Philly to be America's Number One Green City by 2015, Says Mayor Nutter

Philly Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability today announced Greenworks Philadelphia, an ambitious, comprehensive framework to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the United States of America by 2015.

It sets goals in five areas — energy, environment, equity, economy and engagement — and encompasses more than 150 initiatives. Together, they will reduce the city’s vulnerability to rising energy prices, limit its environmental footprint, and reposition its workforce and job development strategies to build upon Philadelphia’s competitive advantages in the emerging green economy.

"Greenworks Philadelphia is a vision for how Philadelphia can and should seize this moment, building on the assets of the city left to us by the past and creating a better future for ourselves, our children and generations to come," said Mayor Nutter.

Greenworks Philadelphia seeks to make more homes and buildings weather-tight, increase recycling and minimize trash, give residents better access to parks and fresh food, and capture the benefits of solar and geothermal energy. It envisions planting thousands of trees, equipping the municipal fleet with less-polluting engines and expanding green job training, so plenty of Philadelphia’s workers have the skills to retrofit buildings and install solar arrays.

For more info: www.phila.gov/green/mos.html or www.greenworksphila.org or a full copy of the report.

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Green Day: New York Observer Launches Green Channel

On Monday, Observer.com introduced The Green Channel, a collaboration of Observer.com staff and Columbia University. Here is how they put it:

"More and more these days, you're hearing the word Green. Whether it's Nike introducing a new line of "green" Air Jordans, a band of celebrities and socialites partying to celebrate the opening of a new park on the reclaimed elevated train line known as The High Line, the City Council duking it out over the control of the city's economic waste problem, or Mayor Bloomberg's ambitious initiatives to turn New York into a Green city (congestion pricing!), we've found here at The Observer that on every beat, there is something to say about the new drive to make the city friendlier to the environment.

"Here you'll find in one place all of our reporting on Green New York.

"You'll also find a new online colum by Steve Cohen, who will be writing about the new Green New York that's struggling to emerge in the city's social, political, corporate and cultural scenes.

Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be expanding this channel to incorporate new material, the product of work going on in our newsroom and in Columbia's dozens of programs and research institutes devoted to the study of the environment and our impact on it."

Worth checking out:

http://www.observer.com/green

Global Climate Change: Big (Green) Apple, Taxis Go Hybrid

Nothing says New York like a Yellow Cab, but soon the yellow cabs will turn green under a plan unveiled by NYC Mayor Michael Bllomberg yesterday.

Bloomberg plans to put 1,000 hybrid taxis on NYC streets by the fall of 2008 and replace the remaining 13,000 taxi fleet with hybrids by 2012.

Bloomberg estimates the plan will save cab drivers more than $10,000 a year in gas and other expenses.

The Big Apple is turning green.