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Is Having Enough Un-American?
Remember andrew yang from the 2020 presidential debates? The current election cycle has been so frightening that you could be excused for forgetting the crowded Democratic primary stages of 2020, but Yang gained some headlines for backing a universal basic income (UBI) proposal he called the Freedom Dividend. Under his proposal, every American adult would receive a monthly payment of $1,000 to help with bills, housing — anything.
You might take the “freedom” in the title as an empty patriotic gesture (à la freedom fries) but it actually referred to a core goal of the program. Today, most people don’t have enough money to take the time off they need to attend to basic social needs like caring for children or the elderly — all the work that no one pays for. Extra money might allow them to work less so they can spend time on what’s truly important in life. And as Yang’s website puts it: “Many Americans are stuck in the wrong jobs because of a need to survive.” Imagine everyone having the freedom to be picky about the work they choose. It sounds downright un-American, right?
In this issue, Dawn Kane writes about a basic income pilot in Philadelphia. The pilot looks quite modest to my privileged eyes. Participants get $500 a month, which, for the recipients, is a potentially life-changing sum. These income pilots are generally intended as a solution to severe poverty, but conservatives view them as a threat because they fear that “free money” will discourage work. Four states have banned basic income programs.
President Joe Biden quotes his father saying, “Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity.” Candidates rarely say we should simply give out-of-work Americans enough money to live well and let them figure the rest out for
themselves. Politicians campaign on jobs. Biden talks about the dignity of work because it reinforces a core American belief that work is inherently noble, and that choosing not to work is undignified.
Astra Taylor, interviewed in this issue, argues this is basically a scam. Our mantras about the dignity of work keep us from noticing that most workers are driven by insecurity, by the specter of hunger and homelessness, of falling behind on loan payments, drowning in copays, their kids having to drop out of college. Our belief in the nobility of work keeps us from peeking behind the curtain at the wealthy people and corporations that benefit most from the vast excess that workers produce.
In Grid we routinely write about the environmental problems caused by that excess production: the 40% of food that ends up going to waste, the mountains of clothing we throw away, the lawns of turf grass that we grow for decoration, the toxic electronics designed to break (I could go on, and I have). It’s not like we couldn’t do with less stuff, and it’s not like we couldn’t stop coercing people to produce it.
Yang is not a lefty like me, to be clear. He claims that the Freedom Dividend would support a robust consumer economy since everyone would have more money to spend, whereas I (perhaps more like Taylor) hope that removing insecurity would permit a shift away from consumerism and toward seeking activities that truly make us happy. Either way, we both see that the malarkey about the dignity of work doesn’t serve the workers.
bernard brown , Managing Editor
Outfoxed
In Mount Airy, fox lovers are (illegally) treating local animals for mange. An expert says it’s inherently dangerous and could backfire by kyle bagenstose
It was a warm summer morning and shirtless, sweaty runners were just coming off the Wissahickon Trail. As they ascended out of the picturesque valley in Northwest Philadelphia to start the workday, a woman named Mary and two companions were heading the other direction, already getting down to business. Their mission looked a little like a low-budget “Indiana Jones” flick. Stopping part way down a trail, Mary, the leader, handed a younger woman a pair of bright white
hard-boiled eggs, which she carried gingerly up a steep craggy embankment where a huge concrete bridge loomed overhead. She lost her footing once or twice, prompting calls of caution from below, before nearing the apex and underhand tossing one of the eggs a few feet to her side. It plopped, rolled and threatened to run all the way back down before settling somewhere in the middle.
All around the embankment were signs of the target of the operation: the little paw prints and scat of Vulpes vulpes, the red fox.
Days earlier, one suffering from mange had been spotted near the top of the slope. Mary and her friends hoped that the eggs, medicated with the antiparasitic drug ivermectin, would spare it from a potentially slow, scratchy, agonizing death.
Just one problem: their efforts could be entirely ineffective or even harmful, wildlife experts caution. They’re also illegal.
Welcome to Northwest Philly fox fight. For more than a year now, Mary, whose full identity Grid is concealing due to the
FOX: CHRISTIAN HUNOLD
Sympathy for mange-infected foxes compels Northwest Philadelphia animal
furball bounding around in our yard, and it was the best feeling ever that we helped this mama fox and her baby.”
It look[ed] like the apocalypse out there. They’re just missing all their fur, they were thin … people were seeing hairless foxes on their lawn, just curled up and dead. It was heartbreaking.”
— mary, Mount Airy resident
sensitivity of the subject, has been on a personal mission to combat what she says is rampant mange among area foxes, primarily in Mount Airy, but also stretching into surrounding neighborhoods. She first got the notion about five years ago, when she and her son noticed that a fox that regularly visited their yard in West Mount Airy suddenly had no fur midway down its body to the tip of its tail, and was just “scratching and scratching and scratching,” she says.
Mary, who has no professional background in wildlife management or medicine, took to Google and researched proto-
cols she says are espoused by some wildlife experts and government entities on how to help foxes suffering from mange, a disease caused by microscopic mites that bury into the skin of some mammalian species. First, she began attracting the fox to her yard by putting food out at the same time each day. Then, she began slipping in doses of ivermectin over the course of several weeks.
“About four weeks later, our fox came back, and we could see that her fur was growing in on the back half of her body… and she came with a baby [kit],” Mary says. “That was it. We were in love with this little
Mary says after the success, she stopped putting out food so as not to further acclimate the fox to human interactions. But really she was just getting started. In fall of 2023, Mary says she began to notice a high number of other mangy foxes in the area, bolstered by social media postings shared by others.
“I saw other people posting, sometimes with photos that were really distressing,” Mary says. “It look[ed] like the apocalypse out there. They’re just missing all their fur, they were thin … people were seeing hairless foxes on their lawn, just curled up and dead. It was heartbreaking.”
Mary purchased more ivermectin off the internet and began “napalming” the area, leaving treated eggs at sites known to be frequented by foxes. As that effort wound down, she transitioned to a one-to-one approach, contacting people who posted on social media asking for help, delivering them medicated eggs and explaining her method to treat their own backyard foxes.
lovers to leave medicated bait in the woods.
That effort continues.
“The endgame for me is to not create dependence between foxes and humans,” Mary says. “It’s just such a simple thing to try to treat them. Why wouldn’t we, right?”
Well, for lots of reasons, says Andrew Di Salvo, wildlife veterinarian at the Pennsylvania Game Commission. First and foremost, Di Salvo and his counterparts at the commission say state statutes make it illegal for anyone without a proper license to attempt to medicate wildlife. Those statutes are backed up by science-based wildlife management practices that identify dangers and drawbacks in medicating wildlife, he says.
“It is inherently dangerous and irresponsible just to throw bait out on the landscape that has a drug,” Di Salvo says.
Di Salvo says he understands why people would have such concerns for wildlife. Mange outbreaks can decimate local fox populations, according to the commission’s own website. The manner of death is brutal: all that scratching limits the ability to sleep and hunt, starving and weakening the animal for months until death arrives. Secondary infections from breaking the skin while scratching or exposure to the cold from fur loss can contribute to more acute deaths.
Di Salvo says the state keeps a “robust” monitoring network that can help identify when outbreaks are occurring for a variety of ailments in different species. Although he did not say whether the commission has identified any mange outbreaks in fox populations in Northwest Philadelphia, he says statewide, there’s “no indication yet” that red fox populations are threatened by mange in any corner of the state.
But that’s besides the point, he adds. Even if an outbreak is occurring, there is little to suggest some form of intervention would do more good than harm.
“The problem is, from a management perspective, what can we do?” Di Salvo says.
The commission used to have a program that treated black bears for mange with ivermectin, he says. But they stopped in 2022 after a Penn State University study found that about 80% of bears with mild to moderate mange recovered whether or not they were treated. The study did find slightly better rates of recovery for bears with severe cases, but mortality was still high either way, leading to a new policy of euthanizing bears
There’s a lot that can go wrong when people medicate wildlife, such as causing drug-resistant disease strains and poisoning other animals.
It’s a whole mess that is created from what seems like a very innocuous [instinct] … to give wildlife every chance they can to recover, when it has all these potential downstream impacts.”
— andrew di salvo, Pennsylvania Game Commission
found in such acute conditions.
Di Salvo says the takeaway of the study was that risks of treatment far outweigh the rewards. In worst-case scenarios, ivermectin-treated eggs left on the landscape could be eaten by the wrong species, with potentially dangerous consequences. (Ivermectin can be deadly to collies and similar dog breeds due to a genetic vulnerability. Indeed, Mary has also received criticism from some Mount Airy dog owners.) Foxes are also a rabies vector, leading to a risk to humans if they are conditioned to frequent backyards.
But there are less obvious risks, too, Di Salvo says. Indiscriminate use of medication like ivermectin could start to breed resistance among mite species and limit natural selection’s ability to produce more capable fox populations. He says there is also evidence that ivermectin can appear to be working but actually interfere with a fox’s immune system, leaving it vulnerable to a super-charged rebound of mange.
But there is little to suggest Mary and those seeking her assistance locally are convinced. In a world seemingly filled with bad news near and far, she holds her efforts up as
one of the few good things she feels sure of. “There’s so much that you can’t do about all this horror everywhere,” Mary says. “But this is such a fixable problem. It’s so easy.”
