Allegheny College’s

CEED Center for Economic and Environmental Development

Summer 2005 (814) 332-2713 http://ceed.allegheny.edu

CEED engages Allegheny College students, faculty, and the community in creating innovative approaches to environmental

stewardship, environmental education, and regional revitalization.

C EED’s Arts & Environment Initiative (AEI) won the 2005 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award in

the Higher Education category for demonstrating excellence in increasing environmental awareness. Amara Geffen, AEI Project Director, was at the celebration to accept the award from Chris Moore of WQED Media (photo right). You can read more about the project and see photos on-line at:

http://ceed.allegheny.edu/A&E/home.html

Arts & Environment Initiative Receives Environmental Award

The Western Pennsylvania Environmental Awards, sponsored by Dominion and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, strive to promote innovative environmental efforts and enhancing the quality of life in western Pennsylvania.

Local Foods Promoted at Market

At the Market House, CEED’s Local Foods Network is collaborating with the Meadville Area Local Growers (http://malg.allegheny.edu/) and the French Creek Project (http://frenchcreek.allegheny.edu/) to promote local foods and in-crease the number of MALG members. The

number of MALG producers jumped from zero to more than thirty during the first full growing

year. MALG goods can be purchased every Sat-urday from 8 am to 1 pm May through October.

Market House

Market Alley

Meadville, Someplace Sustainable?

A fter several years of promoting environmental revitalization in northwestern Pennsylvania, CEED is promoting an economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable Meadville.

Using Meadville’s Mill Run, a small stream that runs through, and largely under the city, as a geographic thread, CEED is contributing to several sustainability projects and partnerships.

CEED and its many partners strive to make Meadville an economically, ecologically,

and socially sustainable community.

City of Meadville

Eldred Building

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Stream Restoration Project Beginning where Mill Run enters Meadville’s business district, CEED and Allegheny senior, Michelle Logut, part-

nered with the Meadville Medical Center to find funding to restore the degraded banks and native vegetation of a stretch of stream adjacent to the hospital’s main complex. Work is scheduled to begin Fall of 2005.

See Logut’s comp at:

http://watershed.allegheny.edu/seniorprojects.html

Blighted Alley Renovation

With funding from the Pennsyl-vania Department of Transporta-

tion, the Arts & Environment Initia-tive is partnering with the City of Meadville and several downtown

businesses to daylight a small section of Mill Run and renovate a

blighted alley across the street from Meadville’s Market House, Market Alley. Work is scheduled to begin

within a year.

Class Collaborations In the spring of 2005, the Henry Luce

Foundation funded the collaboration of five CEED-related classes at

Allegheny. Students created essays, photographs, and research posters about

the ecology, geography, and history of Mill Run. Their works were

displayed on campus and in a storefront window (above) of the

Eldred Building on Chestnut Street in the heart of the city.

Research results are available on-line: http://watershed.allegheny.edu/index.

shtml

Meadville Medical Center Mill Run

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Sustainable Forestry Project Releases Directory

P ennsylvania has over 2 million acres of certified forests and 40 certified processors under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system. The FSC seal guarantees consumers

that wood products, from lumber to furniture, come from a well-managed forest and are proc-essed by “green” businesses. Unfortunately, there has never been a central, efficient way for these two to find each other. In September 2004, CEED’s NWPA Sustainable Forestry Project released a directory to help link supply and demand of “green” forest products in the state of Pennsylvania. The directory is a result of summer research by intern Emily Warner ’06. She and Project Di-rector Terrence Bensel discovered major “leaks” in the supply chain of certified forest prod-ucts, from forest to sawmills to secondary processors. The directory is the first of its kind, listing the suppliers of certified wood products right beside the certified forest owners. The main objective of the directory is to link the suppliers of FSC certified wood products with ar-chitects and contractors, especially with the rising LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environ-ment Design) status.

The directory is available on-line at: http://webpub.allegheny.edu/dept/envisci/GISLab/forestcert/Index.htm

C EED welcomed four middle-eastern students, during the summer of 2004, to promote peace through environmental

cooperation. The interns were among 20 mid-dle-eastern students that came to the United States as part of a program funded by the US Department of State. The four interns previously studied at the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies in Israel, where in 2001, Eric Pallant, Professor of Environmental Science and Direc-tor of CEED, taught as a Fulbright scholar. Since 1996, students from across the Middle East have been living and learning side-by-side at what has been called “the island of peace in the desert.”

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Above (L to R) Professor Eric Pallant with interns Shira Leon, Nili Elyashiv, Dima Halawani, and

(seated) Mousa Diabet.

