Mary Ellen Persuit recently attended the Tar Sands pipeline protest in Washington, DC, organized the Gasland screening at the , and became involved in the in Butler County.

The Sewickley resident now has plans for Oct. 15. That's when organizers of Occupy Pittsburgh plan to take action in Western Pennsylvania, joining a movement that has spread internationally from the initial Wall Street demonstrations.

Persuit said the time for action is now. "We've lost our communities. We're losing our middle class in the name of the dollar bill. And that's why we are trying to rise up with the little bit of the democracy we have left before money takes over," Persuit said.

An estimated 300 people interested in joining the grassroots movement attended the first meeting Oct. 5 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Shadyside. Nathaniel Glosser, who is helping to organize the Pittsburgh event, said the group held a second meeting Sunday night and collectively came up with a plan for action.

Occupy Pittsburgh plans to seek a permit for a large-scale march and rally from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in and around Downtown. Following the march and rallies, Glosser said, the group planned to start an occupation in a location yet to be determined.

"We're not positive where it's going to be yet. There are several options, but we're going to work with the city to make this happen and we're willing to be flexible in a short period of time," Glosser said.

Glosser said the occupation would probably take on a number of different forms and may take place in a number of places. "It's going to be a 24-7 occupation," he said.