She says she has grown more cautious in her approach, placing eggs more infrequently and in more off-the-beaten-track locations to limit the risk of overdosing, or that a dog might stumble upon it. She feels bolstered by interactions with wildlife centers that she says lended their expertise and even support in treating the foxes. Mary even claims that one area center dosed her first batch of eggs with ivermectin; a claim the center denied in correspondence with Grid, adding that they agreed with the policy of the Game Commission.
Di Salvo responds that he has yet to see a convincing, science-backed argument from any wildlife management agency that the benefits of treating foxes with mange outweighs the risks.
“It’s a whole mess that is created from what seems like a very innocuous [instinct],” he says. “To give wildlife every chance they can to recover, when it has all these potential downstream impacts.” ◆
The Beer & Cider Garden
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Saturdays
Noon to 10pm
Sundays
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Obstacle Course
A ride-along with the Parking Authority reveals the challenges of clearing obstructed bike lanes by craig santoro
As a philly bicycle commuter, it’s long been my dream to race through the city slapping tickets on all the cars parked in the bike lanes. In the eyes of bikers, many of the everyday users of city streets — delivery trucks, contractor vans, Ubers picking up and depositing passengers, even residents dropping off groceries — are very real dangers. Riding nine miles a day on the Spruce and Pine street lanes, it’s rare I can go more than two or three blocks without having to merge in and out of car traffic to avoid obstructions.
When I learned the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) was adding bike patrols to assist with bike-lane parking enforcement,
I was excited. The first time I spotted a PPA bike patrol officer in the wild, I greeted them like a hero.
But as most of my cycling friends had never even heard of the program, I had questions as well: What exactly is their mandate? How does enforcement work? Have they been successful at keeping bike lanes safer? (Is this truly the best job ever?)
I arranged a ride-along to learn more.
The
Rule: ‘No
Parking’ vs. ‘No Stopping’
My hosts for the day are bike patrol officers Suraj Dinamany and Joe Pearce, and their supervisor, Tommy McMonagle. We meet in a parking lot vestibule at Eighth and Filbert
streets, and they quickly dispel my notion that we’ll be doling out lots of tickets (Traffic Violation Report, or TVRs, in the PPA parlance).
“Our main job is to clear the bike lanes,” McMonagle says. Conversation is key. “[We] ask them to move before issuing a TVR,” he says.
Okay, instant gratification is not part of the game, but is it still the best job ever? Pearce and Dinamany, both seasoned PPA officers newly full time with the bike patrol, seem to think so.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Grid originally ran this piece in May as a blog post accompanying a video that we posted to our Instagram account. We decided to publish this story in our print edition prior to July 17, when a motorist killed Barbara Friedes by swerving into the very bike lane Craig Santoro rode for this piece. Neglected bike lanes aren’t just a matter of inconvenience for commuters. They cost lives.
Parked vehicles shunt cyclists into traffic, endangering their lives.
Then Pearce asks me if I’ve seen an improvement. I hesitate and say, “No.”
We should start with the obvious: No one thinks it’s legal to park in a bike lane. Change the signs. Then let the PPA bike patrol do its job.
“We love riding a bike,” Dinamany tells me, totally sincere. “And if you try to do something you love, you have a passion for it, you’re not working at all.”
Pearce, who patrols Center City west of Broad Street, hadn’t ridden a bike for 40 years before taking the job. He has diabetes and he says his condition “is pretty much under control since riding a bike.” If that sounds dramatic, consider that Pearce rides 504 miles a month, according to his phone, which issues tickets and also tracks distance.
Dinamany, who patrols South Philly, rides a whopping 758 miles a month. Assuming a five-day work week, this comes out to about 35 miles a day. Not surprisingly, he says his daily riding has been keeping his hypertension in check.
They both acknowledge the job has its
frustrations. “Parking in general is frustrating,” Pearce says. “This city’s packed.”
Dinamany adds that difficult conversations are at the center of the job — “conversations where we let [parkers] know that their convenience is causing a hazard to a biker.” After a brief chat, they direct the driver to a safer place, like a metered spot or a loading zone.
Cyclists may not notice a difference, but the officers insist they’ve seen a significant drop in bike lane violations since they started their patrol. The PPA has averaged about 50 bike lane tickets weekly over the past two weeks, according to an agency spokesperson.
“I believe there is a drastic change right now with people parking in the bike lanes because they’re aware there’s a force out there to enforce it,” Dinamany says.
There’s an awkward moment. I tell them in some neighborhoods, I still see a vehicle obstruction on almost every block.
Then they explain the rule:
Like all PPA officers, the bike patrol determines violations based on the posted signage. And different bike lanes have different posted prohibitions. “Everything we do is written by signs,” Pearce says.
• “No Stopping” signs will land a vehicle an instant ticket.
• “No Parking,” which is surprisingly common in bike lanes, earns a driver a 20-minute grace period plus a five-minute courtesy. Bike patrol will scan the vehicle’s plate, ask the driver to move, then either they or one of their walking colleagues will return 25 minutes later to issue a ticket if the vehicle is still around.
• If a driver is still in their vehicle, even in a “No Stopping” zone, PPA will only ticket upon refusal to move.
“No Parking” signs tend to be on residential blocks, Dinamany says. He calls out Pine and Spruce — my daily bike highways
and the main Center City cycling arterials — by name.
So all of the vehicles I’m swerving around are getting a 25-minute courtesy? Mostly … yes.
Between its origin at Second Street and its terminus at 22nd, there is exactly one block along the Spruce Street bike lane with a “No Stopping” sign (the 1800 block, for those looking for an instant ticket). All other blocks grant bike-lane parkers 25 minutes. Pine Street’s lane does a little better with four “No Stopping” blocks (1400 through 1700) from 22nd down to Front Street.
A bike lane that terminates under a bus I suggest we follow my commuting route, so I can point out trouble spots. We take Sixth Street to Spruce and Spruce to 23rd before turning around and taking Pine back through town.
It’s a beautiful day, and I can instantly understand how they love their work. (Despite my griping, my commute is often my favorite part of the day.) Cruising around town all day, feeling the fullness of the rhythms
of this amazing city — the appeal of the job is undeniable.
Our first stop is the corner of Sixth and Chestnut, where the north-south bike lane narrows and then curves into the sidewalk, ending. There’s a row of double-decker tourist buses filling the block.
Today, like every day, the frontmost bus is parked in the bike lane. It is the most consistent — and I feel one of the most dangerous — obstructions of my daily commute. I point this out.
Pearce checks the sign and comes back with bad news.
“They can park there,” he says. And he’s right, the signs not only don’t prohibit parking, they specifically say “PHILA SIGHTSEEING TOURS ONLY.” I am dumbfounded. How is this a thing? Why have a bike lane that literally terminates under a bus?
Our ride is full of these moments. My bike lane bêtes noires confirmed as kosher by the signage. Block after block of “No Parking” and very little “No Stopping.”
True to their word, the bike patrol officers stick to a conversation-first policy.
They tell a plumber a few blocks further along that his vehicle has been timed. An Ford F-150 parked in the lane on the 600 block of Spruce gets a license plate scan and radio call so a walking PPA officer can come check if the truck is still there in 25 minutes.
My guides’ professionalism is evident; they are sticking to the rules to the letter. At every obstruction, they point out the signs: “No Parking.” The 25-minute grace period applies.
I ask McMonagle, “Who decides what signs go where?” He answers in a manner all too familiar to most Philadelphians: “The City.”
As we ride, McMonagle grills me on bike safety and my riding habits.
We agree about the importance of letting other riders know if you’re passing and on which side. We commiserate over the cardinal sin of riding the wrong way in bike lanes.
“When you bike in the city,” he asks, “and you get behind a red light, do you stop at the red light or do you go through it?” I answer honestly that I treat red lights like stop signs and stop signs like yields. It may not be the right answer, but we are in total agreement
Parking in bike lanes is often legal for short periods of time, including a 25-minute grace period for “No Parking” zones.
PHOTO
Our main job is to clear the bike lanes.”
about respecting intersections. The intersection is the key place to pay attention, as it is where we all come together: bikers, cars, pedestrians, strollers, dogs — all just trying to get across the street in one piece.
As we near our agreed upon end point, McMonagle asks me, “Are you satisfied?”
I’ve been wrestling with this question ever since our ride.
25 minutes is too long
This is a city of 1.6 million people who share the streets in 1.6 million unique ways. Our streets are narrow and they put us shoulder to shoulder, bumper to bumper, handlebar to door — often at high speeds.
tommy mcmonagle, Philadelphia Parking Authority BY
Keeping the streets safe for everyone is no easy job, and it would be impossible to satisfy all types of travelers.
Am I satisfied Officers Pearce and Dinamany are doing an honest job within the confines of their mandate, and working a sort of dream gig in the process? It certainly seems so. Am I satisfied that most people would rather move their car after a conversation with the PPA than get a $76 ticket, the perhaps too-cute price of a Center City bike lane violation? I don’t doubt that.
Am I satisfied that 25 minutes is deemed a reasonable amount of time to spend in a bike lane before earning a citation? I am not.
In 25 minutes, dozens if not hundreds of cyclists could pass that car, each depending on the kindness and alertness of drivers to let them merge and then rejoin the bike lane. Every day, cyclists ride past white-painted ghost bikes, tethered to parking signs throughout the city. These are memorials for bikers who were not met with kindness or alertness, but with fiberglass, steel and rubber. In January 2023 alone, three cyclists were killed in Philadelphia, nearly matching the total for all of 2022. It’s easy to forget with the adrenaline and speed, but biking in Philadelphia is scary. And it’s scary because it’s dangerous.
