Julie McWilliams never liked the idea of buying a toy that her three young boys would outgrow in a matter of months. An environmentally-conscious mom (@climatephriendlyparent on Instagram), she had long struggled with the tension between providing her kids with enriching play experiences and her desire to reduce waste. That’s why, last December, she decided
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I left my position as Zero Waste and Litter Director with much unfinished business. But the most regrettable was the incomplete transition of the Cabinet’s focus on Zero Waste to a more expansive vision of a circular economy in Philadelphia. Don’t get me wrong, a Zero Waste goal was an important first step. Although Zero
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Looking to dispose of old cell phones that live in a drawer and collect dust? How about piles of outfits that no longer fit? The City of Philadelphia’s new partnership with Retrievr lets you do just that, all while abiding by social-distancing guidelines. Retrievr is a pickup service that allows residents to safely and responsibly
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Our recycling system is broken. It was broken before Covid-19 and China’s recycling ban, and the cracks are now beginning to give way to what I hope will be a complete rethinking of what it means to “recycle” as we know it. If you’ve read my columns on gridphilly.com, this intro may sound familiar because
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By Alex Mulcahy
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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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By Lois VoltaDear Lois: How can we bring the change we want to see in the world into our domestic lives?
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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 Challenge: Those cheap Walmart pots and pans you bought just out of college are reaching the end of their usefulness, but there’s a good chance they’re made out of aluminum or stainless steel, which are both recyclable. You can’t put them in the blue bin at the curb, but, according to the Institute of
MoreUrban farmer and MacArthur Grant recipient Will Allen on the importance of greens, worms and moreby Lee Stabert
Everything about Will Allen is big. The pro basketball player turned urban agriculture iconoclast has hands like baseball mitts, and arms like tree trunks. His normal uniform—jeans, baseball hat, hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves removed—only serves to emphasize
A local company helps Philly businesses jump on the composting bandwagon by Lee StabertThere is one word showing up left and right on the lips of top urban sustainability and food access experts: compost. To hear them speak of it, the stuff is magic—now it’s just a matter of getting the rest of society on
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