Articles Written by Julie Hancher

Come join a FREE informative Solar Seminar next Wednesday, November 17th, from 6 - 7:30 PM at the the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association community center at 700 N 3rd St (3rd & Fairmount). Solar energy is great for your home, your pocket AND the planet. But is it actually realistic for you? It can be, if you're informed! During this seminar, you'll discover what solar energy is, and how it works in your home or business, straight from Mallory Froeder from Sunlight Solar Energy. She'll discuss how to

Through my Zipcar Low Car Diet experience, I met & connected with Jason Meinzer, COO & co-founder of Philadelphia-based CityRyde - the world's largest bike sharing consultancy. Europe has been using bike sharing programs for a while, and the US is rapidly catching on. Although Jason & co-founder/CEO Timothy Ericson saw the potential and began with the intention to be a bike sharing company, their focus shifted to consulting. CityRyde specializes in assisting bike sharing companies in the stages of planning to implementation, helping over 40 customers & 100+ companies since 2007. What IS a bike share?

Yay for Philly! Rather than letting leaves collect in drains and litter our streets, Philly is having a 6-week Philly Bagged Leaf Drive to collect & compost them to fertilize gardens & nourish trees. From November 8-December 17, you can set out leaves on trash day to help Philadelphia's foliage - saving time & labor costs. How can you participate? Here are the Collection Guidelines:

It’s like getting back on a bike. After a few year hiatus, I finally took the plunge to go with 2 wheels. As author of Green Philly Blog, I feel as though I should have purchased a bike years ago. However, I stalled this decision based on my long commute to the suburbs, a naïve decision to purchase a new car after college (for the record, it has a low emissions rating) and the expense of owning a bike/living in the city using public transit instead. Since I’ve lived in the city, I’ve been able to get around sans car & bike on the weekends. After wanting to make the switch, choosing to participate in the low car diet finally put me over the edge to buy a bike. I visited a few shops, test rode a few bikes before settling on the one I called the One. It was quite an interesting process overall. I considered each type of bike for my decision, look at various prices and thought long and hard about what to ultimately select as my new wheels. For those who haven’t converted yet, biking in Philly is hotter now than ever. Spruce & Pine Streets have lanes devoted only to 2-wheeling citizens, the Bike coalition has many events , and Philadelphians recently participated in the Naked Bike Race to raise awareness of how much Bikes help the city and environment. For those who are thinking of buying a bike, here’s a few pieces of advice I picked up from my journey:

Need to get rid of some household Hazardous Waste? Drop it off at the final Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection for 2010 is this Saturday, November 6th from 9 AM -3 PM at the Street Department’s Northeast Sanitation Facility at Delaware Avenue (between Castor Avenue and Lewis Street, near I-95's Allegheny Exit). Bring HHWs to recycle or dispose including:

Election Day is Tuesday, November 2nd. It's crucial that you vote, and here's a quick guide to who's on the ballot & their environmental stances to help you be informed & decide: (Disclaimer: My opinion is italicized so you can tell the difference between what's actually on the candidate's page/fact and my opinion, which does not reflect the candidates' thoughts. None of the candidates have contacted myself nor Green Philly Blog for endorsements.)

With Halloween around the corner & Christmas a short time away, Beth had a great suggestion of picking your produce straight from the source! Need somewhere closer than Highland Orchards & Linvilla, suggested in our previous post?  Websites like Pick...

Halloween is around the corner... It's the one time of the year you should pretend someone whom you're not! But don't give up your green habits in the meantime. Here's some ways to Green Your Halloween, whether you're dressing up, dressing up the kids or giving out treats:

Office paper represents roughly 50% of the waste bill from the average business - US offices print about 12.1 trillion sheets of paper annually, contributing about 9% of carbon dioxide emissions. Here are 5 tips to reduce paper waste: