Grid Magazine September 2021 [#148]

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Let your phone be your nature guide

Bloc takes on the online delivery behemoths

City Repair Project reclaims public space

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p. 16

p. 24

SEPTEMBER 2021 / ISSUE 148 / 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

GAME CHANGER Toy library has a radical idea for kids and adults—share

Krystal Cunillera of Rutabaga Toy Library in East Falls.

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Melanie Melanie Melanie Hasan Hasan Hasan Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAHasan PAHasan PA Melanie Melanie Melanie Hasan modesttransitions.com modesttransitions.com modesttransitions.com Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA PA Philadelphia, PAHasan Melanie Melanie Melanie Hasan Hasan

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S E PTE M B E R 20 21

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EDI TO R ’S NOTES

by

alex mulcahy

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 Constance Garcia-Barrio Siobhan Gleason Randy LoBasso Claire Marie Porter Royal Thomas Lois Volta photographers Chris Baker Evens Drew Dennis Matt Keppler Kyle Kielinski Milton Lindsay Chelsea Marrin Rachael Warriner illustrator 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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E

arlier today a friend sent me an article from The New York Times entitled “The Cotton Tote Crisis.” It asks, “How did an environmental solution become part of the problem?”

Now, I can’t tell you exactly what the story says. My Times account has lapsed and I’m experimenting with liberating myself from the never-ending news cycle.

Nevertheless, the formality of reading a story shouldn’t prevent me from commenting on its content, should it? Stories like these are often presented as a comeuppance to the environmentally righteous. Not only do stories like these serve to embarrass those who are trying to do the right thing, but it also instills doubt that there is a right thing to do at all. What are the good ideas of today that will appear foolish tomorrow?

Let’s take a trip back to the late ’80s. A new format for recorded music, the compact disc (CD), was about to transform the marketplace. Soon, everyone would be getting rid of their old-fashioned vinyl—those unwieldy discs prone to skipping and scratching—and replacing them with digital perfection and efficiency.

The small size of the CD presented the industry with two challenges. One, they were easier to steal. Two, they didn’t fit in the bins that were designed for vinyl. The industry’s answer was the longbox: a cardboard box the same length of an album that would also be more difficult to shoplift.

The longbox flourished for several years, but some artists began to take notice of the wastefulness of the packaging. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and David Byrne of Talking Heads were both vocal critics.

Opposition to the longbox grew, and the industry decided to stop making them on Earth Day 1993. What nobody in the music industry was willing to confront was the host of environmental concerns about the discs themselves, both large and small.

Vinyl records are made from polyvinyl chloride, a carcinogen, and manufacturing, which requires significant energy, pro-

duces wastewater that has polluted (and likely continues to pollute) rivers. CDs are, according to the Plastic Pollution Coalition “a combination of mined minerals, petroleum-derived plastics and various dyes and lacquers, making them not just a drain on natural resources, but practically indestructible in the natural environment.”

And worse are the CD cases, also made from polyvinyl chloride. Despite all of this, nobody wanted to then—or wants to now— stop making records or CDs. In this way, the demonization of the longbox is not unlike the focus on banning plastic bags. Don’t get me wrong: plastic bags are an environmental scourge. But what about every single piece of plastic you find inside the supermarket? The wrappers on the energy bar, the bag of grapes, the bag inside the box of Cheerios. Who is organizing the ban for all of that?

We are, understandably, more inclined to make changes around the periphery of our lives than to dive right into the heart of the matter. Our entire system is based upon unsustainable consumption, and that has little to do with plastic bags, longboxes or cotton totes.

That’s why businesses such as Rutabaga Toy Library and Baby Gear Group are so critical. They fundamentally question our relationship to stuff. They are breaking the cycle of digging up natural resources, manufacturing products, and then, when they are unwanted, burying them.

We need to approach our economy in new and thoughtful ways. What do we need to own, and what can we share? What can we do without entirely? That might be the biggest question of all.

ALEX MULCAHY Editor-in-Chief alex@gridphilly.com

COV E R P HOTO G RAP H BY KY L E K I ELI NSKI

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 bring spirituality and positive energy into my home?

A

few months ago my therapist suggested that I reconnect and talk to my angels. As I contemplated if it was time to find a new therapist (I had grown accustomed to using my analytical mind, full of reason, to navigate through life), I realized I had drifted far from the imaginative energy that the spiritual world has to offer.

Maybe it was from years of being indoctrinated to believe that intellectualism supersedes spirituality; I found myself looking down my nose at the notion that my hippie days might not be over.

A couple of weeks ago I landed myself in the hospital—I legitimately burnt out. It took a few very long weeks to get back to my normal busy-bee speed. I am not used to being so tired that I can’t do anything or feeling so sick that doing nothing was the best option.

One thing became very clear: it was time for me to slow down and listen to my body.

As I was recovering, I saw all the projects in the house that I wanted to get to, and all the little nooks and crannies that I needed to clean—but I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to patiently wait until I got my energy back. In the stillness, during my time of waiting, I met with my angels.

It’s not that I had a vision or conversation, but more like I was greeted with intense creativity. I felt more open to the idea of living in a state where the spirit world moved all around me, unseen and all throughout the house. I saw my frustrations of slowing down start to melt away as I embraced that life is more interesting when my heart and mind are open to something 4

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bigger than myself.

A friend recently told me that a common theme across many religions and spiritual practices is that within most rituals, to commune with a higher power, spirit, God-like entity, ghost, goddess, etc. is to first prepare the space. It all starts with the ritual of clearing, centering and waiting.

Once I had my energy back I asked a few of my friends to come over to give my home a good ol’ fashioned witchy cleansing. I spent the days beforehand doing deep cleaning and (once again) purging unnecessary items. I prepared the space: my house was ready and I was open to tapping back into something deeper.

When my girlfriends came over for the cleansing, we discussed what I wanted to invite into my home. Safety, a sense of

feeling sturdy, and trust was what I asked to be prayed into my home that night. We also discussed what type of mindsets and negative patterns and energies that I wanted to be done with.

We started by smudging ourselves then headed to the basement and worked our way up to the third floor. Between the four of us, we came carrying two sage smudge bundles, one stick of palo santo, frankincense, myrrh, a candle, a jar full of salt and a singing bowl.

One of my friends started doing reiki on each window, door and wall of my home and it hit me—I was making my spirituality tangible and real through ritual and action. I became overwhelmed by the feeling of coming back to my spiritual home. The clearing of energies was working and it felt great. I was merging my imagination with real actions and it was yielding positive results.

As I sit in my home I feel held by the walls that surround me, the love of my friends and the warmth of my family. I feel safe, intentional, and I trust the steps that I take. The floors that I wash, the table I set, the pear cobbler that I bake: these things make up everyday life. Slowing everything down and coming back to the space that holds this beautiful life allowed me to press the reset button on what is on the inside.

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 IS VOLTA

Our homes will gladly reflect to us the existence of our creativity and imagination.”

When we have this type of spiritual connection to our homes, they feel more significant. Our homes become a place for reflection, restoration, healing and growth—but more so, meaning and connection. Keeping our homes sacred in this way allows us to view things as precious, and we become more careful and respectful in a general sense.

Ultimately, my therapist knows how passionate I am about my work. She, like me, believes that we need to start with ourselves and then push out past our ego to unite and rebuild our broken world. She was gently nudging me (as she saw the path to the burnout I was on) to come back to my angels, clear away energies that have been holding me back and invite in a spirit of hope.

There are times when I convince myself that there is nothing more to this life than what we can see or experience, but whether the spirit realm is real or not, I now know it’s possible to tap into an invisible life-giving energy.

Our homes will gladly reflect to us the existence of our creativity and imagination.

