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#174 November 2023/Art/Culture/Recycling/Shop Local

NextFab Holiday Gift Guide 2023

At NextFab, we believe that lasting memories start with the handmade. With an abundance of mass-produced goods stocking the shelves this holiday season, instead choose gifts that have that extra special touch. By shopping small and local you’re not only giving back to small businesses in your neighborhood but giving an everlasting gift made with

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October 30, 2023
15 mins read
#173 October 2023/Public Health/transportation

Philly’s worst possible transportation disaster? A train derailment in Center City, experts say

First came the heavy rains. Then came the derailed train. On the morning of July 17, the Delaware Valley held its collective breath as reports came in that a freight train had derailed in Whitemarsh Township, a few miles from Philadelphia’s northwest border. The train carried rail cars containing hazardous materials and residents were evacuated

More
October 5, 2023
8 mins read
#173 October 2023/Community/education/Environment/transportation/Urban Nature

West Mount Airy comes together to beautify a regional rail station

On a sunny afternoon in late spring, 27 sixth graders from Mount Airy’s Henry H. Houston Elementary School skipped and hooted their way to SEPTA’s Carpenter Train Station, as if already savoring the adventure of planting trees there. “We identified flowers and pollinators along the way,” says Christine Bush, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and

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October 2, 2023
5 mins read
#173 October 2023/Bicycling/Bike Talk/transportation

Grid Readers Respond: what are the worst intersections in Philadelphia?

How does the Philadelphian cross the road? It isn’t always easy or safe. Dangerous intersections mean bikers, pedestrians and people with disabilities risk life and limb to simply get where they’re going. The risks they take are apparent in death and injury statistics — 49 pedestrians and cyclists were killed in 2021, according to the

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October 2, 2023
6 mins read
#173 October 2023/Editor's Notes/transportation/Urban Nature

Editor’s Notes: A Commitment To Less

I drive, walk and bike with one eye following the pavement, scanning for dead animals. It comes from my background as a herper, someone who recreationally searches for reptiles and amphibians. A popular way to find the critters I love is “road cruising,” in which you drive around and look for them crossing the pavement.

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October 2, 2023
2 mins read
#173 October 2023/Air/Public Health/transportation

Truck traffic pollutes Philadelphia’s most vulnerable neighborhoods

Carol Foy, a lifelong Grays Ferry resident and community advocate, knows how dangerous air pollution can be. “I lost a son over a decade ago who had lung problems,” she says. “He was only 33 years old.” After moving out of Grays Ferry, her son moved by the oil refinery in South Philadelphia. He lived

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October 2, 2023
3 mins read
#173 October 2023/Water

Scientists and advocates zero in on what is really killing whales

Regina Asmutis-Silvia cannot forget the gaze of a humpback whale stranded on a beach in Chatham, Massachusetts. With fellow members of an International Wildlife Coalition team, she worked to dig under the whale to relieve the pressure of its body-weight on vital organs. They hoped the high tide would carry the whale back to sea,

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October 2, 2023
4 mins read
#173 October 2023/Community/Food

Weavers Way celebrates 50 years of food and community

Today, Weavers Way Co-op counts more than 10,000 member households, with storefronts in Ambler, Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, and a new store due to open this year in Germantown. But long-time member Sylvia Carter can remember 50 years back to its humble beginnings as a buying club in a church basement. Carter moved to

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October 2, 2023
3 mins read
#173 October 2023/Community/transportation

Are Philadelphia’s efforts to eliminate traffic deaths stalling out?

Samara Banks was the life of the party. Everyone waited for her to arrive at family gatherings, knowing that she would be the one to rally her cousins and entertain the crowd with a song or dance. “She was always happy and hopeful,” Latanya Byrd says. “She loved children and people loved her naturally. And

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October 2, 2023
10 mins read
#173 October 2023/transportation/Urban Nature

Can a car insurance fee protect wildlife from collisions?

