Moving primarily means finding a home for the books and media that define our relationships with each other and the world around us. For me, these books and films document everything from the beginning of recorded history, dance, song, religion, philosophy, poetry, and government, with the present continually informed by the past and the artistic creations that define our spirit and aspirations.
As a graduate library student, my first job was overseeing a core collection of about 27,000 books in the graduate library and providing reference assistance to professors and students in finding answers to their research questions. I’ve never lost the joy of being surrounded by the resources I need for my personal research, but finding ways to house my personal collection has been a challenge. The items must be easy to retrieve, protected from harm, and take up as little space as possible. For our new home, over 6,000 items are going along the walls of one 10’x15’ room, covering every square foot of three walls, including shelves over the door. All the books are shelved by size and then by category, with very little space between books.
If I live at the Rachel Carson Ecovillage at Providence Point, where will I get my groceries? I’m a foodie. I love to bake sourdough bread and to cook with fresh organic ingredients. Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op provides everything I need. The EEFC staff share RCE’s values regarding health, sustainability and community. I currently reside in Morgantown, WV. The highlight of my every week is the Morgantown Farmers Market but I make approximately monthly trips to the EEFC where I’ve been a member for years despite it’s being more than 80-miles from my home. The EEFC is only 15-miles from RCE. For more commercial sources, there’s a Trader Joe’s practically across the street from RCE and Wegmans, which I consider the eastern US’s best grocery just announced that they’re building their first store near us in Cranberry.
I had been awake most of that late summer night watching the world rush by the sleeper’s lower-berth window. It was August 1953; I was almost six, and my father was bringing me on the night train to Pittsburgh to visit my grandmother, who lived outside the city The first hint of our destination came with the many steam engines that began passing us in the opposite direction once we’d climbed over the first ridge of the Allegheny Mountains at the Horseshoe Curve.
We passed under the Westinghouse Bridge when we were in the dining car. Below us and alongside the Westinghouse Plant, Turtle Creek flowed a color yellow I’d never seen before. “There’s a story about this bridge,” my father said suddenly over his coffee. “When they were pouring the concrete, a worker fell into the form. You can’t get them out during a pour. They leave them in. He’s still in there.” I imagined him still in there: still drowning in the concrete, still trying to swim to the top of the pour.
Then the valley opened, and while the train rounded the bend overlooking Braddock, the smoke and fire plumes of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works rose beside us. It would have been a layered scene as I imagine it now: all red heat in the foreground and hazy dark profiles of sheds and furnaces behind. Peekaboo morning light reflected past them from the distant Monongahela River. Gas jets fired overhead. Then the view closed again as the train turned into the cut through Swissvale. House-house-house-house-house—street! House-house-house-house-house—street! The train gained speed on the long straightaway through Wilkinsburg and all the way to Pittsburgh.
– Doug Cooper, Founding member & future resident of RCE
I’ve participated four times in the Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) at North Park. I’m a very amateur birder but I grew up listening to my mom’s bird song recordings and picking up a few things along the way. She told me that her dream career was to become an ornithologist but she must not have felt that it was an attainable goal for herself. Instead she traveled to places near and far checking off birds on her life list.
My children and I participate in the CBC in her memory because it falls around her birthday.
Here are some tidbits about the results of this community science event from Leah Fulton who is the assistant naturalist at Latodami Nature Center in North Park.
“We had an amazing 63 total birders, 60 of which were volunteers. The 2024 count saw nine daytime groups and two owl groups counting birds in the park, spotting 1,496 birds from 49 species total. Some highlights include the Ross’s Goose, spotted by several groups around North Park Lake, the Red-headed Woodpecker, ever popular with the “paparazzi”, and the Rusty Blackbird, a rare bird for the region’s count history. Participants covered 20 daytime miles of walkable territory and visited 26 shelters and parking lots during the owl count. The volunteers accrued a whopping 227 volunteer hours, which is the equivalent of nearly nine and a half straight days!”
For those local to the ecovillage or planning a visit the Spring Bird Survey will take place on Saturday, May 17th from 8-11am.
