Philly

After a surge of holiday 'theme' days... Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Giving Tuesday.. the holidays are sneaking up on us faster than ever. Yet ever consider how much disposables of boxes, wrapping paper, ribbon and bags are involved? Although you can reuse wrapping paper or go without, there's still something about having a gorgeous gift wrapped up in a colorful design. VZWraps: Greener than disposable wrapping paper VZ Wraps are the classy, reusable solution for gifts. Find out more about VZ Wraps after the jump!

Small Business Saturday > Black Friday . No contest in my book. Black Friday typically means lines, traffic, lines, cranky, tired people weeding through sale racks and more lines!  Small Business Saturday, on the other hand, is all about supporting the little, local guys.  I usually peacefully meander to my local coffee shop, then head to some independent boutiques and hit up some fav local restaurants for fuel in between. Here's a few more reasons I think Small Business Saturday kicks Black Friday's a**. Boost your local economy by spending within the community. Money spent at a local business generates 3.5x more wealth for the local economy compared to money spent at a chain-owned business. You'll likely lower your carbon output. Walk, ride your bike or drive a short distance to local, small business instead of the big, scary mall and you'll save gasoline. Plus, if you go out on Black Friday you can almost guarantee sitting in major traffic.  An idle car burns a whole lotta gasoline.

Greenworks Philadelphia. Tree planting. Farmers Markets. Energy Works. Bike shares. We're all so used to the awesome things that the Mayor's Office of Sustainability does that we don't realize it's a temporary office. With a mayor election on the horizon, we don't want anything to disappear on us. Lucky for us, City Council introduced Charter Change legislation, Resolution No. 130884, to make the Office of Sustainability permanent in the Philadelphia government. As Katherine Gajewski said in an email announcement,

Let's step back for a moment: There's 30,000 brilliant individuals who are creating green buildings, nontoxic classrooms and sustainable architecture. And they're in Philly this week, taking in our city skyline, Federal Donuts & local fare. The keynote by Hillary Clinton peaked the week at Greenbuild 2013 last evening at the Liacouras Center in Temple University. Find out about the highlights, after the jump!

Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference is coming to Philly next week! The Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC) is hosting a few events that you can attend to celebrate green buildings in our city!

There's trash, recycling and composting at the Philadelphia Marathon start line. But which goes in which bin? Who you gonna call? Waste Watchers! More about Philadelphia Marathon Waste Watchers Program, after the jump!

Have leaves in your yard or 3' of city sidewalk in front of your house? What can you do them? In this week's Where Can I Wednesday, we're filling you in on where to put those leaves. The Philadelphia Street Department's 2013 Philly Bagged Leaf drive runs for 6 weeks, beginning Mon, November 11th through Fri, December 20th. Leaves collected are used for composting in local parks, trees and gardens (and so you can do the right thing). You can put your leaves in (only) biodegradable bags curbside on trash day for collection.  Find out the Bagged Leaf Drive: 2013 Rules, after the jump

According to a 2012 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia is one of the top 4 cities in the Northeast with the least amount of car commuters, ranking 4th behind New York City, Washington, and Boston. Philadelphia ranks 5th in the country, behind San Francisco.

We all love those blue bins to stash our recyclables in to feel better about our collective waste on trash day. But who monitors how much Philly is recycling overall?  Director of Recycling Phil Bresee arrived in Philly July 2012, with the mission to increase recycling participation and improve our city's 'green' efforts. A Maryland native,  Bresee got his start in Frederick and then Howard County, Maryland prior to moving to Florida in 2004. He's clearly passionate about the cause, which was apparent for those who saw his recent Nerd Nite presentation.  We sat down with Phil recently to talk trash, recycling and Philly overall.  Green Philly Blog: Mayor Nutter has focused on environmental issues (including recycling) in his Greenworks Campaign since his election in 2007. With 2 years to go in office, what recycling progress have you seen in 2013 compared to his start?