Articles Written by Julie Hancher

Happy Shark Week! To continue in the aquatic tradition of this week, we’ll explore a few activities you can do in the H20! (Plus, Shark Week mentions some encounters of Sharks with Paddle Boarders…) For Family Beach Week 2012, I was itching to do something athletic & aquatic… My bike on the boardwalk could only get me so far mentally. Since it’s important to support sustainable tourism where you can to prove that animals are worth more money alive than dead, I was psyched when my cousin asked me to join her in Stand Up Paddle board Lessons. What is Stand Up Paddle Boarding? (Find out more, after the jump!)

Happy Shark Week! The Discovery Channel's yearly celebration of sharks began last night. Last year we took a week to embrace ocean themes, including the truth of Shark Finning. We'll continue the tradition and explore more aquatic green-isms this week... Nothing is more pristine than taking in nature, sitting on the beach and looking at the ocean... even if it's the lame Jersey Shore (compared to Hawaii...) After spending the past week at the Jersey Shore with my family, I was highly disappointed to not be allowed in the Ocean for 2 days due to trash and a "high bacteria count" of the water. If the water wasn't safe for me to take a swim, what's going on with the marine life in the rest of the oceans? Did you know that one of the largest 'landfills' on Earth lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? (Find our more about this plastic pollution garbage, after the jump!)

Get snacks from Whole Foods or takeout containers from last weekend's dinner delivery? Those plastic food containers are handy to store food & other household goods. As tempting as it is for a quick reheat, put the plastic down! Don't subject plastic food containers to (find out more, after the jump!)

Food is a precious resource that shouldn't be wasted - but what about those blemished produce typically discarded by farmers? A local company is helping families in need and saving space in landfills with a creative new product. Campbell's Soup created a recipe of (Find out how Campbell's is helping local families and farmers, after the jump!)

Arcadia has long been the idea of earthly paradise & wilderness, captured by artists. The Philadelphia Art Museum currently has their own Visions of Arcadia: Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse exhibition running now through September 3. Three of these mural-sized paintings capture the theme of a mystical place of contentment and harmony, setting the tone of foundations of modern art. This exhibit is exclusive to Philadelphia and includes masterpieces by Picasso, Gleizes, and Signac. Want to experience this for yourself? (Find out how to win a pair of VIP tickets after the jump!)

Happy Friday! We've gotten a lot of great responses based on our Plastic Bag Ban Petition, but make sure to practice what you preach. The next time you run out to the grocery store, mall or afternoon stroll, BYOB. Worried about the size or variety? There's lot of washable and fold-able options.

Dirty, homeless, beggers, unclear bus schedules apparently is the summary of how hometown heroes describe the Best Large Transit System in the Country! SEPTA beat out 64 agencies that

We're so excited to about yesterday's success! We had the Plastic Bag Ban petition shared by fellow Philadelphian bloggers all over yesterday. So many people were discussing #BanPhillyBags on Twitter (even though Twitter melted down midday!)  It was picked up by Sandy Bauers on Philly.com and Philly Mag! (We also had a few other mentions, both lovers and haters.)  There were thousands of people that saw our message and picked up an issue that had been dismissed since 2009. But, we Just Started. Yesterday begun our movement with such a big bang that we wanted to leave the petition open to encourage more signatures before sending to Mayor Michael Nutter, Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski, the Office of Sustainability & Philadelphia City Council. We'll send the letter next week, but the petition will remain open until the plastic bag ban has passed. How can you help? Please keep sharing the petition and your personal stories!  If a 12-year-old in Chicago can do it, we can do it! The most inspiring part of yesterday was reading the enthusiastic comments on our Change.org petition. Here are some highlights:

Today, we're dishing the dirty truth about plastic bags. Each year... Americans use approximately 100 BILLION plastic bags ...creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste The average US family takes home 1500 plastic shopping bags An estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide ... Which equals over 1 million plastic bags used per minute. (Find out what we're doing to ban plastic bag, and how you can help NOW, after the jump!)