Meadville’s Environmental Guiding

Principles

Overview:   Origin: Core Commitments Dialogues on

Environmental Guiding Principles

  Case Studies

  Initial Actions

  The Three Es Concept

  Meadville’s Guiding Principles

  Conclusion

What are EGPs?

Why have EGPs in Meadville?

Case Studies

Case Study: Easton, PA   Pop: 26,263 vs. 13,685

  Median Family Income: $38,704 vs. $38,227

  County Seat   North Hampton County

  Located on Lehigh and Delaware Rivers

  Transportation Hub for Steel Industry and Industrial Center

  College Town   Lafayette College

  Home of Crayola Factory, Dixie Cups left

Easton then Meadville: Choice of EGPs   Easton’s EGPs: US Conference of Mayors Climate

Protection Agreement   Meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets

  Encourage state and fed. Governments to do same

  Influence Congress to pass bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation

  Meadville’s Choice:   US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement   The Keystone Principles (PA)   Self-Designed

Case Study: Vandergrift, PA  Steel mill town

 Population Decline

 Surrounded by rural land

 Kiskiminetas River

 Struggling business district

Vandergrift’s Guiding Principles  Become environmentally sustainable  Utilize natural resources  Reduce human impact  Energy independence  Less energy consumption  Less ecological impact  Rejuvenate the economy

Vandergrift’s Improvements  Electric energy team

  Implementing solar panels

 Ecologically restoring buildings

 Kiskiminetas as energy source  Hydrokinetics

 Assess renewable energy resources

Initial Actions

Meadville: Initial Actions   Establish Committee for Sustainable Development

  City Council   Business Owners   Citizens   School Board

  Adopt EGPs as policy

  Implement EGPs through:

  Green innovations   Educating citizens   Positive Campaign Committee

The Three Es Concept for Development of EGPs

The Three Es

  Andres Edwards: Portrait of the Sustainability

Revolution

 Economy/Employment

 Environment/Ecology

 Equality/Equity

Economy

Meadville Guiding Principles: Economy  Create green jobs  Follow sustainable building practices  Regional/National Interdependence  Local entrepreneurship  Showcase Meadville’s

“Tool Town” talents

Environment

Meadville’s Guiding Principles: Environment   Protect and conserve open space

  Conserve natural resources

  Maintain biodiversity of land and wildlife

  Reduce consumption and waste

Equality

Meadville’s Guiding Principles: Equality   Recognize the environment’s ability to surpass

barriers  Ethnic  Cultural  Financial

 Equal access

  Integrate sustainable practice into education

Conclusion  Recommendations:

 Establish a Community Committee for Sustainability

 Develop and adopt EGPs for Meadville.  Link to Keystone Principles to open funding options.

 Implement EGPs through  Green innovations  Citizen education  Positive Campaign

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

-Brundtland Commission

Thank You! Amara Geffen’s 2008 Freshman Seminar:

Matthew Behrman Janna Dickerson Garrett Gleeson Fiona Hensley Edward Koller

Heather Neylon Julia Rozewicz

Work Cited   "About ICLEI." ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. 2008. 1

Dec. 2008 <http:/ /www.iclei.org/index.php?id=global-about-iclei>.   “About the Nurture Nature Center”. The Nurture Nature Center. 1

Dec. 2008. <http://nurturenaturecenter.org/>.   “The Crayola Factory at Two Rivers Landing”. 2008. Crayola. 1

Dec. 2008. <http://www.crayola.com/Factory/>.   Easton PA <http://www.eastonpa.com/>.   Edwards, Andres R. The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a

Paradigm Shift. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2005.   “DEP Campaigns for Recycling of Campaign Materials.” Florida

Department of Environmental Protection. 2 Dec. 2008. <http://ww w.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/news/2008/10/1020_02.htm>.

  Hau, Bian. “Integrating Environmental Education into the Elementary School Curriculum.” 2004 Education Resources Information Center. 20 Nov. 2008 <http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWeb Portal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ749191&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ749191>.

Work Cited Con…

  “Kyoto Protocol”. UNFCCC. 1 December 2008. <http://unfccc.int/k yoto_protocol/items/2830.php>.

  “LEED Project Certification.” 2008. U.S. Green Building Council. 22 Nov. 2008 <http://www .usgbc.org/DisplayPage.asp x?CMSPag eID=64>.

  “Local News”. 2007. 1vgreenbuilders.org. 1 Dec. 2008. <http://64.233.169.132/search?q=cache:P56ETYyGQ50J:www.lvgreenbuilders.org/news.htm+Philip+Mitman+Climate+Change&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us>.

  Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation: Vandergrift Improvement Project <http://www.mascarocenter.pitt.edu/comm unity/vandergrift-improvement.php>.

Work Cited Con…   “Meadville Online”. 1994. Meadville Online. 1 Dec. 2008.

<http://www.meadville.com/>.   Skyscraper Page: The Greening of Vandergrift <http://forum.sk

yscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=35082 76>.   “US Conference of Mayors Protection Agreement”. 2007. The

United States Conference of Mayors. 1 Dec. 2008. <http://www .usmayors.org/climateprotection/agreement.htm>.

For More Detail:   What are EGPs?

  Statements made and upheld by a community about how they interact with the natural environment

  A foundation on which to base new policies and update the old

  Why have EGPs in Meadville?   EGPs will provide:

 Foundation for new/updated policies  Unusual tools to combat problems of 3rd class cities and the

economic crisis  Highlights for potential of community  Environmental consciousness for actions

Detail con…  Case Studies:

 Easton, PA: http://www.eastonpa.com  Vandergrift, PA:

http://www.officialvandergrift.com/

 Meadville’s Choice of EGPs:  US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection

Agreement (Easton, PA) http://www.usmayors.org/climateprotection/agreement.htm

 The Keystone Principles (PA) http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bhp/pkp.pdf

 Self-Designed (Vanderbilt, PA; Curitiba, Brazil. Includes those EGPs presented here).