Education about recycling is also lacking. Most people are misinformed or simply do not know what is and is not recyclable. Part of the misinformation is that most items are indeed recyclable somewhere, just not in Philadelphia. The reason why certain things are not recyclable in Philadelphia is the city outsources its recycling to Blue Mountain Recycling who takes all the material to their processing plants. The city only pays for certain options, so while Blue Mountain Recycling does process compostables, Philadelphia does not pay them to collect and process compostables.

Here is the list of what Philadelphia recycles (and does not recycle):

Metal: Bi-metal cans (like food cans), aluminum cans (like soda cans), empty aerosol cans, empty paint cans.
NOTE: foil and household or scrap metal like wire hangers, pots, tools, curtain rods, small appliances, furniture faucets or nails are NOT recyclable; these items typically have higher melting points or food debris that disrupt the recycling process of the items listed above.

Glass: Jars and bottles (clear, brown, green)
NOTE: lightbulbs, tempered glass (like entertainment center doors or coffee table tops) and Pyrex are NOT recyclable; these glasses have added chemicals or coatings that contaminate the melting process.

Mixed Paper: Newspaper, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, advertising inserts, telephone books, food boxes (like cereal and cracker boxes – remove plastic liner), computer paper, flyers, and soda cartons.
NOTE: any paper that has food or other debris like dirt, grease or detergent on it are NOT recyclable; the added residues contaminate the recycling process and are considered “organics” which are compostable but that the city does not collect.

Plastic Containers: #1 and #2 plastic bottles ONLY (mostly beverage and detergent containers). These containers have narrow necks and wider bottoms. Check the underside of each container for the number 1 or 2. All container lids are recyclable, and best if removed from containers.
NOTE: Styrofoam, plastic bags, #1 and #2 plastic containers (like food containers) that are not bottles, and any other numbered plastics are NOT recyclable.

Cardboard: Empty and flattened.
NOTE: pizza boxes are NOT recyclable because they fall into that “organics” category; clean cardboard only.

When you start looking at how much you throw away, you start wishing more could be recycled. Things Philadelphia does not recycle that are recyclable in a lot of other places include: cartons and aseptic packaging (like milk cartons, juice boxes, and containers for soy milk or soup), aluminum foil, electronics, and ALL #1 and #2 plastics including food containers. Some people think if you just put more in the recycling bin someone will see how much stuff could be recycled and will eventually begin to process those items. That is simply not true and is actually more wasteful than putting those items in the trash. Just because it costs a company to sort out all the waste that ends up in the recycling stream doesn’t mean that it would be more profitable to invest in the necessary equipment and pay more laborers to process the additional items. The fact of the matter is that it takes more energy to transport the non-recyclable items and then sort them out of the recycling stream and back into the trash stream than just putting them into the trash stream to begin with. It’s disheartening, but if you’re passionate about wasting less the reality is you waste more when you put trash into the recycling bin.

My last gripe about recycling in Philadelphia is that businesses are required to hire a private collection company; the city does not collect recycling from businesses. This means that most buildings over 3 stories have their own private trash companies. In a utopia this could mean the property owners would hire companies who collect more recyclables than the municipal program but in reality this means property owners could hire companies that do not collect recycling at all. Yes recycling is THE LAW in Philadelphia, and most policy-makers believe that is an all-encompassing incentive to get people to recycle, but when a law is not enforced many people choose not to follow it. Businesses are required to submit recycling plans to the city, but if they don’t provide every tenant in their building with adequate facilities recycling simply doesn’t happen. I’ve talked with many people who work in high-rise buildings downtown who have said their offices do not recycle. Many property owners use space as an excuse: “We don’t have the space to increase our recycling facilities.” My former job used the same excuse, so I started my own desk-side recycling and once a month drove to work to bring home the paper, glass bottles, and plastic that I had set aside. Other people caught on and began asking me if they could contribute to my mini-recycling program. I was suddenly hauling 2-3 huge trash bags full of recycling back to my house every couple of weeks when my boss approached me and asked if I could look into getting recycling bins for the office and he would look into getting Waste Management to incorporate recycling into our collection program. Within a month of our office-wide recycling program, Waste Management replaced our trash dumpster with one half the size. The recycling dumpster combined with our trash dumpster equaled the previous footprint of just the trash dumpster. The space already exists.

I grew up with a mom who recycled, composted, or re-used EVERYTHING. Very little got put in the “trash.” So this mentality is part of who I am. If a town of 8,600 can do it, a city of 1.4 million can do it. C’mon Philly; everyone wants you to!