It might be as simple as being motivated to learn new habits or routines, or as exciting as feeling inspired to move and shift everything to create a whole new life for ourselves.

Let your house be a home for your spirit. lois volta is a home life consultant, artist and founder of The Volta Way. Send questions to info@thevoltaway.com.

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sponsored content

The Tools and The Vision Youth program immerses a diverse group of teens in architecture and design

L

eah calvello was delighted when she opened the package from Thomas Jefferson University. A rising junior in high school, the Yonkers-based student had signed up for the College of Architecture & The Built Environment (CABE) Summer Academy, a three week online course sponsored by Stantec and Jacobs Engineering Group.

There before her were the tools of the trade: pens with different line weights, drawing pads, wire form to build models, task board, clay, Conté crayons, pencils, sketchbooks and an X-Acto knife. She was immediately hooked.

“Just seeing the tools I would be using to explore architecture was enough to make me look forward to being part of this program.”

The intention of the program was to showcase the many different professions involving the built environment, including interior design, landscape architecture, construction management, architecture and real estate development.

Dean Barbara Klinkhammer handpicked Erike De Veyra, CABE’s social media director, to run the program. De Veyra, a graduate of CABE herself, previously managed DesignPhiladelphia and worked for the Center for Architecture and Design, and was excited for the challenge.

“I was like, ‘This checks all the boxes.

When do I start?’ ” As an alumna and a Filipina, access was important to De Veyra. She wanted “to welcome students to an aspirational representation of the industry that is diverse and inclusive.” Having the class online allowed for anyone, anywhere, with an internet connection to take part. It also allowed Thomas Jefferson University to partner with the ACE Mentor Program, a national nonprofit that works with students who are traditionally underrepresented in architecture, construction and engineering.

Calvello was able to attend the first of the Academy’s three-week sessions,

which focused on career discovery, through a scholarship offered by ACE. Being untethered to a physical space allowed opportunities for teaching you don’t have in a traditional classroom. For example, all of the students were able to “visit” the Philadelphia office of Stantec, an international design and consulting company.

Later that same day, the miracle of Zoom brought them to Tribeca, where a hotel is being built, for an on-site tour. The construction manager for the job was, like De Veyra, a 2009 CABE graduate.

“To be able to bring students from all over the country, in an afternoon walk through a construction site … I tried to take full advantage of what technology can give us.”

Part of what De Veyra hoped to show the students is that there isn’t just one path to working in the built environment, or one type of person the field attracts. So she asked a number of the mentors she had lined up to talk with the students about how their journeys began.

“We focus a lot about origin story because the stereotypical story of being an architect is, ‘I played with Legos, I draw a lot, so I’m going to become an architect!’ For them to hear that an interior designer started from just loving art, or a landscape architect … had a background in sociology.” De Veyra is a perfect example herself. “I wanted to be a set designer for theatrical productions.”

De Veyra asked them to talk about what tools they still used from their days of study.

“Whether it was a tape measure, a Sharpie, a certain kind of line weight pen, the students were like, “I have that right here!’”

And now that she has the tools, met people doing the job and seen the many facets of working in the built environment, how does Calvello feel about her future calling?

“This experience cemented my choice to pursue a Bachelor’s of Architecture in college.”

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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bike talk

A Lane of One’s Own Philadelphia is gaining a slew of new bike lanes this year.

Here’s a few that are making it easier and safer for cyclists to get around by randy lobasso

P

hiladelphia has long been a great biking city with poor biking infrastructure, but that is (slowly) changing. When you get on your bike today, you’re bound to see some new routes connecting various neighborhoods and attractions.

By the end of the year, we’re likely to have a total of 20 miles of protected bike lanes throughout the city. Much of that work was either completed this summer or is in the process of completion.

Here are eight of them, from east to west: Central Delaware Trail This fall you’ll be able to ride your bike between the Washington Avenue Pier in South Philadelphia and Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown, off-road. The 3.4-mile Central Delaware Trail will connect people to riverside businesses, neighborhoods and parks 8 GRID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

that were previously not safely accessible by bicycle.

What’s to Like: Not only is this trail safe because it’s off road, but it’s also separated from the pedestrian walkway, which will cut down on negative interactions between trail users.

What Needs Work: The trail could use extensions into neighborhoods on both ends to give folks an easier path onto the trail itself.

North American Street A section of North American Street, between West Indiana Avenue and Master Street, looks a lot different than it did just five years ago. Along with new businesses popping up along the corridor, a bike lane in the center of the street now provides a relatively safe, comfortable passage between Olde Kensington and Fairhill.

What’s to Like: This section of American

Street features the city’s first raised protected bike lane, meaning most of it is above street level, which deters motorists from parking in it.

What Needs Work: The section that isn’t above street level, beginning around Cecil B. Moore Avenue, has already been skidmarked by drivers doing donuts. Paint is not protection, and that fact becomes painfully obvious when you see new biking infrastructure tagged by skid marks.

North Second Street A new protected bike lane on North Second Street was finally put in this summer. The flex-post barrier between cyclists and traffic from Spring Garden Street to Race Street in Old City is part of a much larger, multi-project path that will connect Kensington to Old City via North American Street, Germantown Avenue and Second Street—a project that isn’t close to being done yet.

What’s to Like: Previously, cyclists had to switch from the left side of the street at Callowhill to the right side—an inconvenient and dangerous move on a multi-lane road.

The bike lane stays on the left side now, and the traffic lights were re-timed so that cyP HOTO G RAP H BY M ATT K EPPLER

clists move with motor vehicle traffic and don’t have to worry about cars either going up Callowhill or coming off the highway.

What Needs Work: Like a lot of bike lanes in Philadelphia, it simply ends at Race Street, a design you’d never see for accommodating motor vehicles. We look forward to this lane extending to Market Street, and the Market Street protected bike lanes, which currently need more funding.

Fifth, Sixth and Tenth Streets Well-known routes for commuters in Center City, Fifth, Sixth and Tenth streets received parking-protected bike lanes (all of which start/end at Spring Garden Street) this summer.

What’s to Like: The bike lane on North Fifth used to be used as a de facto third driving lane. Traffic would back up with cars at Spring Garden, forcing cyclists to navigate in and out of traffic and parking. Not anymore.

The parked-car buffer stops motorists from taking the bike lane, which is exactly how this sort of infrastructure is supposed to work.

What Needs Work: There has long been a dangerous “conflict zone” at Sixth and Market

streets. A conflict zone is a dotted stretch of bike lane that diagonally crosses a motor vehicle turning lane and is designed to put motorists’ turning convenience above the safety of cyclists. The Sixth Street protected bike lane ends as the conflict zone begins, creating a confusing situation which I wouldn’t recommend new cyclists attempt.

Chestnut Street Bridge The city officially opened the Chestnut Street protected bike lane between 45th and 34th streets in 2017. There was a lot of fanfare over these lanes, even though most advocates had worked for a more expanded project, between Center City and Cobbs Creek.

Nevertheless, the city is continuing to chip away at that vision. This fall, the bike lane will continue east between 34th and 22nd streets, connecting West Philadelphia to Center City via a protected bike lane. Meanwhile, the city recently conducted a survey about expanding both Chestnut and Walnut bike lanes west to Cobbs Creek.

What’s to Like: This will be the first protected bike lane between West Philadelphia and Center City.

What Needs Work: Philadelphia still needs

a safe westbound lane. The Chestnut Street protected bike lane will not really feel complete until it’s part of a network that includes a safe way into West Philadelphia.

Parkside Avenue Of all the bike lanes on this list, Parkside Avenue between Girard and Bryn Mawr avenues may have had the longest-spanning timeline from beginning to end. The community meetings for this project happened in 2017 and 2018. The lane was partially built, then striped, then faded, then restriped, and, finally, constructed as a twoway protected bike lane.

