Farm Films: Urban farming documentary double feature at Drexel tomorrow

For all those guilty of drooling over the fresh produce sprouting up in Philly’s many urban farms, it’s time to stop staring and learn about the roots of this growing movement. The Westphal College at Drexel University is hosting a special screening of two farm-focused films tomorrow, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. First, watch "West Philly Grown," the story of West Philly’s own Mill Creek Farm, a community provider of organic produce and educational programs. Then, stick around to learn about Detroit's urban farming scene in “Urban Roots,” which screens at 7:30 p.m. Once you’re thoroughly motivated to get digging, discover how to turn your farming dreams into reality with a panel discussion featuring leaders of the movement. Admission is $5 or free with a Drexel I.D. The screening is at Drexel’s Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St.).

Green Big Year: 100 species and a rare wildlife experience

Snowy Owl, Warren County NJ Jan 2012, Adrian BinnsI’m three weeks into my Big Green Year—my attempt to see as many birds in one year using only environmentally responsible transportation. I’m already up to 100 species. Besides birds I’ve encountered just walking and biking around the city, I’ve take several trips.

I carpooled with my father and two other buddies up to North Jersey for Snowy Owl, a rare visitor from the Arctic, and a Chaffinch, a vagrant bird from Europe. This could be Jersey’s first record of a Chaffinch, if accepted. In each state there are rare bird committees who may determine the bird is an escaped cage bird rather than one way off course migration—known in the bird world as a “vagrant”. Birding is so often about chasing vagrants, often with only one person in a car. So instead, we carpooled and lined up a bunch of vagrants to get maximum bang for our gas.

On the way back from North Jersey we picked up a Say’s Phoebe in Bucks County, a vagrant from the western U.S., and a Clay-colored Sparrow in Pennypack Park, a vagrant from the Midwest. We finished the day at FDR Park in South Philly for a Cackling Goose, also a western vagrant. These were all previously reported birds.

Another trip was to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in my friend’s work hybrid. He had to go to this part of Jersey to pick up snakes from a colleague for environmental education programs, so we able to add some birding to his trip. We picked up many species of duck, which are just now moving south in numbers due to our mild winter. Forsythe is a place I’ll visit many times during my year as I can bike to it from the Absecon New Jersey Transit train station.

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Coming up Roses: Think spring thoughts with gardening workshops this month

Image via photography-match.com

Mother Nature’s tease of spring-like weather probably has you ready to swap your gloves and snow shovels for gardening supplies. But while winter is still sticking for a few more weeks, it’s never too early to start planning your gardening.

Throughout the month of February local gardening gurus are holding a number of workshops teaching everything from seed starting to composting to orchard growing. So break out the seed catalog and start thinking about bringing some life to your backyard! For more gardening events, check the Grid calendar.  

Saturday, February 4

• Amending Your Soil Workshop (12 – 2 p.m.) Learn how to amend your garden soil and get your beds ready for spring. Greensgrow Farm, 2501 E. Cumberland St.
• Worm Composting Collective (12 - 2 p.m.) Build your own worm-bin and learn how to care for your new compost pets. Pre-Registration required. $20 for members $30 for non-members. Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.  

Wednesday, February 8

• In-home Composting (6 - 7 p.m.) Learn how to turn food scraps into nutrient-rich compost with Green Guide Holly Logan. Sustainable 19125, 2446 Coral St.

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Move Along: The Alliance for Biking and Walking publishes 2012 Benchmarking Report

Image via peoplepoweredmovement.orgBiking and walking are commonplace in Philly, but ever wonder how our city stacks up next to the rest of the nation in its treatment of bicyclists and pedestrians? The Alliance for Biking and Walking recently published its third biannual report on the state of biking and walking in America, which aims to provide the most accurate data to policy makers concerning the nation's walking and biking needs. This year's data demonstrate that Philadelphia is doing its part to show some brotherly love to those who forgo fuel-powered transportation. The 51 largest cities in the nation and all 50 states were surveyed to find out who is most effectively promoting these emissions-free means of transportation.

