SuStainable PhiladelPhia

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KINGS REUSE

Feature

How Kensington

Became Restoration

Row

energy

Electric Cars Are

Coming!

agriculture

Southwest Philly’s Pocket Farm

Avi Golen and Jon Wybar of Revolution Recovery

are blazing a bold new trail in waste disposal

oCt 2011 / iSSuE 31 gRidPHilly.Com

2 gridPhilly.com october 2011

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gridphilly.com october 2011 / issue 31

8 energy | Electric cars are real, they’re spectacular, and they’re coming to Philly

9 green living | Recycling challenge: construction waste

10 community | Sustainable Communities in Action: Spotlight on Sustainable 19125

11 media | Reviews of The Neighborhood Project and Rat Island

12 agriculture | Southwest Philly’s Pocket Farm gets cozy in the community

13 Food | Inside Philadephia’s newest, smallest brewery, Saint Benjamin | Cheese of the Month: Puddle Duck Creek | Recipes: Marisa McClellan carves up some pumpkin curry

28 urban naturalist Honking it up with Philadelphia’s geese

30 Shoots & ladders Lessons learned from a bountiful season on the Little Blue Deck

32 tyler talks trash Rise up against napkins and paper towels

34 events Bike Philly, Farm tours, Harvest events, foraging, winter gardening and more

38 dispatch How I got to Maine using only bike and train.

16 Restoration Row How Kensington and Port Richmond became the city’s hub for material reuse and resale

22 Waste Not!

Revolution Recovery is blazing a bold new trail through the construction waste disposal business.

PluS: Artists demonstrate the true value of recycled material

g4 letter from the executive director

g7 What is leed? Benefits of DVGBC membership; History

g8 award Winner Collin O’Mara

g10 award Winner Philadelphia Water Department

g12 award Winners Lutron and Revolution Recovery

g14 award Winner CHOP

g14 dVgbc events

FEAtuRing tHE winnERS oF tHE dVgBC’S lEAdERSHiP AwARdS

alSo inSide:

cover & contents photos by gene smirnov

october 2011 gridPhilly.com 5

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publisherAlex Mulcahy

215.625.9850 ext. 102 alex@gridphilly.com

editor-in-chiefBrian Howard

brian.howard@gridphilly.com

managing editorLiz Pacheco

liz@gridphilly.com

art directorJamie Leary

jamie@gridphilly.com

designerMelissa McFeeters

distributionClaire Connelly

215.625.9850 ext. 100 claire@gridphilly.com

copy editorAndrew Bonazelli

production artistLucas Hardison

writersBernard Brown Claire Connelly

Tenaya Darlington Marisa McClellan

Ariela Rose Katherine Silkaitis

Brendan Skwire Chris Switky

Char Vandermeer Tyler Weaver

Samantha Wittchen

photographersJen Britton

Lucas Hardison Christian Hunold

Gene Smirnov Emily Wren

illustrator

Melissa McFeeters

ad salesAlex Mulcahy

215.625.9850 ext. 102 alex@gridphilly.com

bookeeperAlicia McClung

published byRed Flag Media

1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107

215.625.9850

g r i d p h i l ly . c o m

Man, was i up late last night. I’d finally gotten my hands on an advance copy of Julie Lorch’s Where to Bike Philadelphia: Best Bik-ing in City and Suburbs, and I’d planned to spend an hour flipping

through the 50-plus rides, write my editor’s notes, and turn in. Then it was like three hours later, and there I was, still tracing Lorch’s trails through the city, into the suburbs, across South Jersey and beyond.

The book, published by an outfit called Bicy-cling Australia, is a gorgeously photographed (also by Lorch) cue-sheet bonanza, offering a range of rides custom-fit for anyone—from the newest of newbs to the most road-grimy randon-neur (a.k.a. really long ride-rider). There’s even a section with 21 kid-friendly routes.

Where to Bike Philadelphia is smartly organized: Rides are classified as City, Art Museum Departures, Bucks & Montgomery Counties, All Those Western ’Burbs and South Jersey. And each one is laid out over four pages: one spread of pic-tures, details and data, and a second spread with a list of directions (cue sheet), an elevation chart (so you’re not surprised when you find yourself on a mile-long, Category 1 climb) and a map detailing points of interest, bike shops and link-ups with other recommended routes.

It’s also smartly constructed: ring-bound, printed on heavy stock and protected in an easy-to-fold, easy-to-tuck-away thick cardboard cover.

Lorch, I should mention, has contributed sto-ries about bikes and rides to GRID (her excellent column “Along for the Ride,” wherein she tagged along with notable Philadelphia bicyclists on their favorite routes, appeared regularly in the magazine last year). So yes, she’s family. And yes, we’re proud of her. You can read an excerpt from the book, “Joel’s Ride Around the Mainline,” on GRID’s blog, The Griddle (bit.ly/oRhn2v takes you right to it). More on the book at wheretobike-philadelphia.com. Look for it in local bike shops (definitely Firehouse, Cadence and Trophy) and book shops.

Hitting the Road

It’s fitting that I find myself writing to you here about bikes. Though I started out in this town writing about music, and over 16 some years have written about everything from city and

national politics to urban pov-erty and empowerment, to the local beer renaissance and the local baseball re-naissance, the one thing I’ve always come back to is bikes. I started riding as a kid because it was fun. I started riding in the city as a recent college grad because it was fast and efficient (and fun). I’ve seen cycling increase in Philadelphia something like 100-fold since I first pedaled from my 19th and

Pemberton apartment down to Tower Books on South Street back in 1995. I’ve always believed the bicycle to be the most demo-cratic form of transportation, and perhaps the most liberating. I have hope and faith that this trend will continue, and I expect I’ll be a part of it somehow.

You may have noticed that this thing has taken a turn toward summation, and that’s because af-ter I file this piece I’m ending my tenure at GRID magazine. While here, I’ve worked with some amazing people, and written and edited for some wonderful readers. It’s been an honor. Maybe I’ll see you in the bike lanes; I’m the guy with the curly black hair and the Barrel of Monkeys mes-senger bag. Until then, you can reach me at bee-gee73@gmail.com, facebook.com/brianghoward and twitter.com/beegee73.

Brian Howard

Hit the Road

october 2011 gridPhilly.com 7

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F or years, the electric vehicle has been mentioned in hushed tones, be-lieved to be the second coming of sorts

for our car-dependent society, a clean-running innovation that would allow us to keep up our driving habit without that messy foreign-oil guilt. Yet electric cars have seemed as mythi-cal as Sasquatch—often spoken of, but rarely, if ever, seen in the wild. That’s about to change for Philadelphians. In October, 16 of these lean, green driving machines will be hitting Philadel-phia streets thanks to PhillyCarShare (PCS), the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and the Pennsyl-vania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP).

The initiative to bring electric cars to Philadel-phia began last August when a consortium of or-

ganizations, including the Chamber of

Commerce, PECO, Comcast, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and many major Philadelphia universities came together with PCS to develop a plan for installing infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles throughout the city. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability was awarded a grant from the PADEP to install 16 chargers for PCS cars, and two more for general use by private owners of electric cars.

The infrastructure installation is expected to be complete in early October. Once it is, the electric vehicles will be ready to go, says Jerry Furgione, PCS executive director. Since this installation is the first of its kind in the region, there may be a few bumps in the process, which could delay the launch until later in October. Re-gardless, it’s safe to say that Philadelphians can look for the cars this fall.

So, about those cars. Furgione says there are currently two vehicles on the market that would

fit their needs—the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. For now, they’re leaning toward the Volt, which is technically a plug-in hy-brid electric vehicle. This kind of car operates solely on electricity until the battery needs to be re-charged, at which point the gaso-line engine generates the electric-ity required to power the electric motor. The Volt’s battery range is about 35 miles, making it an ideal option for PCS drivers, who aver-age 30 miles per trip. The backup fuel tank provides a safety net for drivers who find themselves running that extra unexpected errand that puts them over the 35-mile range.

However, the fuel tank also means these cars aren’t quite as environmentally friendly as a purely electric vehicle, since they still require gas and gener-ate emissions once the battery range is exhausted. The Nissan Leaf—like the forthcoming Ford Focus Electric (due out in Cali-fornia and New York this fall)—is a purely electric vehicle, with no gas engine or fuel tank. The Leaf has an average 100-mile range, but once that range is ex-hausted, there’s no backup.

The electric motors in these

cars are much more energy efficient than a tra-ditional vehicle. An electric motor can convert 75 percent of the chemical energy from batteries to power, whereas an internal combustion engine in a traditional car can only convert 20 percent of the energy in gasoline. Electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions, and if the cars are charged with electricity generated from renewable sourc-es, they’re completely emissions-free.

The main barrier electric vehicles currently face is lack of infrastructure. Because of their limited range, charging stations need to be avail-able to long-distance drivers, and for the most part, those charging stations just don’t exist yet. In the meantime, most early adopters have to rely on plugging in these cars at home, which can be difficult for city-dwellers who don’t have easy ac-cess to an outside plug. Recharge time can also be substantial with a typical 120-volt house plug, with the Nissan Leaf topping out at 20 hours.

With 13,000 members, the addition of electric vehicles to PCS’s fleet presents a tremendous opportunity for PCS to become an ambassador for electric vehicles. Members will be able to try them out and Philadelphians will see them on the street and at the charging stations. Addition-ally, PECO will be able to study the effects these stations have on the electric grid.

With the recent acquisition of PCS by Enter-prise Holdings (of note for Enterprise Rent-A-Car), Furgione says the company now has the financial support to purchase more electric vehicles more quickly, with an eye toward the vehicles comprising one-third of their fleet. This would be one of the largest fleets of electric ve-hicles on the East Coast. For this initial 16, cars will be placed at the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel and Temple Universities, and the Phila-delphia Horticultural Society, with the remain-ing eight scattered throughout Center City park-ing lots and garages. So, look out, everyone! This fall, Sasquatch is coming to Philly.

Samantha Wittchen is partner and co-founder of iSpring (ispringassociates.com), a sustainability consulting firm serving companies and organizations in the Delaware and Lehigh valleys.

EnErgy

Below: 2011 Chevrolet VoltBottom: 2011 Nissan LEAF

No Such Thing?Electric motors can convert 75 percent of the chemical energy from batteries to power. Traditional internal combustion engines convert 20 percent of the energy in gasoline to power.

Believe it or not, electric vehicles are coming to Philadelphia by samantha wittchen

8 gridPhilly.com oCtobEr 2011

Construction Waste

problEmTotal annual construc-tion and demolition waste (“C&D waste” in the biz)

equates to 3.2 pounds of building-related materials per person in the U.S., per day. According to the U.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency, 52 percent of this ends up in a landfill. Sources of building-related C&D debris in the waste stream include demolition (approximately 48 percent of the annual waste stream), renovation (44 percent) and new construction (8 percent). It is economically viable to recycle the ma-jority of this waste, as the cost to transport and dispose of C&D waste can be more than 2 percent of a project’s cost.

Philadelphia residents also have a prac-tical issue: The Streets Department is not supposed to collect curbside C&D waste. However, according to the city’s waste data from 2009 and 2010, C&D waste makes up 20 percent of the city’s waste stream. This may point to the larger issue of the city’s cash-based “tip” economy: Trash collec-tors are paid off by people looking to of-fload C&D waste. So, if you’re planning a bigger renovation, you may have some trouble disposing of the waste. (Or, maybe not, if you have cash on hand.)

solutionThere are two great op-tions for Philadelphians who want to make sure

their C&D waste gets recycled. richard S. Burns (4300 Rising Sun Ave., 19140, Hours: Mon.-Fri., 6 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat., 7 a.m-3 p.m.) is open to the public and charges $80/ton (with a $40 minimum) to recycle your C&D waste. This is a good option if

you’re not expecting to generate a lot of waste from your project, and you have a way to get that waste to the recycling facil-ity. If you do anticipate generating a lot of waste from the project, Burns will drop off and pick up a Dumpster (for a fee). Visit burnscompany.net for a comprehensive list of the kinds of waste they accept.

The other option is revolution recov-ery (cover story, p. 22). (7333 Milnor St., 19136, hours: Mon.-Fri., 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sat,. 7 a.m.-1 p.m.) All materials are sorted, graded and processed on-site be-fore being sent for recycling. Visit revolu-tionrecovery.com for a comprehensive list of materials they do and do not accept, and you can call 215-333-6505 for drop-off fees, or to get a Dumpster for your project.

Being a responsible renovator: If you’re going to hire a contractor, ask for a written waste management plan for re-sponsible disposal. If the contractor is get-ting a Dumpster for the project, ask who it’s from, and verify that they’ll recycle the materials. Support the C&D waste recy-cling industry by asking your builder to use new building materials with recycled C&D waste content. If you anticipate need-ing a Dumpster, remember that you must get a permit to have it placed on the street outside your house. It’s called an “Equip-ment Placement Application,” and you can obtain one through the Streets Depart-ment (phila.gov/streets).

