'Alliances' Still Key To Aurora Sharrard's Vision For Systemic Sustainability

By Kiley Koscinski,

Julia Zenkevich, Megan Harris

Published January 22, 2019 at 6:24 PM EST

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Aurora Sharrard is the University of Pittsburgh's first director of sustainability.

Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh

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Aurora Sharrard is the University of Pittsburgh's first director of sustainability.

Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh

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A rain garden sits on the lawn near the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland.

Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh

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A rain garden sits on the lawn near the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland.

Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh

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These reusable tote bags are part of Pitt's BYO(bag) program that has cut the number of plastic bags at campus stores by 98 percent.

Courtesy of the University of Pitttsburgh

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These reusable tote bags are part of Pitt's BYO(bag) program that has cut the number of plastic bags at campus stores by 98 percent.

Courtesy of the University of Pitttsburgh

How do you create a sustainability plan for a building that wasn't designed with the environment in mind? This challenge isn't unique to the University of Pittsburgh campus, but it's one they hope to tackle with a sustainability plan guided by the former director of the Green Building Alliance, Aurora Sharrard.

Sharrard, now the University of Pittsburgh’s first director of sustainability, is in charge of seeing through 61 goals across 15 impact areas aimed at making the university more environmentally friendly.

A woman learns self-defense techniques during a SETpoint training session.

The Pitt plan defines sustainability as a balance between equity, environment and economics so that current and future generations can thrive. But, according to Sharrard, accomplishing this goal requires buy-in from the university community, its supporters and Pittsburgh at large.

Later in the program, SETpoint is a Pittsburgh-based group that offers specialized self-defense training for those who experience the threat of gender-based violence.

For much of the 20thcentury, the Delaware River was full of debris, waste and high levels of bacteria that left the river smelly and inhospitable to fish and other wildlife. WHYY’s Dana Bate reports on how the Clean Water Act helped revive it.

And Evolving STEM is a program that uses science and lab experiments to give students a hands-on experience with evolution. As schools across three states – including Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, a magnet school in Pittsburgh – adopt this approach, educators are asking how teaching evolution should change. Hear from a group involved with the program:

Vaughn Cooper, evolutionary biologist and director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, and founder of the Evolving STEM Program;
Edwina Kinchington, teacher at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy;
Mia Perez, junior at Pittsburgh Sci-Tech; and
Sachin Thiagarajan, junior at Pittsburgh Sci-Tech.

The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESA’s daily news program. Tune in weekdays at 9 a.m. to hear newsmakers and innovators join veteran journalist Kevin Gavin, taking an in-depth look at stories important to the Pittsburgh region. Find more episodes of The Confluence here or wherever you get your podcasts.