Water Dept. and a Parks and Rec Employee Honored by Local Sustainability Group
(Philadelphia, August 19, 2016) – The Philadelphia Water Department and a veteran employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation were among the winners of the inaugural SustainPHL Awards, presented last night in Center City.

PWD’s Green City, Clean Waters program won the “Climate Hero” award, which honors those who take action to fight climate change, and to raise public awareness of it. “This award is recognition of the hard work and forward-thinking culture that drives the Philadelphia Water Department,” said Commissioner Debra McCarty. “We plan our infrastructure investments by looking many decades into the future, and preparing for the reality of climate change is an important part of that process. We are pleased to see the many people who make Green City, Clean Waters and our Climate Change Adaptation Program possible recognized for their contributions.”

Green City, Clean Waters has added thousands of green stormwater tools to Philadelphia neighborhoods through development, redevelopment and investments at hundreds of private and public sites, keeping hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted water out of our rivers annually.  Since 2011, PWD has been working to create a network of green infrastructure tools  to improve local water quality in a way that also helps fight against and prepare Philadelphia for climate change.

Also honored was Nic Esposito, the Sustainable Practices Manager at the Department of Parks and Recreation.  He won the “Unsung Hero” award, which honors a person who makes a substantive yet unrecognized contribution, usually refraining from claiming too much in return for his/her efforts. “My work at Parks and Rec has been some of the most fulfilling and rewarding work of my career,” said Esposito. “And I certainly share this award with the many unsung heroes at PPR whose work often goes unnoticed – work that protects our natural environment and gives every Philadelphian a chance to build community through parks and play.”

In his role at Parks and Rec., Esposito works on initiatives such as energy efficiency, sustainable land care and recycling. He is also a writer, urban farmer and sustainability activist. He was the co-founder of Philly Rooted, an urban farming organization in West Philadelphia that developed two community gardens, an urban farm and a youth growers’ cooperative. Along with his wife, Elisa, Nic currently co-manages Emerald Street Urban Farm that produces over 1000 pounds of free food each year for its volunteers and the St. Francis Inn Soup Kitchen.

The City’s Director of Sustainability, Christine Knapp, was among the presenters at the SustainPHL awards.  “The SustainPHL awards shine a light on all that we’ve achieved in the last eight years, demonstrated by the number of nominees and winners that are programs or employees of the City,” said Knapp at the ceremony.  “It’s great to give recognition to those who are helping to make our city better and to inspire us to keep working towards our vision of a truly sustainable Philadelphia.”

In addition, the Philadelphia School District won the “Sustainable Communities” award for the District’s first-ever comprehensive sustainability plan, GreenFutures. SustainPHL is the brainchild of Green Philly Blog founder Julie Hancher, whose goal is to provide a more comprehensive view of sustainability, educate, and inspire attendees to move the meter of sustainability further.

Two other programs and one other city employee had been among the SustainPHL nominees.

• Farm Philly, a Parks and Rec urban agriculture program was nominated for “Locavore Champion”
• Dave Bower, Volunteer Coordinator from Parks and Recreation was nominated for “Local Advocate”
• PowerCorpsPHL, a City program supporting environmental stewardship, youth violence prevention and workforce development, was nominated for “Civic Sustainability” award.