Here are a couple of reasons to pat your fellow Philly pedestrians and bicyclists on the back:

Philadelphia has the eighth highest rate of citizens who bike or walk to work, with 1.6 percent of commuters biking and another 8.4 percent walking. Of the top ten largest cities in the nation, Philly has the largest percent of bike commuters, according to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

Such high rates are thanks in part to the city’s extensive network of bike lanes. Philadelphia has the third highest concentration of bike lanes per square mile – another reason to be thankful for the new lanes on 13^th Street.

This city knows how to get out the word. Philadelphia successfully satisfied all categories related to efforts at bike promotion and has one of the oldest bike advocacy organizations, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, founded in 1972.

All that enthusiasm is resulting in real change. Philadelphia has been progressively introducing goals and implementing policies benefiting bicyclists and pedestrians. For example, Philadelphia is one of 19 cities to have a complete streets policy, which seeks to transform streets so that they promote all modes of transportation.

Unfortunately, Philly still favors motorists in terms of traffic laws. We're one of only eight cities to not fine drivers who fail to yield to bicyclists and pedestrians. But bikers must be on the lookout for reckless drivers as Philadelphia has the ninth lowest rate of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities of cities surveyed.

A Great Disruption: Grid and Schuylkill Center host book discussion

A new Grid issue will be hitting stands soon, but if you’re looking for a sustainability fix, join us this Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. for the first in a series of conversations hosted by The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

Alex Mulcahy, Grid’s publisher, and Mike Weilbacher, executive director at the SCEE, will be offering their personal and professional insight on Paul Gilding’s provocative book The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring on the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World.  

The Great Disruption provides an alternate point-of-view to the upcoming economic and environmental challenges humanity will encounter in the next few decades, and the important role sustainability can play.

Come prepared for an interactive discussion on this important issue. The event is free and no registration is required. For more information visit schuylkillcenter.org/events/.

Volunteer and Sustain: LFFC seeking volunteers to host CSA deliveries in Philadelphia

Image via www.lancasterfarmfresh.com/csa/defaultWant to help local farmers connect with Philadelphia customers? The Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative (LFFC) is recruiting enthusiastic volunteers to host weekly deliveries of fresh organic produce to neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

The LFFC is holding its “Site Host Information Session” Feb. 15 at Ultimo Coffee (1900 S. 15^th St.) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for those interested in volunteering. Volunteers would host a weekly pick-up site at their home or business as part of LFFC’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

The LFFC is a nonprofit organic farmers’ cooperative of more than 75 farmers in Lancaster County, Pa. The CSA program allows area residents to purchase a subscription before the season begins, to help the farm operation when start-up costs are high and farm operation is at its lowest. In return, members receive a weekly box of fresh and nutritious produce.

The event will consist of informative presentations and a question and answer session. Both prospective and current volunteers are encouraged to attend.

For further information contact Evan Miller at 717-656-3533 or csa@lancasterfarmfresh.com

Also, registration is open for winter, spring and summer CSA shares.

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Tony Croasdale: Welcome to my Green Big Year

Tony CroasdaleTony Croasdale is an environmental educator, field biologist and most importantly, avid birder. This year, the Philadelphia resident is blogging for Grid about his mission to observe as many species of bird as possible—what birders call a “Big Year.” The catch? Croasdale is doing all his birding via sustainable transportation.  

When attempting a big year, birders often drive long distances alone or even fly and then, drive to see one species. Huge amounts of fuel are consumed. In general, birding as a hobby tends to be highly fossil fuel consumptive. I want to show a more environmentally responsible way to bird. By carpooling, combining trips, using public transportation and human power, I believe one can still observe large numbers of species in a year. And what better place to do this than Philadelphia? We have ample public transportation and our region combines diverse habitats in a relatively small area strategically located on the Atlantic Flyway. We have one of the best birding locations in the country.

As I attempt to reach my big year goal, I’ll be blogging about my progress, both in observing birds and utilizing green transportation. I do have experience birding the “green” way. I’m part of a bicycle team that competes in the World Series of Birding and in 2009 my tram took first in the Carbon Footprint Cup category. But before I began, I made three rules to ensure I was keeping to the principles of a Green Big Year.