What’s to Like: All protected bike lanes should be two-way, as a way to save space and better differentiate bicycle and motor vehicle traffic.

What Needs Work: While this is a nice, long bike lane, cyclists going east get dumped onto one of the most dangerous, highspeed sections of Girard. An expansion of this project onto Girard Avenue could help create a car-free connection to the Philadelphia Zoo and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

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urban naturalist

On Your Own Time Virtual nature tours offer education and exploration with more flexibility by bernard brown

M

y family and I have been meaning to take part in a nature program at Vernon Park in Germantown by the Tookany/ Tacony-Frankford (TTF) Watershed Partnership for years, but up until recently, it’s never panned out.

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It was never for a shortage of events— they’ve hosted a wealth of volunteer work days, nature walks and other watershed education programs there—it’s just our schedules have never seemed to line up.

It is hard to remember all the reasons why, but here are some of the usual

suspects: We had conflicts with other events. Guests were visiting from out of town. We were out of town. We had soccer games to attend. We had work. The kids melted down on the way out the door.

The key to us finally making it there? The pandemic.

“When the pandemic started we couldn’t go out and do programs with people,” said Ryan Neuman, upstream conservation leader for TTF. “Obviously a lot of the work we do is getting people outside and talking about water and connecting people to nature.”

With a pandemic response grant from the Alliance for Watershed Education, TTF developed a series of virtual nature walks that were published through the summer of 2020. The Bring Us Along! (¡Tráenos Contigo!) virtual tour series offers maps, nature highlights and videos hosted by environmental educator Brandon McCracken in English and Spanish.

In 2020 visitors flooded parks even as live programming dried up. The virtual content enabled TTF to continue to connect them to nature.

At first glance, Vernon Park—mostly landscaped grass and trees with a playground, rain garden and an historic house— might not seem like a nature destination.

But programming by TTF and partners such as Friends of Vernon Park and the Free Library of Philadelphia have demonstrated that even neighborhood parks can serve as gateways to experience nature.

According to Neuman, on Saturdays during the pandemic 20 to 30 people viewed the virtual programs—more than might attend a live walk. This summer TTF has continued to promote virtual programs, with 5 to 20 people viewing them each Saturday— still a respectable showing.

I read through the Bring Us Along! post about Vernon Park before we left the house and kept it up on my phone while we explored. Numbers on the map marked plants and animals we could look for, along with level of difficulty.

Gray catbirds, rated “easy,” were indeed a piece of cake. We saw plenty of these engaging birds foraging for worms and berries and watching us from nearby shrubs and low trees. We did not spot any red-banded hairstreaks. These delicate little butterflies P HOTO G RAP HY BY CHE LS EA MA RRI N

Ryan Neuman, upstream conservation leader for the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, demonstrates the Bring Us Along! virtual tour of Vernon Park in Germantown.

... a lot of the work we do is getting people outside and talking about water and connecting people to nature.”

— r yan neuman, upstream conservation leader at the

Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership

were rated “expert,” so we didn’t feel too bad about it. If we were visiting after dinner, we might have spotted big brown bats or eastern cottontail rabbits, which, as McCracken explains in a video, are on the menu for just about every other animal in the park.

TTF isn’t the only local nature organization to continue self-guided programming

spurred by the pandemic. In the spring of 2020 the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE) had to cancel its Saturday morning guided family nature walks. A few months later, in September, it replaced them with self-guided nature exploration kits. A kit might include a magnifying glass, a bug box, a set of binoculars,

a trail map and scavenger hunt sheets.

“The response has been great. We have seen just over 1,500 people come out to pick up a kit between September 2020 and this past Saturday,” says Amanda Cohen, the manager of public programs at SCEE. “For comparison, between September 2018 and July 2019 [the same amount of time], we saw just under 700 people come out to our Schuylkill Saturday program,” she says.

SCEE plans to continue to offer the kits through the fall and into the winter.

TTF continues to promote the virtual walks and is experimenting with other ways to add content for self-guided nature walks.

For example, it is placing temporary signs with QR codes next to flowering plants and other ephemeral features. Visitors can scan to learn more about what they’re seeing, and TTF staff can shift the signs around to follow seasonal changes.

To be clear, self-guided tours are nothing new. Educational signage is commonplace on nature trails, allowing visitors to learn about the habitats they’re walking through.

Museums have long offered audio tours to visitors who can listen to experts as they view exhibits.

However, it’s safe to say that the pandemic, with its widespread lockdowns and social distancing, has forced many organizations to expand their self-guided programming.

None of these programs can replace the in-person experience of tours and other events, especially outdoors, where so much can happen unexpectedly. (Only an expert can react to a hawk flying overhead and help you identify the eastern kingbirds harassing it.) But for all the times our schedules don’t line up, self-guided programs can be there, too.

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 1 1

water

Literally Toxic Anglers beware: some catches have bioaccumulated dangerous chemicals by bernard brown

T

here ’ s a shallow lagoon surrounded by embankments at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum that provides a good habitat for the northern snakehead and the common carp.

Because the two invasive fish species are originally from other places in the world but have thrived in our waters to the detriment of native species, the refuge recently hosted an “invasive fish roundup” with the goal of removing them. Refuge staff hope that reducing numbers of the exotic fish will aid habitat restoration efforts.

After the roundup, refuge staff planned to bury any fish caught—they are too toxic to eat.

12 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

Both snakeheads and carp are valued as food in their native ranges. Although it is difficult to know for sure, a leading explanation for how snakeheads got into North American waterways is that anglers released fish purchased live at markets. They hoped the fish would breed in their new homes and produce plenty more for the anglers to catch and take home. If that’s the case, the mission succeeded.

Common carp originally hail from Central Asia but were so tasty that the ancient Romans introduced them to Western Europe. In the late 1800s government fish agencies introduced carp to the United States to establish them as a food source.

Since then, carp have somewhat fallen out

of favor due to their bony flesh. (That said, I, along with millions of other Jews, have eaten them as gefilte fish.)

It should surprise no one to hear that Philadelphia has a long history of pollution.

Industrial chemicals discharged into our rivers over the centuries linger in mud at the bottom, and waste dumped on the land continues to seep into the water. Ongoing air and water pollution add to the mix. Garrett White, biological science technician at John Heinz, pointed out two nearby Superfund sites that are contaminated with heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), among other toxic chemicals.

Some heavy metals and PCBs have a tendency to grow more concentrated, or bioaccumulate, as they move up the food chain.

Algae and other tiny organisms pick up these pollutants from the water, and when animals eat them, they retain the toxicants in their flesh. Their predators repeat the process, so that the fish at the top end up particularly contaminated.

P HOTO G RAP HY BY CHRIS BAKER EVENS

Clockwise from far left: Park staff and volunteers catch invasive common carp and northern snakehead at a roundup event; a captured snakehead meets its fate; Alex Tet grew up fishing with his father and is mindful of the consumption advisories.

It is very important for anglers and their families to know what is in the fish they are eating...”

— tracy carluccio, deputy director at Delaware Riverkeeper Network Fish contamination isn’t obvious outside of the laboratory. Anglers judging fish safety by appearance or whether the water was cloudy or smelled funky will miss heavy metals and chemicals that build up slowly and are toxic even at low concentrations.

“It is very important for anglers and their families to know what is in the fish they are eating, how to safely prepare fish for consumption and any restrictions on fish consumption,” says Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

She points out that high-risk populations such as pregnant or nursing women have to be more restrictive to avoid exposing the very vulnerable—the fetus or infant.