Links to more information about recycling in Philadelphia:
Recycling Pays
Philadelphia Streets Department
Philadelphia Recycling Alliance
Secure data and e-waste recycling
Household Hazardous Waste (paint, pesticides, fertilizers, cleaning solvents, rechargeable computer and cell phone batteries, automotive products, etc)

September 2009: I joined the volunteer efforts of PRooF (Philadelphia Rooftop Farm), a group of gardeners, architects, builders and industrial designers who intend to increase fresh food access and local food production by transforming Philadelphia rooftops into thousands of acres of viable farmland. To date we have designed a prototype program, learned a lot about city codes, have had discussions with some interested city officials, and worked with the Community Design Collaborative to provide a design for modular, flexible, self watering planters that can be retrofitted onto any row or twin house in the city. We are currently in the process of fundraising, and you can help by voting for one of our grants through the Just Means website.

October 2009: Operation make my own line of skin care products commenced. I began researching, researching, and researching some more, and finally experimenting with making my own recipes. I had been uneasy with the whole skin care industry for a while, and then the Environmental Working Group came out with Skin Deep: The Cosmetic Safety Database. This is the same group that has created the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, the Sunscreen Safety Guide, launched the Kid-Safe Chemicals campaign, and has compiled data and published numerous reports on things like bottled water and cell phone radiation to name a few. Anyway, I’ve used just about every common drug-store cosmetic and had started going a more natural route after about 25 years of dissatisfaction. When I saw how many carcinogenic and toxic ingredients (affecting the environment and its wildlife, internal organs, developmental and reproductive systems, the brain and the immune system) are in everyday products we rub on ourselves I began to think the goal of the cosmetic industry was to kill women. Literally. Even in my “natural” and “organic” products I was finding parabens (cancer-causing preservatives used to extend shelf life) and SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates; sudsing agents that wreak all sorts of havoc on our skin and the environment. In fact, if you have problems with canker sores or eczema you may want to try eliminating these ingredients from your toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, and laundry detergents and see what happens). So I researched the ingredients in the “natural” products I was using, learned all about emollients, humectants, emulsifiers, thickeners, stabilizers, and preservatives, researched straight-from-the-earth alternatives including beneficial plants and oils, looked into some age-old beauty recipes, and started working on my own formulations. By December I had struck gold, and had a non-foaming cleanser and light moisturizer that I was using on a daily basis. I made Christmas gifts for the special women in my life, and since then have developed cleansing grains and chapstick, and a few days ago I made my first shampoo. Hopefully I will have enough time and money in the near future to get a table at the farmers markets and start getting the idea out there. Local, fresh, non-toxic, handmade. This is what I bring to the table. And when you stop using poison on your skin the result is truly beautiful skin.

February 2010: I started working full time at Zimmerman Studio LLC. Right now it’s just Pam and myself, renting office space from Friday Architects/ Planners Inc. (founded 40 years ago by my thesis advisor). We are doing mostly university/ institutional work, including the Eva-Jane Coombe Special Collections Suite at Bryn Mawr College, and a number of laboratory renovations for the University of Pennsylvania. Keeps me busy. This is also the same time I began starting tomatoes and peppers indoors, and later herbs and flowering annuals for the summer growing season.

March 2010: I was a featured volunteer for the Community Design Collaborative: click here for the full story.

April 2010: I began preparing the gardens for the 2010 season; cleaning up and readying planters, killing off my first winter cover crop experiment (that I planted way too late), cleaning up dead leaves, cutting back dead flower stalks left for winter decoration and for birds, and direct seeding cold crops of lettuce and chard. I also entered my backyard into the City Gardens Contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society.

May 2010: I began hardening off plants that I had overwintered (cacti, sages, geraniums, jasmine) and my 2010 starter plants. I also decided to build 2 large planters instead of putting the vegetables directly in the ground. Last year I began getting into the roots of the Japanese Maple I planted a few years back, so the planters will avoid this hassle and I think they’ll also make readying the soil for following years A LOT easier. Goodbye clay. The planters are made from free wood palettes, construction wire and 4mil. plastic (to keep the dirt and the moisture in behind the slats), and bolts with washers to hold the sides together. Each planter cost around $15. They were filled with a soil mix of peat moss, compost and vermiculite (around $70 for a 42″ square x 20″ deep planer), and in went the tomatoes, peppers, pole beans and herbs.

Currently I’m working on my next strategy to save the world and pay my bills. I’ll keep you posted when I figure that out. And hopefully I’ll write more in the mean time.

(Picture of the sign, photo courtesy of ChiPhilly - a diagram of how to conserve, recycle, compost, reclaim, reuse and grow your own food, all in your own (urban) backyard.)

PARK(ing) Day is an event that started in San Francisco in 2005 and has since spread throughout the world. It started as a statement about the use of public land in urban areas and lack of public park space, and continues to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, conversation, play and urban green space - read more on the official PARK(ing) Day website.

This was Philadelphia’s second annual PARK(ing) Day, coordinated through the efforts of Pam Zimmerman, principal of the architecture firm Zimmerman Studios, LLC. I volunteered to design, build and play in the space in front of the Center for Architecture at 1218 Arch Street, sponsored by the Community Design Collaborative & the AIA. Our concept was centered on creating an urban sustainable backyard with an emphasis on zero-waste. Throughout the day we spoke with passers-by and handed out recycling bins and resources on how to think creatively and sustainably about small spaces, including where to get free compost, mulch and rain barrels - check out our resource sheet.