By Carolyn Kousky and Noah Raven Busy roads and wildlife are a bad combination. Collisions between vehicles and wildlife not only kill and injure animals — they can also cause substantial property damage and injure or kill drivers and passengers. In 2020, Pennsylvania had the highest total number of animal-vehicle collisions reported through insurance claims

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October 2, 2023
3 mins read
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🎟️ TICKET GIVEAWAY 🎟️ @riveroadsfestival returns 🎟️ TICKET GIVEAWAY 🎟️

@riveroadsfestival returns to Heuser Park in King of Prussia on Saturday, June 27 and we want you to be a part of the experience! Here’s your chance to win 2 tickets to the fest:

HOW TO ENTER
• Visit store.gridphilly.com
• Subscribe to Grid by June 10

It’s that easy! Good luck and may you enjoy your music-themed outdoor festivities this summer season 🎶

#kingofprussia #ticketgiveaway #livemusic #phillymusicfest #riverroadsfestival
Here’s a recipe for a lovely summer day: Pack a li Here’s a recipe for a lovely summer day: Pack a little picnic, grab your best floppy hat or Phillies cap, slather on some sunscreen and take a mini road trip to a nearby farm to go fruit picking. This fun outdoor activity is a life-affirming blend of frolicking in a field and getting access to the freshest local fruit available — sun-ripened and honey-sweet, practically unrecognizable compared to what comes from a conventional supermarket. It’s also a great way to teach kids (and maybe even remind yourself) about the remarkable amount of labor that goes into harvesting crops by hand.

There are a number of U-pick, or pick-your-own (PYO), farms within an hour or so of Philadelphia, and visiting them is a compelling way to get acquainted with growers in the area. To make a day of it, see if the farm has a produce stand or market with an events calendar, and stop in to see what’s going on — many farms host classes and workshops.

Between increasingly-extreme weather events, skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices, and labor complications due to immigration policies, farms of all sizes are feeling immense pressure and uncertainty and need our support now more than ever.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Emily Kovach
📸 Photo courtesy of Linvilla Orchards

#philadelphia #pyo #pickyourown #phillyfarm #supportlocalfarmers
Happy June! Another issue of Grid has arrived 🗞️ H Happy June! Another issue of Grid has arrived 🗞️ Here are a just few of the stories you’ll find in this month’s issue:

• Nine regional farms where you can pick your own produce this summer

• Southwest Philly residents rally to save affordable housing

• Thousands of radio receivers track birds as they migrate across North and Central America

➡️ Read the new issue now at gridphilly.com

#philadelphia #phillynews #sustainability #environmentalnews #independentjournalism
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

➡️ Ray’s Reusables Composting Program Launch: Ray’s Reusables — a sustainable household goods store offering refillable cleaning and body care products in Northern Liberties— will launch a new public compost drop-off program in partnership with Bennett Compost. With the addition of this partnership, Ray’s Reusables will evolve beyond just sustainable retail into an all-in-one eco-hub.

When:
Saturday, May 30 (10:00 AM - 6:00 PM)

Where:
Ray’s Reusables
935 N 2nd Street, Floor 1
Philadelphia, PA 19123

➡️ Join Friends of the Wissahickon, The Free Library of Philadelphia, and Friends of Vernon Park for a beginner’s birding stroll through Vernon Park—no experience or equipment needed. We’ll meet at the Joseph E. Coleman Library to go over some basics, then make our way over to the park to see which backyard birds have made their home in this urban green space.

When:
Saturday, May 30 (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM)

Where:
Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library
68 W Chelten Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19144

➡️ Project Rummage Runway Fashion Show: Crossroads Women’s Center will be hosting a slow-fashion event where local designers and models will come together to showcase upcycled and sustainable designs from our Community Rummage. The competition will celebrate sustainable and slow fashion principles, showcase community talent, and show that saving the planet doesn’t require more money or new resources—just creativity.

When:
Saturday, May 30 (12:00 PM - 3:00 PM)

Where:
Crossroads Womens Center
5011 Wayne Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19144

#philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
Who could have guessed 22 years ago when Facebook Who could have guessed 22 years ago when Facebook launched or 19 years ago when the first iPhone was unveiled the profound effects on our culture. The technology’s promise that, with regular updates, we could stay connected to our grade school classmates, a former neighbor, a cousin who lives thousands of miles away. Not only that, we could find communities based on our passions, regardless of where we lived.

To some degree that has been true, but the technology has also been blamed for political divisiveness and insurrection, children’s suicides and a flood of misinformation that threatens to undermine our public health — just to name a few.