Have a Recycling Challenge or a tip for us? Send an email to letters@gridphilly.com.

by samantha wittchen

fact Building-related construction and demolition waste totals approximately 170 million tons per year, roughly two-

thirds of all non-industrial solid waste generation in the U.S.

oCtobEr 2011 gridPhilly.com 9

R esidents of the east kensington, Fishtown and Port Richmond areas of the city are served by Sustainable 19125,

an innovative community partnership created by the New Kensington Community Development Corp. (NKCDC) to address sustainability issues and quality-of-life concerns. The initiative’s goal is equal parts community revitalization, greening and neighbor-to-neighbor camaraderie.

“Sustainability is all about social equity and economic equity, and we thought that there was a way to try and shape a new program in a way that we could address all of these things,” says Shanta Schachter, deputy director at the NKCDC.

Sustainable 19125 was launched in 2009, the result of a collaboration among NKCDC, the Of-fice of Housing and Community Development and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) de-signed to revitalize the community’s 1,100 vacant lots. While efforts to plant gardens and paint mu-rals in trash-filled lots were aesthetically benefi-cial, residents desired more. Concerns over per-ceived divides between new and old community members, safety and the neighborhood’s carbon footprint were all instrumental in establishing 19125’s plan of action. To get the ball rolling, the NKCDC gathered partners, and held a kick-off party in January 2009. Community members and local businesses pas-sionate about green-ing efforts—including Postgreen, Greensgrow

Farm and Johnny Brenda’s—were in attendance, and group sessions led to a lengthy wish list of program priorities.

“The big ones that came out were green infra-structure; that people wanted simple and easily actionable things that they could do in their own homes; that people wanted education; and that people wanted to build off of existing assets,” says Schachter.

Those existing assets include the Market-Frankford elevated train line and plenty of open space. The combination led to the creation of the

Big Green Block, a $45 million green infrastruc-ture oasis between Front Street and Frankford Avenue, and Norris and Palmer streets. The block boasts the country’s first LEED Platinum High School (the New Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts), a plethora of stormwater management tools, educational mu-rals and green beautification efforts galore. As a result, the Water Department is now able to col-lect 90 percent of stormwater runoff in the area, and ridership to one of the city’s least-used transit stops, the Market-Frankford’s Berks station, has increased. In Phase II of the block, planned to be implemented in the spring of 2012, Sustainable 19125 hopes to add stormwater gardens at the streets’ intersections.

Importantly, Sustainable 19125 is not focused solely on creating glistening green infrastructure projects. The program is perhaps better known for the grassroots community efforts run by residents themselves. It is through community campaigns that programs like Walk, Bike, Ride, a car-free transportation campaign, and Green Blocks have come to fruition.

Green Blocks is the most far-reaching of the community initiative’s programming efforts. Ac-tivities and workshops are divided into themes that include greening, recycling, energy, water conservation and buy local, grow local. All are focused on at-home actions that residents can take to reduce their carbon footprints, and run the gamut from free giveaways of recycling bins and compact fluorescent light bulbs, to rain-bar-rel, composting and gardening workshops. Spe-

cially selected residents serve as Green Guides on their blocks to further assist with conservation efforts.

“We have a self-selecting steering committee [that] guides the direction of the Green Blocks Program,” says Jamie Reese, Sustainable 19125’s project coordinator. “The direction that the Green Guides will be heading this year will be deter-mined by the steering committee, and also the feedback that we receive on the first two years of the program.”

Both Schachter and Reese beam like proud parents as they discuss Green Guides, who have gone above and beyond their call of duty. One woman spearheaded a compost program with Philly Compost and was able to score the com-munity a self-contained composting unit known as an Earth Tub. Another resident hosts monthly block parties where she and her fellow Cumber-land Street dwellers sport “Cumbies for Life” T-shirts, and balance beer-imbibing and socializing with white-roof workdays and presentations from PECO representatives on reducing energy use.

“More than anything, I think that that’s what has come out of this program,” says Schachter. “That people are getting to know each other and creating stronger community ties.”

For more information on Sustainable 19125, visit the organization’s recently re-launched website at sustainable19125.org/wordpress. And stay tuned for more neighborhood organizations as our Sustainable Community series continues in future issues.

community

SuStainaBle communitieS in action*

Sustainable 19125 by ariela rose

Philadelphia, as the old trope goes, is a city of neighborhoods. While each has its

own concerns and culture, sustainability is a key for all in establishing and maintaining a neigh-borhood that nurtures and uplifts those who live there. In our Sustainable Communities in Action series, GRID will highlight organizations that are working to make their neighborhoods greener, safer places that residents can feel proud of.

A farm dinner at the NKCDC Garden Center, which hosts gardening and horticultural workshops and seasonal festivals, all free of charge.

Walk, Bike, Ride mural painted by volunteers at Frankford and Susquehanna.

10 gridPhilly.com oCtobEr 2011

Evolutionary road

The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time David Sloan Wilson, $25.99 • Little BrownIn David Sloan Wilson’s fifth book, the evo-lutionary biologist chronicles his attempt to use Darwin’s theory of evolution to improve the quality of life in his town of binghamton, N.Y. It’s an ambitious goal, especially since the concept is a bit vague and obscure. What do Darwin and evolution have to do with the well-being of cities and individuals?

From the title and cover art, it might seem that The Neighborhood Project focuses on programs like urban gardens, litter prevention and neighborhood watches. Instead, it takes it a step further: It’s a serious look at how social problems arise and how understanding the evolution of these problems can provide the keys to best solve them. Public policy, Wilson believes, should be strongly rooted in evolu-tionary theory.

While The Neighborhood Project isn’t dif-ficult to read or comprehend, it is dense: After all, neighborhoods and people are vibrant, complex and dynamic. With enthusiasm and optimism, Wilson jumps between topics such as religion, economics, education and eco-logical diversity, dropping in parables about

wasps, vignettes of scientists’ child-hoods, and histories of Judaism and Ayn rand’s objectivism.

In addition to broad evolutionary theory, The Neighborhood Project serves as a memoir of Wilson’s ongoing work with the binghamton Neighborhood Proj-ect (bNP). Loosely characterized as a

group of faculty and students using science to make the community a better place, the bNP takes on many roles, locally and globally. Wilson narrates how they used survey data to create a topographical map of binghamton that reflects varying values of altruism, trust, social support and income. by viewing the city as a living organism and tracking rates of change in behaviors such as smoking, obesity and breastfeeding, he hopes to create inter-disciplinary tools that can improve the human condition. While the book isn’t a blueprint to fix social maladies, it is an introduction to a promising new way of viewing individuals and societies. —Katherine Silkaitis

you dirty rats

Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World’s Greatest Wildlife Rescue William Stolzenburg, $26 • BloomsburyFor city dwellers, rats are a nuisance and a health hazard. but for isolated island species, rats are a death sentence, as William Stolzen-burg demonstrates in his new book, Rat Island.

Stolzenburg begins his story 700 years ago, when Polynesians set out to explore the islands of oceania, and brought their kiore rats with them for sustenance. During the fol-lowing centuries, rats arrived on the pristine islands, intentionally and unintentionally. but for the seafaring rats, intent made no dif-ference. they began to out-compete native island species—especially birds, who were unadapted for land-based prey. Slowly, the rats drove almost all of the birds to extinction by both preying on them and occupying their habitat.

It’s the optimistic “almost” that Stolzenburg captures here. by aerially dropping tons of poison onto a few test islands to kill the rats, conservationists have finally made headway in the centuries-old battle. Using the New Zea-land kakapo and the least auklet on the bering Sea’s Kiska Island as examples, Stolzenburg tells of both historical and contemporary ef-forts to contain the rats and preserve native bird species.

this newest weapon, however, is not with-out controversy. Using poison has allowed conservationists to reclaim islands around the world, but others question the decision to kill populations of any species en masse. With engaging writing and a knack for historical storytelling, Stolzenburg prods the reader to consider the role of humans in ecological evo-lution, and our role as stewards and saviors. —Katherine Silkaitis

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oCtobEr 2011 gridPhilly.com 11

“Put It in Your Pocket

agriculturE

K ids will knock on our door and ask for collards for their grandmum,” says Emily Wren, one of six members of

Mitten, a cooperative house of twentysomething coeds that runs an urban farming venture in Southwest Philadelphia known as Pocket Farm. What began three years ago as a household gar-den to grow food for Mitten and a neighboring house has quite literally blossomed into a com-munity effort. When neighbors began noticing the vibrant colors and scents of fresh veggies, requests for produce and farming education be-gan pouring in.

The garden needed to grow, and fast. Pocket Farm’s transition from garden to full-

fledged farm was made possible by a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) City Harvest Growers Alliance. The program seeks to expand the amount of locally grown produce in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods by as-sisting home gardeners in turning simple back-yard projects into bountiful, community-oriented farms. Soil, seeds and wood for constructing raised beds and trellises were all provided by the grant, along with access to plant starts in a greenhouse at Weaver’s Way Co-op Farm and twice-yearly harvest workshops where novice growers can pickup valuable farming skills.

“It’s a learning process for a lot of us,” says Wren. “We all consider gardening a passion, but none of us has ever done it professionally.”

Even so, the bounty of vegetables and fruit currently growing on the 50-by-100-foot plot are testament to the fact that PHS’s grant is paying off in leaps and bounds. Hefty heirloom tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, okra, collards, kale and cucumbers are currently all ripe for the pluck-ing from the farm’s eight raised beds; a diverse offering inspired by the tastes of Mitten’s mem-bers, seeds from PHS, and passionate requests from friends and neighbors.

“Cucumbers are huge with the kids in this neighborhood,” shares Wren with a laugh. “They love eating them with salt. It’s great to just hand these kids fresh vegetables through the fence.”

The diversity of requests and offerings also re-veals a cultural exchange via vegetables. Members of the neighborhood are big on collards, okra and kale, but Wren also shares the tale of one neigh-bor’s first taste of “exotic” arugula that sparked a love affair with the peppery greens. The farm’s weekly Monday evening farmstand offers an opportunity for community members to taste a plethora of both novel and familiar foods by keeping prices at $1 or $2 per bunch. The stand’s hours (6-8 p.m.) are scrawled on a chalkboard

dangling beside the gated entrance, along with the dates and times of upcoming workdays.

Workdays also offer volunteers and neigh-borhood folk a chance to taste the fruits of the Mitten’s labor of love. While the number of vol-unteers varies from week to week and, as Wren explains, is dependent on the work itself (“plant-ing is more fun than weeding”), both friends and neighbors arrive at the farm’s gate eager to get their hands dirty. Plus, a couple hours of work also offers attendees inside information on the household’s popular parties.

Each year, Mitten hosts a Halloween cover band concert and a glittery, glamorous drag show known as Miss West Philly Fabulous. This July, the group held a garden party to raise funds for Pocket, complete with local performers, a hula-hoop contest, photo and kissing booths, and fare prepared using ingredients grown on the farm.

Despite the groundswell of public appeal Pocket has garnered in its brief existence, the folks at Mitten remain dedicated to small-scale, chemical-free and community-based farming.

“I think we’ll just keep going at this pace,” says Wren, nonchalantly. “[We’ll] just be a place to grow organic produce for the neighborhood.”

To learn more about Pocket Farm, visit its Facebook page; for more information on PHS’s City Harvest Growers Alliance grant, visit pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/city-harvest.html

how the garden at Southwest Philly’s mitten cooperative house became the neighborhood-magnet Pocket Farm by ariela rose

Cucumbers are huge with the kids in this neighborhood. They love eating them with salt. —Emily Wren

PhotoS bY EmILY WrEN

W hen tim patton moved to Philadelphia in 2006, going into the beer business wasn’t even on his

radar. “I came up from Wilmington, where I’d started an Internet business,” he says. “I wanted to get out of the suburbs, so I moved up here to find something else to do with my life.”

Patton began homebrewing in 2008, and soon after purchased the old fire-house that would inspire the name of Saint Benjamin Brewing Co., his opening-soon brewery.

“My girlfriend did a really

good job of getting me into craft beer, and I really like to pick things apart to see how they work,” he says. “I got a good response from my friends. I’d been looking for something a bit more hands-on, and brewing just kind of stuck.”

He decided to go professional in December 2010, but didn’t want to start out big: Patton freely admits he has no experience working

in either a brewpub or a production brewery. He decided to start small. Re-ally small. Saint Benjamin is a nanobrewery—which means it makes fewer than 100 gallons (about six kegs) per batch.

Patton’s original plan was to start up the nano-brewery in his spacious fire-

house, but the zoning waiver process didn’t go well: Neighbors who had previously supported him changed their minds, claiming that Saint Benjamin would be a brewpub and, therefore, a nuisance. Patton emphatically denies this and explains his plan was to brew small, keg-only batches to supply local bars. In the end, he gave up the fight and found warehouse space in Kens-ington, where he’s currently setting up shop. He plans to open during the winter.

