May
27
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
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Businesses have lagged behind in recycling here in R.I., and the DEM announced a while ago that it's time for that to change. With the landfill reaching capacity, the more junk that can be deflected to recycling instead, the longer the space we have left will last.  So, to help businesses do a better job, the RI Resource Recovery Corp and DEM have launched a new Web site called the Green Zone. Recycling and reducing waste can help businesses save money. For those of us who've been frustrated that while we recycle to the max at home, we can't even find a recycling bin at work, this is good news! We can all help to make this happen by showing support for recycling at work.
Click here to check out the Green Zone, click here for the DEM press release, and click here for a recent story in PBN on the topic.
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Apr
09
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
 Over 6,000 Providence residents have taken advantage of the Neighborhood Planting Program, a private organization which plants trees along Providence streets. Groups of residents must apply to recieve the trees, which are free, but the residents must agree to participate in the planting and take on the responsibility of the young trees? care. Each street can get five to 20 trees. The City of Providence is a partner in the PNPP and matches the cost of the street trees and the preparation of the planting sites.
On Saturdays this month, spring trees will be planted across the city, from the East Side to the West. On Arbor Day, Friday April 25, a a special planting ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. near 345 Sharon Street. If you'd like street trees in your neighorhood, get your neighbors together and apply. The deadline for Fall 2008 plantings is June 2. Applications are available by visiting www.pnpp.org, by calling 351-6440 x13 or 401-368-5380, emailing
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or stopping by the Program office at 8 Third Street.
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Apr
03
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Thursday, 03 April 2008 |
 Governor Carcieri announced this afternoon that the state will seek bids from private developers to build and operate an offshore wind farm just south of Block Island. The project would have about 105 wind turbines and generate 1.3-million megawatt-hours per year. The deadline for proposals is May 16.
Read more about it at PBN, and in the projo.
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Mar
31
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Monday, 31 March 2008 |
NNN?s publisher, D.J. Johnson, is a regular guy on a mission to help consumer culture evolve and create Sustainable, Humane, Economical, Design ? a new SHED for everybody.
 There are some who would say that a Farmers Market is the wrong place to shop if you are on a budget. But if that were true, why then would you set up a farmers' market in the playroom of AS220, Providence?s most renowned artist hive? What do poor, starving artists want with a costly alternative to the Ultra-Super-Save-Wal-Market?
One reason to shop locally might be that if you can?t afford quantity, then quality matters even more. Take starving artist One: Timothy, a tall, thin, bristly twenty-something fellow who makes his living making music and spinning records. He lives in a loft at AS220 on Empire Street, just above the Saturday Market. Timothy was smiling greedily at the bag of fresh baby spinach he was heading home to consume. ?It?s good stuff. I like the idea that it so fresh, and that I know where it came from," he told me. "I can actually speak to the person who?s grown it.?
Starving artist Number Two had similar sentiments. While Margaret has never felt particularly rich, despite her arts practice and the subsidy she gets from serving folks at the Fez for tips, she still shops at the farmers market. ?I?m a gardener in the summer. I like being connected to my food and I feel compelled to support people who feel the same way," she says. "This is my community.?
My friend Susan is not a starving artist, but someone who is equally devoted to the local, fresh concept of the AS220 market. She repeated what mostly everyone else I spoke had to say. ?The food is good, and it?s worth it.?
I asked Sherri Griffin, of Farm Fresh, the organizer of this weekly winter event, what she thought about the dollars-to-value question that is sometimes raised by people on a budget. Her answer was quick and sincere: ?Cheap food is cheap for a lot reasons. Not all of the reasons are good.? Sherri drew a picture in my mind of huge farms spread across subsidized land that can be used until it gets used up. The underpaid laborers, using fertilizers and insecticides, crank out tons of market produce a day. ?And you could probably talk to them about how they grow their products ... if you lived in California, or maybe Chile,? she says.
Much of the produce we buy at the supermarket has traveled 27 times as far as the produce available from local sources (so say the folks at Sustainable Table). That?s a lot of food miles, which is also a lot of energy. Not to mention the time lost between the harvest and the kitchen.
Here in Rhode Island, it?s different. Our local farmers manage to make good food happen on expensive land, despite high taxes, surrounded by the ever-encroaching subdivisions. ?Farmers in that situation have to practice 'permaculture' to keep the land working, and that comes at a slightly higher cost,? says Sherri. ?But the results are great, fresh, seasonal foods. Whether you are paying with cash, Fresh Bucks, food stamps/EBT, or credit card, the bonus is that your money goes right back into your community.?
After talking to Sheri, I had to wonder, can you afford not to shop at your farmers' market? Just to check what kind of premium I would have to pay, I made a comparison with my local super big-box chain store. A nice 10-ounce bag of fresh Rhode Island-raised baby spinach cost $4.00 at AS220 -- that's 40 cents an ounce. At the supermarket, a wilted 6-ounce bag of agro-farmed Californian spinach cost $3.39 -- or 56.5 cents an ounce -- over 16 cents MORE!
Doesn?t take a starving artist to tell which is the better deal.
The winter market will stay open every Saturday, noon to 3, until May 31. For more information about the coming outdoor market season, check out www.farmfresh.org.
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Mar
26
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
Solarwrights, based in Bristol, has been installing solar energy systems around Rhode Island and southern New England for years, and with their latest installation, reached a total of one megawatt of clean, emissions-free power generated via local rooftops. That's enough energy to supply about 1,000 homes.