The design utilized drywall/ paint buckets (the 5-gallon type) to create a colorful barrier-support wall across which we laid salvaged lumber from various Philadelphia rowhomes. Atop this we placed various planters from my backyard, creating a lively planter ledge. In front of our planter wall we turned over recycling bins topped with more salvaged lumber to create a seating bench. On the ground we laid out some camping tarps and spread wood mulch from the Fairmount Organics Recycling Center and old carpet tiles to create a patio where we set up a table and chairs. We also had a hammock, a clothes line, and a dead tree that we decorated with glass bottles and painted throughout the day. With a little creativity and ingenuity anyone can create an oasis out of found, salvaged, or otherwise free materials the city has to offer.

The drywall buckets were re-used for container gardening, the lumber is being turned into furniture by Bench Dog Design, the wood mulch was used in local gardens, and the carpet tiles were shipped back to Interface for recycling. The only thing we really spent money on was transporting the materials via PhillyCarshare.

Thanks to Emily Stromberg and Nissa Grant, my partners in creativity.

Check out the Collaborative’s blog about PARK(ing) Day 2009.

Recycled carpet tile patio (photo courtesy of ChiPhilly).

Some visitors.

Me in our ‘yard’ (photo courtesy of ChiPhilly).

Clothesline & dead tree made alive with paint, glass bottles and wind chimes strung on the branches.

View from across the street capturing the Center for Architecture storefront and our colorful recycled bucket barrier wall.

Click here to view the 2009 map of participants designed by Anna Ishii. (4.5MB)

Spring is here in Philadelphia, despite those random snow showers happening elsewhere in the country. We’ve got nothin’ but April showers and blue skies in between. The trees are in bloom, there are daffodils and tulips galore, and miraculously I am not suffering from incapacitating allergies for the first time in four years. I attribute this to the lack of stress in my life right now, despite being unemployed and trying to flesh out my first business plan. I am also eating an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, and dabbling in juicing thanks to some inspiration from Raw Epicurean. The change in seasons also means a shift in energies and the body responds to these changes by flushing out accumulated toxins; this is why many people experience colds with changes in the weather. Thanks to modern medicine we have numerous anti-histamines to choose from that keep the body from dispelling mucous to rid itself of toxins. Whether or not you choose to suppress symptoms of the common cold or you decide to deal with it naturally, boosting your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables also helps to flush and replenish the body by removing free radicals and supplying an abundance of vitamins and minerals. My source of fresh fruits and veggies varies, but over the past few years I have been eating an increasingly “seasonal” diet and trying to support the local Clark Park Farmers’ Market (which really takes any need to plan a grocery list out of the equation). This year I also looked into joining a CSA, though I’ve decided to stick to the farmer’s market and add my name to the waiting list at the local food co-op for now.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, where a mutual beneficial relationship exists between a community and a local area farm to support one-another. CSA members commit to purchasing a share which in turn sustains the local farm who raises and harvests the food. In Philadelphia there are numerous CSA options, all for around $35 per week ($700-800 a summer for weekly shares and $300-400 for bi-weekly shares). Your weekly share will generally include an assortment of 4-7 fruits and veggies, a choice of locally produced cheese, eggs or other dairy product, and a locally raised/ produced meat or pasta. You can count on variety like kale, beets, lettuce, spinach, onions, swiss chard, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, basil, garlic, peas, peaches, apples, berries, squash, corn, watermelon, artisan breads, pasta, tofu, meats, cheeses, yogurt, butter, milk and more. Often times recipes are included with your pick-up or are published online to give you an idea of what to do with some of the less common items you may receive. The main reason I decided to stick with the farmers’ market for now is because I can walk to it from my house, whereas I would have to hop on the subway to get to any of the pick-up places for CSAs, and all the items typically found in a CSA share are available every Saturday year-round at the Clark Park Farmers’ Market. I figure for $35 a week, why not support the closest option?

So why Community Supported Agriculture and Farmers’ Markets? The majority of food at the local supermarket is trucked in from all over the country; fruits from Florida and South America, greens and veggies from California, grains, dairy and meats from the mid-west. All this trucking and outsourced growing consumes huge amounts of energy and resources, from the gasoline burned on the trek across the U.S. and to keep the items cool, to the water required for irrigation that drains the local water table. And then when it gets to the supermarket more water is used to keep the greens looking fresh, and more energy is used to heat, cool, and light everything on display. Locally sourced foods support the local economy, consume less gas to truck into the city, and are significantly fresher than foods that have sat on trucks and then on shelves which means more nutrients delivered to your body. They also serve to deepen the understanding of our interdependence on one-another and the land for our sustenance. For those of you who choose organic foods I challenge you to think about why organic is important. Sure it means pesticide and chemical-free, but the whole practice of organic farming is based on principles of health, ecology, fairness and care and extends beyond our own wellness to that of the environment and the community as well. These principles are hard to sustain when the goods are mass-produced hundreds of miles away from the end-user. There are many organic options available locally and I encourage you to look harder at where the items in your pantry come from and try to choose local options as much as possible.