In the meantime, Patton has been serving his brews (for free) at Philadelphia events. During Philly Beer Week, Saint Benjamin was at Open-ing Tap and the Super Secret Beer Concert Series; his Transcontinental beer received second place at Beer Camp. Patton has also shared brews at Fishtown Neighbors Association events and with the Fishtown Beer Runners.

One of the first things you notice about Saint

Benjamin beers is that while none are particu-larly highly hopped, most have a velvety malti-ness. “I’m not a particularly hop-forward brew-er,” Patton admits. “My philosophy is not to hit people over the head. I don’t like it to be ‘all hops’ or ‘all seasoning’ or anything like that. I’m kind of the opposite of most brewers, in that I’m more focused on the malt and the yeast.”

Patton plans to keep Saint Benjamin small, lo-cal and sustainable. When it comes to ingredi-ents, sustainability gets a little more complicated. Since local malt is difficult to find, he sources from the regional Valley Malts in Massachusetts. “As for rye, corn and wheat,” he says, “I want to see what local options are.” With small batches, Patton can frequent local markets for more spe-cialized ingredients. He plans to use local honey and is exploring options for buying coriander and other spices from nearby greenhouses.

“My vision is something like a neighborhood or European small-town brewery,” says Patton. “Maybe not the widest reach, but the freedom to make whatever I want at that time.”

This fall, look for Patton’s beers at the Laurel Hill Beer Barons to Homebrewers event and the fall Beer Camp. To keep tabs on Saint Benjamin’s progress and to find out where you can taste a brew, visit blog.stbenjaminbrewing.com and facebook.com/stbenjaminbrew.

Puddle Duck Creek If you’re a fan of beatrix Potter, then you prob-ably remember Jemima Puddle Duck, a character in many Peter rabbit stories. If there’s a young reader in your house, this might be the perfect time to introduce this tender morsel of cheese with a pleasing, grassy character.

Puddle Duck Creek, a bloomy muffin from Peach bottom, Pa., is nothing short of adorable. the rind is lacy and quilted, and the paste within looks like banana pudding. A cheese this golden inside can only mean one thing: the milk comes from grass-fed cows. beta carotene in milk gives cheese a but-tery glow. this is a good thing, a sign of pastured

animals, which is how ruminants were meant to live and eat.

hillacres Pride in Lancaster County produces Puddle Duck Creek. the Arrowsmiths, a three-generation family, run the farm and provide most of the labor. their many cheeses are usually made from raw milk, but Puddle Duck is pasteurized, since it’s young (a federal requirement). Still, this cheese is flavorful, lactic and herbaceous, with a peppery pop to the rind. try it on water crack-ers with fresh fruit or jam. —Tenaya Darlington, madamefromage.blogspot.com

food

I’m not a particularly hop-forward brewer. I don’t like it to be ‘all hops’ or ‘all seasoning.’

cheeSe oF the month

Puddle Duck Creek is available at Green Aisle Grocery, Whole Foods and the Hillacres Pride stand at Headhouse Farmers Market. To learn more: Hillacres Pride, 194 Arcadia Trace Road, Peach Bottom, Pa., 17563, 717-548-9031; hillacrespride.com

the new Saint Benjamin nanobrewery plans to keep its batches incredibly small, and its reach incredibly local by brendan skwireItty BItty Brewery

oCtobEr 2011 gridPhilly.com 13

The first time i tasted pumpkin curry was 10 years ago, at a place in Portland, Ore., that’s half restaurant, half Laundromat. The pumpkin cubes were perfectly tender and the coconut and yellow

curry broth were habit-forming. Ever since, pumpkin curry has been one of my primary food obsessions.

food

I recently discovered that Circles Contempo-rary Asian in the Newbold neighborhood makes an excellent one, but before theirs, my options were limited. In order to satisfy my pumpkin curry needs, I learned to make it myself.

Though these ingredient lists look long, this is actually shockingly easy to make. The curry paste ingredients get blitzed in a food proces-sor, but can be made in large batches and frozen. It’s actually better if you whir it together a little

ahead of time, so that the flavors have time to mingle awhile.

Aside from this dish tasting so good, the best thing about it is how easily it can be veganized. Skip the shrimp or Tom Yum in the curry paste, omit the fish sauce and use vegetable stock and tofu. Served over basil-flecked jasmine rice, it’s a beautiful dish that everyone sitting around your table can enjoy.

Out of Your Gourdthough bursting with pumpkin and spices, this fall thai curry recipe is about as far from pie as it gets by marisa mcclellan

14 gridPhilly.com oCtobEr 2011

Yellow Curry Pastemakes approximately 1½ cups, enough for two batches of pumpkin curry

5 ounces shallots (approximately 4-6)10 cloves garlic3 long red chilies2 tbsp. chopped lemongrass

(just the tender inner part)2 tbsp. brown sugar1 tbsp. tomato paste1 inch ginger, peeled juice and zest of one lime1 tsp. curry powder1 tsp. ground coriander1 tsp. turmeric

tsp. cinnamon tsp. ground cumin tsp. shrimp or tom Yum paste tsp. ground white pepper tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a food proces-��sor and blend until mostly smooth (it won’t be perfect, and that’s OK). Add a bit of water if it needs a little extra lubrication. Scrape sides of processor down several times during blending. Excess curry paste will keep up to one week in the refrigerator. For longer storage, freeze.

Pumpkin Curryserves 4

1 tbsp. neutral vegetable oil1 onion, cut into strips

cup yellow curry paste1 can coconut milk2 cups chicken or vegetable stock2 tbsp. fish sauce6 cups cubed pumpkin (approximately 2

pounds squash)1 red pepper, cubed1 green pepper, chopped1 lb. cooked chicken or tofu, chopped1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven until it shim-��mers. Add onions and cook 2-3 minutes, until they’ve browned just slightly. Add the curry paste and stir to combine. Add coconut milk,

stock and fish sauce, and stir until the curry paste is spread throughout.

Add pumpkin cubes and simmer with the ��lid off until tender. This can take 10-25 minutes, depending on the type of pumpkin you use.

When pumpkin is tender and sauce has ��thickened slightly, add the chopped peppers and the tofu or chicken. Cook until the peppers and protein are heated through.

Just before serving, stir in chopped cilantro. ��

Jasmine Rice with Basil2 cups jasmine rice4 cups water

cup basil leaves, chopped

Wash the rice, changing the water until it is ��no longer cloudy.

Pour rice into a sturdy pot and add water. ��Place pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the temperature and

simmer until rice is tender and water is gone. This should take about 20 minutes for white rice and 45 for brown.

Stir in the chopped basil. The heat will re-��lease the fragrance of the basil and make for incredibly aromatic rice.

marisa mcclellan is a food writer, canning teacher and dedicated farmers market shopper who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, foodinjars.com.

Set your pumpkin down on a 1. large, solid cutting board. If the bottom of your pumpkin is rounded, slice a bit off the bottom so it sits flat.

Using a large, sharp knife, 2. make a cut from north to south pole on one side of the pumpkin.

make a matching cut on the 3. other side, so that when you finish cutting, the pumpkin breaks in two.

Scrape the seeds and guts 4. out of the pumpkin.

once scraped clean, cut each 5. half into eight equal pieces.

Lay each piece on its side and 6. cut off the rind. It should look a little like a wedge of canta-loupe when you’re done.

Cut the wedges into chunks. 7.

how to Break down a Pumpkin

oCtobEr 2011 gridPhilly.com 15

Can you hear that?There’s a movement afoot. Building materials are being given a second life, and hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of construction and demolition waste are being diverted from land-fills. And it’s all happening in our backyard.

In the past two years, a burgeoning salvage industry has taken root in Philadelphia, re-claiming building materials and selling them to homeowners, developers and artists who are breathing new life into our homes, businesses, schools and communities. The organizations focused on reclaiming these materials are con-verging in the Kensington and Port Richmond neighborhoods of Philadelphia, rapidly making it a destination for those looking to save some money on building materials, make an envi-ronmentally responsible choice and, in some cases, support the work of a charity.

With construction and demolition materials comprising 30 to 40 percent of the waste in our landfills, it only makes sense that some people have gotten wise to the fact that we could be reusing these materials and generating revenue in the process. A large portion of that waste is beautiful old lumber—hemlock, Douglas fir and long-leaf pine—whose quality is much higher than anything you’d find at Home Depot today. While architectural salvage outfits that focus on high-value or unique materials are nothing new to Philadelphia, this new breed

of building material reuse organization focuses instead on the everyday building materials that homeowners need—things like framing lum-ber, cabinetry, appliances and hardware.

Facilities like Habitat for Humanity’s newly opened ReStore, the Building Materi-als Exchange and the Resource Exchange are changing the face of reuse. They’re taking it from something only a committed few were doing—namely artists and those seeking lower-cost materials—to making reclaimed materials and household items available to the general public on a larger scale. Each of these organi-zations focuses on a slightly different area of reuse, but together they are forming a robust reuse community in Philadelphia.

Their convergence in the Kensington/Port Richmond area (the neighborhoods sand-wiched between Fishtown and the Northeast) is not surprising, as most of these organiza-tions operate on a very limited budget, and that’s where warehouse space is still affordable (although that’s starting to change as Kensing-ton’s many industrial facilities are converted to residential lofts). Additionally, for ReStore and the Building Materials Exchange, it makes sense to locate in the community their work supports. As a result, Kensington is evolving into something of a salvage and reuse district. Perhaps the next time you need to pick up a couple of things at Lowe’s, you’ll consider a trip to Kensington and Port Richmond first.

There’s a maTerial reuse revoluTion going on. and iT’s happening in KensingTon.by samantha wittchen

The side benefit is that they’re also keeping hun-dreds of tons of waste out of the landfill each year. The facility, located in the old Lomax Carpet building in Kensington, is one of 700 ReStores in the U.S. and Canada; the top-grossing ones gen-erate revenue of more than $2 million a year.

The launch of the Philadelphia store may have been several years in the making, but it’s clear there’s no better time than the present for the launch. Corinne O’Connell, Habitat’s Direc-tor of Development and Communications, says that when she first started two years ago, she was receiving 30 to 40 phone calls a week from people who had material to donate; she had to refer them elsewhere because they had neither a

space to store donations nor a truck to pick them up. Operating out of Habitat’s 3,000-square-foot warehouse headquarters in North Philly, they held 18 garage sales before moving to the Kens-ington space, raising $80,000 and salvaging 70 tons of material. Lines would often wrap around the block waiting for doors to open on garage sale days.

Thanks to the William Penn Foundation, which provided the capital support for ReStore to open, Habitat now has the space they need—19,000 square feet of it, in fact—and it’s packed with home improvement items and furnishings. One couple in Port Richmond outfitted their house entirely with ReStore items. And since Re-

Store had a truck donated to them in May, they’re booked two weeks out with pickups, all through word of mouth. In early August, a woman from the Main Line spied the ReStore truck making a pickup, followed it all the way to Kensington, and proceeded to go shopping.

To get the word out about their August soft-opening, they reached out to the surrounding neighbors, and the community has been very receptive to their arrival. For Habitat, the loca-tion is a good fit for their mission: They operate ReStore in the very neighborhood in which they do much of their housing work. Additionally, they’re breathing a bit of new life into the com-munity by occupying a vacant warehouse. They project to salvage 350 tons of material within a year. Which means ReStore pulls off a sustain-ability trifecta, helping the economy, society and the environment. While ReStore is already open for business, it will host a grand opening on Sept. 10.

hen habitat for humanity started kicking around the idea to open a ReStore in Philadelphia, they likely never imagined the store would gross $3,100 in sales on its first day open. A retail outlet that supplies everything from overstocked kitchen cabinets to gently used dining room tables and reclaimed bathroom fix-

tures at low prices, ReStore is Habitat’s innovative way of generating revenue to support their mission of building affordable housing and stabilizing communities.

habitat for humanity

restoreEstablishEd: → Locally, 2011location: → Lomax Carpet Building, 2930 Jasper St., 19134hours: → Thu. and Fri., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.Who should shop thErE: → Homeowners and renters looking for big-box home improvement and houseware items at a fraction of the cost—all while supporting a good causeWhat you might find: → Cabinetry, bath-room and kitchen sinks/fixtures, hard-ware, high-quality furniture, doors, win-dows, appliances, electronics

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 17

One of the BME’s first contributions was $1 million worth of lighting that had been over-ordered from Progress Lighting by JC Penney. In the early days, BME would barter the lighting fixtures with another organization in Baltimore to stock items the community needed, like gen-eral building supplies. Before Philadelphia had its robust network of community development corporations (CDCs), customers were referred by the CDCs’ predecessor organizations, and would then be able to shop at the BME for materials at about 20 percent of the retail cost.

