The fourth annual SustainPHL is coming up on Thursday, August 8, 2019. If you haven’t heard, this one-of-a-kind event is the ultimate celebration of sustainability in Philadelphia. In a city that often has a bad reputation for recycling practices, poor air quality and dirty rivers, SustainPHL is quite literally bringing a breath of fresh air.
The hyperlocal event starts with a cocktail hour featuring fresh, seasonal produce from Hungry Harvest and gourmet bites from 12th Street Catering. Even the booze is local with sips from Flying Fish Brewing Company, Philadelphia Distilling, and Dad’s Hat Rye. Among the best parts of the cocktail hour is access to interactive “Munch and Learn” exhibits. For practiced eco-friendly folks, it’s a great chance to network with like-minded people. For newbies, it’s an open and accepting environment to bring all the questions you’ve been dying to know but haven’t gotten around to Googling.
After cocktail hour, the event culminates with the pièce de résistance, an awards ceremony. Each year, SustainPHL honors a gamut of impassioned changemakers, from sustainability visionaries to local environmental heroes making a difference in their communities. The eco-friendly awards recognize these finalists’ important contributions to the city of Philadelphia.
Presenters for the awards include high-profile names and faces you may recognize, like Philadelphia City Council 3rd District Nominee, Jamie Gauthier, and StreetsDept.com’s Founder, Conrad Benner. They’ll be presenting notable award nominees, including Kyle Shenandoah (TEDx Speaker and civic leader), Tiffany Yau (CEO & Founder, Fulphil), and partners such as PHS and Urban Creators.
Among the most impressive? Anna Welsh, Founder of Little Bags, Big Impact. This fifteen year-old rising freshman in high school is an eloquent young woman that’s seriously passionate about sustainability. Her business makes vibrant handbags and accessories out of locally resourced and reclaimed materials that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. Then, 15% of each bag is donated to support childhood literacy in underserved neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Whether or not she wins the award for Social Impact, she is destined for great things.
“Not only do we all have to nurture the planet, but we have to nurture the next generation. I have a love for education so when I learned that in Philadelphia, there is just one age-appropriate book for every 300 homes, I was astounded and knew I had to take action.” – Anna Walsh
But Anna’s mission is only a small part of the sustainability gamut. SustainPHL’s nominees range from preserving waterways, innovating new agricultural technologies, growing urban farms in food deserts, to even… beekeeping. See the full list of nominees here.
Get your tickets today by visiting the SustainPHL page. Rally a group of six or more people and get a 10% discount. If you’ve ever thought that your actions won’t amount to enough change in the climate, think about if every person shifted that thought even a little. Because little by little, a little can become a lot. These nominees are proof of the potential in all of us.
For more updates, follow SustainPHL on Twitter, as well as Green Philly on Facebook and Instagram.
Who are you rooting for at this year’s SustainPHL? Let us know in the comments!
