Topic

Sustainability

Harry Hayman's articles and insights about sustainability.

13 posts

Sustainability October 21, 2026

A Working Rooftop Greenhouse for 435 Fairmount in Northern Liberties

A rooftop greenhouse at 435 Fairmount in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, only matters if it grows food, teaches kids and feeds a cafe. Here is the case.

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Sustainability October 20, 2026

What If Waste Could Grow Our Food? In Pennsylvania, It Already Does

Pennsylvania grows more than seven of every ten mushrooms sold in America on compost made from farm leftovers, and Philadelphia can learn from it.

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Sustainability October 13, 2026

Dutch Supermarkets Count Their Food Waste in Public

Dutch supermarkets waste under 1 percent of the food they buy and a university publishes it. I compare US grocers and ask what Philadelphia could count.

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Sustainability October 13, 2026

Philadelphia's Zero Waste Bill and the Compost Fines New York Paused

Philadelphia's zero waste bill sets a 60 percent goal and no deadline. Harry Hayman reads it beside New York's compost fines and asks what a plan needs.

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Sustainability October 9, 2026

A City Called Where Everything Grows Fined His Front Yard Garden

A Chino man planted a food garden and ended up at a code hearing. I look at what a code sees in a front yard and what Philadelphia could write down.

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Sustainability September 20, 2026

The Land Under Philadelphia's Growing Spaces

Philadelphia counted 450 growing spaces on nearly 130 acres, and I want to talk plainly about who actually owns the ground under them.

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Sustainability September 19, 2026

How Six Illegal Curb Cuts Became Tucson Policy

A Tucson neighbor cut his own curb with a saw in 1998, and Philadelphia already owns the tools to ask the same question on our blocks.

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Sustainability September 9, 2026

Circular, Not Circuitous: Catching Up With Erika Allen

I catch up with Erika Allen of Urban Growers Collective and learn that my winding Philadelphia food career was circular all along.

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Sustainability September 6, 2026

The Grid Price Behind Every Head of Lettuce

Philadelphia's power grid just got a lot more expensive to run on, and I look at what that means for growing food indoors here.

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Sustainability September 6, 2026

Fourteen Grants for Fresh Produce, and the Winter Ahead

Philadelphia just funded fresh produce grants in fourteen neighborhoods. I look at why year round local growing is still the missing piece each winter.

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