This Friday is Bike to Work Day

For the 5th consecutive year, Mayor Michael Nutter is riding a bike to work. We’ll ride from Lloyd Hall to Love Park, and celebrate the most fun you can have commuting.

Take this opportunity to convince a co-worker to give it a try! It’s a short ride, the forecast is looking perfect, and your co-worker will be able to say that the first time they biked to work, they had a police escort! Makes for a good story.

National Bike to Work Day

Date: Friday, May 18th
Gathering time: 7:30 – 8:30 AM (ride leaves at 8:30 AM)
Gathering point: Lloyd Hall
Destination: Love Park
Coffee: free and available

We’ll be leaving Lloyd Hall at 8:30 sharp and biking down the Parkway to Love Park.
There will be a short press conference at the Park, with Mayor Nutter and  Alex Doty from the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition offering remarks.

1. The very concept of a “ zero carbon neighborhood”, is a great way to build a shared vision for a neigborhood
2. This is happening not in Silicon Valley, not in New-York City, but in the heart of an old industrial city: Bethlehem – PA
3. The energy to power the neighborhood is locally generated and uses new, more efficient and cheaper solar power technology.

Read on….

A Bethlehem company is starting an experiment with some of the newest green technologies.

The Stone House Group for more than a decade has been in the business of advising schools, universities and companies on energy efficiency. Now, the company is going to put its practice to use in three historic buildings it owns in the Five Points area of South Bethlehem PA.

The company aims to create a zero-carbon neighborhood where its buildings produce no greenhouse gas emissions and manufacture all of its needs on site

“When we looked at what we do and recommend, we recognized that with a little energy and creativity we knew we could do it here,” said Larry Eighmy, Stone House’s founder and managing principal.

The first part of Stone House’s plan was to mount a 20-foot-wide solar collector on the roof of the 101-year-old landmark flatiron building at the corner of Broadway and West Fourth Street.

Atop the parking deck next door, the company will install an array of solar panels later this year. And at two adjacent buildings in the 400 block of Wyandotte Street, the group will install a system to convert the oil generated by the planned gastropub into reusable energy to heat, cool and power the two buildings.

The solar collector at the flatiron building has been designed by another Bethlehem company, CEWA Technologies. The company got its start in April 2009 through Ben Franklin Tech Ventures, and the Stone House project will be CEWA’s first test of its new technology, company President and CEO J. Paul Eisenhuth said.

The company’s dish-shaped solar collector is cheaper and lighter than standard solar panels but can produce as much energy. CEWA’s collector costs about $15,000 to $20,000 compared to about $200,000 for an array of solar panels that produce the same amount of energy, he said.

There are currently government tax rebates available for solar panels, but there’s no guarantee they will always by available, Eisenhuth said. CEWA — which stands for Clean Energy and Water for All — hopes its solar collector can be an affordable alternative energy sources for businesses, he said.

“If this comes together, it could revolutionize the solar industry,” said Laura Eppler, Ben Franklin’s marketing director.

The Stone House Group is also installing traditional solar panels atop its Broadway parking garage to add to its alternative energy production and compare their productivity to that of the CEWA solar collector. Larry Eighmy, Stone House Group’s founder and managing principal consider the Five Points neighborhood project as a laboratory, to test and validate  promising approaches to generating solar energy.

The company owns the entire 6-story, 30,000-square-foot flatiron building, which comes with a 48-year-old oil burner and a $65,000 annual energy bill. Retrofitting 100-year-old buildings to make them energy efficient is far more expensive than constructing new green technology buildings, but it fits into the environmental goal of revitalizing urban neighborhoods where people can walk or use public transportation, he said.

Creating such a community also is part of Stone House Group’s zero-carbon neighborhood. The proposed gastropub located at 409 and 411 Wyandotte St. will be called “Greenhouse Pub” and will include three apartments. The company hopes to build new housing in the neighborhood to provide homes for possibly 100 people, Eighmy said. The company is hoping to get the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designprogram’s highest certification and to do so requires a carbon footprint reduction through projects such as live-work neighborhoods, said Michael Ozenich, a Stone House senior associate.

Stone House also believes its zero-carbon neighborhood can help revitalize the Five Points area. Bethlehem officials highly praised the company’s plans on Wyandotte Street, where two rundown buildings will be renovated, and the flatiron building has significantly increased its occupancy since The Stone House Group bought it seven years ago.

Renate can be reached at wabisabiorganizing@gmail.com and her website is : www.wabisabiorganizing.wordpress.com

Inspiration

“The day you feel the whole world is your home,
the sky is your ceiling,
the earth is your floor,
and every tree is your garden,
then you are really home”.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Vedic Teacher and Founder of the Art of Living

“Even if I knew the world would end tomorrow, I’d still plant apple trees today.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Walking the Green Talk by Saving Energy

Walking the spiritual path with practical feet includes cutting down our carbon footprint on our beautiful planet earth. There are many small steps we can take as individuals – and equally important as communities (houses of worship, workplaces) – to support the great turning.
As the saying goes power corrupts, absolute power corrupts totally. The same applies to our coal, gas, oil, nuclear sourced electricity that contributes to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Thirteen Tips for saving Electricity and Money

1. Lighting

Turn off the lights in rooms you are not using. Use natural light wherever possible.
Switch to Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs). Find LEDS (Light Emitting Diodes) if you can. Use dimmers wherever you can.
Have more candlelit dinners as a friend of mine used to say.

2. Appliances in the kitchen and around the house

Unplug your appliances when not in use, especially when you are on vacation or on a business trip or a retreat.

3. Electronics

Turn off the TV/DVD player and radio when no one is watching or listening. It also cuts down on noise pollution.
Unplug Power Adapters and Chargers. Even when the cell phones or digital cameras are all recharged the chargers still draw energy unless you unplug them.

4. Computers

Even when the computer is shut down, it still uses energy like most other appliances.
To avoid this get a SMART POWER STRIP and plug your computer, lab top and printer into it.
If you don’t have one of the power strips, at least set your ENERGY SAVER PREFERENCES for your hard drive to SLEEP after 15 minutes and your whole computer after 30 minutes.
Check GREENPEACE.org for a list of the most environmental electronic companies.

5. Water Heaters

Lower the thermostat on your water heater from 140 F to 120 F. It saves about 10% on your energy bill. And it slows buildup of minerals and corrosion in the heater and the pipes. Turn the thermostat totally off when you are away for several days.

6. Dishwasher

Wash only full loads of dishes. It also saves precious water.

7. Refrigerator

Keep the temperature at 36-38F in the refrigerator and 0-5F in the freezer. Wait until food has cooled before putting it into the refrigerator. Don’t keep the door open any longer than absolutely necessary. Keep the freezer full, for example with water bottles, thus using less electricity. Defrost food from the freezer by putting it in the refrigerator the night before.
Defrost the refrigerator and freezer regularly, at least twice a year.

8. Washer & Dryer

Wash and dry only full loads. Dry your clothes outside weather permitting. Or put them on clothes racks inside the house. In the winter it adds much needed moisture to our dry rooms.
Choose ENERGY STAR washing machines.
Choose a dryer with an automatic shutoff.

9. Heater

If feasible install a programmable thermostat. Lower the temperature to about 50F while you are not at home in the winter.
Have a professional inspect your heater and tune up your furnace once a year.
Use only space heaters that comply with the latest safety standards.
Have the ducts and filters of forced air heating systems cleaned at least once a year (better twice for people with allergies).

10. Air Conditioner

Use a fan first; especially ceiling fans are very effective. Don’t set the thermostat below 78F in the summer. It’s ok to sweat in the warm season. Open all he windows and let fresh air move through the house/apartment. During oppressive heat waves above 90F draw the curtains and blinds and close windows during the day to avoid hot air coming in, and open at night to cool it out.

11. Windows

Choose Energy Star or Low-E Windows. The coating helps to block too much heat coming in.
Or install storm windows that keep cold and moisture out

12. Insulation

Insulate the attic and the basement, windows, doors to prevent air leaks. Consider insulating the outside walls of your house.

13. Cooking

Cut food into small pieces before cooking. Choose the right size pot. Put lids on pot and pans.
Turn down heat once pot is boiling. Use only as much water as is needed to cook the item.
Use steamers and pressure cookers. Convection ovens save energy. Make one-pot meals, like fabulous veggie stews. Cook for two or three days.
Use an electric kettle for boiling water. Just put in the amount of water you really will need for your tea.
PLAN AHEAD by getting ready-made meals out of the freezer early, thereby they won’t need energy to defrost. Get a crock-pot.

Renate would love to hear if you are inspired to apply any of the eco tips of this series.

Namaste

Business owners in Philadelphia have a new incentive to go green with a pilot program starting with the 2012 Tax Season.  In December 2009, the Philadelphia City Council passed a proposal to offer tax incentives of up to $4,000 for certified sustainable businesses. You can find more details on the Philadelphia Sustainable Business Tax Credit on this page of the Philadelphia City Government website.

In order to qualify for the tax incentive, businesses must be certified as B Corporations by the nonprofit organization B Lab, which is based in the Philadelphia area. More than just an environmental designation, certified B Corporations must meet social and environmental standards and commit those standards to the company’s governing documents. This is meant to ensure the company’s sustainable character will survive changes in management or ownership.

During discussions at a city council meeting, Philadelphia’s director of sustainability, Katherine Gajewski, described a sustainable business as one that will “minimize environmental impacts while improving the local community.” This can be accomplished through the standard sustainability initiatives, such as recycling and using high-efficiency lighting, as well as through community-oriented practices, such as patronizing other local businesses or hiring from local low-income communities.

The tax incentive is expected to be mutually beneficial for businesses and for the city. While a sustainable business reaps financial benefits, the city will gain the advantage of businesses that support the residents, the environment and resources of their local communities.

The Philadelphia City Council set a limit of 25 businesses per year that can be awarded the tax incentive. Initially, the council had hoped to offer the tax incentive to more businesses, but the economic climate caused them to take a more financially conservative approach. The pilot program is set to run from 2012 through 2017, after which it will be eligible for renewal once it has been reviewed by the city council.

According to B Lab co-founder Bart Houlahan, other Pennsylvania cities are considering following Philadelphia’s model and creating their own sustainable-business tax incentives.

Although Philadelphia is the first city to offer a tax incentive to sustainable businesses, the federal government has several incentives for green businesses:

• Owners of energy-efficient commercial buildings can claim a deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot.
• Businesses that use hybrid vehicles in their operations may be eligible for tax incentives up to $12,000.
• Grants are available for businesses that use renewable energy resources, such as solarheat, wind power or fuel cells.

Additionally, several states have incentives for businesses and individuals using renewable energy or energy-efficient resources. For a guide to each state’s programs, visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.

If anyone needs an example of what Transitioning to a local economy looks like along with combining the benefits of Technology , here it is:
Someone figured how to use Video and  Internet technology to create a series of simple online tutorials on how to do Urban Composting.

By signing up to the class you also get access to expert level mentoring and email reminders to feed your worms or turn your compost pile.

If you are curious to find out more about this virtual class, here is the link: The Art & Science of Urban Composting

Renate can be reached at wabisabiorganizing@gmail.com and her website is : www.wabisabiorganizing.wordpress.com

Inspiration

“When you see the earth from the moon, you don’t see any divisions there of nations or states. This might be the symbol for the new mythology to come. That is the country that we are going to be celebrating. And those are the people we are on with.”  – Joseph Campbell

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

Walking the Green Talk by Detoxing our Homes.

Now that we have de-cluttered, given away and recycled this spring season, it is time to do a serious detox of our homes to make them eco-kosherfor Passover/Easter and beyond.

Here are 10 Eco Tips to get you started. Maybe doing one area a month will make it less overwhelming and more affordable. And please spread the word in your communities.

1. Take off your shoes

Take off your shoes when you enter your apartment or house. This helps prevent outdoor chemicals from becoming indoor toxins.

2. Open the Windows

To help circulate the air and get that fresh spring chi into your house open the windows as often as possible, but at least once a day. Clean your air ducts and vents regularly

3. Avoid Dry Cleaned Clothes

Find a dry cleaner which uses wet-cleaning and biodegradable products. If you can’t find one, air out your clothes first for two days at least before putting them back into the closet/wardrobe.

4. Filter Tap Water

Activated carbon filters can remove chlorine, lead, mercury, copper, pesticides, solvents, radon, parasites and some volatile organic compounds from tap water. Reverse osmosis removes fluoride, cadmium, asbestos, bacteria, arsenic, barium, nitrates.

