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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There are few tasks I will dodge more willingly than cleaning out an empty peanut butter jar. It’s tedious and yucky, and I don’t want to do it. Yet when it’s time (or maybe a day or two later) I grab a butter knife and sponge, and scrub the bottom and the sides of the
MoreThe Free Library adds nature strolls and challenging play terrains to cultivate young learnersby Bernard BrownApproximately 16 parents and children gather on a June morning for a stroll to the shore. That might conjure images of a summer day at the beach, but in this case, the closest thing to the crashing of waves is
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Philadelphia’s understaffed Recycling Department was unprepared for a shifting global market. As a result, Philadelphia now burns 50 percent of its recyclables.by Samantha WittchenWhen America Recycles Day was celebrated on November 15, the Philadelphia Streets Department held a pop-up event, complete with recycling quizzes, games and prizes, in the basement of the Municipal Services Building.
MoreIt was right around this time of year, a little over ten years ago, when I bought what I consider to be my best Christmas present. Earlier in the year, I had fallen in love with the woman who is now my wife, and I was feeling...expansive. When my future mother-in-law mentioned that she had
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When I was as old as my son is now, back in 1986, the warnings of climate change first hit the news. In the following years, climate science became conclusive. We know the impacts will be severe and widespread. Yet, even for me—an environmentalist to the core—our climate crisis did not feel truly personal
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While we don’t subscribe to mainstream notions of “retail therapy,” we do have some holiday advice: give freely. The gifts of your time, your energy and your funds to causes you believe in all count. To give is, unmistakably, to open yourself up, to allow for an exchange with others, and to take a chance
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In 1970, the City of Philadelphia closed off the East Park Reservoir at the edge of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. A gate blocked the ramp up from Fairmount Park. “I grew up in Strawberry Mansion, and the reservoir was used by the community as a recreational space,” explains Tonnetta Graham, president of the Strawberry Mansion Community
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On two legs, museums make sense. You’re able to see and be seen over the ticket counter or visitor information desk. Informational panels next to objects are relatively close to eye level. It’s easy to spot signage pointing you upstairs to another collection—and easy to get up those stairs once you do.For a wheelchair user,
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Want to go mountain biking? You could travel a few hours to the Poconos or Catskills. You could go to the Delaware Water Gap, maybe, and do some adventure touring. Or, you could stick around Philadelphia, because we have some of the most sought-after mountain-biking trails in the region. Yes, here in Philadelphia proper.
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Russell Craig stands in his Fairmount art studio, a few floors up in a brownstone church. It’s a little messy—there are buckets of paint stacked against the walls and acrylic paint tubes scattered between plastic tubs and paintbrushes on the floor—but he isn’t embarrassed by the chaos.“This is the process,” he says.Craig is a self-taught
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