Rhode Island Feeds

Audubon Environmental Education Center, 1401 Hope Street, Bristol, RI
Saturday, Sep 4, 2010, 9am – 5pm

Thanks to the Citizens Bank Foundation the Environmental Education Center is open free to the public the first Saturday of every month. Join us for crafts, nature stories, animal discoveries, hikes and more. No need to register.

In the most recent issue of AMC Outdoors, Senior Editor Marc Chalufour described how Biddeford, Maine, fifth-grader Matt Perkins got to school one day a week last winter. Each Wednesday morning, Matt would show up at Biddeford’s Community Bicycle Center bundled in layers of clothing, wearing a hat underneath his bike helmet, and rolling a bike with hand-made metal-studded tires. He’d meet up with Dillon Teske, an Americorps volunteer, and together they’d ride to Biddeford Intermediate School. Matt was into it, claiming, “I bike everywhere I go.”

Matt Perkins’ story is unusual. Here’s a fifth-grader who rides his bike to school through a Maine winter. Here’s a reliable adult guide who shows up every Wednesday morning to escort Matt to school. And, behind the scenes, here are well-marked bike trails, community programs that teach bike safety, and a school and parents who support one child’s effort to get to school safely under his own power.

Sadly, Matt’s experience is all too rare. In 1969, more than 40 percent of students walked or rode their bicycles to school. In 2009, the rate was 13 percent.

The rate is low partly because we are even more firmly enmeshed in a car culture now than we were then. According to the nonprofit organization Safe Routes to School, half of all children who live within a half-mile of their schools are driven there. And our communities — many of which have seen ever-increasing, ever-faster car traffic — are no longer designed for safe walking or bicycling. Nationally, one-third of traffic deaths for children under the age of 14 occur when cars strike children who are walking or biking. In some places, the risk is even higher: According to the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Injury Prevention, the leading cause of injury hospitalization and death among 5 to 9 year olds in New York State is being struck, as pedestrians, by motor vehicles.

But changes are occurring — like Matt Perkins’ weekly bike rides to school. Twenty-five U.S. senators (that’s one-quarter of the Senate) signed on to co-sponsor S. 1156, the reauthorization bill for the Safe Routes to School Program, which helps underwrite programs like the one that got Matt Perkins to school. The bill is likely to be available in draft form later this month. Visit the Safe Routes to School National Partnership for information on what is happening at the state level.

Doing what it takes to increase the number of kids getting to school on their own power is a worthwhile initiative on several levels: from reducing carbon emissions to reducing childhood obesity, from teaching self-reliance to putting a little fun back into the school day. Riding to school might even help with self-image and social standing. Tooling into the parking lot on homemade studded bike tires on a frigid morning in Maine: How cool is that?

Learn more
- National Walk or Bike to School Day is coming up on October 6.
- Resources, including materials to create and promote a “Safe Routes to School” program.

Image kindly allowed by www.pedbikeimages.org.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

New Hampshire
Friday, Sep 3 – Sunday, Sep 5, 2010

Fri., Sep. 3-5. Lake Winnipesaukee Hike, Kayak, and Bike. More details at www.winaukee.com. Intermediate-level activities each day including yoga, happy hour, and evening programs. Lakeside cabins with plumbing and showers. Includes two breakfasts, two trail lunches, and two dinners (with a vegetarian option). Cost is $140/pp. Deposit of $100 is required by 7/17, with the balance due by 7/30. Call Linda to qualify, and mail check to Debbie Mitchell, 2945 Mendon Road, Cumberland, RI 02864. Include phone number and email address. L Jack Schempp (401-331-4553 7:00-9:00pm, jschempp1@gmail.com), L Herb Kingsbury (207-439 6449 7:00-9:00pm), reg/w Linda Pease (130 Sunbury St., Providence, RI 02908, 351-2234 7:00-9:00pm, linda.pease@cox.net)

On average, 6.8 percent of Rhode Islanders have diabetes, compared to the national average of 5.5. It is one of the most common, chronic and progressive health conditions in the U.S. today. Its incidence has skyrocketed largely because of...

According to a Streetsblog entry:

On Friday evening, New York Governor David Paterson signed two bills intended to make streets safer by giving law enforcement greater leeway to bring charges against reckless drivers.