Now here comes artificial intelligence, another technology reshuffling how we approach life and work. I think it’s fair to say this revolution is being met with more apprehension than the last one. New York Times book reviewer Dwight Garner recently wrote that AI is “here to either a) help with our homework, or b) end the world.”

The techno-optimists appear to be currently outnumbered by the techno-skeptical and techno-exhausted, but each of them has a vision of how things will unfold. But, alas, what the future holds is unknown.

➡️ Read the full note from our publisher at gridphilly.com

✍️ Alex Mulcahy

#philadelphia #technology #artificialintelligence #aitechnology #climatechange
On April 13, the day Mayor Cherelle Parker declare On April 13, the day Mayor Cherelle Parker declared Vegan Cheesesteak Day, the American Vegan Center, headquartered in Old City, held its annual vegan cheesesteak contest, but with a record-breaking challenge: create the longest vegan cheesesteak, totaling 76 inches as a tribute to the revolutionary year of 1776.

Vegetarianism and Philadelphia may seem like odd bedfellows, but they are intertwined, says Vance Lehmkuhl, director of the American Vegan Center. According to his latest book, “Revolutionary Peace: How Philadelphia Launched the U.S. Vegetarian and Vegan Movement,” vegetarianism is as old as the nation.

Bernard Unti, a native Philadelphian and historian of animal protection, concurs.

“Vegetarianism in Philadelphia predates the cheesesteak by at least a century and a half,” Unti says.

Lehmkuhl explains, “The cheesesteak has two significant parts, and neither is vegan. It seems like [a vegan cheesesteak] contradicts itself.” But it fits into the framework of Philadelphia as a hotbed for revolutionary, abolitionist and vegetarian activity throughout its history.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Patrick Kerr
📸 Tracie Van Auken

#philadelphia #phillyvegan #phillyvegans #phillycheesesteak #plantbasedfood
One night in July 2016, Jean-Pierre Lokombe woke u One night in July 2016, Jean-Pierre Lokombe woke up to a group of armed men banging on the door of his home in a small village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The men were part of the Allied Democratic Force, one of the deadliest of the more than 100 rebel groups that rape, kill and maim to control the Congo’s rich resources. Threatened with death, Lokombe, a nurse, then 40, his wife and five children, and their fellow villagers scrambled to flee their land, leaving it to be mined for minerals. The Lokombes, whose names have been changed for their safety, began a grueling journey that ended in Philadelphia.

Nine years would pass before the Lokombes would meet Kennedy Chesoli, founder and executive director of the Center for Integration and Migrant Support (CIMS), a West Philly nonprofit that assists newly arrived immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa resettle in Greater Philadelphia.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Constance Garcia-Barrio
📸 Tracie Van Auken

#philadelphia #immigration #immigrantsupport #immigrantassistance #housingforall
The shortest distance between two points is incont The shortest distance between two points is incontestably a straight line. But the route Matt Kirchner followed prior to launching Local Bound, a local food distribution business, meandered through South Jersey, North Carolina, Los Angeles, New York City and Point Breeze, and from baseball diamonds to family farms.

Kirchner’s passion for playing baseball dominated his Elon College years. He was a business major, but “really all I thought about was baseball.” A job with a baseball events company lured him to L.A., but the start of the COVID-19 pandemic cut that career short. Suddenly, Kirchner was looking for something to do. He heard about people putting together produce boxes for home delivery and thought he’d give that a try. He began buying from the L.A. wholesale produce market, then from farmers markets and small California farms. Even amid stay-at-home orders, the California food culture was so strong, Kirchner says, he “got addicted to it.”

Although Kirchner had no cooking experience, he knew more about ingredients than he realized, thanks to conversations with his brother, a Chicago-based chef. To turn his hobby into a business, he started saying “yes” to everything. He returned to the East Coast for a job at the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market. Next came a gig with Natoora, a New York City distributor. Kirchner joined a robust business connecting regional farmers with restaurants and specialty stores. Over time, Kirchner began identifying family farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and inviting them into the New York market. “I was amazed many of them did not have a relied-upon distribution network. It seemed like there was a gap,” he says.

But it was marrying a Philly woman that brought him to Point Breeze and led to Local Bound.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Marilyn Anthony
📸 Taylor Ecker

#philadelphia #fooddistribution #freshfood #farmtotable #familyfarms
Julian Bender spent most of his weekends in the sp Julian Bender spent most of his weekends in the spring and summer of 2024 dedicated to one project: creating a bikepacking route through the Pine Barrens. He mapped out campgrounds and sites of natural and historical interest. He rode drafted routes, ruling out options that weren’t suitable for bikes due to flooding or overly soft terrain.

