Regeneration Nation interview by Heather Shayne Blakeslee Long before the triple bottom line, which takes people, planet and profit into a business’s accounting ledger, and biomimicry, which looks to nature to solve challenging design problems, there was permaculture. The word, first coined in 1978, was used to describe methods of farming that would feed the
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by Samantha Wittchen It’s a sunny afternoon in early June, and Wynn Geary’s beehives are abuzz with activity. In his Manayunk backyard, Geary checks on a hive full of bees that he and his father recently collected from a swarm in North Philly.
MoreAwbury Arboretum’s unlikely stewards let nature—and discovery—run wild
Awbury staff from left to right: Denis Lucey, Karen Flick, Heather Zimmerman and Chris van de Velde.Philadelphians are familiar with the sounds of city life: the laughter of kids walking home from school, bus engines and car horns on the busy streets, music flowing from rowhome windows.
MoreCompostable materials constitute approximately 23 percent of Philadelphia's waste composition. In the absence of a citywide food waste recycling program, all food waste is sent to the landfill. RecycleNOW Philadelphia says this is a missed opportunity because composting would help the city fulfill RecycleNOW’s zero waste vision and it could spur local, sustainable development. It’s a
MoreAn aerial view of the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pa. | Image via growingagreenerworld.com | Story by Liz Pacheco
Josh Brown, a 28-year-old Marine, recently found himself unemployed—a situation that’s all-too-common for America’s veterans. Before being laid off from his job as an equipment delivery driver, Brown had thought about
Story by Liz Pacheco IT'S 1 P.M. ON A FRIDAY at W. L. Sayre High School in West Philadelphia. Elizabeth Curry’s science classes have finished for the day, but some students remain in her classroom talking about their new aquaponics systems. ¶ “I thought the class was gonna stink. I
Morestory by Liz Pacheco | photos by Neal Santos
Chef Jose Garces is in his outdoor kitchen making salmorejo—a cold Spanish soup similar to gazpacho. He adds bright yellow tomatoes to the food processor along with garlic, vinegar and baguette pieces. “A few years ago,” he says, “I would’ve made this with tomatoes from
On Oct. 18 at 6 p.m., the Academy of Natural Sciences will host the panel: Is Sustainable Agriculture Bad for the Planet?Does buying local food make a difference or just make you smug? Is organic overkill? Could factory farms be better for the planet than happy hogs, cows and chickens? On October 18 at 6
MoreStory and Photos by Char Vandermeer
Summer’s tapped. It’s over. Done. With any luck, crisp, cool autumn nights are working wonders on the radishes, kale, Swiss chard and brassicas that have taken over your garden. (If you haven’t planted your greens and radishes yet, put this magazine down and run to the
story by Char VandermeerNow that cooler nights and shorter days have taken over, it’s time to bust out the greens and radishes again.
And they’re easy—really! I know gardeners always say growing vegetables is “easy,” but often they’re stretching the truth, and sometimes they’re flat-out lying. Not so with loose-leaf lettuce, Swiss chard and kale. So