Pittsburgh
PennEnvironment
We’re a statewide, citizen-based non-profit environmental group working to promote clean air, clean water, and protect Pennsylvania’s incredible natural heritage.
Volunteer with Us
Check out our Volunteer Action Packet for a full list of ways you can take action to protect our environment in PA! Contact our Western PA Field Organizer: Olivia Perfetti: olivia@pennenvironment.org / (412) 627-2552
100% Renewable Energy in Pennsylvania
We’re committed to combating the climate crisis by pushing for bipartisan legislation that would transition the state to 100% renewable energy by 2050! Help us advocate for policies to bring more solar and wind power to more people and communities today.
Reducing Plastic Pollution
We need to address this growing waste crisis. It’s time to end our addiction to single-use plastics; to tackle the largest and fastest growing sources of our waste stream; and to make sure that it’s never cheaper to throw something away where it will clog our landfills or release air pollution from an incinerator, than to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Clean Air for Pittsburgh
Sadly, the Pittsburgh area has some of the dirtiest air in the nation: Allegheny County is in the worst 2% of counties at risk for cancer from air pollution. Most of this industrial pollution comes from just 10 facilities in the county, known as the “Toxic Ten.” PennEnvironment is working to organize and amplify the voices of concerned Pittsburghers, to make sure that the county’s elected officials and the Health Department take action to rein in dangerous emissions from the Toxic Ten.
Internship Opportunities
If you care about the environment and want to make a difference, apply to be a PennEnvironment intern today! We’re looking for students who care deeply about the environment and are ready to make a difference now.
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You’ll help us educate and engage citizens on the most critical environmental issues of our time.
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You’ll help us get our issues into the media, build coalitions with community groups, and organize fun and informative events.
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You’ll work directly alongside our organizers and legislators to lobby for strong environmental policy and defend against environmental rollbacks.
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You’ll reach out to and engage with citizens to leverage grassroots power through phonebanking, collecting petitions, writing letters, attending events, and more!
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You’ll attend briefings and trainings to learn even more about environmental issues and gain important organizing and communication skills you can use to build movements in the future.
We’re hiring interns throughout the state, and have sister organizations in many cities across the country. If your college/University offers the option for class credit, students may receive course credit for the internship and PennEnvironment staff will work with the advisors etc. to complete all necessary paperwork.
Sierra Club, Allegheny
The Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter was organized in April 1970. The Allegheny Group’s first projects involved legal battles to oppose granting strip mining permits which threatened irreplaceable local water supplies. It also fought in and out of the courts to protect the Clarion River from pulp mill wastes. The Group also did a study of lands in the Allegheny National Forest that might qualify as wilderness areas under the 1964 National Wilderness Act. It was instrumental in getting bills introduced in Congress to protect three areas as wilderness, and succeeded in obtaining wilderness status for the Hickory Creek area and a number of Allegheny River islands. The Group also played a role in restricting the use of off-road vehicles on the Allegheny National Forest. In 2004, the national Sierra Club opened a Field Office in Pittsburgh. We sell two trail guides: ‘A Hiker’s Guide to the Laurel Highlands Trail’ (our most popular guide) and ‘Allegheny National Forest Hiking Guide’. sierraclub.org/pennsylvania/allegheny/trail-guides.
Green Building Alliance
Green Building Alliance (GBA) advances innovation in the built environment by empowering people to create environmentally, economically, and socially vibrant places. Our mission is to positively transform the world through the built environment for a sustainable, healthy, and just future for everyone.
Founded in 1993, GBA is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization — and one of the oldest regional green building organizations in the United States. GBA proudly serves the region covering Pittsburgh and the 26 counties of Western Pennsylvania, with stakeholders across the Mid-Atlantic, United States, and the world. In September 1993, a group of volunteers resolved to build a healthier region for everyone. Their vision has build a movement 28 years strong. Today Green Building Alliance stands as a community of architects, educators, engineers, contractors, developers, and citizens who create places where all people can thrive.
Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP)
Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit citizens’ group in Southwestern Pennsylvania working for a healthy, sustainable environment. Founded in 1969, GASP has been a diligent watchdog, educator, litigator, and policy-maker on many environmental issues, with a focus on air quality in the Pittsburgh region.
The Group Against Smog and Pollution was founded in 1969 by volunteers concerned about air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania. Since then, GASP has worked tirelessly to explain and combat our air quality problems through public meetings, engagement with the press, educational events, permit and compliance reviews, and many other means.
During these years, GASP has participated on various county, state, and national boards, with stakeholder groups, and on environmental policy committees. Occasionally GASP presses its goals with litigation, having brought action related to requiring Allegheny County to adopt pollution standards based on the Clean Air Act, enforcement of air quality standards at the Clairton Coke Works, LTV Corporation’s air quality violations at the firm’s former Hazelwood plant, DTE’s long-standing air quality infractions at its former Neville Island Shenango coke plant, and a number of other instances.
Venture Outdoors
Venture Outdoors is a nonprofit organization that serves the greater Pittsburgh area. Our mission is to “Inspire. Educate. Equip. We remove barriers and create access to outdoor experiences.” Specifically, we work to make it easy for everyone to get outdoors by providing various outdoor recreational and educational activities, such as kayaking, geocaching, fire building, species ID hikes, and more. Venture Outdoors owns and operates Kayak Pittsburgh, runs youth leadership programs and summer camps, hosts several free programs for ages 50+, promotes environmental stewardship through community clean-ups, and founded the Outdoor Inclusion Coalition.
