Pennsylvania Legacies

This year's GAP Relay -- a 150-mile team footrace along the Great Allegheny Passage -- was the first carbon neutral trail relay in the nation. Troy Schooley of race organizer p3r talks about the movement toward sustainability in endurance sports, and Allegheny Trail Alliance director Bryan Perry explains why the partnership is good for the GAP and the trails community.

An executive order signed by Governor Tom Wolf last week initiates the rulemaking process whereby Pennsylvania will join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state effort to cut carbon emissions using market-based mechanisms. Policy expert Franz Litz, one of RGGI's original architects, explains how it works and what the transition will mean for Pennsylvania.

You've heard of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition (IHTC) and its vision for 1,500 miles of interconnected trails across the Rust Belt. But did you know that more than half of those miles are already open, and packed with things to see and do? The recently updated and expanded Trail Trips collection has everything you need to plan an unforgettable IHTC adventure. Its creator, Amy Camp, offers a taste of what's out there.

Allegheny College's "Creek Connections" program gets students out of the classroom and into local waterways for a hands-on learning experience. Watershed educator Laura Branby explains how Creek Connections is sparking kids' interest in the sciences and building their relationship with the natural world.

In honor of Ohiopyle, PA’s bid for Top Adventure Town honors in the “Tiny Towns” division, a tiny podcast episode to tide you through the holiday weekend. Anna Weltz of the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau drops in to ask for your vote in the competition sponsored by Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine. The first round closes Monday, so vote now to keep Pennsylvania in the running!

Top Adventure Town voting: http://contests.blueridgeoutdoors.com/

The end goal of any trail project is to create a public asset that's accessible, welcoming, and beneficial to everyone in the community. But to succeed, inclusivity has to be baked into every project from its inception. Julia Raskin, trail planner and author of PEC's new Inclusionary Trail Planning Toolkit, explains how.

The governors of five Great Lakes states, including Pennsylvania's Tom Wolf, are banding together in an effort to make the health of the lakes a campaign issue in the 2020 presidential election. We dive into the Great Lakes 2020 Platform in conversation with Gov. Wolf's Deputy Chief of Staff, Sam Robinson.

Though Pennsylvania enjoys an abundance of world-class opportunities for outdoor recreation, access is often limited by racial, socioeconomic, and other disparities. For Pennsylvanians with disabilities, adventure sports like kayaking can be especially difficult to break into. But proponents of "adaptive paddling" – like Larry Gioia of Pittsburgh-based Dynamic Paddlers – are working to knock down barriers and get people out on the water, regardless of ability.

Pennsylvania Legacies is on summer break through mid July. We leave you with an audio postcard from the recent unveiling of two exciting new improvements along Bucks County's Delaware & Lehigh Trail.

It's not just Pennsylvania -- trails and greenways are becoming must-have amenities for communities throughout the U.S. and around the world. But the trend isn't universal, and the scarcity of trails in many areas is reflected in lower public health, wellness, and quality-of-life ratings. We assess the global trails landscape in conversation with Mike Passo of American Trails, the national nonprofit behind the International Trails Symposium.

Plus: a forthcoming state Senate bill would cap greenhouse-gas emissions from Pennsylvania's electricity sector and create a new market for zero-carbon energy produced in the commonwealth. We kick off this week's episode with details and analysis from the PEC Policy program.