SWPA Air Quality and Sustainability
Matt Mehalik, Ph.D. | Executive Director, Breathe Project
Watch This Presentation:
In this presentation, Matthew Mehalik provides information about key facts, trends and challenges facing Southwestern Pennsylvania’s air quality stemming from both legacy polluters like coking facilities as well as new airshed threats from the invasion of petrochemicals in the state. The region continues to rank poorly on national lists of air quality assessments, a key lagging factor in the region’s pursuit of a sustainable future. Mehalik also discusses some of the latest initiatives, tools and campaigns that the Collaborative has developed to help move the needle on improving the region’s continuing poor air quality.
About the Speaker
Matt serves as Executive Director of the Breathe Project, a coalition of local residents, environmental advocates, public health professionals and academics advocating for healthier air for the Pittsburgh region. From 2007 – 2016, he served as Program Director, Sustainable Pittsburgh, where he created Champions for Sustainability. Matt teaches environmental policy and community resiliency courses at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University since 2008. He has written multiple peer-reviewed publications in sustainability, design, and education and has co-authored Ethical and Environmental Challenges to Engineering with Michael E. Gorman and Patricia Werhane. Matt’s Ph.D. is in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. He serves on the boards of Conservation Consultants International (CCI), Pine Richland School District, and Phipps Conservatory and chairs the Green Sanctuary Team at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the North Hills.
