Grid Philly - March 2009 - (Page 13) It’s All Happening What the sustainable community’s up to Solar Now If you spend your evenings salivating over online photos of resplendent and shiny solar panels happily camped on rooftops, find out how affordable it can be at this panel discussion of local solar options at the academy of Natural Sciences. The event will begin with an hour-long reception where you can talk to solar providers followed by a panel discussion to explain both how solar electricity production works and public incentives to help you pay for it. andrew Kleeman, whose company Eos Solar is sponsoring the event, will put questions to providers like christopher Blunt of Ojai Solar and public officials like Daniel Griffiths of the Pa Dept. of Environmental Protection. The event is free, but you should rSVP at the website below, and then find other pictures to look at on your now solarpowered computer. 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Thurs., Apr. 2, 5:30–8 p.m., free, 215-299-1000 solarnow.eventbrite.com garden Tenders Tired of walking past that trash-filled vacant lot, but worried about L&I arresting you for daring to do something to fight blight? The horticultural Society’s Garden Tenders program can teach your community or nonprofit group the mechanics of dealing with the city’s bureaucracy to legally turn a vacant lot into a vibrant garden and green space. It’ll take a lot of work, but if you’ve got the vigor—and c’mon, you know you do—you can help transform your block. This is meant for groups, so bring your friends and neighbors, although individuals checking it out will not be turned away. Pre-registering is a necessity and can be done on the website below. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 100 N. 20th St., 5th Floor, April 1, 15, 22 and 29, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; May 6, 13 and 20, 5:30–8:30 p.m.; Sat., April 11, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 215-9888800 pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/ phlgreen/gardentenders.html Gimme Shelter U SBN green collar Jobs nlike the rock ‘n’ roll documentary of the same name that marked the end of the innocent ’60s, this Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE) design experiment is all about hope for the future. SCEE challenged local artists and designers to come up with innovative and sustainable shelter designs that connect the abstract ideas of living more consciously with the realities of the natural world. On Feb. 6 at the Center for Architecture, six finalists were announced, including a giant firefly by Rashida Ng and Nami Yamamoto that will use photo-luminescent pigments to emit light at night, and a shelter by Rebecca Popowski and Riggs Skepnek that will use straw bale walls and a bamboo roof. The finalists will build their projects in the spring in the woods near the Center—the projects will be open to the public, and curious animals. 8480 Hagy’s Mill Rd., 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m., free, 215-482-7300 schuylkillcenter.org/ gimmeshelter/ after only a year of groundwork, the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) has received a $125,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to found a Green collar Jobs program in Philly. The goal is to train residents in jobs relating to sustainable initiatives like clean energy production and efficient construction and refurbishment. according to Leanne KruegerBraneky, executive director of SBN and acting head of the project, they hope to hire a coordinator by mid-February. By working with local employers and labor unions, they plan to develop both job training guidelines and a report on the kinds of jobs Philly employers need by June. Then they will seek to renew their grant and hire an outside job training organization to get the first green collar employees trained and hired. 215-922-7400 sbnphiladelphia.org ma r ch 20 0 9 g r i d p h i l ly. c o m 13 http://solarnow.eventbrite.com http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/gardentenders.html http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/gardentenders.html http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/gimmeshelter http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/gimmeshelter http://www.sbnphiladelphia.org http://www.gridphilly.com
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