From the Delaware to the Schuylkill, from the Schuylkill to Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia is blessed with an extraordinarily watery location. The city’s very existence is predicated on access to drinking water, food, and commerce.

Water is life, representing 80-90% of plant biomass and 75% of our own body. Research indicates that natural water sounds are the most effective in attracting our attention, reducing our heart rate, and restoring cognition, memory recall, and creative thought.

Explore the public health imperative of designing with water and leaning into our deep evolutionary connection to water as a precursor to stewardship of our waterways on behalf of those living alongside, within, and flying above.

Join us at 5 for light refreshments and networking with our partner organizations before the presentation!

REGISTER HERE

If your organization would like to table at our event, please contact us here

Climate scientists predict that within 30 years, Philadelphia could spend as many as 74 days a year above 90ºF. In July 2020 alone, the city had 21 days at or above 90 degrees F (Inquirer 7/3/20).

We can all work together to cool our city with biophilic urbanist solutions, using the only truly ‘green’ air conditioning available: trees and plants.  Join us virtually at the Clean Air Council’s Greenfest for a conversation on how we can collectively and individually contribute to making a healthier more livable city.

Our conversation will be moderated by Melanie Murray, LEED Green Associate, and presented by bioPhily team members: Helena van Vliet AIA, Fredda Lippes AIA, LEED AP, Vera Neumann-Sachs AIA, LEED AP, and Sadie Francis, MPA.   

Register here

Before the year 1900, farms and orchards were standard components of any urban landscape. Today, cities are unable to provide for themselves creating a detrimental transportation footprint and serious fresh food inequities. As our climate changes, we must combine our need to sequester carbon and cool our city with our need to provide healthy local foods to all urban residents including wildlife.

Currently there are 42,100 vacant lots and buldings in Philadelphia, and public agencies own 14% of them, roughly 5,880. Each vanant lot, rooftop, sidewalk, and facade offers opportunities for regenerative urban agriculture, urban orchards, and a re-wilding of the city to promote biodiversity, one microhabitat at a time.

Register Here

bioPhilly 5 Conference

April 11, 2019

Living Air Conditioning & Carbon Sponges

Vertical Forests, Meadow Roofs and other Plant-based Systems to Beat the Heat

Location: Dorrance H. Hamilton Building, Jefferson

Climate scientists predict that within 30 years, Philadelphia could spend as many as 74 days a year above 90ºF, almost 7 more weeks than we experience now.

We can remove CO2 from the atmosphere with plant-based building materials that store carbon and cool our city with biophilic urbanist solutions, using the only truly ‘green’ air conditioning available: trees and plants. As always, bioPhilly is bringing together a diverse group of experts from the fields of biophilic design, urban ecology & forestry, public health & policy, community engagement & construction to explore Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) and their in-equitable impacts.

JOIN US! 

Light pollution in urban environments has been a growing problem for decades. Paradoxically, the introduction of energy-efficient LED bulbs is making cities glow even brighter. Current research, including the 2017 Nobel Prize-winning research into the Circadian Clock Gene has determined that increased nighttime illumination has disruptive consequences for all forms of life: plants, animals, pollinators and humans alike. Studies have shown that light pollution unravels the intertwined tapestry of day and night pollinators, that it speeds up the circadian rhythm of birds and other city dwellers, including ours. We now know that circadian disruption in humans leads to elevated stress hormone levels, increased inflammation and reduced immune function among other significant health challenges, such as melatonin sensitive cancers.

BioPhilly 4 brings together a diverse panel of experts from the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, the fields of entomology, occupational and environmental medicine, ornithology, urban landscape design, urban wildlife. and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation environmental education to discuss these shared challenges,

Please join us for drinks and networking at 6:00 pm on April 5th.

Panel discussion to begin at 7:00 pm.

Sponsorship opportunities available.

For information, please email BioPhilly.

HOSTED BY

PANELISTS

Adam Agalloco, CEM, LEED AP, Energy Manager City of Philadelphia

John Cambridge, Ph.D., MPH, CEO Philadelphia Insectarium, and Butterfly Pavilion

Tony Croasdale, Environmental Educator Philadelphia Parks & Rec, The Urban Wildlife Podcast

Kim Douglas, MLA, RLA, College of Architecture and Built Environment Jefferson University

Keith Russell, Program Manager for Urban Conservation, Audubon Pennsylvania

Pouné Saberi, M.D., Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Physicians for Social Responsibility

MODERATOR

Helena van Vliet, AIA, BioPhilly founding member, Biophilic Cities Project steering committee.