State environmental agencies like the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) publish guides to how much fish people can safely eat from our state’s waterways. For example, the DEP recommends only eating one meal per month of white perch, channel catfish, flathead catfish or striped bass from

the Delaware Estuary, which includes the tidal portions of Philadelphia creeks and rivers. The DEP recommends eating carp from these waters no more than six times per year.

But getting the word out about these recommendations isn’t always easy.

The DEP publishes its fish consumption advisory in English, a language not necessarily understood by anglers from immigrant communities in which freshly caught fish is a traditional and routine meal.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network, however, has compiled these advisories from the states within the Delaware River watershed and has worked to inform anglers who are not native English speakers of the risks.

“We did research using published data and census information, and we factored in the languages spoken by groups we work with,” explains Carluccio. “We chose Spanish, Vietnamese and Khmer [Cambodian] based on the communities in the Delaware River watershed that we thought would most benefit from this information.”

Back at the refuge, staff supplement signage with hands-on outreach.

“It’s a challenge that we’re still trying to address,” says White. “The best way for us to do it is walk along and have conversations when we see people.”

Plenty of anglers already get the message.

Rubin Thomas, who has fished at the refuge for more than 45 years, is one.

“These days I like to fish for snakeheads, even though I don’t eat snakeheads from these waters particularly,” he explains, aware of the risks.

Alex Tet, 19, has been fishing with his father since before he can remember, catching a variety of species.

“We tend to eat them,” he says. His father knows about the fish advisory but takes the limits as general recommendations.

“He knows not to eat a lot of it,” Tet explains.

White looks forward to a day when tests show the fish are safe to eat.

Until then, the refuge partners with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the University of Pennsylvania to test tissue samples of fish caught in its waters to directly measure their toxicity.

“We hope to tell people eventually, ‘Hey, this is good,’ ” White says.

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 13

healers in the city

Above: Sue Daugherty, CEO of MANNA, has been with the organization since its early days; MANNA relies on volunteer labor to carry out its mission.

Food is Medicine Discharged hospital patients get the food they need with the help of a volunteer group by constance garcia-barrio

I

n 2005, soon after my mother died, I spent 17 days hospitalized with ulcerative colitis during the holidays. Instead of champagne, I got two units of blood on New Year’s Eve. I lost 30 of my usual 142 pounds. After discharge, I lacked the strength to stand up and cook, much less go to the supermarket. Friends brought me food: they saved my life.

If only I’d known about the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA).

‘Food as Medicine’ MANNA began in 1999 in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Volunteers provided food for people with HIV/AIDS. In 2006, in response to a growing need, the program expanded to 14 GRID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 20 21

include more patients, like those recovering from surgery, those discharged after a long hospitalization and people needing a diet to promote the healing of a wound.

“About 90% of hospital discharge instructions include a prescribed diet,” says Sue Daugherty, 47, CEO of MANNA, which is headquartered in Logan Square. “However, patients may not have the support system to ensure that they get the required food.”

Enter MANNA, which provided 2 million meals last year to seriously ill people in five counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as four counties in South Jersey.

“Pharmaceuticals constitute a key part of healing, but at MANNA we view food as medicine,” says Daugherty, a registered dietician. “Each MANNA client receives a free delivery each week of 21 medically tailored

meals: seven breakfasts, seven lunches and seven dinners. MANNA offers 11 different dietary modifications, such as low lactose, diabetic/heart healthy, renal friendly, high calorie and soft foods. We provide acute care for people who get prescribed complex diets.”

A day’s sample menu might include apple cinnamon hot cereal and a fruit cup for breakfast; a black bean-and-chipotle burger, Southwest rice and a side salad for lunch; salmon cakes with dill remoulade, brown rice and green beans for dinner; and carrot cake for dessert.

The numbers back up MANNA’s efficacy, according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health that compared MANNA clients with a matched group of Medicaid recipients.

MANNA clients had 50% fewer hospital visits, 37% shorter hospital stays, and “average healthcare costs were $13,000 less per month” than the control group.

P H OTO G R A P H Y C O U R T E S Y O F M A N N A

Nutrition Counseling Education is also a critical part of MANNA’s services.

“There’s the visual aspect,” Daugherty says. “People see which foods are wholesome and what a healthy portion looks like.

MANNA also offers individual and group nutrition counseling at no charge. (Doing so can otherwise be costly: I paid $100 to consult a dietician about foods recommended for my condition.)

“Our dieticians can cover questions about nutrition-related side effects of medication and controlling high blood pressure and blood sugar.”

Clients may also call if they’re in doubt about certain foods.

The goal is not just to address the immediate need, but to give clients an understanding of good nutrition.

“We have a free four-week cooking class to help clients make wise dietary choices,” Daugherty says. “The last class includes a visit to a supermarket. Supermarkets can be overwhelming, and product labels can be confusing. A label may say ‘no added sugar,’ so a person considers the product a good choice. The class points out that the product may have a ton of natural sugar that makes it problematic.”

MANNA service is temporary, Daugherty adds. “We partner with organizations like the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging and the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger to help with continuity of care.”

Social workers, doctors and nurses may refer clients for meals. Prospective clients may also go online and fill out a form to refer themselves, but a medical professional still must sign off.

“The criterion is medical fragility, not income, although most of our clients have a low income,” says Laura Payne, senior manager of marketing and events at MANNA. The Helping Hands MANNA depends on donations, fundraisers, grants and insurance partnerships for funding. The organization also relies on volunteers.

“More than 3,400 volunteers gave MANNA nearly 41,000 hours of work last year,” Payne says. They range in age from high school students fulfilling their community service requirement to retirees.

Volunteers staff a kind of assembly line

Volunteers Chris Felker and Joan Wells sort meals.

Pharmaceuticals constitute a key part of healing, but at MANNA we view food as medicine.”

— sue daugherty, CEO of MANNA in MANNA’s huge kitchen where one person puts, say, a vegetable into a section of a TV-dinner-type food tray, and then the next person adds meat to another section, and so on. Volunteers also chop vegetables, cook, bake, seal food trays and add nutrition labels. Other volunteers pack individual client’s meals into bags while still another group delivers the meals.

West Philadelphia resident Pam Nelson delivers meals every other Friday for MANNA. “I had been delivering boxes of food for [State Representative] Rick Krajewski’s campaign,” says Nelson, 61. “When the election was over, I was looking for a way to continue to help, and I heard about MANNA. I get satisfaction simply knowing that I’m providing an essential service for people who have a great need for healthy food.”

Chris Felker, 64, volunteers two or three times a week.

“I’m usually at the head of the breakfast [assembly] line,” he says. “There’s good

energy here.”

Ed Lyons, 84, from Brook Haven in Delaware County, has volunteered for more than 20 years. “I pack meals,” he says. “It’s so convivial here.”

Joan Wells, 73, the “Queen of Volunteers,” stacks pallets and does “whatever needs doing.”

During the pandemic, she brought in homemade cookies on Fridays for fellow volunteers.

“We like to joke that you don’t need to go to the gym by the time you finish your shift at MANNA,” says retired social worker Monica Murphy, 73, of Center City, who often seals fruit salad containers.

MANNA had a 40% jump in 2020 in the meals it prepares and delivers, according to Payne. “We would welcome more volunteers. New volunteers complete a brief online training before registering for a shift.”

To learn more about MANNA, call (215) 496-2662 or visit mannapa.org S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 5

MOM AND POP B ONLINE SHOP

l o c d e l i v e ry c o f ou n d e r Alison Cohen believes people are much more likely to support local businesses if they do not have to leave their homes to do so. Her vision, a local alternative to Amazon that provides Philadelphia’s small businesses with a wider customer base—where all the deliveries are done by employees riding on a fleet of strategically placed bikes—is just starting to take root.

