At the beginning of October the International Urban Development Association held their INTA33 Congress in Taiwan to discuss the topic of “Innovative Urban Environments.”  The mission of INTA is to bring together public and private urban practitioners in a series of conferences, seminars, peer-to-peer panels and yearly conferences to promote an exchange of ideas, and to create strategies to work towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.

Councilman Bill Peduto has been involved with INTA since 2003.  He was granted a scholarship by the group to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands to study “regional governance” from a global to local perspective with this organization. In 2005, Councilman Peduto joined the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in welcoming them to Pittsburgh.

INTA helps us all to understand that the problems facing cities are the same worldwide, and so are many of the solutions.

Learn more about INTA33

Today there were two news stories in Pittsburgh regarding the signs of our times.

KDKA News published a story about the amazing response to Earth Hour 2009.  The international event had a record number of participants, and the City of Pittsburgh joined in last night from 8:30pm – 9:30pm.  Last year, Councilman Bill Peduto sponsored the City of Pittsburgh as one of only 370 cities worldwide that participated, but this year the movement spread to thousands of cities around the globe.

Another story written by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mark Belko discusses the increasing numbers of neon sign advertisements that are popping up all over the downtown Pittsburgh skyline.  Councilman Bill Peduto believes that there must a better balance between the architectural integrity of our skyline and corporate sponsorship illuminating from it. Check out the story to read more about Councilman Peduto’s stance on the issue.

This Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm – 9:30pm is Earth Hour, and Councilman Bill Peduto is asking you to join in on the movement!

Earth hour is an international event that was created by the World Wildlife Fund.  For this one hour a year, households and businesses around the world are asked to turn off their lights for an hour in an effort to raise awareness about climate change.

Councilman Peduto has convinced Pittsburgh universities, museums, downtown skyscrapers, and even the City County building to turn off their lights for one hour, in observance of Earth Hour.  Now we need you to join us as well – turn off your lights, or even just your computer and television for this one hour.  Take the time to think about energy conservation, and show your friends and neighbors that climate change is an issue that is on your mind.  The action may be small, but the impact will be great.

So don’t forget, this Saturday, March 28, 8:30 – 9:30 – join us as we turn off the lights and show that we care about our Earth!