Philly

Philadelphia gets more sustainable street cred, this time from the Mayors! The US Conference of Mayors recognized Philadelphia's public-private partnership with Recyclebank with an Outstanding Achievement Award. Last weekend, the Washington DC ceremony honored the city's Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program, based on criteria including:

Great news, friends. If you care about something and voice your opinion, people in power listen. Although I must admit, I used to be a bit skeptical of individual actions towards political change.  I was a political science major in college, and one of the main takeaways was "Corporations lobbyists rule government."  The internets were raging over the past few days, as City Council bill 120917 would hurt community gardens.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission presented The Future is Now: Philadelphia 2035 Update at the Center for Architecture (1218 Arch Street) last evening. A packed room (half-standing) for the "sold out" event, attendees from younger to well aged  made an appearance - including a surprise speech from Mayor Michael Nutter. Sustainability was a main focus of the city plan, both with current progress and future goals. The Citizens Planning Institute, a Philadelphia City Planning Commission project involving official education and outreach recognized its volunteer graduates during the program. Philadelphia 2035 is the two-phase plan for the physical development of our city for 25 years (2011-2035) using the "new" zoning code. Last night's discussion began with highlights of Philadelphia's progress in 2012, which was formulated into a 12 month "report" calendar for participants. Much of the progress was due to the Greenworks sustainability initiatives: (Find out about the Philadelphia 2035 recap AND what Mayor Nutter had to say about plastic bags to us, after the jump!)

Happy New Year! As I stated on MNN, one of my new years resolution is to help pass Philadelphia reduce plastic bags. It's easy: we want common sense legislation to encourage reusable bags and discourage single bag use. How can you help and get involved to reduce plastic bags?

Happy New Years Eve! 2012 has been quite eventful for Philadelphia, especially with these 6 Philly green initiatives. Green Philly Blog's year was full of furthering sustainability, both online and off. We hosted a Philly Spring Cleanup Day Site in Northern Liberties, removing many pounds of trash and debris from a shared sports park. We were thrilled at the turnout and plan on increasing cleanups for 2013 due to the success. Our “Ban the Bag” day

How can you take those dying Christmas trees with all the pine needles and turn them into a greener 2nd life? We have good news for our Where Can I Wednesday column: there are a LOT of choices this holiday season! (Find out a full list of locations by neighborhood and guidelines to recycle those Christmas trees, after the jump!)

It's 5 days before Christmas and I can practically smell the excitement in the air. For some of us that anticipation may be commingled with final frenetic shopping. No matter, if you're still on the hunt for that last-minute sustainable gift idea Zipcar zipcertificates may be your answer. Have a young adult on your list? Research shows 18-34 year olds (the Millenials) are increasingly forgoing car ownership and adopting alternative means of transportation such as car-sharing services like Zipcar. In a Zipcar study, 78% of Millennial respondents said car ownership is difficult due to high cost of gas, parking and maintenance. Philadelphia provides good sources of public transportation but sometimes a car is just necessary for those major shopping hauls. family visits, or impromptu road trips. A Zipcertificate starts at $50.

We're trying to be the greenest city in the USA, but we still have a long way to go (although Philadelphia's starting to get a little bit of street cred. However, each year we see more and more progress in our city of sustainable love. Here's the top 6 green initiatives outta Philly that we're proud of from 2012:

Did you know that those "free" plastic bags are embedded in your grocery checkout bill? And that each plastic bag you use costs you an estimated $.17 in taxes? Whether you reuse, trash or recycle those plastic bags, you're still paying an estimated $85 dollars each year for the Philly Water Department to clean plastic bags out of our waterways. Plus, those plastic bags (like diamonds) are never ever (like ever) going away. Even in the landfill, they'll keep your takeout and old flowers perfectly preserved. And often times, they end up in the oceans, killing wildlife and littering our lands. The good news? The solution is a LOT easier than we think.