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
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In February 2019, a group of nine creative engineers, researchers, artists, and designers who had been working and playing together for years founded the Philadelphia Packaging Company. United around attributing value to objects of all shapes, sizes, and traditional economic worths, the collective began telling the stories of businesses that engage in packaging or selling
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Hard times have been felt throughout the Reading Terminal Market. “The bar does 5 to 10% of what it normally does, and produce is down 50%,” says Jimmy Iovine, co-owner of Iovine Brothers Produce and Molly Malloy’s Pub. Tootsie Iovine, owner of Tootsie’s Hot and Cold Buffet had to shut down her operation entirely. “I
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As Philadelphia enters its second lockdown due to increased cases of COVID-19, local business owners are buckling down for hard times under the expectation that most Philadelphians will remain inside unless on essential trips until Jan. 1. Rebecca Aronow, founder of the event company House Cat, is worried about the impacts of the second shutdown
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With birds singing in the background, three fellows at the Alliance for Watershed Education (AWE) walk through Camden’s Cramer Hill Nature Preserve. They point out a frog in a puddle, examine bones and feathers of a wild turkey, and point out invasive plants, among other conservation challenges. They wrap up with a request for visitors
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The imp of irony plotted an odd course between painter Jane Golden and Philadelphia. If Golden hadn’t gotten a grim diagnosis years ago, the city could have missed out on lots of healing. Since her arrival here decades ago, Golden, 67, executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, has brought wholeness to many neighborhoods with museum-quality
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Hundreds of nurses at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne, PA, participated in a strike on Tuesday, November 17 as negotiations with their employer, Trinity Health Systems, remain at a standstill. Nurses of St. Mary’s and their union, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), have drawn attention to staffing concerns at
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In late October, the Public Health and Human Services Committee of Philadelphia’s City Council sent a bill that would regulate the use of pesticides on public land to the full council for a vote Thurs. Dec. 03. The bill, titled “Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces,” was introduced by Committee Chair Councilwoman Cindy Bass. The bill only targeted
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Well into the eighth month of a mismanaged pandemic that caused Great Depression-level unemployment, lame duck President Trump and members of his party are posturing toward a coup to remain in office. The general tone surrounding the “soft coup” is the same tone America has had towards climate change and the coronavirus, “if we ignore
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Ten adults dressed in layers, hats and face masks gathered on a chilly September morning to go birding in Tacony Creek Park. They kept a couple yards apart from each other while peering through binoculars at local birds such as robins, kingfishers and cardinals along with some recently arrived winter visitors like a red-breasted nuthatch
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When covid-19 hit, Soy Cafe owner Alice Leung was forced to close. It was a stressful time for everyone, especially for small-business owners. However, Leung kept her cool and brainstormed how to support her staff. “We’re still going through it, and it’s such a sad and hard thing to cope with,” says Leung, “But somehow,
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