OUR GREEN ECONOMY RECOUNTABLE RECAP

If you couldn’t make it to the Green Economy Tour and Roundtable event last Tuesday, no worries. We’re here to recap everything we learned from our visits to the Hestonville Rain Garden and Overbrook Nature Center, and even share some key takeaways from our rockstar panel!

HESTONVILLE RAIN GARDEN

The first stop on our tour was Hestonville’s beautiful public park, located in at 55th and Hunter Streets. Transformed from a vacant lot in 2016, it’s now home to a mural by artist Eurhi Jones (read our profile on her here) and the Baker rain garden, engineered by the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD).

The Baker rain garden just one example of the green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) you can find throughout the city. Using native plants — like Black Eyed Susans and echinacea — the garden manages runoff, keeping it out of the combined sewer system and preventing overflows. This and similar tools are all part of PWD’s Green City, Clean Waters initiative, its ambitious plan to cut down on the stormwater pollution entering the city’s sewer system by 85 percent by 2036 through green tools.

But it’s not all about water — the project is also revitalizing the Hestonville community and economy. The previously vacant lot is now a place for the neighborhood to gather and host events. Not to mention, it’s creating green jobs — through PWD’s Soak It Up Adoption program, two community members were hired to conduct routine maintenance of the site and beautification, and assist with community engagement and education.

OVERBROOK ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER

Next, we met at the Overbrook Environmental Education Center for refreshments, our panel discussion, and a tour. Its doors opened in 2006, but the roots of the center extend back to 1998. That’s when founder and executive director Jerome Shabazz started developing environmental and science education programs in schools, in an effort to get his teenage son more engaged in his classes. Eventually, Shabazz, a former PWD employee, decided to create a place in West Philly for young people to learn about and appreciate nature, and Overbrook was born.