He named what he came up with the Jersey Devil Hunt, an homage to the Garden State’s famed cryptid. It stretches 170.5 miles through the expansive South Jersey wilderness, from Trenton to Atlantic City. Both endpoints and various stops along the way are accessible by transit serving Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.

“I knew that I wanted it to be connected to transit, because that’s how I would always get out there,” he says. “How can you cross the whole Pine Barrens? Well, you start at Trenton — there’s a train station there — and finish in Atlantic City — there’s a train station there. They both connect back to 30th Street. That just seemed like the natural beginning and end points.”

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Gabriel Donahue
📸 Photo courtesy of Julian Bender

#pinebarrens #pinebarrensnj #bikepacking #publictransportation #greenspace
On a late winter-early spring evening, with a warm On a late winter-early spring evening, with a warm rain falling and temperatures above 45 degrees, volunteers with the Sourlands Conservancy in central New Jersey take up posts along nine roadways in Hopewell Township that frogs and salamanders need to cross while en route to the vernal ponds where they breed. The conditions have to be just right to coax the amphibians from the uplands where they have been hibernating, and the warm, dampness of the night makes for a perfect match.

Yvonne Selander, a librarian from Flemington, and six others, wearing reflective vests and headlamps, wait along one country road. They slow or stop vehicles on the roadway if the amphibians are crossing. If necessary, the volunteers carry them toward a nearby vernal pond. Selander has helped protect the amphibians from traffic for the last six years: “Having 10 to 12 salamanders cross the road and trying to figure out where they were, keeping track of them and hoping that a car didn’t come and thankfully, at that point, they didn’t.”

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ + 📸 Ed Rodgers

#hopewellnj #spottedsalamander #urbannature #urbanwildlife #protectwildlife
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

➡️ Free Boating: Join us for free kayaking and rowing on the Tidal Schuylkill River!

When:
Saturday, May 16 (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM)

Where:
Bartram’s Garden
5400 Lindbergh Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19143

➡️ EcoFair 2026: Embark on an immersive journey into sustainability at EcoFair, Green Philly’s third annual family-friendly event showcasing the region’s eco-resources and initiatives driving positive change.

When:
Saturday, May 16 (12:00 PM - 4:00 PM)

Where:
Cherry Street Pier
121 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19106

➡️ reFlea Spring 26: The Resource Exchange’s reFlea is Philadelphia’s vendor market uniquely focused on local remakers, vintage & secondhand refurbishers, upcyclers and DIY creatives. If you are interested in sustainability, creative reuse, and contributing to Philly’s circular economy, then come join us for a day of deals!

When:
Saturday, May 16 (12:00 PM - 5:00 PM)

Where:
1800 N American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122, PA

#philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
When faulty equipment at the Philadelphia Energy S When faulty equipment at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery caused an explosion on June 21, 2019, Carol White jolted awake and raced downstairs in her Grays Ferry home to investigate. She opened her front door and ash swept into her mouth and eyes, nearly blinding her and blocking her airways. As plumes of poisonous smoke barreled into the sky above her, White raced to her car to drive to the emergency room. But as she opened her car door, White once more inhaled ash and got even more in her eyes.

White was diagnosed with severe asthma shortly after moving to her home in 2006, but she had never felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

“I was thinking, ‘this is my last breath that I’m going to take,’” says White.

After arriving at Jefferson Methodist Hospital, she received three rounds of asthma treatments and didn’t return home for a week. She says her eyes were affected worse than her lungs. In the days following the explosion, which occurred less than a mile from her home, white pus and residual ash leaked out of her eyes, causing abrasions that required surgery.

PES was the largest polluter in Philadelphia in 2016, accounting for 72% of the city’s toxic emissions. Benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, was produced at levels up to 444% higher than EPA standards. PES paid a $4.2 million settlement to the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024, but neither White nor her neighbors have received compensation.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ + 📸 Adam Litchkofski

#philadelphia #airpollution #environmentaljustice #publichealth #publichealthmatters
President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in 2023 t President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in 2023 to make a big energy announcement: the Philadelphia area would be home to MACH2, a new hydrogen hub, one of seven nationwide. But a year and a half into the second Trump administration, the project’s future is uncertain.

