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Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene

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Pittsburgh Environmentalist Group Meetup Makes Eco-Friendly Activities Fun

Rethinking your impact on the environment, or carbon footprint, could be as simple as eating less barbecue or not choosing a green cleanser over your favorite fragrant household cleaner. Bonnie Siefers of the Pittsburgh Environmentalist Group Meetup started a group to help make the process of becoming more environmentally friendly fun and social.

“I feel like a lot of people are anxious to find groups of people that are like-minded in this space,” Siefers said. “I used to live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and when I moved into the city, I found more like-minded people here because they are younger and more mindful. They are growing up and talking about climate change.”

Bonnie Siefers

Pittsburgh Environmentalist Group Meetup was founded in July 2013 and quickly gained 30 members in a few days. Today, it has 738 members and a number of meetups under its belt on topics such as eco-stewardship training, the future of recycling, and veganism.

“People are glad to have community and that was the number one thing I found. You don’t join a Meetup like this if you are not a stakeholder in this process, and people feel isolated,” Siefers said.

Members of the Meetup are encouraged to go back to their communities as “The Green Team” and lead conversations and corrective actions to lessen their neighborhood’s carbon footprint. Siefers said this is the type of outreach that can build personal fulfillment for those wanting to do their part for the environment.

“One of our members was very vocal to get people to change their energy option to renewable energy and encouraged their neighbors to go to Penn Power and select 100% renewable energy. It’s a personal choice,” she said.

She added: “I want to be a change activist. I want to inspire those that I meet to think about things deeply and differently. Lots of people are interested in sustainability in Pittsburgh and it has been the most livable city many, many years in a row, I think there is a trend to build in a sustainable manner and keep the green space alive that we have.”

Siefers is encouraged by the increasing number of universities offering degree programs in sustainability and the impact the next generation of students can have on the environment.

“It’s certainly a growing field. Almost every business or organization you can think of has a sustainability department and its main focus is to save the organization money,” she said. Her own sustainability work has afforded her opportunities to help large organizations rethink their footprint.

“I did a sustainability action plan for the Pittsburgh YMCA that included an audit of their larger buildings. It was already sustainable, and I gave them ways to save even more money,” Siefers said. “They wanted an ROI in three years and I made that possible. Just changing your light bulbs can save you a lot of money.”

So, what are five practical ways people can reduce their footprint? Here is what Siefers recommended:

●     Carpool to destinations with co-workers or with friends.

●     Offset carbon use when traveling by purchasing carbon offsets on plane tickets.

●     Purchase organic food and fabric to help minimize the amount of pollutants entering aquifers.

●     Be mindful about your energy and chemicals at home by turning off lights when leaving a room, using surge protectors on appliances, placing electronics in sleep mode when not in use, and selecting non-toxic cleaning products.

●     Tell somebody. Create a community to discuss and exchange information on how to personally change your home and neighborhood for the sake of the environment.

Siefers’ work is an excellent example of how you can apply the concepts and ideas about the human impact on the environment to your daily life. At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History,  we hope that our exhibition We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene inspires more people to take action and join groups like Pittsburgh Environmentalist Group Meetup.

Learn more about beneficial sustainability practices and ideas at Bonnie Siefers website eco Couture.

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In the spirit of recognizing all we are already doing in Pittsburgh, we have started a new blog series to compliment We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene, the exhibition about the complex relationship between humans and nature currently on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. We are featuring Pittsburghers who are committed to improving the environment in which we live. Each blog features a new individual and shares some of the ways in which they are helping issues of sustainability, conservation, restoration, climate change, or helping Pittsburgh to be an even more beautiful place to live.

Melonee Gaines is a freelance journalist and writer based in Memphis, TN and has written for MLK50.com and The Crisis Magazine. She is the lead maven and founder of the digital media and public relations firm MPact Media Group. She enjoys foodie adventures, beach excursions, and herb gardening.

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Poison Ivy Potency?

By Rachael Carlberg

Poison ivy

When prompted with the phrase “climate change,” people often think of increasing temperatures, melting ice, and flooding shores. While global temperatures are on the rise, the story of humanity’s impact on the environment is much more complex.  As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, and temperatures increase, we face unanticipated changes to the world around us.

Poison ivy, for example, grows larger in our changing climate. Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause increases in photosynthesis, allowing plants like poison ivy to grow more and produce larger leaves. In carbon-rich conditions the vine also creates more toxic forms of urushiol, the oil that causes an allergic reaction in people.

