Best Food in a (Recycled) Box: CSA Program from Penn's Corner Farm Alliance. Local family farms offer some of the best local and seasonal foods directly from their fields to your table. Penn's Corner Farm Alliance is a group of almost 20 local farmers who use sustainable farming practices, and many of them grow organically. The Alliance delivers fruits, vegetables, eggs, cheese, meat and other delicious farm products directly to you through its CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program from April through November. Your neighborhood connection to farm-fresh foods is now in the box! Info: pennscorner.com

Best Club for Green Food Lovers: With almost 200 members, Slow Food Pittsburgh is a good choice if you want to enjoy and learn about food. It is part of an international educational organization dedicated to reviving kitchens and dining tables as centers of pleasure, culture and community. It promotes the proliferation of regional and seasonal food traditions among other culinary quests. The Pittsburgh convivium is one of the most active groups in the United States. Its educational programs are top-notch - some of the leading green food writers, cooks and thinkers are brought to Pittsburgh - and this group knows how to throw a party! Learn how to lead a slower and more harmonious life with good local food. Info: slowfoodpgh.com

Best Cocktail Mover and Shaker: Spencer Warren, owner of the Firehouse Lounge (2216 Penn Ave., Strip District), was one of the first mixologists on the scene in Pittsburgh. He also is one of the first to introduce organic cocktails to the region. Organic and local are both things that are very important to Warren, and as a result, he has had a lot of fun creating specialty drinks. While he relishes serving cocktails made from unique and fresh ingredients, he is quick to point out the limited availability of true organic spirits on the market. With that said, Warren delights in serving up organic selections such as a Prairie/40 North vodka cocktail and a sangria made from BD (biodynamic) wines. His ambitious drink menu, which changes seasonally, includes some interesting and mouth-watering favorites such as a Bluecoat Blossom, the Curious George or a Lime or Lavender Mojito. Drink responsibly and organically. Info: 412/434-1230, firehouse-lounge.com

Best and First "Living Building" in the 'Burgh and the World: Last fall, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens broke ground for its "living building": the Center for Sustainable Landscapes. Teresa Heinz - chair of The Heinz Endowments, which provided a substantial gift for the project - described the new building by asking, "What would it be like if every building in the world were built like a tree?" The building, currently under construction, will primarily house administration, education and research activities for the organization. However, what makes the building unique is that it will essentially be "alive," meaning it will be a zero-net-energy structure - generating all of its own energy with renewable resources, and capturing and treating all of its water on-site. This will make it one of the greenest, most energy-efficient structures in the world. Info: phipps.conservatory.org

Best Group on the Rivers: With executive director Lisa Schroeder at the helm, Riverlife, a public-private partnership established in 2000 to guide and advocate for the redevelopment of Pittsburgh's riverfronts, is working hard to reconnect Pittsburgh with its rivers. That means bringing recreational and economic opportunities back to the city's waterfronts. When the Point State Park renovation is completed, Riverlife's proposed Three River's Park Project, which will run more than 10 miles from the West End Bridge on the Ohio to the Hot Metal Bridge on the Mon to the 31st Street Bridge on the Allegheny, will be nearly complete and bring more green recreation activities to Pittsburghers and visitors alike. Info: riverlifetaskforce.org

Best Urban Farming to Have Taken Root in Pittsburgh: There's a growing dedication to providing healthy produce to area residents, increasing local food security, remediating the land and teaching youth about the benefits of sustainable living. Grow Pittsburgh is proud to be at the center of it all by providing visibility and leadership for the urban-agriculture community. Its "Edible Schoolyard "initiative is based on the "seed-to-table" learning model created by San Francisco-based chef Alice Waters, a legendary champion of locally grown, fresh ingredients. Its newest, large-scale demonstration site is Braddock Farms, an urban-farming-complex organization that includes spin-off farms and a farm cooperative. One of Grow Pittsburgh's programs, "Here We Grow Pittsburgh, Here We Grow," promotes local, fresh food and community spirit through the creation of community gardens. Summer internships provide urban youth with the opportunity to gain summer employment while learning how to preserve the health of our bodies and the environment. Through Grow Pittsburgh's partnering with Silver Eye Center for Photography, the kids also photo-document the way they look at food. Info: growpittsburgh.org

