Proposed green-purchasing requirements
Pittsburgh, April 12, 2010
Good morning. I am Joylette Portlock, western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator with PennFuture. Thank you for allowing me to participate today; I’ll be brief and then am happy to answer any questions. As a statewide public interest organization, PennFuture is working at all levels of government-- federal, state, and local-- to make sure that we are prepared to meet the challenge of transforming our society into one that produces drastically less global warming pollution. PennFuture serves as part of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative, tasked with the implementation of the community outreach piece of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan. We are coordinating the campaign to achieve a community-wide reduction in global warming pollution here in the greater Pittsburgh region, called The Black and Gold City Goes Green.
I am here today in support of the proposed green purchasing requirements for the City of Pittsburgh. This change makes a significant improvement in how Pittsburgh is meeting the challenge of dealing with global warming and issues of sustainability.
The creation of purchasing guidelines for more earth-friendly products is a very sensible idea. As with individuals, we must consider the city's indirect activities that create carbon pollution and other environmental impacts by the shipping and manufacturing of our products. This indirect, or secondary, pollution footprint can often be a bigger source of pollution than the more direct sources from heating and cooling of facilities, and transportation.
We applaud the steps that the city has already take towards addressing reductions in its direct energy use, for instance in doing energy audits of City buildings, and making conscious choices about the greenest vehicles for the City fleet. We are similarly supportive of this effort to address the secondary sources of carbon pollution.
It is essential that individuals take action, adopting more climate-friendly practices in private life, in order for us to successfully find a way out of the climate crisis. At the same time, it is critically important that our government leads the way, facilitating the transformation of our City into a truly greener place, and one in which it is easier for the residents to be green. I’ll stop there and let others comment/take questions.
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