Having ranked consistently among SustainLane's top ten cities, it's hard to believe Philadelphia didn't already have an office of sustainability. But in July 2008, the City of Brotherly Love finally made its commitment to the environment official. Only six months after he was sworn into office, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter created a senior cabinet-level appointment: Director of Sustainability. Nutter has promised to make his city the greenest in America. We've heard this triumphantly proclaimed from a number of mayors' podiums, but we're particularly excited to see what happens when an already top-ranked city unifies its green efforts under one roof. (As for us here at SustainLane…we're eyeing that recycling rate).
"Philadelphia is happy to be in good company among the top ten cities, but our goal for the next ranking is to break into the top five and ultimately become number one. Our plan is to become a strategic consumer, manager and producer of energy. The City will use a growing demand for conservation to drive our workforce investments and guide our job training. We also want every Philadelphian to have equitable access to healthy environments. This would include, for example, every person having to walk no more than 10 minutes to purchase healthy food. It's important for Philadelphia’s citizens, corporations and government to partner together to meet our sustainability goal of becoming the greenest city in America." --Mayor Michael Nutter
(Photo by Rdsmith4)
What do you get when you multiply 1,000 square feet by $100?
If Chad Ludeman and Nic Darling do the math, you get a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house within walking distance of the grocery store, less than two blocks from the subway (known as the “L”) and three stops from downtown Philadelphia.more »
You may have thought the greenest thing about Philadelphia's major league baseball team was its furry green mascot, the Phillie Phanatic. But the city that once led the nation as its first capital back in 1774, is leading the U.S. in a new way in 2008: its professional sports teams have taken unprecedented steps towards greening their enterprises. In April 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies announced it would offset the carbon footprint created by electricity use at Citizens Bank Park. It bought 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Certificates, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says represents the largest single purchase of 100-percent renewable energy in professional sports.more »
If you’ve hung around Greenies at all – or heck, if you’ve picked up a newspaper in the last few years – you’ve heard of “retrofitting”…mostly with regard to environmental engineering. That’s when you go back to an already-built-up site, like a city, and make it green. Add in renewable energy, install a light rail system,put trees on roofs. You get the idea. But have you ever thought of retrofitting an ancient religious tradition? And, more specifically, the Jewish Passover seder? Much like the Freedom Seder he fathered during the Civil Rights era, Philadelphia’s Shalom Center director, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, has once again re-visioned the centuries-old Passover ceremony. This time, he’s made it green.more »
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Is there any link between political affiliation and sustainability policy? We ran the numbers!
...we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil...The best way to break this addiction is through technology. —George W Bush (2006)
US City Rankings, next edition!
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