Grid is celebrating its 100th issue. Win tickets to its celebratory bash

Philly’s sustainability community is alive and well. See: SustainPHL, social enterprises such as United By Blue and Wash Cycle Laundry, and the tenure of Grid, the monthly print magazine about all things green in the city.

Grid is celebrating its 100th issue — theme: “Made in Philly” with a party on Thursday, Sept. 14, at Philadelphia Distilling in Fishtown. There, you can meet the magazine’s staff and other folks who have made the past 100 issues, get a preview of the “revamped” mag and enjoy snacks and drinks from local sources.

We’re raffling off two tickets to the event. Want them? All you need to do to enter is subscribe to our email newsletter with the code GRID100. We’ll pick a winner by EOD Friday, Sept. 8, so you’ll have a whole week to plan your sustainability-themed outfit.

We also chatted with Grid Publisher Alex Mulcahy about the event and its significance. His answers are below.

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What’s the significance of Grid’s 100 issue? Why is it worth celebrating?

When Grid came out in 2008, the economy was crashing, traditional print models were failing, and part of our message was that, as a society, we all need to consume less. So, from a business perspective, I think it’s worth celebrating that we beat the odds and produced 100 of these magazines. But, much more importantly, we can celebrate that there is a growing consciousness around sustainability. Grid is just a manifestation of that.

Why is sustainability coverage important for Philadelphia?

Sustainability is survival. We try to put the issues that are truly most important — the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the communities where we live — front and center. Judy Wicks says something to the effect of, “People can’t be sustainable by themselves.” We have the American myth of the rugged individual, but as we see in the sad news from Texas, our fates are tied to one another. Grid aims to educate and cultivate community.

Favorite Grid story from the past 100 issues?

I love all the stories about people whose hobbies turned into all-consuming passions, and about communities coming together to solve a problem, but if you are making me pick just one story, I’ll choose the Hybrid-X program.

It’s an extraordinary story about how kids, if given the right support and opportunity, can get excited about, and excel at, learning. I’m thrilled that the people behind that program are now running The Workshop School in West Philadelphia. [Editor’s note: And winning awards for doing so.] It’s the kids in that program who are going to ensure that Grid has stories to tell for the next hundred issues.