Grid Magazine February 2021 [#141]

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Lawsuits threaten park volunteer groups

South Philly Food Co-op opens its doors

A North Philly farm feeds its neighbors

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FEBRUARY 2021 / ISSUE 141 / GRIDPHILLY.COM

T O W A R D A S U S TA I N A B L E P H I L A D E L P H I A

THE PAT H TO

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Raymond Baccari Philadelphia, PA raybaccari.com @ray_baccari, @wculivlab TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF I am a father, artist, noisemaker, and huge music enthusiast.

I grew up in Northern Virginia, and am now a freelance artist and the co-founder of the STEAM-based artist collective, LIVLAB, where we focus on experiential learning, art and technology, and recontextualized storytelling.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON? I have an artistic love for everything loud and proud! Most of the objects I make are sound-based sculptures and installations with an interactive element, asking audiences to initiate sound or actively listen. I’m currently working on getting my art practice set up in Philadelphia, so I’m on the hunt for exhibition opportunities.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? I hope that this next year is fruitful for me and my work. I hope to be teaching regularly by the end of next year because I love connecting with young artists and seeing their visions for the future. I’ll continue to explore how sound and noise can be used to create artwork and seek out commissions and exhibitions in the region. Becoming an even better craftsperson will open new doors for me by elevating the quality of art I produce.

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EDI TO R ’S NOTES

by

alex mulcahy

E publisher Alex Mulcahy managing editor Alexandra W. Jones associate editor & distribution Timothy Mulcahy tim@gridphilly.com copy editor David Jack Daniels art director Michael Wohlberg writers Bernard Brown Amanda Clark Nic Esposito Siobhan Gleason Gabrielle Houck Randy LoBasso Jacques Sapriel Lois Volta photographers Drew Dennis Milton Lindsay Rachael Warriner illustrators Woody Harrington Sean Rynkewicz Lois Volta published by Red Flag Media 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.625.9850 G R I D P H I L LY. C O M

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veryday when I commute to work on my giant orange bike, American cultural values are on full display.

There in the bike lane, a UPS truck has come to a halt. An Uber driver is looking at their cell phone, waiting for a passenger. A moving truck is slowly filling up with a lifetime’s worth of stuff. A newly constructed shack stands: outdoor seating for the hardy and devoted who just want to have a meal with friends.

Each of these squeezes me out of my lane and into traffic. My safety, my life, has been deemed by others as worth risking. This points to one simple truth: Capitalism has run the numbers, and people on bikes are not worth the cost of protection.

I resent that.

However, I understand it. Delivery drivers would be fired if they didn’t bend and break the rules to fulfill their work duties. Restaurants are unlikely to survive the pandemic without outdoor tables to serve. Sometimes, as the old song goes, you gotta move—so you park your U-Haul wherever you can.

Underlying this all is the primacy of motorists. Cars rule the road.

As I ponder my secondary status on the streets, I pass by a makeshift housing encampment on 13th Street and, a couple blocks farther, another outside the Reading Terminal Market. If my bike and I rank behind cars, delivery trucks and business concerns, where do the unhoused fall on the list? Are they even on it?

The climate crisis and poverty crisis (felt disproportionately by people of color, the result of systemic racism) each demands that we transform our economy. To transform the economy, we have to change our values.

In October, City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who chairs the Committee on the Environment, put forth a resolution entitled “Declaring the intent to prioritize climate action and environmental justice in the ongoing COVID-19 recovery effort.” It was approved by 11 councilmembers at the meeting.

In an editorial written for WURD’s ecoWURD blog, “Climate Action Can Power Our Recovery,” Gilmore Richardson advocates for a paradigm shift. “Making these investments will require us to think differently about costs, shifting our mindset from a take-make-waste model to one that is regenerative [emphasis hers].”

More often than not, the costs of a regenerative economy are higher upfront. The status quo has been achieved by hiding the true costs of goods, the “externalities” that don’t show up on the balance sheet but are paid for by human suffering and environmental degradation.

As high as those upfront costs might seem, Gilmore Richardson warns that they are dwarfed by what awaits us as climate change occurs.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed our lives, much in the way climate change will if not addressed. If greenhouse gas emissions aren’t slowed, temperatures will continue to rise and extreme weather will wreak havoc on every sector of the global economy, making the losses we’ve seen from COVID-19 look miniscule.”

In this month’s issue, we highlight Ray’s Reusables and Good Buy Supply, two businesses challenging the status quo and showing what a more thoughtful economy could be. Former Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet Director Nic Esposito talks about the circular economy, where all value is extracted and nothing is wasted.

When we prioritize climate action and environmental justice, we address two profound problems at once. This is how it should be, because we will surely not solve one without solving the other.

ALEX MULCAHY Editor-in-Chief alex@gridphilly.com COV E R IL LUSTRATIO N BY WO O DY HARRI NGTON

I L LU S T R AT E D P O R T R A I T BY J A M E S B O Y L E

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by

lois volta

DEAR LOIS,

How do I stay sane when I’m confined to my house all day?

Q

uarantine hasn’t been easy for anyone, and everyone is crazy in their own way.

Is it normal to water your plants with your period blood? I don’t know. Is that something a crazy person does? Maybe.

This time of isolation has been brutal.

Humans are meant for connection, and after all the therapy, long walks in the woods, telephone calls and Zoom meetings, I have seen something in myself that I can’t unsee: I want to be held in a safe space—physically, emotionally and spiritually.

When my safety is threatened and there is no one to hold me, I feel an enormous amount of instability at the thought of losing anything else. The pandemic is forcing me to isolate, and it taps on deeply rooted childhood insecurities, failures and loss that I have to process in the moment. I’ve seen myself through this time in some of the darkest places I have ever been, and yet I feel like one of the lucky ones who still, at the moment, has a home and food on the table. I don’t take these things for granted.

I take a type of solace when I cry, knowing that I am not the only person that’s been crying all day. I have the feeling of mourning with those who mourn, even if it’s from a distance. It also makes the laughter, love and connection all the sweeter. I laugh with those who laugh, and joy brings tears, too.

Everything feels more meaningful in the fog.

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I have to let this time be healing and let the solitude force me to look at problems, strategize and come up with solutions that were not accessible before. Every time I take my heart and eyes off of the healing process, I find myself surrounded by the fog and I feel hopeless.

The healing has to start in ourselves, and we are most ourselves in our homes, where we now feel trapped. Healing is also properly maintaining ourselves daily.

Examining how we are living, how we relate to ourselves, roommates and family is where we need to put our focus. We need to know what brings us together, how to cooperate and aid in each other’s healing.

We need to be willing to speak into someone else’s darkness with compassion and love because it is healing for us as well.

When we do this, we give ourselves access to speak into our own dark places. We push away the fog, one encouraging word and action at a time. If society reflects the people, how we live, act and treat each other and ourselves is too important to ignore.

I know that I act out of pain, and I am not righteous by any means. I see how this time in history has brought out the worst in me. It is hard to face that my fangs have left puncture wounds and lingering poison in the people who I love the most. I have to recognize that my pain has caused pain for others and I must be part of cleaning that

P O R T R A I T BY J A M E S B O Y L E

TH E VO LTA WAY

IL LUSTRATIO N BY LO I S VOLTA

up, even when I feel like I have nothing left to give.

I find myself in this place where I can see how trauma and fear have shaped my responses and I am confronted with my patterns. This is where I find a bizarre type of strength that comes from lifestyle and habit—a gift in strange wrapping.

I am exercising, cooking healthy meals, and the house is in order and clean; without these things, I would feel untethered. If after all the self-discovery I realize that I just want a safe space and to feel held, well, then I have to start ticking off the boxes one at a time. Step one, create a safe space.

Right now, my home, the place where I am confined, is holding me and I am giving back by taking care of it. I wake up, relight the fire in the wood-burning stove, let the chickens out, reflect and plan out my day over coffee. These small, mundane acts of routine and discipline ground and hold me. I am not a leaf lost in the wind; I am a woman, mother, daughter, sister and friend.

