Featured Stories
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Organization of the Month:
Marcus Hook Area Neighbors for Public HealthMarcus Hook Area Neighbors for Public Health started out as a small group of residents meeting in a diner in 2020 who were alarmed by the lack of concern for air pollution in Marcus Hook, home to a large concentration of petrochemical industries.
Marcus Hook Area Neighbors and Clean Air Council present ASSESS study. The small group of founding members realized that Marcus Hook has been politically and economically entangled with polluting heavy industry for more than 120 years, ever since Sun Oil Co. established a refinery there in 1901. Before that, it was a large shipbuilding and provisioning center for much of the 19th century.
“There were no environmental groups working in the Marcus Hook area at all. Because of the cultural history of Marcus Hook, everyone thought it was a lost cause. Many people feel that way and many don’t,” said Echo Alford, a leader of MHANPH.
Today, the term “area” in the group’s name includes not only Marcus Hook but also Boothwyn, Chester Township, City of Chester, Linwood, Ogden, Parkside, Trainer, Twin Oaks, Upland, and Upper Chichester, all “fence line” communities that border on or host polluting industrial facilities in the county’s southeast corner.
According to Alford, MHANPH partnered with the Clean Air Council to participate as subjects and stakeholders in the ASSESS study conducted by Johns Hopkins University. Alford was later hired as Delaware County advocacy coordinator for the Clean Air Council, an example of an established environmental organization reaching out to the affected community.
The ASSESS research results were presented to the community in July (see the Delco Environmental Clearinghouse article here}.
That study showed that residents of the Chester and Marcus Hook areas are subject to excessive and constant foul odors, air pollution and noise as well as non-environmental stressors, such as economic and housing insecurity and crime.
Equally important, the study showed that the “cumulative burden” of all sources of pollution on human health is weighing most heavily on residents of the 12 communities even though each individual industry complies with federal air quality standards.
Now Marcus Hook Area Neighbors are focusing on using the results of the ASSESS study in several ways.
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If you have been thinking or even been simply intrigued by the idea adding Solar Energy to your home or business, you need to check this event out!
The Delaware County Office of Sustainability has partnered with the nonprofit Solarize Delco to create a free weeklong event, The Delco Solar Tour. This event is for you and all residents to see solar installations up close. Every day there are different tours of buildings powered by solar energy. There is a school, a municipal building, and nine homes that will open their doors, tell their stories, and answer your questions.
Each stop will have a presentation about the onsite array and the process it took from beginning to end including the cost. You get to pick which tour fits your schedule and location. The tours are the result of a partnership with homeowners, schools, and municipalities to showcase how they are already utilizing solar technologies to:
1) drastically reduce monthly energy bills
2) reduce harmful carbon emissions
3) enjoy significant tax credits and cash incentives
4) improve their property values.
There are 12 tours throughout the County. Attending multiple tour stops will allow community members to learn about solar panels on different architectural styles, experiences with different installers, and other helpful information.
Links to sign-up for the tour or tours and to learn the organizers can be found on the Events Calendar of LWV’s EnviroDelco.org by clicking Events at the top of the page. The calendar entry is dated October 8th.
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Organization of the Month
Transition Town Greater Media
By Jodine Mayberry for the Clearinghouse
Transition Town Greater Media is more than an environmental organization, it is also tackling economic and social issues on a local, hands-on scale in and around Delaware County’s seat.
EcoFest 2023 at Heritage Park, Media. (Photo: Walt Cressler) Come to EcoFest – The organization will host EcoFest 2024, which will be Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Heritage Park in Media. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature music, food, games for children and a lot of information on environmental resources. Rain date is Sunday, Sept. 29.
According to Sari Steuber, TTGM’s operations coordinator, the group began 15 years ago by a small group of activists examining the Media community to determine how it could be made more resilient to problems like climate change, social change and economic issues. TTGM has a steering committee and 18 working groups, including several environmental groups.