Bike delivery service partners with small businesses to “I wouldn’t want to drive an hour into provide an ethical solution to ordering online West Philly to get some headphones,” Costory by siobhan gleason — photograph by milton lindsay hen, who lives in Mount Airy, says. “But if they could be brought to my door in an affordable manner, I’d feel much better about spending that dollar than having it show up in a van from Amazon.”

Customers are able to place an order from available businesses in their neighborhood on the Bloc website. All zip codes that qualify for delivery are listed on each business’ page. Delivery specialists provide next-day delivery.

Bloc Delivery provides delivery service for Mariposa Food Co-op in West Philadelphia, South Philly Food Co-op and Weaver’s Way Co-op in Mount Airy.

Bloc does not have any redistribution centers, which means that each delivery person goes directly from businesses to customers’ homes.

Every order from Bloc includes a $7 delivery fee for this door-to-door service, and customers can expect a text from their delivery person when their order is en route.

Though Bloc is still relatively small (especially when considering the monolithic nature of Amazon), it has helped connect local businesses with new customers, which has given them an extra boost during COVID-19.

Rian Watkins and Leroy Mapp cofounded their protein bar compaEach electric ny Gorilla Power bicycle has about 40 in 2017. cubic feet of storage in the After connectback, enabling it to hold about ing with fitness $1,000 worth of groceries, or around 30 grocery bags. One buffs and probattery can power a bike moting their bars for 20 miles on a single at yoga sessions charge. and outdoor workout events throughout From left: Bloc co-founders Alison the city for years, they had Cohen, Jennifer Grega to find new ways to connect with the fitness and Kiera Smalls. community in 2020.

PEDAL POWER

16 GRID P H IL LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 20 21

Another Bloc cofounder, Kiera Smalls, a yoga and mindfulness teacher (as well as cofounder of the running group City Fit Girls) knew Mapp, and she believed adding Gorilla Power to the Bloc website would be a win-win. Mapp and Watkins could reach more customers, and Bloc could expand their featured products.

“We want to meet [the needs of] all kinds of consumers—not just the ones looking for hot food or quick snacks. We want everyday staples and products for the once-in-a-bluemoon consumer,” Smalls says.

Fitness-focused products like sneakers from Philadelphia Runner or protein bars from Gorilla Power bring in people who may be interested in products that fit their active lifestyles rather than the grocery items Bloc also carries.

Gorilla Power’s partnership with Bloc has helped them spread the word about their protein bars. Mapp and Watkins have gained new followers from cross-pollination on Instagram, which in turn has given them new customers.

“Exposure has increased,” Watkins says.

“They show a lot of love to Black-owned businesses.”

Smalls wants to keep Bloc’s support of local business owners going as stores transition out of pandemic crisis mode and are no longer in the red. She plans to do this by strengthening community connections, reaching out on social media and revamping Bloc’s website.

Part of the change is a filter that will allow customers to search for Black-owned and women-owned businesses.

Equity and Access Cohen and Smalls cofounded Bloc in March 2020 with Jennifer Grega, CFO of Bicycle Transit Systems. (Cohen is currently the president and CEO.) Smalls previously oversaw the marketing, communications and equity efforts of Indego Bike Share, which was launched by Bicycle Transit Systems in 2015. She notes that all three founders worked together to launch Indego, and that it has shaped how they’ve set up Bloc.

“As individuals over the years, we’ve done a lot of work focused on equity and access,” Smalls explains. “Coming into Bloc, it has been a normal part of our operations.”

Bloc is minority owned and operated and has always been focused on empowering lo-

This is about our passions and wanting to help our neighborhoods.”

— a lis on cohen, Bloc Delivery cofounder cal business owners who often struggle to compete with big-box stores and Amazon.

“We have a diverse team at all levels of the company and we have a diverse marketplace of business owners,” Smalls says.

In 2020 Cohen saw an opportunity to empower local businesses and help her neighbors spend their dollars locally. Cohen had been interested in creating an electric cargo bike “last mile” delivery service since 2019 but had not considered transporting products directly from businesses to consumers until the pandemic began to limit how much customers traveled and left their homes to shop.

As a Mount Airy resident, Cohen was interested in starting Bloc in her neighborhood and helping businesses she knew best.

Meg Hagele, owner of High Point Café, was also searching for a way to connect with customers when Cohen approached her about Bloc.

“Alison Cohen is a regular and a neighbor.

She mentioned rolling out this electric cargo bike [program] right in our neighborhood.

It was a great way to get coffee to many of our regulars who were housebound at the time,” Hagele says.

Though Cohen focused on Northwest Philly in the early months of the pandemic, Bloc now has a much wider reach with customers in West and South Philly, as well as Collingswood, New Jersey (near where cofounder Grega lives).

“This is about our passions and wanting to help our neighborhoods,” Cohen says.

Just a Bike Ride Away Unlike other delivery services like Instacart or Uber Eats, Bloc does not rely on gig workers. Each delivery specialist is an employee of Bloc.

“Our [workers] are riding [e-]bikes, which requires training. We’re providing the vehicle. All of these things are things an employer does. We feel like it’s a legal requirement that these folks should have

benefits. Having workers covered under our workers’ compensation is important to us,” Cohen says.

The bikes are stored in different sections of the city. In Mount Airy, Bloc rents out a residential garage where one of its delivery bikes can be stored and recharged. Keeping bikes in specific neighborhoods ensures that each rider can make efficient deliveries and that customers will not have to wait too long for their purchases to arrive.

This efficiency appealed to customer Trudi Dixon, who began ordering from the service at the beginning of the pandemic.

“I discovered that it’s a really easy way to order from stores that I don’t often go to,” she says.

Dixon has ordered from Baker Street Bread Co., High Point Café and farmers markets in the Northwest. She plans to continue to order from Bloc even as she begins to shop in-person again.

“I mention it whenever I get the chance,” Dixon says.

Though Bloc was founded during COVID-19, Cohen believes its sustainability-powered values will help it thrive as the world picks up again and pandemic restrictions drop.

“People want to be intentional about how they use their dollars,” Cohen says. “The trend for younger people to want to know where their dollars are being spent was happening pre-pandemic. The pandemic accelerated those shopping habits.”

As Bloc grows, Cohen wants it to serve customers who are in zip codes currently outside of their delivery areas. Right now, boundaries like the Wissahickon Creek prevent delivery specialists from serving potential customers in Roxborough or East Falls. Similarly, in South Philadelphia, the Navy Yard is too far for bicycle delivery.

“Within a year, we want our delivery zone to be all of greater Philadelphia,” Cohen says.

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 17

Delaware River Nicholas A. Tonelli

The health of our rivers and streams depends on all of us.

Across the Delaware Basin, staff and volunteers of conservation organizations are working to clean up waterways, conserve forests and farms, and create a sustainable future.

Discover these organizations and ways to get involved at WeConservePA.org/find-a-group.

WeConservePA helps people protect, wisely use, and enjoy what nature offers.

A community of conservation professionals, volunteers, and supporters, WeConservePA advocates for pro-conservation government policy, and assists individuals and organizations in effectively and efficiently conserving land. Whether you donate, advocate, or volunteer, you can help make Pennsylvania a better place to live, work, and play. Together, we conserve PA.

Learn more at WeConservePA.org 18 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 9

GLASS

ACTION

Remark Glass founders’ big vision for recycling is underway story by claire marie porter

I

—

n the lower underbellies of BOK, a 340,000 square-foot co-maker space in South Philly, there is a labyrinth of glass—walls of emerald greens and blues, and shelf after shelf of clear jars, beer and soda bottles.

