Rhode Island Feeds

RIRRC: Send it on back! Check out mail-back programs for hard-to-recycle materials here: http://tinyurl.com/26ejp26

ecoRInews: Checkup confirms a few, mostly discouraging, trends about health of Narragansett Bay. http://www.ecori.org/discouraging-trends-about-bay/

RIRRC: Bring a truck & we’ll load it. RIers can buy RI Grade A compost at RIRRC for $30/yard (min. ½ yard). Cash, check, or credit card.

GreenEconRT: what would you like to see come of the newport navy base land? http://bit.ly/dfO7Wb

BP received 74 waivers from the Coast Guard to use dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico (Washington Post), but the EPA says BP’s use of dispersants was appropriate (MSNBC). Meanwhile, optimism persists that the “static kill” will be successful (NY Times).

BP is scaling back its cleanup efforts, but many wetlands remain at risk (LA Times).

Here’s another article about conflicts at MMS (Washington Post).

Under pressure from the attorney general, Cape Wind cuts prices (Boston Globe).  In Oregon, one company offers residents money in exchange for silence (NY Times).

San Francisco approves development on a Superfund site (MSNBC).

A study finds mammal populations declining in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone (BBC). The Florida Everglades are back on Unesco’s danger list (BBC).

New recycling programs turn old athletic shoes into paving materials for playgrounds.

By ecoRI staff

Lobsterman Denny Ingram gives a young tourist an up-close look at the rare yellow lobster he recently caught in Narragansett Bay. (Photo courtesy of Denny Ingram)NEWPORT — Local lobsterman Denny Ingram recently pulled a rare yellow lobster from the East Passage of Narragansett Bay. He said he found the lobster, which is golden on the top and bright yellow on both sides, in one of his pots.

Experts say this genetic feature is rare, occurring in about 1 in 30 million lobsters.

“It definitely has a lot of yellow in it and is not like anything I personally have ever seen,” the longtime lobsterman wrote in an e-mail.

Ingram said he plans to keep the yellow lobster on display at the fishermen’s co-op at the state pier.

By ecoRI staff

The documentary will be shown Sunday, Aug. 1, at Everyman Bistro in Providence, beginning at 8 p.m.PROVIDENCE — The documentary “Fresh” celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing the food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of U.S. agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for our food and planet’s future.

The 72-minute film will be shown this Sunday, Aug. 1, at Everyman Bistro, at the American Locomotive Works, 311 Iron Horse Way. The film will begin at 8 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $5.

Among several main characters, “Fresh” features urban farmer and activist Will Allen, the recipient of the MacArthur 2008 Genius Award, and sustainable farmer and entrepreneur Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

“‘Fresh’ portrays a movement that is happening in America and worldwide,” according to director Sofia Joanes. “The alternative food market is the fastest growing market in the United States, even though it still makes up a minuscule percentage of the food economy. And it’s incredibly energetic. Where it will lead us, I don’t know.”

Joanes initially intended to make a film that documented the urgency of the climate-change crisis, hoping to scare herself and others into taking action. Instead, she “encountered the most inspiring people, ideas and initiatives. Who knew that we already had the solutions to so many of our problems and that some of us were already hard at work implementing them?”

“Instead of the despair and inaction unwittingly fostered by the media, these examples of change suggested a very different perspective,” she said.” “Life is an indivisible network in which every node is critical. Each one of us is creating the world we are living in. It is this creative process that gives our life meaning and pleasure.”

RIRRC: Have something? Leave something. Need something? Take something. It's the place to give & get free stuff online: http://www.rirrc.org/free

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI staff

Narragansett Bay is experiencing warmer water, lower oxygen and more algae blooms.A midsummer checkup confirmed a few, mostly discouraging, trends about the health of Narragansett Bay.

Equipped with submersible Sea-Bird monitoring devices, observers from Save The Bay, along with Brown University scientists and students, recently crisscrossed the bay in three boats, taking measurements of the water’s salinity, temperature and oxygen content.

The collaborative project, which includes considerable support from the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, conducts the surveys as part of an 11-year study of dozens of areas with low levels of dissolved oxygen. It also aims to determine if hundreds of millions of dollars spent upgrading wastewater treatment facilities and managing stormwater runoff are improving the state’s complex aquatic ecosystem.<<Read full story

GO TO ECO-DEPOT AND E-WASTE COLLECTION AT CENTRAL LANDFILL ON 8/21
Appointments Required for Household Hazardous Waste Disposal

JOHNSTON, R.I. (July 30, 2010) – The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) will collect household hazardous waste (HHW) and electronic waste on August 21 at the Central Landfill on Shun Pike, Johnston. Appointments are necessary for HHW drop-offs but not for e-waste. The collection will be held from 8:00 a.m. until noon.

