In this week's podcast, Pam Fendrock, PennFuture's outreach coordinator for northeastern Pennsylvania, spoke to Joe Collins, general manager of VaxServe, a sanofi pasteur company, at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Scranton on October 2, 2008. They were at VaxServe's Go Green! initiative launch.Collins talks about some of the steps VaxServe has taken to be environmentally conscious in its day-to-day operations. He then describes the Go Green! Summit as a next step in VaxServe's eco-friendly endeavors.The summit opened with Collins and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, who welcomed VaxServe employees and the more than 20 environmentally conscious businesses and public interest organizations that had been invited to set up information tables in one of the hotel's ballrooms. The mayor talked about the importance of keeping Scranton green not only for environmental, but also for economic reasons. When he left, a recent television commercial that promotes the importance of keeping Scranton clean looped on a monitor in a corner of the room. The stars of the commercial? Mayor Doherty and Kevin, a character from The Office television program, which is set in Scranton.About 100 employees visited each exhibitor's booth, listened to mini presentations and gathered information. Presenters signed cards to confirm attendance at each booth. The employees then turned in their completed cards, received BPA-free water bottles, and were entered to win other prizes.

This podcast features the voices from Sustainable Philadelphiaâs Urban Sustainability Forum, âTaking Back Our Streets--Cars, People, and Pavement,â held on September 18. PennFutureâs director of outreach, Christine Knapp, interviews Robert Allen, assistant managing director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission; Gary Toth, senior director, Transportation Initiatives with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS); and Pamela H. Zimmerman, AIA, LEED-AP- Brawer & Hauptman, Architects and organizer of Park(ing) Day Philadelphia. Issues discussed on the podcast include GreenPlan Philadelphia, how transportation options impact the city, and plans for Philadelphiaâs first Park(ing) Day, which was observed nationally the next day.The forum was part of the work of the Next Great City coalition, dedicated to creating a positive future for Philadelphia by advocating for common sense, cost effective policies that enhance environmental quality, strengthen neighborhoods and increase our economic competitiveness.  To learn more about PennFuture's work with the Next Great City project, visit our website. There you can also sign up to receive more information, or make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work. As always, we welcome your comments. Simply click on "Comments" below.

PennFuture held its ninth annual Green Power Awards luncheon on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 in Philadelphia.  Each year, these awards are given to individuals, private industries, public interest and education organizations and government agencies that are building the new green economy by buying green energy, growing green jobs, and working for new clean and green policy initiatives.This year, we presented 26 awards for Green Power Purchases (large and small businesses and institutions), Green Power Generators, organizations working for Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management and creating Green Jobs, and long time leaders and pioneers in the green energy movement.  For the first time this year, we asked our members and supporters for their nominees for Green Power Heroes. That award was given to Lewis Kindja and Aaron Steinly (Armagh, Indiana County), executive directors of principalsforchange.org; principal of United Junior/Senior High School, and assistant principal for United High School, respectively, for their leadership in Principals for Change and the 210 mile walking trip from Meyersdale, PA to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness about the need for alternative energy. PennFuture's director of outreach, Christine Knapp, interviewed just a few of the award recipients for this podcast. Sisters Fran and Josandra of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, talked about their work at Red Hill Farm using solar power to provide organic, locally and sustainably grown food for 100 families and the sisters themselves. Sally Silver discussed her work in the development of the Smart Energy Initiative of Southeastern Pennsylvania, its training programs, and network of over 300 companies. And Dan Garofalo, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for the University of Pennsylvania, not only talked about the green energy purchase that won the university this award, but also discussed Penn's ongoing green plans.PennFuture's success in passing state policies and funding to build the green market is one of the main building blocks for all of this year's award recipients. But there is still one piece missing, that must be passed immediately -- HB 2200, the Energy Savings Bill. Visit our website to take action urging your state senator to lead the charge to pass the bill before election day.

A host of environmental and labor groups, including PennFuture, helped release a report this week that is great news for green jobs and the 21st Century economy. Our podcast, courtesy of the Clean Air Council, is the teleconference held on Tuesday to present the data to Pennsylvania reporters.The report, âGreen Recovery â A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy,â was prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, commissioned by the Center for American Progress (CAP). The report shows that two million new green jobs could be created in two years with significant investment in a low-carbon economy. The jobs would be created in the fields of energy efficiency, public transportation and rail, clean energy, biofuels and building a smart electric grid. Investing in green jobs would create four times as many jobs as spending an equivalent sum of money within the oil industry; reduce the unemployment rate from 5.7 percent to 4.4 percent; and bolster employment nationwide, especially in construction and manufacturing, according to the analysis. The report shows that Pennsylvania is off to a great start in joining the green economy, but more should be done. Over 86,000 of the jobs would be created in Pennsylvania. These are family-sustaining good paying jobs with benefits that cannot be shipped overseas. The jobs would go a long way to restoring our manufacturing base and cleaning our air and water.HB 2200 will help create these Great Green Jobs by infusing investment in energy saving technology and education in every area of the state. The bill would give Pennsylvania families and businesses the tools they need to use energy smarter and cut their electricity bills. The bill has already passed the House; it is vital that the Senate pass this legislation in the nine days left in the session.Send an email today asking your State Senator to sign a pledge to pass HB 2200 without delay.

This podcast is a special video report on clean energy -- especially wind power - in Pennsylvania. Originally produced and shown earlier this year on WOLF-TV in Scranton, this episode of The Great Outdoors is an excellent overview -- everything you always wanted to know about clean energy and weren't afraid to ask. The video features PennFuture's own Tom Tuffey and a number of other experts from around the state and the region. Note: this video is rather lengthy and therefore takes a couple minutes to download; however, you can view it in three parts on PennFuture's YouTube channel as an alternative.Also in wind news, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review this week published an op-ed on wind energy in Pennsylvania, also by Tuffey, Director of PennFuture's Center for Energy, Enterprise and Environment.As always, we welcome your comments! Simply leave them behind here or on YouTube, or e-mail us.

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