When Tandi Book started making soap as a hobby about eight years ago, she was using common vegetable ingredients, like coconut and olive oils. But after meeting her husband, who worked on an organic farm that raised beef, she began experimenting with tallow, or beef oil.
Morestory by Liz Pacheco | photos by Emily WrenThere are 128 acres of undeveloped land bordering the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Philadelphia. Should the land remain green space, or be developed to accommodate apartment buildings and expansion for the airport?
The view from Terrence Johnson’s
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Photo via saveourgardens.org If you’re a honey bee enthusiast, we have some bad news. Backyard beekeeping in Plymouth Township is under serious threat. The Plymouth Township Council recently proposed a bill to ban backyard beekpeeing on lots of 30,000 square feet or more. This ban would restrict beekeeping on 92 percent of residential properties in
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story byLiz Pacheco | photo by Albert LeeLast March, Roger Lewis was laid off from his job at Hostess Brands. An electrician by trade, Lewis had worked in food industry manufacturing facilities for the past eight years. His recent job was as an industrial mechanic. “That’s basically making sure the building is running properly,
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story by Shaun Brady | photo by Albert LeeUndoubtedly, the biggest barrier to improving home energy efficiency is cost, but a secondary hindrance is a lack of knowledge. The EnergyWorks Select Partnership Program is working to address both these obstacles by allowing community, civic and faith-based groups to pool together and benefit from
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Vernick Food & Drink | 2031 Walnut St. | vernickphilly.com A newcomer to the Rittenhouse neighborhood, Vernick Food & Drink is the latest in restaurants serving local ingredients. Chef Gregory Vernick—a Cherry Hill, NJ native—is sourcing from the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative as well as the Rittenhouse Farmers Market. Don’t miss the homemade sodas and unique cocktails.
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story by Liz PachecoPhiladelphia has been a national leader in higher education since Ben Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1740. Our local institutions of higher learning are adding to this proud legacy by blazing trails in graduate-level sustainability education. Compared to traditional programs, these degrees are typically more interdisciplinary. Students are not
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Photo via visitphilly.comThe Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is on the move! With 400 miles of bike paths and lanes, a 150 percent increase in bicycle commuting, and new safe traffic patterns, biking in Philadelphia is quickly becoming the norm. To encourage its current and future projects, and to get more people out on bikes,
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story by Liz PachecoThirty-seven floors above Philadelphia, Zone 7 founder Mikey Azzara is talking local food. He’s at R2L restaurant in Liberty Towers, overseeing the delivery of potatoes, greens and herbs to Chef Daniel Stern. Azzara and Stern spend a few minutes chatting, mostly about the difficulty Stern once had in sourcing locally. Some farms
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Image via shelfconsumed.com.While the challenging economic times don’t seem to improving, The Merchants Fund (TMF) is offering local Philadelphia businesses another chance to stay in the black. TMF, a private fund that evolved out of the Mercantile Beneficial Association, is set to award another round of grants to keep local Philly businesses stable and viable.
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