Since then, the BME has grown to 5,400 members, and it’s expanded from the original 5,000-square-foot space on Indiana Avenue to an 11,000-square-foot space at Front and Erie. Raul, the BME’s friendly manager, has been with the organization for 18 years, and in addition to his managerial duties, he also gives helpful home improvement advice to members who stop in and

ask for it. The place is packed with a variety of home improvement materials, including win-dows, doors, carpet tiles, hardware, and lots and lots of paint. Builders, retailers and individuals all contribute to the BME.

It’s clear that the BME is an invaluable re-source for the community it serves. In 1994, Evelyn Casillas had a fire in her home, which destroyed a portion of her second floor. Since her insurance was slow in processing the claim, she was having difficulty fixing the damage. A friend told her about the BME, and with their help, she was able to rebuild her house. In 2002, she started working at the BME as Raul’s assistant. John MacDonald, Impact’s president and CEO, says Casillas’ situation is common; many people come to the BME in times of emergency.

MacDonald says their biggest challenge re-mains marketing—both to potential contribu-tors and those who can take advantage of their services, especially since many of them don’t use computers. They market through word of mouth, and with difficult economic conditions, the flow of donations has slowed to a trickle. As a result, Impact will often go to auctions to stock the BME’s shelves with materials their members need, like lumber.

But it’s fair to assume that this bastion of build-ing materials reuse will weather this recession; they’ve made it through other economic fluctua-tion over the past 26 years. Even with other orga-nizations like Habitat for Humanity moving into the neighborhood, they plan to continue to serve Philadelphia’s low-income population through this crucial resource for years to come.

tarted in 1985, the Building Materials Exchange (BME) is the granddaddy of building materials reuse

here in Philadelphia. The BME is a membership orga-nization run by Impact Services, an organization fo-cused on helping its “Heart of Kensington” neighbor-

hood through job training and creation to support community stabilization and development. BME serves low-income resi-dents; members must meet fed-eral low-income requirements.

Building materials

exchangeEstablishEd: → 1985location: → 111 W. erie Ave., 19140 (entrance is behind building off Front Street)hours: → Mon. to Fri., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Who should shop thErE: → Low-income residents looking for deeply discount-ed building materials, housewares and advice on how to complete home im-provement projectsWhat you might find: → Windows, doors, cabinetry, carpet tiles, appliances, paints and finishes, roofing materials, housewares, furniture

18 gridphilly.com oCToBer 2011

isiting the resource exchange (re) is a bit like finding yourself in the scene shop of some local theater company, with set pieces, racks of framing lumber, and cast-off props filling the space. This isn’t surprising given the RE’s beginnings. Executive Director Karyn Gerred boasts a background in theater and film, having worked as a scenic artist for years. In 2009, she saw a need for helping the film and theater industries reuse set materials, instead of simply sending them to a landfill. Thus

was born the RE, a creative reuse organization that’d been housed in a 5,000-square-foot Navy Yard building with no electricity, no plumbing and a leaky roof.

Gerred speaks eloquently about the necessity of keeping high-quality movie and theater set materials, often only used for a short period, from being sent to the landfill. As she describes it, RE is working to “solve the problem of long-term environmental consequences of short-term productions.” Historically, it’s been difficult for the film and theater industries to find landfill alternatives because the reuse infrastructure in Philadelphia hasn’t been able to accommodate these materials. Architectural salvage places don’t want them, and thrift stores aren’t set up to receive the sheer quantity of materials.

Enter RE. It focuses on structural and artis-tic reuse of these cast-off materials by artists, craftspeople, educators, students, homeown-ers and professionals in the green building and sustainable design fields. Framing lumber and sheeting reclaimed by RE enabled Greensaw to complete a $1.1 million renovation project for Yikes Inc.’s new offices in Fishtown. Reclaimed

materials from RE are being used for a project at Bodine High School in Northern Liberties to create public landscapes on underuti-lized lots. And many local theater sets have been built with material salvaged by RE from other area productions.

With their original Navy Yard lo-cation inadequate for their needs, RE had been searching in earnest for a new location. They’d identified multiple city-owned buildings, yet the city has been unwilling to give them a break on the rent. But the organization’s luck changed, receiving a grant from PPL Energy and securing a building on Cedar Street, which gives them, as Gerred notes, “one of three in the startup nonprofit tri-umvirate (building, staff and truck).” RE will continue to operate by appointment until it is fully staffed.

The resource exchange

EstablishEd: → 2009location: → 2829 Cedar St. (at Cambria), 19134hours: → By appointmentWho should shop thErE: → Homeowners, build-ers, designers, craftspeople and artists looking for high quality, low-cost materials for building things and creating artWhat you might find: → Dimensional lumber, plywood, theatrical sets, props, lighting, office partitions, fabric, trimmings

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 19

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The green building movement has made amazing progress in this region and the country in the last decade. In 2001, green building leaders in the Delaware Valley were helping to implement the first version of the LEED standard. Our regional leaders founded the Delaware Valley Building Council and the U.S. Green Building Council to help the in-dustry grow and develop.

Timeline2001

Delaware Valley Green Building Council founded

2002

DVGBC has 20 members and its first executive director

2003

First LEED-certified building (in Delaware) in the Delaware Valley

2005

DVGBC has 225 memBers

2006

First LEED Platinum (Liberty Property Trust’s One Crescent

Drive at The Navy Yard)

2007

DVGBC hosts first Student Design Competition with Project H.O.M.E.

2008

DVGBC has 1,004 memBers

2009

DVGBC has five staff members and is one of the five largest chapters

of the U.S. Green Building Council

2010

Philadelphia is chosen for a $120 million investment in

energy efficiency research for existing commercial buildings — the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster is housed at The Navy Yard

2011

Kensington CAPA School, the first LEED Platinum public high school

in the nation; the first LEED Platinum rowhouse in Philadelphia

Our region is now home to 103 LEED-certified buildings, including several hospitals and 10 schools. In addition to the LEED buildings, there are 250 buildings using Energy Star Portfolio Manager, and implementing green projects such as green roofs, solar installations or geothermal wells.

This year, in Philadelphia alone, the green building industry will bring in more than $1 bil-lion in revenues. DVGBC has shaped and led this progress—connecting and educating green building leaders and practitioners, providing practical expertise and experience. Through our education programs and tools, such as our green contractor database and green project directory, we are developing and supporting an integrated industry and network of leaders. By helping to write green specifications for the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, developing the Philadelphia School District’s leadership in LEED projects, supporting Mayor Michael Nutter and Philadelphia City Council in pass-ing green building and cool roof legislation, and creating sustainability language for capital project Requests for Proposals, DVGBC and its members are helping to drive the market for sustainable development.

In 10 years, we’ve grown from an all-vol-unteer working board, to a full-time staff of five, and membership nearing 1,000, in four branches that extend from the Lehigh Valley into Delaware. Our most active volunteers together contribute about 20,000 total hours each year to advancing our shared mission. DVGBC’s members include a broadening spectrum of the green building industry—design professionals, contractors and developers, energy efficiency experts, green product manufacturers (win-dows, building automation systems, flooring and lighting companies), and a growing group of financial services and insurance leaders. Our newest audiences are school teachers and ad-ministrators and health care practitioners.

So, what’s next for our movement? The DVGBC’s new vision, “green buildings for all,” has us focusing our work in four areas:

Greenbuild 2013 in PhiladelphiaThe annual international green building confer-ence will bring more than 30,000 green building leaders to Philadelphia in fall 2013. As the host chapter, DVGBC will be responsible for vol-unteers, offsite education and tours, a legacy project, and engagement with regional industry leaders and decision-makers. The choice of Phil-adelphia reflects a recognition of the long-term “green” leadership at DVGBC and our regional decision-makers and industry leaders.

Public Policy & AdvocacyDVGBC will provide expertise to decision-makers to initiate policies that encourage green building practices. Our staff and members will advocate for progressive policy reforms. The areas where DVGBC sees immediate divi-dends are in energy disclosure, higher rates of construction and demolition waste recycling, increased rates of conservation and graywater recycling, new green building standards for state-owned buildings, and adoption of the new ICC and IGCC codes.

Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC)GPIC is a new national hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the research, policy, practices and products to spur energy-efficiency adoption in existing commercial buildings. As a partner of GPIC, DVGBC will communicate GPIC’s work to our community, connect practitioners and building owners and operators to the GPIC effort, and support the policy, markets and behavior team.

Green Schools CampaignGreen schools save on average more than $100,000 per year in operating costs, and studies show that students learn better in green schools. Most of the 1,171 schools in DVGBC’s region don’t even measure their energy use and costs, yet energy is the highest school expen-diture after personnel. DVGBC’s green schools campaign will work to help the region’s schools lower operating costs and create healthy learn-ing environments. Learn more and join us at www.dvgbc.org.

Janet Milkmanexecutive director

delaware valley green building council

green buildings for all from the executive director

Ten years ago, there was not a distinct “green building industry.” So, as we celebrate DVGBC’s 10th anniversary, I am most inspired by how the industry has grown to encourage sustainable development in full: development that encourages local job creation; works ultimately to restore the natural environment; and builds and sustains our communities. DVGBC’s mission is to support green building practices because we believe that our built environment can improve the health of our planet, our economy and our communities.

DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011 | GREENPRINT | 3

join dvgbc

“I’ll tell you how it started,” recalls architect Sandy Wiggins, the godfather of Philly’s green building movement and a current principal at the firm Consilience. “It began with an invitation to anyone who was interested to get together for an evening of discussion about green building.”

As Wiggins remembers it, the invitation was distributed virally, and on that first night, 15 people showed up at Carpenters’ Hall, the site of the First Continental Congress.

“It was a mixed bag of people: architects, a de-veloper, someone from city government, someone from UPenn,” remembers Wiggins. “It was a really amazing evening. … Everyone who showed up was hungry to exchange ideas.”

The next month, a second meeting took place. After three or four months of regular meetings, the 15 or so attendees decided to make their

relationship official. “These 15 people became the board of DVGBC,” says Wiggins, adding that about a half a year later, they’d formed a nonprofit, eventually latching on to the then-fledgling United States Green Building Council.

“In the early days, that handful of people was pretty much the whole community in Philly of folks that were serious about green building,” remem-bers Wiggins. “We were all learning from each other, and about what we could do as an organiza-tion to affect change in Philadelphia.”

The council grew by holding public events, and more people began to show up. From that original core group, the DVGBC has grown into a “very large nonprofit that’s having a regional impact, with a very large community of people,” says Wig-gins. “Obviously it was a good idea.”

William Cline Wallace Robets & Todd

Charlie Tomlinson Charles B. Tomlinson Jr. AIA

Joe Weidle Bedwell Construction

Sandy Wiggins Consilience, LLC

Dan Garafolo University of Pennsylvania

Lorna Rosenberg U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Jeff Hayes Jeff Hayes Architect

Scott Kelly Re:Vision Architecture

Rob Fleming Philadelphia University

Philip Hinerman Fox Rothchild LLP

Pat Imperato

Linda Knapp MACREDO/ILSR

George Wilson Meyer Associates Inc.

Jim Lutz Liberty Property Trust

Mark Huxta Mannington

Mark Purcell Nason Construction

David Harrower

Dan Penchin Dick Corporation

Michelle Knapik Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

A Solid Foundationhow the DVGBc started small, then blossomed

Like other influential movements, the Delaware Valley Green Building Council started informally. And like America’s origin story, the seeds of the DVGBC were sown in Carpenters’ Hall.

The Foundersdvgbc’s founding members

Currently, there are 40000 projects, in 50 states and 120 countries, participating in the LEED system, cites USGBC.

Over the past 10 years, membership for the Dela-ware Valley Green Building council has grown from 15 to more than a thousand at its peak, counting it-self as one of the largest and most established chap-ters of the u.S. Green Building council (uSGBc).

the nonprofit supports the lehigh Valley, Bucks and montgomery coun-ties, the metro philadelphia area, as

well as the state of Delaware, and has members of all different skill levels—ranging from students to veteran professionals. Joining DVGBc is an easy way for community members to meet and form partnerships, promote projects, and access

educational resources. individuals are encouraged to join, even if their companies are already uSGBc members. other membership benefits include a searchable profile on the DVGBc website, dis-counts and invitations to events, and the chance to develop green building programming through com-mittee membership and advocacy work. to join, visit dvgbc.org/get_involved/membership

4 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011 | GREENPRINT | 5

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Collin O’Mara’s first two years as the secretary of energy and the environment have given the state of Delaware some serious sustainability bragging rights. Thanks to its youngest appointed cabinet member (he was appointed in 2009 when he was 29 years old), the state now supports green building and energy efficiency programs, the first statewide curbside recycling pick-up service and legislation promoting green jobs. And that’s just the beginning. O’Mara, who is also a LEED-accredited professional, came to Delaware from San Jose, Calif., where he lead the city’s Green Vision project and a citywide green economic development initiative. GRID spoke with O’Mara about his decision to come to Delaware, the benefits of being a small state and how being young has become an asset.

