It is no small feat to have been nominated, let alone to have made it to the final round. It is very important to get the word out about as many environmentally friendly organizations as possible, and with that in mind the 12 finalists for the 2009 Philadelphia Sustainability Awards are profiled below:
A Civic Vision for the Central Delaware
The civic vision and action plan advance sustainability in two ways: First, the planning process represents a new model for civic engagement that involves the community in truly meaningful ways. Second, at the core of each plan is the overarching idea that the central Delaware riverfront functions as an integrated system and that development practices must seek to ensure the long-term sustainability of the riverfront.
The civic vision and the action plan were created through a citizen-driven, open, and transparent planning process. Through a year-long series of riverfront walks, community forums, and large public meetings, over 4,000 of Philadelphia's citizens gathered to share their goals and ideas for the future of the riverfront. The public discussion led the following guiding principles that informed the final vision for the riverfront: reconnect the city to the river's edge, honor the river, design with nature, strike the right balance, take the long view, protect the public good, and lastly, but not least, make it real.
Bob Pierson for Farm to City
Farm to City provides a range of services to Community Supported Agriculture Farmers, and charges a percentage of the share price based upon those requested by the various farmers. For example, Farm to City works with the farmer to define the CSA, including how many shares can be provided and for what cost, what crops will be included in the share, how long the season will be, payment systems, and other issues.
Farm to City then recruits CSA shareholders for the farms. Optional services including brochure production, bookkeeping, drop-off site management, communications with shareholders (including handbooks, and a monthly newsletter), and organizing special events. Bob also addresses shareholder complaints, and evaluates the season with surveys of the shareholders.
Drexel GREEN
With more than 6,000 employees, Drexel University is one of the city and region's largest private-sector employers. With more than 21,000 students, Drexel is the largest private university in Philadelphia. And with more than 80% of its students remaining each year in the Greater Philadelphia region - and today, with 65,000 alumni here -there are few institutions that can have a greater impact on this region in the area of sustainability than Drexel. Recognizing that potential, they committed themselves in 2008 to becoming, in the words of President Constantine Papadakis, "a sustainability leader."
Drexel GREEN is in the process of changing the culture of the campus community. That will take time. But every year, when over 2,000 students graduate, each will be taking with them a better sense of their responsibility as citizens to sustain the health of our planet.
Energy Coordinating Agency
Liz Robinson started working at the People's Emergency Center and realized more than 25 years ago that energy costs represented a significant expenditure for low-income households. Now energy costs represent significant costs for many more sectors of our society. Funding for ECA's low-income conservation and education programs has grown steadily, enabling ECA to weatherize more homes each year, saving 20% to 50%.
ECA's staff is steadily growing to meet the rising demand for services. ECA now has 95 full time employees, including HERS raters, engineers, licensed mechanics and electricians, energy auditors, and installers. ECA is also helping to expand the presence of green collar jobs that are a rapidly growing sector in Philadelphia's workforce to create a new clean energy economy.
Philadelphia Eagles 'Go Green'
When it was launched in 2003, Go Green was a ground-breaking campaign, incorporating green initiatives, sustainable business practices and educational programs as our core operating principals. Our mission continues to be creating and sustaining championship performance on the field and in the community through practices that promote the quality of life, green the environment, and improve one's impact on the planet.
The Eagles are the first professional sports organization to implement an environmental strategy, instituting recycling programs, operating on 100% clean energy, the procurement of post-consumer recycled paper products, tree-planting programs, the use of organic and pesticide-free materials on our playing and practice fields, the replacement of plastic cups and utensils with corn-based products, and bio-diesel fuel recycled from the cooking fats used in the team's kitchens.
In 2008, the Philadelphia Eagles purchased 14 million kilowatt hours of wind power. This major purchase will allow the team to run on 100% renewable energy at Lincoln Financial Field and the NovaCare Complex training facility all year long. Working with Native Energy and MCEnergy, the Philadelphia Eagles have become the first NFL team to operate exclusively on clean energy.
Green Affordable Philadelphia, a LEED for Homes Pilot Program
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia launched Green Affordable Philadelphia, a LEED for Homes pilot program, to provide the highest quality affordable housing to its partner families while enhancing its environmental stewardship. Seven homes on the 4200 block of Stiles Street are the first affordable houses in Philadelphia being built to Silver LEED standards. In addition to lessening the environmental impact of house construction, green building ensures that Habitat homeowners will spend up to 65% less on utilities than they would in typically built homes.
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia builds and rehabilitates houses and neighborhoods by providing simple, decent, affordable homes in partnership with families in need. Habitat partner families, living in substandard or overcrowded conditions and typically earning $15-35,000 a year, contribute 350 hours of "sweat equity" in return for a zero-interest mortgage. But as Mayor Michael Nutter stated at the ribbon-cutting of the first three completed homes, it makes no sense to help someone purchase an affordable home if they can't afford to heat it.
