Yesterday morning when most of the sane world was still sleeping, 30,000 runners, including five of us from 160over90, congregated in North Philly at the top of Broad Street to race ten miles in muggy 80 degree heat. We organized the team as a part of our efforts to  encourage sustainability and health, and to prove that running and beer are a copacetic combination.

The Broad Street Run is deemed the biggest ten mile race in the nation, and it’s a point-to-point run that follows Broad Street from North to South (passing city hall, and the 160over90 office along the way), ending at the Naval Yards.

Race highlights included: mummers jamming on the sidwalk, marching bands, lots of gatorade, fire hydrant sprinklers, and a free soft-pretzel after the race. It was hot.

Huzzah to the finishers!

Ro and Michelle before the race

Below are a few photos from Philly.com. Check out their page for more.

Forty years ago, on April 22, Earth Day began as a massive grassroots movement (please excuse the pun) to raise awareness about environmental issues. The original demonstration attracted nearly 20 million people who engaged in marches and teach-ins. Today, Earth Day is a global phenomenon. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you’ve even used phrases like “carbon footprint” and “go green” and “organic” before. Though I’ll admit that I will probably never create an actual compost pile, and I’ve had entire conversations about carbon offsets in which I had no idea what I was talking about, I’m all for environmental conservation.  The earth is good, and we should be good to it.

In honor of earth day, hemp bracelets, National Parks, bicycles, and back-to-the-land, here are a few things that we earthlings should consider doing more often.

-  Ride bikes (no hands, if you’re good) to work. And then zip over to a body of water where you can skip stones.  Enjoy the sunshine. Appreciate the flowers. Do not make a daisy chain.

-  Eat an entire apple, including the core*, in order to prove that waste is unnecessary.

- Shun unnecessary packaging (publicly, if possible), and bring your own bag to the grocery store.

- Use the word green as a term of endearment. As in, “What up, Green? I like those new water-soluble, zero carbon footprint shoes you’ve got on.”

-  Begin growing a dreadlock as a tacit reminder to use less shower water. By next year, you’ll have both a conversation piece and proof that you gave back.

In the meantime, check out this awesome photo retrospective from National Geographic–especially the one of people camped out on Independence Mall in Philly.

Happy (early) Earth Day!

*160over90 not liable if this causes you to grow an apple tree in your stomach.

Our lives are marked by a series of milestones. Pivotal points where the way we live our life changes from that moment forward. Here’s a quick rundown of some of mine: Marriage. Job. House. Kid. Move. Job. Kid. Hawthornes. What is a Hawthornes? It’s a beautiful new invention known as a beer café and about five months ago it opened around the corner from me. Now a beer café is exactly what it sounds like. Awesome. A lovely little bistro with over 1,000 beers from around the globe that you can either enjoy there or take with you. Most of these 1,000 beers come in bottles that you can peruse through the glass doors of the seven large beer fridges, conveniently categorized by geography. But then there is the growler altar, sitting humbly by the fireplace, hissing sporadically as one of the beer wizards turns mysterious dials and knobs before emerging with a glowing amber jug filled with some new unusual beer. A chalkboard lists the 10-12 daily offerings from true craft breweries that obsess over the quality of their hops and grains. Often these beers are seasonal, small-batch brews with ABV’s ranging from 6.5% to 13%. A growler, which is 64 fluid ounces to us non-metrics, can cost anywhere from $12 to $34 to fill depending on the beer.

Now here is the important part: Normally your first growler requires an initial $15 investment for the vessel, which you then keep and bring back for refills. However this Tuesday, April 20^th your growler is free. Hawthornes is hosting one of its many beer-tastings events, this time with Boulder Beer. Just fill your growler with your favorite Boulder brew and you gain free membership to the growler club. There really is a club—your 20^th growler is free. This is your moment to jump. It seems like a no-brainer. Otherwise you’ll just have to listen to me and Dan Shepelavy wax on about our growlers with way too much emotion and enthusiasm than is appropriate.

Hawthornes Beer Cafe

11th and Fitzwater Sts.

Boulder Keep the Growler Night

Tuesday, 4.20, 7-9 PM

I am a cyclist and a fervent music fan. So you can imagine how excited I was a couple weeks ago when David Byrne stopped by Philly to talk about how bicycling has helped transform the urban experience. Unfortunately, no  music jams or giant-suit wearing were involved. But, all that bike talk was just as stimulating for the noggin.For those of you who aren’t aware, Mr. Byrne has been a cyclist for the past 20 years (he started back when biking wasn’t a cool or even socially-accepted mode of transportation). His recent book, Bicycle Diaries, chronicles the observations and insights he collected from his experiences biking in cities around the globe. (It’s one of his favorite things to do during his downtime on tour.) I received the book at our agency’s secret santa gift exchange, and have been thinking a lot about how cycling has changed the way I interact with our fair city, and how the city (powers that be/motorists/pedestrians) has responded to the growing popularity of urban biking.

The whole idea of bike-person-city interaction is also really relevant to my own experience in Philadelphia. As a car-worshiping Midwest transplant, I felt isolated and intimidated by the city during my first months here–until I bought my SE Lager, I finally made the switch after test-riding a friend’s bike, and getting my first taste of freedom. It made me realize how much more quickly I could get around–and get a feel for–my new city.

Now I’m hooked. My favorite time to ride is after a late night at the office when my brain can take a breather, I feel the wind on my face, and I become human once again. Second to that feeling of midnight euphoria, I also love my morning commute to work, where I pass through several different neighborhoods, each with its own distinct personality. Part of Philly’s charm is that neighborhoods can change so drastically from block to block. It’s great to see all of the funny interactions that neighbors and strangers alike have when they bump into one another on the sidewalks, sharing greetings and laughs. I also love the random snippets of conversation that I sometimes pick up out of context (it feels like I’m experiencing in real-time one long take in a Wes Anderson movie).

