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Philly Tree Plan—A First Pass

On February 23, 2023, Philadelphia’s Department of Parks & Recreation released the Philly Tree Plan. Philadelphia’s trees help clean the air, slow stormwater runoff, soak up carbon dioxide and cool a city suffering from rising temperatures. With these and other benefits of trees in mind, in 2008 Mayor Nutter set a goal of making sure

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1 min read
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How you can help insects

You may be aware that the planet is losing large mammals such as elephants, rhinos, pandas, and whales because of human actions, but insects are also facing devastating declines. While they may be unpleasant or repulsive to many, insects are what the naturalist E. O. Wilson called the “little things that run the world.” In

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2 mins read
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Kathryn Ott Lovell among golf course supporters who donated to Curtis Jones’s campaign

Annual campaign finance reports for 2022 dropped last week, and Curtis Jones’s campaign has again benefited from contributions from people and businesses connected with the Cobbs Creek golf course development. In 2022 Grid reported on donations made to the Friends of Curtis Jones Jr., the campaign fundraising body for Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., from people

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1 min read
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Polo Field Deal Reduces Threat to Oakwell Trees

The Lower Merion School District, Lower Merion Township and Haverford Township have announced a tentative deal for the Black Rock Middle School to use the Polo Field in the Bryn Mawr section of Haverford Township for baseball and softball practice space, according to an announcement last week, likely resulting in less land clearing and construction

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1 min read
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Philly establishes optional climate change curriculum, but lags behind neighboring New Jersey

In his classroom at Lankenau High School, veteran teacher Matthew VanKouwenberg points out to his students the connection between average daily temperatures across Philadelphia and tree canopies, noting that the lack of tree cover can leave some neighborhoods — often poor, often majority-minority — overheated in summer. VanKouwenberg, who teaches chemistry and environmental science at

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8 mins read
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Mummers brigade made the destruction of the FDR park wetlands their key theme

They came dancing, swaying and stomping — humans or ants, waterfowl, purple mushrooms, giant alligators and random salamanders? No matter. They reveled to a rhythmic beat against a backdrop of blue skies and green meadows. But when the vultures with money dripping from inside of their wings swooped in, the earthmovers followed, and the backdrop

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5 mins read
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Protesters frustrated by one-sided FDR Park “community meeting”

A community meeting Thursday night to discuss the future of Philadelphia’s FDR Park turned into a tense and unproductive affair, demonstrating the significant gaps that exist in the City’s efforts to satisfy the disparate groups who use its hundreds of acres to picnic, play and commune with nature. Protesters advocating for civic leaders to save

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3 mins read
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