GREENandSAVE.com
It can be tricky to figure out what the best methods are for limiting your carbon footprint, so GREENandSAVE has attempted to make your decisions easier for you. With their Master Return on Investments table, GREENandSAVE does all the legwork for you, and breaks down their calculations to show which home or office renovation projects will bear the most fruit in the shortest amount of time. Their ROI table contains projects whose payback comes in just a few months, as well as larger-scale renovations, like solar panels for the roof, or low-flush toilets, that will take years to pay for themselves. No matter how big or small your budget for Home Remodeling, we have some suggestions that will loosen your fiscal belt, and allow you to continue to save for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the ROI table, GREENandSAVE has forged a strategic partnership with Philly.com to provide 60% or more of the content to their new Green channel which Mr. Szoradi spearheaded over the summer of 2008. The relationship extends at a minimum through 2011, and as Philly.com receives over 40 million page views, GREENandSAVE is able to get out their message of Eco-Sustainability in articles whose topics range from Fashion and Gifts to Home Remodeling Tips.
Mill Creek Farm
The Mill Creek Farm is a non-profit urban educational farm dedicated to improving access to fresh food in the West Philadelphia community. In addition to using sustainable agricultural practices to grow fresh produce on formerly vacant land, the farm is also an education center, offering opportunities for visitors and volunteers. The farm demonstrates green building and urban sustainability practices including compost, beekeeping, cob construction, solar electric, living roof, material reuse, biodiesel, and a graywater system.
The Mill Creek Farm was founded in 2005 in West Philadelphia, transforming a vacant lot into an urban farm through the Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Stormwater Management program. The farm and adjacent community garden are located in the Mill Creek neighborhood, which is predominantly low-income and African-American.
Next Great City
The Next Great City initiative aims to address issues that have been holding back Philadelphia's neighborhoods. By reducing asthma, improving parks, making public transportation safer and getting litter off the streets and into recycling bins, every neighborhood in Philadelphia will become a healthier, greener place to live and work for generations to come.
Next Great City has the support of 108 diverse organizations ranging from Congreso de Latinos Unidos, the AFL-CIO of Philadelphia, Committee of Seventy, Habitat for Humanity, NAACP, Neighborhood Interfaith Movement, the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition. The breadth of this coalition ensures the support and engagement of Philadelphians of all neighborhoods, ethnicities and backgrounds and we continue to grow and add more support.
PECO Energy
PECO Energy was nominated by three different organizations for beginning a five year environmental initiative, aimed at making the company more environmentally friendly through energy efficiency and other cutting edge efforts. Key components of this initiative include the Design and Construction of PECO's first "green" building in West Chester, PA and the creation of the largest green roof in an urban setting in Pennsylvania on their headquarters building. PECO is also pursuing LEED-EB certification at existing sites around the region.
PECO's Environmental Initiative is part of Exelon's environmental stewardship program entitled "Exelon 2020: A Low-Carbon Roadmap". This comprehensive environmental plan of PECO's parent company sets the goal of reducing, offsetting or displacing more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020.
Schuylkill Banks Greenway - Locust St. to MLK Blvd.
Schuylkill Banks is the tidal segment of the Schuylkill River south of the Fairmount Dam in Philadelphia. This stretch of river was historically an outdoor retreat for urban dwellers, but the industrial revolution left it contaminated and disconnected from neighboring communities. Poor access to this river in the heart of Philadelphia was caused as much by pollution and stigma as by limited physical access points and the overgrown state of the Banks.
From the decline of the industrial revolution to the end of the 20th century, the east bank of the Schuylkill River south of Martin Luther King Boulevard (formerly West River Drive) was abandoned and disconnected from the urban fabric of Philadelphia. Few people visited the site, so it became a haven for illegal activity. As late as the 1990's few Philadelphians believed that this stretch of river could be reclaimed for positive use. However, the City of Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Commission and Schuylkill River Development Corporation had the revolutionary idea to transform this forlorn bank into a riverfront destination in the heart of Philadelphia, one of the first industrial riverfront reclamation projects in the city.
Thin Flats
As the first LEED duplexes in the country, and most importantly being sold at a market rate price, Thin Flats proves that sustainable building does not have to be more expensive. This is a fundamental mission of Onion Flats.
Thin Flats is a unique experiment for Philadelphia, the region and the country. Scheduled to be the first LEED Platinum duplexes in the country, this project demonstrates that the highest level of sustainable building and living is not only possible, but accessible in a dense urban setting. It also shows how this is achieved by working with existing typologies of dwelling in the city: the Row house/duplex. As such, Thin Flats will be model of sustainable building for the country. This project will educate the general public, private developers and politicians through concrete and measurable ways that sustainable building must be common place, not a series of novelty exercises for those who can afford it. They believe that through Thin Flats it will become that much more apparent to wider audience that the question is not what is the cost of "living sustainably" but rather what is cost of living otherwise.
GREENandSAVE.com is a free resource for anyone that wants to save energy, money, and the environment. The articles, product reviews, online tools, and return on investment calculations are researched from a diverse range of public and private sector sources. Overall, the company is passionate about saving money as well as creating healthy homes, offices, and lifestyles.
For more information on the Philadelphia Sustainability Awards, check out their website at PhiladelphiaSustainabilityAwards.com. And for great ways to make your home more sustainable, take a look at the Return on Investment Rankings for Home Remodeling at GREENandSAVE.
