George Lakey has seen his fair share of grim political moments. He has, after all, spent nearly seven decades fighting for civil rights, peace and environmental justice. At 87, Lakey recognizes that ...

My daughter and I wended our way through the streets of our West Philly neighborhood, shunted block after block by fire department barricades. We were heading from a playground, where we had started ...

When Robert Thomas, 78, was 11 years old, he envisioned a hiking trail in Northwest Philadelphia that would follow the corridor of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s abandoned Fort Washington branch. He even ...

It has been five years since the pandemic disrupted Philadelphia’s recycling program, leading to service delays that stretched on for weeks and consigning the contents of so many blue bins into trash ...

In February, The Philadelphia Inquirer published — in print and online — an op-ed by former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Titled “We should support an affordable, inclusive energy transition,” ...

As many people discovered during the COVID-19 boom in home baking, if you want a challenge, try baking with a sourdough starter. Iryna Teslia embraced this challenge, and sourdough became the basis ...

I started Bennett Compost 16 years ago with the goal of making composting easy and accessible for Philadelphians. From the moment we started, people asked, “When do you think Philly will offer ...

Nearly two decades ago, in 2006, SEPTA bought its very first hybrid bus with hopes of eventually transitioning the region’s public transit system to clean energy. The agency attempted to go ...

There aren’t as many American bumble bees (Bombus pensylvanicus) as there used to be in the state the insect is named after. The big black and yellow bees are in decline, with the International Union ...

What became “The Year of the Cake” started innocently enough. In October 2023, Sandi Pierantozzi and her husband, Neil Patterson, ordered a slice of pistachio torte from a bakery in Sicily. It was ...

What’s a fossil fuel utility to do in a rapidly warming world? That was the question posed by a study the City released jointly with Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), the country’s largest ...

In the summer of 2023, farmers and gardeners in Philadelphia had good reason to be optimistic. The City had just published its first urban agriculture plan, called “Growing from the Root,” which ...