In the year since Borski Park officially opened along the Delaware riverfront in Bridesburg, it has been home to an exciting slate of events, including a five-day beer pop-up hosted by Parks on Tap, a weekly “silver sneakers” exercise class designed for older adults, and a patriotic bicycle decorating contest celebrating July 4. But for
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We often think of nature as something untouched: a world apart from our city blocks and neighborhoods, where we go to escape the pace of daily life, take a walk, appreciate wildlife or simply find a moment of quiet. But the landscapes we cherish are rarely separate from us. In reality, behind every thriving park,
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Iresha Picot wasn’t sure how many women would show up. It was the fifth day in a brutal stretch of summer heat, with Fourth of July fireworks having wrapped up just hours earlier. But by 10 a.m., 26 women had gathered at the Indego station at 33rd and Diamond streets for what has become their
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Flanked by cardboard signs reading “Free 5-Minute Tuneups” and “We Come to Your Bike!” Lauren “Mittens” Mitten lifted another bike — one of about 25 that day — onto a stand under the bright sun and got to work. Mitten, owner of The Mittens Pop Up Bike Shop, spent the afternoon of May 16 outside
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On a balmy Friday afternoon in late February, the teens who work at Fab Fits, Fab Youth Philly’s new youth-run thrift store, are waiting for their first customers of the day. A chirp through a walkie-talkie alerts staff member Brianna Valente, 18, to head downstairs to the building’s ground floor. She greets a pair of
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The overgrown lot at 5308 Parrish St. in the Haddington neighborhood of West Philadelphia is getting back to its roots. After sitting abandoned, accumulating trash, construction debris and dumped car parts for over a decade, a new project is in progress to restore the space to a new iteration of its past life as a
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Opening with subterranean footage of the foam cups, plastic bottles and sodden cardboard that decorate the sewer inlets underneath Philadelphia, filmmaker Melissa Langer’s 2025 documentary, “In Excess,” probes into the unseen places where the city’s litter ends up. Spoiler alert: When it comes to the city’s trash, there is no throwing it “away.” “Every object
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Cristina De Jong, a master’s student studying textile engineering at Thomas Jefferson University, is a fervent reader of clothing labels, carefully assessing fiber content before purchasing new garments. “I’ve sort of given myself a reputation among my friends and family,” says De Jong. “I will be your sustainable clothes consultant. Like, tell me if you’re
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When people walk into SHIFT Sustainable Goods + Services, after the aroma of eucalyptus welcomes them in, they might find themselves looking at the chalkboard and wall of glass jars, feeling like they’ve stepped into a general store from a previous century. But at SHIFT, rather than creating nostalgia, reducing waste and protecting the earth
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In 2008, Philadelphia had 205 miles of bicycle lanes. By 2021, that had expanded to nearly 300 miles of bike lanes across the city. But most of those, even today, are nothing more than a stripe of paint — and as John Boyle, research director for the Bicycle Coalition points out, “paint isn’t protection.” With
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