The First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh chapter of the Association for India's Development sponsored a March for Sustainability Saturday, October 7. Approximately 100-150 marchers came to show support for sustainable environmental practices and listen to speakers give their viewpoints on environmental and other issues.
The First Unitarian Church was the starting point for the march at the corner of Morewood and Ellsworth. The march moved down Morewood to Baum, continued into Bloomfield, came back to Fifth Avenue, and then went through Oakland. Marchers then returned on Forbes and ended up on Flagstaff Hill. In total, the march was about four miles long.
At the end of the march, a variety of speakers offered more thoughts on sustainability. Ravikant Parthak, the organizer of the march, introduced the speakers. David Herndon, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, based his speech on the Golden Rule, which is present in many religions: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Cliff Davidson, a Carnegie Mellon professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy, spoke about three obstacles to sustainability: daily decisions, elected officials, and a lack of education. Jeremy Shenk from the Thomas Merton Center emphasized the importance of collective actions, such as this march.
Michael Parker, a recent law school graduate and member of GASP, the Group Against Smog and Pollution, spoke next to promote clean air. Myron Arnowitt, from Clean Water Action, continued by emphasizing the importance of clean water. Pennsylvania Senator Jim Ferlo was unable to attend, so his communication aide Paul Svoboda spoke in his place. Svoboda emphasized three concepts that are important to the sustainability issue: equity, ecology, and economics. Finally, Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto offered advice on current ecological projects. Peduto is currently fighting to change the power plant under South Craig Street from coal to gas. He also argued that sustainability must be first in our lawmakers' minds; we can't keep giving developers money to develop unsustainable projects because we think they can meet an economic need.
Talking with the speakers and other supporters at the March gave further insight into the fight for sustainable practices.
To give people a sense of some basic ideas of sustainability, Parthak posted 10 "Golden Rules of Sustainability" on the Sustainability March website. These rules, such as "consume less" and "live close to nature," may help people for centuries to come.
According to Parthak, the wealthiest people consume a disproportionate amount of resources. He said we don't need a short-term fix; we need to overhaul our entire ideas on certain subjects.
"We need to live a simple life," said Parthak.
Because we may be far from the direct effects of an environmental crisis, Parthak created the Sustainability March to raise awareness. He added, as an example, "The person who is driving has no idea how much the oil spill does to the marine environment."
Herndon added a religious viewpoint for sustainability. One of the seven basic principles of the Unitarian Universalist Church is respect for the interdependent web of all existence. He used a famous quote from the Native American Chief Seattle to make his point: "What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves." But Herndon believes that sustainability is a tenet of not only the Unitarian Universalist Church, but that the basic principles of sustainability can be found in the writings of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and most other religions.
Parker offered some insight into legal sustainability issues. He said that the main focus should not be passing a few laws right now, but rather electing lawmakers who will pass sustainable bills. That said, he supports the Waxman Safe Climate Act (HR 5642), which is now before the United States Congress. The act calls for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, among other rules.
Various advocacy groups also attended the march. Ed Bortz, a Green Party member, marched to support Titus North, who's running for the U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's fourteenth district. Bortz said that the Green Party, which supports sustainable issues, has its roots in New Zealand and Europe in the 1980s, and is rising to prominence in the United States with about 230 candidates elected nationwide. Members of Voices for Animals of Western Pennsylvania also attended, stressing that the current "factory farming system" is responsible for massive environmental destruction. VFA aims to bring awareness of factory farming practices to everyone. As Rebecca Reid, one of the VFA advocates, said, "When the ordinary man on the street starts thinking about the facts, they agree" that factory farming is unhealthy and damaging.
Although the turnout for the March for Sustainability was smaller than expected, it still showed Pittsburgh that many citizens believe sustainability is a worthy cause. Attendees enjoyed the walk on a beautiful Saturday as well as the chance to promote their beliefs. Finally, the impressive array of speakers offered worthy advice. Parthak and the Unitarian Church succeeded in organizing an excellent march.
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