When I started biking in this city more than 20 years ago, the bike lanes I now travel every day were a pipe dream. People fought for them. The safety they provide is hard-won and crucial to ensuring everyone returns home whole and happy.
But it’s a fragile safety. A bike lane with a parked car in the middle feels less safe than no lane at all.
If bike lane parking enforcement is determined by the posted signage, as I learned on my ride-along, then it’s time to take a second look at the signs. More “No Stopping” and less “No Parking” would go a long way. Instant violations should be the starting point. We can work out exceptions from there — for example, one loading zone per residential block.
But we should start with the obvious: No one thinks it’s legal to park in a bike lane. Change the signs. Then let the PPA bike patrol do its job. ◆
THE NUMBERS PPA BIKE PATROL
PRICE OF A BIKE LANE VIOLATION IN CENTER CITY
Total bike lane violations for the week ending Sept. 15, 2023
Monthly miles biked by officer dinamany 504 758 $76
Monthly miles biked by officer pearce
NUMBER OF GEARS on a PPA-issued Volcanic bike (for the nerds: there’s a small chain ring in the front and 10 on the cassette)
4
where scofflaws earn an instant ticket
1
Blocks on the Spruce Street bike lane (2nd to 22nd) marked “No Stopping”
Blocks on the Pine Street bike lane (Front to 22nd) marked “No Stopping,”
the CAPITALI$M issue
Is capitalism inherently rotten, or do we just let it go too far? It can be hard for Americans to think critically about capitalism. If you want to know what water is like, don’t ask the fish, the proverb goes. Capitalism is the water we drink, the air we breathe. It is our state religion. It is how we trade our labor for the goods and services we can’t live without (and many that we can). But we can’t solve our leading environmental and social problems without wrestling with the system that employs most of us and takes almost everything we produce from raw materials to finished products. Workers get a raw deal, greenhouse gas emissions ruin the climate, species go extinct — and capitalism doesn’t care. That’s our job. In this section, we explore some of capitalism’s most absurd conclusions, from the loading docks of big box stores to mountaintops where tires are burned to birth Bitcoins, even to the sidewalks of Kensington. We also explore some tweaks, corrections for the system and even a few grand alternatives. We hope you come away with new realizations about capitalism and imagined overhauls — and, most importantly, keep your head above water.
MANUFACTURED INSECURITY
In her latest book, author and activist Astra Taylor explains how the anxiety and precarity people feel is the result of political decisions
INTERVIEW
BY ALEX MULCAHY
It seems that, regardless of age, economic status or political beliefs, everyone is apprehensive about the future. Renowned author, filmmaker and organizer Astra Taylor captures the zeitgeist of our times in “The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart,” published last year. Taylor explores the pervasive sense of dread that defines modern life, where even the wealthiest feel like they don’t have enough (or are creating an escape plan if society collapses), and proposes solutions that would help quell the fears that dominate modern capitalism.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Human beings have always been vulnerable to disease, death and political tumult. Why is this the age of insecurity? You could say all of human history has been an age of insecurity. Insecurity is a fundamental feature of the human condition. We are born needing care. We need care throughout our lives from cradle to grave. We can be wounded psychologically or physically. In the book, I call this “existential insecurity.”
But I think that something else is going on. I’m looking at larger trends, especially in younger generations, across the board of anxiety, of depression. The rise of things like housing insecurity and food insecurity and job insecurity. They are consequences of political and economic choices. They are actually embedded in our policy decisions. So that’s what I call in the book “manufactured insecurity.” This is the kind of insecurity that I don’t think is innate, but is rather
exacerbated by the way we’ve structured our society. And it’s the kind of insecurity I think we can mitigate and make better.
What if someone said to you: “I feel relatively secure. I’ve got a decent job, I’m in pretty good health and I’ve got air conditioning and a 401(k). Sure it’s a bummer that a lot of people feel anxious, but why is it a problem?” Okay, I’m going to take that in two directions. First, I would say we live in a society and so there are going to be consequences that result from other people being both materially and emotionally insecure. One thing I argue in the book is that conditions of intense insecurity are politically tumultuous. I think the rise of the authoritarian right is tied to these conditions. There’s evidence of that [in]the rise of fascist parties in the 20th century. So I think there are political consequences that will ultimately affect someone even if we think we might be somewhat sheltered, even if we think, individually, “I’m doing okay, I’m pretty secure.”
I would try to encourage this imagined interlocutor to look a little bit more deeply. “You said, for example, ‘Well, I’m doing okay, I have a 401(k).’ Well, what is that 401(k) invested in? If it’s invested in the continued use of fossil fuels, then you might not be secure for that long, given the course we’re on with climate change.”
So I think we also have to encourage people to look more structurally, more holistically, at the ways their own investments, their own assets are affecting the larger society. But I will say that it’s striking how few peo-
ple actually say that they’re secure and doing okay. There is widespread anxiety and apprehension when people look forward.
One of the arguments you make is that all people, regardless of societal position, feel insecurity. You even extend your empathy to a factory owner who’s trying to shortchange loyal employees because a business has to close, trying to get them fired so they’re not eligible for pensions or severance. And I found that to be a really insightful point to make. Yeah, economists have a concept called “fractal inequality.” The fact that no matter where you are on the income distribution ladder, there’s always someone above you. Now there are people below you, but we tend not to look as much at those folks. So as a person in debt who has negative net worth, dreams of having zero dollars, the person with zero dollars looks up and says, ‘Gosh, if I only had 100 grand’ and on and on it goes until you have someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos and they’re going, ‘I’m not gonna be happy until I have a trillion dollars’ because being a billionaire isn’t enough. And I think there’s something pathological about a society that has no floor and no ceiling on wealth, right? When you know you can fall to the point of being unhoused on a 110 degree day, then that anxiety is going to chase you up and up and up that ladder.
Part of my argument is actually that creating a more materially secure society would be good for everyone at every level. And that we do have to have some empathy, not just for the poorest — although I think we need more empathy for the poorest and most exploited — but also for everyone else who’s stuck in this game that they can never entirely win.
I’ve always stayed away from investing in the stock market because I think it’s the engine driving planetary destruction, yet when I was financially vulnerable, I felt foolish that I hadn’t. Having experienced that financial insecurity made your book really resonate with me. Well, first off, I just want to say I’m so glad the book resonated and I want to thank you for being honest about what you’ve been through. And I think more of us need to be. This is part of why I’ve always gone out there and told my sto-
ry about defaulting on my student loans in 2009 and how that put me on the path to organizing with the Debt Collective, which is the group I co-founded that is a union for debtors. I think we need more honesty about the challenges that ordinary folks are facing.
How do you balance personal financial responsibility with your conscience? My view is that we cannot live perfectly in accordance with our values given the way our society is structured at the moment. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. I eat vegan and I have for a long time. I know that’s not going to get us to a sustainable future, but it matters to me that my values align in this intimate way of what I put on my dinner table.
But the fact is we do not live in a society where there is a public pension program that’s reliable, right? Social Security is a decent program, but it is far from adequate. So we absolutely have to juggle these different values. I square that circle by organizing.
Creating a more materially secure society would be good for everyone at every level. And that we do have to have some empathy, not just for the poorest, but also for everyone else who’s stuck in this game that they can never entirely win.”
ASTRA TAYLOR
We have Social Security, as meager as it is, because of the Townsend movement, which was this movement of enraged older folks in the Great Depression era. They basically said, “We’re old, we’re poor and this is unfair. We want, we demand, government intervention on this issue.” And we now take their ideas for granted. I think we need to build on them and create a system that’s much more robust, that provides a much more profound level of material security for people, especially as they enter their golden years.
I think we’re set up to individualize these things that are ultimately societal. We have to make decisions for ourselves and our families, but ultimately political problems demand political solutions. And there’s no substitute for collective action. ◆
The rich and poor alike are hounded by insecurity, Astra Taylor says.
PINKY PROMISE
Large corporations and nonprofits are setting their own goals to cut carbon emissions. Are voluntary pledges enough? ➤
BY JORDAN TEICHER
Since former Mayor Jim Kenney set a goal three years ago of making Philadelphia carbon neutral by 2050, City government has been busy. It has replaced street lights with efficient LEDs, electrified its vehicle fleet and improved the energy efficiency of City buildings.
All those initiatives can only go so far to help Philadelphia become carbon neutral, however, since they only impact municipallyowned property. Private sector and nonprofit entities control essential infrastructure and buildings that generate most of the city’s carbon emissions, but there are few restrictions on what sort of energy they use and how much carbon they emit.
In the absence of strong government regulation, voluntary pledges are the only indication of how these organizations will tackle the climate crisis. And that has some activists, experts and elected officials worried. “I don’t think pledges are inherently bad. They’re a good thing, but they have their limitations,” says Ted Otte with Project Drawdown, a nonprofit that promotes climate solutions. “The most common challenge we see is that companies are struggling to move from promises and pledges to actual climate and sustainability performance.”
