The Smog of War by Heather Shayne Blakeslee In Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 2013, a giant digital television was broadcasting pictures of a blue sky and white clouds: The toxic smog over the city prevented people from seeing the actual sky. For years, some weather forecasters said the opaque skies were caused by “fog,” without
MorePeople Like Me by Miyah Davis If I hadn’t walked onto a tennis court five years ago when I was 10 years old, Lord only knows what I’d be doing. Who knows who I would be. I am 15 now. I have a lot of childhood friends who are doing great—and I have a lot
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Illustration by Narrator Choking on the Past by Patrick Ammerman The city of Philadelphia is at a crossroads: We must choose between our past and our future. We are still struggling to fill the most basic needs of our residents: From grossly defunded public schools to the 25 percent unemployment rate among young adults of color,
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Illustration by Laura Weiszer First, Do No Harm by Jerry Silberman Question: How can our health care system develop the technology to cure illness? The Right Question: How can we build a system that maintains health for people and planet? When we think about making changes to limit the poisoning of our environment and the
MoreParsnips and Carrots by Peggy Paul Casella These earthy-sweet cousins have a lot in common: They both belong to the Umbelliferae (or Apiaceae) family of plants—along with parsley, fennel, celery, cumin, coriander and dill—which are characterized by feathery leaves and umbrella-shaped clusters of flowers. They both grow wild in Europe and West Asia, and they
MoreMayor Kenney Appoints Christine Knapp New Leader of Mayor’s Office of Sustainability Christine Knapp will head the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability during the Jim F. Kenney mayoral administration. Knapp has been a leader in Philadelphia’s sustainability community for over a decade; she led PennFuture’s Next Great City Campaign, headed Philadelphia’s Urban Sustainability Forum, and most
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Illustration by Kathleen White 1. Order your seed catalogs January may seem like a lull in your gardening endeavors, but there’s no better time to start dreaming about spring. Order your catalog now, and when February rolls around, you’ll be ready to start your planning in earnest. 2. Go wassail a tree Caroling to orchard
MoreIllustration by Kathleen White Blowing in the Wind by Jerry Silberman Question: Is large-scale renewable electricity production sustainable? The Right Question: Is renewable energy the future for human society? The recognition that burning fossil fuels may burn us out of the planet’s ecosystem has made the abandonment of fossil fuel resources the right choice, regardless
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New Bakers, Bakeries and Cafés about Town by Emily Kovach For many of us, the workday begins with coffee and a bagel at the corner café and ends with a baguette from the local bakery. It’s a simple and satisfying pleasure to bite into a still-warm, aromatic sourdough, or see that our favorite kind of
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Illustration by James Olstein Running in Circle interview by Heather Shayne Blakeslee For the last few decades, scholar and author Juliet Schor has been studying Americans: the way that we work, play and spend. She’s made her life’s work of understanding the economic and cultural forces that mold us—as well as what makes us happy,
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