The Philadelphia Water Department has partnered with Fairmount Park, PennFuture, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and local civic organizations on a new green initiative that manages stormwater while beautifying our city.
It’s all about runoff. When precipitation from rain or snowmelt flows over the ground, impervious surfaces like streets and sidewalks keep the water from naturally soaking in, creating stormwater runoff. This can be problematic on several levels. Runoff erodes rivers and streams, and causes flooding.
Green Eggs Café is the latest business to open in the rapidly-exploding South Philadelphia neighborhood adjacent to East Passyunk Avenue. The breakfast-and-lunch spot will offer another option for hungry neighborhood residents, tired of long waits at Queen Village brunch meccas.
RecycleBank, a company founded in Philadelphia in 2005, has finally launched its innovative recycling rewards program in the City of Brotherly Love. Mayor Nutter and other city leaders celebrated the event with a press conference and demonstration in Strawberry Mansion.
Did you know that most blast cleaning in the United States—used on public spaces like bridges, buildings and sidewalks—is done with industrial coal waste? Yup, industrial coal waste (or coal slag): the very same substance causing an environmental and public health disaster after a spill in Tennessee, and the same black muck that Lesley Stahl
One of the most striking things about the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Program launch was the trucks. Wrapped in vibrant, colorful patterns, the hulking behemoths were belle of the ball. That’s all thanks to a partnership between the Streets Commission, under the guidance of Clarena Tolson, and Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program.
Umbrellas—designed as a convenient solution to getting caught in the rain—can be surprisingly unwieldy. On a stormy day, Philly sidewalks are filled with all shapes, sizes and varieties. But, when the wind is strong, the flimsy shields often can’t withstand the pressure, acquiring that all-too-familiar inside-out look. At that point, the city becomes an umbrella
Grid’s March issue will include a 16-page insert done in conjunction with PASA (the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture). The best thing about working on this section was getting to go out and visit a bunch of amazing, family-run, sustainable farms. I came away with much more information than could be contained in those pages.
A favorite lasagna recipe reimagined by Erin Gautsche
When I became a vegetarian, my second cousin gifted me a well-worn copy of Anna Thomas’ 1972 cookbook The Vegetarian Epicure. As I experimented with its recipes, my mother did, too, and her favorite company meal became, and remains, Epicure’s spinach lasagna with wine and herb sauce.