– Kristi Karsh, Founding member and future resident of RCE
On Saturday, April 12, ten of our members joined approximately 100 volunteers in the Town of McCandless to clean up roadsides near our future home. Arriving in the morning for the cleanup, we were given instructions and assignments; provided with bright green T-shirts, safety vests, gloves, trash bags, and tools; and offered tasty snacks, before heading out to work in small groups at various locations. We picked up plenty of what might typically be considered “litter,” including many plastic and fast-food packaging items; beverage cans and bottles, and lots of tossed cigarette butts. In addition, our folks scored some interesting finds. Among those were a very large egg (maybe goose or wild turkey?) an Azul game tile, a $1.00 bill, a barrel-sized construction marker, various automobile pieces, and a broken wooden desk!
Jim “scores” a deer skull
According to township officials 210 bags of trash were collected this year, adding to the total of 2400 bags since 2018. They noted that the event “enhances the community through beautification and a strengthening of community spirit,” and anticipate that it will grow even larger next year.
Although seeing the amount of trash that accidentally or purposefully appears along our roadways is saddening, helping to clean up a bit of the planet during “Earth Month” gave us a chance to learn about some of the township’s other sustainability projects, and to meet and talk with soon-to-be new neighbors.
Our hungry but happy crew gathered afterwards at a nearby restaurant, and even managed to briefly say hello via Zoom to new Inquirers on the afternoon introductory session.
– Becky Lubold, Founding member and future resident of RCE
Moving to Pittsburgh is like stepping into “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”…if Mr. Rogers wore a Steelers jersey and spent his days showing you around a city with more bridges than you can count (just hope your GPS doesn’t crash). It’s cozy, friendly, and unexpectedly beautiful, with views that make you feel like you’re in a postcard. Plus, the outdoor activities are endless–hiking, biking, kayaking— and don’t forget to take a boat out on one of the three rivers for a whole new perspective of the city’s stunning skyline. So, won’t you be our neighbors at Rachel Carson EcoVillage, where the only thing greener than the city is our commitment to sustainable living?
– Tracy Burns, Founding member and future resident of RCE, April 30, 2025
Did you know? Pittsburgh once had 17 Inclined Railways. The Monongahela Incline, the first built in the city in 1870, and the Duquesne Incline (1877) are the only two still operating.
The Penn Incline, also known at the 17th Street Incline, connected the Strip District to the Hill District and operated from 1884 until 1953. It began at 17th Street between Liberty and Penn Avenues in the Strip District and ascended to Ridgeway Street near Ledlie Street in the Hill District. The incline was built with the capacity of hauling 20-ton coal loads to the top of the hill. It was structurally massive, with over 750 tons of bridge work carrying the two 10-foot-gauge tracks over the Pennsylvania Railroad yards. While the transportation of coal didn’t materialize to their expectations, the Incline did generate a good passenger and freight business. Riders included produce merchants transporting their goods from wholesale markets in the Strip to the residents of the Hill District, at one time vibrant musical community with a rich food culture, whose streets were lined with diners, eateries, and food carts.
Today, the tracks of the Penn Incline are long gone, but the spirit of connection between the Strip and the Hill lives on — not in coal cars or cables, but in the stories passed down, the food shared, and the legacy of a community that did not want to give up.
– Doug Cooper, Founding member and future resident of RCE, April 23, 2025
As Jim and I drove past Marshall Lake, the smaller of the two lakes in North Park, I noticed someone making a snowman on the ice in the middle of the lake, it reminded me of my teen days. We would drive to North Park with our snow shovels and ice skates. At that time there was a small bridge which crossed over the water (ice) to a shelter with a fireplace on Marshall Lake. We would take our snow shovels and clear off the snow so we could go ice skating.
Time to catch some fish!
Now, there is an outdoor skating rink there where we took our children when they were young,
Ice Fishing was another sport back then. Jim would take the Cub Scouts Ice Fishing on the big Lake. We saw about four groups who seemed to be ice fishing when we passed the lake the other day.
Another sport was Cross Country Skiing. You could rent skis and there was a trail on the Golf Course. I learned to Cross Country Ski so I could take my Girl Scout Troop skiing. I could already Downhill Ski, but Cross-Country Skiing is a bit different, I’m not sure if the trail is still marked but you can probably still cross-country ski if you want – no rentals though.
All of this is just two miles from our Ecovillage.
