Philly

This week Green Philly Blog is interviewing some of Philadelphia’s female sustainability leaders in honor of closing out March as International Women’s History Month. We're wrapping up the week with Sandy Bauers of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sandy is the Inquirer's Environment Reporter; She covers the city's environmental news on her blog and column GreenSpace. She's worked as an editor and reporter at the Inquirer for more than 20 years. Sandy lives the green life in northern Chester County with her husband, cats and pet chickens.  I've been reading Sandy's work for years, and was delighted for the opportunity to pick her brain a bit.  Click through to get Sandy's thoughts on Philly's greatest environmental accomplishments and more!

This week Green Philly Blog is interviewing some of Philadelphia’s women sustainability leaders in honor of closing out March as International Women’s History Month. Some of the women are well-known in our city, and some are a little more under the radar. Today, we head over to Chestnut Hill College to talk with two religious women. Growing up Catholic, I didn't hear much about 'sustainability' or treasuring our Earth in Church lectures. But is God green? It was quite interesting to sit down with two sisters about their views on how sustainability and religion fit together. Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark was a GPB guest blogger, is Director of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Earth Center, and Special Assistant to the President of Chestnut Hill for Sustainability. Sister Miriam MacGillis is founder of Genesis farm, an organic earth literacy center in New Jersey.

This week Green Philly Blog is interviewing some of Philadelphia’s women sustainability leaders in honor of closing out March as International Women’s History Month. Some of the women are well-known in our city, and some are a little more under the radar. Our interview for today is with Executive Director of Tookany/Tacony-Frankford (TTF) Watershed, Julie Slavet! A Boston native, Julie Slavet has been involved in the sustainability scene for over 30 years. Designing her own undergraduate degree in environmental studies (since it didn't exist yet) at Smith College, she proceeded to get an energy independence internship with the National League of Cities and receive her grad degree at UMass. She's worked in a variety of places including work on local, sustainable initiatives in Washington and local governments in Massachusetts. Not one to settle for par, she left a Dallas Texas Suburban hell to raise her family in the more walkable Philadelphia community, Jenkintown. After working various local communication positions and learning about sustainable initiatives in Philly, she landed her role at the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed. Let's get to our interview with (the other) Julie!

This week Green Philly Blog is interviewing some of Philadelphia's women sustainability leaders in honor of closing out March as International Women's History Month. Some of the women are well-known in our city, and some are a little more under the radar. Our interview for today is with Drexel Senior and Drexel's (only environmental group) Sierra Club President, Nicole Koedyker! We first noticed Nicole Koedyker on our Facebook, Twitter & blog comments with her green wit & knowledge. When we attended a Sierra Club meeting at Drexel, we previewed first hand how she combined a mix of green 'lessons', local events and motivating eco-curious students to get involved in Meatless Monday, Earth week events & a clothing swap on campus. As a Drexel Senior majoring in international business & economics, this lady stays active in the college sustainability scene. Her missions include working student groups to divest from fossil fuels from the endowment, ban bottled water, and encouraging Drexel to complete the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System. On a personal level, she's very likable. Her cat Meowies would be Pounce DeLeon's BFF, and we love her bike & spin class teaching enthusiasm. Let's get to our interview with Nicole! (Check it out, after the jump!)

This week Green Philly Blog is interviewing some of Philadelphia's women sustainability leaders in honor of closing out March as International Women's History Month. Some of the women are well-known in our city, and some have yet to break out from under the radar. We kick off our week's interviews with Katherine Gajewski!   As Director of Sustainability for Philadelphia, Katherine Gajewski has helped our city become greener since July of 2009. Prior to coming on board to head the sustainability front for Mayor Michael Mayor Nutter, she worked on the smoke-free legislation for Breathe Free Philadelphia Alliance and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Gajweski has lived everywhere from Montana, Vermont, Seattle and Chicago. We asked her a few questions to find out more about Mayor Nutter's sustainable lady-in-charge. (Jump on through to read the Q&A, & find out where in the world Katherine would magically transport herself if she could!)

Feel like you want to get out and meet new sustainably-minded people? You're not alone. During our recent plastic bag reduction happy hour, we met a few new Philadelphians who were interested in finding green events - but had no idea how. But the weather is getting warmer and Philadelphia is kicking up its sustainable activities. How can you get outside and active? Whether you’re brand spanking new to Philadelphia have accumulated many rosters of Phillies t-shirts, we have 8 ways to meet new Philadelphians:

Are you a commuter who trudges into Philly everyday? Or worse, an urbanite who must leave the city every day to make a living? Philadelphia commutes are longer than the national average (31.5 minutes compared the to average of 25.5), and we have 253,000 workers commuting TO the city and an additional 147,000 city residents on the reverse commute daily. Philly has 25.6% of all commuters taking public transit, compared to 5% nationwide. This is half as much as New York's commuters (55.66%) in the number 1 spot, putting Philly at #7 after Jersey City, Washington DC, San Fran & other cities. Good, but not great. It's frustrating to see Philadelphia pat ourselves on the back for minor accomplishments when we could be SO much better. But in order to relieve our commutes, we need to improve SEPTA and public transit first. Here's what we have going for and against us:

Is your recycle bin overflowing compared to your trashcan? (Hint: If you're shopping wisely, reusing & composting, you should barely have trash in the can!) Do you want to help green Philadelphia schools? We're letting you know how to get FREE 32-Gallon recycle bins for Where Can I Wednesday? The Streets Department is running a special promotion to get a Super Recycling Bin in your hands. (Find out how, after the jump!)

Cheerio! Do you feel like you're craving tea, sophisticated accents and bad teeth? (Just kidding about that last one..!) You don't need to get on a plane to get your London fix. If you enjoyed our Philadelphia Flower Show 2013 Preview, we have great news for you! We're giving away a pair of tickets to a lucky reader. (Find out how to win, after the jump!)