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Opportunities exist for Philadelphia to lead the nation in recycling again. Private companies and advocates tell us what needs to change

It has been five years since the pandemic disrupted Philadelphia’s recycling program, leading to service delays that stretched on for weeks and consigning the contents of so many blue bins into trash trucks headed for the landfill. “That was the first huge blow for an already beleaguered system,” says Nic Esposito, former director of the

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9 mins read
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New EPA program set to help under-resourced organizations build climate-resilient communities

For years, the residents of Edmonston, Maryland, had needed help. Situated just outside Washington, D.C., the town of about 1,500 people, primarily Hispanic and Black, had flooded for four years in a row in the late 2000s. The issue wasn’t overflow from the Anacostia River that bisects the municipality, but rather its outdated and ineffective

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5 mins read
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Home buyout programs adapt to worsening flood risks

When Tropical Storm Isaias hit the East Coast in early August 2020, the waters of Perkiomen Creek surged higher than 19 feet, a record for the waterway and eight feet beyond its flood stage. Homes situated along the creek on First Avenue in Collegeville, Montgomery County, bore the brunt of the flooding. But the Federal

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7 mins read
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The Philadelphia Orchard Project is cultivating fruit that could thrive in a hotter city

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture released an updated map of hardiness zones last November, gardeners and farmers in the Philadelphia region — and across much of the United States — found affirmation of the warmer weather they’ve been experiencing since the map’s last refresh in 2012. In just over 10 years, nearly half the

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4 mins read
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Therapeutic psychedelics hold the promise of individual and communal healing

Earlier this fall, the future of psychedelics in Philadelphia looked promising. Colette Condorcita Schmitt, the founder of Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia, which advocates for expanded access to psychedelic plants and fungi, had been in conversation with the staff of City Councilmember Jim Harrity about a proposal that would decriminalize the use and possession of psychedelics in

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6 mins read
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