I push my roots into the deep darkness and weather the storm without falling over.

From my home I find strength and courage to take it one day at a time.

We all know that we are staying home to protect each other so we can stop the spread of this virus. Let’s keep caring for each other in this way—but let us also ground ourselves as we understand our own darkness in our hearts and homes. Weathering our growing pains will help us emerge with a sense of healing and purpose for not just ourselves, but for everyone.

Room by room, create spaces that feel safe. Establish your roots so you don’t fall over when life delivers its next blow. Let the way you live be the arms that hold you. lois volta is a home consultant, musician and founder of Volta Naturals. loisvolta.com.

Send questions to thevoltaway@gmail.com.

Good Vibes from the Co-op:

2020 Ed it ion

Ambler • Chestnut Hill • Mt. Airy

Community-owned markets, open to everyone.

www.weaversway.coop

F E B RUARY 20 21

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sponsored content

A Tale of Future Cities

Jefferson’s upcoming master’s program informs urban design with public health

D

esigning the cities of the future requires equal parts imagination and flexibility. Technology that seems distant or far-fetched—like self-driving cars, shared among the population, that drop you off and park themselves—might be closer than we think.

Some technology we anticipate might evolve differently than we expect—or not happen at all.

One thing that we do know about the future is that people, and lots of them, will be residing in cities. By 2050, two out of every three people are likely to be living in cities or other urban centers, according to a new United Nations report. We know that they will need healthful food to eat, clean air to breathe, affordable housing and a sense of connection to their community.

“These demographic shifts are actually offset against the backdrop of extreme environmental challenges relating to climate change and resource depletion,” says Dean Barbara Klinkhammer. “They pose a profound challenge for future cities.”

That’s why, when designing the cities of the future, public health must be at the forefront of planning. Thomas Jefferson University’s Master of Urban Design: Future Cities, set to launch in September 2021, aims to do just that.

The program promises to capitalize on the shared expertise offered by the merger of Thomas Jefferson and Philadelphia University in 2017. It’s a marriage of health, design and business acumen.

The first fruits of this merger is essentially a think tank. The Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities, a transdisciplinary endeavor between three colleges at Jefferson—the College of Population Health; the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce and the College of Architecture & the Built Environment—is focused on research, education and innovation to advance the urban environment.

The aim of the “smart city” is to create a more user-friendly, convenient and efficient place, largely achieved by employing sensors to monitor a myriad of factors. A few examples include sensors to monitor air

pollution levels, the availability of parking spaces and the necessity of having street lights on. The sky’s the limit.

Evelyn Juliano, who graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 2020, warns that, when considering a smart city, fixating on technology is a mistake. “[W]hat can be the red herring of smart cities is technology.… [I]t’s about connecting people.

You have to think about people. You have to think about how a person uses this space.

How does a person interact with the space?”

Juliano was one of a dozen students to work on the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and the project she designed—a bridge and a station for the trams that connect the vast campus of the hospital—is part of the students’ proposal.

“The notion of a smart city is somehow connecting [a] building to the outside, to the city as a whole. And also making sure that the people inside are connected into that network.”

Transforming buildings is one piece of the puzzle in the quest to transform cities.

Community health will be emphasized in the Masters of Urban Design: Future Cities, and Klinkhammer welcomes the new viewpoints her colleagues bring.

“We’re working with occupational therapists, for example, in interior design ... we sometimes work with completely different disciplines,” she says. “We just recently worked with The Center for Autism on a Neurodiversity Symposium with our Interior Design program. What we are now doing is really going beyond our own discipline, and bas[ing design] on the experiences and the research other disciplines are doing, and making it part of our own design processes.”

“What Population Health has brought to us is to really look into the social determinants of health and how they impact the wellbeing of human beings.” Klinkhammer says. “We are now able to put metrics to that in the collaborations with our Population Health colleagues, and really, really pinpoint what we need to do as architects and urban designers to bring change.”

THE MISSION OF Jefferson’s College of Architecture and the Built Environment is to educate the next generation of design and construction professionals to create an equitable and sustainable future.

Learn more at Jefferson.edu/Grid.

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GRID P H I L LY.CO M

F EB RUA RY 20 21

PowerCorpsPHL engages out-of-work young adults

and returning residents to enter and succeed in energy, infrastructure, and community-based careers through paid training that advances our communities, environmentally and economically.

In Seven Years we’ve: • Connected 160+ young people to sustainability-related careers • Planted 10,803 trees • Restored 9,649 trees • Removed 673 metric tons of debris from

green spaces, recycling over 50%

Thank You to our environmental employer partners!

AKRF Avant Gardens Bartlett Tree Experts Brewerytown-Sharswood CDC Cedar Run Landscapes Davey Exact Solar Fairmount Park Conservancy

FNC Community Learning Farm Food Moxie Francisville CDC Friends of the Wissahickon GEN3 Electric GRASS Ground Tec Operated by:

With support from:

Habitat for Humanity Indego John Haye Landscpaing Nicetown CDC Outward Bound Philadelphia PEER Environmental

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Philadelphia Streets Department Philadelphia Water Department Rodriguez Consulting Smith Memorial Playground Solar States StormWater Solutions The Food Trust

Connect with us: @PowerCorpsPHL

PowerCorpsPHL.org F E B RUARY 20 21

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bike talk

Biking on Credit Government subsidies could change the landscape by randy lobasso of urban transportation

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n 2019, after two years of saving, I was finally able to buy the bicycle of my dreams: the Brompton M6.

Given Philadelphia’s tight living spaces, and the relentless thieves who often prowl for bikes locked up outdoors, the Brompton—a folding bicycle with 16inch wheels—is a fantastic choice for the 8 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M F EB RUARY 20 21

city.

Because it quickly converts to a miniature size (23” x 22.2” x 10.6” according to the manufacturer), it is easy to carry or roll around. And, as goofy as the tiny frame and 16-inch wheels make me look, it rides like a full-size road bike, getting me around town, to and from work, grocery stores and parks.

But the bicycle that best fits my lifestyle wasn’t cheap—the Brompton costs more than $1,500. Since bikes are paid for upfront, it took me two years to afford, and that just shouldn’t be—especially since it’s my main form of transportation.

Today, assuming your credit allows, you can walk into a car dealership and waltz away with a $70,000 truck (that has the ability to both slowly kill the Earth and quickly kill anything in its path). Your purchase and the roads you drive on are subsidized by taxpayers—even more so if you buy a hybrid or electric vehicle—and, in many cases, you can leave without paying a dime upfront.

Not so for bicycles.

No matter what your reason for buying your bicycle, whether for transportation or recreation, whether it’s a $200 single-speed road bike or a $7,000 electric cargo bike, virtually all purchases need to be made upfront, in full.

With new bicycle infrastructure slowly trudging along in American cities, and more people choosing bicycles as their primary transportation mode, it’s time for both the public and private sectors to rethink how Americans pay for bikes. Especially given the societal benefits bikes provide.

Increasingly, technology is being developed that bicycles can replace most, if not all, motor vehicle trips. E-bikes make trips faster and take less effort to ride. Cargo bikes can replace a car trunk. And adaptive cycles make it so almost anyone, of any ability, can ride a bike.

Although these bikes are often pricey, I think we could get more people to buy them if the government would provide owners with the same subsidies and tax breaks that Americans who drive cars and ride trains already enjoy.

As I’ve noted before in this column, if you do not own a motor vehicle, you subsidize roads and vehicles for those who do. If you own a bike and are riding it in a bike lane, most of your infrastructure-earmarked tax dollars are still paying for the space you’re not using, despite what gas tax “truthers” may claim.

To make up for this deficiency, the government could take a step to exempt bicycle components from former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from China. The IL LUSTRATIO N BY S EAN RY NKEWI CZ

Department of Transportation could also, as noted in a recent Bloomberg CityLab article, “work with Congress to make bike expenses and bikeshare memberships eligible for pre-tax commuter benefits” like the Department currently does for the first $270 of transit and private vehicle parking. A bill has already been proposed in the House of Representatives to add bikesharing to this benefit.