As we’ve found in Rhode Island, law enforcement officials and prosecuters are often hesitant to bring forward charges against drivers who strike pedestrians or cyclists, because criminal intent or negligence is often tough to prove.  There new law:

creates an intermediate charge — a traffic violation called careless driving — which prosecutors can use in cases where criminal convictions seem unlikely. Motorists found guilty of careless driving will have to complete a driver education course and face fines up to $750, jail time up to 15 days, and license suspensions up to six months — or a year for repeat offenders.

This is very similar to the vulnerable roadway act we’ve been trying to get passed in Rhode Island for the last two legislative sessions.  Now that more states are jumping on the vulnerable roadway user bandwagon and we have more legal precident for such legislation, perhaps this will be the year we finally get some legislation passed in Rhode Island.  Our intent is to once again find sponsors for this legislation.  We will keep readers informed of our progress as we move forward.  If anyone is interested in assisting us with this effort, please contact us.

As you may recall, RIDOT closed the Union Avenue Bridge on June 23, 2010.  Paul Martens recently corresponded with RIDOT to find out what the bridge replacment will mean for cyclists.  Here is their response:

The new Union Ave bridge will have the same design configuration as the old Union Ave bridge.  There will be a 2 foot median, 2- 11 foot travel lanes, a one foot shoulder, and a 6 foot sidewalk, in each direction (Eastbound & Westbound).  There is no special accomodation for bicycles on this bridge.  Bicyclists will have to follow the standard traffic laws.

Naturally, we followed up to find out whether it was too late in the process for RIDOT to submit design changes.  Assuming so, we also asked RIDOT to ensure there were curb cuts on all sides of the bridge so cyclists, who aren’t comfortable with being potentially squeezed, to opt for taking the sidewalk instead.  Here is the answer we received:

It is too late to modify the bridge to include a lane for bicycles, this would be a major design change which would be very costly and time consuming. As for the sidewalks, I am not fimilar with the laws regarding bicycles on sidewalks, but there are wheelchair accessible ramps at each end of the bridge both Eastbound and Westbound.

Of course this begs the question, why when bicycle use and alternative forms of transporation are all the rage, isn’t every new bridge designed to allow for dedicated bicycle lanes?  We’ve posed this question to RIDOT and will update everyone when we get an answer.

Because of dangerous surf conditions anticipated with the advance of Hurricane Earl, Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, a popular surf-fishing spot, will be closed from...

If you have corresponded with the Westerly Mayor on behalf of Russ Harkay, I would encourage you to send us a summary of the discussion.  I received the following update from Paul Martens, who contacted the town manager on cyclists behalf:

Mr. Martens: FYI, here is a copy of the police report narrative from the date of the accident. The Chief tells me that the full report is available to Mr. Harkay both on line (go to our dept. website) or in person at the Westerly Police Station, and has been since August 17th when the report was approved. The investigation has been complete as of that time and no charges were brought. I am satisfied with the professional and thorough nature with which the investigation was conducted by Officer Kyhos and I support its conclusions. I am sorry for the unfortunate injuries your friend has suffered and I would assume it is a civil matter at this point.

I’ve uploaded a copy of the police report narrative referenced in the letter.  I find it hard to believe some sort of vehicular violation does not occur when you hit someone!  Sure accidents do happen, but I think it’s crucial that there be some sort of permanent record that this person struck another individual with his automobile.  Without a record of driving offenses, the courts or department of motor vehicles have little evidence to act on should future accidents occur.

I would encourage more cyclists to reach out to the town manager and let him know the entire community is watching this incident play out.

September 18, 20109:00 amto2:00 pm

Are you looking for something to do on September 18th and want to give a little back to a good cause?  Then join the Give Thanks ride in Bristol.  Unlike most cycling fundraisers, they have no minimum, how can you say no?  Here is a press release from the organizers:

Ride your bike on the road to hope.

Help cure childhood cancer by participating in the Give thanks. Ride., a new and exciting cycling event benefiting the lifesaving work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This fun-filled event will feature routes for everyone, from families and kids to the most serious cycling enthusiasts.

The Rhode Island Give thanks. Ride., presented by Coastline Ambulance and Nicholas Barrett & Associates, will take place on Saturday, September 18, 2010. This 50- and 25-mile charity ride will start at Colt State Park in Bristol, Rhode Island, and follow a path through the scenic communities of Narragansett Bay and Southeast Massachusetts. Parents and children are encouraged to participate in the 2-mile family fun ride inside Colt State Park.  The event schedule is as follows:

Saturday, September 18, 2010
9am:      50-mile bike ride
10am:    25-mile bike ride
12pm:    Post-event festival
1pm:      2-mile family fun ride

For more information, please visit www.stjude.org/givethanksride.