Bright FutureDnrec Secretary Collin O’Mara is putting Delaware on the right path interview by liz pacheco

GRID: Why did you decide to come to Delaware? Collin O’Mara: In transforming our economy and addressing the climate crisis, it’s really about working on a national solution. … In Delaware, I was fortunate to meet Gov. Jack Markell, who is a very innovative thinker; [he] understands the economics of the environment in a way I think very few politicians do. So, when he offered me the opportunity to come and try to put in place

many of the policies I feel are going to be neces-sary to rebuild our economy as well as address the underlying environmental challenges, it was a really great opportunity.

How does Delaware’s size impact your work? Being a small state where you can get things done very quickly, we’ve been able to attract some of the leading clean tech companies in the world to manufacture in Delaware. We’ve been

able to have deeper renewable energy penetra-tion in the last couple of years than nearly any other state in the country. These are efforts that are important locally, but also show that we can make community progress in a short amount of time nationally, if we have the right set of policies and the right commitment of leaders.

What project or success in Delaware are you particularly proud of or excited about?I was extremely proud of the leadership the Gov-ernor provided… to bring the statewide recycling program to Delaware. It’s a program that requires the hauler to actually provide recycling services at the curb for every single household in the state. And it’s one of the first programs of its kind.

[…] We’ve also done a lot of work on green building and efficiency work for existing buildings. There was a federal program that was debated a few years ago that was never passed called Home Star. The goal was to do massive retrofits of ex-

isting homes. We actually decided not to wait for the feds and implement the program. We’ve had more than 4,000 homes have very deep retrofits already.

That may not seem like a big number, but that’s more than almost 2 percent of the total houses in Delaware. We had another million CFLs that have gone out, and we’ve had tens of thousands of appliances. So, we’ve really been trying to make smart investments.

And we’ve launched an innovative program from the Green Building Council for the construc-tion of new homes where we actually provide a rebate, a grant at closing, so a lot of folks can bor-row less to [pay for green improvements]. Even though there are lots of operating cost benefits, a lot of folks can’t afford to take out an extra couple thousand dollars.

A good amount of press attention has been put on you being so young. How has your age impacted your work?In many ways, the climate crisis is going to be one of the most significant challenges, if not the most significant challenge facing my generation. So, I think I’ve been able to bring a slightly longer-term perspective to some of these issues…. I actually think that my age is an asset in many ways be-cause I’m not necessarily locked into some of the older battles and the traditional dichotomy of us-them: business versus environment.

collin o’mara is the recipient of the John Par-tridge Leadership Award; given to an individual in the private or nonprofit sector who has furthered green building design, operation, policy or prac-tice in a new sector or has overcome challenges to implementing green building.

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6 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011 | GREENPRINT | 7

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Go With the FlowThe Philadelphia Water Department’s Green city, clean waters plan gushes with possibilities by liz pacheco

When Philadelphia received a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1997 to improve its combined sewer system, the initial solution wasn’t so great. The plan called for replacing old pipes, building more tunnels—using manmade constructions to better handle stormwater. Streets would be dug up, improvements would be made mostly underground and waterway restoration would take a long time. And renovations were expensive.

Residents couldn’t see, nor really appreciate the improvements, says Joanne Dahme, PWD’s manager of public affairs. And “they might not have gotten the total investment they deserve.”

A better plan was needed. For old American cities like Philadelphia, the combined sewer sys-tem is a common problem. In combined systems, stormwater and sewage flow together in a single pipe; during heavy rains or snowmelts, the system can be overwhelmed, resulting in flooding and waterway pollution.

Faced with an aging sewer system and an EPA mandate, the PWD went for a new approach: Go green.

“Lead with the green,” is the phrase Dahme

uses when discussing Green City, Clean Waters. She calls the just-approved, 25-year, $2 billion plan “revolutionary,” explaining that Philadel-phia is “probably the first city in the country to really take this green approach as [a] primary approach.” Cities across the country are using tools like rain gardens and porous pavement to keep water out of the sewer system, but not to the extent Philadelphia plans.

The Green City, Clean Waters plan, announced in 2007 and officially approved by the state this summer, pledges to install as many green fea-tures as possible. Over the next 25 years, tools like porous pavement, rain gardens, rain barrels, sidewalk planters and stormwater tree trenches

will help capture and man-age Philadelphia storm-water. The plan is about “adding layers of Mother Nature that once existed [but] that we long [ago] erased,” says Dahme.

Updated wastewater treatment facilities and pipe renewal are also part of the plan, but the hope is that the green features will keep water out of the sewer system altogether. Other benefits of Green City, Clean Waters: Waterways will be more quickly restored, and residents will more readily see and enjoy the improvements.

Even before the state approved the plan this summer, the PWD had been working with pri-vate companies, local organizations and com-munities to implement these green stormwater solutions. The first porous street was built last May in Queen Village on South Percy Street, and rain gardens and stormwater planters have been popping up all over the city. To keep track, the PWD has created a Big Green Map Tool, which conveniently shows all green water projects in the city.

“We believe [Green City, Clean Waters] is the best public investment,” says Dahme. “For every dollar invested is a dollar gained in com-munity investment to make a better city to live, work and play.”

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↙Tomorrow the Green GrassThis simulation shows a vision of how green stormwater infrastructure could be applied citywide.

8 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2010 | GREENPRINT | 9

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in the waste recycling business, Revolution Recovery is lapping the field by liz pacheco

at revolution recovery, founders and co-owners avi Golen and Jon wybar are reinventing the construction waste recycling industry.

“they’re light years ahead of other companies in terms of the way they’re thinking about reuse and re-cycling,” says Sandy wiggins, a veteran in the green

real estate development and construction in-dustries. “[they’re] also extremely effec-

tive at it.”the high school friends have been

in business together since the early 2000s, when Golen pitched the idea in response to watching the building

boom send an overload of materials to landfills. “there was no real care for what was left at the site or what was ordered,” says Golen. “as long as there was enough material at the site to keep the people moving, it didn’t mat-

ter what was trash.”revolution recovery is seen as an innovator—a pio-

neer in the construction waste recycling business. they received the first permit to recycle drywall in pennsyl-vania and their business has grown significantly from there. Some waste is sorted at the construction site into separate Dumpsters, but most is delivered to their northeast philadelphia facility mixed together. with

a new, state-of-the-art sorting system, waste is sorted into 40 different material types; about 80 percent is recovered.

along with finding local markets for recyclables, revo-lution recovery is adding more jobs to the economy than tra-ditional waste companies—a full-time job for every 5 tons taken in compared with one for about every 300 tons, explains wybar.

“i see revolution recovery on about 50 percent of the leeD projects in the Delaware Val-ley,” says Scott Kelly, co-founder of re:Vision, a philadelphia- and Berkeley, calif.-based architec-ture, planning and consulting firm committed to sustainable building and design. “if it’s a

leeD project, there’s a good chance revolution recov-ery is dealing with the waste.”

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There Is a Light That Sometimes Goes Outlutron has been making cutting-edge, energy-saving light switches for 50 years by ariela rose

In 1959, a light bulb illuminated, perhaps gradually, in Brooklyn native Joel Spira’s head. His proverbial bright idea was for a switch that would allow

people to vary the intensity of their lighting, and at long last, he’d done it. À la Thomas Edison, Spira emerged from the spare

bedroom-turned-makeshift lab in his home with a solid-state rotary dimmer. In 1961, inspired by his innovation, he founded Lutron Electronics, a lighting company with

an environmentally conscious edge. “All of our products save energy and are the replacement for the

100-year-old on/off switch,” says Michael Smith, vice president of en-ergy solutions at Lutron. “We help companies save energy when their lights need to be on.”

The company accomplishes this with more than 15,000 energy-saving prod-ucts, which combined save American customers $1 billion in utility costs each year. For instance, consumers can use dimmers to raise and lower light intensity, while devices with occupancy and daylight sensors either dim or switch off un-necessary lighting. The concept is simple, but ingenious: Lutron’s products help customers use only the light they need, and only when they need it.

Just as the products demonstrate intrinsic environmental awareness, so too do Lutron’s business operations, which include three LEED-certified offices, ardent recycling and conservation practices, and an unexpected Asian pear farm operation. (Enchanted by the fruit on a 1973 business trip, Spira later founded Subarashii Kudamono orchard in nearby Coopersburg.)

“As a company, Lutron was founded on a belief in taking care of the customers, employees and the community,” explains Smith. “This commitment extends to Lutron’s belief in acting as a steward of the local environment.”

For more information on Lutron’s products and business practices, visit lutron.com

10 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

Lutron

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DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2010 | GREENPRINT | 11

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0922 Annual Green Building Celebration

The Annual Green Building Celebration, held at the Waterworks Restaurant in Philadelphia, draws more than 400 green building entrepreneurs, policy leaders and practitioners from across the green building spectrum. The event spotlights regional companies and organizations instrumental in imple-menting sustainable practices in the Delaware Valley, our 2011 leadership award presentation, and our 10th anniversary!

Thu., Sept. 22, → 6:30–9 p.m., the Water Works Restaurant & Lounge, 640 Water Works Drive. For more information and to register, visit dvgbc.org/green-building-celebration

1013

1020

1027

LEED Building Design + Construction Exam Study Group

1103

1110

If you’ve already qualified to sit for the LEED Green Building + Construction Exam, join this

five-week, expert-facilitated study group as your final step in preparing for the LEED BD+C Exam!

Thu, Oct. 13, 20, 27 → and November 3, 10, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Municipal Services Building, 1401 JFK Blvd. Register at dvgbc.org/education/leed-bdc-study-group-1

1021

Green Your School WorkshopThis FREE workshop will provide schools with the re-

sources they need to launch student-run initiatives centered on conducting environmental audits that can form the basis for effective energy conservation.

Fri., Oct. 21, → 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m., PECO Energy Headquarters Energy Hall, 23rd and Market streets, free light breakfast and lunch will be served. Register at dvgbc.org/education/green-your-school

1026

Making Green Housing AffordableIndustry leaders will provide insight into how commu-

nity groups and non-profits view green building projects and how these groups encourage such development. Learn how the affordable housing developer makes the jump from normal good construction practices to green.

Wed., Oct. 26, → 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., the Down Town Club, Sixth and Chestnut streets. Register at dvgbc.org/education/green-affordable-housing

1101

1206

First Tuesday Continuing Education Webinar Series

DVGBC is offering affordable USGBC Continuing Education Webinars with expert panelists. Each session will feature back-to-back webinars, worth 1.5 GBCI credits each.

Tue., Nov. 1 → and Tue., Dec. 6, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 121 N. Seventh St. For registration and topics, visit dvgbc.org/education/webinars

1103

Best of CleanMed 2011Best of CleanMed 2011 brings educational sessions

from the CleanMed 2011 Conference, the premier global con-ference on environmentally sustainable healthcare. York Chan of Advocate Health Care will discuss the lessons learned from Partner Health Care’s Strategic Energy Master Plan process to reduce energy consumption 25 percent by 2015.

Thu., Nov. 3, → 6-7:30 p.m., Annenberg Conference Center, Lakenau Hospital, 100 Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, Pa. Register at dvgbc.org/education/best-cleanmed-2011

EvEntS

A Cut Abovechildren’s hospital of philadelphia gets serious about going green with ecochop by ariela rose

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is no stranger to innovation. Consider it’s new EcoCHOP initiative, which aims to implement responsible practices—from recycling, building and purchasing, to more healthcare-specific areas—that ultimately care for the health of the environment.

“The healthcare industry is among the most wasteful on earth,” explains Tyler Weaver, who heads the EcoCHOP program. “It’s our duty to change how waste is perceived, from being a costly burden to an opportunity and a commodity. The majority of waste gener-ated is able to be reused or recycled in some way, so we’d rather work towards that and take responsibility for our environment, being that we’re a healthcare facility.”

One way that EcoCHOP hopes to reduce healthcare waste is through educating employees on the proper disposal of “red-bag”—or biohazard—waste. This is done via “red-bag audits,” hands-on training during which red-bag waste is sorted in front of employees to show which of its contents are trash, and which could actually have been recycled. According to Weaver, techniques like this have led to a 70 percent reduction in regulated medical waste, and a hospital-wide recycling rate of 49 percent.

“I want recycling to be an enjoyable part of everyone’s life and something that trans-fers to future generations,” says Weaver, an ardent anti-waste advocate (and author of the GRID column “Tyler Talks Trash”). “It’s the best feeling when employees tell you about a new recycling initiative they’re trying at home with their kids, or how they would have trashed something but then found another use for it.”

Along with statistical successes, EcoCHOP has also led to the construction of the Colket Translational Research Building (CTRB), a LEED-certified laboratory that is an impressive display of the hospital’s commitment to environmental stewardship. The

building was designed by local architecture firm Ballinger, which worked to seamlessly integrate the building’s green elements.

“Designing the most energy-efficient building feasible was the single most significant green building goal for the CTRB,” explains Zoe Sanderson, marketing director at Ballinger. “Research buildings and hos-pitals, by their nature, require substantial energy resources to operate.”

