With the new solar powered recycling/trash compactors spread throughout the city, colorful and beautifully designed recycling trucks, and grants pouring in to the city from various organizations and the United States department of energy, Philadelphia is posed to become one of the top ecofriendly cities in the country.
Our subject humbly refuses to take credit for any of it. Katherine Gajewski, Philadelphia's second director of sustainability, has already helped the city make huge strides in going green since being given the position in July of 2009. Before arriving in Philadelphia, the Wesleyan University graduate worked in land conservation in Vermont and Seattle.
Katherine was the campaign coordinator for the Breathe Free Philadelphia Alliance from 2004-2006, which led the successful grassroots campaign to pass smoke-free legislation in Philadelphia. Katherine then consulted the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in overseeing implementation of the legislation, which not only included business outreach but a public education campaign, resulting in high compliance levels that well exceeding expectations.
“It is a great privilege to take on this challenge at a time when environmental conservation, energy security, and the creation of new jobs and technologies have rightly become national priorities,” Katherine said at her induction ceremony last summer.
“Achieving Philadelphia’s sustainability goals will require a team effort across government, the sustainability advisory board, the business community, outside organizations, and citizens. We have made incredible progress over the last 18 months and I look forward to helping Philadelphia move to the next level as a leader in sustainability.”
For more information on Greenworks Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia’s sustainability goals please visit www.greenworksphila.org.
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