5. Use Natural Cleaning Products

Many household cleaning products contain various chemicals and toxins that are hazardous for our health and the environment. Use on-toxic biodegradable cleaning products from Sun and Earth (local and also sells in bulk), Seventh Generation , Earth Friendly,  Biokleen, Mrs. Meyers, Bon Ami, etc

Create your own Cleaning products (grandma’s approach):

• White vinegar is excellent for cleaning mirrors and windows.
• Tee tree oil is effective at removing mold and mildew
• Baking soda, water and white vinegar is the ideal scrub for glass, ceramic (our new stovetops), stainless steel, sinks and counters, toilets and bathtubs.

6. Use Green Dish-washing Products

Most of us wash our dishes daily or run the dishwasher every other day. What stays on our dishes and in the water are chemicals you don’t want to ingest. Use plant-based products such as Ecover, Seventh Generation, Sun and Earth, etc…

 7. Replace plastic

Replace plastic food and beverage containers with glass, stainless steel or ceramic containers. If you choose plastic for storing food, select “BPA-Free” and “Phalate-Free”. Replace plastic wrap with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Avoid food packaged in styrofoam and disposable take-out containers. For big events replace the plastic by using biodegradable products from GreenLine Paper Company (almost local: York, PA).
Please use your eco-friendly water bottle and coffee travel mug on the go.

8. Replace non-stick cookware

Replace non-stick cookware with cast iron, stainless steal, copper, glass or ceramic cookware. This is probably one of the harder ones. So if you use non-stick pans, don’t preheat them, never put in the oven, and discard them when the surface becomes scratched.

9. Use Natural Bodycare and Cosmetic Products

According to the Environmental Working Group, we apply 126 unique ingredients to our skin and most of them have not been tested for safety. Use organic and biodegradable products for soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, body lotion, skin cream, sunscreen whenever possible

10. Choose Organic House Plants

Indoor plants have the ability to help clean the air by removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde. If the plants were grown with lots of pesticides they will emit toxins. Another important step is to replace the plastic pots with clay pots or another natural material. At least one plant should be placed close to your computer to balance the electromagnetic field (at least a little). Fern, ivy, orchids, ficus tree, peace lily, mum, dracaena, snake and spider plant, daisy philodendron have been shown to filter harmful chemicals.

Renate Woessner is the author of Walking the Green Talk.
She also is a Professional Organizational Coach who can help you clear your mind and make decisions, de-clutter and set up easy-to-use organizational systems, find “gold nuggets”, i.e: lost treasures, make your space more green and sustainable, re-purpose some of your belongings to the benefit of others, help you setup priorities to better manage your time.

Renate can be reached at wabisabiorganizing@gmail.com and her website is : www.wabisabiorganizing.wordpress.com

Spring is in the air and by tradition, Spring is a time to clean our houses.

This year, the suggestion is to go beyond the usual Spring clean-up by de-cluttering our houses from the excess of our accumulated abundance.  De-cluttering is the first step toward  more simple living.

De-cluttering is no easy task. De-cluttering is a time when we confront our attachments, all of our attachments.
I found this amazing mindmap  from Paul Foreman, a prolific mind-mapper that summarizes the subject visually.

So here are a few possibilities to give new life to the abundance (or excess) in our spaces to the benefit of others.

The go-to-list for almost everything is: www.phillyfreecycle.org

BOOKS

* Walk Crooked Mile Books (Mt. Airy Train Station) www.walkacrrokedmile.books.com

* Friends of the Free Library (behind Free Library) www.libraryfriends.info

* Harvest Book Outlet  (Fort Washington)  (also CDs &DVDs) www.harvestbooks.com

* Book Trader (downtown), phillybooktrader@gmail.com and www.abebooks.com

* BookCycler  (Mt. Airy, benefits girls in Kenya) www.BookCycler.blogspot.com

* The Spiral Bookcase (Manyank) www.thespiralbookcase.com

* Books through Bars – 4722 Baltimore Avenue  Philadelphia, PA 19143 (215) 727-8170

CLOTHES

* The Career Wardrobe, (Spring Garden St.)      www.careerwardrobe.org

* Salvation Army (Roxborough), www.philadelphia.satruck.org

* Monkey Business (Chestnut Hill benefits hospital)

* Good Will (South St.) www.goodwillnj.org, Ft. Washington, www.yourgoodwill.org

* Impact! Thrift Stores (Montgomeryville) www.impactthrift.org

* Purple Heart: http://zc.purpleheartpickup.org/

FURNITURE/Reclaimed Lumber/Reclaimed Architectural Elements

Salvage (Mt. Airy) www.philadelphiasalvage.com

Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles http://uhurufurniturephilly.blogspot.com

Salvation Army and Good Will  ß????

