The City of Philadelphia is not serious about climate change. Yet many people who work for the city are incredibly serious about it. They are dedicated, talented and passionate civil servants. Leadership, on the other hand, is lacking. The result is a mishmash of positive programs trying to methodically tackle the challenges we face colliding
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The heartache was still fresh when Fred H. Cartwright emailed us. “Our little slice of heaven is going away, tree by tree.” If you wanted to teach a class about environmental racism, and learn about the importance of trees simultaneously, the deforestation of 100-plus acres of city-owned land for a golf course in Cobbs Creek
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The History 2008 was an exciting time to launch a sustainability magazine. From out of nowhere (or so it seemed), a community of bold thinkers and innovators coalesced around issues like local food, stormwater management, renewable energy, green building and recycling. Christine Knapp, who was working for the environmental advocacy group PennFuture, was central to
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“Why should anyone consider farming as a livelihood these days?” Brennan Washington, the owner of Phoenix Gardens in Lawrenceville, Georgia, paused at the question, posed by Hannah Smith-Brubaker, the executive director of PASA, at the 2022 Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Lancaster in February. Then he laughed a little, and the audience, largely composed of farmers,
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There’s nothing like a great bookstore. At their best, they can provide both a mirror to who we are and expand the possibilities of who we can be. They are the hubs of the dreamers and visionaries. I share in the disappointment of many Philadelphians that Joseph Fox Bookshop will be closing after 71 years
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I’m wearing spandex right now. No, I’m not at my computer in an Olympic leotard or even Lululemon athleisure. I’m wearing Levi’s jeans, and though they are almost all cotton, they have about 3% spandex, a kind of plastic, woven into them. The unfortunate fact that they have plastic in them prevents them from being
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About 10 years ago, I had a crazy idea—one I didn’t quite have the guts to do myself. It was to host a live event structured as a talk show where I would interview people who had appeared in Grid. My feeling was that, no matter how much I love print, there was nothing quite
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Full disclosure: I am a business partner in Bennett Compost and have been for over 10 years. Like the guy who claimed he liked his electric shaver so much that he bought the company, so too was I drawn to this business from the get-go. It was just an irresistible idea. Tim Bennett, ever smiling
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I’m dying for a cup of coffee today. Not just a regular black cup, the kind I used to drink daily for decades. No, I want one of those towering concoctions with billowing clouds of milk and mountains of sugar that are topped off with swirls of whipped cream. A milkshake disguised as coffee. I’ve
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Earlier today a friend sent me an article from The New York Times entitled “The Cotton Tote Crisis.” It asks, “How did an environmental solution become part of the problem?” Now, I can’t tell you exactly what the story says. My Times account has lapsed and I’m experimenting with liberating myself from the never-ending news
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