It can be easy to get discouraged these days. Everywhere we look, there are signs of a struggling planet and, often, it’s difficult to see a clear path to an effectual response. 2022 may well eclipse recent years as the hottest on record. Rainfall has alternated between being absent or violent in Pennsylvania, one of
MoreHelp save the Appalachian Mountains! The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office in Philadelphia is currently reviewing 23 mountaintop removal mining permits. This Monday, March 1, The Energy Justice Network is sponsoring a protest to speak out against mountaintop removal and to get the attention of the EPA administrators making these permit decisions. March 1, 11:00
MoreFor the past ten years, the West Philly Hybrid X Team of West Philadelphia High School’s Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering has been building alternative fuel vehicles and competing in national competitions. Their latest mission: to win the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. On Thursday, March 4, David Akers and Quintin Mikell
MoreThe New York Times has a story up on their website about a new phenomenon sprouting up in North Carolina: Crop Mobs. Like flash mobs, but with an actual purpose, these coordinated gatherings of manpower help small sustainable farms rip through labor intensive projects in a jiff. They also give the landless an opportunity to
MoreThe Marcellus Shale formation is a 7,500 feet-deep mass covering 50 percent of Pennsylvania and the neighboring states of West Virginia, Maryland, and New York. With the use of newly developed methods of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, scientists estimate that nearly 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be extracted from the formation. Such a
MoreGrowing Power’s Will Allen, keynote speakerOne of the many unintended consequences of Snowmageddon 2010 was the cancellation of the hotly anticipated (at least in the Grid offices) Pennsylvania Horticulture Society Compost Matters Conference. The one-day conference will examine the current state of composting in the Delaware Valley with a focus on new developments in food-waste composting
MoreCan the Jewish Deli survive the sustainable food movement? It's an interesting question, and one addressed by a recent story on haaretz.com. In early February, the Jewish community center in Berkeley hosted a panel discussion on the fate of delis in a world where local, seasonal eating has started to really matter to people. Michael Pollan
MoreAccording to the New York Times, Philadelphia-based architecture firm Kieran Timberlake has defeated the competition to land the contract for the new U.S. Embassy in London. The building is being described as "the greenest and one of the most expensive U.S. diplomatic buildings in the world."
A light-filled cube, the 12-story building will be surrounded by
Birchrun Hills Farm's Birchrun BlueOn Sunday, after a lovely long bike ride along the Schuylkill, I checked out the brand new Garces Trading Company at 11th and Locust.
It's a beautiful, clean space and our table was immediately greeted with a basket of warm sourdough bread, baked in-house. The bread was perfect for dipping in a
Last night I was at the Fair Food Farmstand after work, picking up some groceries: a couple yukon gold potatoes for a roasted sausage dish I planned on making with my Meadow Run merguez, some yogurt, a couple apples, a tiny block of Birchrun Hills Highland Alpine (a cheese I am intensely devoted to) and
MoreBiking, bowling and beer: These are a few of my favorite things! On March 6, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia hosts their third annual Red Bowl event. The cost of a ticket includes FREE bowling, raffle prizes and Globe Sprints. (Yes, Globe Sprints.) There will also be a cash bar and food for sale.
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