"Reaching the one-megawatt mark is a tremendous accomplishment for SolarWrights and a testament to the power that homeowners have in making smart choices about their energy sources," says Bob Chew, president of the company. "Homeowners like the Kincaids are making a difference." Gary and Nita Kincaid, of Stonington, Conn., installed a pole-mounted array of 50 SunPower solar modules, which will produce 12,156 killowatt-hours per year, enough to meet about 80 percent of their electrical needs.
Connecticut's Clean Energy Fund offsets up to 60 percent of the cost of residential solar systems, making the installations much more affordable for Connecticut residents than they are for us here in R.I. When the full costs and benefits of solar vs. traditional electricity generation are compared, the investment seems well worthwhile.
Pictured below: Charlie Morgan and Dave Cohen of the Stonington SolarWrights office, home owners Nita and Gary Kincaid, and Bob Chew.
For more info:
SolarWrights
Powered by the Sun, a recent WNPR podcast
"The Sun King," a recent Rhode Island Monthly story about alternative energy.
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Mar
16
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Sunday, 16 March 2008 |
Here at NNN, we are big fans of local foods. Milk from Rhode Island farms is the freshest and tastiest you can get, and fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers markets are a treat. Not only does the food taste great, every dollar you spend goes to support your neighbors and helps to protect green rural spaces in our little urbanized state.
 Now Narragansett Creamery, based in Providence, is selling locally made cheese. This is a first for Rhode Island! The cheese is made in small batches using local milk from family farms. All cheeses are kosher-certified and vegetarian friendly. You can find Narragansett Creamery Cheese at the Winter Farmers Market at AS220 on Saturdays, Venda Ravioli on Federal Hill, and Farmstead Cheese Shop in Wayland Square. Now it is also available in more places, including Eastside Marketplace, Local 121 downtown, Olga's Cup & Saucer in the Jewlery District, and The Cheese Plate, on State Street in Warren.
Also, Scratch Farm, a 1.5-acre organic farm in Cranston, will offer Narragansett Creamery cheeses as part of their CSA (community supported agriculture) program. Pre-purchase vegetable, egg, cheese or flower 'shares' and help keep local agriculture vibrant.
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Katie Miller at the farm asap for more info.
Read more about Narragansett Creamery in the February issue of Rhode Island Monthly.
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Mar
14
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Friday, 14 March 2008 |
 While the fight drags on here in southern New England over the future of industrial-scale wind farms (Cape Wind and various offshore R.I. proposals), some frustrated alt-energy advocates say there's a better way -- put solar panels on every rooftop, wind turbines in every city, and get them up and running here and now. Put control over these resources directly in the hands of local communities and home owners. With some modest government incentives to help bring down the cost per unit, we could be moving forward right now at lightspeed -- instead of running in circles.
Coming up on PBS Tuesday at 8 p.m., NOVA takes a look at solar power. You can watch the show, Saved by the Sun, right now, online.
And more info from NOVA:
New Ways to Catch Rays
Take a look at six of the hottest new solar technologies.
Ask the Expert
Steven Strong, a "green" architect and engineer, answers
questions from home owners about solar energy installations.
This Solar House
See how one couple transformed their 1960s tract house into a
zero-energy home.
Inside a Solar Cell
How does a photovoltaic cell convert sunlight into electricity?
And also:
The Sun King
Rhode Island Monthly takes a look at our local alt-energy scene.
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Mar
13
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
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Sally Kingsbury enjoyed a winter picnic on Rose Island and took some time to interview the island's lighthouse keeper of the week.
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Mar
10
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
 These free classes actually come with two bonuses -- one, you get free coffee, tea, and cookies. Two, you get to take a nice Sunday drive over to Little Compton, one of the most beautiful areas of our state.
The folks at Peckham Farm are offering this series starting March 16. Every Sunday morning, from 11:30 to 12:30, they will teach you something useful for your garden. Topics include how to grow vegetables, how to compost, plant nutrition, pruning, container gardening, and more.
While you're there, you can visit the Peckham Greenhouse, where they have all kinds of annuals, perennials, and shrubs for sale. Go to their Web site for all the details and a map to get you there.
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Mar
07
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Friday, 07 March 2008 |
There are so many easy things we all can do to be a little kinder to our environment, here are just a few to think about for the coming spring season.
-- Plant some native plants in your yard. They'll be easy to grow, take less water, provide for our local birds and bees. The state Conservation Districts in Greenville and Wakefield have info and order forms online now, to order your plants for pickup in April and May. You can get white pine, blueberries, rhododendron, dogwood trees, and lots more. (Click here for a recent N.Y. Times story about how important native plants are to local wildlife.)
 -- Install a rain barrel. By collecting the runoff from your roof, it helps prevent the overflow of rainwater into our rivers and the Bay. Then you can use the water for your garden, relieving stress on local water systems. You can order online from the Rhode Island Water Lady.
-- Don't overfertilize. Extra fertilizers dumped on your lawn filter down into the groundwater and end up in the Bay, where the excess nutrients wreak havoc on marine ecosystems. And think twice before using chemicals of any kind in the yard -- if you have to put up warning signs to stay off the toxic grass, can that really be a good thing? Apeiron's Sustainable Directory lists garden and lawn care services that say they use earth-friendly methods.
 -- Get your veggies from a CSA. A Community-Supported Agriculture program sells shares in advance to a farmer's produce for the season. Each week you pick up your share of all the freshest picks, including veggies, herbs, fruit, and sometimes eggs and meat. And you get to visit your local farmer and know the fields your food is from. Farm Fresh RI has all the info for you to sign up. Many farms sell out early, so don't dawdle.
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