Philly

Sustainability's on its way to become a little more permanent in City government, but they need your help! As we mentioned back in November, Resolution No 130884 is to make the Philadelphia Mayor's Office of Sustainability Permanent within Philadelphia city government. Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski sent an email with an update on the progress.  Councilwoman Reynolds Brown and Councilman Kenney co-sponsored the bill and it was positively voted out of the Committee on Law and Government last week.

Mayor Michael Nutter signed an executive order yesterday to ban smoking in Philly's parks. According to the City of Philadelphia's official wordpress account (speaking of which, can't City of Phila afford a URL that doesn't include .wordpress?),

Litter is causing an uproar on the Philly internets. We addressed the causes, frustrations and potential solutions for Philadelphia's litter in our blog post last week, Why is Philly so Dirty? The Litter Epidemic. Insightful reader comments sparked conversation about citizen attitude, neighborhoods with paid personnel  and plastic pollution. On April 24th, Jared Shelly, Digital Producer of Philadelphia Business Journal shared a Twitter explosion after he asked Mayor Nutter about the city's plan for litter on the streets. Mayor Michael Nutter originially responded

Happy Arbor Day! This annual day (typically the last Friday in April) celebrates planting, caring for and loving trees. Although we love trees every day, we still honor our plants on this holiday.  Plus, there ain't a better place to celebrate everything trees than in Philadelphia, where any day is an excuse to drink locally and hang out with friends. Here's 7 Ways to Celebrate Arbor Day in Philly:

Late night pizza calls, Chinese food runs, and endless burger or fries at the cafeteria are the epitome of college; eating healthy during these four years is extremely difficult. Desolate in North Philly, Temple students are especially further away from the convince of a fresh produces and healthy options. With the closest Whole Foods being two miles off campus, my fellow owls and I are stuck shopping at the pricey Fresh Grocer. Since Junk food is simply a phone calls away, what about options for different on-the go meals? For Temple students, there’s a place where you can have salads, sandwiches, fresh juices, trail mix and other sustainable snacks. Plus, it only serves food that is sourced locally within 150 miles of Philadelphia, AND functions as a zero-waste supply chain model. Sounds too good to be true, right? Find out more about Temple's newest (and hottest) co-op, after the jump.

Let’s face it: our city has a notorious reputation for being dirty. Don’t believe me? Walk the streets of London for a few hours or ride the metro in DC. Return to Philly and compare. But when people talk about Philly being dirty, they’re often referring to our litter problem. Yet litter is such a large, debated topic. How do we combat litter? Do we concentrate efforts on educating people or cleanup efforts after the fact? Neighborhoods with litter tend to have higher crime rates, lower property values and less pride in the neighborhood. In order to get a more insight on Philly’s litter, I asked the City of Philadelphia, a few friends and associates about their experiences with trash in the city. Find out more about our city's litter epidemic, after the jump.

The Philly Farm & Food Fest returned to the Philadelphia Convention Center on Sunday, April 13th. The collaboration between PASA & Fair Food expanded from the expo hall into the Atrium to showcase more vendors that ever before. Since this was my third time I've attended this annual affair, I decided to peruse the newest, local vendors. Find out about some of the newest vendors, after the jump!

The 7th annual Philly Spring Cleanup Day was on Saturday, April 5th. Over 14,000 volunteers helped pick up 970,900 lbs of trash and 29,940 lbs of recycled materials. Pretty awesome, right Philly? GPB has been hosting a park cleanup at the 8th & Poplar fields for the past 3 years, when anywhere from 7-25 volunteers arrive to pick up trash, dispose of empty 40's, and ultimately better our community. While the volunteers that show up are great, I've noticed the majority of faces helping out are community groups, sustainability professionals and personal friends. Read on for my observations, after the jump!

Is the Hawk going green? As Julia Knable mentioned in our previous green degrees post, sustainability options in Philadelphia are becoming extremely popular and useful. Temple, Villanova, UPenn, and Drexel all have programs to encourage students to green their degree. Read on to find out about St. Joseph's University Sustainability Minor.