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Today Sunday, April 22nd marks a very important day (besides my lovely sister-in-law & mother of my nephew Colleen's birthday): Earth Day! Earth Day started on April 22, 1970, was credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and passed the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act & Endangered Species Act. Take some time today to (find out more, after the jump!)

Earth Day is this Sunday (obviously.). Philadelphia had a city-wide cleanup effort this past weekend, but that doesn't mean you should wait for a city-wide initiative to volunteer. Instead of hosting a birthday or holiday party at home, organize a volunteer outing to a local park or community garden. Philadelphia has a lot of green space (and litter), so start with a community park or number of blocks. Read on!

At Green Philly everyday is Earth Day but that doesn't mean we shouldn't reflect and celebrate properly! Read on for info on some of the Earth Day happenings to check out in Philly this week.

I don't know about you but sometimes I go through major breakfast ruts. Cereal and english muffins with almond butter start to bore my taste buds after devouring for weeks on end. When I need to shake up my morning meal treats like these delicious muffins come in to play. You can bake a batch (or two ) to eat all week long or share with friends and co-workers. I opted to share these this past weekend at Green Philly's Spring CleanUp. I had a couple requests for the recipe, so here you are!

Philadelphia hosted its 5th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup this past Saturday, April 14th from 9 AM - 2 PM.  Over 350 projects across the city encouraged citizens to volunteer to make our city a prettier place. The theme of the Cleanup is "Keep Up the Sweep Up", which emphasizes residents and organizations to sustain the effort towards a cleaner & brighter Philly year-round. Although we haven't received the exact stats from this past weekend yet, the past 4 cleanups have boasted 45,000 volunteers, collected over 5.8 MILLION pounds of trash - which is enough to fill Lincoln Financial Field up to 17.4 feet high. As we mentioned, we hosted a Philly Spring Cleanup Day site at 8th & Poplar this past weekend.  The fields are a host to many PSSC leagues, and many local residents use the fields for soccer games, taking kids & pets. At first glance, the fields didn't seem too bad. But when we started looking around, there was a lot of litter: (See more pics & stats from the day, after the jump!)

For some animal activists, vegans and other environmentally conscious folks leather is a fashion and function don't. The idea of wearing part of a dead animal corpse just doesn't sit well with some people. While I have not personally sworn off ALL leather from my wardrobe, this year I'm making a conscious effort to only purchase reused or worn items. Read on!

This past Tuesday, April 10th, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Mayor Michael Nutter & city officials signed an official agreement at the Fairmount Water Works that recognized Philadelphia's Green City Clean Waters Plan as an innovative approach to storm water management.  This is huge - basically, Philly's setting the standard as a national model for green infrastructure. Sooo what does this mean to me? Does it sound like spanish to you? It means this: Philly's #1 again! I'm quite excited to share

When I stop home at my parents house, I try to give them some hints of what they're not recycling (and should) as the self-appointed 'recycle police'.  But then I see it... No paper, but a lonely tube, surrounded by tissues. Good news: Paper tubes from paper towels, TP, tape, etc., can go into your Single Stream Recycling! No extra effort. Recycle on!  (And try to use dishtowels instead of paper...) ;-)

Besides the temps creeping up, another exciting season is upon us: Music festivals. Yet, with hundreds of people rocking out to everything from the biggest bands to indie acts, I get a little scared about how thousands of people make so much music... and love... and waste. Be not afraid, music-loving environmentalists. The Sweetlife Food & Music Festival is coming to