Dust to Dust

A local project commemorates the loss of a beloved home in Mantua
Illustration by Kathleen White
If you’re like me and you live in Philadelphia, chances are you did not build your own home. So, what you call “your” kitchen or “your” bedroom was actually someone else’s kitchen and bedroom before you moved in. Imagine flipping through

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3 mins read

Hard-Working Mussels

A new effort brings the mysterious mussel back to a Philadelphia waterway
The lack of mussels in the Tacony-Frankford Creek made the stream a desirable target for the reintroduction of the hardy Elliptio complanata species. | Photos by Brian Rademaekers
When you think of mussels in Philadelphia, your first thought might be of ordering moules-frites, Belgium’s signature

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4 mins read

Bug Net

An innovative project studies urban insect biodiversity
Isabelle Betancourt fished bugs out of Swann Fountain three times a week. | Photos by Jen Britton
"Most of the things I catch are drowning or dead,” says Isabelle Betancourt, curatorial assistant of Entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, as we stood next to Swann Fountain

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2 mins read

Drier Ground

Venice Island's underground basin can temporarily store up to four million gallons of stormwater runoff. | Photos courtesy The Philadelphia Water Department
In the works for the better part of a decade, Venice Island opened in early October. The five-acre site is sandwiched between the Lock and Cotton Street bridges in Manayunk, and lies downhill of

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1 min read

Lending a Hand

Library activist engages her community with an award-winning garden
Sheila Washington joined Friends of the Haddington Library after protesting to save it from closure in 2008. | Photo by Jared Gruenwald
On a typical Saturday morning, Sheila Washington can be found in the garden at the Haddington Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, watering flowers and

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2 mins read