Enforcing regulations on industrial polluters. Building a bus system that runs on electric buses. Updating public housing to make those structures more energy efficient, including running them on solar energy.
Those are some of the ways that Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato might address climate change issues during her tenure, according to remarks she gave at an event about the subject at Carlow University on Monday evening.
Ms. Innamorato was participating in the inaugural event of the Carlow Impact Series titled “Solutions for a More Sustainable World,” which featured subject matter experts from Carlow, the state and national level. The county executive acknowledged the challenges regarding the climate — 51 municipalities in Allegheny County are recognized by the state as “environmental justice communities,” meaning those areas are most impacted by environmental harms and risks. In the next 30 years, 86,000 properties in the county are going to be at risk of flooding, she said.
She said those stats and others can sound “like a bummer” — but that they can be addressed with bold action, with the help of federal funding.
“We know the urgency of the situation,” Ms. Innamorato said. “So much of us are living it each and every single day. We know how deeply climate change impacts our lives. And we have the opportunity to make people’s lives better, but it’s going to take action.”
The event at Carlow, emceed by university President Kathy Humphrey, featured experts from various areas related to climate change:
• John E. Fernández, professor of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Erin Mallea, a multidisciplinary artist and assistant professor of art at Penn State University. Some of her work examines how poor local air quality impacts the lives of communities affected by steel mills and similar manufacturing facilities.
• Susan O’Rourke, an education professor at Carlow, who has led multiple study abroad trips globally, where she and students helped install water wells and complete various infrastructure projects in underdeveloped countries.
• Jennifer Roth, a psychology professor at Carlow, who is vice president of the U.S. Blind Tennis Association and aims to show how growing that sport relates to equity and social justice issues, including related to the environment.
Mr. Fernández said before the event Monday that progress has been made. An overwhelming majority of the American public understand that climate change is a major issue, due to the amount of data and scientific research available, he added.
There will always be up to 10% of people who don’t believe it, but it is not productive to try and convince those people to change their mind, he said.
Decarbonization of communities that had steel mills means reindustrializing them, he said. Considerable development and increased infrastructure is needed to create a decarbonized economy, he added.
It won’t be easy to decarbonize steel, but that would be a “game changer” in terms of addressing climate change issues, he said. If the Pittsburgh region can figure that out, it could serve as a model for other communities, he said.
Addressing challenges like that can seem increasingly difficult, Ms. O’Rourke told the more than 100 gathered during the event. But if people can see and contribute in concrete ways, that helps humans attack the issue.
“I have been overwhelmed by people’s generosity,” she said. “People’s generosity to contribute to drilling the wells that we’re doing, to doing clinics, for the students to really participate ... you get people involved when they feel like they can make a difference.”
Some audience members were concerned about how new technologies and solutions would be applied equitably, especially to communities that have been impacted by climate change. One Carlow student asked how future leaders can ensure the accessibility to those technologies isn’t compromised by financial and economic gain, a question applauded by the audience.
Ms. O’Rourke said getting those technologies in the right hands is vital, along with convincing agencies, individual donors and the government to make investments that are equitable, not just about profits. Getting a diverse group of people at the table is also important, she said.
For Mr. Fernández, that means Ms. Innamorato needs to get businesses working with the government in order to address climate goals, whether that is making buildings more environmentally friendly or other strategies. It’s difficult work, but not impossible — and extremely beneficial if a region like Pittsburgh could execute it, he said.
“If a decarbonized economy in Pittsburgh would work, it would work everywhere,” he said in an interview. “Because the symbolism of reindustrializing toward decarbonization would be extremely powerful.”
First Published: February 27, 2024, 3:34 a.m.
Updated: February 27, 2024, 4:42 p.m.
