The Cecilian Center for Earth, Arts and Spirit fills a special role in the work of sustainability. The vision of the Center is to inspire and motivate people toward personal and public commitment to sustainability through involvement in the Arts, in Spirituality and in awareness of Earth as a living organism. The Center has engaged more than a thousand people in the struggle to create a healthy and sustainable planet.

The Center has provides environmental education, advocacy, and action to a diverse audience through outreach, on site programs, workshops, and community involvement. Since 1965 we have addressed the issues of the day,Aeiclean air, clean water, endangered species, wetlands, climate change, habitat loss,Aeiand provided forums for awareness and restoration. In 1999 our Master Plan added renewable energy and sustainable development to that roster of environmental issues.

Air Products Healthcare is replacing a blizzard of paperwork with a sustainable, secure electronic process: Inscrybe Healthcare. This initiative, partnering with community based physicians across Air Products' service area, creates a sustainable health system to exchange important healthcare documentation with physicians. The system is an innovation for Air Products Healthcare, which had handled multiple copies of care documentation its patients. Air Products has significantly reduced paper and toner consumption and created a healthier work environment.

The need to maximize the recovery of good quality water from ever-dwindling and increasingly contaminated water sources has increased rapidly in recent years. Whether it is potable water or service water for industry, absence of an effective and economical means for the disposal of large reject (waste) streams has impeded many commercial and industrial development projects. Many of these limitations can now been addressed by the development of ARROW (Advanced Reject Recovery of Water), a new patented membrane based process that recovers > 95% of surface water, ground water or industrial wastewater.

Bala Consulting Engineers' office was the nation's first engineering firm to become LEED-CI (commercial interior) certified. Keeping with the 'firsts' theme, Bala has provided LEED Design and LEED Commissioning services for noteworthy green buildings in the region that include the 1st LEED-EB Platinum facility outside of California, and the 1st LEED-CS Platinum building in the world. Bala also played in an integral role in the development of the LEED rating system standards nationwide.

Bel Arbor Community Garden, a quarter acre in size on the 1000 block of Kimball Street in South Philadelphia, has forty-five gardeners of all ages, 25 individual garden plots, a mini orchard area, a wildflower/perennial grasses area, and a mini woods/thicket area. Gardeners compost 3000 pounds of household food scraps and 500 pounds of leaves each year, in addition to garden debris. Goldfinches return every year and migrating warblers pass through in spring and fall.

Once a blighted brownfield site of abandoned warehouses and industrial buildings; today, this community boasts 144 new, market-rate homes providing easy access to Fairmount Park and public transit stops. A diverse group of residents inhabits homes that are built efficiently, conserve open space, and fosters connections to green spaces through open courtyards featuring natural grass and plantings.

I believe i was way ahead of my time in building these energy efficient homes. I learned all about energy as a cryogenic tech in the USMC. There i was taught everything about evaporation, condensation, conduction, convection and utilized it in my buildings. So far no one knows what i did but me and the people who now own and live in these homes. I also started a recycling center in 1975 76 when i got out of the Marines in N. Calif where i worked at a new contained site and separated bottles and cans etc and then came back east in 1981 telling people one day they would be separating their trash. people laughed at me and well today you know the rest of the story.

Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, a community of 110 people, fosters dignity and models community living for people with and without disabilities. It includes innovative ways of working ecologically, agriculturally, therapeutically, and financially. Incorporating a biodynamic/organic CSA garden and dairy, photovoltaics, a constructed wetlands wastewater system, and a new geothermal heating and cooling system, as well as ecologically sustainable building and lifestyle practices, Kimberton Hills is a fine example of ecological practices incorporated into everyday life.

Residents in Chester County can breathe easier thanks to an alliance that has brought biodiesdel fuel to five county school districts. Through the efforts of the Chester County Biodiesel Coalition, hundreds of school buses will switch to biodiesel. While the environmental and energy security benefits of this move are monumental in their own right, what makes this milestone most significant is how it was accomplished. The formation of the Coalition brought together all sectors - non profit and for profit, state and local government, and concerned citizens - of the community to protect students' health and to reduce reliance on foreign oil. By using the distinctive strengths of each stakeholder, the Coalition was able to secure a two-year $300,00 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The Community Design Collaborative is a volunteer organization that offers preliminary design assistance to nonprofit groups. In order for their work to enhance our neighborhoods and communities, nonprofit organizations need preliminary design services early in the development process, when they are refining proposals, gathering support, and raising money. The Collaborative is committed to giving more nonprofits the ability to further their projects. In addition to project-based work, the Collaborative is increasingly engaging in work that raises the awareness of the importance of design to our neighborhoods, regardless of location, and to our citizens, regardless of income level. As evidenced by its work, the Collaborative, supported by its committed design professional volunteers, is committed to the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of our neighborhoods.

