In case anyone noticed I wasn’t blogging last week, I was at the Jersey shore on vacation.

Normally, this is not a time for sustainability. My family gets a shore house, and I suppose I should confess that we indulge in using paper plates for almost every meal. And the family member in charge of bringing the paper towels and toilet tissue didn’t buy ones with recycled content, I’m sure.

At the end of a cold day on the beach, I took a really loooong hot shower.

But at least I didn’t have to fly in an airplane across country to get there.

And the house had a cool toilet — a Kohler that used only 1.6 gallons to flush. It made an odd-sounding gurgle, then an impressive whoosh.  Final analysis: It worked! So in the near future, I may just be in the market for a new one for my own home.

As usual, I spent a fair amount of time surf fishing. But not to worry about sustainability - I rarely catch a thing. It’s just that it’s somehow wonderfully cathartic to stand there at water’s edge with my line in the water, thinking about nothing.

If I can cast my bait half as far as my father-in-law does, I consider the effort a success.

If a bluefish winds up on my hook and gives me a good fight, all the better.

Today,  suddenly has 30 more parks than it did yesterday. 

They’ll all be gone again come Saturday, alas, but organizers of the event — part of a national push to promote parks — hope the lesson lingers.

About 30 groups are taking over one or two spots each at locations throughout Center City. They’ll be  feeding the meters all day as they roll out sod, bring in bushes, set up benches and otherwise create mini-parks.

The point is “basically to raise awareness of the need for pedestrian friendly and green urban spaces, and not just keep accommodating the car,” says local organizer Pamela Zimmerman.

An architect with Brawer & Hauptman, Architects LLC, she became interested last winter after hearing about the national effort launched in 2007 by a San Francisco art collective.

This year, the national sponsor, the Trust for Public Land, a conservation nonprofit, estimates people will set up more than 400 parks in more than 70 cities.

In Ardmore, evening picnickers and others will take over a parking lot that is slated to become a new park. They plan on having music, a bake sale, bike races and a contest for the best-decorated parking space.

In Mt. Holly, a master gardening organization are inhabiting two parking spaces and offering fact sheets about composting, rain gardens, lawns and more.

Full national information is here.

Philadelphia information is here.

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future yesterday gave out its ninth annual "green power" awards in Philadelphia.  They went to 26 individuals, organizations, government agencies and public interest organizations. 

Here's the list of top greenies:

• Green Power Purchasers - Small Businesses

§   Dansko (West Grove, Chester County), for purchasing 100 percent of its electricity from wind power and for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) New Construction Gold Certified office and retail complex in West Grove.

§   Montgomery County, for purchasing 100 percent of all county electrical accounts from wind energy, becoming the first 100 percent wind-powered county in the nation.

§   The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd., for purchasing 100 percent of its electricity from wind power.

• Green Power Generators
  • AE Polysilicon (Fairless Hills, Bucks County), for choosing Pennsylvania for the location of its new polysilicon manufacturing facility and for its commitment to creating Great Green Jobs in the state.
  • Brubaker Farms (Mount Joy, Lancaster County), for its manure digester project that supplies clean energy back to the grid and helps to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 47,300 pounds per day.
  • EverPower Renewables (Krayn, Cambria County), for its continued leadership in the development of wind energy in Pennsylvania, including the completion of the Highland Wind Project, the first project to use 2.5 megawatt Nordex turbines.
  • Exelon Corporation and Epuron LLC, for their continued leadership in the development of solar energy in Pennsylvania, including the construction of the Exelon-Epuron Solar Center at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.
  • Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia (Aston, Delaware County), for the installation of a 9.89-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system to help produce vegetables for 115 families.
• Leadership
  • Sam Enfield (Arlington, Virginia), for his continued commitment to the sustainable development of wind in Pennsylvania, particularly his work on wind and bat interactions.
  • Mike Freeman (Philadelphia), for his work in the development of the Exelon-Epuron Solar Center in Bucks County and the Navy Yard.
  • Lance Simmens (Harrisburg), for his work to develop the wind energy model ordinance, solar working group, and for 67 presentations on Climate Change, as developed by Al Gore.
  • Bill Cagney (Pittsburgh), of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 95, for his enthusiasm and leadership in providing training to fill the great green jobs of the future, and for sharing his expertise with other unions, government, the private sector and public interest organizations throughout the state.
• Sister Janice McGrane (Flourtown, Montgomery County), for her continued efforts to promote green energy including her extensive volunteer work for the Great Green Jobs Campaign.
• Mike Mckinley (Philadelphia), for his continued efforts to promote green energy through his support for the Great Green Jobs Campaign and the Energy Independence Strategy legislation.
• Pioneers
• Jon Costanza (Collegeville, Montgomery County), for his continued efforts to grow the solar energy industry in Pennsylvania and participation in the Great Green Jobs Campaign.
• Rushforth Solar (Bryn Mawr, Montgomery, County), for its continued commitment to the development of renewable energy in Pennsylvania, particularly solar thermal, and for participation in the Great Green Jobs Campaign.
• Green Jobs
  • Sally Silver (Exton, Chester County), for her work in the development of the Smart Energy Initiative of Southeastern Pennsylvania, its training programs, and network of over 300 companies.
• Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management
  • PPL Electric Utilities (Allentown), for the development and expansion of the residential time-of-use rate pilot program, the Energy Analyzer website, and installation of advanced meters for all customers.
  • Millcreek Township School District (Erie), for the installation of a green roof at the Asbury Woods Nature Center.
• The Citizens' Choice Green Power Hero Award (based on recommendations by PennFuture's members and supporters)
• Lewis Kindja and Aaron Steinly(Armagh, Indiana County), executive directors of principalsforchange.org; principal of United Junior/Senior High School, and assistant principal for United High School, respectively, for their leadership in Principals for Change and the 210 mile walking trip from Meyersdale, PA to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness about the need for alternative energy.
 

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and a few other sponsors are planning a bike-centric weekend that includes an art show and a cornucopia of rides.  They expect thousands of cyclists to turn out.

On Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. the 6th annual “Bike Part Art Show” will be held at Studio 34, located at 4522 Baltimore Avenue. They’ll have bike-themed art and bike-themed films, all to benefit the youth programs at Neighborhood Bike Works.

Saturday is the day for the 12th annual “Scenic Schuylkill Century,” with rides of 25, 38. 65 and 100 miles through the lesser-traveled areas of Chester and Montgomery Counties.

Check it out here.

Then, on Sunday, if you’re not too tired, an event called “Ride Commerce Bank Bike Philly” is the weekend topper.
It’s a mostly Center City tour with loops of 10, 20, 35 and 50 miles.  The first 20 miles of all loops are car-free — even through Cinatown and past Head House Square.

People can sign up online until midnight Friday. Otherwise, registration will be held from 6:30 to 7:45 a.m. Sunday, and the cost is $50 for adults, $25 for students and $5 for cyclists age 17 and under.

Details are here.

In Monday’s column, I wrote about how putting spare change back into circulation - instead of keeping all that copper and zinc and other metals laying around the house, forgotten - can be a good thing.

Never mind that it was the for-profit coin-counting service, Constar, making the assertions.

My research led me to a wonderful New Yorker article about pennies  that I’d like to share.

It’s as delightful as it is fascinating.

One of the things that tickled me was that reporter David Owen calculated the actual value of picking up a penny from the sidewalk: “Breaking stride to pick up a penny, if it takes more than 6.15 seconds, pays less than the federal minimum wage.”

