Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia executive director Devi Ramkissoon witnessed the importance of local food systems firsthand in her former job with USAID in Bangladesh. While many Bangladeshi farmers are women, they are not usually the land or business owners, which had significant social, economic and environmental impacts that Ramkissoon worked to address. “Without
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I have long been a reader and admirer of Grid Magazine, and I consider Alex Mulcahy a good friend. But I write today compelled to respond to an editorial calling for Parks Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell’s dismissal—to say that I unequivocally disagree with this sentiment and think that it is unfair to the Commissioner’s body
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By Bernard Brown This story was updated after publication with a quote from the Mayor’s Office. It looks like the already sweet deal that the Cobbs Creek Foundation made with the city could be getting even sweeter. On March 30 Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney released his capital budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, which, on page
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1. ALLschoolers Recycling and Making Paper by Wissahickon Environmental Center (Tree House) When: Tuesaday, April 19th @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Where: Wissahickon Environmental Center, 300 West Northwestern Ave. In preparation of Earth Day celebrations, learn about recycling and how to turn your waste paper into art. Ages 6 & up of all abilities
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Before #vanlife became a hashtag, or “Nomadland” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Kirsty Halliday faced niggling doubts about her path forward. Sitting in her windowless office at the (since shuttered) construction firm Greensaw Design & Build, she wondered, “What am I doing?” At night, in her LEED Platinum apartment in Fishtown, the Scottish
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There are times that I struggle being a feminist in the work that I do. It doesn’t always feel like I am making a difference and men don’t actually want to learn how to clean, cook and give women domestic equality. Many times I feel like a misandrist toward men who aren’t fourth-wave feminists, a
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The Schuylkill river, swollen with runoff from Hurricane Ida, was rising fast. Karen Young, the executive director of the Fairmount Water Works, knew it was only a matter of time until the river’s chocolate-brown water flooded the Interpretive Center, the water-focused museum next to the Fairmount Dam. “I was in the center the day the
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In 2020, Pennsylvania became the first state in the nation to include a farm bill in its state budget. The bill invested in, among other priorities, urban agriculture, farmland conservation, workforce development and new market opportunities, including an unanticipated investment in organic agriculture. Given Pennsylvania vies regularly with Washington state for second in organic farming
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We at Soil Generation have been organizing for land justice for growers of color in Philadelphia since 2014. Community control of land is the foundation of our collective struggle toward liberation. Whether the issue is food, education or housing, community control of resources requires community control of the land. As rapid development displaces community gardens
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The heartache was still fresh when Fred H. Cartwright emailed us. “Our little slice of heaven is going away, tree by tree.” If you wanted to teach a class about environmental racism, and learn about the importance of trees simultaneously, the deforestation of 100-plus acres of city-owned land for a golf course in Cobbs Creek
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Successful businesses always start by filling a need or relieving a “pain point” for a target market. In Grid’s launch year 2008, when sustainability and “going green” were working their way into the common lexicon and Michael Nutter was elected Philadelphia’s mayor on a sustainability platform, the pain point was really located in the consumer’s
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