The concept of resource conservation isn’t exactly new.
Anne Downes, for example, was among a generation of Americans who were pretty much obligated to take a pragmatic approach to life nearly a century ago.
“She raised five girls in the Depression, and made all her own bread and made the girls’ clothes. When I knew her, she was the great repository for stuff people didn’t want,” her granddaughter Tricia Nowalk said. “And that’s all kind of where this started. We didn’t waste anything.”
A result is Nowalk’s leadership role in the Whitehall Committee for Environmental Action, founded in 2019 to inform and educate community residents while supporting the borough in its efforts to implement best environmental practices.
The committee sponsored the first-ever Whitehall Sustainability Fair on March 1 at St. Gabriel Church Hall, featuring informational tables from nearly three dozen nonprofits, businesses and individuals with the common interest of meeting current requirements without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
“It’s an opportunity to gain more knowledge and know who’s out there doing the work,” Nowalk said, and that includes tomorrow’s potential leaders: “We have two 10-year-olds on our committee, so we try to find activities that they can do with their capabilities.”
Members of Baldwin High School’s National Honor Society participated in the fair with tasks such as helping to set up the church hall, assisting vendors with items they brought and greeting guests as they arrived. Many of the students volunteered at tables for organizations lacking available representatives that day.
“We didn’t really know what we were walking into, but how much you learn just because you’re here is so valuable,” junior Anna Plunkett said while providing information on behalf of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. “It starts with the schools, and I think Baldwin is doing a really good job with it.”
Joining her at the Audubon table was sophomore Nate Malock.
“There are so many little things that we can do that a lot of people don’t know about, so that’s why we’re here,” he said. “The little things we can change have a large impact, and then it grows, like a ripple effect.”
For his own learning experience, he cited the Audubon Society’s publication series “Bird-Friendly Alternatives to Invasive Plants,” which provides information about replacing species that cause “over $100 million in economic damages in Pennsylvania and degrade our ecosystems.”
Anne Hampton, another Baldwin 11th grader and National Honor Society member, represented a Mt. Lebanon business at St. Gabriel: Wonderfill Market, which specializes in ecologically friendly wares and refills for kitchen, laundry, bath, body and beauty products.
“I thought initially that it wouldn’t be such a big event,” she said about the fair. “And then coming to set up and coming to volunteer, I realized how big the Whitehall community cares about sustainability.”
Representing the Whitehall Green Thumbers Garden Club, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, was borough resident Melissa Jones.
“We care for and plant all of the plantings in front of the Whitehall library every summer,” she said, among the group’s numerous activities intended to stimulate interest in horticulture, promote the dissemination of garden knowledge and create public interest in the conservation of natural resources.
For her part, she has developed an English-style garden and native-plant area in her yard, along with pursuing an especially rewarding endeavor.
“I grow cut flowers and give bouquets to family and friends,” Jones said. “I love to do it.”
Other locally based organizations with a presence at the sustainability fair included the Baldwin-Whitehall Educational Foundation, highlighting its efforts to recycle yard signs; Whitehall Community Lions Club, which recycles plastic wrap and various types of bags; Whitehall Public Library, providing examples of books related to the day’s topic; and Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Shade Tree Commission, the first intermunicipal collaboration of its kind in Pennsylvania.
Children in attendance were encouraged to visit tables by receiving stickers at each, all the while learning about what they can do toward protecting earth’s environment and, in turn, human health.
“It’s definitely nice seeing a lot of younger kids walking around and coming up to the tables, and some even running booths,” Anne Hampton said. “I think it makes me hopeful for the future that the new generation actually cares.”