According to Otte, good climate pledges include near-term reduction targets for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions — that is, emissions from sources directly controlled by the organization (scope 1), emissions that a company causes indirectly via the energy it purchases (scope 2), and indirect emissions in an organization’s value chain (scope 3) — and a clear, transparent strategy for how the organization will achieve them. But today, the pledges of many companies in Philadelphia and the surrounding region come up short. Comcast’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 doesn’t include its scope
3 emissions. Vanguard’s pledge to reduce emissions in its operations doesn’t cover the billions it has invested in fossil fuel.
Even the best pledge can come up short in the end. Because they’re voluntary, organizations can shift or scrap their goals without consequence. According to the Financial Times, several big corporations including Unilever, Shell and Bank of America have missed goals to cut emissions or dropped their goals altogether in the past year. A study by NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch of 51 corporate climate pledges found that they were, on average, insuffi-
Commercial buildings alone account for more than 15% of greenhouse gas emissions in the city.
Currently, the City has few tools at its disposal to require those buildings to reduce their emissions. In 2019, the City launched its Building Energy Performance Program, which mandates that large, non-residential buildings conduct building tune-ups aimed at increasing energy efficiency. According to the City, the program has a compliance rate of just 38%, and even full compliance would cut carbon pollution in Philadelphia by just 200,000 metric tons, a small fraction
The most common challenge we see is that companies are struggling to move from promises and pledges to actual climate and sustainability performance.”
TED OTTE, Project Drawdown
cient to limit global heating to the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement.
“Corporations are just accountable to themselves, and nonprofit entities are just accountable to themselves and their trustees. If they don’t meet their goals, they might be embarrassed for themselves, potentially. But the effects for the rest of us are profound,” says State Senator Nikil Saval. “It’s not something that we should feel like we can depend on.”
In Philadelphia, buildings make up 69% of greenhouse gas emissions. Out of hundreds of thousands of buildings in Philadelphia, only around 600 are owned and operated by the City — the rest are privately-owned.
of the 20.5 million metric tons emitted in the city in 2019. Moreover, the program can’t require buildings to achieve net-zero emissions through, for instance, power purchase agreements of renewable energy.
Some of the city’s largest building owners, meanwhile, have taken up a voluntary pledge to reduce their energy use and, by extension, their carbon emissions. In 2018, the nonprofit Green Building United launched the Philadelphia 2030 District, one of 23 similar initiatives across the U.S. and Canada. Building owners that sign onto the 2030 District pledge signal their intent to reduce transportation emissions, energy and water consumption by 50% by 2030.
Today, 411 buildings, representing more
I think what we found was that the people who are the most vulnerable to heat waves are the people who have the hardest times walking to community centers.”
ALLEN DREW local climate organizer
than 58 million square feet of building space — including more than 31 million square feet of School District of Philadelphia buildings — are committed to the pledge. “We know that there is a desire among some actors in the city to do more, to demonstrate leadership,” says Richard Freeh, executive director of Green Building United.
Figuring out how any individual actor is performing against its 2030 District goals, however, is difficult. Green Building United publishes the aggregate annual carbon emissions of the buildings under its pledge, but it doesn’t share an individual building’s data “without explicit permission” in order to “protect the confidentiality of each individual building.” According to Freeh, “just about all” of the properties participating in the 2030 District are required to report under the City’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program, so theoretically one could “crunch the numbers” to determine a building own-
Corporations are just accountable to themselves, and nonprofit entities are just accountable to themselves and their trustees. If they don’t meet their goals, they might be embarrassed for themselves, potentially.
But the effects for the rest of us are profound.”
NIKIL SAVAL, Pennsylvania State Senator
er’s change in energy use over time.
The benchmarking program, however, currently has a compliance rate of just 68.8%, and the number of successfully reported buildings has been decreasing. In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, 705 buildings had “questionable or missing data,” a 44% jump since 2019.
Reaching out to 2030 District pledge signatories directly doesn’t necessarily yield better information. Take Brandywine Realty Trust,
a national, commercial real estate giant behind the Cira Centre and the forthcoming $3.5 billion Schuylkill Yards, among many other buildings in Philly. The company was the first to sign on its entire portfolio in support of the Philadelphia 2030 District.
Brandywine publishes its company-wide emissions data in an annual “Corporate Social Responsibility Report,” which shows reductions in its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions since 2018. But the company’s
JAMES ROBINSON PENNSYLVANIA SENATE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
State Senator Nikil Saval says we need more than voluntary pledges from corporations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
2023 report does not disclose scope 3 data, and it does not break down greenhouse gas emissions by city. Brandywine declined to comment for this story.
The 2030 District pledge is not the only climate pledge that doesn’t require signatories to publicly disclose emissions data. In April, Jefferson Health made headlines when it announced it had received voluntary Sustainable Healthcare Certification from The Joint Commission, an organization that accredits healthcare organizations and programs. To receive the certification, organizations need to report baseline emissions data for three greenhouse gas emission sources to the commision and an action plan to reduce them. But that plan doesn’t need to achieve any specific level of emissions reductions in any particular time frame, and it doesn’t need to be reported to the public.
When Grid asked for emissions data and details of its plan to reduce emissions, Jefferson Health declined. “We are not able to publicly share data at this time as there are multiple factors that impact our baseline data, including recent expansion (the addition of new buildings), and various energy sources (a blend of traditional and green energy),” says Craig J. Sieving, Jefferson Health’s vice president of facilities. “As it relates to our action plan, Jefferson is achieving its climate goals through a multitude of programs to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.”
According to the City, most of the energy used by buildings comes in the form of electricity, which accounted for 53% of building energy use in 2022. Reducing the carbon footprint of Philadelphia’s buildings, therefore, comes down in large part to PECO.
In August 2021, Exelon Corporation, which comprises six utilities including PECO, announced that it would reduce its operational emissions 50% (compared to a 2015 baseline) by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050. Now, six years ahead of schedule, PECO spokesperson Brian Ahrens tells Grid that the utility has already reached the first of those goals by electrifying its vehicle fleet, making its buildings more energyefficient and reducing leaks in its gas system. Nancy Wygant, an activist with POWER Interfaith, says it’s good that PECO is making its operations more sustainable. But the utility’s climate goal, she says, misses a massive,
important aspect of PECO’s carbon footprint — namely, the emissions of the fossil fuels it sells to its approximately 1.7 million customers in the Philadelphia region.
“I would be surprised if a restaurant said, ‘We decided that the food that we feed our employees on their breaks is going to be really nutritious,’ but said nothing about what’s on their menu for their customers,” she says.
PECO is the only distributor of electricity in Philadelphia, which means that the decisions it makes about what kind of energy it chooses to purchase have a huge impact on the ability of the city as a whole to transition away from fossil fuels. It’s why POWER Interfaith and environmental organizations have recently been pushing PECO to increase the percentage of renewable energy in its default service program, which must be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission every four years.
Ahrens tells Grid that the utility has “an obligation to ensure that we’re purchasing power at the least cost over time,” and that it is currently doing so while “meeting the alternative energy portfolio standards.” He adds that, “With regards to gas, we believe it’s the key to reliability, resiliency, affordability and equity and that it offers better solutions than things like propane or home heating oil.”
Sen. Saval says the Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, to which Ahrens refers — which requires suppliers like PECO to purchase just 8% of its power from renewable sources — is “vastly inadequate” and should be updated. In the meantime, he says, PECO could exceed the low bar set by state standards by entering into long-term contracts with renewable energy generators, which would ensure lower prices for consumers. But the utility is unlikely to do so voluntarily, which is why PECO should not be left to set its own climate goals, Saval says. “If a utility has a quasi-monopoly, I think it’s on the government to require more from them.”
Some Philadelphia organizations are seemingly on their way to achieving vast emissions reductions voluntarily. In 2020, for instance, the University of Pennsylvania signed a power purchase agreement with Community Energy to buy all the electricity generated from two solar energy facilities in central Pennsylvania, which will provide
about 75% of the energy used by Penn’s campus and Penn Medicine. The deal, the university says, will help it meet its commitment of an entirely carbon neutral campus by 2042.
More private institutions in Philadelphia may very well decide to proactively purchase renewable energy to meet their climate goals, says Saval. But many can’t, or won’t, without major government investment. “There has been an assumption that the profit system would ultimately work out in renewables’ favor,” he says. “Obviously, the Inflation Reduction Act has de-risked some of these renewable energy investments. But we’re not building enough.”
According to Saval, we need not wait for private actors to come around to renewables in order to meet our climate goals. He points to New York State’s Build Public Renewables Act, a 2023 law that authorizes the New York Power Authority to build and operate renewable energy projects. “We need hard targets, and ways to meet them through public authorities. The benefits of that would be enormous,” he says.
In addition to government-led investments in renewable energy, City Councilmember At-Large Nicolas O’Rourke says the city government needs to hold companies legally responsible for cutting emissions. As an example, he suggests BERDO 2.0, a 2021 ordinance that requires large buildings in Boston to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. “That kind of direct, intentional, clear regulation actually helps,” O’Rourke says. “I think it’s something that we in Philly can learn from.”
Isabelle Coupet, a program manager with Green Building United, agrees that government intervention is ultimately needed to achieve Philadelphia’s climate goals. But voluntary pledges can help, she says, if they demonstrate to legislators that there is an interest by private actors to exceed existing regulation. “These people have committed dollars and effort showing they are interested in doing this,” she says. “So you can’t say, ‘We can’t do this policy because big businesses don’t want to do it.’” ◆
MATERIAL FREEDOM
Slavery-free building products are possible if consumers demand them ➤
BY BERNARD BROWN
Say you’re renovating your kitchen. You weigh the pros and cons of granite versus butcher block countertops, you compare different brands of convection stoves and you work through stacks of tile samples for the backsplash. You’re thinking mostly about style and function, and perhaps the sustainability of the materials, but how about slavery?