The glass is all empty, pre-used, awaiting its new future wherein Bottle Underground, the one and only glass collection and sorting facility in the city of Philadelphia, will either find a way to put it into recirculation or turn it into molten glass.

The woman-led nonprofit is working to close the glass loop in Philadelphia, where 70% of disposed glass ends up in landfills.

The co-owners, Danielle Ruttenberg and couple Rebecca Davies and Mark Ellis, started the operation in 2020, but they had already been working together for years after meeting in 2002 in the glass program of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Their glass and fabrication work prompted conversations about the possibilities of using bottle glass, a notoriously difficult medium from a glassblowing perspective, as a material.

Years later, in 2016, the women founded Remark Glass, which focuses on making high-end creative design crafts out of bottle glass. Ruttenberg says it became increasingly apparent that their small artisan glass business simply couldn’t turn every delivery of growlers and wine bottles into 20 GRID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 20 21

photography by rachael warriner

hand-blown cups or lighting fixtures. So, they started brainstorming ways to handle the surplus and Bottle Underground was born.

Though they have the same owners, Remark reinvents materials, while Bottle Underground is strictly focused on reducing glass waste, says Ruttenberg, and finding the best method to reuse that material, whether through down cycling, recycling, re-circulation, re-blowing and transforming, or selling to Remark or other partners.

No glass item was made to be single use, and glass is an infinitely recyclable material.

“This is a perfectly fine jar,” says Ruttenberg of one of Bottle Underground’s wares. “It doesn’t need to be changed. And it doesn’t need to be trash either.”

But due to contamination and lack of sophisticated recycling processes, most disposed glass in the United States ends up in landfills, where it can take a million (or more) years to decompose.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recently collected data, 7.8 million tons of glass went into the landfills in 2018, meaning only about one-fifth of the 10 million tons of disposed glass was recycled.

If it’s not cleaned properly it can’t be reused, explains Ruttenberg, and when the recyclables in the bin commingle and glass

From left: Bottle Underground co-founders Mark Ellis, Danielle Ruttenberg and Rebecca Davies.

breaks it becomes even less viable. The archaic single-stream system isn’t working, and the infinite potential of glass has been lost, but Bottle Underground is attempting to change that.

Ruttenberg says the company’s goals are big, because the ability to scale and branch its model to other communities is seamless. In the immediate future they hope to expand their partnerships and streamline their collection processes, but ultimately their Holy Grail is to upend the current

recycling system and change the way consumers think about glass.

“There’s so much potential here,” says Ruttenberg. “It’s an international problem with a very localized solution.”

The name Bottle Underground came from the original BOK blueprints, where the storage space was named “BU.” While she doesn’t know what the original BU stood for, Ruttenberg says she and her co-owners began jokingly referring to it as “Bottle

I truly believe that the work we are doing here can transform the glass recycling industry in the Philadelphia area.”

— k ate duffy, Bottle Underground volunteer

Underground,” and then realized how appropriate the name was for the endeavor.

“The way that this organization is growing as a network [and] has an underground feel—this expanding web—expanding

beyond what is currently accepted as the standard of recycling,” she says.

Starting a new business several months before the COVID-19 outbreak was a dealbreaker for lots of startups, but for S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 21

Bottle Underground, the pandemic only emphasized the need for better glass collection.

“The pandemic highlighted a stronger sense of care for our environment,” Ruttenberg says. “The pandemic told us we needed to do this.”

As the trash and recycling crisis came into full view, it felt like time to offer a solution, says Ruttenberg. Without any advertising, Bottle Underground went from receiving hundreds of pounds of glass per month, to three to six tons.

With the help of a modest full-time staff and volunteers, the entire operation, from drop off to re-circulation, happens at the Bottle Underground facility. “We are working in a bootstrap way, we didn’t have money to do this for hire,” says Ruttenberg.

“We’re doing this in addition to Remark.”

Zaid Farid, the full-time office coordinator, handles all of the glass intake and inventory, both for Remark and Bottle Underground. Farid says he feels a sense of purpose working with the company.

“It’s one of the main things that brought me in,” he says, adding that he’s worked a lot of different jobs, and finding one that is meaningful is hard to come by.

When a drop-off occurs at the Mifflin Street dock, Farid does a full intake of the pieces—weighing, cleaning and sorting.

Whole clean glass containers are requested, and certain colors—blues and greens— as well as uniquely textured bottles are preferred to keep a balanced stock, but the team won’t turn any glass away. Anything that is broken or crushed goes to the kiln, where it’s melted into a single color block and stored for future use, says Farid.

If there is a large amount of surplus, they are able to ship it to another facility, but it has to meet a certain tonnage requirement, which takes a while. Until then, Bottle Underground will store it.

“There’s a lot of human labor involved in everything that comes through the door,” says Ruttenberg. And most of that labor is done by volunteers, she adds.

One of their consistent volunteers is Kate Duffy, a human relations manager living in South Philly who says working with Bottle Underground is her “passion project.” She was at first a local customer who brought her glass to several drop offs.

“Every interaction I had I felt like I 22 GRID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

Bottle Underground accept both clear and colorful glass donations.

connected on our shared interest in the reduction of waste and our impact on the environment,” she says. “The company mission got me there, but the people pulled me in.”

She began volunteering several days a week earlier this year, and is now focusing on getting the volunteer program up and running. On Saturdays they hold volunteer events, which Duffy says are extremely rewarding for her, as she gets to interact with like-minded community members.

“Through my interactions with the individuals who come to our drop off hours alone, we see this desire for an alternative to the current recycling system,” says Duffy. “It’s not working and the community knows it.”

She says people will drive an hour just to bring their used glass to a drop off, because they know it’s the only way it will be truly recycled. Duffy believes that the business and community partnerships that the Bottle Underground team have established is proof that local consumers want to buy a product that they know has been given a second life.

“I think this is just the beginning,” she says. “I truly believe that the work we are doing here can transform the glass recycling industry in the Philadelphia area.”

Though she often feels daunted by the need to fundraise and get support, as well as the ins and outs of running a nonprofit, Ruttenberg says she’s very excited about the operation and the opportunity to show corporate America a prototype for better recycling.

“At the end of the day I think we’re ahead of the curve in highlighting these ways that glass can be so beneficial and such a highly-valued resource instead of a waste material,” she says.

She says she sees a million ways to streamline the process, with the proper funding, from a tracking app, to a drop-off station where people can weigh and deposit their own glass.

“There’s a lot of energy in terms of creating these creative solutions for recycled content,” she says. “My vision is big— it’s really big.”

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S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 23

TAKE BACK THE LOT

Inspired by work out West, the Philadelphia City Repair Project promotes reclaiming public space and strengthening communities story by royal thomas ii

O

n a small plot of land just on the edge of Southwest Philadelphia sits a yellow school bus. A year ago the gutted vehicle wouldn’t have warranted a second look.

But now the bus has been rehabilitated, with reinforced windows and flooring, and sits under a blue tarp to protect it from the rain. The surroundings have also been transformed and feature a budding, mulched garden encased by shipping pallet fencing. It’s clear that it is no ordinary school transport.

“I’ve never worked on anything like this before,” says Dominique London, owner of the lot and the soon-to-be finished “skoolie,” or renovated bus-turned-home.

Just next door is the home that used to belong to her late grandmother, Pauline London. While the house was lost several years ago to the city via sheriff sale, London was able to fight to hold on to the land.

“It’s a very personal thing for me. My family grew up on this land,” she explains.

This project is not only saving London’s family land, it’s making it sustainable.

London, who holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Temple University, will utilize her new home as a means to travel as well as to live in autonomy. Free from a mortgage and utilities, London is able to look to alternative means of living.

She is currently in the process of installing a rainwater catchment system to maintain the plants in her garden. She’ll also add 24 GRID P H IL LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

—

photography by drew dennis

a composting toilet to ditch the sewage and septic system.

“It means a lot to be self-sufficient, grow my own food and just know what it feels like to have more control over my life,” says London.

One notable thing about London’s project is she’s not doing it alone: it’s a community affair.

On any given Saturday, you might catch a crowd of volunteers on the lot alongside her, planting trees, installing fencing or digging up weeds. They’re participants with the Philadelphia City Repair Project (PCRP), an organization that helps residents reclaim public space and offers gardening and planning aid.

In London’s case, it means organizing extra hands to help out.

Helping Philly residents like London become more self-sufficient is the goal of PCRP, says Executive Director Michael Frank, finding ways to connect residents with the land around them and use it to

their benefit.

“It’s important to have alternative, more affordable types of living in Philadelphia,” says Frank. “We work with community groups, community organizations, but also just individuals that are looking to live a sustainable lifestyle.”

PCRP got its start in 2016, after Frank returned to the city from an internship with the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon.

Looking to replicate the work he had done on the West Coast, Frank began a school garden at Robert E. Lamberton Elementary School in West Philadelphia. This became the launch pad for Philadelphia’s independently-run branch of the project.

Creative Director Mikhi Woods and ambassador of culture Sistah Mafalda have joined Frank to round out the organization.

The team of three and their host of volunteers is also supported by CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia through a fiscal sponsorship, which allows PCRP to access office space and other resources.

It’s a very personal thing for me.

My family grew up on this land.”

— dominique l ondon, Southwest Philly resident

Dominique London stands beside her rehabilitated “skoolie” on her family’s land in Southwest Philadelphia.

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 25

With approximately 40,000 abandoned lots and spaces spread across the city, it’s easy for residents to become disenchanted with their neighborhoods.

“I think that it definitely burdens the psyche of an area,” says Danicia Malone, director of programs and facilities at the Purdue University Black Cultural Center.

“A space where you can be outside working together, imagining together, is fantastic.

Especially right now as we’re still coming through … the pandemic,” says Malone, who is currently a Ph.D. student at Temple University in its Geography and Urban Studies program. She stressed that taking control of these spaces as PCRP does can begin the process of reshaping the neighborhood.

“Guerilla gardening is a beautiful practice that can identify much more quickly, and with much more agility, problem areas in a neighborhood that the city just doesn’t have the advantage to do,” Malone says.

26 GRID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 20 21

Above: Willamae Laster (left) and Agnes Domocase care for the Uber Street Organic Co-op; Philadelphia Community Repair Project founder Michael Frank sorts through design ideas.

ry. PCRP has helped to build benches and planters, donated plants and put up fencing.

Next, Domocase and Laster plan to meet with City Councilmember Darrell L. Clarke to find ways to fend off development.

Both the Uber Street garden and London’s skoolie were featured in this year’s third annual Philly Village Building Convergence. The convergence is PCRP’s annual community building event where volunteers can help out on all of the

ongoing PCRP projects during the day and connect with others in their community at night.

For Frank, that’s ultimately what the group is all about.

“It’s been such a privilege and honor to have the opportunity to meet all these different groups and work with all these different people,” he says. “I think our communities are stronger when we’re working together.”

L E F T: P H OTO C O U R T E S Y M I C H A E L F R A N K

Uber Street Organic Co-op, a garden on North Uber Street in North Philadelphia is maintained by sisters and co-captains of the block Agnes Domocase and Willamae Laster.

“The joy that the garden gives me is that it’s something that makes the children happy, and it’s also something else for them to do. And it’s for the community,” says Domocase.

Domocase first began working on the space around 2000, when the elderly man who had previously maintained the garden passed away. She learned from a neighbor how to tend to all the plants before taking over the space and becoming the block captain in 2005. Her sister soon joined her as a block co-captain.

When Domocase lost her mother in 2013, she stepped away from the space and it became overgrown and unattended. Now having returned to her role, she’s found the help of PCRP to bring it back to its former glo-

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DON’T OWN IT Libraries for child gear and toys reduce in-home clutter and landfill waste

story by amanda clark

I

—

t’s a tuesday morning in August, and women with young children are filing into Rutabaga Toy Library in East Falls, which is hosting a circle time for parents. The welcoming and well-lit space is a testament to the sharp eye that founder Krystal Cunillera developed in the 16 years she spent as a videographer.

Like most successful children’s outlets, the shelves of Rutabaga are neatly arranged with a dazzling array of board games, stacking toys, miniature houses, bikes and books.

But there’s one thing noticeably absent from each item on display.

A price tag.

28 GRID P H IL LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

Rutabaga Toy Library founder Krystal Cunillera shows a young client toy options.

photography by kyle kielinski

That’s because the majority of items in the store are not for sale. You can, however, borrow them with a membership.

For $45 a month, members can bring home four different toys that they can keep for up to four weeks. Then (or any time before) the toys can be returned and new ones chosen. For an additional $10 a month, two more toys can be brought home, which is appealing to people with more than one child. Toys can be picked up at the East Falls location or at Beehive at BOK in South Philadelphia, or delivered to homes—in East Falls for free and to seven nearby zip codes for an extra $5 fee.

Rutabaga—named after a character from

the children’s show “Tumble Leaf”—was founded in November 2019 by Cunillera, a mother of a 7-year-old and 5-year-old.

The concept of a toy library addresses two different yet related problems environmentally conscious parents face. Within the home, parents battle—valiantly, but largely unsuccessfully—with clutter. Even the most beloved toys lose their luster, and graduate from prized possession to a hunk of plastic in a cloth basket from IKEA. The second of their problems is trying to avoid the astonishing amount of waste the industry produces.

Toy manufacturing is the most plastic-

intensive industry in the world. A United Nations Environmental Programme report estimates that the toy industry releases 48 tons of CO2 emissions and uses 40 tons of plastic for every $1 million in revenue. According to Statista, the baby-care products market, which includes strollers, soothers and highchairs, was projected to be worth more than $67 billion in 2020, and is projected to continue growing.

Cunillera’s goal in creating the library was to teach children and their families a radical way of treating toys and participating in consumerism through the idea of sharing.

“Parents typically buy everything and

Knowing that their toys are going into somebody else’s hands helps us think about sharing.”

— k rystal cunillera, Rutabaga Toy Library founder

think that’s how they make their children smart and fulfilled. Children learn that things are disposable and that they don’t need to care for their toys,” says Cunillera. “I think a toy library teaches children to be responsible, to care for their belongings. Knowing that their toys are going into somebody else’s hands helps us think about sharing.”

Even with that knowledge, toys are sometimes broken, but Cunillera prides herself on toy repair, rather than “just tossing it.”

She also relishes helping parents pick toys for their kids. “Members that have been here for a while, I sort of know what their kids like, like a personal shopper.”

Rutabaga operates as a communal space S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 29

Bo Zhao, founder of Baby Gear Group, pushes a stroller filled with items the company offers.

for parents and children to meet up for family game night or “sidewalk storytime + indoor playtime,” or just to bump into each other while picking up or returning toys.

For parent Stevonne Ratliff, who recently moved to Philadelphia from California, participating in the toy library has been a great way to meet other new parents.

“Not only do you get the toys here,” says Ratliff, “but you get access to meeting other parents and having your child play with other kids. I love that.”

Cunillera also wants the Rutabaga community to be a judgement-free space for parents. While the community does not require parents to be environmentalists, it does provide space for families to learn about why it is important to respect the Earth through purchasing habits.

“Parenting is hard, so I accept parents where they are,” says Cunillera. “I just make the purpose [of Rutabaga] community and sharing, rather than being ‘environmentalist’ or ‘eco-friendly’ or putting these labels on things that could be really stigmatizing.”