We could also replicate the system used to give tax credits to those who buy electric vehicles. For instance, if you buy a Nissan Leaf, the U.S. government gives you a $7,500 tax credit because of the vehicle’s battery power—which is almost a third of the total cost of the vehicle. The U.S. Congress could add bicycles to this tax benefit—which would go a long way toward getting more people on bicycles and easing congestion in cities.

Then there are cash payments: pay people to ride bikes instead of driving. That may sound radical, but it’s already being

done in Europe. In the Netherlands, folks who opt to bike to work earn about 22 cents per kilometer traveled. “It means someone cycling 10 kilometers a day, five days a week, can earn around $500 a year from the taxfree benefit,” as reported by Adam Forrest for the Huffington Post.

The other issue is a bit more obvious.

Because virtually every bicycle you buy has to be paid for upfront, it’s rare that a small bike shop offers any financing options. And unless you want to put a huge sum on your credit card (assuming you have one), then expensive, useful bicycles like electric, cargo and adaptive are often out of reach for the average consumer.

There are a few specific capital companies that provide long-term financing on sporting goods, like bicycles; and some big companies, like Trek, offer financing on their website and for in-store products, but you’ve got to get their credit card to do it.

In Philadelphia, bike shop owners have tried some of these companies, with vary-

ing success. Shelly Salamon recalls her experience with a company several years back at her shops, Fairmount Bicycles and Brewerytown Bicycles.

“All of a sudden you’re not just expected to know tons about bikes, but also about how credit and the financial world works.

It puts you in the awkward position of having to ask people about their credit—since they won’t get approved if it’s bad—and then breaking bad news to them if it doesn’t work out,” she remembers. “...[L]et’s say the customer does get approved, but then they miss a payment and get smacked with a late fee. Hard to make the case that it has nothing to do with the bike shop, even though logically everyone should know it doesn’t.”

Whatever the solution, it should be easier to buy a bicycle—and not just any bicycle, but the right bicycle. Achieving this, through better financing options or government subsidies, would go a long way toward a greener, healthier future for all.

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 9

Park Protection Advocates push for PA House bill that would protect by bernard brown volunteer groups from lawsuits

A

fter nearly 40 years of organizing nature walks, park cleanups, tree plantings and trail maintenance, the volunteer group Friends of Pennypack Park disbanded in March 2020.

Its dissolution came about after being named alongside the city as a defendant in a personal injury suit, in 2019, filed by the family of a girl injured inside the park by a falling tree branch. After the suit, the friends group was dropped by its insurance 10 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

provider. Unable to find new liability insurance, it was forced to shutter.

Although the freak accident was unrelated to the friends group’s activities, the result of the litigation was entirely predictable. The friends group had been sued several years earlier by the family of a boy who had drowned in the creek while fishing with friends. “[At the time] I said, ‘This is something we should take seriously. It’s going to happen again,’ ” recalls Linde Lauff, the most

recent president of the Friends of Pennypack Park. The 2019 suit was the second case the group had settled.

“When the event occurs, they sue anything with the name ‘Pennypack,’ ” says Lauff. The City of Philadelphia has a $500,000 liability cap, leading attorneys to add groups without such limits to the lawsuit.

“This has been an ongoing problem for friends groups,” says Maura McCarthy, head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, an umbrella organization that supports park friends groups. “I can think of seven [or] eight friends groups locally that have been sued. Most of the time the suits have nothing to do with the operations of the friends groups.”

Advocates are currently working on new

M O N TG O M E R Y C O U N T Y P L A N N I N G C O M M I S S I O N

urban naturalist

These groups perform a valuable maintenance and cleanup function. If they’re going to be chilled, that’s a huge, huge issue.”

— t om forkin, deputy director of Parks & Recreation Properties and Partnerships

L I N D E L AU F F ; A L A N T R AC H T E N B E R G

Left: Pennypack Creek. Right, from top: Linde Lauff, former president of Friends of the Pennypack; a member of the group collects litter during a 2016 cleanup.

state legislation that could bring the group back to life and protect the broader community of friends groups.

There are about 135 park friends groups in Philadelphia, not including similar friends groups for recreation centers and libraries, according to McCarthy. Although a few, like Friends of the Wissahickon and Friends of Rittenhouse Square, have paid staff, mostly these are small groups of neighbors who organize cleanups and other park events and serve as points of contact with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) bureaucracy.

About half are unincorporated.

It is easy for visitors to Philadelphia parks to underestimate the role of volunteer friends groups in park maintenance and programming.

Lauff lists some of the Friends of Pennypack Park activities that are no longer occurring, like nature walks and monthly cleanups. “The kind[s] of things PPR doesn’t get around to doing,” she says.

“We had meetings for the public about issues of interest. We did a monthly newsletter … All those kinds of things that create a sense of connection have dissolved,” says Lauff.

Leaders of other friends groups have been alarmed by the collapse of the Friends of Pennypack Park.

“It’s a little scary for us,” says Sandi Vincenti, president of Friends of Penn Treaty Park. The group has led efforts to revitalize the park, according to Vincenti. It raises money for tree plantings and organizes annual events, including a kite festival.

“The bigger picture of what we’d like to do is engage people in the park,” says Vincenti.

The disbanding of Friends of the Pennypack couldn’t have come at a worse time.

During the pandemic, parks have become critical spaces for recreation and exercise, particularly for people without the resources to travel.

“For many people that cannot afford to take a vacation, their local park is a vacation spot,” Lauff says. At the same time, declining tax revenues and budget cuts have made the city more dependent on outside groups to support the areas.

“These groups perform a valuable maintenance and cleanup function,” explains Tom Forkin, deputy director of Properties and Partnerships for Parks & Recreation.

“If they’re going to be chilled, that’s a huge, huge issue.”

After the Pennypack group was sued in 2019, Forkin reached out to State Representative Mike Driscoll, whose district includes parts of Pennypack Park.

“I alerted Mike that this is a looming nightmare,” Forkin says. Driscoll met with McCarthy and Lauff, and in February 2020 introduced House Bill 2310, which would have provided liability protection to friends groups and other volunteers performing public service.

The Judiciary Committee held hearings in October, but the bill did not get a full vote by the General Assembly by the end of the legislative term. Driscoll plans to reintroduce it in the 2021 term.

McCarthy is optimistic.

“Hopefully, we can get it out of committee and out to the House floor next cycle.”

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 1 1

water

Defending the Delaware Lifelong river steward speaks on the biggest issues facing our watershed

S

ometimes referred to as the “voice of the Delaware River,” Maya van Rossum has served as the Delaware Riverkeeper since 1994. To her, protecting the watershed has always been deeply personal. She grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and returned to the area after law school to protect the Delaware and its tributaries.

Van Rossum has been at the helm of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network as it has taken on industry, government agencies and even the Army in order to protect the river, its communities and wildlife. To hear more about what challenges the group plans to take on in 2021, Grid’s Bernard Brown spoke with her in early January. The following interview has been edited for length, clarity and style.

Fracking and related problems have been a big focus for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network in recent years. What developments are you keeping an eye on in 2021? One is the PennEast Pipeline project that would cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania into New Jersey. This would be a brand new cut through our communities, through our wetlands and through our forests.

There are state’s rights issues in that the pipeline company wants to take lands in which the state of New Jersey has a property interest, and New Jersey said, “No, you can’t take our property.” The courts so far have sided with the state of New Jersey. This is a case that’s now going, potentially, to the Supreme Court. They’re deciding whether or not to take it.

There are a lot of issues around PennEast that involve these abuses of power and abuses of the law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [which regulates pipeline construction] for pipeline companies.

The other example of fracking gas infrastructure that’s really major is the proposal for a Liquified Natural Gas [LNG] export 12 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 20 21

facility on the banks of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, New Jersey.

Normally what happens is the gas gets piped or transported to an LNG facility, and then they put it on ships. What this facility would do is liquify the gas in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, where it’s packed and then taken via truck or train hundreds of miles.