Best Way to Support More Art and Less Paper: Leave it to the contemporary-art-world gurus at The Mattress Factory on Pittsburgh's North Side to be the first museum in the United States to initiate a 100 percent paperless Green Membership program. Created by MF membership coordinator Lindsay O'Leary, who earned a degree in environmental planning and design, MF Green Membership allows you to receive all correspondence electronically. "For 30 years the Mattress Factory has pushed boundaries in the contemporary-art world, and we're proud to extend that drive and ingenuity to the worthy cause of environmentalism," says O'Leary. MF Green Membership reduces paper and postage costs, and allows more dollars to directly support the art. Info: mattress.org/green

Best Industry Renewed Through Art: Pittsburgh Glass Center is the fastest-growing public-access glass-art facility in the United States. This gold LEED-certified building in the East End houses state-of-the-art glass-art studios and gallery space. The Glass Center also has helped revitalize the Penn Avenue Corridor, attracting glass artists from across the globe to a region whose history is steeped in industrial glass making. In fact, the Steel City could have very easily been called the Glass City. The Glass Center has revitalized glassmaking in the region by making Pittsburgh an international glass-art destination. Be a part of Pittsburgh's future - take a class or support a local glass artist. Info: pittsburghglasscenter.org

Greenest Mayor: Braddock Mayor John Fetterman's vision has been to turn things around for his borough by going green for health and profit. Fetterman came to the region in 2001 with a Harvard University degree in public policy seeking opportunity in the region's post-industrial decline. In Braddock, he found a desperate situation, a town with one of the most declining populations in the United States - from 20,000 in 1940 to some 2,000 in 2000. His revitalization of Braddock is an eco-experiment in "Rust Belt Renewal," the revitalization of industrial states spanning Pennsylvania to Michigan. He is turning Braddock into a site for eco-friendly businesses: Fossil Free Fuels is a biodiesel business; Braddock Farms is a successful sustainable-agriculture project in urban gardening. The borough also is converting the Carrie Furnace, a former blast furnace on the Mon, into a museum. Fetterman even manages the borough's Web site, named after its ZIP code: 15104.cc.

Best Green Savings for the Bucs: The Pittsburgh Pirates' "Let's Go Bucs. Let's Go Green" program, launched last season, integrates green initiatives, sustainable-business practices and educational outreach for the team. So now you can enjoy many of your refreshments at the game with good eco-consciousness. The IC Light and pop that you drink from both of PNC Park's concessionaires, Aramark and Levy Restaurants, come in corn-based beverage cups, and the club will eliminate its use of about 33,000 Styrofoam cups each year. Also eliminated are most of the non-biodegradable materials that were being used in plates, napkins and food carriers to serve us true-green fans. In addition, steps are being taken to make the ballpark more energy-efficient by using the lowest voltage lights possible in ballpark signage. All right, Bucs! Way to go green! Now let's go for the pennant! Info: pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com

Best Way to Raise More Money at a Fundraiser: Events such as Construction Junction's "Steel City Pour," "Art All Night" and "Rachel Carson's Sustainable Feast" encourage and even challenge participants to save energy by taking public transportation, riding their bicycle or walking to the event. From transportation to use of recyclable-paper goods and local products, the greening of events is one of the hottest trends in event planning these days. But one local fundraiser might be remembered as the coolest event never to happen - and it might have been the greenest ever. Several years ago, Pittsburgh Filmmakers asked supporters to write a check to the organization rather than waste time and energy getting to a party.

Best Green Happy Hour With a Twist: The perfect blend of beverages and environmental talk is "Green Drinks." Every month, people who work in the environmental field or who have an interest in a greener planet meet up for drinks at places all around the world for informal sessions known as "Green Drinks." Locally, we are fortunate to have a lively mixture of participants. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making "Green Drinks" an organic, self-organizing network. Make friends, develop new ideas, do deals and forge a new organic future. Pittsburgh "Green Drinks" meets on the third Friday of each month from 5 to 9 p.m. at various locations. And look for green spirits such as Rain Vodka, Bluecoat Gin, Bonterra wines and Peaks Organic Pale Ale Beer. To get on the circulation list, e-mail pittsburghgreendrinks@gmail.com. Info: greendrinks.org

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Lissa Rosenthal has been the PR muscle behind many of Pittsburgh's largest food and cultural campaigns such as Pittsburgh Wine Festival and Pittsburgh Festival of Lights. Her firm, Relish Public Relations, a lifestyle promotional company, includes local and international clients Boyd & Blair Vodka and Artlumiere. A trend-spotting "Greeniac," she enjoys cooking in one of Pittsburgh's coolest green-renovated homes, which she shares with her French bulldog, Panko.

 

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