Greenworks Philadelphia 2013 Progress Report Released

Greenworks Philadelphia 2013 progress report, which marks our progress against the ambitious Greenworks plan, has been officially released to the public.

The 4th annual Greenworks progress report boasts that work on 95% of the original 166 initiatives is underway or complete. Greenwork’s goal is to complete the initiatives by 2015, in order to infamously become America’s Greenest City. 43 initiatives were completed as of 2013.

Notable are reducing our Greenhouse Gas Emissions, which have dropped 13% (goal: 20%). The report references the May 2013 announcement by the National oceanic and atmospheric administration that “global carbon dioxide levels reached an average daily concentration above 400 parts per million.” Also, Philadelphia diverted 77% of waste from landfills, including 49% recycled. The 2012 Philadelphia Marathon diverted 87% of waste from landfills. Philadelphia prisons have composted 600 pounds per day (good enough for prisoners and NY – what about the rest of the city)?

As  Sarah Wu, Policy and Outreach Manager in the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability told GPB,

“For the first time this year, we have enough data to track Greenworks trends over time, and we’re very happy to report that the majority of our targets are trending toward our established goals. Thanks to all of our partners who have helped us make such great progress. We wouldn’t be nearly as successful without you!”

Greenworks Philadelphia – Program at Academy of Natural Sciences

The 2013 report was released on Thursday, June 20th, coinciding with an event at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Appropriately titled Are We There Yet?: Becoming America’s Greenest City, attendees heard from the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability personnel Alex Dews (Policy & Program Manager), Sarah Wu (Outreach & Policy Coordinator) and Katherine Gajewski, (Director). Other personnel from the Philadelphia Water Department, Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities, Parks & Rec, as well as an Energy Manager & Energy Conservation Coordinator.

Philadelphia Water Department’s Christine Marjoram shared that over 1000 solar panels are powering the Southeast Treatment plant, which is the equivalent to 32 PA homes/year. Andrew Emma of TreeKeepers shared his enthusiasm about the Roots to Reenter program, helping soon-to-be released inmates acquire tree tending skills. Adam Agalloco and Kristin Sullivan are hopeful that the $100 million the city spends annually on energy can be reallocated to other funds. Sullivan was fascinated by all the stats, proudly exclaiming “Your city is managed my dorks!”

Highlights of the 2013 Greenworks Philadelphia report include:

• A reduction of municipal energy use by 7 %
• Alternative energy use increase from 2.5 to 14%
• Nearly 90,000 trees planted since 2008
• 11.6 new miles of trails completed since 2011
• Reducing vehicle miles by 10% has been exceeded, with 5.34 billion vehicle miles traveled since 2005’s baseline of 5.96.
• City Council’s passage of energy benchmarking and disclosure legislation
• More than 10 percent reduction in vehicle miles traveled in Philadelphia.
• Philadelphia Water Department has distributed 3254 rain barrels as part of its Green City Clean Waters initiative – or the amount to manage 17 olympic sized pools yearly.
• 133 new acres of park space have been added to Philadelphia, helping the #14 Parkscore.
• 37 new farmers markets & 47 new farms/gardens make the goal of walkable access to healthy, affordable foods at 97%.

Overall, the report is pretty impressive since we don’t often hear about Philadelphia’s small green victories. Will we be the greenest city by 2015? It seems like we’ll need some more time to complete ‘all’ the goals, but we are on our way to at least be taken seriously by other cities.

Readers, did you have a chance to see the report? What are your thoughts?