Sustainability Pioneers Film Screening and Solarize Moon Township

Sustainability Pioneers Film Screenings

Thursday, June 4, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Robin Hill Park, Moon Township

REGISTRATION: https://sustainability-pioneers-june04.eventbrite.com

Join Sustainability Pioneers filmaker Kirsi Jansa to preview five short documentaries on inspiring stories about people transitioning to renewable energy around the world and in western Pennsylvania. Sustainability Pioneers is funded by the Heinz Endowments and The Fisher Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Solarize Allegheny, along with community partner Solarize Moon Township, is co-hosting this event and will be on hand to tell you how solar can benefit your home or business through the Solarize Allegheny program. Refreshments will be served.

Solarize Moon Township is a local campaign under the Solarize Allegheny umbrella - a project funded by The Heinz Endowments and managed by non-profit organization SmartPower - to double the amount of solar energy throughout Allegheny County over two years. Solarize Allegheny provides education and tools to connect residents and businesses that to local, pre-screened, qualified solar installers who will offer competitive bids, guidance and help them get solar on their homes and businesses. With the dramatic drop in solar prices and with no-money-down financing, solar is now affordable for anyone who is able to pay their electric bill.Description of the Documentary Shorts:

Film #1: The Journey Begins: Sustainability Pioneers, a series of short documentaries on the transition to sustainable energy, begins looking at how energy is being produced in Pennsylvania in 2014. How does our energy use affect air, climate and public health?

Film #2: From Haze to Sun: Part 2 of Sustainability Pioneers visits two companies and a private citizen who have already started building a bridge to a renewable energy future. Selling the problem leads to paralysis. Selling the solution leads to inspiration, excitement, hope, says sustainability professor Stanley Kabala from Duquesne University.

Film #3: It Takes a Village: Sustainability Pioneers “It Takes a Village” is a story about community power. Documentary filmmaker Kirsi Jansa visits two communities, Butler in Pennsylvania and Balcombe in the UK. In Balcombe oil and gas industry wants to drill and frack, and in Butler the shale gas development is in full swing. In both places some local have visions for a different kind of a future. Josh Roberts, an environmental lawyer from Client Earth talks about community power. Community power is a new energy system based on renewable energy that benefits the largest number of people.

Film #4: It Takes a Leader: The “Doomsday Clock” now stands at three minutes till midnight due to the rapid progression of the climate crisis. Unchecked climate change is now as serious a risk to humanity as the nuclear weapons for which the Doomsday Clock was created. There are leaders who are modeling ways to turn back the clock. Sustainability Pioneers visits one of them, Borough Manager Mario Leone, Jr, from Monaca, Pennsylvania. Monaca has reduced utility costs by 25 percent, thanks to energy saving strategies initiated by Mr. Leone.

Film #5: Becoming Energy Independent: One of Germany’s “green pockets”, Climate Community Saerbeck, shows a model to the world of how to become energy independent in a sustainable way. A town of about 7,000 people started its climate protection and adaptation work in 2009, and in just five years the town was producing more renewable energy than it consumes.

(Photo credit: Lake Fong, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of Moon Township solar installation)