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End of the Trail?

A nearly $14 million federal grant awarded to the Schuylkill River Development Corporation (SRDC) and Philadelphia Department of Streets is at risk after the Trump administration’s recent executive orders disrupted the flow of federal spending. An SRDC representative told Grid in an email that it is waiting to see whether the administration will pay for

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1 min read
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Environmental nonprofit leader discusses impact of Trump funding interruptions

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt federal spending on January 27, its impacts hit close to home. Despite the decision being rescinded two days later, the fate of funding for environmental work remains murky due to the vague language and unclear legality of the sweeping order. This leaves sustainability-focused groups, including

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6 mins read
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Protect Philly’s Trees: It’s Time to Act

Philadelphia is facing a silent crisis: the rapid loss of its urban tree canopy. Over the past decade, we’ve lost at least 7% of our trees—shade-giving, air-cleaning, life-enhancing sentinels that shape the character of our city. The benefits of trees are indisputable. They cool our neighborhoods, lowering summertime heat indexes by as much as 22

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1 min read
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EV Infrastructure Buildout Uncertain as Federal Funding Falters

Over the past year, Philadelphia has received over $21 million in federal funding to expand its electric vehicle charging network. EV ownership has boomed in the city — the number of registrations increased from 475 in 2018 to 5,870 in 2023, according to PennDOT — but there are too few charging stations to meet demand.

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2 mins read
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New album aims to spur reflection on human interaction with natural world

Darling Damselfly, a Philadelphia-based band, wants their most recent album, “Galapagos,” to get listeners thinking about humankind’s relationship with the planet — in the hopes of saving it. “Being able to have a better understanding and appreciation of the wonder of [the environment] can help us be more connected and want to work harder to

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2 mins read
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Please Touch Museum workers celebrate union contract victory

Let the end-of-the-negotiations parade begin. The Please Touch Museum and its unionized workforce have finalized their first collective bargaining agreement, marking a significant step for the institution’s employees. After 16 months of negotiations, workers with Please Touch Museum United (PTMU) voted on Sunday, November 24, to ratify the contract, solidifying their membership in the American

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1 min read

Clean and Green is Not Quite Clean, but It Could Be

As the 13 weeks of Mayor Parker’s block clean-up plan came to an end and another is set to begin, I was incredibly disappointed with the Mayor’s press conference on the subject last month. She touted the impact of so many thousands of blocks cleaned with no real context as to how many needed to

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6 mins read
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Resources for Environmental Justice Communities

The Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University offers training for students and community leaders, conducts community-based participatory research, provides information for public officials, and serves as a hub for networking and technical assistance and grantmaking for universities and communities. The center was founded by Robert D. Bullard, a sociologist known

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3 mins read