The Transition Town model is based on an international movement started by Rob Hopkins, a cofounder of the Transition Network and the author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, and The Power of Just Doing Stuff.
The group looks at what the community needs and devises solutions to try to meet those needs in a systemic way, identifying problems that need to be solved (head), what people need (heart), and what practical, hands-on projects could achieve those goals (hands). This “head, heart, hands model” informs everything it does, she said.
Here are some of the projects TTGM has undertaken on the environment front:
- Green Wagons – “little lending libraries” for native plants housed in little green wagons in Media and nearby towns for residents to pick up and plant in their yards. The wagons also contain information about the plants and their importance to help mitigate climate change and provide needed habitat for our local birds, animals, and insects. Eight Green Wagon crews work throughout Media, Upper Providence and Middletown from May through October. For example, they plant milkweed for Monarch butterflies and pawpaw trees for swallowtail butterflies.
- Tree Tenders – also plant and nurture native trees throughout the borough and are currently collaborating with the Media Shade Tree Commission to conduct a canopy study to present to Borough Council. The tree tenders plant trees for free within the borough and buy trees from the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society for $135 each for other areas. This year they are planting trees in Tinicum, Ridley and Middletown.
- Pollinator garden – Volunteers from the Protecting Biodiversity Group worked with Media’s Environmental Advisory Committee to designate Media as a Xerces Society “Bee City”. This included working with Mike Green, the director of Public Works, to design and plant a pollinator garden on Borough grounds. The Borough EAC and TTGM also worked together to designate Media as a “Bird Town” through the Audubon Society.
- Habitat Helpers — works with homeowners and institutions to develop and maintain sustainable gardens. They recently created raised bed gardens at Sterling Health Care Center so the elderly residents could tend to them more easily.
Julie Smith, who organizes environmental programs, says the goal of those projects is to rebuild the natural habitats for insects, birds and wildlife and eliminate the use of harsh chemical pesticides. But the major goal is to educate people, “to show them the magic” of what happens when a healthy, native environment is restored to an area. “Once you start and get into it, it gets to be more and more fun. And you learn stuff from people every single day. There is always someone who knows more than you do,” Smith said. - The FreeStore – TTGM has run the Media FreeStore out of the First Church Media, 350 W. State St. in Media for10 years. People donate items they want to get rid of and take items they need or want, all with the aim of helping people recycle possessions and keep those goods out of landfills and incinerators.
You can bring donations to the FreeStore Sundays from 12-2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m. Shopping days are Wednesdays and Saturdays from Noon to 4 p.m. The store is open to all members of the Greater Media community. The FreeStore does not take clothing, but the church has both a clothes closet and a food pantry. - Local Food – one of the working groups has produced a local food resource guide to identify local farmers, restaurants, food markets and retail stores that offer locally produced food.
TTGM also organizes a Green Sunday craft fair in November where local merchants offer handmade products for sale. Another TTGM working group offers small business loans through a Community Development Financial Institution. These loans go to entrepreneurs who may not be able to qualify for a bank loan. TTGM has helped three small businesses expand their offerings in Chester. During the pandemic, TTGM donated $3,000 to a small business gift card program to help keep them afloat while they were shut down.
The group worked with the Media EAC to help institute a single-use plastic bag ban by helping businesses find affordable alternatives. They are currently working with businesses to find alternatives for expanded polystyrene foam (commonly but incorrectly known as Styrofoam) containers. They helped the Borough institute a residential composting program and have worked with the Delaware County Office of Sustainability to develop one for the food industry.
Over the years they have recruited dozens of volunteers to give their time and labor to all these endeavors and they added the word “Greater” to their title because they are gradually branching out from Media Borough itself to neighboring communities. If you would like information about how you can volunteer or contribute, you can reach TTGM at [email protected], sign up for their newsletter at transitiontowngreatermedia.org, or find them on FaceBook and Instagram.