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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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed limits on six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. If enacted, these limits would require public drinking water utilities to reduce the levels of these chemicals, which have been linked to cancers and other illnesses. The EPA published voluntary limits for some PFAS in June
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You hear birds talking (or at least singing) all the time. Maybe sometimes you have something to say back to a bird, perhaps some select words early in the morning when a house sparrow won’t stop chirping outside your window. For a true dialog, though, visit the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University through
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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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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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Lots of nasty stuff comes out of motor vehicle tailpipes. The policy discussion around shifting away from internal combustion engines and towards electric vehicles tends to focus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but pollution like nitrogen dioxide can make people sick by worsening asthma and other respiratory diseases. A new study has now connected the
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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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On Thursday Philadelphia City Council unanimously voted to pass a bill to exempt the Cobbs Creek golf course from zoning rules protecting steep slopes from logging. Those steep slope protections exist to prevent erosion and flooding caused when trees, whose roots hold soil in place, are cut down. The bill creates a special “overlay district”
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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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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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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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