COMPOST: ORGANICS & FOOD WASTE

Philly Compost, Inc. www.phillycompost.com

Bennett Compost:  http://www.bennettcompost.com/

Philadelphia Neighborhood Compost map: http://www.phillycompost.com/Map.html

Use recycled products wherever you can.
For example paper products from Green Line  www.greenlinepaper.com Seventh Generations products, Preserve toothbrushes and razor blades, rechargeable batteries, etc…

What follows are preparation notes written by Chris Mooney for remarks he recently gave at the Tucson Festival of Books.  He talked about his new book The Republican Brain on a panel entitled “Will the Planet Survive the Age of Humans?”
Chris Mooney is the author of four books, including “The Republican War on Science” (2005).  His next book, “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science—and Reality,” is due out in April.

The full article was first published on Alternet.org  

The question before us on this panel is, “Will the Planet Survive the Age of Humans?” And I want to focus on one particular aspect of humans that makes them very problematic in a planetary sense — namely, their brains.

What I’ve spent the last year or more trying to understand is what it is about our brains that makes facts such odd and threatening things; why we sometimes double down on false beliefs when they’re refuted; and maybe, even, why some of us do it more than others.

And of course, the new book homes in on the brains — really, the psychologies — of politically conservative homo sapiens in particular. You know, Stephen Colbert once said that “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” And essentially what I’m arguing is that, not only is that a funny statement, it’s factually true, and perhaps even part of the nature of things.
Colbert also talked about the phenomenon of “truthiness,” and as it turns out, we can actually give a scientific explanation of truthiness — which is what I’m going to sketch in the next ten minutes, with respect to global warming in particular.

The Facts About Global Warming

 So first off, let’s start with the facts about climate change — facts that you’d think (or you’d hope) any human being ought to accept:

It turns out that the case for human-caused global warming is based on simple and fundamental physics. We’ve known about the greenhouse effect for over one hundred years. And we’ve known that carbon dioxide is a heat trapping gas, a greenhouse gas. Some of the key experiments on this, by the Irishman John Tyndall, actually occurred in the year 1859, which is the same year that Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

We also know that if we do nothing, seriously bad stuff starts happening. If we melt Greenland and West Antarctica, we’re looking at 40 feet of sea level rise. This is, like, bye bye to key parts of Florida.

Enter the Denial

So then, the question is, why do people deny this? And why, might I add, do Republicans in particular deny this so strongly?

And if your answer to that question is, “oh, because they’re stupid” — well, you’re wrong. That’s what liberals want to think, but it doesn’t seem be correct. In fact, it seems to be precisely the opposite — smarter (or more educated) Republicans turn out to be worse science deniers on this topic.

This is a phenomenon that I like to call the “smart idiot” effect, and I just wrote about it for AlterNet and Salon.com. Let me tell you how I stumbled upon this effect — which is really what set the book in motion. I think the key moment came in the year 2008 when I came upon Pew data showing:

• That if you’re a Republican, then the higher your level of education, the less likely you are to accept scientific reality — which is, that global warming is human caused.

• If you’re a Democrat or Independent, precisely the opposite is the case.

This is actually a consistent finding now across the social science literature on the resistance to climate change. So, for that matter, is the finding that the denial is the worst among conservative white males — so it has a gender aspect to it — and among the Tea Party.

So seriously: What’s going on here? More education leading to worse denial, but only among Republicans? How can you explain that?

A Three-Level Explanation

Well, I think we need to understand three points in order to understand why conservatives act this way. And I will list them here, before going into them in more detail:

1. Conservatism is a Defensive Ideology, and Appeals to People Who Want Certainty and Resist Change.
2. Conservative “Morality” Impels Climate Denial — and in particular, conservative Individualism.
3. Fox News is the Key “Feedback Mechanism” — whereby people already inclined to believe false things get all the license and affirmation they need.