I’m not alone out there either. At the forum I learned that almost 10,000 Philadelphians bike to work, a higher percentage than in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or D.C. This makes sense, I guess, since about half of our creative department gets here on two wheels.

It will be interesting to see how the city changes as more people start riding bikes in the next couple of years. From the way the David Byrne discussion went, it seems like Philly has a promising future to become the most bike friendly city in America. We’ll see, but with the recent win of the $17.2 million Tiger grant, we might be well on our way.

Photography was prohibited at the event, but I was able to snap some quick shots of the beautiful film montage that played on a loop beforehand as we waited in the crowd. It was composed of bicycle scenes from the movies that portrayed how much fun it is to bike. I thought it was a nice way to start the night and complimented  the speakers’ talks which focused heavily on how cities have been planned, how we get around them, and how these factors ultimately affect the city dweller’s everyday life. Scroll down to see if you can name that movie or television show.

Odds and Ends from the Forum:

Extremely Interesting Books Mentioned:

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander

For The Ultra Curious:

The event was officially titled Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around: A Special Urban Sustainability Forum and was hosted by the Center for Environmental Policy at The Academy of Natural Sciences. Fellow panelists included Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, a landscape architect and urban designer from Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT),  Alex Doty, Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, and Katherine Gajewski, Philadelphia’s Director of Sustainability and implementer of the mayor’s Greenworks initiative.

At least that’s what some folks in rural America are saying. As the recession deepens big box superstores across the country are closing down by the hundreds leaving giant, unsightly ghostboxes in their demise. Some would say, serves ‘em right for knocking down the mom and pop shops. Tear ‘em down and let’s start over! But some folks are using lemons to make lemonade. Why not use these already existing monstrosities for something good in the community, like say, an indoor raceway?

In all seriousness, when businesses close, people lose jobs. And when K-Marts close, well, people in the Midwest just about lose their minds. So, in keeping with an optimistic, positive mood, why not think of it less as losing a K-Mart and more as gaining a Spam Museum.

For more info about ghostboxes visit:

http://www.bigboxreuse.com/

I was fortunate enough to spend this past holiday weekend hiking in the wilderness of Maine. We were in the vicinity of the 100 Mile Wilderness which is a section of the Appalachian Trail that does not cross a paved or public road for 100 miles.

While out there you can’t help but have thoughts of living in some Utopian society where you live of the land in perfect balance with your surroundings. Which is why when I came across this collection of photos I was blown away by what the other end of that spectrum looks like. Captured here are photographs of some of the most polluted places on the planet.

On Tuesday the nations greatest minds gathered in Palm Springs to share ideas on how to improve the world. It’s the 25th anniversary of the TED conference, and because of the rising popularity of the TED website in the last couple years, this conference is bound to have the world following it’s developments. It’s one of my goals to eventually attend TED, but at $6,000 a person, I don’t think I’ll be attending too soon. Eventually I’ll get there, but in the meantime I’ll follow the happenings from my desk. A short summary of excitement and how you can follow after the jump.

So what’s been going on at TED2009? Well, first Bill Gates talked about Malaria, (now on-line) and how the planet’s poorest citizens should not be the only ones to have to worry about Malaria. Then he opened up a jar filled with mosquitoes, and let them out on the crowd. (Don’t worry the mosquitoes weren’t carriers for Malaria, but an interesting way to prove a point.)

Today, Yves Behar unveiled his Mission One electric motorcycle to the TED attendees. The Mission One is a collobarotion between Behar’s fuseproject and Mission Motors. It is the fastest production electric motorcycle, traveling at a 150 mph, up to 150 miles on a full charge. On top of all that, it’s a beautiful piece of design. More information can be found over at De Zeen.

If you want to keep updated on what’s going on at TED2009, here’s a few good resources.

TED2009. TED Blog. TED Twitter feed. TED photo stream. Tonight at 8 PM Eastern they will announce the winners of the TED Prize via webcast.

Here’s also a list of Twitter users you can follow for quick updates: @TED2009 @TEDpalmsprings @TEDChris @Zappos (CEO of Zappos) @Pierre (Founder/Creator of eBay)

Lastly, here’s the opening titles Trollbäck & Company created for TED2009.

Photo by Terry Richardson.

We were stoked to be a part of the grand opening of our client, Dansko’s, new LEED-certified headquarters. The building is amazing and features a living wall that acts as a natural air purifier, flooring, cabinetry and counter tops made out of recycled materials, a green roof, automated climate control features like self-closing curtains and the whole building is 100% wind powered. Some other “creature features” include an on-site gym (and showers!), meditation rooms, a full-sized kitchen that could feed an army (a very friendly, eco-army, that is), tons of original art, and even more than a ton of natural light. The building also houses their huge new company store to accommodate the buses filled with “Fandanskos” that visit them every day. The party itself was packed with Dansko lovers who were rewarded with delicious food, specialty drinks, 20% off coupons, free eco-bags and animals made out of food! We were having so much fun that we didn’t even notice the flash flood happening outside (or maybe we were so blissed out from our time in the meditation room). See a ton of other photos in the full post

Steve and Lindsay with our clients, Dave and Ebeth

Darryl, Linds and Cory in front of the living wall

The new company store

Mirror graphics in the new store that “reflect” Danko’s values

Me making full use of the meditation room

Egonomic work stations that let you sit or stand at your desired height. Still not tall enough for Steve, though!

Cory and Lindsay enjoying the food and beverage options in the show room

Fabulous food art!