To maximize energy efficiency, Ball-inger incorporated design strategies such as separate air-handling systems for the office areas and research lab, an impor-tant element given that medical research labs cannot re-circulate air and must uti-lize a system that constantly refreshes air brought into the research area. Other elements include daylight sensors, and a system for maintaining a constant inte-rior temperature created through the use of low-emissivity materials. Each of these pieces are representative of CHOP’s commitment to reducing its impact on the environment that its patients interact with outside the hospital’s walls.

“CHOP employees can feel good about the fact that they work at an institution that is actually trying, and succeeding, to make a difference,” says Weaver. “My goal is to have our employees and pa-tients take the behaviors they learn here and apply them to their lives at home.”

12 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

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14 | GREENPRINT | DELAWARE VALLEY GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL 2011

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RECYCLE YOUR CONSTRUCTION WASTE

(215) 333-65057333 MILNOR STREET

PHILADELPHIA, PA

www.REVOLUTIONRECOVERY.com

—

JOHN D ORETY ANTIQUES—

“We re-use trash to build swanky interiors.”

SALVAGE • RESTORATION • STORAGE

WWW.JOHNDORETY.COM • 484-437-6427

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 21

Revolution RecoveRy is blazing a bold new tRail thRough the constRuction waste disposal business

evo l u t i o n r e c ove ry’ s three-and-a-half-acre lot on Mil-

nor Street in Northeast Phila-delphia is a shrine to waste.

The space hosts a huge pile of used wood and another of drywall. There are stacks of ceiling tiles and bundles of miscellaneous plastic and cardboard. The back of a truck is filled with rolled-up carpets and a group of boxes hold discarded met-al poles. A truck pulls up and adds a load of mixed materials—wood, plastic, concrete and metal—to the mess. It’s like being inside a gigantic, well-organized construction site Dumpster.

story by liz pacheco

photos by gene smirnov

waste

22 gridphilly.com oCToBer 2011

waste

reco menAvi Golen (left)

and Jon Wybar at their Northeast

Philadelphia facility.

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 23

hen people think about waste in general, or they

think about recycling, most people think about the bottles and

cans and plastic,” says Avi Golen, founder and co-owner of Revolution Recovery. “But really, what’s actually taking up space in our landfills is material produced from manufacturing and construction and demolition.”

In 2003, the U.S. generated more than 160 mil-lion tons of construction and demolition waste, reports the Environmental Protection Agency. And of that 160 million tons, only 40 percent was reused, recycled or burned as energy; 60 percent was sent to landfills.

But, Golen and co-owner Jon Wybar don’t see the construction and demolition material at their facility as waste.

“You classify waste as commingled material, mixed material,” says Golen. “So, anytime you

mix wood, drywall and cardboard into a Dump-ster, people look at it and see waste, where we see commodities just mixed together.”

Their company, Revolution Recovery, is a pioneer in the waste industry. Incorporated in 2004, when green building was just becoming popular, Golen and Wybar’s Revolution Recov-ery has reinvented the construction waste recy-cling business. They’ve developed unique ways to handle the materials that typically go straight to landfills. And they’ve set a precedent in the industry, proving that a recycling business fu-eled by manpower and innovation can not only be economically feasible, but , most importantly, environmentally friendly.

Hands dirtiedThe mission of Revolution Recovery is simple: Keep materials out of landfills. Period. But the

seemingly no-brainer man-tra is not so easily accepted by others in the construction industry.

In the early 2000s, at the height of the home building boom, Golen was cleaning up home construction sites. Buildings were going up so quickly that there was no real concern about waste, he ex-plains. “As long as there was enough material at the site to keep people moving, it didn’t matter what was trash.”

Golen’s family is in the waste hauling business in Philadelphia, but it wasn’t something Golen was in-terested in pursuing. After attending college in Colo-rado, he stayed as a back-country guide and worked with the nonprofit Tellu-ride Academy, leading kids on backpacking, mountain biking and fly fishing trips. After moving back to Phila-delphia and spending time constantly hauling clean, perfectly reusable material to the dump, Golen began to rethink a career in waste.

After doing some re-search, Golen found dry-wall recycling was already happening and, according to Wybar, that’s when “he

dragged me into it.” The high school friends went for a bike ride and Golen pitched his idea for a construction waste recycling company. Hooked by the idea, Wybar left his job cleaning up The World Trade Center site and joined Golen back in Philadelphia.

At the time, LEED-certified projects were just starting to hit the construction market. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental De-sign), the green building certification system, had been in development since 1994, but the first standards weren’t released until 2000. When Golen and Wybar started Revolution Re-covery, the LEED-certified building business was just emerging. “It was like the Wild West,” says Golen, “No one really knew what they were doing—just figuring it out as you go.” There was

You classifY waste as commingled material, mixed material. so anYtime You mix wood, drYwall and cardboard into a dumpster, people look at it and see waste, wHere we see commodities just mixed togetHer.” —Avi Golen

24 gridphilly.com oCToBer 2011

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 25

a need for construction waste recycling, but no real business model to follow.

The first phone call Golen made in the indus-try was to Sandy Wiggins, a founder of the then-newly formed Delaware Valley Green Building Council. “When [Golen] came to see me, I was re-ally excited about it,” says Wiggins. “There was really no one in the city thinking about construc-tion waste management.”

Thanks to Wiggins, who was the executive vice president of a construction management company, Golen and Wybar got a job hauling and inventorying waste for a LEED building project. This glorified Dumpster-diving might seemunap-pealing, but the job pro-vided what Golen describes as “market research.”

“Literally, we started hand-sorting through Dumpsters,” says Golen, “learning what was com-ing in these Dumpsters and what the makeup of them was.” Next, Golen and Wybar brought separation bins to construction sites, asking for materials to be divided when disposed.

“That was like pushing a really heavy rock up-hill,” says Golen. “You’re changing a process that people are so used to… and now you need three Dumpsters on site and it’s not even practical.” With space on urban construction sites limited, having one Dumpster can be challenging, add-ing two or three more seemed impossible. That’s when Golen and Wybar decided they needed to get into the separation business.

commoditY brokersRevolution Recovery’s first site was a small yard where materials were hand-sorted. On Milnor, materials are still hand-sorted, but are paraded through the upper floor of the warehouse on a massive conveyor belt. Waste is source-separat-ed (essentially divided by type of material) and dropped into individualized areas that resemble one-car garages.

During the summer, their high season, Revo-lution Recovery takes in an average 150-200 tons a day. Compared with larger waste businesses, this number is tiny. Transfer stations nearby will take in three times that amount, with everything going to the landfill.

At a traditional waste transfer station, for ev-ery pound that comes in, one goes out. “They just have two guys and they’re both in huge ma-chines,” says Wybar. “The truck dumps, they just push it. Everything goes to the landfill.” In these operations, most money is spent getting waste to

the landfill; labor costs are low. For Revolution Recovery, the equation is reversed.

“We’re pulling every little piece of this and that,” says Wybar. “We have 40 different prod-ucts going out, so we’re spending tons on labor and machinery.” And much less is going to the landfill. For every 5 tons received, Revolution Re-covery has a full-time job. According to Wybar, at a regular waste transfer station, the ratio is about 300 tons per full-time job.

Staying cost-competitive is important, so ev-ery bit of waste counts. In a landfill, a pound is a pound, no matter if it’s gold or cardboard. For Revolution Recovery, everything is a commodity that can be reused and recycled.

Wood is their most popular material. Pieces are first pulled out for nonprofits and art groups, like RAIR, an artist-in-residency program working at Revolution Recovery (see above). The rest is made into mulch onsite. Wood that can’t be mulched becomes a fuel chip product. Rubble, which includes brick, concrete, asphalt

and the like, is also crushed onsite. The result-ing product is used for road base, drainage fill projects and paving.

Most other waste Revolution Recovery takes in is only minimally processed or packaged, then sent elsewhere to be fully recycled. For example, drywall is consolidated, then shipped to a pro-cessor and ground into a soil, fertilizer and con-ditioner product. Ceiling tiles are returned to the manufacturer and made into new tiles. A similar process happens with carpets. Some materials, like insulation, can’t be recycled and are sent to a waste energy facility or a landfill.

While much of the market for separated prod-ucts has been around for some time—like the scrap metal and paper and cardboard recycling businesses—Revolution Recovery is pushing manufacturers to take waste recycling a step further. Revolution Recovery is working with Mannington, a flooring company, to take some recycled drywall and incorporate it into flooring products. And Armstrong World Industries is

For Philadelphia artists looking to stay sus-tainable, finding salvaged materials has gotten easier. recycled Artist-in-residency (rAIr), a program started in fall 2009, has studio space in a corner of revolution recovery’s warehouse, giving artists first

dibs on the most recently ditched materials, gratis, and encouraging projects that promote awareness of the waste stream.

“It’s a very unique situ-ation,” says Fern Gookin, director of sustainability and special projects at revolution recovery. “Not just any waste company will open their doors and let artists in.”

rAIr unofficially began years earlier when revolu-tion recovery was infor-mally welcoming artists into its facility.

“I came into the picture at a time when I was look-ing for a thesis topic,” says Gookin, who was completing a Master’s in sustainable design at Philadelphia University at the time. “I knew a lot of artists had been coming up [to revolution recov-ery] and were able to get materials, but I wanted to make sure that as the

business was growing there would be time for [the artists].”

Gookin began working with Billy Blaise Du-fala, a Philadelphia artist who was regularly visiting the recycling facility. With the added help of revolution recovery’s co-owner and founder Avi Golen, rAIr went from theoreti-cal thesis to formal program. A few artists are currently piloting the program and many more are interested in participating.

“Both artists and people in the sustain-ability community were really excited about [rAIr],” says Gookin, including educators who saw the program as a way to raise awareness about sustainability through art.

In March 2010, rAIr received a $40,000 grant from the City of Philadelphia’s Creative Industry Workforce to build a formal studio space at revolution recovery. Last January, they received another small grant for tools from Philly Stake.

This summer, Dufala and his brother Ste-ven showcased their Dumpster coffin at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts’ “Urban-ism” show. The coffin was made entirely at, and of materials from, revolution recovery.

rAIr is also hosting its own exhibit at the University of the Arts from July 15 to Sept. 11. Called “The Waste Dream,” the informative exhibit is “about materials and the potential that exists within these materials,” says Gookin, and is meant to get all people—not just artists—thinking about creative uses for these resources. —Liz Pacheco

For more information about rAIr and “The Waste Dream,” visit rairphilly.org.

in rair formrevolution recoverY’s artist-in-residence program demonstrates just How valuable recovered material can be

The Dufala Brothers’s Dumpster Coffin, made entirely from recycled materials from revolution recovery (not including the actual Dumpster).

26 gridphilly.com oCToBer 2011

taking back their ceiling tile. “We’re constantly doing more and more re-

search on what we can do to upgrade the value of this waste,” says Golen. “Whether it’s sorting it one step further… or if we had the room, we could take our plastics and instead of sending it to a plastic recycler… grind it and clean it here.”

aHead of tHe fieldScott Kelly, co-founder of Re:Vision, a Phila-delphia- and Berkley, Calif.-based sustainable architecture, planning and consulting firm, has worked with Revolution Recovery on various

projects. “I’ve been able to go to them with ma-terials others have struggled with,” says Kelly. “I’ve seen them develop special techniques[for recycling and reusing materials].”

Kelly recognizes Revolution Recovery as fore-runners in the industry and explains their busi-ness model as simply an invention of new ways for doing everything in the construction waste business. “They looked in a Dumpster and said, ‘How can I find a use for this?’ not ‘How can I get rid of this?’”

“I would say that they’re pioneers in construc-tion waste management,” says Wiggins, “not just regionally, but across the country.”

And, as Wiggins explains, the market for green building is only growing. Recycling construction waste is becoming mainstream and more waste companies are adapting their ways.

“Five years ago it was tricky, we were still developing outlets. Now it’s kind of even or we [have traditional waste companies] on the run a little,” says Wybar. “I think in five or 10 years, if you’re not recycling, you won’t be in business because you won’t be able to compete.”

For more information on Revolution Recovery and the materials they recycle visit revolutionrecovery.com.

We’re pulling out every little piece of this and that. We have 40 different products going out, so We’re spending tons on labor and machinery.” —Jon Wybar

oCToBer 2011 gridphilly.com 27

28 g r i d p h i l ly. c o m october 2011

by bernard brown • photos by jen britton and christian hunoldurban naturalist

My wife, Jen, adores Canada geese. She especially loves the fluffy goslings that graze alongside their parents

throughout grassy Philadelphia, but she waves to the adults, too. Jen might be the only Philadel-phian I’ve met who likes the geese, and, like any-one whose spouse holds a dangerously contrarian position, I am bound to publicly agree with her.

