Guest Blogger

This sponsored guest post comes from Katie Bohri, the Co-Founding Editor of SPOKE magazine. In the last half-decade, Philadelphia saw its number of cyclists more than triple, a good sign for the greenest alternative to the car. However, a lack of...

We’ve heard the buzz: July 2013 was the 341st consecutive month where temperatures have been over the 20th century global average. Since 1880, average global temperatures have rose about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit causing an average 8 inch sea level rise. Sea level rise has gone up from approximately 1 millimeter per year to almost 3 since 1900. With impacts from climate change, Pennsylvania has been declared a disaster area 14 times since 2000. It’s estimated by 2100, average sea level rise is conservatively projected at 2 feet. 10 sq kilometers of Philadelphia is only 1 meter above sea level, placing it underwater in the next century - low lands around the airport succumbing before that. Find out about the upcoming Carbon emissions limits on coal plants and the battle with the EPA, after the jump.

The "I Will Act on Climate" Bus tour is making a stop in Philly on Friday. We have two contributors today from PennFuture & Clean Air Council to discuss the tour and why it's important to stop in Philly. by Andrew Sharp of PennFuture The "I Will Act on Climate" bus is coming to the City of Brotherly Love on Friday as part of its tour to nearly 30 states to rally support for action to address climate change. The tour comes after President Obama announced the nation’s first-ever limits on carbon pollution, as well as infrastructure improvements to deal with the effects of climate change and new investments in clean energy. (Find out more from the Clean Air Council & about the tour, after the jump!)

But in the late 1950s, the National Weather Service began measuring the levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, with the worry that rising levels might someday disrupt the fragile balance that makes our planet so hospitable.  And what they’ve found, year after year, is that the levels of carbon pollution in our atmosphere have increased dramatically. That science, accumulated and reviewed over decades, tells us that our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on all of humankind. - President Barack Obama, 6/25/13 President Obama gave a speech on Climate Change yesterday at Georgetown University. Here's the full transcript on the Wall Street Journal. Guest blogger Russell Zerbo of the Clean Air Council shares his remarks on the speech and the impact on our nation.

I haven't been able to post much this week due to unforeseen circumstances on the homefront, but Paige Wolf graciously allowed me to guest post for her. Here's how placing a fee on plastic bags will help (and check out the rest of Paige's blog too!): From Philthadelphia to America's Greenest City.

3,771 is not the number of murals in Philly or the amount of visitors that Reading Terminal gets a day. It’s the number of plastic bottles that apparel brand United By Blue pulled from the Schuylkill River during our 2012 summer cleanups at Bartram’s Garden. If those same bottles were stacked end to end, they’d tower over the Comcast Center, or Philadelphia's tallest skyscraper. So who is United By Blue? A group of caped crusaders ridding our rivers of litter in the dead of night? Not quite. United By Blue is an organic apparel brand that removes a pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold. Translated? If you buy the softest, organic shirt you’ll ever feel, we roll up our sleeves. You buy an organic, waxed canvas bag for your next adventure; we’re out on the water. (Find out more about how you can help, after the jump!)

We like to give you a variety of sustainable happenings around Philadelphia, occasionally from other voices. When we think about environmental leaders, religion may not be the first group to come to mind. However, Guest Blogger Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark shares an upcoming Eco Film Festival at Chestnut Hill College this Thursday. On Thursday, March 14, Chestnut Hill College is hosting a FREE (and open to the public) Eco Film Festival from 8:30 - 5:30 PM in the East Parlor, St. Joseph Hall. This all-day film festival includes showings of five eco-related films, each followed by a brief discussion with an expert presenter including Gretchen Alfonso from Moms Clean Air Force, and Logan Welde, Clean Air Council of Philadelphia. (Find out more, after the jump!)

We love being green, whether it's home or at the office. But what if your office in IN your home? (Or your home is your office?) Our guest blogger, Joel Arnold of inkpal.com, gives us some tips for making your home work space more sustainable. Working from home means you have to carry most of your own costs but also means that you have a great deal of control over your own decisions. If you want to make your workplace more environmentally friendly, it doesn't involve red tape and fighting with your boss over every purchase. Having a green office can be as simple as implementing a few basic decisions. If you're ready to make your home office more environmentally friendly, where should you start?

Guest Blogger J. Lundee ("Everything Left") follower of all things green and progressive, gives his perspective of land conservation and green space: Hot topics of 2010 include green infrastructure and clean water - But in particular, the addition and/or substitution of green spaces has been quite controversial. Senior resident of Urban Land Institute Ed T. McMahon states "Green space adds value to property." Not only would these areas of conservation drive economic trends upward, but also improve the overall health of the community surrounding. For example, substituting things like golf courses for conservation areas would essentially increase surrounding property value while diminishing overpriced maintenance fees - Same as airports and other large acre-eating developments. Some of these areas are already