In this podcast, you’ll hear Jessica Schrum, intern from the Student Conservation Association, discuss her experiences at PennFuture with Joylette Portlock, PennFuture’s western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator. They are the women who are leading the charge to make Pittsburgh “even cooler” by helping residents make measurable reductions in the heat-trapping gases they produce. The Black and Gold Goes Green Campaign works with Pittsburgh’s citizens, helping them take concrete actions to reduce global warming pollution and its impact on the local economy and public health.

This week the campaign announced that Chatham College, United Jewish Federation, East Liberty Development and Sustainable Pittsburgh were the winners in their respective categories of the Black and Gold Community Challenge. The winners prevented the release of about 800,000 pounds of heat-trapping gases during a two-month period.

If you aren't already a member of PennFuture, what are you waiting for? PennFuture was called the state's "leading environmental advocacy organization" by the Philadelphia Inquirer. So join the leader on our secure website, and sign up for our publications. And remember, you can make sure you hear our podcasts first subscribing to them through iTunes.

This week’s podcast was recorded at November’s Urban Sustainability Forum in Philadelphia. The topic, Transportation Reform:  The Ticket Back to Town, was featured, exploring the absolute need for public transit and other automobile alternatives if any city is to be sustainable. Older citizens become trapped in their houses, especially in the suburbs, when they are no longer able to drive. Cities without safe and accessible bikeways and pedestrian friendly development are unable to attract younger workers. Yet states and regions continue to gobble up transportation dollars for faster and bigger highway systems, using money that should be used to fix aging transportation systems.

With the federal transportation funding bills now making their way through Congress, it is vital that Pennsylvania’s cities, towns, and regions look beyond what has always been done, and actually examine what their community needs to succeed now and in the future.

This podcast is just what the transportation doctor ordered! PennFuture’s Philadelphia Outreach Coordinator, Rachel Vassar, interviews two great experts, James Corless, director of Transportation for America and Byron Comati, director of Strategic Planning and Analysis for SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority), which serves Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. Together these experts make a thoughtful and compelling case for all communities to seriously consider how transportation choices can help or harm their region.

PennFuture works every day to make a difference for Pennsylvania’s environment and economy. Isn’t it time to join us and make a difference yourself? Go to our secure website to join PennFuture, and make sure you sign up for our publications. And remember, you can make sure you don't miss any podcasts by subscribing to them through iTunes.

This week, we present a vidcast features John Rowe, Chair and CEO of Exelon, one of the nation's largest electric and gas utilities, who was the featured speaker at PennFuture’s southeastern Global Warming conference in October. Rowe is steadfastly fighting the good fight to stop global warming pollution, using his powers of persuasion in the business community, in the Halls of Congress and in the hearts of our citizens.

This video features PennFuture’s President and CEO Jan Jarrett introducing Denis O’Brien, president and CEO of PECO (our state’s largest utility and part of Exelon), who then intros his boss, John Rowe. Together, these speakers make a powerful case for immediate action to stem global warming.

PennFuture works every day to make a difference for Pennsylvania’s environment and economy. Isn’t it time to join us and make a difference yourself? Go to our secure website to join PennFuture, and make sure you sign up for our publications. And remember, you can make sure you don't miss any podcasts by subscribing to them through iTunes.