Preserved poison ivy

Preserved poison ivy displayed in We Are Nature.

You might be thinking, if higher levels of carbon dioxide mean higher levels of photosynthesis, won’t all plants benefit?  The problem is that increased levels of carbon dioxide don’t impact all plants in the same way.  Vines like poison ivy can reap the rewards of increased photosynthesis with more leaf area because, unlike upright plants, they don’t need to devote as many resources to structural support like trunks and thick branches.

As an intern in the Education department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Rachael Carlberg wrote blog posts related to ideas presented in We Are Nature. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.    

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Texas Solar

By Patrick McShea

Within We Are Nature an interactive kiosk known as EarthTime documents alarming change over recent decades in glacial melting, the clearing of rainforests, and coral bleaching. The imagery, which was generated by NASA satellites and compiled by students at Carnegie Mellon University, is simultaneously displayed on a table-mounted touchscreen and a towering adjacent display screen.

Literal glimmers of hope appear on both screens when visitors select the digital loop that documents the increase in the installation of solar energy panels across the US between 1984 and 2016. A textbox message directs viewers to, “Notice how installations start on the coasts and make their way inland.”

A recent visitor who replayed the seven-second simulation a few times voiced her state-focused perspective to a companion: “Watch this. Solar energy blooms in Austin before it does in Houston or Dallas.”

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Is Plastic Natural?

By Rachael Carlberg

Items made with plastic: water bottle, shoe, scissors, umbrella, pens, chapstick, grocery bag, tape dispenser.

Nothing seems more man-made than plastic.  It surrounds us everywhere, indoors and out. How many of the things around you right now have plastic in them?  Do your clothes, electronic devices, furniture, and other everyday objects have plastic parts?  All of us can answer “yes” to that.  At first thought, the only connection plastic has with nature is that it often mistakenly ends up in nature.  So does plastic have any connection to the earth besides the one that humans so frequently create by creating waste?

What many of us don’t realize is that the production of plastic has beginnings in nature.  To begin making plastic, companies harvest crude oil, a naturally occurring fossil fuel from the earth.  That oil (or sometimes natural gas) is converted through different processes into chemicals that are used to make products we recognize and rely upon.

It may seem unlikely that plastic, which looks and feels like it should have no connection to nature, has its beginnings in natural substances.  But, like many other aspects of our lives, it is intertwined with and dependent on nature for its existence.

As an intern in the Education department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Rachael Carlberg wrote blog posts related to ideas presented in We Are Nature. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.

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Deadliest Catch

By Patrick McShea

Diorama in the Hall of North American Wildlife with an Alaskan King Crab and bears.

Some guided tours of We Are Nature begin outside the actual exhibit.  A diorama in the Hall of North American Wildlife, for example, recently provided a challenging starting point for a handful of Carnegie Mellon University students. While facing a meticulously detailed scene from a remote section of Alaskan coast, they were invited to begin collective consideration of human impacts on the Earth.

“There’s no sign of people anywhere in this three-dimensional scene,” began their guide, “but imagine if you were in the scene, a safe distance away from the bears, the eagle, and the Alaskan King Crab. Imagine if you were facing out to sea. “

Alaskan King Crab

At the mention of the crab one of the students spoke-up. “Deadliest Catch,” she said,“the cable TV show about crab fishing. If we were in the scene and facing the ocean we might see a fishing boat, or the lights of a fishing boat!”

The connection shifted conversation to the scale and reach of commercial fishing, leading to recognition that the tasty long-legged crabs, which provoke the diorama’s bird versus bears confrontation, have long been available in Pittsburgh stores and restaurants. The resulting conversation about wild creatures as commercial commodities continued during the short walk from the diorama to the entry way of We Are Nature.

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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City Nature Challenge Arrives in Pittsburgh

Take the City Nature Challenge 2018 April 27 - 30

City Nature Challenge has arrived in Pittsburgh! Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Urban Bird Conservation Coordinator Matt Webb has been coordinating Pittsburgh’s participation in an international biodiversity challenge using the iNaturalist app. Kicking off April 27, the challenge runs to the end of the day April 30. For both budding and veteran citizen scientists, participation is easy.

Find wildlife in the Pittsburgh region, take a photo noting the location of where exactly you found the specimen and share your observations by uploading your findings through the iNaturalist application on your phone.

Identification of the photographed species will be crowd-sourced through the online community May 1-3 and results will be announced May 4. For more details, visit citynaturechallenge.com.