. Details are below:

When: Thursday, November 17 · 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Gather at Magee Park, followed by a march to the Greenfield Bridge, 745 Greenfield Ave,
Pittsburgh, PA

AND.... EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE - OUR AGING SEWERS...  Alcosan is currently proposing one of the most comprehensive overhauls of our sewer system that we have ever seen - it will take years to complete. The work has not yet been started, so this is the time to speak up about using what we now know about green technology to do this project right. Alcosan is holding a series of town meetings to solicit input from community members about their plans - info is available on their web-site. Tonight, there will be a town meeting on the Southside. Details: 

Wednesday, November 9th, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
I.B.E.W. #5 Circuit Center & Ballroom (Region-wide)
5 Hot Metal Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15203 

How fortunate we are to be able to speak up and show up in public to address situations that concern all of us. I hope to see you at one of these events!

So, I did not do the Amizade Water Walk last Saturday as I had intended to. The walk, set at Duquesne University, was advertised as an opportunity to experience just a tiny bit of what women and children across the world do each day in order to get enough water just to survive. Participants in the event were to have carried a bucket of water for about 4 miles up and down hills and stairs but, as noted here, they actually walked for about 6.4 miles (the photo here is from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

I did not do the walk for a couple of silly and cowardly reasons. First, I am 57. Often, when I show up for community events like this, I am the oldest person by 20-30 years (GO Pittsburgh young people!). I imagine the other participants thinking wtf is this old lady doing here. And yes, I could have invited a friend. My second reason is not unrelated to my first - I was a little afraid that I would not be able to complete the walk and that I would thus end up feeling embarrassed - an ego-driven excuse if I ever heard one!

What I did instead, the following day, was to do a car-less Sunday. This meant that I walked to the grocery, the East-End Co-op, and carried my groceries home - about 3 miles round trip. I realize that this exercise was probably trivial, and had no impact beyond my momentary thinking about convenience, privilege, inequities and injustice, and cars (which, by the way, were abundant along my walk, blasting a glorious melange of jazz, gospel, hip-hop, and pop music out their windows) - but I did it anyway and don't regret having done it.

Sometimes it just seems like the local and global problems related to social injustice, pollution, climate change, overconsumption, and poverty are just so very big and overwhelming. Sometimes I feel so angry that I could explode when I read about the new Pennsylvania rule that coal company and other corporate executives (who clearly have vested interests) have to/get to review and sign off on regulations related to natural gas drilling (fox in the hen house???) when safe water and human health are at stake. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I think about this stuff and write about it when my efforts will be just a teeny-tiny blip on the screen. Sometimes I wish I could not be aware and interested, and could stick my head back in the sand. Most of the time, I realize that, in spite of my small efforts, I am still not walking the talk as much as I could.

What does this mean? Do these realities mean that we give up? Or that we give everything away and devote ourselves exclusively to work that tries to right wrongs? Have you ever wondered about these things?

Last Wednesday night, Juliette Jones, one of the founders of the Hazelwood Food Forest, came to speak to my class on Psychologists in Organizations and Communities. Juliette is young, creative, energetic, and hard-working. I listened to her and wondered about how it must feel to be undertaking such meaningful work at her young age and about what childhood experiences had given her the wisdom to take this path. Then she mentioned that she had not come to her interest in gardening and sustainability until after college, a mere few years ago.

We are who we are, learning and growing and teaching from our unique place in the universe. How can we go wrong with wanting to move forward from where we are, even if we take small steps? What is the alternative? What would happen if lots of people who felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tasks before us still determined to take those small steps, together? Again, what is the alternative?

In coming posts, we will look at what we know about how people change, about the roots of altruism, about the costs of denial. I welcome your thoughts.

So many sounds, smells, and sights late in the day in the Nine Mile Run Watershed area of Frick Park...

The most delightful to me - the spring peepers' chorus in the wetlands area. It was such a surprise! It reminded me of spring nights in the south. I couldn't see them, but man could I hear them! I don't know if this will work, but see if you can hear them peep.... This is the sound of the males enticing the females. Magic.

And the birds were out and about - saw a few and heard many more - listen to the robins, cardinals, sparrows - open all three and you will hear them singing together. 

Not much green yet, as you can see in the photos below, but I can see it and smell it coming. Look for similar shots coming up next week - we will see what has changed!

I am very grateful to all of the laborers and planners, paid and volunteer, who work to restore the Nine Mile Run to a healthy environment for all the critters, including us. 

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." Rachel Carson

What is a rain barrel anyway? I remember hearing when I was a child that washing your hair with rain water from a rain barrel made your hair extra soft! And also that rain water was especially good for plants.

But why the big rain barrel movement in the last couple of decades? How does collecting rain water actually benefit a community?

Much of the information that follows is from the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association web-site. From what I understand, collecting rain water from the roof into rain barrels prevents our waterway systems from becoming over-flooded with storm water. Heavy rains can lead to erosion in particular areas, and can also lead to pollution of land and waters - running storm waters can pick up debri, litter, junk, and can also merge with sewage. When heavy rains come and flow through our down spouts and on our streets, the systems that we have to manage water get all backed up and mixed up together, and polluted waters result. Collecting rain water in barrels or in rain gardens on your property allows a "capture" of the water so that it can either be used for other purposes or can seep back into your own land to feed plants.

