story by Bernard Brown photo by Craig StottlemyerAbout a year ago, I was sent a video of a red-tailed hawk plucking a dead pigeon on the roof of a car, right across the street from the Burger King at Eighth and Market. A crowd of cell-phone photographers surrounded the truck until the spooked raptor moved
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story by Dana Henry photo by Albert YeeThe campus of Pendle Hill,a Quaker retreat center near Swarthmore, Pa., has a storybook-like serenity. Colonial-style stone walls are tucked into the lush green grounds and bordered with dense, wild foliage that blocks the roadway, leaving only the soft voices of Friends (Quakers) and the chatter of birds.
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Image via atomicrobotics.comA competition may raise thoughts of touchdowns, squeaky courts and a pitcher’s mound, but for the Atomic Robotics, it’s all about engineering. The community 4-H club was started in 2011 as an opportunity to introduce Philadelphia students to career opportunities in science, math, engineering and technology. The club works with teachers, mentors
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FACT
Each year, the average American discards eight batteries, and about 600 million fluorescent light bulbs make their way to landfills.
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Last year, Valley Shepherd Creamery in New Jersey appeared on my radar and quickly became a favorite source for rustic, raw-milk cheese. This Pecorino-style wedge made from the milk of pasture-raised sheep is a good choice for February, when your disposition needs sweetening and your palate craves dense, nutty cheeses. Tuck a wedge of Oldwick
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University of California Press, 128 pp., $21.95 written by Kirstin Dow and Thomas E. Downing reviewed by Katherine SilkaitiThe Atlas of Climate Change is a deftly illustrated and informative reference book about the state of the global climate today.
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Avery, 358 pp., $26 written by Capt. Charles Moore with Cassandra Phillips reviewed by Katherine SilkaitisWhen Capt. Charles Moore set sail from Honolulu in 1997, he and his crew stumbled upon a floating phenomenon. Estimated at two million square miles, the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is home to nearly three million tons of plastic debris.
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Farrar. Straus and Giroux, 339 pp., $29.95 written by Joshua David and Robert Hammond l reviewed by Katherine Silkaitis
When New York City’s High Line opened in June 2009, it was the culmination of a decade’s worth of work spearheaded by two unlikely West Side residents. Joshua David, a travel journalist, and Robert Hammond, an
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Imagine an entire weekend dedicated to teaching sustainable skills of all kinds—backyard chicken raising, beekeeping, composting, gardening, healthy cooking and home energy efficiency. The Home Grown Institute, whose inaugural conference is this March, has planned to do just this. The conference is tailored to provide attendees with the skill sets and motivation to transform their
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written by Dana HenryThis past April, Kevin Musselman, coordinator for the Kensington Area Neighborhood Advisory Committee (KANAC), approached neighbors at Frankford and Cambria Streets in West Kensington. “We’re going to start a farm in that lot over there,” he told them. The lot he was referring to, like many derelict parcels inthe area, was frequently
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