CEED Bridges Ocean for Environment & Peace

Since the late 1990’s a number of local tool and die shops have closed their doors eliminating over 1,000 jobs. CEED’s Green Business Coalition has taken a closer look at the environmental and business practices of this sector because it has been so vital to the eco-nomic health of northwest Pennsylvania. Assistant Professor of Economics and director of the Sustainable Manufacturing project, Stephen Onyeiwu, with student interns Katie Wheeler and Lauren Destefano, surveyed 50 local tool and die companies. In August 2004, they published “Firm Closures in the Tool and Die Industry in Crawford County of Northwest Pennsylvania,” exposing five main reasons for business’ closings.

1. Poor Managerial Skills: Often shop owners did not know how to read a balance sheet and were not able to track costs.

2. Lack of Core Competencies: Many closed shops did not have the ability to distinguish themselves from other shops. 3. Lack of Strategic Planning: Most failed shops were not prepared for industry changes because they were not looking ahead. 4. Inability to Adapt or Diversify: Often the closed companies

were not willing to change how they did business, relying on only one or two customers.

5. Too Small to Survive: The survey suggested that larger firms tended to do better for a variety of reasons.

The entire report is available at:

http://watershed.allegheny.edu/economy.html

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Challenges to a Tool City

Green Business Coalition Created

I n the Spring of 2005, CEED created the Green Business Coalition. The title includes long standing Ecotourism and Strategic Environmental Management (SEM) projects, and the newer Tool & Die study, now called, Sustainable Manufacturing. This move

brings together all of CEED’s business related projects.

Check out the Nature Tourism website to plan your summer and fall getaways:

http://naturetourism.allegheny.edu/ Sponsored by CEED’s Ecotourism project

FIRM CLOSURES IN THE TOOL AND DIE INDUSTRY

IN CRAWFORD COUNTY OF NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA

August 2004

Steve Onyeiwu, Lauren Destefano and Katie Wheeler

A Report Commissioned by the Center for Economic & Environmental Development (CEED)

Allegheny College, Meadville, PA

Creek Connections Symposium Cassandra Hamilton, ’07

On April 8th, 2005, Creek Connections staff hosted the Northwestern Pennsylvania / Southwestern New York Symposium at Allegheny College. Over 300 students from fourteen local schools filled Henderson Campus Center to share and expand their knowledge of watersheds.

On April 22nd, 2005 Camp Kon-O-Kwee was bustling with excitement as eleven Pittsburgh area schools celebrated both Earth Day and the Creek Connections Symposium. Throughout both days, students shared research posters, oral presenta-tions, and had the chance to interact with local environmental organizations. Both symposia included focus groups that were led by the Creek Connec-tions staff. Students performed a Creek Stomp for macro-invertebrates, made Fish Prints on canvas, and practiced their fly-fishing techniques.

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Learn more about Creek Connections online: http://creekconnections.allegheny.edu

Allegheny’s Henderson Campus Center is flooded with student posters and displays.

Students participate in a fly-fishing focus group at the SWPA symposium.

T he French Creek Journal posts under-graduate student artwork, poetry, and writing about the environment. The

journal has received submissions from more than ten colleges and universities. In the current issue, Chelsea Benson, an Allegheny Psychology and English major, describes the sights and sounds of her daily grind as a park ranger policing Woodcock Lake in Danger Ranger. Andrew Bernstein, a history major at Skidmore College, writes about his adventure to Whiteface Mountain and the view from the summit in Driving to the Top.

To read these essays and more in the current issue, visit http://frenchcreekjournal.allegheny.edu

MCEP & DEP Promote Energy Savings in Area Congregations

The Meadville Community Energy Project (MCEP) has partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Envi-ronmental Protection (DEP) to help congregations in the area reduce their energy consumption. They hosted two workshops for congregational leadership: Congregations and Energy and Rate Structures, Cutting Energy Costs, In-creasing Stewardship: A Hands-On Workshop for Con-gregations. Over 40 congregations attended the work-shops. A third workshop was held for energy professionals working with congregations.

For more information go to:

http://welcome.to/mcep/

Woodcock Lake, Saegertown, PA

Third Edition of Undergraduate Journal of Environmental Writing and Art is Available Online

MCEP intern, Ryan Nageotte ’05, speaks to workshop audience about how to read utility bills and make

sure they are on the appropriate rate structure.

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CEEDCenter for Economic and Environmental Development

Box E Allegheny College 520 North Main Street Meadville, PA 16335

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CEED Interns Summer 2005...

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