Rhode Island Feeds

By Bill Gerlach | Follow me on Twitter

A few weeks back Sustainable Sakonnet turned three.

Some of you may remember that first, ambitious post. Not a lot has changed since then. The inspiration for the blog is still there and I have been humbled by everyone who has taken time to share their stories and insights. For me, S.S. has been and will always be about building community and dialogue.


But on this birthday, my wish is very simple: Help Sustainable Sakonnet grow.

If you have ever found value in some story or piece of content on this blog, could you help me grow our readership by forwarding this on to at least five friends? Ask them to sign up to receive free updates via RSS feed or Email. The new "Share" feature at the bottom of this post can help with that.

I have some exciting new things in the works that I plan to share more on in the coming weeks. In the interim, I have made some changes to the layout and organization of the site (notice the new "page" links at the top?) to help make your visits better and content more accessible. But it's only the start. There is so much more on this journey to share and experience together!

As always, thank you for your continued support of my work and that of Sustainable Sakonnet. You make all the difference and keep me going!

Be well,
Bill

[Image: HoneyBee KT via flickr]

Sometimes it’s the small things that can add up.

When mid-March rolls around each year, I remember how much wasted paper I used to use filling out college basketball brackets for the NCAA tourney. Endless sheets of brackets have now turned to computerized brackets that don’t need to be printed out - and not only does it save paper, but it makes it things easier and more accessible. I don’t need to add things up by hand, there are fewer mistakes and more people can join and fill out brackets. Sure, you can look and say, “well, it’d be easier on the environment just not to do a bracket” - but you can find a middle ground, which is really what doing things electronically allows.

As we move toward all-electronic medical records and all-electronic bill paying, we’re reminded of how easy it is to do things electronically. Sure, the computer takes up power - and yes, we probably have more bills and medical records than we used to - but that’s part of population growth. And so, we take advantage of the technology advancements to use less paper. It’s simply madness to ignore it.

GreenEconRT: As our green economy expands & green jobs r created, it's impt 2 understand what is going on. Just what does green mean?http://bit.ly/9zJBpl

GreenEconRT: The Wall Street Green Trading Summit Brings Int'l Green Innovators to NYC – Press Releases on CSRwire.com: http://bit.ly/9LJtt6 via @addthis

GreenEconRT: RT @SDNewsNetwork Everitt: Building the local green economy http://tinyurl.com/yek8elt

GreenEconRT: At the colleges | ProjoHomes | projo.com | The Providence Journal: http://bit.ly/d9CCXN via @addthis

GreenEconRT: RI.I. boat builders urged to branch out | [an error occurred while processing this directive]: http://bit.ly/99n4Rw via @addthis

ecoRInews: Plastic everywhere you shop. http://www.ecori.org/our-lives-are-wrapped-up-in/

Our Lives are Wrapped Up in Plastic

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI staff

Try buying items in a supermarket that aren't packaged in plastic. It's not easy. (Meghan McDermott photo)WAKEFIELD — Just thinking about what it would take to lead a plastic-free life overwhelms Catherine Weaver.

Plastics have so infiltrated our lives that the South Kingstown resident admitted she felt paralyzed to do anything about it. “If I tried to eliminate plastics from my life, I couldn’t get out of my front door,” said Weaver, who owns a landscape design company called TUPELO Gardenworks Ltd. “I wouldn’t even have a house. It’s a major time commitment to eliminate plastics from your life. The more you learn, the more you’re overwhelmed.”

Nearly one in three things in modern life is made of or contains plastic. It has many useful applications, some of which save lives. But plastic also has become the emblem of a world swimming in waste.<<Read full story

Landfill’s Recycling Stream Flows in Two Directions

By DAVID FISHER/ecoRI staff

Materials Recycling Facility employees sort materials. (David Fisher/ecoRI staff)JOHNSTON — The Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at the Central Landfill isn’t a recycling facility at all. Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation staff only sorts the recyclables brought to the state landfill, and then these materials are sold to recyclers and remanufactures, or as is the case with glass, used in some capacity at the landfill.

The MRF is a dual-stream sorting operation. The two streams are paper fiber — think office paper and cardboard — and commingled recyclables — think bottles and cans. Residents are required to perform the initial separation of materials into the appropriate blue or green bin. Once onsite, recycling trucks have to weigh in three times — once on the way in, once after unloading their paper and once after unloading their mixed materials, when they are empty.

All mixed materials — the blue-bin stuff — including plastic, glass, aluminum and steel, enter the sorting stream from a hopper that feeds into a series of conveyor belts, where they are sorted first by employees and then with some help from machines.<<Read full story

Rhode Island Foods Enter a New Galaxy

By DAVID FISHER/ecoRI staff

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Rick Antonelli cares about food. He cares about its safety, its quality, its nutritional value and how it is produced. He cares about the environment. Last, and certainly not least, he cares about the growth and prosperity of his company, Galaxy Nutritional Foods Inc.

The longtime Rhode Island resident and diehard Red Sox fan bought the company last May, with the assistance of Mill Road Capital, a private equity firm, and immediately began planning to move the company’s corporate headquarters from Orlando, Fla., to his home state.

That was an easy decision, at least personally, for the CEO. Antonelli lives in the Ocean State, and has children in the Rhode Island public school system. He wears his passion for Rhode Island on his sleeve, but noted that financially Rhode Island is not an easy state in which to own a business.<<Read full story

ecoRInews: Bristol Harbor closed to shellfishing. http://www.ecori.org/

Hope everyone’s adjusted to the hour we lost this weekend.  And be sure to beware the Ides of March.

China and India have signed on to the Copenhagen agreement (NY Times).

The L.A. Times has this interview with a former Interior secretary from the Bush administration.  It also has this article which talks about rising climate change skepticism in the GOP.

Florida’s deal to buy Everglades land from U.S. Sugar is on shaky ground (MSNBC).

Continued oil drilling around L.A. has residents crying foul (MSNBC).

Recycling in Massachusetts has plateaued in the last decade (Boston Globe).

A group tries to turn algae into fuel (Providence Journal).

Chilean sea bass is on the road to extinction due to overfishing – don’t order it.

By Bill Gerlach | Follow me on Twitter

Tonight we turn back the clocks. Now before you start lamenting over “losing” that hour, take another perspective: Putting the clocks ahead means another hour of daylight at the end of your day!

Not sure what to do with that? Here is a short list of simple (and mostly free!) things you can do to make the most of your new-found “time”:

1. Have a dinner picnic down at Fogland or South Shore beach with your family or special someone
2. Cook a fantastic meal outside
3. Take an after-dinner hike at Weetamoo, Fort Barton, Wilbur Woods, or Simmons Pond.
4. Walk or run some laps at Town Farm or the track at Tiverton High School
5. Head out on a bike ride around town
6. Take a stroll through Sakonnet Vineyards
7. Grab a pick up game of basketball at the Bulgarmarsh Recreation Center or Wilbur & McMahon School
8. Serve up some tennis at Town Farm or Tiverton High School
9. Let your kids run off that extra energy at the playgrounds at Wilbur & McMahon or Town Farm
10. Finally start that garden you’ve always wanted
11. Plant a tree (or three!)
12. Build yourself a compost bin
13. De-clutter your life a little and clean out your garage or shed (don’t forget to freecycle!)
14. Check out an event or class through the Sakonnet Arts Network
15. See what is happening at our local libraries (Tiverton, Little Compton)
16. Hang a clothesline and discover how awesome your clothes will smell after line drying
17. Get settled watch that sun set (or moon rise)
18. Enjoy an after-dinner concert by listening to the amazing bird songs at dusk
19. When it gets warmer, watch the aerial acrobatics of the bats coming out as the sun goes down
20. Play an after-dinner board game with the kids outside
21. Cozy up to the fence and catch up with your neighbors
22. Treat your dog to an extra-long run
23. Treat yourself to an ice cream at Moose Cafe, Gray’s, or in the Commons
24. Pencil in the Tiverton Financial Town Meeting into your calendar (Saturday, May 8) and commit to being there
25. Last but not least, keep your lights, TV and any other electronic gadget off for another hour!

[Photo: D Sharon Pruitt via Flckr]

Image of the Month Photo by Jef Nickerson
Bike Directions by Google

On March 10th, Google Maps launched bicycle directions for

150 American Cities, including Providence.
Streetsblog has an audio interview with Google Engineer Scott Shawcroft about the roll out of bike directions and Google's future plans for it.

Good news. There has been enough interest shown to warrant holding the "Getting Started: Building Rich Internet Applications with ArcGIS API for Flex" workshop in RI in April.
Please read the note below from ESRI and then visit http://www.doodle.com/n4scdxzmh84abw4t to quickly let us know your availability to attend this 4-hour workshop starting at various times on the 3 dates noted below.
Note from ESRI: "The April 1 date is no longer available as Alan Hammersmith who would conduct the workshop is already booked for another engagement that day. We could do one on either April 20/21/22. Unless you see an issue with that we will plan on one of those dates. Let me know and we'll confirm it on this end and get back to you."
Thanks for your interest in holding this event in RI. Go RIGIS! - Shane

Recently I volunteered to put together an instructional handout on worm composting to be given out at the GreenWays exhibit for this year’s Diocesan Convocation. After doing all this research I thought that maybe I should give this a try myself. There are a few good reasons that I’ve decided to do this.

Last year my landlord finally decided to take up the cement paving in the backyard and plant grass. He also planted a nice tree in the center to replace a large old tree that had to be taken down. There is now space around the border for plants and flowers so I would like to do some planting there this spring.

I have also been a member of the Fox Point Community Garden for the past three years. The garden space was originally an abandoned lot and the soil was not in the best condition. Every year I attempt to grow flowers and vegetables with limited success even with added compost. Our community garden also donates food from the garden, to a local food bank every year.     I would like to be able to contribute my vegetables, but my plants always seem to be small and struggling. I needed help.

Kathie Gibson, our GreenWays co chair, has offered to give me a can of worms at the end of this month so I can get started. Once I get the proper container, prepare the bedding and add the worms, I’ll be off and running.

As I begin to think about this adventure, questions run through my head. Will this work? Will this help my struggling community garden? Will I wake up one morning to see (ugh!) wiggling worms on the floor of my apartment? Kathie, who actually has a worm composting bin in her church sacristy, assures me that I have nothing to worry about. In the coming weeks and throughout the summer I will be sharing my experiences with you. I’ll also be sharing information that I find on the Internet in case you want to try this too. Stay tuned and wish me luck.

Next time … “preparing the worm bed”

 
Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse:the Soviet Example and American Prospects, will give a mid-day lecture at BCC on Thursday, March 25. The talk is entitled America’s Future at the End of the Oil Age: The Pre-Collapse Check-List. Born in Russia, Orlov moved to the United States while a teenager, and has traveled back repeatedly to observe the Soviet collapse during the late eighties and mid-nineties. (more…)