Volunteer & Be Green While Doing It

The Manayunk Eco Arts Festival, set for September 24 & 25, is looking for volunteers. And when attempting to stack up brownie points, volunteering for a green event gets a double dose. It’s like triple coupons for doing good.

Volunteers will receive a complimentary coffee and bagel and/or lunch, depending on the shift, a complimentary beverage, complimentary snacks throughout the day, a free MNYK Staff T-Shirt and a free Manayunk EcoArts Festival Poster.

Those interested in volunteering should email Martha Vidauri at mvidauri@manayunk.org.

U-City Launches Sustainability Saturdays

Locavores unite this Saturday, June 18, in West Philadelphia for the first in a series of four U- City Sustainability Saturday events. Every third Saturday, from now until September, Sustainability Saturdays will offer tours, urban farming activities, how-to workshops, beer and food events, and more. Most events are free, but a few are ticketed, so be sure to double check.

This Saturday will kick off the series with an entire day of “Grow it Yourself” activities. With the Clark Park Farmers Market, a self guided West Philly garden tour, a foraging for edible plants tour, an irrigating with storm water lesson, a farm to table trolley tour featuring Mid Atlantic Restaurant, an ice cream tour and tasting at Bartram Garden, a sustainable landscaping lesson, and a workshop on creating an urban homestead.

During the series, there will also be events like a West Philadelphia home brewing competition and workshop, a bee keeping and honey tasting, make your own worm composting bin workshop, Stoudts Brewery sustainable pig roast at City Taphouse, and a mead and soda fermentation workshop.

For complete details and the full summer lineup, visit University City’s website.

Berwyn Chef Goes Green in a Big Way

These days, everyone is under tremendous pressure to conform to the new green standards of living and business. And for local chefs the spotlight is shining brightly. Not only do sustainable practices make for good buzz, increasingly, diners and patrons are calling for local and plentiful food sources.

In Berwyn, Chef Patrick Feury and his partner Henry Chu of Nectar are blazing a trail when it comes their dedication to renewable, sustainable and local resources. The Nectar team is in the process of installing the largest solar panel system in the county, made up of 238 panels, at a cost of roughly $300,000. A government subsidy will ease about 30% of the cost for the restaurant’s investors.

The system should be up and running by June and will generate enough electricity to cover 30% of the restaurants total energy bill.

Adding another layer to the locally sourced produce used to compliment the sustainable seafood Feury continues to offer, a new patio garden will also be added to the property featuring vegetables and herbs used frequently in Nectar’s menu. Feury will also be launching a composting program in order to fertilize the new garden.

Nectar 1901 Lancaster Ave. Berwyn, PA 19312

Get Your Eco-Friendly Gear On At Green Fest Philly

You don’t have to compost coffee grinds and eggshells in your 3rd floor apartment to prove your into preserving the environment but these days, going green means more than just recycling. The green scene has spread into so many parts of our world and now, it’s crept into our closets!

On Sunday, September 12, from 11am – 6pm Green Fest Philly 2010 will be celebrating sustainable fashion with a fashion forward one-day street fair. The event will be held at Headhouse Square, on 2nd and South and will focus on supporting local thrift stores and buying vintage.

Last year brought together over 200 vendors. This year, pretty much everyone with ties to the green community will be set up – from Realtors and hair salons, to farmers and co-ops.

Papertrees will be playing on the main stage and the Headhouse Farmers Market will be going on from 10am – 2pm, as it does every weekend. So snacks and music will be available.

Between the eco-friendly fashion show, the Recessionista Fashionistas clothing swap and the eco-poetry contest at Jons on 4th and South, this event is chock full of carbon reducing, planet saving fashion goodness. And luckily, it’s evolved way past hemp and burlap.

This article was written for and can be viewed at philly2night.com.