Surely you would rather not buy anything produced with forced labor, but how would you know if you were? Materials supply chains stretch around the globe and the workers are often far away, in countries that you (and your contractors) are unlikely to visit.
The Connecticut-based advocacy group Design for Freedom has elevated the problem, pointing to the 28 million people held in servitude around the world and drawing the connection between the work they are forced to perform and the materials used in our buildings.
Take natural rubber (latex). Latex comes from trees grown in tropical rainforests. Workers slash the bark to channel the white, sticky sap into buckets. Labor conditions in South America during the rubber boom of the late 1800s to early 1900s were notoriously brutal, with thousands of indigenous workers enslaved to tend the trees in plantations. Today, labor problems continue to plague the industry. In plantations in Burma (Myanmar), for example, companies connected to the military force children to work.
Unfortunately for consumers attempting to shop conscientiously, supply chains constantly shift and twist, with manufacturers
switching suppliers depending on price and availability. If one rubber supplier runs out of stock, a flooring factory in China might work down their list and, out of the need to meet their orders to wholesalers, pick a supplier who can deliver on time — whether or not they’ve been properly certified.
The U.S. Department of State tracks information about child and forced labor overseas, but some products simply haven’t been investigated. It reminds Kristen Suzda of Philadelphia’s Re:Vision Architecture of trying to find
“They aren’t prepared to answer. It doesn’t mean they’re not interested or don’t care, but this is a new area.”
The Living Building Challenge (a more stringent standard than LEED) mandates the exclusion of forced labor where possible, but requires applicants for their certification to advocate where it isn’t. They write in their program manual that, for industries that lack third-party certification, the applicants must send advocacy letters to the corresponding trade associations encourag-
If we never ask, manufacturers will never know this is important to us and adjust accordingly. No one wants to be the one who has to answer ‘yes’ if someone asks ‘were enslaved people involved in making this product?’”
KRISTEN SUZDA, Re:Vision Architecture
out about the recycled content in materials in the early days of LEED, a green building standard introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. Back then, manufacturers would say they didn’t know. Now, she says tracking recycled content has become easy with certifications and credentials displayed on companies’ websites, but that is not the case with forced labor.
“When I call manufacturers and ask about slavery in supply chains I get silence on the other side of the phone,” she says.
ing them to develop independently-verified standards.
So what can you do? Mindful Materials offers a growing list of vetted options to choose from. You can also speak up — ask your architects, contractors and suppliers about forced labor. “If we never ask, manufacturers will never know this is important to us and adjust accordingly,” Suzda says. “No one wants to be the one who has to answer ‘yes’ if someone asks ‘were enslaved people involved in making this product?’” ◆
Workers, including children, often use their hands or rudimentary tools in dangerous mines.They are vulnerable to illness, collapsing mine shafts, lung damage from dust, injuries from falls, carrying heavy loads and working long hours.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Workers in illegal timber operations often face unsafe conditions due to remote locations, government corruption and a lack of oversight and regulation.
The stone supply chain is complex, unregulated, and opaque, involving multiple stages like cutting, splitting, polishing and washing. Numerous intermediaries handle these processes before the stone is sold and delivered to consumers.
In many countries, the steel supply line is rife with forced labor used for charcoal production, mining and infrastructure construction. Mexican cartels, for example, have left workers exposed to violence and human trafficking.
Common glass production poses a significant risk, specifically regarding child labor in mining the silica, soda ash and limestone used in glass making. Glass
BANGHLADESH
is used in Portland cement, drywall and cement roads. Repeated exposure and inhalation of gypsum dust can cause lung, kidney and liver damage.
SUPPLY CHANGE
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN
The extraction and processing of raw resources used for common building materials often happens via human exploitation. Forced and child labor is a blight on this multi-trillion dollar industry and little oversight exists to inform the market of these practices. Connecticut-based movement Design for Freedom works to eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain, ensuring more ethical and responsible sourcing practices. Here, they show us the hard truths about several building materials and the hotspots for forced and child labor.
There is a long history of child and adult enslavement on rubber plantations, where workers are forced to meet extreme quotas with minimal food or water.
Bricks, often made from clay and sand, are among the materials most at risk of being produced with forced labor. 20 countries around the world are listed by the Department of Labor for child or forced labor abuses in the brick industry.
Factory workers making latex products also endure harsh conditions with little oversight.
Timber
Stone
Brick
Gypsum
Gypsum (Drywall)
Copper
CHINA
BRAZIL MEXICO
NIGER
BRAZIL EGYPT NIGERIA CAMBODIA
Rubber
AFGHANISTAN
BURMA LIBERIA
SATALINO
INDIA
INDIA
ZAMBIA
FORCING THE ISSUE
Philadelphia isn’t prepared to help people struggling with addiction and homelessness, but that isn’t slowing down Mayor Parker’s plans to end Kensington’s open-air drug market ➤
BY AMBER X. CHEN
On May 8, the City of Philadelphia cleared a homeless encampment that stretched two blocks on Kensington Avenue between East Allegheny Avenue and Orleans Street under the Market-Frankford Line. This clearing marked the first step of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s five-phase plan to dramatically improve Kensington, whose
residents contend with extreme poverty, open-air drug markets and the modern fentanyl crisis.
Parker campaigned on shutting down the neighborhood’s open-air drug market, saying she would bring in the National Guard. Although that has not yet come to pass, her administration has brought an intense police presence to the neighborhood during and after the encampment clearings. Parker’s heavy-handed approach to the drug market and homelessness in Kensington has drawn criticism from advocates for people experiencing addiction and homelessness.
It’s an issue cities across the country are contending with, and it was recently brought before the U.S. Supreme Court with the City
Advocates say that clearing the encampments has only moved vulnerable people to less-safe conditions.
of Grants Pass v. Johnson. Activists fear that the June 28 ruling makes tough-on-crime approaches easier for cities while at the same time endangering vulnerable residents.
WHAT IS GRANTS PASS V. JOHNSON?
The case originated in Grants Pass, Oregon (population 39,000) — a city that has almost doubled in size over 20 years while its supply of affordable housing has not kept pace. Grants Pass has a 1% vacancy rate, making it extremely difficult for residents without housing to find it.
Grants Pass had opportunities to address the affordable housing crisis, including a proposal to fund an emergency shelter, but instead has doubled-down on criminalizing unhoused people. As the City Council president openly admitted: “The point is to make it uncomfortable enough for them in our city so they will want to move on down the road.”
The criminalization of homelessness can look like city councils passing “anti-camping” laws, or otherwise selectively enforcing restrictions on accessing public areas in ways that primarily affect people experiencing homelessness. That has manifested in cities across the U.S. by clearing homeless encampments.
Las Vegas cleared 2,500 camps in September 2023. Camp removals in Minneapolis have more than doubled since last year. Los Angeles, too, removed an encampment in its downtown in May. And in New York City, encampment sweeps reached a high of 500 last fall.
It is more politically expedient for elected officials to blame people experiencing homelessness and misdirect attention from their own failures to address the housing crisis.”
ERIC TARS, National Homelessness Law Center
Eric Tars, senior policy director at the National Homelessness Law Center, is worried that, in siding with the City of Grants Pass, the Supreme Court has now set a precedent for how cities deal with the housing crisis. “They hide the cost of [creating new criminal penalties] in the law enforcement budget,” Tars says. “We know from research that it actually costs two to three times more to cycle people through the jail system and the courts than it does to simply provide them with housing.”
Tars emphasizes that cities are presenting a “false binary” — that they can either spend money to help people access affordable housing or criminalize people for free. In Tars’ view, it is not only cruel and unusual to criminalize homelessness, but also an ineffective way to solve the crisis, while exacerbating social justice issues. Homelessness has a hugely disparate impact on communities of color, as well as LGBT and disabled people.
WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR KENSINGTON?
More than one-third of Philadelphia’s homeless population resides in Kensington, a neighborhood with a staggering 45% poverty rate that is plagued by crime and drugs. There are reportedly around 80 open-air drug markets within the 1.9-mile stretch of Kensington.
“It’s not peaceful. It’s too many needles and everything,” Kensington resident Jahlil Lincoln says. Grid talked to Lincoln in Kensington’s McPherson Square where he was visiting family. “How you gonna get a chance to walk with your kids and you got people that will shoot dope all f***ing day and pass out all day, or who overdose? Some people get tired, they wanna leave and raise their kids in a better area. You can’t raise your kids here. Look at this, it’s horrible.”
Tars emphasizes that most people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. are not addicted to drugs nor suffer from visible mental illness, thus, federal homelessness policy should not be crafted on such a slim percentage of the population. “Kensington is kind of this unique situation where you have a really heavy drug user population,” Tars says. “And still, criminalizing approaches have not ended the drug crisis in America either. We need to be getting peo-
ple into accessible treatments and making those options available to them.”
Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law anti-poverty fellow Stephanie Sena says that although Philadelphia has not yet arrested people for camping on public property, the Grants Pass ruling nonetheless opens the door to heavy-handed and dangerous practices. “I think whatever restraint Parker had been showing, she now no longer has to show that same restraint.” Sena, who has sued the City over previous encampment clearings, such as on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, says the Supreme Court’s ruling takes away that legal tool for advocates to challenge City actions.
