Our weekly newsletter, What You Can Do, curates a short list of environmental news relevant to our region, as well as opportunities to learn about, steward, and enjoy our urban landscape. To subscribe, type your email into the box at the bottom of this post and indicate which newsletter topics you’d like to receive.
On this page, you can also find links to opportunities to help improve the environment—here in Philadelphia, or abroad.
- Local cleanups and stewardship
- Local training programs
- Community science
- International initiatives
Local cleanups and stewardship
Cobbs Creek Ambassadors
Participate in cleanups and events in this West Philadelphia park.
Natural Lands events
If you have the ability to drive outside of the city, you can help steward some remarkable nature preserves.
The Park Friends Network
Find your local parks and help take care of them.
TTF Creek Care
Clean up trails along Tacony Creek in northeast Philly.
Volunteer at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
Assist educational activities, lead walks, or be a weed warrior.
Wissahickon Valley Park service days
Help maintain plantings, clean up, and improve the trails in this creek park.
Local volunteer training programs
Tree Tenders
Short trainings are offered several times a year. Both trained and novice tree tenders can participate in biannual plantings, usually April and November. Hosted by Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Tuition: Sliding scale, suggested donation ~$40.
Philly Forest Stewards
Adopt a section of Philly’s natural lands and work year-round to control invasive plants, care for young trees, monitor restoration sites, remove litter, and help preserve Philly’s much-needed natural lands.
Master Watershed Stewards of Philadelphia County
Our stewards plant and maintain native species to help manage stormwater, remove trash and aggressive plant species from local waterways, and provide watershed education and outreach to children and adults in our urban environment. Hosted by Penn State Extension. Training takes place in spring. Tuition: ~$150.
Master Gardeners of Philadelphia County
After completing training, Master Gardeners help Extension serve the gardening public by answering questions, speaking to groups, writing gardening articles, working with youth, gardening in the demonstration gardens, participating in a range of citizen science research programs, and in many other ways. Hosted by Penn State Extension. Training takes place in spring. Tuition: ~$250.
Pennsylvania Master Naturalists
A Pennsylvania Master Naturalist is an individual with a passion for the natural world who participates in an intensive training program and uses his or her knowledge by giving back to the community through volunteer service. Hosted by PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Tuition: ~$425.
Community science
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. It’s also a crowdsourced species identification system and an organism occurrence recording tool.
Nature’s Notebook
Track changes in the timing of plant and animal seasonal activity for the National Phenology Network.
Salt Watch
Since 2018, the Izaak Walton League of America has been working to solve road salt pollution issues from the source with the Salt Watch.
Xerces Society community science
Count bugs! Projects include Firefly Atlas, Bumblebee Watch, and the Monarch Nectar Plant Database.
Zooniverse
You don’t need any specialized background, training, or expertise to participate in Zooniverse projects. We make it easy for anyone to contribute to real academic research, on their own computer, at their convenience.
International initiatives
Shift
An online quiz created by Project Drawdown designed to help you identify ways you specifically can take climate action, depending on your geographic location, skills, and interests. Shift is hosted by Project Drawdown, a good resource for exploring global climate solutions.
Plastic Free July
Take the Plastic Free Pledge, look for ideas and resources for reducing plastic waste, or get assets to support a plastic reduction campaign in your workplace or community.