Currently Jim is hiking the various paths in North Park with a friend. He has purchased a set of trekking poles to help him navigate the ups and downs of the paths.
– by Judy Robertson, Founding member & future resident of RCE, March 1, 2025
That’s usually the first question I get, when I tell folks about joining Rachel Carson EcoVillage at Providence Heights. I must admit, Pittsburgh was never on my list of potential destinations. But, in looking for an intentional community that is dedicated to living lighter on the earth, I came across a community of amazing people with such diverse backgrounds, careers and interests, that I had to investigate.
What my husband and I found was a beautiful woodland site on the campus of the Divine Sisters of Providence, that is near to LaRoche University, UPMC Healthcare, North Park and accessible to downtown Pittsburgh by mass transit. We were given a tour of the area’s amazing architecture, history, arts, sports arena, ethnic neighborhoods, and abundant opportunities to get out in nature.
But it is the community aspect that seals the deal. Members share their varied backgrounds and interests with each other and are working toward a more sustainable future.
– by Carol and Larry Sullivan, Founding members & future residents of RCE, February 19, 2025
Getting Hooked on Community Science with the Great Backyard Bird Count
Fellow members of Rachel Carson EcoVillage know how often during Zoom meetings I grab my binoculars, distracted by the birds I see outside my windows. Fascinated by the behaviors of my feathered neighbors, I also participate in bird-related community science projects, through which my own observations help avian researchers learn about population trends and the potential impacts of habitat loss, pollution, disease, and climate change. Their research can ultimately lead to the creation of strategies for protection and conservation.
One such project, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), takes place in February of each year during President’s Day weekend—this year February 14th through 17th. Anyone can participate, regardless of their birding knowledge and experience!
Sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada, the GBBC results in a global snapshot of which birds are located where, during the four-day time period. Participants observe and count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days, then submit their observations. It’s easy to do by yourself, with friends or your whole family, whether watching your bird feeders or backyard from indoors, walking around your neighborhood, or hiking more extensive areas. After submitting your own data, you can explore submissions from around the world appearing in real time, as well as from past years, for individual species, total birds seen, migration movements, and more.
The GBBC website https://www.birdcount.org/ offers complete instructions, and links to sources of additional information and resources. Help with identification can be found via Cornell Lab’s All About Birds site: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ . If you’re still not quite sure whether it’s for you, you can attend a free, live-streamed event, being offered February 6th and 12th. Register for the session of your choice here: https://tinyurl.com/How-to-Participate-2025-GBBC
I’ve been known to call the GBBC a “gateway to birding,” because it has been a wonderful way to spark interest in learning, exploring, and participating in future nature-related activities and community science projects. It might even result in a lifelong habit! Do check it out this year.
-Becky Lubold, Founding member & future resident of RCE, February 6, 2025
At Rachel Carson EcoVillage we are inspired by the words of Wendell Berry in Planting Trees:
“…and I plant them along the way of the departure of the ancient host. I return to the ground its original music. It will rise out of the horizon of the grass, and over the heads of weeds, and it will rise over the horizon of men’s heads.”
In that spirit we are already growing our community from a nascent sapling:
…to a majestic oak…
We are on our way!
– Founding members & future RCE residents Stu Bush and Mel Scott, January 28, 2025
I attended an art opening last month for the poet, musician, and visual artist Bob Ziller last month at Borelli Cellars in Mt. Lebanon and was delighted to see Rachel Carson was also in attendance….as a wood duck, no less!
I had seen this painting before, as it was originally part of a series of famous Pittsburghers as birds for murals that were created by Bob when the major league baseball all star game was played in the city many years ago and a number of buildings downtown weren’t particularly pleasing to look at, hence the commission for murals to plaster over the worst ones for all the visitors “flocking” in – can you guess who the others are?
Now, while I’m sure there won’t be any need to plaster over anything in our brand new Common House once it’s built, determining what art/furniture/amenities will be a part of it is something we’ve already got a subgroup working on, so I think I’ll leave my proposal right here for consideration; which is that Bob’s rendering of Rachel be one of the pieces to adorn one of the walls in the CH, purchased by members of RCE and donated in the spirit of that familiar saying about birds of a feather.
– Grace Astraea, Explorer & possible future resident of RCE, January 24, 2025