Moving people using opioids off of the main thoroughfare of Kensington Avenue directly endangers them, Sena says. A person overdosing on a quiet residential block is less likely to be seen and thus could more easily die before being treated with Narcan.
Posting more officers to Kensington also opens the door to dangerous interactions with
police for housed and unhoused residents alike. “It’s going to have a profound impact on people who are unhoused or who are poor and Black,” says Sena. “Now that the Parker administration is allocating such significant numbers of police, it’s not just the unhoused who are going to be impacted by that.”
TRYING TO HELP
Walking around Kensington today where
the former encampment was cleared, barricades still line the sidewalks and multiple police cars can be seen on each block. Street sweepers work to dispose of needles scattered on the ground.
Rodney Murray works at one of the many groups contracted by the City to help clean up Kensington, picking up needles and trash. Murray, who returned home eight months ago after serving a 22-year sentence,
Now that Kensington Avenue and McPherson Square are cleared of encampments, what’s next for Kensington — real help for people in need, or condos and restaurants?
I think whatever restraint Parker had been showing, she now no longer has to show that same restraint.”
STEPHANIE SENA, Villanova University anti-poverty law fellow
is part of a program for recently incarcerated people to get back on their feet and access employment. Grid spoke with Murray as he was finishing up a shift at McPherson Square, blocks away from where the former encampment was cleared. “Look, you’ve got the kids playing. Ain’t no needles in the park,” Murray says. “When they fall, they just fall on grass.”
Originally from North Philadelphia, Murray supports Mayor Parker’s initiative to not only improve Kensington, but the whole city of Philadelphia. “It’s about time we put our city back on the map,” he says. Still, Murray notes that Parker’s encampment clearing wasn’t a long-term solution for the neighborhood’s using and unhoused population; it only displaced them to the
side streets and alleyways around the former encampment area.
“They just moved people around is all they did,” says Stephen Jackson, who works for the Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction program of the Department of Public Health. “The issue there is that there aren’t enough beds, there aren’t enough treatment centers contracted with the Single County Authority to handle the people, and the hospitals don’t give a s***.”
A person in recovery himself, Jackson says that there needs to be more City involvement in normalizing harm reduction, providing an easier trajectory for accessing treatment and a “softer way” to do it besides access points, assessment centers and hospitals. “We’ve had medical interventions for a long time,
but people aren’t using them,” he says.
At the time of the May 8 clearing, City officials reported that outreach workers were able to place 59 people in housing or in treatment. However, subsequent reports show lower numbers. “As someone who has sent plenty of people off to treatment, I can tell you it doesn’t happen in five minutes. They have to be assessed, especially with all these wounds and all these medical needs,” Jackson adds.
Philadelphia currently does not have enough beds in recovery houses and in treatment facilities for people with complex medical conditions, such as wounds from xylazine, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. A recent study by Thomas Jefferson University found that people in need of addiction treatment faced delays and administrative barriers that often scuttle their attempts to recover.
The Parker administration has taken steps to increase treatment capacity. In June, City Council approved Parker’s new City budget, which included a plan for a $100 million drug treatment center in Northeast Philadelphia on City-owned property on State Road, next to the City’s detention center and prisons.
The facility reportedly will have space to house and treat more than 600 people. However, advocates have pointed out that this center will take at least three years to complete; since enforcement has already begun, questions remain as to how the City will address the immediate impact of displacing hundreds of people.
William Rodriguez says that if he had been in this era growing up, he would probably be dead. Rodriguez, who is in recovery from using heroin, now works as an outreach and engagement coordinator for the Behavioral Wellness Center, a detox, rehab and mental health facility. Rodriguez is also a former client of the facility.
“Folks can be in there anywhere from five days until like two months, depending on the bed they’re in … but also how serious [they are] about changing their life,” Rodriguez says.
The center sets up an RV in the Kensington neighborhood five days a week, handing out pamphlets advertising its detox and rehab services, as well as providing water bottles to any passerby. The RV also has a nurse on board who can assess people’s
wounds and consult with a doctor on what the best path of care for each case would be.
The nurse sees about four people a day at most, as each consultation is timeconsuming. Rodriguez says that many of the wounds assessed require emergency room attention, which people are afraid to access due to long wait times during which they can be subject to intense withdrawal symptoms. In addition, the fact that many people in Kensington aren’t Philadelphia residents complicates how the center can administer services.
According to Rodriguez, the drugs on the market these days are “a whole different animal” compared to when he was using. He describes people going through extreme withdrawals, scaring them away from accessing most treatments he could when he was using heroin.
Jonathan Carotenuto, who stopped by to pick up a pamphlet from the center’s RV when it was parked along Kensington Avenue, agrees.
“It’s super hard to get off of things that are out there now. Until this past year, my longest drug use run — I started in 2017 — I’d maybe use for three months and I’d get to rehab and it was back and forth every so often,” says Carotenuto, who is originally from outside Norristown in Montgomery County. “But s*** that’s in the drugs now, it’s like I can’t get the recovery back. It’s so hard to get away.
“I’ve AMA’d [discharged against medical advice] from four rehabs in the past five months and I’ve never not committed to it. It’s like I get a couple of days and the sickness of the withdrawals is nausea, vomiting, you’re dripping sweat because you’re hot and then you’re freezing at the same time, can’t go five minutes without throwing up.”
Most people passing the RV only stopped to grab a bottle of water. Rodriguez says that he sees more failures than successes. “We may not bring anybody in, but at least I got to talk to some folks” he says.
A MORE FORCEFUL APPROACH
Philadelphia is home to one of four Pennsylvania jails that has facilities to start people on medication for opioid use while in custody. However, staffing has historically been a huge barrier to the efficacy of the Department of Prisons administering such care. Philadelphia has a 44% correc-
I will make no excuses for the fact that we will be going down there in a much more forward posture, and we will be making arrests.”
KEVIN J. BETHEL, Philadelphia Police Commissioner
tions officer vacancy rate
Advocates are worried that the number of incarcerated people will rise as Parker begins the law enforcement phase while jails are still over-capacity and understaffed.
Police commissioner Kevin J. Bethel was quoted by the Kensington Voice, stating that “being unsheltered is not illegal” and “we’re not going down there to lock up 590-plus people.”
Asked for comment about Grants Pass v. Johnson, district attorney Larry Krasner’s office made it clear that being unhoused is not a crime.
“We’ve seen no indications that PPD intends to begin arresting unsheltered people as part of the Kensington plan,” says Dustin Slaughter, spokesperson for the district attorney’s office. “With that said, D.A. Krasner is staunchly opposed to the criminalization of poverty.”
It’s hard to qualify the extent to which the police department will make true on their stance that being unsheltered is not illegal, while Kensington’s homelessness crisis is wrapped up in the neighborhood’s drug crisis. Especially after conducting a massive encampment clearing in May and an additional sweep in July.
Moreover, the City has said that they will be making arrests for drug use, sale and other “quality of life” crimes like prostitution. “I will make no excuses for the fact that we will be going down there in a much more forward posture, and we will be making arrests,” Bethel said at a June 9 press conference.
Krasner has said that even if arrests are to increase, he does not plan to prosecute low-level drug possession and quality of life crimes. But still, while awaiting trial, this could mean hundreds of Kensington residents end up in jails that are still overcapacity and understaffed as Parker begins the second phase of her plan. Meanwhile, the City spends over $64,000 a year per incarcer-
ated person, of which 90% are people of color. Overdose deaths also disproportionately affect Black Americans.
In a departure from previous encampment clearings, the City reportedly did not notify the press or service providers of the clearing on July 10, which hid the action from public view and hindered efforts to connect unhoused people with support services. “That’s highly unusual,” says Villanova law fellow Sena. “It’s a signal that s***’s going to go down and they don’t want anyone to know about it.”
Sena questions who the Kensington cleanup drive is meant to help. The encampment dwellers don’t have sufficient housing or treatment options, and the low-income, housed residents are vulnerable to displacement when property developers take advantage of a sanitized neighborhood. “I have spoken with people in the encampments who were homeless and who had been evicted by landlords so they could develop [their rental property],” she says. “You can’t get a Whole Foods to K&A [Kensington and Allegheny avenues] with the encampments there.”
Tars was worried that Grants Pass v. Johnson would enable cities to conduct encampment sweeps, jail people and overall criminalize homelessness before shelter facilities and affordable housing were in place. As the City continues to displace the neighborhood’s unhoused population, some think that is primed to happen in Kensington.
As Tars puts it: “It is more politically expedient for elected officials to blame people experiencing homelessness and misdirect attention from their own failures to address the affordable housing crisis.”
LOST IN THE SUPERCENTER
New book compiles essays on the hidden environmental impact of America’s big box stores
When was the last time you got lost in Home Depot, or cursed the amount of time it took to walk from one side of Walmart to the other as you checked off the items on your shopping list? The term “big box” captures their shape, but possibly understates their scale. A Walmart Supercenter and its parking lot take up 13 acres (about 10 football fields); a Cabela’s can stretch over 40 acres.
