Articles Written by Julie Hancher

Hungry for some local & fresh produce? Good news - The Piazza at Schmidt’s has an annual Saturday afternoon Farmers Market! The Piazza Farmer’s Market imports local farmers to Northern Liberties to showcase the best local produce, meats, poultry and dairy products available in the city of Philadelphia. Kicking off last Saturday the Piazza Farmer’s Market has

Looking for new eco-friendly ways to trek across Philly? Philadelphia Electric Wheels opened this past fall in West Mt. Airy, apprx. 12 mins from Center City. Philly Electric Wheels is the first store in the tri-state region to sell and service electric bike exclusively. Electric bikes are one of the new hot trends in personal transit – including electric tricycles, models that fold and generate their own energy as you pedal. Easy on the wallet (they cost just one penny per mile to operate!), electric bikes travel up to

Need some eco-conscious events to warm you up in this frigid weather and start 2010 off right? Here are a few local events: Tuesday, January 12th: New Whole Foods opening in Plymouth Meeting. Warm up with this cook-out event and free hot chocolate o n the roof, delicious samples of Whole Foods Organic foods & free gifts. (Plymouth Meeting Mall, 500 W. Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 (610) 832-0010) Wednesday, January 20, 6-9 PM. Celebrate natural, eco-friendly beauty products at Juju Organics' launch party of their online retail store. RSVP by Friday, Jan 15th - RSVP@paigewolf.com (Juju Organics, 713 S. 4th St, Phila, PA) Thursday, January 21, 7 PM: Celebrate honey & natural creations with your honeybee at the National Honeybee Bicentennial. This free evening of the national launch of the Bicentennial for the Father of American Beekeeping celebrating Lorenzo Langstroth includes lectures by Carl Flatow of Science Friday Initiatives, Barbara Ceiga of the Academy of Natural Sciences and Marc Hoffman; Busy Mountain beehive raffle, and ice cream provided by Haagen-Dazs’ Help the Honey Bees project. (Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Drive, Mt. Airy, Philadelphia) Saturday, February 6th: Drink, eat and dance the night away by donating to a fantastic charity at the Liberty Ball hosted by Penn State's Philly Alumni Chapter. All proceeds benefit PSU's THON, or Dance Marathon to fight pediatric cancer. Buy tickets on Libertyball.org (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts - 128 N. Broad St, Phila, PA)

2010 is here... Need ideas for New Years Resolutions? Why not take some time to enjoy sustainability? Here are some ideas:

A friend forwarded me this link of Whole Tree Architecture creations and I wanted to share! How cool is this? Roald Gunderson creates buildings from whole trees! From the site: "According to the Forest Products Laboratory, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree." Enjoy!

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Copenhagen Climate talks are all over the news. This NY Times article was sent to me by a friend - Great reading while you're snowed in! Enjoy!

Want to limit the eco-impact from your gift-giving this year? Instead of the typical gift ideas, give an 'experience' gift. Movies, concerts, restaurants, massages or cooking classes all are thoughtful alternatives of the typical stocking stuffers. Another bonus: You can pick something you & the recipient both enjoy to spend time together!

My friends, co-workers & family know I co-write "Green Philly Blog" and ask for green advice. While I often can assist, I occasionally don't even know the answer... (Sorry to expose that fact.) As Beth & I have mentioned before, the green route isn't always crystal-clear - especially with green imposters. When I was asked about eco-friendliness of toilet paper, I had to do a little research. My old roomie & I were meant to be: As one visiting friend pointed out, we were huge fans of 1-ply toilet paper - not always found at mid-20, chick apartments. However, it turns out this mutual love of 1-ply is quite eco-friendly. Want to know what to look for in TP purchases? Experts recommend: