Articles Written by Guest Writer

This guest post comes from Jesce Walz, a Living Building Challenge Ambassador. With Greenbuild in Philadelphia this week, the Living Building Challenge and Net Zero Water Forum discuss stormwater management in our buildings. The Living Building Challenge is “the most most rigorous design and construction standard in the world today. It is also a philosophy, advocacy platform and certification tool.” Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19th is a Net Zero Water Forum. The Net Zero Water Forum is a 4-hour in-depth review of the Living Building Challenge’s “Water Petal,” which is intended to redefine our relationship to water and 'waste' in the built environment. What does this have to do with Philly?

Guest blogger Dave Greene returns to GPB, this time to talk about his favorite thing to do: Biking. This is another installment of the Clean Currents sponsored posts from your neighborhood green energy company. To bike or not to bike? Is that ever a serious question? Not for this green guy. If there’s any possible way, I always bike. Even if it’s not exactly easy. Even if it’s raining, even if it’s 100 degrees outside, even if I have to go to the hardware store and there’s an 85% chance I will need to drag home several 2x4s (that wasn’t fun, but I DID IT). I bike because (find out why, after the jump!)

This sponsored post comes to us from Clean Currents, another post in the It's Not Easy Being (Dave) Greene Series. We met Dave Greene in a previous post. Yikes, talk about an Indian Summer! Even though it's been climate-changingly toasty this past week, the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a nasty winter -- and it's right around the corner. So last weekend I got my housemate Jack to help me out with winterizing our windows, and we actually succeeded in making it through the project without any major accidents, spills, or mistakes! Find out how to winterize your home (with FIRE) with Dave, after the jump:

Guest Post by The Head & The Hand Press Founder Nic Esposito When I founded The Head & The Hand Press, it was almost counter-intuitive that I wanted it to be a for-profit venture. After spending many years in the non-profit sector, primarily in urban farming, I was under the impression that I could not satisfy my ideals and fund an operation through “business”, which I had been conditioned to reject and revile. But as I began developing the concept of The Head & The Hand, I was posed with the most important question I have ever been asked. Find out more from Nic, after the jump.

Have you ever gotten the sinking feeling that being green is just no fun? Sure, we environmentalists do cool planet-saving stuff and hang out in nature when we can, but the super-scariness of the big environmental problems facing us these days is hard to laugh about. To help us take a light-hearted view of what ails us, today we’d like to welcome guest blogger Dave Greene to the Green Philly Blog. This is the first sponsored post in the series that comes to us from Clean Currents, your friendly neighborhood green energy company. Welcome Dave! For starters, tell us a little bit about who you are and where you came from. First of all, let’s get one thing straight:

The "I Will Act on Climate" Bus tour is making a stop in Philly on Friday. We have two contributors today from PennFuture & Clean Air Council to discuss the tour and why it's important to stop in Philly. by Andrew Sharp of PennFuture The "I Will Act on Climate" bus is coming to the City of Brotherly Love on Friday as part of its tour to nearly 30 states to rally support for action to address climate change. The tour comes after President Obama announced the nation’s first-ever limits on carbon pollution, as well as infrastructure improvements to deal with the effects of climate change and new investments in clean energy. (Find out more from the Clean Air Council & about the tour, after the jump!)

I haven't been able to post much this week due to unforeseen circumstances on the homefront, but Paige Wolf graciously allowed me to guest post for her. Here's how placing a fee on plastic bags will help (and check out the rest of Paige's blog too!): From Philthadelphia to America's Greenest City.

Have you "Done the Math" recently on the carbon counts on our atmosphere? It's passed a milestone - and not a good one at 400 parts per million. This guest post comes from Clean Air Council's Federal Advocacy Coordinator, Russell Zerbo.   30 people came out to LOVE Park and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3 headquarters on Thursday to listen to speakers and meet with the Public Affairs Director. Why? To demand that EPA finalize standards on carbon pollution to protect public health and curb climate change. Shipley High School students, Clean Air Council and Sierra Club members and other concerned Philadelphians, set up umbrellas and beach chairs on a swatch of grass in LOVE park to draw attention to the damage done to the Jersey Shore from Superstorm Sandy. The damage has been exacerbated by rising global temperatures, sea levels and carbon dioxide emissions. Last year, the U.S. experienced 11 extreme weather events that cost more than $1 billion each in losses and resulted in 349 deaths. The largest global disasters of 2012 were Hurricane Sandy (costing $65 billion) and the year-long Midwest drought ($35 billion). These events accounted for nearly half of the world's economic losses. Find out about what is the Federal Carbon Dioxide Pollution Standard - and the current status - after the jump.

We like to give you a variety of sustainable happenings around Philadelphia, occasionally from other voices. When we think about environmental leaders, religion may not be the first group to come to mind. However, Guest Blogger Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark shares an upcoming Eco Film Festival at Chestnut Hill College this Thursday. On Thursday, March 14, Chestnut Hill College is hosting a FREE (and open to the public) Eco Film Festival from 8:30 - 5:30 PM in the East Parlor, St. Joseph Hall. This all-day film festival includes showings of five eco-related films, each followed by a brief discussion with an expert presenter including Gretchen Alfonso from Moms Clean Air Force, and Logan Welde, Clean Air Council of Philadelphia. (Find out more, after the jump!)