So let’s go into more detail:

1: Conservatism is a Defensive Ideology, and Appeals to People Who Want Certainty and Resist Change.

There’s now a staggering amount of research on the psychological and even the physiological traits of people who opt for conservative ideologies. And on average, you see people who are more wedded to certainty, and to having fixed beliefs. You also see people who are more sensitive to fear and threat — in a way that can be measured in their bodily responses to certain types of stimuli.

At the extreme of these traits, you see a group called authoritarians – those who are characterized by cognitive rigidity, seeing things in black and white ways — “in group/out group,” my way or the highway.

So in this case, if someone high on such traits latches on to a particular belief — in this case, “global warming is a hoax” — then more knowledge about it is not necessarily going to open their minds. More knowledge is just going to be used to argue what they already think.

And we see this in the Tea Party, where we have both the highest levels of global warming denial, but also this incredibly strong confidence that they know all they need to know about the issue, and they don’t want any more information, thank you very much.

2. Conservative “Morality” Impels Climate Denial — in particular, Conservative Individualism.

 But, you might say, “well, Tea Party conservatives don’t deny every aspect of reality.” And it’s true. Presumably, they still will accept a factual correction if they have, say, the date of Mother’s Day wrong. Presumably they’re still open minded about that… we hope.

So why deny this particular thing? Why deny that global warming is caused by humans? And here, I think you’ve got to look at deep seated moral intuitions that differs from left to right. And it’s important to note at the outset that whatever your moral intuitions are, they push you emotionally to reason in a particular direction long before you are actually consciously thinking about it.

So, conservatives tend to be “individualists”– meaning, essentially, that they prize a system in which government leaves you alone — and “hierarchs,” meaning, they are supportive of various types of inequality.

The individualist is threatened by global warming, deeply threatened, because it means that markets have failed and governments — including global governments — have to step in to fix the problem. And some individualists are so threatened by this reality that they even spin out conspiracy theories, arguing that all the world’s scientists are in a cabal with, like, the UN, to make up phony science so they can crash economies.

So now let’s look at what these individualist assumptions do to the denial of science. In one study by Yale’s Dan Kahan and colleagues:

• “Individualist-hierarchs” and “egalitarian-communitarians” are asked: Who’s an expert on global warming?

• Only 23 percent of H-I’s agree that a scientist who thinks GW is human-caused is a “trustworthy and knowledgeable expert,” vs. 88 percent of E-Cs.

On Sunday April 1^st I will be lending my urban farming perspective to a Green Space Alliance panel conversation on vacant land use in Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia Farm and Food Fest hosted by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Fair Food. Part of me feels honored that my experiences in projects where land access was secured (Woodlands Community Garden, Walnut Hill Community Farm, and the Marathon Master Street Farm) and my day-to-day life at Emerald Street Urban Farm where our project is supported yet our land is not secured, will hopefully provide a future urban farmer with the inspiration or insight to start his or her own project.

But part of me feels a little overwhelmed to be taking on the behemoth subject that is the 40,000 vacant lots in this city. Luckily for me, and many Philadelphians, there is an energetic movement to address 12,000 of these lots. This past winter, Councilpersons Green and Sanchez introduced a bill to create a Philadelphia Land Bank. Currently 12,000 vacant lots in this city are under the purvey of 5 different city agencies. By passing this bill, these properties will be put into the single entity of a Land Bank, which will clean legal problems with the land. The Land Bank will then have a board that will dole out vacant land to other entities such as non-profits, community development corporations (CDC’s), or civic groups for a multitude of community based uses. As I alluded to before, I’m not an expert. This is just a rabbit hole I have been down, so for a more comprehensive explanation of this legislation and land bank structure there is a great article on Plan Philly about the legislation, and the Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land has done tireless work to advocate for this legislation.

As I said, the fore-mentioned entities can better speak to the larger institutional progress being made on the vacant land front. But even if this campaign and legislation succeeds, and even if it can move rapidly through the bureaucratic annals of City Hall, and even if the board assembled by the Land Bank legislation is free of the corrupt cronyism that plagues many good intentions in Philadelphia, there are still 28,000 vacant lots that need to be addressed. And there is still the larger problem of urban farm development in this city. As I’ll write about in another article, with the economy still stagnated, the banks not lending, and the housing market still teetering, along with this compelling and urgent movement to fix our food system, it’s been a very welcoming environment for urban agriculture. But as soon as one of these conditions change, buildings are going to be sprouting out of our soil in Philadelphia faster than the radishes can grow.