Whether you are still unsure about this idea of supporting locally sourced food or are ready to take the plunge, I encourage you to do your research and check out the variety of options available to you before making a choice. I have provided links to Philadelphia’s Farmers’ Markets and CSAs at the bottom of this entry. It is also important to consider your cooking and eating habits when trying to decide what option is right for you; do you stock up on produce and then become disinterested halfway through your week’s supply? Do you eat out or order in a few times a week? Are you a finicky eater or afraid to try new things? If you answered “yes” to just one of those questions then going to the farmers’ market will give you the leeway to pick and choose items and quantities you know you’ll use, or if you’re a little more adventurous try a “half-share” CSA option. Happy eating!

Farmers’ Market Resources:

Reading Terminal Market Farmstands

Clark Park Farmer’s Market

Farm To City list of Farmer’s Markets

CSA Resources:

Greensgrow Farms

Red Hill Farm

Scarecrow Hill Community Farm

Somerton Tanks Farm

Farm To City list of CSAs

Please post additional resources I may have missed in the comments section.

Before I delve into plant basics, I will address the obvious but often forgotten topic of the container. Perhaps you bought a starter plant from a local greenhouse that is already in a container, or you’re starting from seed. Seeds can be started directly in the container that will house the plant until harvest, but starter plants need to be transferred into a larger container so the roots have room to get big enough to feed the plant through production. Plastic pots, while they aren’t yet recyclable in the Philadelphia area, are the most simple and efficient type of pot; they retain moisture unlike clay (unglazed) and wood which have the tendency to dry out quickly, and they do not rust or oxidize like metal. With proper storage (bring them indoors in winter) they will last for many seasons. Even if you leave them outdoors in winter, they are fairly durable though more prone to becoming brittle and cracking over time. It is also extremely important to use a pot with drainage holes in the bottom (use a saucer underneath to catch excess water). If you are converting a found item into a pot, drill holes in the bottom. Whether the pot is new or old, it is very important to “sterilize” it before you use/re-use it - this is to get rid of any disease spores that could develop, and is easily done by scrubbing the pot with a 10% solution of bleach water (1 part bleach : 9 parts water). Rinse the pot with plain water after you have scrubbed with the solution, and allow it to thoroughly air dry before planting in it. Equally important to drainage and sterility is the size of the pot required for what you are planning to grow. While most of your vegetable (and flowering) plants will do just fine in an 8 to 10 inch pot, some plants like tomatoes need deeper soil (12 to 18 inches). If you’re buying seeds, this information is sometimes listed on the packet, but if not do some research online or talk to your local gardener where you buy plants or seeds from and they should be able to guide you based on what you are planting.

Next up is soil. Good soil is extremely important because it allows for quick drainage so the plant doesn’t get waterlogged, while simultaneously retaining moisture to nourish the plant. The easiest thing to do is go to your local garden center and buy a bag of potting soil formulated for vegetables. In Philadelphia, the best potting soil you can buy is Organic Mechanics which is locally produced in West Chester and available at Whole Foods for something like $2 a bag. However, this is generally only a seasonal item at WF and it seems to come around in early summer rather than early spring when a lot of the planting is going on in our region. This means you’re probably buying soil from Home Depot, Lowe’s, WalMart, or Target, and out of those options Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting Mix is probably the best bet. However, I have to say that I do not trust that Miracle Grow is really “organic,” mainly because anything laying claims like “grows plants twice as big organically” formulated by a chemical company just seems a little unrealistic to me. But I have looked everywhere, and unless you can find Organic Mechanics at Whole Foods, want to mail-order soil, or make your own soil, Miracle-Grow is probably what you’ll end up with. If you’re able to mail-order, I recommend a company called Home Harvest. While unfortunately not local (they’re in Michigan), they carry quality supplies, including Foxfarm potting mix which I am testing out this season, for a price that I have not been able to match anywhere else on the internet. If you are willing to spend a little more time, you can make up your own potting mix using a variety of different materials, the most simplest being 2 parts compost (like earth worm castings) : 1 part perlite : 2 parts coir or sphagnum moss. See this resource from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service for additional do-it-yourself potting mix recipes. I am also experimenting with some home-made varieties this year, so I will post an entry at a later date on my findings and recommendations.

Now we will get to the plants. Plants were not originally made to be grown in containers. I say this because some vegetables simply do not fare well this way, and some plants have been hybridized to be happy in containers (like carrots). Other plants do not like to have their roots disturbed and so they should be started in a container that is large enough to house them as adults so you can grow them undisturbed rather than transplanting them (beans, peas, carrots, beets and radishes are among this group). Some plants are better to buy as transplants unless you have lots of patience and are familiar with all the seedling care and transplanting that must go on before they are really ready to “let go” and do their thing (these include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, chives, and other herbs). Additionally, some plants like tomatoes and cucumbers are susceptible to a variety of diseases, so select varieties that are both disease-resistant and are better suited to your growing region (humidity tolerant, drought tolerant, short season, etc.) to reduce climate stress. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds sends out a free catalog every year and is a great resource for learning about the disease-resistant varieties and climate tolerances of just about any “kitchen garden” plant.

Another important factor to consider are the lighting conditions your plants need (full sun, part shade, shade). These requirements should be listed on the seed packet or plant tag from your nursery. If not, be sure to ask your local gardener or look up this information online. Most vegetable plants require full sun, while herbs sometimes like part shade, as do heat-tolerant varieties of cooler crops. Plants that flower like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight each day, while leafy plants like lettuce and spinach can suffice with 3 to 4 hours of sun. Another consideration that is related to light, especially if you’re gardening on a porch, patio or rooftop, is heat gain which can be damaging to the plant or the plant’s roots. Generally any concrete or black floor surface will absorb a lot of heat and radiate it back to the plants, and you may want to consider insulating your plant pots to reduce the amount of heat gain that may cause damage to the roots. Any wall surface that is white or very light will reflect light back to the plant. This is not always an issue, but if the soil seems to be drying out quickly or the leaves are getting dry, consider using shading devices to or planting climbing plants like beans, cucumbers, peas or nasturtium on a trellis that can grow to provide shade to some of the other plants if necessary.

Almost last, but very importantly: FERTILIZE. Plants need various nutrients at all life stages to keep them healthy and growing. Nitrogen nourishes plant leaves and foliage, phosphorus promotes blooming and nourishes flowers, and potassium promotes strong roots and overall health. Fertilizer packages usually have a number like “10-5-5” and that translates to “nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium.” Plants like lettuce need more nitrogen and plants like tomatoes and cucumbers need more phosphorus. Fertilizers are water-soluble, and you should always use the dilution rate that is listed on the package; never mix a stronger ratio as it can burn the plant. Generally, plants should be fed every 2-3 weeks, but this information should be listed on the fertilizer package and that is the ultimate rule of thumb. Plants also need additional nutrients to survive such as calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and iron, commonly found in items like greensand, dolomite lime, liquid seaweed, magnesium sulfate, and rock phosphate. Throughout time I have found that using a fish/seaweed fertilizer like Neptune’s Harvest yields the strongest, healthiest, most abundant plants. However, I have had a hard time finding that locally around here and it’s fairly expensive to ship, so I still rely on my mom to bring some down when she visits in the summer. Another product line that I really like is Espoma (Garden-tone and Tomato-tone). I can generally find their products locally at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Whole Foods, or smaller local nurseries, but they’re also fairly cheap to buy online at Home Harvest. Note that one bag will probably last you at least 3 seasons, depending on the size of your garden.

Select plants that make good “companions” to plant in the same container. This minimizes space and makes for some eye candy as well. Plant a taller plant that yields later in the season in the center or toward the back of a container and pair it with low-growing bushy plants that yield earlier in the summer or need less sun. In this way the plants share nutrients and light conditions. For example: pair lettuce, radishes, spinach or herbs like basil and parsley with tomatoes, peppers, or cucumbers. There are plenty of ideas on plant pairings in The Bountiful Container, but if you have experience with kitchen gardening I’m sure you can come up with some of your own combinations.

This should be enough to get you started and well on your way to understanding the important elements to grow your own successful container gardening. The Bountiful Container book I referenced is also available at the Free Library in case you want to take a look at it and see if it’s something you want to invest in. I have mine all tabbed up and refer to it constantly. It also has some really good recipe ideas! I also find this online forum particularly helpful: GardenWeb. As always, if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask away.

If you rent, what utilities you pay for may factor in to how you think about energy. Each situation is a little different depending on how your landlord has the utilities partitioned, but these are some common examples based on the apartments I’ve lived in. These factors are also applicable to homeowners, though there are some more advanced aspects of owning a home which factor into energy usage and I will list these later. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs and energy-star appliances such as toaster ovens and microwaves can all cut down on your electric bill. Plug your ganged electronics such as TV, DVD, stereo system, computer, etc. into power strips and turn the power strips off when these items are not in use; anything that has a digital clock or little glowing LED light simply indicating that it’s plugged in constantly consumes power even when not in use. There are also two new types of power strips on the market that eliminate the aspect of unplugging by reducing idle current: Wattstopper and Smart Strip. The Wattstopper uses an occupancy sensor to control 6 of the 8 outlets which turn off when not in use, while the Smart Strip has three groups of “smart” outlets that sense whether the device is on/ off and mitigate power flow accordingly (always on, switched depending on whether the device is on/off, and a control that links to the switched outlets). Both are available online, but if you know of a local store that caries these please post it in the comments.