This stuff is very, very dangerous, and when you have a catastrophe, it is big. The trucking and the training of gas these long distances is unprecedented in our nation.

So this is a big experiment and we’re the guinea pigs.

These are important cases of defending the river against industry action and government inaction. Where is the Delaware Riverkeeper Network going on the offensive? Every stretch of the river except the Philadelphia stretch is protected for all kinds of all aspects of use—including what’s called “primary contact recreation.”

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network, working with the Clean Air Council, PennFuture and Environment New Jersey, has proven through photos and videos and personal testimony that people are out there in the river getting in the water in all kinds of ways: Swimming. They’re doing yoga on paddle boards and they fall in. Or you’ve got young kids kayaking for the first time and, you know, the boats flip over.

So we have a petition in with the Delaware River Basin Commission proving primary contact recreation and urging that the commissioners recognize this use legally and put in place the standards that will protect the people.

Also we are advancing a petition for protection of fish. Fifty-plus years ago, there was a standard set for the Delaware River with regard to oxygen, which said that the oxygen levels had to be protected at 3.5 milligrams per liter.

by

bernard brown

Well, the science shows that fish need more oxygen than that.

I can think of a few ways global warming and the changing climate could affect the river.

For example, heavier rainstorms and rising sea levels pushing the salt line [the place in the river where the fresh water flowing from the river meets the salt water of the ocean] up the Delaware. How should we be adapting and taking care of the river in a changing climate? The most important thing that we have to do is not put in place decisions that are going to exacerbate the problem. For example, one of our biggest arguments against deepening the Delaware River was sea level rise, because deepening the Delaware River on its own becomes a source of moving the salt line further upriver. Every time we have a dredging project, large or small, it is another cut that will exacerbate the ramifications of sea level rise.

Upstream, the most significant ramifications of the climate crisis are going to be flooding. We need to stop allowing communities to build and/or rebuild closer and closer and closer to the river. We’re putting people where we know the floods are gonna happen. We are also inflicting direct harm on the river because floodplains are part of the living river system.

How can readers get involved? What should we be doing to fight for the river? We really need the people who love the watershed to go to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network website or the websites of our other partners and speak up.

Just like with the recent election, if the people turn out and cast their vote with their testimony, we can turn it around.

That’s why we have the moratorium against fracking. That’s why PennEast hasn’t yet started to be constructed.

It’s because of the power of the people.

P HOTO G RAP H BY D RE W DENNI S

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum stands beside the Delaware River. She has been a watershed advocate for over 25 years.

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WHAT’S IN STORE The South Philly Food Co-op is finally here story by siobhan gleason

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decade in the making, the South Philly Food Co-op (SPFC) has opened its doors.

Leigh Goldenberg, one of the first 100 member-owners at the coop in 2011, joined before it had even begun searching for store locations.

To Goldenberg, investing in the co-op early on was a commitment to a future vision of a community-owned and democratically run grocery store.

At the time, Mariposa Food Co-op and Weavers Way Co-op, in West and Northwest Philly respectively, were the only grocery co-ops in Philadelphia—both of which first opened in the 1970s and 1980s. (Kensington Community Food Co-op opened in 2019.)

Shortly after becoming a member-owner, Goldenberg began volunteering. Between 2012 and 2014, she chaired the program and events committee, which oversaw recruitment, outreach and fundraising events.

“When I first started volunteering with the co-op and then later joined the board, the structure was very organized. It’s one spot in my life where I’ve been engaged and have seen so many people engaged at the same level,” Goldenberg says.

Through the years, SPFC’s growth has been steady. Conversations with other coops helped inform benchmarks the board used to chart growth.

“Based on what we learned from other co-ops, we had milestones. When we got 14 GRID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

to 500 members, we could start looking for a store,” Goldenberg says. “At first we thought when we had 1,000 members we’d have enough money to open. We actually needed 1,400.”

In the two weeks after SPFC opened its doors, on December 23, the number of member owners had grown to 1,481. Goldenberg expects to see membership rise as more customers visit the store.

Lori Burge, the general manager of SPFC, has worked to make the mission of accessible, affordable food a reality. The co-op already ensures that staple items, such as bread and eggs, are reasonably priced. In addition, local vendors are highlighted.

Some Philadelphia companies featured in SPFC include Crust Vegan Bakery, Philly Fair Trade Roasters and Soom Foods.

SPFC strives to source its food products P HOTO G RAP HY BY D RE W DENNI S

Left: Lori Burge, general manager of the South Philly Food Co-op. Right: Produce piled high inside the store. While the store is owned by members, you don’t have to be a member to shop.

We’re keeping our profits here in the community.”

— l ori burge , South Philly Food Co-op general manager

from organic sources, and local and regional businesses whenever possible.

The co-op took multiple surveys to determine what products member-owners most valued in the store. The input from member-owners shaped the focus on local food.

“Supporting local farmers and producers was a big part of what folks wanted to see,” Burge says. “Additionally, access to fresh produce, meat and cheese.”

Member-owners can also purchase bags and shopping accessories decorated by local artists.

To become a member-owner of SPFC, an equity investment of $300 is required.

This investment can be paid in full or in monthly installments. If a member-owner cannot afford this, the co-op’s Community Equity Fund can help bridge the gap. Member-owners can give a minimum of $5 when

registering and determine how much they can afford to invest over five years. Once the five years have passed, the Community Equity Fund will subsidize the remaining balance.

Goldenberg currently serves as the board treasurer for SPFC. She has helped the coop weather some financial challenges that were caused by a halt in construction on the store this spring due to COVID-19. The opening was postponed from April to December. Goldenberg and other members of the board had to reassess financial needs and adapt.

“Part of me feels that it was a blessing in some ways that we hadn’t opened prior to the pandemic,” Goldenberg says. “If we were a brand-new business that had certain F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 5

Several locally-made items available at SPFC. Items by local vendors are highlighted with labels to make shopping local easier for customers.

procedures, we would have had to incur costs afterwards.”

Now that SPFC has opened, the role of its board has shifted. Chad Hooper, the current board president, worked to reimagine the role of the board as the physical store started becoming a reality. SPFC staff have been hired to make decisions previously made by the board.

“My area of expertise in board governance is in helping boards to understand their role as governors—when they are no longer needed to do the work because the store’s staff are responsible now for the store’s success,” Hooper says.

Hooper is working to help the board build connections with the surrounding community and to refocus on the mission of SPFC, which is to “use food as a force for good.” This means providing affordable high-quality food to neighbors, empowering employees, committing to economic justice and supporting farmers.

“When I look ahead, I see the board’s work refocusing on our mission and values.

I look forward to building additional community partnerships, particularly around food justice and nutrition education,” Hooper says.

Member-owners can also reap the benefits of co-op membership when they visit other stores, thanks to the Shop South Philly, a joint marketing program between SPFC and businesses in South Philly and throughout the city. When member-owners show their membership cards or identification numbers at participating businesses, they receive exclusive discounts. Some businesses participating in the program include Flannel, Grindcore House and Bennett Compost.

Through the program, deals for members of Weavers Way, Mariposa and Swarthmore Co-op also apply to SPFC member-owners.

“We’re able to support other businesses, refer people to other businesses and likewise they refer folks to us,” Burge says.

The co-op principle “cooperation among cooperatives” helps guide SPFC’s relationship with other co-ops in the city. For 16 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 20 21

example, Mariposa donated old shelving to SPFC, which Mariposa originally received from Weavers Way. Elise Greenberg, membership coordinator at Mariposa, values the collaborative spirit of co-ops in the area. “We don’t see each other as competitors. We’re all working towards the same goals. We help each other out as we’re able to,” Greenberg says.

Burge believes that by building community between co-ops and engaging with member-owners SPFC will have an advantage over traditional grocery stores in the city.

“A lot of our community really believes in the co-op model. That we’re democratically owned and controlled and that they have a stake in this business. We’re keeping our profits here in the community,” Burge says.

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F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 17

Reusable items from Good Buy Supply, clockwise from left: cloth shopping and produce bags, bamboo tableware and dishwashing blocks.

