Last summer marked the first ever Ride of Dreams, a 240-mile bike ride from West Philadelphia to the state capital in Harrisburg and back to raise funds for Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), the Philly-based nonprofit that teaches urban youth the benefits and joy of cycling. This year, NBW will ride from Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania Avenue;
MoreWhen you walk the walk like John Francis, you don’t necessarily need to talk the talk. Planetwalker: 17 Years of Silence, 22 Years of Walking is the true story of a native Philadelphian who, after witnessing a devastating 1971 California oil spill, chose to abstain from all motorized transportation. Instead, Francis walked. When his walking
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At the intersection of 11th and York streets sits a new farm run by North Philadelphia high school students and Temple University undergrads. The group has dubbed itself the Philadelphia Urban Creators (PUC), and is utilizing urban agriculture as a gateway to youth empowerment and community revitalization.
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Has your inner digger started demanding more than just a container, backyard or rooftop garden yet? Whether you have hours, months or a year to spare, opportunities abound to discover if the reality of working the land works for you.
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The brainchild of Drexel grads Aksel Gungor and Andy Guy, Ridaroo is an online application that solves one simple problem: carpool coordination. After spotting an on-campus “ride board” where students and faculty would tack Post-it notes offering and requesting transportation, Gungor had the idea to streamline the process—eliminating the time needed for the board’s one-woman
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The farming collaboration between Marathon Grill and Emerald Street Urban Farm’s Patrick Dunn [Dec. 2010 Grid, Agriculture p.18] has come to fruition in Brewerytown. In March, Marathon Farm hosted five workdays that attracted more than 60 volunteers, who transformed a vacant lot into a promising agricultural haven. On March 21, Mayor Michael Nutter himself hosted
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Tucked between routes 1 and 13, Morrisville’s 25-acre Snipes Farm & Education Center is rich in history. The land has been in the Snipes family since 1848, when it got its horticultural start as a nursery; trees grown here were uprooted and taken by horse-drawn cart to Chestnut Hill, the Main Line and Fairmount Park.
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The Polselli lot at 53rd and Wyalusing in the Haddington section of West Philadelphia was a dangerous eyesore. Equipment from the owner’s contracting business, stripped cars and barrels of gasoline sat nestled in the overgrown weeds.
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Re:Vision Architecture, the local sustainable design firm responsible for the Fair Food Farmstand and the PECO building’s green roof, recently opened a second location in Berkeley, CA. The move represents an opportunity to share sustainable design ideas between the East and West coasts.
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This January, PhillyCarShare and the American Cancer Society will launch PhillyPatientRide, a program dedicated to providing cancer patients with free transportation to treatments.
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