The Biden administration planned to pump $7 billion into regional centers for hydrogen production, taking advantage of a gas that, when combusted or run through a fuel cell, produces only water and energy. As Grid reported at the time, labor unions and industry representatives lined up behind the initiative, along with some environmental organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation. But not everyone else was on board.

Critics questioned whether it would be feasible to produce hydrogen using renewable energy, given how little wind and solar are currently generated in the Mid-Atlantic. Environmental justice advocates such as Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living found themselves excluded from the planning process, prompting them to send a joint letter saying MACH2 had failed to engage the community.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Bernard Brown

#philadelphia #energy #cleanenergy #renewableenergy #environmentaljustice
When York Energy Storage LLC proposed in 2023 to t When York Energy Storage LLC proposed in 2023 to turn the small valley of Cuff’s Run in York County, on the western bank of the Susquehanna River, into an energy storage reservoir, William McMahon, the engineer and energy entrepreneur behind the plan, billed it as a solution to the limitations of renewable energy. As is often said, the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t shine at night. The grid needs to store renewable energy to ensure an even supply.

In 2026, as artificial intelligence data centers spring up across America and energy prices rise, McMahon says the project is critical. “There is a great need for storage in the PJM grid,” he says.

Soon after Grid’s article ran in 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted York Energy Storage a preliminary permit. In effect for four years, it gives the company priority for building a project on the site (essentially calling dibs) and opens up a public input period as the company begins to assemble the studies and other documents necessary for a full license application. If granted, the license would allow the company to build the project and use eminent domain to force property owners on the site to sell.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ + 📸 Bernard Brown

#yorkcounty #energystorage #renewableenergy #datacenters #floodrisk
Data center development in Pennsylvania is booming Data center development in Pennsylvania is booming. Last year, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and President Donald Trump announced $90 billion in private investments for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, data centers and energy projects across the state. Today, according to the Data Center Proposal Tracker, Pennsylvania has 52 data centers, and there are at least 53 more currently proposed. Gov. Josh Shapiro wants developers to pick up the pace. In February, he announced a path to faster permitting for developers who follow stricter environmental and transparency standards.

State Sen. Katie Muth, however, wants to slow things down. Muth, who represents parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties, is seeing data center proposals in her district, and she’s concerned about how the structures impact human health, the environment and electricity costs. Soon, she plans to introduce legislation that would put a three-year moratorium on data center development.

➡️ Read the full interview at gridphilly.com

✍️ Jordan Teicher
📸 Photo courtesy of Sen. Katie Muth

#pennsylvania #datacenter #datacenters #datacenterinfrastructure #artificialintelligence
In 2008, I heard Van Jones speak at the Academy of In 2008, I heard Van Jones speak at the Academy of Natural Sciences about his book “The Green Collar Economy.” He talked about the need to make careers in clean energy accessible to all of our communities, and that without intentional inclusion, the underserved neighborhoods in our region would be sidelined from these opportunities, too.

I grew up in West Philly — Powelton Village — and knew what Van meant. My neighbors were handy, but rarely employed with any stability or benefits that could sustain a family.

Inspired by his words, I founded Solar States that same year with a dual-mission: install solar, and educate the next generation.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Micah Gold-Markel

#philadelphia #solarenergy #solarpower #solarpowered #solarstates
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

➡️ Love Your Park Week 2026: This spring, show your favorite neighborhood park some love! Love Your Park Week is a nine-day celebration of Philadelphia’s public parks from May 9-17, 2026. Over 100 Philly parks need help tending gardens and flower beds, caring for trees, and cleaning up our parks after the winter season.

When:
Saturday, May 9 (8:00 AM) - Sunday, May 17 (5:00 PM)

Where:
Parks all across the city!

➡️ Public Art Day at the Farmer’s Market: Join us for a vibrant day of creativity, community, and color at the Farmers Market for Public Art Day! We’re transforming our space into a collaborative fiber art installation—and everyone is invited to be part of it.

When:
Saturday, May 9 (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)

Where:
30 North Lansdowne Avenue
Lansdowne, PA 19050

➡️ Reading is Freedom Festival: Celebrate literacy, creativity, and community with family-friendly activities, book giveaways, and interactive stations!

When:
Saturday, May 9 (12:00 PM - 3:00 PM)

Where:
Historic Fair Hill
2901 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19133

#philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
On Tuesday, April 14, the Philadelphia Gas Commiss On Tuesday, April 14, the Philadelphia Gas Commission — the government body that oversees the City-owned Philadelphia Gas Works — did something highly unusual. It voted to table a vote on PGW’s 2027 capital budget, basically postponing a routine step until a later date. “I was very surprised that the Commission did not make a decision,” says Robert Ballenger, an attorney with Community Legal Services, which is contracted to represent the interests of PGW ratepayers as the utility’s public advocate.

Commissioner and City Council member Mike Driscoll asked that they table the decision to allow for more time to gather information about PGW’s request for $182 million to buy a new liquefier for its Port Richmond liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. “This is a complex issue deserving more study,” Driscoll said in the April meeting.

The issue revolves around two 12-story tanks that loom over Columbus Boulevard near the Port Richmond waterfront. They fit in with the industrial landscape, sitting across the street from the Tioga Marine Terminal and next door to a water department sewage treatment plant.

Those tanks can hold four billion cubic feet of LNG, enough to get PGW’s customers through the coldest winter PGW can imagine.

Behind those tanks, a complex jumble of pipes feeds gas into equipment that cools the hydrocarbons to 270 degrees below zero, at which point they condense into a liquid that takes up about 1/600th of the space, making it more efficient to store and transport.

What is harder to see is the gas, invisible to the naked eye, that leaks out or is intentionally vented to maintain the correct pressure in the tanks and the liquefying equipment. But filmed with an optical gas imaging camera like the one Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania has, the invisible gases pop into view on a video the group posted to YouTube. “You can point it at the facility and see,” says Linnea Bond, the group’s environment and health education director. “You can see this is a cloud of hydrocarbons.”

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Tracie Van Auken

#philadelphia #naturalgas #airpollution #publichealth #decarbonization
“The Weight of Time,” a Morton Contemporary Art Ga “The Weight of Time,” a Morton Contemporary Art Gallery exhibition of paintings by 10 artists serving life sentences at Montgomery County’s Phoenix prison, lays bare heartache, hope and the crushing force of hour piling upon hour.

“I served 20 years with [the artists],” says Eddie Ramirez, who was formerly incarcerated at Phoenix. “We painted together in the Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Restorative Justice Program.” Started by executive director Jane Golden in 2004, the program shows people involved in the carceral system how to paint panels for future street murals, thus providing art education.

“I’m not a real artist, but the [other] guys are,” Ramirez says. “I made a commitment to get them exposure when I got out.” He says the show almost didn’t happen, as many galleries nixed a prison-themed exhibition, “but Debbie Morton, who owns this gallery, said yes.”

The exhibition provides a way for Morton to affirm her belief in art’s healing power. “Art offers many of these men a way to process grief, loss and remorse,” says Morton, the show’s co-curator. “I hope this body of work allows viewers to see the humanity and talent of each artist.”

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Constance Garcia-Barrio
🖼️ Keith Andrews

#philadelphia #incarceratedartists #phillyartgallery #restorativejustice #artheals
In 2022, a pipe failed at the liquefied natural ga In 2022, a pipe failed at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Freeport, Texas, causing an explosion and fire. The conflagration took place entirely within the facility, built on a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico. The nearest residential area sits more than a mile away from the plant, adding a buffer from what is known as the blast zone. No one was injured inside or outside the plant.

There isn’t as much room for a natural gas explosion in Eddystone, where developers may be in negotiations with borough leaders to site a plant along the densely populated Delaware County waterfront, according to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

The potential for an explosion is only one of the reasons Eddystone resident Eugene Wylie opposes an LNG plant in his backyard. The lack of open industrial space in the tiny municipality (about 1.5 square miles, a third of which is water) is another. Assuming the facility would be similar in size to the 1,000-acre Cove Point LNG export terminal in Maryland, “They would knock down 150 residents’ houses where the facility would go. If they need to knock down three blocks of houses, that’s one bad thing,” Wylie says.

➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Taylor Ecker

#delawarecounty #naturalgas #airpollution #publichealth #publichealthmatters
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