RESTORE THE CYCLE We need public policies to incentivize a circular economy, where both customers and businesses turn to reusable packaging story by nic esposito

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hat do you mean you can’t recycle this?”

This is a question I get from my 6-year-old son all too often, especially when we’re bringing new items into our home.

I want to tell him that we need to figure out an economy that can thrive without such an outsized focus on consumption.

But he’s 6, obsessed with “Paw Patrol” and surrounded by an extended family that, like most, revels in giving gifts throughout the year. So I set good boundaries, reduce consumption with our household buying habits and give myself a break.

18 GRID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 20 21

I then also have to admit to myself that I, too, like getting presents. My wife recently bought me an ax to help fuel our pandemicinspired yard fires that happen thrice a week. I was relieved that it came in a simple cardboard box stuffed with paper until I found out that my wife had to dry the metal blade and wooden handle after it sat out in the rain after delivery.

The problem, for better or worse, is that we like stuff, and many times we need packaging to deliver it safely to our homes or local shops. But this packaging is clogging our oceans and mostly being disposed of in landfills and incinerators. What do we do?

As I have written about in previous Grid columns, the answer to my son’s question is that for most packaging, especially plastic packaging, there is either no viable recycling process or, even if there is a process, there is no viable market for the recycled material.

But the spirit of his question is still valid. Why is there so much packaging in the first place that is basically designed to be discarded? And if we do need it, why can’t we utilize a more circular solution of reuse to manage this packaging?

After talking to Jordyn Gatti and Cailynn Chase of the bulk-food start-up Rise Mrkt, an answer jumped out at me.

P HOTO G RAP HY BY D RE W DENNI S

We have all of this packaging because this is just how it’s been done for so long and there’s seemingly little incentive to change.

But Gatti and Chase feel that change is coming.

In Chase’s words, “Companies who concern themselves with public and environmental health will become less optional and more obligatory as fear and anxieties continue to ramp up that we need to do something.”

Emily Rodia, co-owner of the newly opened Good Buy Supply in South Philly (see page 20) also has an optimistic view of the growing consumer demand and market opportunity for less packaging.

“In a similar way, organic foods were a relatively new consumer concept not long ago.

Now organic products can be found in practically every store, with their price[s] becoming gradually more affordable,” she says.

Good Buy is focused on providing consumers with the resources to take circularity into their own hands, with items in stock such as reusable jars for bulk-bought detergent or soap, as well as reusable cutlery and dish sets for to-go meals.

To secure the business model, they view their mission as not only helping consumers to transition to a zero-waste lifestyle by providing all of the needed supplies under one roof, but also to provide the tips and encouragement to make this transition.

But while Good Buy is looking to help consumers transcend the status quo by taking matters into their own hands, Rise Mrkt vies to challenge the status quo while also acknowledging current consumer habits.

Although Chase and Gatti have currently put Rise Mrkt on hold due to the pandemic and the need to focus on other business pursuits, when operating, Rise provides direct-to-consumer sales of grains, nuts, baking goods, spices and other types of materials in reusable pouches.

Once a consumer is finished with the packaging, Rise Mrkt instructs them to store the packages “under the sink.” Rise has calculated that 30 pouches is a fuel efficient enough number to reduce the carbon footprint, so once you hit 30 purchases, an email reminder accompanied by a shipping label is sent to your inbox and you send the packages back to their facility in Brooklyn.

This is one of those ideas you really hope takes flight after the pandemic. Gatti

Based on what we’re seeing, it is likely that brands and stores that promote reduced packaging will have a competitive advantage over those who don’t.”

— l auren tayl or, vice president of Creative & Communications TerraCycle and Chase are very hopeful that there are enough people who want to “vote with their wallets” to create demand for their service.

But they both also have a realistic view of the challenges to updating supply chains and changing pricing structures. They acknowledge that the external subsidies of the make-take trash model, with taxpayers funding waste management systems and cheap oil for plastics, makes their service more expensive, and therefore makes their products inaccessible for much of the population. And then there’s the major corporations who benefit from this model and have little incentive to change.

Thankfully, another company, Loop Global Holdings LLC is trying to spur that global corporate change.

In 2019, the innovative recycling company TerraCycle, headquartered in Trenton, partnered with Unilever and other major brands to launch Loop.

Its system works much like Rise Mrkt’s, but instead of pouches, Loop uses steel containers. And instead of shipping the pouches back, the consumer places the containers in the Loop tote that was used to deliver their products, and then the tote is picked up on the next delivery day. (Loop is serving all of North America.)

But the biggest difference is in the product.

I must admit that the pictures of the bulk grains on the Rise Mrkt looked delicious.

But Loop offers brands that many consumers already use—like Tide, Seventh Generation, Nature’s Path and Häagen-Dazs put them at a competitive advantage.

Still, for a small player like Rise Mrkt, Loop’s widespread adoption should be looked at as a benefit rather than competition, because it’s changing consumer habits toward Rise’s model. And even though Loop is working with the major brands,

their outlook mirrors that of Rise.

TerraCycle Creative & Communications Vice President Lauren Taylor echoes Gatti and Chase’s assessment that people are voting with their wallets, noting that there is still room for more incentives, like “rewarding those who purchase inventory from manufacturers who are making their packaging practically recyclable or from recyclable materials.”

“Based on what we’re seeing, it is likely that brands and stores that promote reduced packaging will have a competitive advantage over those who don’t,” she says.

This was reassuring to hear from someone working with global brands.

But can I confidently tell my son not to worry about packaging because the whole industry is going circular? And what can Philly do to accelerate the circular economy of packaging?

Chase has a boldly proactive idea.

Rather than tax businesses using too much packaging or continue to invest incredible sums of money in waste collection and waste management facilities, why not publicly support businesses reducing their packaging through government grants or direct payments, so they can pass those savings down to the consumer? To some government finance officials and politicians, this may sound ludicrous. But to me, her defense seemed brilliant in its pragmatism.

“If there is taxpayer money going to waste management in the city and it becomes cheaper—or at least ‘break-even’— to instead give that money to a local small business in our community for not creating that trash in the first place, this sounds like a much better way to do good for the local environment,” she says. “And there’s a much higher likelihood that money issued by the grant is actually going to stay within that community as well.”

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 9

REUSE, REUSE, REUSE AGAIN Entrepreneurs put a zero-waste lifestyle within reach for Philadelphians story by gabrielle houck

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hen emily rodia and Jason Rusnock began pursuing a lowwaste lifestyle, they started small. They replaced single-use items in their lives—trading up for things like reusable water bottles and bamboo toothbrushes. Before they knew it, the amount of plastic they put out on the sidewalk each week had dwindled.

20 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

Three years after starting their zero-waste journey, Rodia and Rusnock are the proud entrepreneurs behind Good Buy Supply, Philadelphia’s first shop dedicated exclusively to zero-waste supplies.

The East Passyunk brick-and-mortar offers essentials, like wool dish sponges, shampoo bars and compostable food waste bags, to help customers start living waste-

free. When you order online, the packaging is plastic-free.

Customers can also bring their own jars for the bulk refill stations for soap and laundry detergent.

It was on a trip to Canada in September 2019 that the idea for a storefront was born.

“We came across a zero-waste grocery store, and we loved it,” Rodia says. “I just thought, ‘What if there could be something like this in Philly?’ ” The two of them got to work immediately.

Rodia planned to quit her job when they began looking for storefronts in March 2020.

Of course, COVID-19 derailed everything.

Rodia stayed at her job and they put the store on hold.

The silver lining, she says, is that being home actually gave her and Rusnock more time to design the business.

“We had more time to talk about it and plan out all the items we wanted to bring into the store, so we just kept planning throughout COVID while I was working,” Rodia says. “We had this mindset of ‘When

P HOTO G RAP HY O F G O O D B UY SUP P LY BY D RE W DENNI S

the time comes, we’ll be ready.’ ” When the retail space they’d been eyeing became available, Rodia left her job and they jumped in, opening Good Buy’s doors on Small Business Saturday, November 28.

Rodia admitted that opening a business during the pandemic was nerve-racking.

“I was scared pretty much up until we opened the front door and people actually started coming in,” she says. “I’m definitely still nervous, but not as nervous because people have been so kind and so supportive of us since we opened.”

In addition to being eco-friendly, a lot of Good Buy Supply’s products are local. The store features items from vendors like Remark Glass, Vellum St. Soap Company, and the Kitchen Garden Series.

Kitchen Garden Series founder Heidi Barr is “unbelievably excited” about Good Buy Supply and their contribution to

Philadelphia’s reusable market.

“I think that having a sort of general store that people can go to will really expand the reusable market in Philadelphia, and it’s just so amazing to finally have a storefront that’s 100% my ethos where my [products] can exist,” Barr says.

Founder of Vellum St. Soap Company, Melissa Torre, echoes Barr’s sentiment. Torre says that for people who are looking to get their feet wet in the world of sustainability, Good Buy Supply is the perfect destination.

“When you’re at a grocery store, the employees there aren’t going to take the time to talk to you about what trash bags you should buy, but when you’re at Good Buy, that’s the whole reason Emily and Jason are there,” Torre says. “They want to explain their products to people and help them adopt this sort of lifestyle.”

Another passion project turned lowwaste small business is Ray’s Reusables, a mobile refill station that is the first of its kind in Philadelphia. Founder Ray Daly launched her venture the same weekend as Good Buy Supply with a similar intention of providing the city with accessible, lowwaste products and services.

Daly says the original inspiration behind her business was sewing. She’d taken old jeans and turned them into a cutlery roll.

From there she started making more items geared toward low-waste living.

Daly had planned to open a store for her goods eventually, she says, but when the pandemic hit, and the volume of trash in the city increased dramatically, it gave her a sense of urgency.

“I felt like there was much more of an emphasis [on buying low-waste] because I saw how much more waste was From left: being created,” Daly says.

Good Buy’s “I wanted to make it really Jason Rusnock and Emily accessible, so I decided to Rodia. Ray be mobile and accelerate Daly of Ray’s Reusables. my timeline a little bit.”

I was really surprised by how out-of-the-way some refill stations were, so I’m happy to help bring them here...”

— r ay daly, owner of Ray’s Reusables

PH OTO GRA P H Y O F RAY’S R EUSA BLES BY M I LTO N LI N DSAY

Daly was underwhelmed by Philly’s reusable market. After growing up in suburban Maryland, where the sustainable scene was small, Daly believed that a big city like Philadelphia would have a plethora of options, but that wasn’t the case.

“I was really surprised by how out-ofthe-way some refill stations were, so I’m happy to help bring them here and make them more accessible,” Daly says.

Before starting her brand, Daly participated in her first pop-up, at the Cherry Street Fall Market in October 2019. It was after this that her passion slowly evolved from a hobby to a business.

Since establishing her business and doing pop-ups and farmers markets throughout the city, Daly has received an overwhelmingly positive response to Ray’s Reusables.

“It’s just really touching because before, I’d get people coming up to me at farmers markets while I was still fleshing out my brand, telling me they saw my social media and that they couldn’t wait for me to get started,” Daly says.

In Daly’s van, customers can fill up on laundry soap, dish detergent and house soap.

They can also shop for handmade masks, soap from New Jersey-based business Salty Lemon Apothecary and beeswax wraps from Kennett Square’s Bee Our Guest.

While Daly’s business is mobile, she also rented a space from NextFab that will allow customers to do curbside pickup.

Daphane Mitlo, founder of Salty Lemon Apothecary, says that cross-promoting with Ray’s on social media has been effective.

“For Ray, it’s people who want to be more eco-friendly. For me, it might be people who are more interested in candles or home decor. I post about Ray all the time and she posts [about] me all the time, and through that, we’re capturing an audience for each other … ,” Mitlo says.

The founders of Bee Our Guest, Peter Fitzgerald and Adriana Perez Rosas Fitzgerald, say that a relationship between a local business and a local vendor is the very foundation to a more sustainable society.

“The reusability is obviously something that really connects her brand and our brand. But also I think it’s just kind of a more macro-level understanding about local community,” Peter says. “We understand that strong and supportive local communities are going to make our best possible global communities.”

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 21

These Philadelphians are living wastefree lifestyles, and spreading the good word story by amanda clark

ZERO WASTE HEROES A

ltering one’s lifestyle to limit waste is by no means an easy life practice, according to Ron Whyte.

Whyte, project coordinator of the Mural Arts Philadelphia program Trash Academy, says the difficulty comes from an oversaturation of consumer culture.

“We live in a system of extraction, production and consumption, and waste comes at the end of it,” Whyte says. “We’re so used to these products, we’re so used to the 22 GRID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

things that they’re giving us. It’s gonna take some self-control and exploring alternative systems to live differently. It’s gonna be uncomfortable and difficult.”

Individuals choose to take back power by reducing their consumption of products that produce waste.

“It’s a system that doesn’t function unless all the parts are working together,” says Whyte. Without consumers buying into the system, the endless cycle of extraction, production, consumption and waste could

no longer continue.

Whyte’s work with Trash Academy is all about helping individuals rethink the way they participate in consumer culture and waste production.

Whyte employs educational games, webinars, artistic billboards and more to teach individuals about recycling, composting, sorting trash and using reusable bags. By engaging people in exciting activities, he hopes to make sustainable habits more accessible and fun.

P HOTO G RAP HY BY M ILTO N LI NDSAY

Ron Whyte with materials and art created by Trash Academy. Whyte is project coordinator for the program, which is run by Mural Arts Philadelphia.

It isn’t only consumers in Philadelphia who are making dramatic shifts in the way their lives are lived; businesses, too, are rethinking the way they produce and sell products and services. Many of them are turning to environmental consultant Alisa Shargorodsky for help.

According to Shargorodsky, the current marketplace does not always give people the opportunity to do the right thing and purchase sustainably. Without options, there is no hope for changing wasteful habits.

It’s gonna take some self-control and exploring alternative systems to live differently. It’s gonna be uncomfortable and difficult.”

—ron whyte

“We’re not going to see widespread change until we create alternatives that are going to be as convenient or nearly as convenient for people,” she says. “We need to create alternatives in the marketplace that are just as accessible.”

By working in tandem with businesses to create new, waste-free processes, she hopes to give more people the opportunity to make an impact.

Shargorodsky’s company, ECHO Systems, consults businesses and organizations to help them shift toward less wasteful ways of operating and selling. Through education, Shargorodsky hopes to stop waste from its source, limiting companies’ expenditures on single-use products and helping them become responsible stewards of their resources.

Though ECHO Systems is currently focused on education and consulting, in upcoming years the business model will expand to include other services. They hope to begin a local member program that will make reusable containers available at food service establishments. They also plan to sell zero-waste kits of household products— like cleaners and shampoos—packaged in reusable containers that can be returned to ECHO after they are emptied.

Items offered at ECHO Systems and other zero-waste companies in Philadelphia center around helping consumers make personal, individual choices that limit the waste they produce. But according to West Philadelphia resident Aminata Sandra Calhoun, making sustainable-purchasing decisions is only the beginning of living zero-waste.

Calhoun believes that being fully zero-waste involves creating a healthy living environment in one’s entire community, not just one’s own house. To do so, individuals must begin cleaning up the waste left behind by others.

Calhoun regularly cleans and delitters her block from gutter to curb—four times a week during warmer seasons and twice a week as F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 23

the weather gets colder. She also leads community-wide, zero-waste cleaning efforts to clear out areas that often collect trash.

Just a few weeks ago, Calhoun began a new position as director of sanitation and environmental programs with Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation. Calhoun decided to spend the

first month of her new job outside with the workers on the street collecting trash. She describes being overwhelmed by the waste she witnessed proliferating in communities.