I will own up to cursing the geese when I step in their poop, and in this I am aligned with the rest of Philadelphia. This is not just an aesthetic problem. Tom Whitmer, Director of Natural Resources for Parks and Recreation, points out the disease potential of large quantities of goose feces. We’re talking a lot of poop, more than a pound per goose per day. Where they congre-gate along West River Drive and Kelly Drive, right near Water Department intake pipes, it totaled something like 14 tons per year before the city took action.

“In some of these areas you have nice mown

lawns right up to the edge, and they just love that,” Whitmer notes. The city controls these resident geese largely through landscaping and public education campaigns. Geese are wary of high grass that could hide foxes or other preda-tors, so letting the grass grow tall along the water can create a goose barrier. It doesn’t help when people feed the already plump and abundant waterfowl, hence the signs along MLK Drive telling us not to.

As if tons of green, sloppy crap isn’t enough, dense goose populations tear up the landscape as well. A few weeks ago, I checked out the reno-

vated Concourse Lake in Fairmont Park West. This used to be a decrepit pond surrounded by crumbling paths and retaining walls, lined with stinking muck, and home to hundreds

of bullfrogs that stake out tiny ter-ritories of mud or lily pad and leap into the water with abrupt squeaks as you get too close. Herds of geese graze around Concourse Lake and challenge your right of way. On this trip, I rounded the pond on a newly paved path and was perplexed to see a complex network of tall fencing in the shallows on the west side of the pond. Witmer explains: As part of the

renovation, Parks and Recreation had planted the shallows with plugs of native marsh plants. These plugs are apparently irresistible to geese. They don’t eat them, but they love to yank them out and throw them aside. So, if you’re going to establish a natural wetland in Philadelphia, you need to keep out the geese.

Canada geese test the boundaries of “natural.” They are certainly native, but they have become bound to civilization, particularly to our mowed grassy expanses (a.k.a. lawns, parks, golf courses) and well-clipped shorelines. This is our doing.

Live decoys were the ancestors of our goose hordes, notes naturalist and environmental educa-tor Tony Croasdale. These were wounded or feather-clipped geese that were used by hunters to trick

free-flying geese into thinking that it was safe to land. This hunting practice has long been illegal, but the released decoys and their fluffy babies stayed put. “There are still migratory geese that leave our region in the summer and go up to Can-ada,” Croasdale notes. “The resident population is a purely human creation.” So, next time you step in the green poop, don’t blame the goose.

BERNARD BROWN is an amateur field herper, part-time bureaucrat and director of the PB&J Cam-paign (pbjcampaign.org), a movement focused on the benefits of eating lower on the food chain. Read about his forays into the natural world at phillyher-ping.blogspot.com.

We’re talking a lot of poop—more than a pound per goose per day.

Honk if You Like Geese Take a gander into the world of philadelphia’s most ubiquitous waterfowl

october 2011 gridphilly.com 29

Education isn’t about storing facts.

It’s about thinking for yourself.

It’s not what to think. It’s how to think.

Saturday, October 1 @ 10 am at 7500 Germantown Ave | Mount Airy

open

phi

llyw

ald

orf

.com

The GreenhouseProjects

Five Takes on an Exhibition

Five Takes on an Exhibition

ArChITeCTureGreenhouse and Cabinet of Future FossilsSeptember 9 – December 3

Experience a sustainable greenhouse for the 21st century, installed in the American Philosophical Society’s (APS) garden. Architect Jenny Sabin is recognized for her award-winning work at the forefront of a new direction in archi-tectural practice that applies insights and theories from nature and science to the design of material structures.

FAMILYGPS ExpeditionLaunching September 9

Follow historian Erin McLeary’s family-friendly geocaching hunt for the Ghost Gardens & Lost Landscapes of historic Philadelphia.

MusICExperimental SoundsSeptember 9 – December 3

Inside the greenhouse, listen for the compelling sounds of Kyle Bartlett’s musical com-position Chaotic Menagerie.

TheATerFrench Farce8 Performances/F/Sa/Sun/September 2 – 16

See Aaron Cromie, Mary Tuomanen, and Genevieve Perrier’s richly imaginative, witty and utterly distinctive new play, A Paper Garden, featuring Empress Josephine, explorer Andre Michaux, and their mutual love of botany.

FooDBon AppétitLaunching September 9

Learn about the rise of French cuisine (with recipes) in five podcasts produced by Lari Robling.

For more information on all of the Greenhouse Projects

www.apsmuseum.org

104 S. Fifth StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106

Five contemporary takes on the APs Museum’s exhibition of elephants and roses: encounters with French natural history, 1790–1830

30 g r i d p h i l ly. c o m october 2011

shoots ladders by char vandermeershoots ladders by char vandermeer

October’s waning days and crisp evenings provide welcome relief from the summer’s brutal heat, but it’s a

bittersweet reward: The summer’s bounty is al-ready nothing more than a bright delicious mem-ory, and your garden is largely in hibernation. If your recall is anything like mine, though, it’s a great time to document your gardening triumphs and your brown thumb travails before March hits and you think, “Now, what was it that I was going to do to keep my tomatoes alive? Dance naked in the moonlight while chanting the lyrics to ‘Eye of the Tiger’? Or was it something about marigolds?” So, pull out that frilly journal from Aunt Sally and take a few notes. Your neighbors will appreciate it. And now, a few lessons learned on a little blue South Philly deck:

Let’s begin with an ode to marigolds. They smell funny and they’re kind of ugly. But the for-mer is caused by terpene, an organic compound found in turpentine, and it’s magic! Those gar-ish, tough yellow flowers? They really do lure whiteflies away from innocent tomatoes and attract small swarms of pollinating bees to your cucumbers. I’m totally a convert. Plus, they’re su-per cheap, and can often be found on clearance racks for pennies apiece. The stinkier they are, the better they work—so look for African mari-golds, as they’re the most pungent. You’ll want to deadhead (aka pluck fading blooms) regularly to

encourage summer-long flowering. I just chucked the deadheads into various cucurbit pots, hop-ing the residual scent would continue working its aphid-be-gone magic.

mulching seems like a no-brainer, but it’s tempting to get those plants in the ground and call it a day. Don’t. Good mulch not only helps keep your crops cool and moist during the hottest days, but it also minimizes fungus and mildew caused by splashback from frequent watering and heavy rainfall. This year I put down a liberal coating of cedar mulch, which may also have nat-ural bug-repelling capabilities (again, the more potent-smelling, the better), and everything ap-peared happier for it. Of course, I’m not sure we got any appreciable rain throughout June or July, which may also have had a hand in keeping mil-dew and fungal growth to a minimum. In addition to cedar bark, though, the mulch surrounding the precious melons and cucumbers was laced with gently used aluminum foil, which is purported to repel aphids and other creepy crawlies by reflect-ing light and critter-frying heat.

As you may have gathered, aphids were the scourge of the deck last summer, and thanks to last year’s note-taking, this year’s precaution-ary measures kept things relatively aphid-free. In addition to the marigolds, a ruthless killing

hand was employed: As soon as the green nasties reared their crop-eating heads on tender, aphid-favorite lettuce leaves, the lettuce was plucked, rinsed and eaten. The container the lettuce was growing in had a date with hot soapy water, and was retired for the duration of the cucumber and melon season. Priorities, people.

And finally, a word about dirt. If you’re going the all-organic route, try to contact the company you plan on purchasing your soil from. Make sure the pH and nutrient levels are right for growing vegetables. This year, I bought about 100 pounds of locally produced organic potting soil, only to have everything planted in that soil wither and die. The pH was too high to support optimal vegetable growth and, strangely, the salt levels were too high to support much of anything. Other plants, plopped in not-so-holy, compara-tively inexpensive, mass-produced soil, churned out pounds and pounds of lovely, tasty veggies.

CHAR VANDERMEER tends a container garden on her South Philly roof deck; she chronicles her tri-umphs and travails at plantsondeck.com

Let us know what worked (and didn’t work) in your garden at gridphilly.com

THaT’s a Wrap lessons learned from a bountiful summer on the little Blue deck

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tyler talks trash by tyler weaver

In my waste-free utopia, napkins wouldn’t be provided unless asked for, with businesses in full control of how many are dispensed. Consider this: How many times have you either taken or received napkins with a meal, only to throw most or all of them, unused, in the trash when you’re finished eating? Over the last few weeks, I’ve been observing people when they get up to leave a restau-rant. I notice that unused napkins almost always get trashed.

Though individually small, napkins contribute in a big way to our wasteful habits. In fact, paper makes up a whop-ping 40 percent of our landfills. It is the most prevalent material disposed, exceeding plastic bottles, diapers, food waste and appliances combined. Think about it this way: For as long as you’ve been on the planet, the process for mak-ing paper hasn’t really changed, while advances in technology and production processes have stripped glass and plas-tics (bags and bottles alike) of nearly half their weight and thickness.

Because products like napkins, paper towels and phonebooks are made almost exclusively of recycled (low-grade) ma-terial, they’re not candidates for further recycling, but they’re definitely com-postable, and there’s no need for them to end up in the landfill.

What can you do? The next time you’re in a restaurant or at a lunch truck, I’d like you to ask yourself this: Do I really need all those napkins? See what happens when you pocket those extra napkins and tell the server to hold off on any more. Remember cloth nap-

kins? Some bars and restaurants still use them; that’s a good practice to support. If you’re at an establishment using paper napkins, politely ask if they’ve consid-ered the cloth alternative.

This might be a stretch, but whatever happened to hand-kerchiefs? Here’s a trend—essentially a portable, reusable napkin—that once hung proud-ly out of people’s back pockets.

This one might sound ex-treme, but I’m going to throw it out there anyway: Have you tried drying your hands by placing them surreptitiously into your pockets after wash-ing them? It works. (So does just simply letting them air dry.)

The impact of paper products may seem trivial, but they con-tribute much more to the waste system than most of us realize. You have the power to change that. So, go for it. Challenge yourself to use fewer napkins and paper towels. It doesn’t make you dirtier (though briefly moister); it makes you a more mindful and in-tune global citizen.

TYLER WEAVER is a garbage and compost expert who’s been ob-sessed with waste since he climbed into his first Dumpster two de-cades ago. Read more of his mus-ings at tylertalkstrash.com and crazyaboutcompost.com.

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you can’t replace, choose those made

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recycled. Greenline (greenlinepaper.com) and Marcal (marcals-

mallsteps.com) are leaders.

BusInessesLook into linen ser-vices to provide your napkins and towels. Wash Cycle Laundry (washcyclelaundry.com) is a Center City company offering these services, all delivered via bicycle.

Wipe OutThere’s nothing tidy about all the napkins and paper towels we dispose of

Do you ever wonder about napkins? I’m Tyler the Trash Guy, so I think about them constantly. Napkins are almost universally perceived as cost-free items that can

be liberally obtained in any quantity, without question. Why do you need napkins? Do you spill food at every sitting? (Do people think I’m dirty for denying them any chance I get?)

Man oF the cloth: tyler freshens up at su Xing house at 1508 sansom st.

october 2011 gridphilly.com 33

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sep14

celebrate Stormwater management

projects in germantownJoin the Tookany/Tacony-Frank-ford Watershed Partnership in celebrating two new exciting stormwater management projects in Germantown: a former vacant lot turned native garden and Germantown’s first Green City, Clean Waters green street. Enjoy refreshments in the newly planted native garden at Clearview Community Park; then take a tour of Belfield Street, which is being transformed into one of the Philadelphia Water Department’s first green streets.

Wed., Sept. 14, 5:30–7 p.m., Clearview →Community Park, corner of Clearview Street and Washington Lane, Germantown. For more information, contact Ashley Schmid at 215-514-3952 or ashley@ttfwatershed.org

sep15

Urban Sustainability ForumPhilly is a destination for sustainable businesses looking to relocate to a vi-

brant, talent-rich environment. Learn about the City’s efforts to attract green business and hear about the success stories from companies that chose Philly. Featured speakers include Jeff Bartos, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Group, Inc., The Navy Yard, Kirsty Hal-liday, Sustainability Advisor, e3bank, and Todd Schachtman, Chief Business Development Of-ficer, Materials Processing Corporation.

Sept. 15, 6 p.m., The Academy of →Natural Sciences, 19th St. and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., for more information, visit urbansustainabilityforum.org

sep15

green rFps, restaurants and range hoodsLearn about the costs and benefits

of running a green restaurant at this seminar hosted by the Philagreen Hospitality Associa-tion. Presentations include “Energy Efficient Kitchen Ventilation” and “The Costs of Going Green for a Restaurant.”

