GreenPlan Philadelphia -- A planning project to help provide a long-term, sustainable road map for using, acquiring, developing, funding, and managing open space in the city’s neighborhoods.
Philadelphia Sustainability Awards -- The awards celebrate Greater Philadelphia's environmental innovation, economic development and vibrant communities.
Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local-- Organization creates food guides, coordinate tasting events, organize farmers' markets and sponsor farm tours, among other activities.
PhillyCarShare --A non-profit organization that provides members with access to a fleet of vehicles on an hourly basis.
Philadelphia Green: The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society -- A not-for-profit membership organization that provides events, activities and publications for novice gardeners, experienced horticulturists, and flower lovers of all ages.
Fact: America has an abundance of food.
Question: So why does anyone go hungry in this country?
[caption id="attachment_6342" align="alignright" width="272" caption="A potato gleaning in Virginia (Photo: Society of St. Andrew)"][/caption]
Armed with this simple thought, the Society of St. Andrew (SOSA) took up the cause of feeding the hungry in 1979 with the idea of gleaning fields for salvageable produce.
“We do this in two says,” says Carol Breitinger, communications director. “We use volunteers in the field for hands-on gleaning, or we send out trucks to pick up surplus crops that farmers can’t use and would just end up in the landfill.”
This was a week of news that really illustrated the push and pull between green ideals and the realities of life here on Planet X.
The Obama Administration put logging jobs ahead of forest preservation with its decision to allow a road into an undisturbed forest in the Tongass National Forest outside of Ketchikan, Alaska. The forest, a watershed and recreation area, had been left alone under a Clinton-era rule that protects “roadless” forests.
Odwalla is continuing its successful plant-a-tree program by donating $100,000 worth of trees to be planted in state parks in California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.
Visitors to www.parkvisitor.com/odwalla can choose their preferred state to receive a tree — no contribution or registration is required. The trees will be used to support important reforestation and planting initiatives across the country.
Dominion and BP Wind Energy North America Inc. say they are evaluating wind energy projects in southwestern Virginia. The potential wind facilities would be the first projects announced since Dominion and BP said in April 2008 that they had entered into an agreement to jointly own, operate and develop wind energy projects in Virginia.
These potential wind farms in Tazewell and Wise counties would be developed by Dominion’s Virginia electric utility subsidiary and BP Wind Energy North America Inc. Both projects would be subject to all applicable local, state and federal permits and approvals.
The exact size of each project and scope of economic benefits have not been determined.
Three in four Virginians believe that global warming has been occurred over the past four decades, according to an extensive survey of state opinions, released today by University of Virginia researchers.
A smaller percentage of the populace (39 percent) said that human activity “such as burning fossil fuels” is causing the phenomenon; 33 percent felt global warming was caused by a combination of human factors and natural trends; 20 percent attributed it to “natural patterns” and 8 percent reported they were “not sure” of the causes.
The survey of 660 Virginians, conducted byUV’s Miller Center of Public Affairs and released this week, was devised to better probe residents’ viewpoints on global warming, in light of the fact that states have “taken an unexpectedly central role” in forming climate change policy.
Every day at work, you are surrounded by waste that could be easily converted into social nutrition for your community. Have you ever counted all the broken or outdated computers, monitors, printers, phones, desks, and chairs gathering dust?
Many innovators are turning their trash into food by partnering with nonprofit groups with expertise in preparing used items for community distribution. Electro-Motive, a LaGrange, Illinois–based manufacturer of electric-diesel locomotives, took a novel approach to a recent company-wide upgrade of its computers. Instead of throwing out 700 old computer workstations, the company donated them to Chicago’s Computers for Schools, a nonprofit that refurbishes computers for local school systems. And when executives discovered that the recycling program was popular with employees, they organized a three-day recycling drive. Employee enthusiasm was so high that organizers created a follow-up event for the general public at Chicago’s United Center. Between the two events, more than 80,000 pounds of computer and office equipment were collected.
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Odwalla is continuing its successful plant-a-tree program by donating $100,000 worth of trees to be planted in state parks in California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.