Weatherproofing your doors and windows is a good way to eliminate heat loss. To start, close your glass storm windows if they’re provided. You can also pick up some plastic weatherproofing at your local hardware store and secure it with the provided double-stick adhesive strips around the perimeter of your windows, then shrink-tight with a blow-dryer; this will add an extra layer of draft-stopping and insulation in those older Philadelphia homes. You can also add draft-stoppers under doors; they’re easy to make out of things you probably have around the house, or you can buy them online at Amazon. There are additional ways to weatherproof that are more permanent so I will discuss these in the homeowner section, but these additional tips may be useful if you’re motivated and you have a decent relationship with your landlord and can get reimbursed for repairs.

The temperature setting on your hot water heater is another form of heat loss, or rather energy wasted on heating water beyond a reasonable temperature. Residential hot water temperatures should ideally be 110°- 120°F or ‘medium’ – often times they have been set higher than they need be, consume more energy, and waste additional cold water while you try not to scald yourself. Play around with the temperature if you have access to your water heater and find the temperature that’s right for you. These guidelines may also be useful.

There are also some more tedious energy-savers depending on how much effort you want to expend. Keeping your refrigerator/ freezer full helps maintain a steady temperature through the contents’ mass and therefore uses less energy to sustain a cooler temperature (you can also fill soda bottles/ milk jugs with water to add extra mass). Using a dish pan or a glass/ bowl filled with soapy water to rewet & rinse off your sponge while scrubbing dishes instead of keeping the water running also conserves hot water.

There are also things that may not factor in to what you actually pay for monetarily, but impact the environment. Wash your clothes in cold water instead of hot; I have been testing this over the past year after reading an article that indicated clothes would get just as clean. I use plant-based biodegradable liquid detergent by Seventh Generation that is formulated to work in cold water, as well as their chlorine-free bleach, and I have found that there really doesn’t seem to be a difference between the cleanness of clothes washed in hot versus cold water. A number of companies have cold water detergents, so be sure to look for this on the label. (Note: I’m not a particularly messy person, though I am a bit messy in the kitchen, and I don’t have kids getting mud, grass stains, and whatever else they can find to grind into clothes, so if you’ve tested the cold water method in these situations please tell me about it in the comments section.)

Faucet aerators are yet another great way to save water (including hot water). These have a rated flow imprinted on the side, which should read 2.75gpm (gallons per minute) or lower. If your faucet doesn’t have an aerator installed, check to make sure there are threads just inside the faucet to ensure it will be able to receive an aerator. These can reduce water flow by up to 50%. Additionally, you can look for low-flow shower heads (either aerating or non-aerating) that reduce water flow without reducing pressure. You can also conserve water by collecting cold water wasted while waiting for your hot water to come out of the faucet and save it to water your plants. Calculate your water footprint and learn more ways you could conserve.

Lastly, putting non-recyclables in with recyclables wastes energy because these items eventually have to be sorted out at the recycling plant in order to go back to the landfill.

Homeowners:

Additional ways you can invest more money to save you more in the long run include the following:

• Insulate your walls to prevent heat loss in the winter & heat gain in the summer (look into cellulose insulation)

• Insulate your hot water pipes to minimize the amount of water loss while waiting for hot water

• Weatherproof your windows - do it yourself

• Invest in a solar hot water heater

• Look into low-flow plumbing fixtures like toilets, dishwashers & wash machines

• Research energy-star appliances such as your refrigerator, dryer and range

• Build a rainwater collection system for irrigation and/ or domestic use, and look into graywater systems

• Use solar powered outdoor & landscape light fixtures

As our focus on sustainability increases, this list will continue to expand. Please feel free to add input in the comments section on ways that you save energy that are not listed above.

The best thing to do with leaves is to add them to your compost which needs roughly 3 parts “brown material” (like leaves, straw, twigs, etc.) to every 1 part “green” (kitchen scraps, plant trimmings, etc.) If you’re looking to start composting or have some questions on what materials are compost-able, visit these helpful links from Organic Gardening & Penn State:

• Begin Composting
  

• Compost Ingredients
  

• Backyard Composting in Pennsylvania
  

Leaves can be added to compost whole and this will work just fine, though shredding the leaves allows them to break down faster and speeds up the composting process. The easiest way to shred leaves is to use a mulching lawnmower (the type with a bag attachment to collect what you mow); rake your leaves into an area in the center of your lawn and go back and forth with the mower. You can then empty the shredded leaves from the mower bag into your compost pile, or into the bags you plan to store the leaves for next summer, when brown material is at a low. If you don’t compost, you can also use shredded leaves for mulching. Or, you could simply let nature do its business and allow the fallen leaves to provide groundcover protection during the winter months where we frequently lack a dependable insulating layer of snow. However, if you really don’t have a use for the leaves and can’t stand the sight of them on the ground all winter - or your neighbors can’t, for that matter - be sure to check your local guidelines for curb-side pick up or leaf collection days. In Philadelphia, leaf collection is from November 10th - December 19th. Set out your leaves in brown paper bags the day before your regular trash collection day. Certain neighborhoods also have mechanical leaf collection days that are scheduled throughout this time in addition to the curb-side collection days. Visit the Streets Department for additional information and dates regarding leaf collection. Philadelphia also has a great yard waste recycling program where you can bring leaves, tree limbs, and other biodegradable yard trimmings from October 11th - December 27th: Click here to view pdf guidelines. The specific dates change annually, but are generally within the same time period.