Please help spread the word to your cycling friends and families.  You can register online if you plan to attend.

Almost everyone has somehow had their life affected by or knows someone who has their life affected by a serious childhood illness.  St. Judes works tirelessly to fight for children and support their families through the process.

Tropical-storm season marks the beginning of autumn bass fishing season. The last three 40-pounders that Steve McKenna caught were taken in the surf following tropical...

Here's a sneak peek: We're profiling the New England Patriots Cheerleaders in the Thrive section of Monday's Providence Journal. In the piece, one of the cheerleaders, Patricia Fox, 22, of Westford, Mass., (shown at right from the New England...

Middletown, RI
Wednesday, Sep 1, 2010, 6pm

Wed., Sep. 1. Hike and Social, Middletown. Meet at Sachuest Point, 6:00pm. L Sid Wax (401-849-2495, sid_w@yahoo.com)

Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) and Rhode Island Families in Nature are planning an urban hike and garden tour in Providence Saturday, Sept. 11. The hike will begin at the Friendship Café on Broad Street. From there, it will travel...

Last year as the school year was starting, I wrote about my conversion to “green” lunches. We’d been buying local and organic fruit and vegetables for some time; the change of heart was more about how we wrapped, bottled, and containered Ursula’s and Virgil’s lunches. After gentle prodding from Jim, who as chief lunch-packer and bottle washer had been pushing for safer and more environmentally sound school lunches for the kids, I bought recycled lunch boxes, stainless steel containers, and reusable snack bags before the start of last school year.

A year later, I can say that our purchases have held up well. In fact, Ursula will again use her lunch box made of recycled juice boxes. Only one of the cloth snack bags disappeared over the school year, and the stainless steel containers were a huge hit.

Now that I think about it, what I should really say isn’t that I had a change of heart but that I finally stiffened my spine. When I wrote about last year’s purchases, I confessed to not wanting to know about chemicals like BPA, phthalates, and PBDEs. Once I was aware of their role as endocrine disruptors — in fish and other wildlife as well as in humans — I started to realize how pervasive they are. And in knowing more, our actions continued to change. A study I came upon later in the year identified the kids’ favorite soups as especially high in BPA. We started making our own soups. I learned that Maine had banned the use of plastic pallets because of concerns about food contamination by the PBDE form called DECA. We became even more careful about washing all produce and fruits.

For this school year, we’re trying not to use plastics or containers coated with toxic chemicals for any of our children’s lunches. We’ve disposed of most of our plastic storage containers and have added glass containers to the stainless steel ones.

Currently six states have banned BPA from baby bottles and baby toys. (And Denmark earlier this summer became the most recent country to enact a ban.) Legislation to ban BPA from children’s food and drinks has been introduced in the Senate. This bill replaces an earlier proposal to ban BPA from all food and drink packaging, which was pulled after intensive lobbying by industry groups.

I shouldn’t have to distrust our food safety system and our manufacturing. But until I have a better sense that the companies that supply so many of our household products care about the longterm health of my children, I’ll continue to follow the news and purchase their lunch supplies very carefully.

Learn more
• “Going Green Back to School” (2009)
• I found Ursula’s recycled lunch box, Virgil’s cotton lunch bag, and other lunch supplies at reuseit.com.
• Vermont, Connecticut, and New York have banned BPA in certain products, including children’s bottles and toys. A bill currently being debated in Maine could result in BPA being phased out in products for use by children.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

As an outdoors family, we care about the health of our environment — from the plants, animals, and natural features just outside our front door to those that we occasionally visit or only read about. Over the last several years, we’ve tried to make our daily habits correspond to that care. And that includes our back-to-school shopping.

I’ve recently come upon two useful documents for back-to-school planning and shopping. The Environmental Protection Agency has put together common-sense general guidelines that save the environment and save money. (Families are expected to spend an average of $606 on back-to-school purchases this year, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation.) Some of the EPA’s recommendations:

• Don’t automatically buy new. Can a child reuse last year’s backpack, binder, or pencil pouch?
• When you do buy, choose products that are made from recycled materials, such as pencils made from old blue jeans and binders made from old shipping boxes.
• Buy products with minimal packaging or that come in bulk sizes. Packaging accounts for more than 30 percent of all the waste generated each year.
• If you’re buying electronics, looks for the Energy Star logo, which means that the computer or gadget meets strict efficiency guidelines set by the EPA.