I attribute this phenomenon to the sad old story of community development vs. private development that happens too often in this city. A neighborhood puts their blood and sweat into rehabbing derelict properties because those neighbors can no longer stand for the blight being used as a haven for elicit activity. And then when property values rise due to external market forces, and sometimes ironically because of the care and tending of the neighbors, the absentee landowner sells the property. It’s a possibility that keeps me up at night as I think about the 5 vacant lots that my fiancé converted into an urban farm three years ago, and that her and I along with our community now grow food on.

Three of those properties are owned by the city, and they would be completely out of reach for us to ever bundle and purchase. That’s why I’m so grateful for the work that The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land is doing. But competing with the progressive legislation of Green and Sanchez is other legislation that would simply consolidate all of the land into an easy to use one-stop-shop for buying cheap land, which I can foresee opening the floodgates to a land grab by profit-driven private entities. And as I said, there are the 28,000 vacant properties that need to be addressed. So since I’m sitting on the Farm and Food Fest panel as an urban farmer chasing his dream down the rabbit hole, here’s my vision.

Although we don’t own the lots adjacent to our house, my fiancé was extremely wise to purchase the vacant lot attached directly next to the house. On this lot we keep bees, we have berry bushes, wine grapes, and a few other fun farm projects. Aside from the sustenance and leisure it provides us, it also enhances the beauty of our urban landscape through our stewardship. If we ever lost the urban farm, it would be devastating. But this little bit of paradise is at least a partial refuge.

We are not the first people to think of this. On our block there are four families who have lived here for generations who have done the same thing. And just this month, I’ve had three friends who have given me the exciting news that they recently purchased vacant lots near their homes that they hope to put into production. If you troll available vacant land on phila.gov, sheriff auctions or even real estate sites, it’s possible to find plenty of vacant land for prices as low as a few thousand dollars. Another effective way that I’ve seen is to either purchase a vacant lot within an existing land deal, such as buying a house, or to reach out to a property owner directly. Believe it or not, not all landowners are blood-sucking fiends. Some are actually happy to get the land off of their hands and can be very accommodating during negotiations. And even if they are not thinking of selling, I’ve heard of people working out deals with landowners to find an equitable way to put the land in production while it lays vacant.

I’ll admit that this is not a one-size fits all proposal. I realize that buying land is never an easy or affordable process. And I also realize that if Philadelphia property taxes do rise as many people foresee they will as our vacant land issues are addressed, then a steep property tax bill may be prohibitive to someone who simply wants a lot to grow flowers and vegetables. And I’ll also admit that this solution is probably out of reach for many low-income residents in this city. That’s why we need the larger institutional and legislative support I first mentioned. But for those who have the means, I feel that this is a key step to do your part to support progressive land management by becoming a steward of the land through your own private ownership, thus regulating the development from external profit-driven entities.

As a good musician friend once said, “The best moments in a guitar solo are often the silence; the silence gives the solo breath. Just like a guitar solo, when you’re planning a city there needs to be breath between buildings.” This is the breath that William Penn created when he designed Philadelphia. He called green space the lungs of a city. But as the city budget, political will, and commercial development dictates in Philadelphia, it can’t fall on one entity or one piece of legislation to do it alone. So as I advise a person who sees me as the white rabbit and expresses a desire to leave their white-collar job to chase me down the rabbit hole to the wonderland of urban farming, I say give chase. But don’t think that I’ll take you to some magical place where you can leave your profession and farm some big open field in the middle of the city. Keep your job, take that money you earn and rather than spend it on a monthly bill of something you don’t find fulfilling, put it down on a cheap vacant lot. Because the more gardens we can create, the more breath and life we’ll give to the city. And the more time you spend in the garden, the more breath you’re going to find in your profession and your life. And before you know it, that wonderland is going to seem a lot more real.

Paul Gilding was the CEO of Greenpeace and is a writer and author of several books.
Here is a link to his biography.

Here is the full text of his commentary: