File this under “Awesome.” The California State Assembly has voted to ban plastic bags at grocery stores: The hottest debate Wednesday was in the state Assembly, which voted 41 to 27 to pass a bill that would ban single-use plastic grocery bags — the first of its kind in the nation, according to lawmakers and

One week from today (June 10) is the deadline for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society City Gardens Contest. Categories include: Flower Garden, Vegetable Garden, Combination Garden, Container Garden, Children’s Garden, Park, Garden Block, Greenest Block in Town and Urban Farm. Volunteer judges are chosen based on competence and accomplishments in gardening. Gardens are judged on maintenance and

On Monday, Green Philly Blog posted this informational video about Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). Check it out:

Yesterday, Adam Erace (of Philadelphia Weekly and Green Aisle Grocery fame) posted this pic on Twitter. Apparently Ultimo Coffee is giving away compostable coffee grounds

The Atlantic has a great story up today, written by livestock rancher and environmental attorney Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (2009).
A vegetarian herself, Niman recently took part in a panel discussion with Howard Lyman, a former cattle-feedlot operator turned vegan and author of Mad Cowboy. Her account of the debate

One of the greatest things about Philadelphia is its abundance of public art— manifesting itself in a number of ways, the most obvious being community-painted murals and outdoor sculptures. In fact, our city has more outdoor sculptures than any other American city (as for the murals, they seem so infinite, there may not even be

I feel more ready for this week than most weeks—maybe it's because I am full of high post-Memorial Day spirits. Yesterday my friends and I went to a watering hole in Northern Maryland and spent the entire day on a rock in the sun. Vitamin D feels good.
Also good: Vegetarian versions of old summertime salad

Way back in March, I blogged about a plan to turn Detroit into an urban ag mecca. Now The Atlantic has an interview with John Hantz, the man behind this ambitious plan: You’ve proposed taking a several hundred-acre swath of blighted homes and abandoned lots and turning it into a proving ground for large-scale urban

Beginning this Saturday, bikecabs (also known as pedicabs) will be wheeling across Philly. The Philadelphia Bikecab Allliance and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown held a ribbon cutting ceremony launching bikecab service yesterday. Sorry drivers, you’re going to have to yield to this breed of bikers. So far, there are two bikecab operators — Velo-Park and Chariots of

This month’s guest for “Meet Your Local Cheesemaker” at the Fair Food Farmstand will be Debbie and Fred Mikulak of Amazing Acres, an artisan goat cheese dairy you might recognize from June’s Food Issue. Tenaya, take it away: Mikulak likes the mild taste of the milk produced by her Nubians; she selected the breed, in part,