The stores themselves are massive — and they are fed by much larger supply networks whose environmental impacts stretch around the globe. In “Big Box USA: The Environmental Impact of America’s Biggest Retail Stores,” Sherri Sheu, an environmental historian at the Science History Institute, with co-editors Bart Elmore and Rachel S. Gross, pulled together essays examining different aspects of how big box stores have reshaped our planet, from the asphalt where you park
INTERVIEW BY BERNARD BROWN
your car to the factories and fishing fleets on the other side of the planet.
Grid spoke with Sheu next to a Target loading dock. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you and your colleagues to write about the environmental impact of big box stores? As environmental historians, we really were interested in looking at what the environmental impact of this institution is that dramatically reshaped the American landscape since the 1960s and 1970s — to the point where you could go to any small town in the United States and there’s going to be a big box store some place nearby.
We’re interested in the stuff that we can’t see. So something like this truck: what are the logistics that are needed to get a tractor trailer to a store so that all these goods can be distributed out of the truck? What’s being hidden?
Now we’re buying so much online, how will that affect big box stores and their impact?
As a historian, I’m always in danger if I try to predict the future. But I think a lot of people enjoy the experience of going in where you can see things and in some ways, it’s actually far more efficient for the shopper than online shopping.
And the other thing we need to keep in mind when we think about e-commerce is the basic structure and bones are really built on the logistics networks that were begun by big box stores.
What should we ass shoppers think about when we walk into a big box store like Target? One of the things that people oftentimes focus on is the amount of plastics that people are using for packaging and all the one-time use things. But one of the things that this book tries to do is to say, hey there’s deeper environmental impacts that we as consumers oftentimes don’t think about because they’re just hidden from us.
We have to think more broadly about logistics networks. We have to think more broadly about if you’re going to have a retail distribution center, that’s going to affect those local neighborhoods dramatically. They’re going to be subjected to road noise and pollution since we’re going to have more trucks on the road. If Walmart decides that it wants to get into the sustainable fisheries business, what does that mean for the world’s oceans?
What if we’re going to destroy wetlands to build the store and then have to mitigate the wetlands destruction? How exactly are we mitigating these things?
So what we’d really like is for both consumers and future scholars to take a deeper look into what’s going on whenever they go into a big box store. It’s not just this experience of going in, selecting goods and exiting the store. ◆
The next time you walk into a big box store, environmental historian Sherri Sheu wants you to consider the hidden environmental impact.
LIFE LINE
A pilot program shows the power of a modest guaranteed income
INTERVIEW BY DAWN KANE
Imagine in the span of a year being badly injured in a car accident, suffering the loss of family members and discovering you are pregnant. After this happened to one Philadelphia woman, she was told she had been accepted into a study of how guaranteed income impacts quality of life. The gift of $500 a month could not have come at a better time.
“I wasn’t able to work right when this opportunity came, it was just a great blessing,” the study participant says. “It gave me a chance to prepare for this child to arrive. It allowed me the opportunity to not stress about money.” And at the end of that very stressful year, she delivered a healthy baby.
The recently completed year-long pilot study, Guaranteed Resources Optimize Wellbeing (GROW), was run by Philadelphia’s Office of Community Empowerment
and Opportunity (CEO) and partner organizations to measure the effects of a guaranteed income on the economic mobility of recipients of extended Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (E-TANF). The study aimed to help E-TANF recipients in the city, 82% of whom are Black women, while adding to the growing body of research on the impacts of guaranteed income.
GROW is one of a number of guaranteed income studies that have been implemented in Philadelphia, across the state and nationwide. Altogether, more than 30 such studies have enrolled more than 8,000 participants. Organizations involved with the studies have varying goals. For example, the Philadelphia Housing Authority aims to help people with affordable housing and the Philly Joy Bank is focused on maternal care.
GROW focused specifically on E-TANF
recipients, most of whom are enrolled in a workforce development program. Partners on the study include researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Mutual Aid Network doing qualitative analysis; researchers from Reinvestment Fund focus on quantitative analysis; and Fund for Guaranteed Income, which distributed the funds.
“The real goal of these guaranteed income studies is to understand how additional money every month that’s regular and consistent improves well-being across a couple of different dimensions,” says Michael Norton, chief policy analyst at Reinvestment Fund. “So social and emotional stress reduction, financial stress reduction, as a way to help people stabilize their lives day to day, week to week, month to month.”
Guaranteed income aims in part to correct for the failings of traditional financial assis-
tance programs, which have a long history of discrimination and disempowerment.
From the get-go, financial assistance programs weren’t equitable. Some New Deal-era supports, for example, explicitly excluded people of color. They also codified a system in which poorer recipients have to contend with governmental surveillance including invasive inquiries into their personal relationships, sexual lives, work searches and spending. This leaves them feeling disempowered, according to David J. Pate Jr., the principal investigator, a native of West Philadelphia and a researcher with the Institute of Research on Poverty based at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In 1996, the legislation that was billed as welfare reform ceded control of federal assistance programs to the states with varying results. In Pennsylvania, the level of cash assistance has not increased or been adjusted for inflation for more than 30 years. In Philadelphia, where 23% of residents live below the poverty line and minimum wage is set at the federal rate of $7.25 per hour, an eligible family of three receives a maximum TANF benefit of $403 a month.
In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called a guaranteed basic income “the simplest and most effective solution to poverty … The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain, and when he knows that he has the means to seek self-improvement.”
In the GROW study, 51 participants received $500 per month while a control group of 239 participants received $50 per month to compensate for their time.
The payments were distributed as gifts so they wouldn’t impact recipients’ eligibility for benefits such as food and housing assistance. The participants are mostly single Black and Latina mothers and some fathers who live in Philadelphia, have received TANF for more than 60 months and most are enrolled in a Work Ready program run by Jewish Employment and Vocational Services (JEVS). Researchers hope to find that participants’ experience improved their well-being beyond the study period.
While some critics charge that guaranteed income programs would disincentivize work, analysis of guaranteed income studies across the country continue to show that recipients use the funds to take care of necessities and to work toward financial independence.
William Hall, CEO’s deputy executive director for policy and programs says after surveying Philadelphia communities for years, he believes that guaranteed income will help “folks achieve economic mobility at scale.” Hall expects the data from this study and others like it to prove that making the “right-sized investment in people” is a fiscally sound strategy.
Though the data is still being analyzed, anecdotal evidence shows the guaranteed income indeed had positive impacts on participants.
One study participant, who is certified to work in multiple occupations, describes how she was able to pay to renew her firearm license for security work. She says her biggest passion is helping others and one day hopes to open transitional housing.
Another study participant says that her focus has always been on financial literacy.
With a son in college, she paid for an emergency car repair and taught her children to budget by having them open Cash App accounts, create personal budgets and invest. The study enabled her to give more time to the school where one child attends and where she graduated. “I put back into the community at that school because it is my tribe,” she says.
Pate regularly interviews participants in the control group who, despite feeling labeled as “bad parents” by society, manage to raise children who attend college. He sees how they are working to give their kids the best possible future despite having few resources. One participant’s child interns at the White House, for example. “The $50 [participation disbursement] is not the reason their children are attending college,” he points out. “It’s because they’re good parents.”
Participants say they’re grateful to have been a part of the study and hope it will be available for others. Some recommend that future programs continue the assistance for a period after recipients gain employment to give them more stability. Hall agrees, saying it would help them maintain positive pathways.
Deborah Blanks, a researcher with the Mutual Aid Network says that, in contrast with financial assistance that generally treats adults as if they are children, the monthly guaranteed income helped these parents feel more empowered. “Every parent wants their children to look up to them, to feel like their parents are able to take care of them,” she says.“This has given [parents] an opportunity to feel like they’re stepping up, making wise decisions … and demonstrating to their children that they can be a viable, strong family.” ◆
SPECULATIVE EMISSIONS
Companies burning fossil fuels and tires to mine cryptocurrency are setting up shop in PA
BY JENNY ROBERTS
What’s the size of a toaster and uses three times the energy of an average Pennsylvania household?
That would be a cryptocurrency mining machine — a computer that runs 24/7 and spits out numbers in an attempt to solve complex problems, creating proof-of-work cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, as a result.
“We have companies that have 80,000 of them running at the same time constantly to try and guess numbers,” says Rob Altenburg, senior director for energy and climate at the advocacy organization PennFuture.
Cryptocurrency mining as a process came about with the advent of Bitcoin, which uses proof of work to validate transactions. “The reason why [miners are] generating Bitcoin is because there’s this large speculative bubble, and they can sell it to people,” Altenburg says.
Cryptocurrency relies on an independent ledger — the blockchain — that can be publicly accessed online instead of through banks and credit card companies, he explains. Validation methods offer protection from “malicious people trying to change the ledger to their own advantage,” Altenburg says.
“Proof of stake” and “proof of work” are the two main methods for cryptocurrency validation. Proof of stake is less energy intensive because it doesn’t rely on miners using electricity on duplicative processes as they do in proof of work — where miners are all rushing to be the first to guess the next correct number.
“In order to create new blocks to the blockchain, which is what mines Bitcoin … companies invest in very, very energyintensive computer hardware,” Altenburg adds. It’s this hardware that runs in the crypto mining facilities that first began popping up across Pennsylvania about five years ago to create proof-of-work cryptocurrency. And the large amount of electricity required to power these machines is a major concern for environmental advocates.
Preliminary estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration suggest
that annual electricity use from crypto mining represents from 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity consumption.
