Philadelphia – A Green City

Posted by: Eileen Flynn // Student

For more than a decade now, Philadelphia has been spreading its famous city love through the community in a different, and very important, way. The city acts as an inspiration for other towns throughout America looking to build green and create a sustainable environment for their citizens. In 2009, Philadelphia embarked on a mission to make their city more efficient. They started by passing Bill No. 080025, which required city-owned projects over 10,000 square feet to achieve LEED-silver certification. Since then, the Barry Playground, One Parkway Building, the Police Department Training Center and the Police Tactical Training Facility have all been LEED certified and therefore are in compliance with the new bill. The next step on the way to a healthier city came in June 2011 when Philadelphia redefined the city’s infrastructure. Instead of adding more bridges and more roads, the city introduced green foundation that works to reduce polluted storm water entering the city’s waterways. The $2.4 billion, 25-year plan has already created 440 projects spread out across Philadelphia such as rain gardens, porous paving and green roofs. Over 1,100 green storm water tools are added to the city’s buildings in hopes to eventually make the rivers and streams swimmable, fishable and drinkable. Philadelphia is already benefiting from their changes and acts as a perfect example for the rest of the country to start moving towards more efficient cities. Pittsburgh joined the movement in 2016 by building the first municipal building in the United States. This experiential environmental education classroom achieved the Living Building Challenge Certification and is free and open to the public. The state of Pennsylvania is leading the country in the right direction. Links to learn more: https://beta.phila.gov/departments/office-of-sustainability/energy-office/green-buildings/ http://phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/documents_and_data/cso_long_term_control_plan https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/opinion/infrastructure-public-transportation-broadband.html?_r=0 https://www.rateitgreen.com/green-building-resources/sustainable-building-news/the-first-municipal-building-free-and-open-to-the-public-in-the-u-s-to-achieve-sustainability-cerfication/109