“I honestly had to fight back tears,” she says. “To see the magnitude of the trash, the litter, the toxins. And all I could say was, ‘How could people live in this and be

LIVE MORE ZERO-WASTE. Below are tips from our zero-heroes to help you limit your waste and live a sustainable life:

Ron Whyte ➜ Think before you purchase. Ask yourself, “Is this something I really need?” ➜ Buy items from local stores. It’s less wasteful and you’re supporting the local economy. ➜ If possible, purchase your food from a co-op or farmer’s market. ➜ Learn to sew so that you can mend items rather than buying something new. ➜ Plan ahead—remember to bring your reusable bags to the grocery store.

Alisa Shargorodsky ➜ Complete a waste audit in your home by tracking what items you throw away or recycle. This will help you determine what wasteful habits you need to cut back on. ➜ Shop in bulk for nonperishable goods—less packaging means less waste. ➜ When you go to the grocery store, try to purchase items packaged in cardboard or glass rather than plastic. ➜ Don’t put your fruits and vegetables in plastic bags at the grocery store.

Instead, bring your own cloth bags or avoid bagging them entirely. ➜ Try DIY alternatives to everyday necessities like toothpaste or deodorant.

Aminata Sandra Calhoun

Alisa Shargorodsky demos reusable to-go containers at Weaver’s Way Co-op, a system she helped implement as an environmental consultant.

24 GRID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

➜ Compost your food waste. You can learn how to compost by doing research online or connecting with a local gardening program. ➜ Donate used clothing and furniture to a store like Goodwill or to a member of your community who will use it. ➜ Be mindful of how you leave your trash on the curb on trash day. Are things spilling out onto your yard, block or street? ➜ Clean up the litter from your yard and, if possible, begin picking up the trash left on your block.

complacent and be comfortable?’”

Calhoun sees waste in communities as detrimental to residents’ mental health and wellbeing. She has experienced it all first hand, and terms her own experience: “Environmental Distraught Depression.”

Though it is certainly an overwhelming emotion, Calhoun explains that Environmental Distraught Depression is what drives her to advocate for less wasteful living.

Calhoun has begun planning a new education campaign with Centennial Parkside CDC that will raise awareness to the negative effects of litter on the community. By encouraging community members to throw away and recycle waste properly, Calhoun hopes to help more people live in a mindful way.

A lack of mindfulness is the main barrier to individuals making the choice to limit their waste, according to all three. Often, people either don’t know or just don’t care about the impact of their trash. Without a basic mindfulness to the harmful impact of plastics, litter and toxins on our lives and our environment, individuals have no reason to change the way they live.

Through education and advocacy, Whyte, Shargorodsky and Calhoun hope to encourage others to take on the challenge of limiting the waste they produce. Every day they teach people, businesses and communities that living sustainably can lead to healthier, happier lives.

As a mindful outlook on waste grows across Philadelphia, more people are coming together to impact communities, systems and the planet. Thanks to its advocates, zero-waste living is growing, and more people are being empowered to make a difference by choosing to be mindful in their habits and intentional in their daily lives.

Aminata Sandra Calhoun pictured with reusable containers in her kitchen.

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 25

Sunflower Philly’s outdoor community space is in North Philly.

Sunflower Philly Community Manager Christian “TameArtz” Rodriguez (left) and Executive Director Melvin Powell

CLEAN SWEEP

Trash Club brings together people who feel passionate about getting litter off our city streets story by jacques sapriel

S

tep into the outdoor space of Sunflower Philly, a community center at North 5th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and you are surrounded by vibrant graffiti and street art.

Christian “TameArtz” Rodriguez, art director and community manager for Sunflower Philly, explains that graffiti artists from all over the country and world came together to create these walls, himself included.

26 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 20 21

“You have over 100 years of [combined] experience,” he says. “The outcome of the collaboration is incredible.”

Located in North Philadelphia, Sunflower Philly is a nonprofit organization focused on building a sense of community in its neighborhood by organizing a curated series of classes and events focused on art, music, yoga, kick-boxing, Afrobeat dance and sustainability.

The final “petal” in Sunflower Philly’s programming—sustainability—is marked by its Trash Club.

As you probably know, Philadelphia has a trash problem. A recent study by the EPA found that Philadelphia is the fourth dirtiest city in the country with regard to litter.

Litter destroys the beauty of the natural environment. It kills fish, birds and sea mammals, and gets into the food chain, where it can impact human health. Humans are estimated to ingest 5 grams of plastic per week. (The impact of micro-plastic on human health is not yet fully known, but it is suspected to weaken the immune system and cause cancer and reproductive problems.)

What’s more, as plastic breaks down, it releases methane into the atmosphere, one of the worst greenhouse gases. Litter also clogs stormwater and sewer inlets. As a result, the inlets don’t allow water to flow to the rivers, causing city streets and buildings to flood, along with lots of other costly issues for the city.

In Philly, precious resources are diverted from the city budget to maintain a fleet of 32 trucks, each with two city employees on board and equipped with a special crane in the back of their bed. And what is the only job of these trucks and their crews? To drive from one stormwater inlet to the other, lift the grates and pick up the trash that has accumulated.

Trash Club, which runs every other Sunday from June through October, is a group for people who hate litter and its negative effects. The club is building a community of P HOTO G RAP HY BY RACHAE L WARRI NER

Trash Club volunteers collect litter during a cleanup event.

people who care about cleaning up litter by providing an opportunity for them to pick it up together and socialize.

The event was collaboratively organized

by Rodriguez and his colleagues Melvin Powell and (“I Love College” rapper) Asher Roth—the executive director and creative director, respectively, of Sunflower Philly.

I volunteered on a sunny day in late August after registering for the event on their website. We hung out in small groups, and the vibe was relaxed. Anyone who needed a Sunday morning jolt was welcome to coffee donated by La Colombe Coffee Roasters.

People grabbed trash pickup sticks, bags and gloves. Rodriguez gathered everybody together and then let us know which streets the club would tackle. Powell motivated us with a short speech and off we went. People fanned out to both sides of the street, picking up litter using sticks or gloved hands.

Our trash bags filled up quickly. After our day of labor, the trash was picked up by the Streets Department the following day.

Roth and Powell came up with the idea of Trash Club in 2018, pre-dating the creation of Sunflower Philly. Initially, they participated in a few local cleanups organized by neighborhood Registered Community Organizations to get some idea of how to run the club. Then they came up with the Trash Club logo and began promoting the club on social media.

By the end of 2019, with Roth and Powell working with Rodriquez at Sunflower Philly, which had recently moved into its own space, the two entities decided to merge

Each volunteer is only responsible for one bag.

If you pick up two bags, you feel like a superstar.”

— c hristian rodrigue z, Sunflower Philly community manager

and make Trash Club the core of Sunflower Philly’s sustainability programming.

During the early days of the pandemic, the three were pondering what events they could organize safely. That is when they realized that, at a time when a lot of people are feeling isolated, organizing Trash Club could bring people together. They held Sunflower Philly’s first Trash Club cleanup in June 2020.

The organizers expected that eight to 10 people would show up, but the first event had 75 attendees. Over the ensuing months, attendance was consistently between 50 and 70 people.

Trash Club volunteers Alan and Will moved to Philadelphia from small towns in the Midwest and West, respectively.

“What I noticed the most … trash was everywhere,” Alan says.

He found the hands-on nature of Trash Club appealing. “There are a lot of problems in the world that are not easily changed.

They are long-term things that take tons of processes, to master and to fix, whereas trash pickup is immediate, you pick it up.

It’s a direct and instant gratification.”

For student volunteers Anthony, Kevin and Chris, picking up trash is about not wanting to live in a dirty place. “[We want] to show the next generation that community service is important in the same way that my grandma taught me,” says Anthony.

Kevin adds it is also about serving the community and making a difference. “I always like to help out. …[W]hen you go to different areas of the city and [then you] come back up here, you can see a big difference in [the amount of] trash and people’s interest in keeping their neighborhood clean.”

For Chris, the club holds deep meaning.

“My reasoning for being here,” says Chris, “is that I just feel like this is where I’m supposed to be. When I walk up and down the streets, when I drive throughout different areas of Philly and I see a lot of impoverished people, a lot of just terrible conditions when it comes to buildings and people’s situations, and I see the struggle, I see the pain in people. I want to do the best that I can to alleviate a little bit of the pain I see. I know I cannot alleviate all of it, but I can do my part and then inspire somebody else to do their part again.”

