Hi! I am proud to announce today’s launch of www.shopmodify.com, an eco-friendly boutique for high-fashion clothing, beauty, accessories and home decor. We are based out of Media, PA, America’s First Fair Trade Town! We at Modify believe in truly modifying one’s lifestyle to become green without sacrificing style. Check out the […]

A Seminar in Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investing
 Now at three locations!
 
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•         On Tuesday, October 16th at 6:30 PM the seminar will be held in Philadelphia at Kaffa Crossing located at 4423 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia, PA 19104.
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•         Hosted by James Cox and Scott Hall of Apollo Financial Services, a seminar will be presented on socially […]

September ended with the start of a special legislative session on energy in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Recall that Governor Ed Rendell introduced the Energy Independence Strategy in February 2007, a comprehensive package of funding and programs that will put Pennsylvania where we need to be in the next several years in order to keep electricity prices low, to bolster development of clean, alternative sources of energy like wind and solar, and to help stop Pennsylvania’s contributions to global warming– just to name a few.

In this podcast, PennFuture’s Vice President Jan Jarrett and President & CEO John Hanger review how far we’ve come in the fight for energy independence, and what we need to accomplish in the coming months.

Demand for electricity in Pennsylvania increases on average by 1.5 percent per year, despite the fact that our population isn’t growing. It may not sound like much in any given year, but over the course of a few years– it adds up. And since the overwhelming majority of our electricity in Pennsylvania comes from coal-fired and nuclear power plants, which spew toxic chemicals, cause premature death, use enormous amounts of water, and result in serious waste disposal issues, meeting that rising demand for electricity means more of the same. The costs for "more of the same" are staggering– nearly $20 billion for new power plants and energy distribution and transmission infrastructure. Unless we stop business as usual, and follow a different road to the future.

That road is one paved with energy policies that require Pennsylvania to meet growing demand for electricity with energy conservation programs and strategies linked with renewable energy development. It’s been done with wild success in other states. In California, for example, electricity demand has stayed even since energy conservation mandates were enacted, yet their population and economy have grown a great deal.

We can have our cake and eat it, too: build our economy while at the same time curbing heat-trapping and health-threatening pollution causing global warming. Spur new family-sustaining jobs in the alternative energy fields while at the same time saving every Pennsylvanian money in their electric bills. Enhance our security by replacing imported foreign fuels with biofuels made here at home.

Listen in to learn more. Visit the Energy Independence section of our Web site, and take action to declare your support for energy independence. There you can also make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work for energy independence. As always, we welcome your comments. Just e-mail us at podcast (at) pennfuture (dot) org, or click on "Comments" below.

A Seminar in Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investing
 
Now at three locations!
 
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•         On Wednesday, October 10th at 6:30 PM the seminar will be held in Doylestown at the Bucks County Coffee House (in the basement meeting room) located at 22 N. Main Street in Doylestown, PA 18901.
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•         Hosted by James Cox and Scott Hall of Apollo […]

Saturday, October 6, 10:30-2:30pm
Meadow Run Farm [Reserve Tour Now]
Lititz, Lancaster County, PA
Grass-Fed Pasture-Raised Animal Farm
Take a look around Philip and Dorcas Horst Landis’s sustainability-focused farm. Visit their pasture-raised turkeys and chickens, grass-fed cows and lambs, and pastured pigs and learn about the benefits of a grass-based diet to animal health and happiness. As […]

The United States started with a single curbside-recycling plan. Twenty years later, Americans recycle 32 percent of their total waste each year on average, as projected by Earth 911. Over time, recycling methods and the availability of facilities have grown. Today we are finding new ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials that would typically end up in landfills. These aren’t really new concepts, but the "throw-away" society of the 20th century is starting to come around– everything old is new again.

Environmental health is but one great reason to recycle. In Philadelphia, PennFuture-led Next Great City project is demonstrating that focusing more on recycling has economic benefits for the city as a whole, since waste disposal costs come down as recycling rates go up.

In this podcast, PennFutureâs Joy Bergey conducts a series of interviews with Philadelphia-area businesses involved with recycling and reusing materials that most of us may not have thought possible. When we hear the word "recycling" we usually think of those things that are easily taken out to the curb: paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum. But as Joy discovers, that’s only the beginning. Listen in as she talks with folks from Elemental, Inc., Walk a Crooked Mile bookstore, and the Urban Nutrition Initiative about their contributions to recycling beyond the curb.

To learn more about Next Great City and other projects and activities at PennFuture, visit our Web site. There, you can sign up for more information and make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work. As always, we welcome your comments; just e-mail us at podcast (at) pennfuture (dot) org, or click on "Comments" below.