Professor Margaret Stephens provides a hands-on environmental learning experience for students at the Community College of Philadelphia. From classroom activities and lecture discussion to service learning in the field, her students develop a deep understanding of environmental issues and possible solutions to improve our local, regional and global environment.

Visionary homebuilder Don Bradley is committed to integrating renewable energy and green building strategies into low and zero-energy homes that can be built and operated affordably. With innovative projects spanning his 18 year green building career, including the 'Solar Pennsylvanian' (1989), the zero-energy 'Solar Patriot' (2001), Philadelphia's first affordable solar homes (2005) and now the first market-rate zero-energy solar community 'Maple Point' (2007), Don is dedicated to building sustainable housing in our city, causing change through committed action, effective partnerships and education.

The Environmental Law firm of Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP created the Environmental Community Service award in 2006 as a way to encourage environmental awareness and community service in Delaware Valley middle and high school students. The program, a partnership with Wawa and NBC10 each equally committed to supporting environmental improvements, was first awarded in May of 2006 and the second year, in May 2007. Now applications for the 2008 competition are currently being accepted. Participating schools are asked to submit current community service projects that address environmental concerns and improves the quality of life within their community. Winners from one middle school and also one high school receive a $5,000 grant to be used in funding their environmental program.

Free Schuylkill River Park ran a citizens web-based campaign from 2003-2007 to prevent the closure of two street level crossings into Schuylkill River Park. Using web based and other traditional organizing tools, Free Schuylkill River Park (now called Schuylkill River Park Alliance) successfully mobilized park users and civic organizations to work with elected officials and the Mayor John Street Administration of Philadelphia to convince CSX Transportation to negotiate a lawsuit in good faith so that the existing street level crossings could remain open and made safe for both park users and the Railroad.

More than one hundred years of development has stressed its natural systems and infrastructure of Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, rallying tremendous community support and action for resource preservation and enhancement. Protecting the Tookany Creek watershed, extensive curbside recycling, 350 acres of parks, opportunities for local foods, advocating for clean energy, constructing a LEED school and extensive environmental education in public schools epitomizes Cheltenham as community treasures its past and plans for its future.

At Eviama, we exemplify green, sustainable living. That we offer holistic services and organic products signals our audience that conscious lifestyle choices can make a difference. We empower our clients by helping them to appreciate the intelligence of the human body and its self-healing ability, and to see themselves as part of a living ecology. Nearly all products we sell are environmentally-friendly or have social merit. We do this in a green-built and green powered setting that is tranquil, mind-opening, and leaves a small footprint for a great benefit.

GreenPlan Philadelphia, the City's blueprint for sustainable open space, envisions Philadelphia as a vibrant urban place interconnected with grand and intimate green parks and open spaces, which promote healthy living, economic growth and a sustainable natural environment.The plan establishes a comprehensive approach to forge a sustainable future for Philadelphia while conserving and enhancing the City's open space and natural areas. It changes the way the City manages open space by institutionalizing its sustainable approach into the work of over a dozen city departments.

Greenprint: A Climate Change Action Plan for Montgomery County, PA was created through a collaborative process engaging government, businesses, clean air advocates, transportation stakeholders, and academic institutions. Greenprint advocates for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels. Implementing the Greenprint actions will also result in cost savings and energy conservation, giving the actions broad appeal and applicability. By simply reconfiguring computers to enter sleep mode when not in use, the County government could save approximately $250,000 dollars annually while also significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Hal Taussig, president and founder of the travel company Untours, is committed to shrinking the growing gap between the rich and poor. His foundation, the Untours Foundation, provides low interest loans to create jobs, build low-income housing, and support the Fair Trade movement all through the most environmentally friendly means possible. Hal has also led the effort to create America's first Fair Trade town in Media, PA, which is now a community inspired to use its buying power to improve the lives of others.