Sustainability Watch Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Sustainability Watch

Ecosystem Health

Bird counts in the Pittsburgh area have improved in recent years and limited data suggest that fresh water mussel populations are also doing well – two encouraging trends that offer insight into the health of the region’s ecosystem. Data from the annual Christmas Bird Count organized by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania show generally …

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Sustainability Watch

Internet Access

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The digital divide is narrowing in Western Pennsylvania, if only slightly. Fewer people in the Pittsburgh MSA reported a lack of internet in their households in 2015 than in the previous two years, according to data obtained from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS). Slowly connecting Access to computers and high-speed Internet connections has …

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Sustainability Watch

Cost of Living

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The cost of living has increased in the region since 2011, but so has family income. And despite rising costs, southwestern Pennsylvania continues to rank as one of the least expensive places to live overall among the 16 Pittsburgh Today benchmark regions. The region’s composite cost of living index slipped during 2009 and 2010 in …

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Sustainability Watch

Unemployment Trends in Pittsburgh

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Southwestern Pennsylvania’s economy suffered less during the last recession than most regions and one key reason was that unemployment was relatively stable when other places were reeling with more widespread joblessness. While unemployment in the region has largely fallen below the national average since, recent data raise the prospect of trouble ahead, according to U.S. …

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Sustainability Watch

Recreational Opportunities

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Southwestern Pennsylvanians think highly of the parks, trails and other recreational amenities in the region and survey data suggest most base their views on firsthand knowledge. The accessibility and quality of outdoor recreational opportunities, whether found in parks and woods or on rivers and streams, are indicators of the quality of life available in the …

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Sustainability Watch

Water Quality: Bromide and TDS

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Levels of bromide and total dissolved solids have improved in the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers in recent years. But the future is uncertain due to potential new sources. Both are indicators of water quality in southwestern Pennsylvania’s three major rivers. High concentrations of bromide and other salts in streams and rivers pose environmental and …

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Sustainability Watch

General Health Trends

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The prognosis for residents’ health in southwestern Pennsylvania is mixed. Heart disease deaths declined over a recent 10-year period in Allegheny County, the most populous of the seven Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area counties. But across the region, the rate of people reporting fair or poor overall health has increased. Heart disease Allegheny County residents are …

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Sustainability Watch

Mobility Trends in Pittsburgh

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

An easy commute is hard to come by in the Pittsburgh region. Traffic delays are longer, transit use lags and transportation costs consume a significant share of household income in many places. Transit use Transit use per capita in Allegheny County fell by about 6 percent between 2003 and 2013. The decrease likely reflects to …

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Sustainability Watch

Graduation Rates

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

High school graduation rates are improving in southwestern Pennsylvania overall. Yet, in a handful of districts, nearly a third or more students fail to graduate on time. Dropping out or otherwise failing to earn a high school degree robs students of opportunity and puts them at greater risk of being unemployed or working low-paying jobs. …

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Sustainability Watch

Racial Equity

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The racial and ethnic demographics of southwestern Pennsylvania are changing, just as they are across the nation. The share of the population held by African American, Asian, Hispanic and other minority residents has increased since 2000 and continues to do so. But racial and ethnic minorities accounted for less than 14 percent of the population …

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Sustainability Watch

Air Quality Trends

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The days when Pittsburgh earned the reputation as the “Smokey City” may be long gone, but the quality of the region’s air remains a concern. Air quality has improved across the region for more than two decades due to a number of factors, including the decline of local steel and other heavy manufacturing, tighter air …

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Sustainability Watch

Environmental Ethic

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The environmental ethic among southwestern Pennsylvanians is complex, data reported in the Pittsburgh Regional Environmental survey suggest. They do not, for example, exclude citizens like themselves from sharing the burden of solving environmental problems. More than 86 percent of those who live in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area agree that individual citizens should be responsible …

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Sustainability Watch

Infant Mortality Trends

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Infant mortality remains a serious public health issue in the region, nation and around the world. Local data, however, is encouraging. Rates of infant deaths have decreased since 2003 in Allegheny County, where infant mortality has historically been high, particularly among African Americans. Racial differences African American infant mortality rates have declined more sharply than …

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Sustainability Watch

Combined Sewage Overflow

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Abundant annual rainfall leaves southwestern Pennsylvania in a fortunate position as much of the world grapples with the prospect of a shortage of fresh water. But effective stewardship to protect the quality of its rivers and streams has not been the region’s strong suit. The region’s most pressing water problem is in Allegheny County, where …

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Sustainability Watch

Regional Poverty

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

Poverty remains a stubborn problem for most regions in the United States and southwestern Pennsylvania is no exception. The rate of poverty in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Areas remained relatively stable in 2015 at 12.3 percent of the population, according to U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data. But, following national trends, the region …

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Sustainability Watch

Regional Housing Trends

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

More southwestern Pennsylvanians have been able to find housing that fits their budgets in the past decade, despite steadily rising home values and rents. But there are stark disparities in the affordability of housing across income levels. Although housing values and rent have experienced peaks and valleys over the last 10 years, both have increased …

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Sustainability Watch

Regional Crime

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

When Pittsburgh rises to the top of various “best places to live” lists, one indicator often cited is the region’s relative safety as measured by crime rates, which typically are among the lowest of U.S. metropolitan areas. Property and violent crime rates reported in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area have, for the most part, …

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Sustainability Watch

Regional Energy Use

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

In a region where coal was once king, nearly half of the electricity consumed today is generated from non-carbon sources. Yet, wind, solar and other renewable sources claim a tiny fraction of the local energy portfolio. An estimated 49 percent of the electricity consumed locally was from carbon-free sources in 2014, for example. Most was …

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