Philly

Dirty, homeless, beggers, unclear bus schedules apparently is the summary of how hometown heroes describe the Best Large Transit System in the Country! SEPTA beat out 64 agencies that

We're so excited to about yesterday's success! We had the Plastic Bag Ban petition shared by fellow Philadelphian bloggers all over yesterday. So many people were discussing #BanPhillyBags on Twitter (even though Twitter melted down midday!)  It was picked up by Sandy Bauers on Philly.com and Philly Mag! (We also had a few other mentions, both lovers and haters.)  There were thousands of people that saw our message and picked up an issue that had been dismissed since 2009. But, we Just Started. Yesterday begun our movement with such a big bang that we wanted to leave the petition open to encourage more signatures before sending to Mayor Michael Nutter, Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski, the Office of Sustainability & Philadelphia City Council. We'll send the letter next week, but the petition will remain open until the plastic bag ban has passed. How can you help? Please keep sharing the petition and your personal stories!  If a 12-year-old in Chicago can do it, we can do it! The most inspiring part of yesterday was reading the enthusiastic comments on our Change.org petition. Here are some highlights:

Today, we're dishing the dirty truth about plastic bags. Each year... Americans use approximately 100 BILLION plastic bags ...creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste The average US family takes home 1500 plastic shopping bags An estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide ... Which equals over 1 million plastic bags used per minute. (Find out what we're doing to ban plastic bag, and how you can help NOW, after the jump!)

Hey Green Philly Fans, We're eating a piece of (vegetarian, local) cake today to celebrate our 4th birthday! Starting as an online publication to help you be green as you can be,  our number one goal remains to help our readers, old and new. (Find out more, after the jump!)

Save the date! The Hemp Heals Music Festival takes place in Philly at Penn's Landing Festival Pier on August 25th from 4pm-11pm. As the name suggests this music event is unique in that it's founded with a specific mission in mind. Former Philadelphia Flyers player Riley Cote is hosting the event with Live Nation in an effort to educate the public on the powers of holistic healing. He founded the non-profit org, The Hemp Heals Foundation after his younger sister, Jaime was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and found a way to treat and alleviate her symptoms through her diet - specifically through the use of hemp. Click through for details!

Nope it's not a trendy new club or restaurant opening,  this is better friends... The Dirt Factory means good news for Philadelphia composting. The Dirt Factory is University City's new composting center. If you're new to the green game, (find out about the Dirt Factory & composting, after the jump!)

I recently received an invite to attend an evening sold as a "conversation" about the local food movement. (Disclaimer #1: Specifics withheld:My intention is not to embarrass any individuals, but to discuss my frustration from this experience.) Since I've been screaming 'GO LOCAL" on GPB for the past few months, I felt like I wanted to rejuvenate my feelings on the topic and get some new insight. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The format of the discussion was pretty straight forward: Young woman "expert" wrote a thesis, presented a PowerPoint with a few short clips (including Food Inc. & Freakanomics), followed by discussion. The most frustrating part of the evening was the presenter's arguments against the local food movement. (Disclaimer #2: I've read a book pro-locavore and anti-locavore.) Although I love a good debate, I felt that many of her anti-locavore arguments weren't well explained. Therefore, I've analyzed a few of the "Going local isn't all it's cracked up to be" arguments:

I've had a few friends move and therefore ask this question lately: Where can I get a recycling bin?

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has returned for another round of their Pop Up Garden again... They transformed a vacant lot in Rittenhouse Square into a temporary garden. 1905-1915 Walnut St will turn