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 27

During the pandemic, Trash Club volunteers found community by socializing outdoors at cleanups.

The impact the club has had on volunteers is something Rodriguez is proud of— he’s even prouder of those who’ve accomplished it with him.

“This is actually pretty dope: A Latino male, an African American male and a white kid joined forces to bring this to the community. It’s beautiful,” Rodriguez says.

Powell designed the Trash Club event as a stand-alone event that builds a local community of people who care about street litter. “We defined a model that can easily be replicated in other places.” he says. “So that is when we first started thinking, ‘Hey, we have this great space here, but if we lose this space or something happens, the ideas themselves should still be able to live.’ ” Powell says focusing on the effort and not the neighborhood allows all volunteers to feel at home. Rodriguez agrees.

“The reason people come from New Jersey to pick up trash here,” he says, “is because we give them a sense of belonging and of ownership. Each volunteer is only responsible for one bag. If you pick up two bags, you feel like a superstar.”

For Powell, the end goal of Trash Club is creating behavior change in consumers and empowering them to solve some of the major sustainability issues we’re facing.

“When I have conversations on sustainability issues,” says Powell. “I ask people 28 GRID P H I L LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 20 21

these simple questions: ‘Who do you think controls what you buy?’ ‘Does the consumer control what the corporations make or do corporations make what consumers will buy?’”

Powell says he is not telling people, “You can’t buy stuff.” Instead he is encouraging them to ask themselves the following questions about consumption: “Do you need this?”

“Where is it coming from?” “Who are you purchasing it from?” “How is it getting to you?”

Rodriguez says: “My father always used to

tell me, ‘Knowing is better than learning.’ Because the learning process is really hard, but once you know, then you know. And then, after you learn, you get to walk awake.”

When people come to Trash Club, that starts the learning process, he says.

“As they pick up trash,” Rodriguez explains, “they actively do the learning. Then they come back to the Sunflower Philly space for lunch, knowing. They leave knowing.

And they bring other people back to learn.”

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 29

AN OASIS OF TASTE North Philadelphia farm in a food desert gives free produce to locals during the pandemic story by siobhan gleason

E

ggplant and beets are not the kinds of vegetables Tanisha Muse typically buys, but through a program offering free produce from Sanctuary Farm in North Philly, they are now part of her family’s diet.

“It’s still not my first thought to get beets at the supermarket,” says Muse, a West Philly resident. “That might never happen, but if Sanctuary Farm gives me some beets, I will eat them.”

Sanctuary Farm offers a package of three produce items per week, and it has inspired Muse to experiment in the kitchen and cook without specific recipes. The steady supply of fresh food means Muse does not exclusively rely on a grocery store—and she can save money.

Executive Director and Founder Andrea 30 GRID P H IL LY.CO M F EB RUA RY 2021

Vettori, a nurse practitioner for 25 years, opened Sanctuary Farm in 2017. The farming operation includes three plots of land in the Cecil B. Moore neighborhood—land leased from nonprofit Project HOME. Project HOME provides housing, work training and health care for Philadelphians struggling with poverty and homelessness.

Several grants and partnerships have enabled the farm to offer outreach programs.

These have included cooking demonstrations and an innovative Veggie Script program, which provided “prescriptions,” or vouchers, for free produce to individuals participating in in-person nutrition classes at the Stephen Klein Wellness Center and Mary Howard Health Center for the Homeless. These classes are designed for people with high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes.

The Veggie Scripts program has changed shape due to COVID-19. The Stephen Klein Wellness Center is now holding virtual nutrition classes over Zoom. Participants in the classes are not given vouchers for produce. Instead, Sanctuary Farm is delivering produce directly to the center.

“We’ve been providing vegetables to nutritional classes. They give us orders every week and we provide vegetables,” Vettori says.

During the pandemic Vettori has noticed a dramatic increase in how many people come to the farmstand. Last year, about 25 to 50 neighborhood residents picked up produce per week. That number has swelled to 125. Last year Sanctuary Farm had charged for food at a reduced price (about a dollar per bundle), but due to economic hardship during the pandemic, Vettori and staff decided to offer all produce free of charge.

They also offer free delivery to those with health conditions.

“You can just sign up or come and get food. During COVID-19, so many people have lost their jobs. Now everyone needs food,” Muse explains.

Vettori agrees.

“Demand has increased significantly since COVID-19. Word has certainly P HOTO G RAP HY BY M ILTO N LI NDSAY

spread,” she says.

The farmstand is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., or until produce runs out.

Due to the pandemic, the farm has adapted programming to prioritize social distancing. It has worked with Stephen Klein Wellness Center to transition to offering virtual nutrition classes. Each week, the center contacts the farm with produce orders for each class participant, which the farm delivers.

Both Veggie Scripts and free produce access focus on providing vegetables to underserved neighborhoods. Vettori points out that traditional understandings of food deserts do not accurately capture the challenges many go through to buy nutritious food. “...[M]ost people think of food deserts as being geographically distant from a supermarket. There may be a supermarket nearby, but [people] can’t drive to it or they can only buy what they can carry back on the bus,” Vettori says.

Produce can also spoil quickly, making non-perishable items a more cost-effective choice.

Though cooking demonstrations have halted, farm staff always share recipe ideas with the community. The American Heart Association is also in the process of creating recipe cards for the farm to be distributed at the farmstand. Experimentation and open conversations about recipes have helped boost the popularity of beets, swiss chard and eggplant.

COVID-19 safety precautions have also reduced the size of volunteer groups, though Vettori sees these restrictions as a way to refocus on bringing in locals.

“We’re not accepting big groups of people, which is nice because [those] groups tend to come from suburban communities.

We’re really trying to encourage folks in the community,” Vettori says.

Many dedicated volunteers live close to the farm and provide help with planting, weeding and general maintenance on a regular basis.

Muse has been volunLeft: Sanctuary teering at the farm for Farm founder two years. Though she alAndrea Vettori ways “had an affinity for (with dog) and staff at land and farming,” she their produce considers her son’s time stand. Right: Tomatoes and at Walter B. Saul High peppers fresh School her first “action from the farm.

step” toward becoming involved with urban agriculture.

Muse generally assists with planting and harvesting, which are her favorite tasks.

“The first thing I remember putting the seed in the ground, harvesting, taking home and feeding my family was cabbage. It’s beautiful to grow your own food. It makes you so proud to grow something and feed it to your family,” Muse says.

In addition to neighborhood volunteers, Sanctuary Farm workers are made up of farm attendant employees and volunteer staff. John Greene, the lead farm attendant, first began working at the farm through Project HOME’s six-month internship employment services program in 2019. Greene immediately took to his placement, where he learned about farming and helped with maintenance and construction.

“It was a good fit for me and a very therapeutic experience,” Greene says. “I’ve been very grateful to the coworkers and volunteers around me for being my friends and bringing more normalcy in my life.”

Greene now works full time at the farm and oversees its activities. He lives at

Project HOME’s St. Elizabeth’s Recovery Residence, which is very close to the farm plot on North Croskey Street.

“Before I started working with Andrea, I was pretty new to Project HOME and very homeless. I was very raw,” Greene says.

Working at Sanctuary Farm allowed Greene to find a supportive community he could rely on.

The importance of establishing neighborhood connections within Cecil B. Moore, which has been gentrified in recent years due to an influx of Temple University students, has been on Vettori’s mind.

After the nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, the farm has been holding antiracism meetings to discuss white privilege. The farm is also in the process of creating an advisory board with members of the community, who will decide how the farm functions in the future.

“The goal is to give the power back to the community to make decisions about what we do,” Vettori says. “My long-term vision would be to form more of a cooperative farm where people in the neighborhood could own what’s happening.”

It’s beautiful to grow your own food. It makes you so proud to grow something and feed it to your family.”

— t anisha muse , Sanctuary Farm volunteer

F E B RUARY 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 31

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