“That electricity has to be generated somehow, either off the grid or at a local power plant,” explains Charles McPhedran, senior attorney for Earthjustice, a national public interest law firm specializing in environmental law.
“If that power plant burns fossil fuel — gas or waste coal — then it generates greenhouse gasses, and it likely generates other forms of pollution, too,” he adds.
Crypto mining facilities also divert energy from homes and businesses that could be using it instead. “You’re dealing with all this air and water pollution to create something that’s not a public good,” says Russell Zerbo, a senior advocate at Clean Air Council, an environmental health advocacy organization.
are standing up to this crypto mining company, saying, ‘We don’t want your pollution, we don’t want your emissions,’” says Zachary Feinberg, an attorney for the group.
Residents also complained of a constant buzzing from the mining machines at the facility, property damage from coal refuse falling off trucks, and the burning of a mixture of old shredded tires at the facility. They cite concerns about benzyne and other chemicals from the tires being released into the air and waterways.
The permit for this practice has not yet been approved, but there was at least a trial period in which tires were temporarily burned, experts say; it’s not clear whether the practice continues. Residents still detect the smell of burning rubber, Feinberg says.
A spokesperson for Stronghold declined to answer questions for this article because of pending litigation. The company, which was formed in 2021, has a second Pennsylvania location in Venango County. According to Stronghold’s website, the company works to
The residents of Carbon County are standing up to this crypto mining company, saying, ‘We don’t want your pollution, we don’t want your emissions.’”
ZACHARY FEINBERG, attorney for Save Carbon County
One crypto mining operation 80 miles north of Philadelphia has recently caught heat from local activists. In March, the environmental group Save Carbon County filed a lawsuit against the Bitcoin mining company Stronghold Digital Mining for operations at its Panther Creek facility in Nesquehoning, where the company burns waste coal — low-quality refuse left behind from the coal mining of decades past.
“It’s more or less waste incineration,” Zerbo says of the practice. “It’s more dangerous than burning regular coal, which is incredibly dangerous, and we don’t really do that anymore.”
Save Carbon County claims Stronghold has created a public nuisance through its operations. “The residents of Carbon County
“reclaim the environment” by removing mining waste that would otherwise catch fire and pollute waterways.
But environmental advocates pushed back on this characterization.
“It’s greenwashing,” says McPhedran. “They’re trying to present their operations as environmentally friendly when the essence of what they’re doing is making greenhouse gases.”
The lawsuit also names the Commonwealth and some of its agencies, as well as Governor Josh Shapiro as defendants for failing to protect Pennsylvania’s public natural resources as required under the Environmental Rights Amendment of the Pennsylvania Constitution, Feinberg says. Shapiro’s office did not respond to a re-
quest for comment in time for publication. A spokesperson from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
There’s been some legislative interest at the state level in finding solutions to the environmental concerns posed by crypto mining sites like the one in Nesquehoning.
State Representative Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, introduced two bills related to crypto mining practices in 2023: HB 1282 and HB 1476. “Because of favorable tax laws, Pennsylvania is an attractive state for cryptocurrency mining,” explains Vitali, who is chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
HB 1282 would prohibit crypto mining operations from taking advantage of a sales tax exemption for their equipment based on a program meant for computer data centers. The bill moved out of committee but was unable to get a floor vote.
Vitali also proposed HB 1476 to require crypto mining operations to report information to the state, such as what they’re doing and where they’re based.
Right now, crypto mining operations don’t have to report anything to the state aside from the information needed for traditional permitting required for all power plant facilities. That’s why experts only have estimates on how many crypto mining facilities exist in Pennsylvania.
Vitali’s bill would also require the state Department of Environmental Protection to compose a report on the environmental impacts of crypto mining.
The bill originally called for a two-year moratorium for crypto mining permits, but this measure was struck in order to move the bill out of committee. HB 1476 was sent to the State Senate in January.
Though there’s been no legislative movement since, Vitali and advocates say it’s important the government acts sooner rather than later. Urgency is essential for the state to get its arms around the greenhouse gas production caused by these crypto mining operations.
“Pennsylvania has seen the impact of fossil fuel across generations,” McPhedran says. “And we do not need a new way to burn fossil fuels either for our own health or the health of the planet.” ◆
GREEN PAGES
Shop your values at these local businesses
BIKE SHOP
Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles
Full-service bicycle shop specializing in transportation & cargo bicycles, including electric assist. Brands include Brompton & Tern. South Kensington & South Philly locations. transportcycle.com
Trophy Bikes
We specialize in the ingenious Brompton Bicycle, made & designed in London to save you time — and space — with its fast, compact fold. Open Wed-Sat, 12-6 pm at 133 S. 23rd St. On the Web @trophybikes
BOOK STORE
Books & Stuff
They can ban books in our libraries and schools, but they can’t ban the books in your home library. Grow your home library! Black woman-owned online shop for children, teens & adults. booksandstuff.info
COMPOSTING
Back to Earth Compost Crew
Residential curbside compost pick-up, commercial pick-up, five collection sites & compost education workshops. Montgomery County & parts of Chester County. First month free trial. backtoearthcompost.com
Bennett Compost
The area’s longest running organics collection service (est 2009) serving all of Philadelphia with residential and commercial pickups and locally-made soil products. 215.520.2406 bennettcompost.com
Circle Compost
We’re a woman-owned hyper-local business. We offer 2 or 5 gallon buckets & haul with e-bikes & motor vehicles. We offer finished compost, lawn waste pickups & commercial services. 30 day free trial! circlecompost.com
EATS
The Franklin Fountain
The Franklin Fountain now offers returnable reusable pints of ice cream in Vanilla Bean, Chocolate & Caramelized Banana! Our ice cream is made with PA dairy & all natural ingredients. franklinfountain.com
ELECTRICIAN
Echo House Electric
Local electrician who works to provide high-quality results on private & public sector projects including old buildings, new construction, residential, commercial & institutional. Minority business. echohouseelectric.com
FARM
Hope Hill Lavender Farm
Established in 2011, our farm offers shopping for made-on-premise lavender products in a scenic environment. Honey, bath & body, teas, candles, lavender essential oil and more. hopehilllavenderfarm.com
FASHION
Philly AIDS Thrift
As a nonprofit thrift store, our goal is to sell the lovely, useful items that people donate & distribute the proceeds to local organizations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. phillyaidsthrift.com
Stitch And Destroy
STITCH AND DESTROY creates upcycled alternative fashions and accessories from pre-loved clothing and textile waste. The STITCH AND DESTROY storefront opens May 4th at 523 S 4th St. stitchanddestroy.com
GREEN BURIAL
Laurel Hill
With our commitment to sustainability, Laurel Hill Cemeteries & Funeral Home specializes in green burials and funerals, has a variety of eco-friendly products to choose from, and offers pet aquamation. laurelhillphl.com
GREEN CLEANING
Holistic Home LLC
Philly’s original green cleaning service, est 2010. Handmade & hypoallergenic products w/ natural ingredients & essential oils. Safe for kids, pets & our cleaners. 215-421-4050 HolisticHomeLLC@gmail.com
GROCERY
Kimberton Whole Foods
A family-owned and operated natural grocery store with seven locations in Southeastern PA, selling local, organic and sustainably-grown food for over thirty years. kimbertonwholefoods.com
MAKERS
Mount Airy Candle Co.
Makers of uniquely scented candles, handcrafted perfumery and body care products. Follow us on Instagram @mountairycandleco and find us at retailers throughout Greater Philadelphia. mountairycandle.com
Tombino.shop
Manhole Covers from the world over permanently etched into Functional Art. Cork Coasters, Trivets. Wood Magnets & Wall Art. Hand-drawn & Handmade in Philadelphia. From Aalborg to Zurich get your city! tombino.shop
WELLNESS
Center City Breathe
Hello, Philadelphia. Are you ready to breathe? centercitybreathe.com
Keeping it local since 1973
We operate two farms that supply our stores with a lot of our produce — that’s truly keeping it local! Check out our farm at Awbury Arboretum, or visit our farm market at W.B. Saul High School in Roxborough.
Ambler • Chestnut Hill • Germantown
Mt. Airy
Donato Grimaldi MES ‘23
“I wanted to work in corporate sustainability,” says Donato Grimaldi (MES ’23). “I knew the Master of Environmental Studies program could get me to where I want to be.”
Growing up, Donato, a Philadelphia native, spent summers on his family’s dairy farm in Italy. “They’re very tied to the environment there,” he says. “I learned from the farm to always think about the future and adopt new practices to help sustain the farm.” Donato carried those lessons forward to his college and career plans. “I knew I wanted to solve problems pertaining to the environment; that’s where I could benefit society the most.”
While studying environmental engineering as an undergraduate, Donato’s professional path became clear: He would reduce environmental pollution by helping corporations become sustainability leaders. The Penn MES program’s Environmental Sustainability concentration offered Donato interdisciplinary coursework covering corporate sustainability strategies, the environmental impacts of energy, risk management, and more. During his studies, Donato also completed two internships in different industries, gaining first-hand experience in corporate sustainability.
Not long after graduating, Donato launched his career as a corporate social responsibility project engineer for an international label and packaging company. His successes so far include projects diverting materials from landfills for new uses—reducing waste while creating revenue streams.
“I went through the Penn program and here I am working in corporate sustainability,” he smiles. “I’m grateful to wake up every day and work in an industry I love. And I’m excited to see where the industry goes in the future.”
