Sustainable Soul

An under-the-radar Mt. Airy restaurant keeps it green—and tasty  by Lori L. TharpsWhen it comes to Geechee Girl Rice Café—a low key Mt. Airy favorite on Germantown Avenue—a lot of people can’t get past the name. “What’s a Geechee?” is a question executive chef/owner Valerie Erwin hears often.

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2 mins read

Terrapin Station

The Wetlands Institute releases baby turtles, cuteness ensuesby Bernard Brown
Take my word for it: Nothing is cuter than kindergartners with baby turtles. On June 15, a fellow herper (i.e. reptile and amphibian enthusiast) and I drove to Stone Harbor, NJ, to watch the Wetlands Institute release baby diamondback terrapins.

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1 min read

Heatmiser

Nick Pine pushes solar power that goes beyond panelsby Lee Stabert
"Solar power” conjures images of high-tech, high-priced panels and carefully constructed rigs, but, as Nick Pine explains, the concept is actually much simpler—harnessing the sun’s heat can be cheap and easy, and an excellent replacement for fossil fuels.

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2 mins read

Shoots & Ladders: Going to Seed

My garden usually begins in December, when the first batch of seductive seed catalogs slip through the mail slot. I hide them in a special stack far from my husband’s rolling eyes. Once five or six varieties of direct-mailed garden goodness have been collected, I tear through them in one delightful binge.

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1 min read

The Good Seed

Dr. Vandana Shiva changed my life. You could be next.by Meenal Raval
I first heard of Dr. Vandana Shiva about nine years ago. At the time, I was burnt out from overwork, apathetic about the state of the world and just drifting through life. I received a postcard inviting me to a weekend-long technology and globalization

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2 mins read

Cookie Monster

Mike Landers churns out tasty vegan sweetsby Dana Henry
Mike Landers, founder of North Port Fishington Cookie Factory, is part of a generation of vegan bakers rewriting your grandma’s recipes. Those who’ve tasted the chewy oatmeal-cashew-cranberry cookie, the gooey chocolate peanut butter-frosted brownie or the ever-fluffy cinnamon roll have been known to exclaim, “I can’t believe

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2 mins read

Bubbling Up

A local cleaning company is as green as its mascot  by Lee Stabert
After only a few minutes of conversation with Dos Funny Frogs’ Alex Suarez, it becomes clear that he has the mind of a scientist—discern a problem, research, test, solve. That enthusiasm for discovering a better (and greener) way to do things propels his

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2 mins read

A Dream Deferred

Unfortunately, the dream has come to an end. The West Philly Hybrid X Team (profiled in July’s Grid) has been eliminated from the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize Competition. Both the team’s cars failed to reach the mileage standards in the “knock out” round of tests.

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1 min read