1. I will only count birds seen from foot, bike, sailboat, human powered watercraft, or public transportation.
2. I will not count birds if I flew, drove, or was driven to a location specifically for birding. For example, if I flew to Arizona for birding, I cannot count birds on a hike up Madera Canyon.
3. I can accept a short ride to a birding location if traveled most of the way by an alternate means. For instance, accepting a ride to Militia Hill Hawk Watch after taking the train to Fort Washington. If a vehicle is traveling for another purpose, for business for instance, I can use that trip for birding; a conventional car must have at least three passengers and an alternatively fueled car must have at least two passengers. 

Leading the Charge: PASA Announces Leadership Award Winners

Image via pasafarming.orgThe Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture is gearing up for their annual “Farming for the Future” conference this week (Feb. 1-4), which will include the presentation of their leadership awards.

This year, Philadelphia’s own Mary Seton Corboy of Greensgrow Farms in Kensington will receive the Sustainable Ag Leader Award, while the Sustainable Ag Business Leadership award is going to Frankferd Farms Foods of Saxonburg, Pa. 

The awards, given as part of the PASA-bilities Leadership Award Series, were created to honor the individuals and businesses leading the way to a sustainable food future.

Corboy began Greensgrow Farms in 1997, when she started growing gourmet lettuce. Since then, she’s expanded into a nursery, a farm stand and a 600-member CSA program—all on a single acre, a former galvanized steel plant site in Kensington. (Check out Grid’s September 2010 cover story on Corboy.)

 Frankferd Food Farms, family owned and operated, was started 30-years ago when T. Lyle Ferderber and his wife left college and began grinding flour. Today, the Ferderbers run a farm, flour mill and natural foods warehouse.

Greensgrow and Frankferd are just two of the incredible farms part of Pennsylvania’s sustainable agriculture movement. Read about other PASA members in Grid’s annual Farmbook, hitting stands next week with our March issue.

For more information on the PASA conference, “Breaking Ground for a New Agriculture: Cultivating Versatility and Resilience,” visit pasafarming.org/conference2012.

  -- Anna Louise Neiger

City Learning: New fellowship in Philly provides environmental research experience

Image via esf.edu/urban/Are you a graduate or undergraduate student studying urban and environmental studies? Are you interested in topics like landscape architecture, engineering, conservation and urban natural resources? The new Sustainability Science Fellowship is an ideal opportunity to put those interests to practice right here in Philadelphia.

The fellowship, a new program of the U.S. Forest Service, City of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Horticultural society, will provide students with research experience aimed at promoting environmental literacy and increasing the number of young scientists within the field.

Projects proposed should foster collaboration, science delivery, and communication to help sustain the environmental well-being of Philadelphia’s urban areas. Students will be paired with Forest Service scientists who will serve as mentors and help oversee the completion of each project. For more information visit the Philadelphia Field Station website.

Applications are due to the Philadelphia Field Station by February 20.

Save the Mountains: Penn, Temple students meet with PNC over mountaintop removal

An example of mountaintop removal. Image via blog.sungevity.com/Mountaintop removal might not seem like an issue pertinent to Philly residents, but students at Temple University and University of Pennsylvania would disagree. Local banking favorite PNC is a major financier for companies engaged in the practice. And at Temple and Penn, the relationship with PNC is close. Both universities have exclusive contracts with the bank. Additionally, Penn receives financial contributions from the company and at Temple, J. William Mills III, regional president for PNC, sits on the board. 

This fall, with support from the Earth Quaker Action Team, who started their own campaign against PNC, Penn and Temple engaged their communities in discussion and activism on the issue. Their work appeared to culminate this past Monday, when the Penn Community Against Mountaintop Removal and their counterpart at Temple individually met with PNC executives in hopes of convincing them to abandon their destructive investment. The meetings, although organized by their respective universities, did little to move the groups’ objectives forward. However, they were a go-ahead for taking their campaign to the next level.

“We intend to form a coalition with the 35 other alliance schools [who also have contracts with PNC],” said Danny Teich, a Temple student who spoke for his group at the press conference on Monday. “We currently have a statement of solidarity signed by six schools in the area and are currently organizing student life closure of PNC accounts on campus.” 

Look for more information about the campaign in an upcoming Grid issue. In meantime, find out more about the students’ work at mtratpenn.org and check out a video of Temple students being arrested this fall during a PNC sit-in.