And here’s Owen’s take on spare change:

“During the past thirty years, the U.S. Mint has produced something like a half trillion coins, most of them cents, yet the Mint estimates that only about three hundred billion coins are currently in circulation. This estimate is probably high, since it includes coins that haven’t budged from their coffee cans in years. Even so, the missing change is worth billions. Where is it? Except in rare cases, old coins, unlike old banknotes, aren’t withdrawn from circulation by the Federal Reserve. People simply mislay them, eventually, in one way or another, and in most cases they disappear as permanently as if they had been dropped into the sea. Pocket change leaks from the economy the way air leaks from a balloon, and most of what leaks is pennies.”

I know a woman who has an annual contest with her nephews. Whomever finds the most currency just in their walks along streets and sidewalks in a given year wins. This year, she’s certain it will be her. Back in January, she found a $20 bill.

Coinstar estimates most households have $90 laying around, although this may include people with collections. I was dubious, and sure enough, in my own search through my house, I found just $27.03.

There were two mini-motherlods: A desktop cup my husband empties his change into, which that day held $7.72. I also remembered a small box into which I’d begun stashing state quarters: $13.75 total. Back into circulation!

Meanwhile, the U.S. Mint has wonderful information on coins, including how many are made and what they are made of.

Philadelphia is having a one-day street fair immersion into all things green Sunday.

Check it out from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the area around Second and South streets.

The theme this year is water quality, and people will be able to fill up their bottles — reusable, natch —  at several drinking water stations. Back-to-back seminars will focus on PCBs in the Delaware, residential water use, stormwater, pesticide.

ZIPcar will attempt to fill one of their hybrids with old sneakers — so be sure to bring your old ones — and then recycle them. Puppeteers will be making puppets out of plastic bottles.

Some 200-plus exhibitors will showcase organic foods, the vegan way of life, green building, reusable bags, energy, recycling, laundry detergent ... and, honestly, just on and on and on.

SCA, a global hygiene product company that makes environmentally-friendly paper products, has designed a recycling game. Players have two minutes to separate  dozens of common items into two bins: recycling and trash.

Philadelphia’s Ben Freeman plans to bring out his solar-powered tricycle, which     just goes to show all the innovative projects being noodled around these days.

Check it all out at their website: www.greenfestphilly.org

 Swiss schoolteacher Louis Palmer left Switzerland  on July 3, 2007, in a vehicle powered solely by the sun. It tows a trailer topped by panels.

He wrote as part of his mission statement: “Admittedly, as a regular citizen I cannot change the world but I can demonstrate to the world just how dire the global climate situation has become and how many sophisticated solutions to lower the greenhouse gases already exist, which bring with them many other advantages.”

He said he hoped the tax would “rekindle hope and a zest for life, set an example to counteract resignation and stimulate reflection. And show that every single one of us can take a step towards preserving our planet.”

If you want to meet Palmer, and see the taxi, he’ll be in front of The Franklin tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 5) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It’s part of the last stage of his trip across North America. By the time he gets back to Switzerland — presumably, this November — he will have driven across five continents and more than 40 countries.

His web site is a bit out of date, but it’s pretty cool anyway: http://www.solartaxi.com

For more information about tomorrow: 215-448-1152.

In a recent issue of Mother Jones, I read about a proposal — although I’m not sure how formal or serious it is — to save gasoline by having every driver in the country keep the gas tank half empty or less.

In effect, every car is a mini storage tank, with the nation’s entire auto and fleet amounting to one huge oil reserve.

The notion enchanted me. Although most of the time the Boy Scout in me wants to keep my tank half full or more, the eco in me wants to let it run down so my car weighs less and will get better mileage, however fractionally.

But just think:

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the nation has at least 200 million passenger vehicles. (I’ve seen higher estimates.)

If every one of those routinely drove around with five gallons less than usual, that would amount to one billion gallons NOT in storage in their tanks.

At 42 gallons per barrel, that equals 23.8 million barrels.

This just happens to slightly exceed the total U.S. daily petroleum consumption of 20.7 million barrels of oil.

Of course, if everyone continues to drive the same amount, it’s not exactly a permanent fix. But it makes you think, doesn’t it?