Thu., Sept. 15, 1:45-4:30 p.m., $25, One →Logan Square. For more information and to register, visit philagreenhospitality.com and app.icontact.com/icp/sub/survey/take.

sep15

SA VA rediscovered roots Sustainable/local fashion empire SA VA is hosting SA VA Rediscovered Roots,

its third annual fall fashion show and commu-nity street fair. Along with showcasing designer

Sarah Van Aken’s fall 2011 collection, the event features a DJ and special guest speakers, and benefits the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which supports women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Thu., Sept. 15, 6-8 p.m., 1700 block →of Sansom Street. For more information, visit savafashion.com.

sep16

carnivores Anonymous Public Eye: Artists for Animals pres-ents Carnivores Anonymous, a talk-

show-themed performance for the 2011 Philly Fringe Festival. Get “vegucated” as celebrities share their vegan evolution. Featured guests in-clude anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, comedian Myq Kaplan, musician/poet Cassendre Xavier and “chef to the stars” Kurt E. Smith. Smith’s Totally Vegetarian Catering will provide tasty treats during the show, and vegan snacks will be available for sale during intermission.

Fri., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., $15, The Rotunda, →4014 Walnut St. For more information, visit livearts-fringe.org or call 215-413-1318.

sep17

Sustainable Saturdays, preserving the harvest The West Philadelphia Local Food series

launches its fourth installment, inviting participants to preserve summer’s bounty. Learn basic fer-mentation by creating your own kimchi and yogurt; discover how to can foods in a hands-on work-shop; visit JG Domestic and Milk & Honey Market for tours; and get a sneak peek at the new Mariposa Co-op and apple cider happenings at Bartram’s Garden.

→ Sat., Sept. 17, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., various locations. For specific event times and locations, visit universitycity.org.

sep17

Fair Food’s Adams county orchard Tour Celebrate the start of fall with Fair

Food’s Adams County Orchard Tour. Visit Fair Food Farmstand fruit favorites Beechwood Or-chards and Three Springs Fruit Farm, and see where some of the country’s best apples are grown. At Beechwood, you’ll learn about the con-nection between the Underground Railroad and Adams County agriculture from a Gettysburg Civil War expert. Afterward, Three Springs Fruit Farm will host a catered, locally sourced picnic with dancing and music by farmer Ben Wenk’s band. Transportation and local bites included.

Sat., Sept. 17, 8:30 a.m., $70. →For more information, visit fairfoodphilly.org/farm-tours-events/farm-tours.

sep17

Kimberton Whole Foods 25th Anniversary celebration grand Finale Barbecue

To celebrate its 25th birthday, this sustainable grocery innovator invites guests to a barbecue to rival all barbecues, featuring food options for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans, musi-cal guests, a sampling tent, kids’ activities, local brews and, of course, a birthday cake big enough to wish for 25 more years of organic foods, local sourcing and saying no to GMOs.

Sat., Sept. 17, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., →Kimberton Whole Foods, 2140 Kimberton Road, Phoenixville. For more information, visit kimbertonwholefoods.com.

sep18

pennypack Farm First Fall garden and Farm TourThis farm tour is a brand new event

from Pennypack that will connect people to the land through tours of private gardens, award-winning backyards and edible landscapes tra-versing the Eastern Montgomery region. Attend-ees are invited to either pack their cars full of friends and family, or take a more community-centric tour on Pennypack’s mini bus. Tickets are limited, and participants must be 13 or older.

sep16

pArK(ing) day phillyThe number of parks in Philly will increase by hundreds of

square feet on Sept. 16: PARK(ing) Day is back to transform metered parking spaces into temporary public parks. Held in cit-ies across the country, the event raises awareness of the need for more pedestri-an-friendly spaces in urban areas. Dozens of organizations in pockets all over Phila-delphia will participate, and the event is open to any business, organization, group or individual interested in creating a spot. Email parkingdayphila@gmail.com with your name, your organization’s name (if ap-plicable) and your desired spot location.

Fri., Sept. 16, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., various →locations. For more information, visit parkingdayphila.org.

october 2011 gridphilly.com 35

Sun., Sept. 18, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., $20 before Aug. →28, $49 for the mini-bus option. Tour begins at the Temple Ambler parking lot, Butler Pike and Meeting House Road. For more informa-tion and to purchase tickets, visit pennypack-farm.org.

sep21

Feast of Forage Feast of Forage will guide participants on a hunt for foraged local edibles in North

Philadelphia. Horticultural consultant Nance Klehm will lead the forage, and artist Brooke Sietinsons will utilize found plants for a kalei-doscopic projection. A potluck meal will also be prepared.

Wed., Sept. 21, 6-8 p.m., Tyler School →of Art’s Temple Gallery, 2001 N. 13th St. Call 215-777-9139 for directions.

sep24

phS Fall garden FestivalJoin the Horticulture Society for this free, family-friendly event to kick off autumn.

Activities include veggie races, Navy Yard tours, horticultural presentations in the Gardener’s Studio and more. Attendees can shop in the Gar-dener’s Marketplace and Meadowbrook Farm store, and select edibles and blooms from the Gold Medal plant sale.

Sat., Sept. 24, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Philadelphia →Navy Yard, Marine Parade Ground, Broad Street and Constitution Avenue. For more information, visit phsonline.org or call 215-988-8800.

sep25

pASA Bike Fresh, Bike localPedal out for PASA’s fourth annual Bike Fresh Bike Local event to support

the sustainable farming organization’s work in southeastern Pennsylvania. Choose your distance (25, 50 or 75 miles) for this scenic bike ride along un-trafficked country roads full of small family farms. Top the day off with a locally sourced lunch and complimentary beer. Register in advance for a discounted price and event souvenir.

Sun., Sept. 25, 75-mile registration 7 a.m., →50-mile 8:30 a.m., 25-mile 10:30 a.m., Victory Brewing Co., 420 Acorn Lane, Downingtown. For more information, visit pasafarming.org.

oct01

harvest Festival at pennypack Farm Celebrate fall at a family-friendly event

on a real working farm. Bring the kids for face painting, scarecrow making, pumpkin painting and more. Enjoy live music, home-baked goods, green vendors, a giant book sale and old-fashioned hayrides.

Sat., Oct. 1, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., free, 685 Mann →Road, Horsham. For more information, visit pennypackfarm.org.

36 gridphilly.com october 2011

oct0102

philadelphia Shell Show and Festival Thousands of exotic treasures of the sea will be on display and for sale when the Philadelphia Shell Show washes ashore

at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The larg-est show of its kind in the Northeast, the Shell Show features competitive displays by collectors and amateur scientists, an international market, exotic shells and shell crafts, and behind-the-scenes tours of the museum’s world-renowned mollusk collection of 10 million specimens, the third largest in the world. A festival of family activities includes hands-on activities, games and crafts.

Sat.-Sun., Oct. 1-2, free with museum →admission, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. For more information, visit ansp.org.

oct05

introduction to Energy Audits with the EcAThe Energy Coordinating Agency’s Jack

Strong will lead the public through an energy

audit of Tyler School of Art’s exhibition facility, woodshop and offices. This free and introduc-tory public tutorial will explain the methodology of an energy audit—what happens, what to look out for, and what you can do next to improve the energy efficiency of your home, office or busi-ness—so that you can start saving money.

Wed., Oct. 5, 9 a.m., Tyler School of Art, for →more information and to book your audit, call 215-777-9139.

oct08

Frecon Farms’ Fifth Annual pickfest Join Frecon Farms for its fifth annual

Pickfest. Enjoy music from local bands includ-ing Manatawny Creek Ramblers, Mason Porter, the Brad Hinton Band and more while sipping on cider and exploring the wine garden. Take part in open mic, kids crafts, picking your own fruits and more.

Sat., Oct. 8, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., →501 S. Reading Ave., Boyertown. For more information, visit freconfarms.com.

oct08

color and Texture in the Winter garden Do you equate the summer months with

colorful and interesting gardening, to the exclu-

sion of other seasons? Come and learn why the last days of nice weather don’t have to be the last days of color in your garden. Learn how win-ter gardens can add a whole new dimension to your landscape. Part of the Penn State Extension Philadelphia Master Gardeners’ Second Satur-day Series.

Sat., Oct. 8, registration at 9:30 a.m., →Fairmount Park Horticultural Center, N. Horticultural and Montgomery drives. For more information and to register online, visit extension.psu.edu/philadelphia/programs/master-gardener.

oct09

oct11 design in Action 2011

Presented by the Association for Community Design, the

Association of Architectural Organizations and Architecture + Design Education Network, De-sign in Action 2011 brings together more than 300 community designers, design educators, ar-chitectural organization leaders and volunteers for 40-plus sessions and presentations, plus a public symposium featuring Teddy Cruz. The Community Design Collaborative is co-hosting.

Sun.-Tue., Oct. 9-11, Philadelphia Radisson, →220 S. 17th St. For more information and to register, visit blog.cdesignc.org/coming-to-philly-design-in-action-2011.

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STEp 1. Purchase ticket two weeks ahead (much cheaper this way) for Amtrak’s one daily Northeast Corridor train that accepts checked baggage. It’s the overnight train and leaves Philly just past midnight, arriving in Boston about eight hours later.

STEp 2. Obtain bike box from a neighborhood bike shop and attempt to mail bike via UPS to a shop in Portland. Discover bike box is 10 inches too long for UPS ground shipment. Only other option is UPS freight (tractor trailer, one week travel time, costs $500). Same deal at FedEx, and the post office won’t touch it. Return home with bike box still bungeed to the top of the Subaru. An ASidE: How to put your bike in a box? Remove the pedals. You’ll need a pedal wrench, and the left-hand pedal will likely have left-hand threads. Remove front wheel. Loosen the stem so that it can turn sideways, and loosen the stem’s grip on the handlebars so you can swing them back and up, making everything compact. This is usually done with Allen wrenches. Put all bike parts in the box, use strapping tape to wrap it up. Done deal.

STEp 3. Arrive at 30th Street Station at 11 p.m., one hour before the train leaves. Search for 10 minutes for an Amtrak employee, who, once found, informs me that the baggage office closed at 10 p.m. and we’re too late to check the bike. Things aren’t looking good.

Human kindness and flexibility prevail! The bike makes it on the train. (Note to self: Contact Amtrak complaint office.)

STEp 4. Arrive at Boston’s South Station just af-ter 8 a.m. Assemble bike and pack tools and gear. Search out some breakfast, bike around the waterfront and take in a bit of the city.

STEp 5. Bike to Boston’s North Station (about a mile north of South Station). This train, called the Downeaster, has a bicycle stor-age car, no box required. My U-lock comes in handy, helping to secure my bike to the bizarre bikestand-like contraption that I’m directed to use. Around 3 p.m., we pull into Portland. Bike and I are reunited, and it’s time for the long ride: 40 miles from the train sta-tion to my dad’s.

STEp 6. Roll into dad’s driveway a half-hour be-fore sunset, relieved I covered 40 miles in four hours. I realize I’m not 23 anymore. My legs are especially clear on this. An ASidE: When I came up with this train-and-bike scheme a few months ago, I devised a con-ditioning plan. I would ride my clunky wide-tire mountain bike down and up fairly steep Kitchen’s Lane every evening, carrying two automobile brake drums (about 40 pounds of metal) in the front basket. I would “feel the burn” in my thighs, and when that got too easy, I’d sprint part of the way up the hill. I did this for 11 weeks.

noTE: When I asked where to leave the bike box at South Station, the Amtrak employee asked me if I’d need it for a return trip. Good deal; the folks at South Station would have saved my box for me if I’d needed them to.

imporTAnT! If you decide to do this type of trip, check Amtrak’s checked baggage restrictions. The overnight train (either direction) handles checked baggage only at certain stations: Phil-adelphia, New York, Providence and Boston. Also, the Downeaster crew handles bikes only at three stations: Boston, Wells and Portland. Amtrak is planning to extend the Downeas-ter farther north to Brunswick, Maine, by the end of 2012.

Chris Switky lives in Mount Airy, where he runs his dog, on a leash, while biking, every day. He can be reached at christopher@weaversway.coop.

illustration by melissa m Cfeeters

Midnight train to Maine

How i got to Vacationland via bike and rail by chris switky

Every august, i head up to Maine for vacation. My dad lives on Harpswell peninsula, just south of Brunswick, and my girlfriend’s family stays at an inn on the beach in Scarborough, 10 miles south of

Portland. This year, I ditched the car and plane for the train and bicycle. The original plan was to send my bike via UPS to Portland; I would catch up to it there, assemble it, then bike on to dad’s. Easy, right? For the most part, yes, but here’s how things really worked:

october 2011 gridphilly.com 39

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What matters most?

Clean air matters.

Give purpose to your passion at Penn.

wednesdaysWalk-In

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first Wednesday of each month

Students in the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Environmental Studies program are passionate about clean air. MES students combine academic work in global environmental politics and

environmental justice with fieldwork in Philadelphia and around the world to put

what they’ve learned in the classroom to work where it’s needed most.

From the continuing consequences of the Chernobyl disaster to carbon emissions

trading in the U.S. to the benefits of car sharing in Philadelphia, MES graduates are

part of an active community of thinkers and doers determined to find solutions to

the world’s air-quality problems.The Second Annual MES Lecture Series resumes in October with more topics of interest to the environmental community. Check our website for dates and locations. www.sas.upenn.edu/lps

or search penn mes