Eco-Depot is a valuable HHW collection program that is free for all Rhode Island residents. Since 2001, RIRRC has collected over one-and-a-half million pounds of HHW from its frequent collections. HHW cannot be combined with regular trash or recyclables.
“Rhode Islanders take great pride in the Ocean State and care deeply about keeping our waterways clean. Using Eco-Depot is one very important act that we can all do to make sure that hazardous waste doesn’t accidentally flow into our watershed,” said Mike OConnell, executive director of RIRRC.
RIRRC accepts a wide variety of hazardous materials such as oil-based paints, propane gas tanks, fluorescent light bulbs, insecticides, and fertilizers.

Like HHW, e-waste cannot be commingled with trash. Examples include televisions, CPUs, laptops, fax machines, gaming units, and scanners.

For a complete list of eligible materials or to make a household hazardous waste appointment go to www.rirrc.org, or call 942-1430 x241.

Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation is the quasi-state environmental agency dedicated to providing the public with environmentally sound programs and facilities to manage waste. The agency helps fund and promote the state’s recycling program, and owns and operates the Materials Recycling Facility and Central Landfill in Johnston.

GreenEconRT: check out the Plastiki... a catamaran built w/ 12500 plastic bottles that's sailing across the pacific http://www.theplastiki.com/ @plastiki

GreenEconRT: not just in the gulf... "79 Rhode Island Beach Closings in 178 Days Last Year" http://bit.ly/aDyxBg RT @ecoRInews

GreenEconRT: RT @johnmaeda: Power we dump into the trash RT @newscientist http://bit.ly/955kUM

GreenEconRT: "Bizarre Wind-Powered Car Travels Downwind Faster than Wind (Video) : TreeHug..." - http://bit.ly/9WaY9o via @TreeHugger

GreenEconRT: RT @treehugger interesting... charging an electric uses about as much electricity as 4 to 6 plasma televisions http://bit.ly/9AoBop

Over the several days, the URI Environmental Data Center completed significant server updates and reconfigurations that will help to better support the growing catalog of free online map services via the beta Rhode Island Digital Atlas (http://www.edc.uri.edu/atlas). Nearly all map services have been restored, including the popular Spring 2008 RI E-911 aerial photographs. The remaining map services will be continue to be brought online over the next few days.

One important change to note is that all map services available via the Atlas now use the WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere) coordinate system (EPGS/WKID code 3857). If you use Esri ArcGIS software to access these map services, you will need to use version 9.3 or newer since this coordinate system isn’t supported by earlier versions. ArcGIS software users may need to drop and re-add any layers in your map documents that reference the older map services for them to work correctly. The coordinate system change was necessary to support the growth of the Atlas, but fortunately I don’t anticipate needing to change it again for quite some time unless if Google/Bing/Esri cook up something new!

I appreciate your patience over this transitory stage, and am looking forward unveiling more features for the RIGIS website and the Rhode Island Digital Atlas over the coming months. The best is yet to come!

Over the several days, the URI Environmental Data Center completed significant server updates and reconfigurations that will help to better support the growing catalog of free online map services via the beta Rhode Island Digital Atlas (http://www.edc.uri.edu/atlas). Nearly all map services have been restored, including the popular Spring 2008 RI E-911 aerial photographs. The remaining map services will be continue to be brought online over the next few days.

One important change to note is that all map services available via the Atlas now use the WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere) coordinate system (EPGS/WKID code 3857). If you use Esri ArcGIS software to access these map services, you will need to use version 9.3 or newer since this coordinate system isn’t supported by earlier versions. ArcGIS software users may need to drop and re-add any layers in your map documents that reference the older map services for them to work correctly. The coordinate system change was necessary to support the growth of the Atlas, but fortunately I don’t anticipate needing to change it again for quite some time unless if Google/Bing/Esri cook up something new!

I appreciate your patience over this transitory stage, and am looking forward unveiling more features for the RIGIS website and the Rhode Island Digital Atlas over the coming months. The best is yet to come!

GreenEconRT: RT @TaigaCompany: Enterprise Adds Electric Vehicle Rentals, WeCar Sharing, Massive Tree Planting http://bit.ly/by2QGQ

GreenEconRT: RT @NAWindpower Analysis: Offshore Wind Project Would Provide Economic Benefits To Rhode Island http://bit.ly/c1NoSR