Rhode Island Feeds

Watch out for those ladders and mirrors and black cats today. Here are a few links for the weekend.

The fires in Russia are raising fears that radioactive material could be released (NY Times).

This in-depth article offers a look at Portugal’s embrace of renewable energy (NY Times). And here’s a look at how butter can be turned into biodiesel (NY Times).

And finally, looking to save some energy? LED bulbs are now available for less than $20 (CNET).

RIRRC: TOMORROW 8/14: EP hosts FREE Eco-Depot for Household Hazardous Waste (60 Commercial Way, RI residents). Call for an apptmt: 942-1430 x 241

Brown moves up to number 45. Others in top 5 were Princeton, MIT, Amherst and West Pointhttp://www.pbn.com/stories/51697.html

RIRRC: The Jazz Fest topped the Folk Fest with 2.94 tons of recyclables. That's up from last year's 1.6 tons. Now that's music to our ears! Thx RI!

Downtown Bristol to show Avatar at Independence Park!
For all those who have yet to see the movie AVATAR it isn't too late. It's coming to downtown Bristol on Saturday, September 4 and its FREE. Thanks to Walter Burke and the Bristol Recreation and Parks Dept, The DBMA, The Bristol Pastime Foundation and RWU we will once again have a movie showing in Bristol. Please click on image once to enlarge. Movie at 7:30pm; Family ZUMBA with Deana at 6:45pm! Thanks to all who organized this. What a terrific idea!

Many of you may remember Alex Kuffner, reporter for the Pro Jo,
when he was on the Bristol beat. We still miss him terribly!
He just received an award in journalism! No surprise to us -
we all knew/know he is excellent and totally top rate!

Alex Kuffner, reporter for the Providence Journal,
received a New England Associated Press News Executive
Association award winning First Place
for Business/Consumer news with his article:
"The Race: Several Companies want to be first to
develop an offshore wind farm"

The article will be posted in a later entry (ie when I can find it).
Go here to read the seven page article
http://www.projo.com/economy/OFFSHORE_WIND_RACE_08-16-09_EBF0D97_v106.33863bd.html

Photo: Alex, right, head down doing his job (it's not easy to get a face shot of AK!) interviewing
Rep Ray Gallison of Bristol under the Mount Hope Bridge in July.

GreenEconRT: approved! RT @huffingtonpost: Block Island Wind Farm Proposal Approved By Rhode Island Energy Commission http://huff.to/9Pvnvo

Photo essay by TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI staff

The Bristol History Kids created and organized by Carol Glanville, Colt-Andrews first grade teacher, has a new website. Please go here http://www.historykids.us/home to check it out and contact Carol if you have suggestions! Great job!
"The History Kids are learning about our community’s historic sites, our history and the artifacts held by our museums. They are dedicated volunteers and are in training to become the next generation of docents and museum directors.
The history of America is the history of their backyards and Town Councils and main streets. These students have a wonderful time discovering the local drama of times past and the significance of the great events that have made us Americans."

RIRRC: The EPA says that > 1/4 of municipal waste = food scraps & yard trimmings. Start composting today! http://www.rirrc.org/resident/composting

Check out the Community Environmental College students volunteering to promote healthier foods at New Battambang Market on Elmwood Avenue!

via Market promotes healthful eating | Turn to 10.

The truth these days is harsh - we don’t know quite how bad the effects of global warming will be. The latest example is the floating ice island that broke off a glacier off Greenland.

Four times the size of Manhattan, this floating weapon could sink ships with ease, simply by crashing into them. Right now scientists think the ice island could reach Newfoundland in 1 to 2 years. If it does this, well, look out.

These scientists believe the new ice island will enter Nares Strait and either block it or break up and lodge between real islands in the Strait. Such was the fate of a 230-square-mile ice chunk which calved from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf in Canada in 1962. Another possibility is that the pieces could travel south toward the Atlantic over the course of the next two years and melt in warmer waters. Right now, the island is floating about 620 miles south of the North Pole.

While this “ice island” was always somewhat of a possibility, the bigger fear from the melting glaciers and ice caps was always the rise in sea level. Now we have this as well. I hope cameras can get footage of the island breaking off from the glacier as those types of clips often resonate most with the public (aside from polar bears). Who knows - maybe this can be another in a yearlong of wake-up calls.

Best case scenario is it only clogs up shipping lanes and worst-case scenario is this island floats into boats causing massive destruction. There’s no way of knowing. But there’s one thing we do know for sure - this is only the tip of the iceberg on global warming.

Photo essay by TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI staff

ecoRInews: Presto! BP's Spilled Oil in the Gulf is Magically Gone. http://www.ecori.org/presto-the-oil-in-the-gulf/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI5yPUO4R2Q

Enjoy this youtube video of me catching and talking about blue crabs in the Bay.

We Need You!

Now is your chance to be trained as a cleanup leader!  Leaders are trained in organizing cleanups and cleanup safety and they help lead upwards of 30 cleanups each season for Save The Bay.

Join us in October for our next round of leader training!

RIRRC: The Newport Folk Fest produced more than good tunes! It turned up 1.5 tons of recycables. RIRRC's free service: http://tinyurl.com/22wpgyc

By DAVID FISHER/ecoRI staff

Providence landowners that would like to preserve urban agriculture on their property have few options but to pay high taxes. (ecoRI file photo)PROVIDENCE — The Greenprint strategic plan has rather clear language on the city’s intention to increase the number of community gardens within the its limits, and points to three that have been started, on city property, in the past few years — in Elmwood on land rented to the Southside Community Land Trust, in Fox Point at Gano Park and at the corner of Sessions Street and Wayland Avenue.

While the Capital City can be commended for increasing residents’ access to public gardens, and in turn, access to locally grown fruits and vegetables, the city’s — some would say exorbitant — property taxes leave little recourse to residents wishing to buy or rent land within the city on which to grow food.<<Read full story

ecoRI staff

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin creating clean-water protections from nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE), a highly toxic, gender-bending chemical widely used in industrial laundry detergents. Exposure to low levels of NPE has been shown to create “intersex” fish, male fish that produce female egg proteins. Cases of such “intersexed” fish have been documented from the Potomac River to the Pacific coast.

The plan announced this week includes further health and safety studies of the effects of NPE on people and the environment, while beginning the process to regulate the chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

“We know these chemicals are highly toxic and we know there are safer alternatives,” said Albert Ettinger, senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “If we want to protect public health, then NPEs should stop being used for many of their current applications.”

“When chemicals in our environment, such as NPEs, affect the gender of fish, it’s a danger sign that more scrutiny is needed for chemicals we produce and use,” said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Quality Program.

In 2007, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Workers United, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Washington Toxics Coalition petitioned the EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act to require further toxicity testing of NPE. The EPA denied the petition, but following litigation, the organization relented.