Soak it Up, Philly!
Mar 2nd
Unless you’ve been pulling a Rip van Winkle lately, you’ve heard it before: As part of its long-term commitment to improving the health of the City’s waterways, the Philadelphia Water Department is focusing a great deal of attention on a “greening” approach.
What you may not realize is just how many PWD “green infrastructure” projects are popping up all over the city. Or how they are having a truly transformative effect on the ‘hoods where they’re being put into place.
The first of a series of public events unveiling some of the projects (see Soak it Up, Philly) was held March 1 in Fishtown where Water Commissioner Howard Neukrug, Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources and Commissioner of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Mike DiBerardinis, New Kensington Community Development Corporation President Sandy Salzman, and other dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the completion of Philadelphia’s first stormwater-friendly GREEN STREET.
A green street restores some of our urban landscape’s natural function by capturing rain or snowmelt (stormwater runoff) and allowing it to soak into the soil instead of flowing directly into the City’s sewer system. This not only helps reduce pollution and prevents flooding, it brings a host of other benefits to a neighborhood, including beautification, cleaner air, and a renewed sense of community pride.
The Waterview Recreation Center in the East Falls neighborhood uses the same kind of stormwater tree trenches that were used in Fishtown. This video explains more about why rainwater runoff is a problem and how these “green tools” work:
Keeping Water On Site: Waterview Recreation Center from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.
For everything you ever wanted to know about runoff and what’s being done about it, visit StormwaterPA.org.
For more videos about Philly’s exciting Green City, Clean Waters program, check out our Vimeo Channel.
And be sure to follow PWD’s Blog.
Maybe it’s time to Remember the River
Feb 16th
With all of the discussion about drilling for gas in the upper Delaware River watershed and dredging in the tidal portion, we thought it a good time to revisit the Delaware from the perspective of those who value it in a wide range of ways.
We created the following Remember the River video for our friends at the Delaware Riverkeeper Network as part of their ongoing campaign to provide this amazing waterway with a voice at the table. The video was derived in a large part from our PBS documentary Life on the Delaware, which aired on stations throughout the country. If you’re interested in a copy, Life on the Delaware is available here.
Remember the River from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.
If this moves you to want to get involved, join the Riverkeeper’s e-activist team and stay up to date on what you can do to help protect this treasured resource!
Home Greening Instills Sense of Pride, Community in Cobbs Creek Neighborhood
Nov 22nd
Last week, the GreenTreks team was on hand at the Cobbs Creek Environmental Education Center for the first screening of our latest video, Green Homes. It was a special treat to reconnect with participants in the Darby Cobbs Watershed Partnership/Philadelphia Water Department supported project almost a year after we initially filmed.
True to the stormwater management theme, the weather was wet and dreary, but attendees spirits were not to be dampened. They loved the film — and to a person, they agreed that they’d participate in the project again if given the chance. In fact, when asked if they’d be so enthusiastic if asked to share in project costs (they were fortunate enough to be the pilot community, so the project was fully funded), the answer was a resounding YES!
Here’s the video that will have others scrambling to bring the Green Homes initiative to their own neighborhoods:
Green Homes from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.
Philly Hosts another Green Conference: Cities Alive
Oct 20th
Hot on the heels of the recent Low Impact Development Symposium at the Loews Hotel, Philly will host another flock of transformative thinkers the end of next month.
Cities Alive, the 9th annual Green Roof & Wall Conference, is coming to the City of Brotherly Love November 29-December 3, 2011.
This international event is co-hosted by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
Why here, you ask? Check out the video from our friends at PHS for a few of the answers. All in all, we’d say this is just one more indication that Philadelphia is at the leading edge of the sustainability curve.
For More information visit Cities Alive.
Good for you, Good for Planet II: People Power Produces Electricity
Sep 21st
With all of the gyms around, we’ve wondered about the potential for generating power to light the studio spaces or run the always on ESPN tuned TVs for awhile now. Rather than using electricity to run all the newfangled cardio machines, why can’t we channel our energy and put our calorie burning activities to use?
A little further investigation led us to the Green Microgym, a Portland based outfit which bills itself as “the world’s first electricity generating gyms.” Through energy creation and conservation, they figure they generated 36% of their power needs and saved 37,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in 2010 — the equivalent of:
- 74,000 pounds of carbon emissions
- 81,400 miles NOT driven
- 15 acres of trees planted
Pretty darn impressive, and when combined with their other sustainability-focused efforts (no bottled water for sale; purchase of quality lightly used equipment when possible; member controlled lights, fans, tvs; recycling program and focus on recycled products; high efficiency compact fluorescent lighting; etc), it makes one wonder the collective impact corporate fitness centers could make if they sacrificed a little green to Go Green…
For info about the equipment they use at GreenMicrogym, visit Plugout Fitness>>
Closer to home, some local students are having a bit of fun adn getting into the act. Check out the piece that recently ran in Philly.com:
GreenSpace: At Drexel and Temple, pedaling produces electrical power – Philly.com
