Pittsburghers are being rewarded for cutting energy use and pollution through the Black and Gold City Goes Green Campaign, a community action plan of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative, which works to make Pittsburgh a greener city. The environmental group PennFuture is one of the partners in the Initiative.

Evan Endres, project Coordinator for PennFuture, said Lawrenceville will play host to the Green Business Blitz on Butler St. Saturday, September 17th. “You’re going to get a map, and you’re going to be able to go to all these Lawrenceville businesses and learn about what the things that they’re doing are to help them go green, or reduce their carbon footprint, or save money on energy,” said Endres. “And while there, you’re also going to get something that helps you go green at home.

Endres said every person at the event will receive about $50 of equipment to save energy at home. He said Market Square will be the location of "Transportation Exploration" on September 24th, where anyone who walks, runs, bikes, carpools or uses green transportation will be treated to a free breakfast.

The campaign is also running the “Tackle a Stealer” competition where community partners try to cut energy waste from devices such as laptop chargers, televisions, and cell phone chargers. “Tackle a Stealer” started during the Steelers and Philadelphia preseason game August 18th and ends when the Steelers host Seattle September 18th.

He said that while the campaign does ask people to make little changes to help the environment they hope it will encourage them to make bigger ones. “We do take people through a process, conserve first, but then ‘Hey you know you’ve taken this step why don’t you go ahead and look at some of the green energy choices, or maybe you’ve already done that. We’ll maybe you want to talk to someone that’s gone and installed solar panels. Maybe the next time your car’s worn out you want to think twice. Do you need a car?’ And some people don’t.”