Knowing that $45 a month is out of reach for many families, Cunillera set up a scholarship fund to reduce barriers to sustainable choices and toy sharing.

30 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M SEPT EM BE R 2021

I am hoping that this is a new way to approach stuff and materialism.”

— b o zhao, Baby Gear Group founder

Families can apply for the scholarship fund on Rutabaga’s website. Those involved in the scholarship program receive a reduced price or free membership. The amount of funding provided through the scholarship program is currently based upon donations and fundraising initiatives.

Cunillera believes the scholarship fund is beneficial both to individual families and to the entire community, as it lowers the economic barrier to create a true representation of all neighbors.

“The Rutabaga scholarship program not only helps to bridge the gap of accessibility to sustainable parenting, but more importantly, it helps to create a whole community.”

Savings and Sustainability Bo Zhao founded Baby Gear Group in November 2020, a library allowing members to borrow strollers, bassinets, bouncers,

swings, carriers, highchairs and more. She founded the company as a response to the stress she felt as a new parent in 2018 trying to properly outfit her home.

“You really go down huge rabbit holes trying to figure out the best stroller or the best bassinet. You’re also trying to balance what’s in your budget and what isn’t,” she says. “As I was going through this, I was just wishing that there was some sort of service that would just let me try things, and that when I was done with it, it could magically disappear.”

The premise of Zhao’s idea is to allow parents to try multiple items cheaply, so that they don’t have to go through the process of reselling or giving away everything that their baby doesn’t like. This business concept limits parents’ waste of time, energy and resources while making sure that items get the most possible use instead of

Cunillera sanitizes Rutabaga’s toy blocks between use.

The low-price guarantee and the convenience of getting a wide variety of items delivered to your door is designed to make the sustainable choice also the easy choice for parents across Philadelphia and the Main Line. Zhao hopes to make sustainability possible for parents of young children, for whom it is often the most difficult to limit waste.

Ease and accessibility will help circular movements like this spread, and Zhao hopes that it will also create new ideas about what it means to be a consumer.

“I am hoping that this is a new way to approach stuff and materialism,” she says.

“So maybe we can have a new attitude towards taking care of and stewarding items for others to be able to use.”

Ripple Effect

collecting dust in a basement.

For Lisa, mother of a 3-year-old, borrowing from Baby Gear Group has been a way to find the perfect items for her child while avoiding the clutter and expense.

“Every baby is different. Every baby likes something different,” she says. “... [I]t’s taken the pressure off of us as parents.”

Baby Gear Group has three different plans geared to support newborns and toddlers. Their least expensive plan, called the Mini-Membership, starts at $49 per month.

One of Zhao’s priorities is making the cost of baby care manageable for all fam-

ilies, which is why the company operates on a “money back value guarantee.” This means that at the end of a membership, Zhao analyzes the cost and makes sure that the fees do not exceed 50% of the retail value of all of the products rented. If the family has spent over that amount on membership, Zhao refunds the extra money. “The last thing I want is for parents to feel like they were better off buying,” says Zhao. “So I guarantee you’ll save at least 50% versus buying something retail.”

Plus, it’s convenient. Items from Zhao’s library are shipped right to a family’s home as soon as they are rented.

Richard Booser, environmental economics professor at Muhlenberg College, sees the potential of circular businesses to limit the production and waste of goods, but believes their success requires a shift in consumer mindset and culture.

“You can start a movement where people start looking away from low price points and think, ‘I’m not going to own it and I’m going to pay the same amount, but who cares? I don’t need to own it, because it just clutters up my house or raises my trash collection bills and then fills up a landfill,’” he says.

Booser says shifting the culture around consumption is a huge undertaking, but these businesses hold promise. “You’ve got to start somewhere. And if you have one or two of these in every major city, it catches on.”

S E PTE M B E R 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 31

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Lookingon on the the bright bright side Looking side of Looking on the bright sideof of sustainability sustainability sustainability “My approach is about how to apply a positive psychology lens for sustainability

Virtual Café Virtual Café Virtual Café Join the MES team

Join the MES team from 12-1 p.m.

Join the MES team from 12-1 p.m.

on the first Tuesday of

from 12-1 p.m. of on the first Tuesday every month for an onevery the first Tuesday month for anof

online chat about your

every month for your an online chat about interests and goals. online chat about your interests goals.

Log and in with us. interests and goals.

Log in with us.

Log in with us.

www.facebook.com/UPennEES

www.facebook.com/UPennEES @Penn_MES_MSAG www.facebook.com/UPennEES @Penn_MES_MSAG @Penn_MES_MSAG

“My approach is about how to apply a positive psychology lens for sustainability work.

It’s about doing more andamoving beyond doing less bad,”sustainability explains “My approach isdoing aboutmore how good to apply positive psychology lens work.

It’s about good and moving beyond doing lessfor bad,” explains Kim Quick (Master of Environmental Studies `15), independent sustainability work.

It’s about doing more good and moving beyond doing less bad,” explains Kim Quick (Master of Environmental Studies `15), independent sustainability consultant and Master of Environmental Studies (MES) instructor.

Quick explored Kim Quick (Master of Environmental Studies `15),(MES) independent sustainability consultant and Master of Environmental Studies instructor.

Quick explored the subject during her time in the Master of Environmental Studies program, and consultant and Master of in Environmental Studies (MES) instructor.

Quickand explored the subject during her time the Master Environmental Studies program, adapted her capstone research to a course:ofLeading Change for Sustainability.

“Many of the subject her research time in the of Environmental Studies program, and adapted herduring capstone toMaster a course: Leading Change Sustainability. my students are interested in corporate sustainability, so I bringfor in some examples“Many from of adapted her capstone research to a course: Leading Change for Sustainability.

“Many of my students are interested in corporate sustainability, so I bring in some examples the private sector—and those can be applied in a number of organizational settings,” from my students are interested in corporate sustainability, so I of bring in some examples from the sector—and those can applied inleadership a number organizational settings,” sheprivate says. “The class is designed for be professional skills, but the students say the private sector—and those can be applied in a number of organizational settings,” she class is designed professional leadership skills,they but the students say thesays. skills“The are transferable even tofor their personal lives.

A lot of what learn in class is she says.

“The class is designed for professional leadership skills, but the students sayis the skillsemotional are transferable even torelationship their personal lives. A lot of what they learn in class about intelligence and building.” the skills are transferable even to their personal lives.

A lot of what they learn in class is about emotional intelligence and relationship building.” about emotional intelligence and relationship building.”

Quick draws on her own professional experience and those of her colleagues to present

real-life sustainability challenges: as an experience independentand sustainability consultant as well as Quick draws on her own professional those of her colleagues to present Quick draws on her own professional experience and those of her colleagues to present a board member of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, Quick real-life sustainability challenges: as an independent sustainability consultant as well as organizations do moreasgood for themselves, their employees, and theasQuick real-life sustainability challenges: an independent sustainability consultant well as a helps boardsmall member of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, environment.

“I am how sustainability will help live Philadelphia, into their company a board member of focused the Sustainable Business Network ofthem Greater Quick helps small organizations doon more good for themselves, their employees, and the values,” sheorganizations says. helps small do more good for themselves, their employees, and the environment. “I am focused on how sustainability will help them live into their company environment.

“I am focused on how sustainability will help them live into their company values,” she says. values,” she says.

To learn more about Quick’s values-affirming approach to corporate sustainability, visit:

www.upenn.edu/grid

To learn more about Quick’s values-affirming approach to corporate sustainability, visit: To learn more about Quick’s values-affirming approach to corporate sustainability, visit:

www.upenn.edu/grid www.upenn.edu/grid