Community Corner

Eco Awards Given; New Campaign Unveiled

Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson and Josh Fox, the director of Gasland received the award this year at the second annual EcoArts Festival.

Chants of "come clean, go green" echoed on Main Street Saturday as local musician Tone Love kicked off the Eco Champion Award ceremony with his anthem of green living.

To underscore the theme of the weekend in Manayunk, all the rapper's DJ equipment was powered by people riding bicycles in the background.

And Tone Love wasn't the only one getting the message out. According to Jane Lipton, the executive director of the Manayunk Development Corporation, the 4th district is "turning up the volume" on recycling.

Find out what's happening in Roxborough-Manayunkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"As a district we recycle nearly 80 percent of materials," she said at the event at Main and Cotton Streets during the EcoArts Festival Saturday. "We do our part here in Manayunk."

At the event Lipton and Councilman Curtis Jones awarded Clarena Tolson, the city's streets commissioner and Josh Fox, the director of the documentary Gasland with the Eco Champion Award.

Find out what's happening in Roxborough-Manayunkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The awards, Jones added, were made completely out of recycled material.

"This is the only earth I know of and we need to be proper stewards," Tolson said. "What we leave behind says around for a very long time."

Littering, she said, is something that could be dealt with easily, reducing what you leave behind is a bigger challege.

The commissioner said she was excited to be part of the unveiling of Manayunk's new litter-free zone, part of the citywide Unlitter Us initiative. 

"Manayunk has made a committment to be good stewards," the commissioner said.

Fellow award-winner, Fox discussed the hazards of drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

"Contaminating our water is the ultimate form of littering," he said. "The city of Philadelphia needs to stand up and say something about this."

With information, Jones said people in the 4th district are now must take action.

"We cannot wait to see what happens in a year or two," he said. "We can prevent catastrophe now."


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