Jennifer Skirkanich updated her kitchen exhaust fan after an air quality monitor reminded her just how dangerous cooking can be. “You don’t ever think about it, but seeing the light turn red is like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s harmful,’” says Skirkanich, a biologist and West Philadelphia resident who teaches at Bryn Mawr College. Skirkanich’s air quality
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The Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Air Management Services, the division responsible for monitoring air quality in the city, is holding a hearing on Wednesday, August 10 at 6 p.m. for public input into proposed revisions to its regulations. The regulations, which haven’t been updated since 1981, would expand the list of toxic chemicals monitored
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I’m one of the last to arrive, which means the full spectacle of the protest hits me at once as I come around the bend. A crowd of 150 people holding banners and signs surrounds a massive inflatable of CEO Tim Buckley on the lawn in front of the Malvern headquarters of Vanguard. The likeness
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Air is something we share. But clean air, it turns out, is not equally available to all. Using technology with an almost cartoonish name, the PurpleAir monitor, Christina Rosan thinks making disparities in air quality “in your face” will lead to more equitable, citizen-informed public policies. Advocating for clean air everywhere, she believes, could promote
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The challenges of climate change can seem overwhelming, but the city can take clear steps to protect the most vulnerable renters and homeowners while enforcing existing development standards. To do this, we need to look inside and outside of the home. When construction or demolition is taking place, dangerous substances like asbestos and lead can
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Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living is holding an Environmental Justice Day caravan and march on Saturday April 23 at 1 PM to protest the Covanta trash incinerator, the Delaware County city’s largest polluter. The group will convene at Chester City Hall parking lot, 1 E 4th St, Chester, PA 19013. Chester has a population
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Four new warehouses are setting up camp in Philadelphia, and clean air activists are concerned about the pollution of their vehicles. The four new sites include an Amazon facility in Southwest, a redevelopment of the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philly, a UPS site in the Northeast and a redevelopment of the Philadelphia
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In November 2019 the City of Philadelphia approved SEPTA’s request to operate a natural gas–burning power plant in the Nicetown neighborhood of North Philadelphia. This approval marked a defeat for the neighbors opposing the plant, who are now preparing for the next phase in the struggle: taking oversight of the new plant’s emissions into their
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“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” –F. Scott FitzgeraldI believe in the eureka moment: the experience of discovering something about the world or yourself that changes everything. This magazine has sought out those stories
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