When he was instructing us about rain barrel installation, Luke Stamper from the NMRWA described how the health of community water systems can be significantly improved when many residents use rain barrels. For example, if one rain barrel holds up to 100 gallons (low estimate), and each house has two rain barrels (that would be 200 gallons per residence), and 400 homes have two rain barrels -- that is 80,000 gallons of water that can be kept out of the waterways and used for better purposes - and that is just a one-time computation. That's a lot of water!

As I mentioned earlier, I have two rain barrels that are not yet connected. Luke offered to help me connect them. I might also paint them - like the one pictured above!

I don't have a water faucet on one side of my house, but do have a need for water on that side for plants and the bird bath. Luke mentioned connecting the two together for use on that one side of the house. Double-duty!

It feels good to work on this and to think about doing a small part for my playmates, both known and unknown, who live with me in my neighborhood. It feels good to play a part in keeping Frick Park and the Nine Mile Run a little cleaner. And this might even lower my water bill!

The car trips to visit our grandparents were long. There were no highways between Lexington, KY and Harlan County. There were just winding twist-backy narrow roads. Making these trips with five children must have been challenging for our parents. My mother used to sing to us on these long trips - "I'm gonna buy myself a paper doll to call my own - a doll that other fellas cannot steal" and "On top of Old Smoky all covered with snow" and "She'll be comin' around the mountain when she comes" - and one of my favorites...

Oh PLAYMATE, come out and play with me 
And bring your dollies three. 
Climb up my apple tree, 
Look down my rain barrel 
Slide down my cellar door 
And we'll be jolly friends forever more. (by Saxie Dowell, 1940)

I had no idea what a cellar door was, much less a rain barrel! But now I know. My little house came with two rain barrels which have yet to be hooked up. Yesterday, I went to the first work day for the Hazelwood Food Forest to start spring clean-up and to see a demonstration of installation of a rain barrel. What fun!

The picture above shows Luke and Matt celebrating the successful hook-up (following a not-so-successful one). The project definitely required ideas and labor from the small community of workers - many of whom did not know each other before yesterday.

The Hazelwood Food Forest is a project that was developed by some graduates of Slippery Rock University's programs for sustainability and environmental education. It is located in Hazelwood, a community that is almost a food desert with no easily accessible full-service grocery stores. Michelle C. and Juliette are leasing an urban lot (or four contiguous lots, I think) from the URA. The project depends upon volunteers from within and outside of the Hazelwood community. There are work days on alternate Saturdays (next one is April 16).

I have volunteered there a couple of times. I know very little about this kind of gardening, but I love the idea of working with a group of people on an outdoor project like this that has the potential of benefiting an entire community. I love the learning that happens - yesterday, for example, I learned what "flange" means and saw it in action! I love showing up, not expecting to see anyone I know, and joining with these strangers toward a common purpose. 

Yesterday, I met Michelle and her father - Michelle is a high school senior who plans to study environmental engineering when she goes off to college next year. Michelle's dad (John, I think) built the platform for the rain barrel from old bricks left over from demolition of the condemned row houses that once stood on the lot - I wonder what stories are embedded in those bricks. 

I met Jane and Jim, who recently moved to Edgewood. I met Luke who works for the Nine Mile Run Watershed Organization - he supplied the graffiti-ed rain barrel and described how to do the installation. I watched Matt scavenge wire for the rain barrel installation. I talked with Michelle C., one of the creators of the forest, and heard about how her seven-month old son loves being outdoors with her while she is gardening in her Lawrenceville yard. Juliette, the other initiator of the project, is coming to my class on Psychologists in Communities and Organizations next week to talk about her work - and some of Chatham's Food Studies students are working with the project to figure out how to involve community members more actively in the planning and implementation of the work.

I hope to get to know all of these people, and more, as the project moves ahead. This is a community. One of the things that we know from psychological research is that a sense of community is one of the most important predictors of happiness and well-being. 

This calls to mind many of the communities that have been important to me over the years - my book club, the people at the Square Cafe, my friends at Chatham, my fellow youth group leaders at Sunnyhill, the moms and teachers at Julie's preschool Mushroom Family Learning Center, another group of moms - Phase II, all the way back to my graduate school cohort and the marching band in high school. When I am with these people, I can be myself, and know that I am appreciated for who I am. I can receive and give support. I can laugh and cry.

Question of the week - what are your communities? Who are your "playmates"? These could even be "virtual communities" - an on-line support group for parents of children with autism - or they could be very select - feminist birdwatchers who knit, for example. My brother, Ray, has an urban farm in Louisville, KY (more about this later) - when I visit him, I see neighbors stop by with their children and grandchildren to see the rabbits and chickens, to receive a plant from him, and to take home some compost tea for their own gardens. Share with us what your communities are and why you love them...