The other document is a fantastically detailed booklet from the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (founded by Lois Gibbs in 1981 after her activism prompted one of the nation’s first toxic chemical clean-ups at Love Canal) for purchasing PVC-free school supplies.

What’s PVC, and why should we avoid it? The short answer is that both the manufacturing process for this ubiquitous plastic and its incineration in landfills (or just heating it in a microwave or on the stove) releases a group of chemicals called dioxins, which are known to be toxic to humans and to wildlife. In addition, phthalates are often added to PVC products to soften them. These plastics additives have been banned from baby toys and bottles, but not from other children’s products. More than 90 percent of all phthalates are used in PVC plastics.

The 17-page booklet, available online along with a shorter guide, offers specific tips for avoiding PVC school supplies and a detailed list of manufacturers that offer PVC-free alternatives. Some of the tips:

• Avoid products with the 3-arrow recycling symbol with the number 3 or initials PVC, which indicates that the product is made with PVC.
• Avoid backpacks with shiny plastic designs as they often contain PVC.
• Avoid metal encased in colorful plastic, like the binder clips and paper clips in bright colors, alas. These usually contain PVC.

Next up: Packing Green School Lunches.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Smithfield, RI
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2010, 5:30 – 6:30pm

The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) is leading a canoe/kayak trip on Georgiaville Pond in Smithfield, in the middle of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed. This easy paddle from the historic Smith-Appleby House at the north end of the pond will give paddlers a chance to enjoy one of the hidden gems of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed. Georgiaville Pond is a 90-acre pond with houses along some of the shoreline, a town park at the south end of the pond, and two lovely islands in the pond with tall white pine trees on them. We will paddle in a 2 mile loop around the pond, starting and ending at the same place.

The WRWC has canoes and kayaks available but participants can also bring their own. Life jackets and paddles will be provided with WRWC boats but must be brought by the paddler if they use their own boat. Children are welcome as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

For participants who are using a WRWC boat, the cost is $20/person. For participants bringing their own boat, the price is $5/person.

This event is part of a series of paddling events called “Explore the Woonasquatucket,” organized by the WRWC this summer and fall throughout the Woonasquatucket River Watershed. Details on the full schedule of paddling events is available on the Watershed Council’s website: www.wrwc.org….

To register or for more information, call or email Bruce Hooke at the Watershed Council at (401) 351-5747 or bhooke@woonasquatucket.org . Advanced sign-up is required so that we can determine how many boats we need and keep the trip from getting too large.

The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the Department of Health are advising people to avoid recreational activities in waters affected by dangerous blue-green algae...

Hope Valley, RI
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2010, 12 – 2pm

Tue., Aug. 31. Floating Lunch Club. 12:00-2:00pm. Join WPWA on the Wood River for a short paddle to Fry Pan Pond where we'll stop to relax on the river and have lunch (bring your own). Event is suitable for beginner kayakers, ages 8+. Fee is $10/members, $15/non-members, and includes kayak rental. Pre-registration is required. For more info or to register, contact Denise. L Denise Poyer, reg/w Denise Poyer (denisep@wpwa.org)

Joe Thompson, a North Kingstown runner, is inviting area enthusiasts to join him on Saturday mornings from now through November as he trains. "I'll be running -- actually -- jog/walk is my usual pace, at a different school in (North...

Now that I’ve made the case for summer, it’s time to say good-bye to it.

Regardless of what the calendar says, summer ends for children and their families on the first day of school. No matter whether school starts in mid-August or whether September days are just as hot and steamy as they were at summer’s peak — when days are once again bound by schedule, and homework, and carpools or buses, it’s fall.

The next few posts look ahead to the new school year. Some offer advice for “going green” with school supplies. Then I turn to what’s new with the growing “safe routes to school” movement. Later on, I’ll take a look at the latest thinking in playground design, through an innovative natural play space created this summer at an elementary and middle school in the Upper Connecticut River Valley.

Of course, being outdoors is a year-round proposition, whether school is in session or not. So following this short series, look for the best places to hike during foliage season, 52 peaks with a view (all below 4,000 feet, and all in the White Mountains), and more!

If you’re already back on school routines, welcome to fall. If you’re still a day or more away – enjoy these precious few last hours of summer.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.