Stories

Happy Friday, Green Philly Friends! Hope you got a dose of spring with this warmer weather & the Philadelphia Flower Show last week! It's been a while since a good ol' sustainable link roundup, but there's so damn much going on in Philly & in green-land. Here's some of our favorite links & must-know tips.

St. Patrick’s Day is so close we can taste the green beer. After making your Irish holiday more sustainable, it's time to kick back and relax with a delicious treat. This vegan version of the shamrock smoothie will put those corn-syrup, ridiculously fat-packed shakes to shame. Shameless Shamrock Smoothie:

Attention local food & brew lovers: we hope you made it to the one-of-a-kind the Brewer's Plate this year! The Brewer's Plate had a perfect balance of local noms, brewskies, liquors and dessert. Each exhibitor was enthusiastic about their tasty creation, and the pours were generous. As Ann Karlen, Executive Director, Fair Food stated, "The event benefitting Fair Food was a huge success in bringing together brewers, restaurants and consumers as a way to celebrate local foods and artisans – a very big part of our mission. We tried something new this year, as we featured Aimee Olexy in our VIP area where she led a guided tasting of cheese paired with beer. Everyone really found it interesting and enjoyed it". Let's take our tastebuds and revisit the Brewer's Plate 2013:

There once was a time when the now ubiquitous catchphrase "there's an app for that" elicited a cynical reaction in me. Perhaps it was because I held on to my blackberry for a little too long (I thought it was easier to type on.) Or, maybe it's because I tend to be a bit skeptical when it comes to the notion that technology can solve all our problems. Maybe I even thought "hey my grandparents and their parents and everyone before them did just fine without apps or iPhones so I can too." Whatever the reason... I got over my stubbornness and discovered a whole slew of apps that make my life easier. There's several eco apps that are particularly useful and interesting to me, and I think these free eco apps listed below might be helpful to you too. iRecycle:  Tells you how, where and when to recycle.  You can sort by categories such as automotive, electronics, glass, household, paper and more. The app will use your location, or you can input a specific location and it pulls up resources that'll help you decide where to take your stuff. Click through for more apps to help you stay green!

Meow Meow! (That's "Hello" in Cat.) Hey readers! Last week, my Mom wrote about how to adopt a green cat like me. I wanted to tell my side of the story too, so I got my little paws onto her laptop. She's been asking what I do all day when she's working hard to keep food on the table and more importantly, in my bowl. (Insider tip: I've actually been working on a novel about life on the Street. When I want to goof off, I check out Caturday, 7 days a week. Why bother learning 7 names of days when you can just learn one?) Usually my days look like this: What can I say? It's a tough life, and I have this mini-catlike friend who doesn't even meow. Mommy told me that we have to be conscious of our Carbon Catprint, to make sure that future kitties and owners have a place to live and lounge. She always says she's trying to be 'green', but she looks awfully pale to me, just between us. However, I don't mind the sustainable things that we do to help out the Earth. Here are a few meowservations I've noticed:

We like to give you a variety of sustainable happenings around Philadelphia, occasionally from other voices. When we think about environmental leaders, religion may not be the first group to come to mind. However, Guest Blogger Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark shares an upcoming Eco Film Festival at Chestnut Hill College this Thursday. On Thursday, March 14, Chestnut Hill College is hosting a FREE (and open to the public) Eco Film Festival from 8:30 - 5:30 PM in the East Parlor, St. Joseph Hall. This all-day film festival includes showings of five eco-related films, each followed by a brief discussion with an expert presenter including Gretchen Alfonso from Moms Clean Air Force, and Logan Welde, Clean Air Council of Philadelphia. (Find out more, after the jump!)

Ever walk into a bathroom after someone had left it a little... smelly? I'm not talking about that kind of smell. After all, we are all mammals. I'm talking the un-natural, flowery (or fruit) chemical-laden smell of an air freshener spray. Air fresheners are a billion dollar business and are linked to numerous health problems including: (find out more, after the jump!)

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:

Last Friday the New York Times announced that it's eradicating their green blog. My first reaction? Boo! Hogwash! That's a bunch of crap! In all seriousness though my worry is that this cut is sending a message that environmental issues just aren't that important. While times are certainly tough for print publications these days, and cuts may be necessary this is a big blow to the Times eco-minded readers. Though in hindsight the demise of the green blog isn't all that shocking given that in January the Times announced that it was dismantling their Environment Desk team. The New York Times managing editor for news operations, Dean Baquet said, "Today, environmental stories are partly business, economic, national or local, among other subjects," Baquet said. "They are more complex. We need to have people working on the different desks that can cover different parts of the story." Not an unfair point but let's be real here...