Today I was out in the yard raking up leaves to use for my compost pile, and decided it would be a great time to collect some of the plants I allowed to dry on the stems to use in a fall “floral” arrangement. My particular bouquet consists of blackeyed susans, astilbe, fountain grass, hydrangea, rosehips, coneflower, azalea leaves and liriope. If you’re like me this time of year you’re coming down off a summer of constant weeding, trimming, cutting back, transplanting, dividing, harvesting, and miscellaneous yard projects and it’s starting to feel a bit bare. So this is a great project to feel re-invigorated, from figuring out what you can use, to actually making the arrangement and making it part of your seasonal decor. Come mid-December I usually make a wreath or bough that can be hung on the front door using various evergreen sprigs, holly, pine cones, ribbon, and some sort of “feature” I come up with on the fly that adds a splash of color. Here is my first fall bouquet:

Other great projects for this time of year are canning (apples, tomatoes, sauces, etc.) and baking (pies, breads and muffins using seasonal produce like apples, pumpkins and squashes). The satisfaction you gain from slaving over the stove all day and being able to taste the fruits of your labor both right away and 3 months from now in the dead cold of February is absolutely immeasurable! This site by Ball (is there really another company that makes canning jars?) is a great resource for canning and preserving how-to: Complete guide to fresh preserving. Note that when you click on the tutorials there is a link above the tutorial window to download as a pdf; unless you have a laptop on your counter - which if you cook like me would be a complete disaster - the pdf is the way to go. They also have resources for freezing and making spreads among other things under the “How To” tab, as well as recipes and additional preserving guidelines.

If you have any canning tips, favorite recipes, or other fall projects please feel free to share!

Just what is a sustainable economy? A few posts ago, I cited the EPA’s definition of sustainability that we can also examine with respect to economic models: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A sustainable economy is one in which jobs, goods, profits and natural resources address demand and public welfare in a manner that will not cause future economic collapse due to short-term profit-seeking at the expense of the environment, investors, and consumers alike; waste is minimized and efficiency is prioritized in production and manufacturing.

With respect to energy policy, this means investing in research programs and implementation for harvesting and converting alternative energy for everyday tasks like cooking, turning on the lights, and hot water among others. Making the practices that deplete natural resources such as coal and oil more efficient is only one part of the puzzle. Diversification of our energy sources, with an emphasis on zero-waste practices is key to making not only the U.S., but every country in the world energy-independent and sustainable.

When people think of alternative energy sources, most think of solar panels and wind turbines. However, there are numerous other alternative technologies out there such as:

• Green roofs reduce rainwater runoff, reduce surface temperatures up to 70%, and increase energy savings by up to 25%.
• Hydroelectric turbines harness the power of waves underwater.
• Geothermal energy uses heat, steam or hot water from geothermal reservoirs to power turbines.

Presidential campaign promises are all too often empty promises. Hopefully Obama makes good on his promises of hope for a better tomorrow. In the meantime, many of these alternative technologies are available to implement within your own home or municipality. The key is research and awareness, and activism if you’re concerned about your municipality’s involvement in a sustainable future. I can’t help but to wonder as Mayor Michael Nutter makes more budget cuts and announces the closing of libraries what he’s doing to recoup the budget shortfalls to ensure that some of the more critical losses can be restored? Namely, I wonder as I read about other municipalities like New York City and Chicago investing in energy-saving green technology what Nutter is doing to improve our own city’s energy programs? You can bet my next letter will be to him.

If there’s one thing you take from this past election, let it be that your personal involvement at the local level can bring about change. Don’t idly stand by on the issues when you disagree with your local leaders. Write a letter, start a petition, talk to your neighbors. Change starts with you.

Links:

Nine Cities, Nine Ideas: Local governments around the globe are coming up with some of the most innovative ways to cut energy use.

Alternative Energy News and information resources about renewable energy technologies.

New York City’s Plan for a sustainable future.

When I was about 7 years old, I experienced this directly. It had been an especially dry and I remember making trips to a local spring about 5-10 miles from our house since our well had gone dry. The mouth of the stream fed by the spring was littered with a few plastic grocery bags and items that looked like someone had cleaned out their car: soda bottles, cigarette boxes, tissue, candy wrappers, and beer cans. I still relive the stunning feeling of disbelief that someone would carelessly discard their waste at the very source of natural sustenance. It seemed so strongly against the very basic instinct that all creatures share: don’t shit where you eat (or sleep, for that matter).

On future trips to the spring, more garbage had showed up. Eventually, someone’s kitchen scraps (I remember eggshells) made it to the stream. I don’t remember who suggested it, but my mother and I decided one day to take trash bags along with us on our trip to the spring and clean up the disgusting mess. I think we even separated out the bottles and cans to be recycled. From that time on, as long as we frequented the spring for our water, no more trash showed up. This was such a valuable lesson that has stayed with me ever since: the earth is everybody’s and nobody’s at the same time; if you don’t take care of it, where will you live? What I mean by that is to treat the environment with the same respect and honor with which you treat your own house/ yard/ apartment. And when you see others have trashed it, take the initiative to clean it up - whether it means you pick up a stray flier or cellophane wrapper on the sidewalk, or organize a community “block cleaning day.”

When people see other people engaging in a specific activity, it is human nature that a personal thought process/ recognition develops in response to the observation. Whether the observer’s conclusion happens to be “weirdo” or “that’s a good idea”, the next time they see trash on the sidewalk or actually throw trash on the sidewalk they may recall that time they saw someone cleaning it up. It may take many similar observances before they start thinking about it, or it may not change anything at all, but it has two very positive possibilities: that the community will take care of their environment, and that it may inspire others to do the same.

The relationship of the individual to the community is one of many micro-to-macrocosm relationships that exist. I point this out because when it comes to our own role within the universe, we can find ways to downplay our individual importance/ significance when it works out to be convenient. I’m sure we can all think of a situation where we said “what difference would me doing ‘x’ make?” However, when you start to multiply individual participation across the spectrum of the community/ world, you can only increase the benefits. Unless of course you do nothing and then 1×0 = 0. And who really wants to be a nobody?

You don’t have to go all out and reform your entire lifestyle to have an impact; just being conscious of what your lifestyle is, being comfortable with the choices you do make, and being aware of your surroundings can have a positive effect. And if you see a way that you can honor and give back to the greater community, then all the better.

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Recycling is a no-brainer. At this point it has been made fairly mainstream and requires minimal effort to separate what we throw out, though some municipalities additionally require sorting. For this task I find it easiest to keep smaller, individual paper bags/ trash cans alongside the regular trash can; one for plastic/ glass/ aluminum and the other for paper. When they’re full, they get emptied into the appropriate receptacles outside in the alley. Some people simply set recycling aside to take out at the end of the day. The key is to find what works for your living situation and to try and simplify it. From food containers to beauty supplies, laundry detergent bottles, junk mail and old newspapers/ magazines, product packaging is becoming increasingly recyclable.  The trick is to take inventory of what you use, and try to recycle it all - or at least as much as possible.  And be sure to check with your municipality for a list of what is recyclable; most of this information is easily found online.

Some items you can even “recycle” by re-using within your household, such as glass/ plastic food containers to store leftovers, newspapers as mess-mats for gardening/ craft projects, and scrap paper can be cut into squares and re-used for notes/ grocery lists. Some lotion/ other beauty product containers make good hair accessory holders, or can be used to store homemade bath salts/ teas/ potpourri. That pair of nylons that sprung a run can be cut into rings and used as hair elastics, or strips and used for staking/ tying back plants in the garden. Packaging, wrapping paper and cards can all be re-used and cut up to make new cards/ wrapping paper/ various other arts & crafts projects. Packaging is actually my biggest pet peeve; items are increasingly wrapped in more and more layers of needless waste. Yet this is a perfect example of ‘less is more’ for consumers, manufacturers and the environment; manufacturers save money by using less packaging, it’s less strain on natural resources, and it’s less hassle and waste for everyone else.

As for reducing, this requires a little more effort and is made especially hard by our consumer mentality and notions that “bigger is better.” But there are some simple areas that we can all relate to and address here; the rest is ultimately up to you to determine on a personal basis.

• Transportation - can you walk/ bike/ take public transit instead of driving?
• Shopping - can you reduce fuel, packaging and waste? Can you buy it concentrated? Is there a local option? Is the packaging reusable or biodegradable? Is there a manufacturer that invests in sustainable business practices?
• Energy - turn the lights off when you leave a room, use cold water instead of hot to wash clothes, weatherstop your windows in the winter if you live in a cold climate, use cotton towels in lieu of paper towels to dry hands in the bathroom and kitchen, if you’re a homeowner consider investing in a solar hot water heater, etc.
• Chemicals - are there natural/ plant-based alternatives? (think detergents, cleaners, soaps, disinfectants, chlorine-free bleach, etc.) Does it contain parabens (cancer-causing preservatives)?

Beginning to think like this doesn’t happen overnight. But if you start off at a smaller scale and select just one or a few items you regularly use and explore how that choice could make the least impact on the environment, you begin to get into the habit of asking these questions. Soon it becomes second nature. And in this economy, it’ll save you money too - even more reason to ponder the options.

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