Strawberries have come and gone all too quick, but blueberries now are hitting their prime. Here is a new place to get them, at a good price, if you don't already have a tried-and-true source:

The Blueberry Place, 44 Hope Street in Seekonk, is open for business now through mid- to late-August.  Hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 8:30 AM to noon and 4:00 PM to dusk. Berries are $2 a pound pick your own; $1.90 seniors over 65.  Pre-picked are $3 a pint.  This is an opportunity to support local agriculture!

From Providence, drive east on Rte. 44 (Taunton Ave).  Just past Leonard’s Antiques, turn left onto Hope St. and go to the third house on left.

You can find dozens of other pick-your-own sites around the state at the Farm Fresh Web site. 

Blueberry painting courtesy of the awesome Providence painter Shawn Kenney.

It's long overdue, actually, and hard to imagine that beautiful Newport, home to scenic beaches and world-class sailboats, has a nasty pollution problem, but it sure does. This week, Environment Rhode Island and four Newport residents filed a lawsuit against the City of Newport for discharging pollutants from the City’s sanitary and storm water sewer system into Newport Harbor and Easton’s Bay in violation of the Clean Water Act. Yay!

“I want to be able to take my grandchildren to the beach without worrying about whether I am risking their health by letting them play in the water,” said Henry Rosemont, a plaintiff in the suit.

Click on "More..." to read Environment Rhode Island's news release. And click here for a story by Rick Salit, the projo's Newport reporter.

It might be hard to even think of Rhode Island as a "wild" place, but it does have its nooks and crannies where nature persists -- sometimes against all odds.

One thing that can tip the odds for a river is to be designated "Wild and Scenic." This brings an extra measure of protection to the waterway.

Some time ago, advocates proposed that the Taunton River, which flows into Narragansett Bay, should be so designated. This could help in the fight against proposed LNG facilities, which are opposed by just about everyone. The issue is now being debated in Congress, and won approval in the House this week.  Click here for an update via the Huffington Post. More info about why the LNG plan is a bad idea at stopweaverscove.com.

Another local group is lobbying for Wild and Scenic protection for Buckeye Brook, the little river that runs along the edge of Green Airport in Warwick, into Narragansett Bay. The brook would be the first Wild & Scenic river for Rhode Island.

Local river advocate Steve Insana organized a site visit for officials from the National Park Service, the EPA, and others, and was encouraged by the response.  "Good news!" he told NNN. "Buckeye Brook in Warwick is on its way to being RI's first wild and scenic river." The brook has historical significance, offers recreational opportunities and is a herring run. Click here for the Warwick Beacon story by John Howell. Click here for a Rhode Island Monthly story about the brook and advocates' fight to protect it from pollution. And click here to visit the Web site of the Buckeye Brook Coalition.

The brightest lights in the night sky are having a get-together this week.  Tonight, Jupiter and the nearly-full Moon will be side-by-side in the constellation Sagittarius. The pair rise in the southeast just after nightfall and remain visible all night long. That's not all: The International Space Station is making a series of evening passes over North America and it will join Jupiter and the Moon over many towns and cities.

If you've never watched the Space Station fly by, it is a kind of cool sight! Watch for it to rise Friday night at 9:49:33 pm in the west-southwest, it takes about two minutes to fly across the sky to the far horizon, look for a tiny bright dot moving across the stars. For more info, go to spaceweather.com.

via: Ladd Observatory

More drilling is not the answer, the Sierra Club's Chris Wilhite says in an op-ed in today's projo, and he is right on target. Drilling off the coastline and in the Arctic carries environmental risks, and what good will it do us? It won't lower our gas prices or even have a major impact on supply -- though it would certainly put more profits in the pockets of big oil.

How about this instead -- maximize our efficiency, stop wasting so much, mandate 50 mpg cars (well within reach of our current technology -- or make that 1980s technology), and improve mass transit? That's the way forward -- to just keep drilling is to just keep digging ourselves deeper into an unsustainable hole.

Click here to read Chris's op-ed.

Here it is mid-July in Rhode Island -- the weather forecast looks great, the beaches are open, the first local sweet corn and blueberries are turning up at farmstands, a sweet soft breeze is blowing -- it doesn't get much better. Turn off your TV, unplug the kids, and spend your days under the sky.

You can start the weekend tonight, with a butterly identification workshop at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center, or listen to stories about local wildlife from R.I. author Todd McLeish at the ASRI Env Ed Center in Bristol, or learn about fireflies at Audubon's HQ in Smithfield. Details about all of these events and many more, at our NNN Community Calendar. And at 9 p.m., don't miss your chance to view Saturn and Mars through the big telescope at Ladd Observatory -- scroll down on NNN for details of that event.

The Coastal Growers Market at Casey Farm offers free yoga Saturday morning at 8, to start off Aquaculture Day. You can celebrate with some fresh Matunuck oysters.  Or you can go for a paddle in Pawtuxet Cove with the folks from Save The Bay, 9 to noon, click here for info. Or join up with the active Appalachian Mountain Club folks to kayak in Ninigret Pond, bike ride in Newport, or hike in New Hampshire, details are at our NNN Community Calendar.

At Garden in the Woods, in Framingham, Mass., a new Big Bugs exhibit opens on Saturday and runs through the fall. Besides giant sculptures of real insects, the project includes lots of classes and special events for kids. All this plus back yards, barbecues, sweet corn, watermelon, sunsets, and the Bay -- who needs to travel?

photo courtesy of Save The Bay

When it comes to moving in a green direction, technology is a big part of the answer. We can build more efficient homes and communities, it just takes a little creative thinking and motivation. Working to build that motivation and create connections is an organization called the Green Building Council, and they are organizing a new chapter here in Rhode Island.

The RI group has already met a few times, and it's attracting a large and diverse group of architects, designers, builders, eco-advocates, and policy makers. You're invited! Come check out the next meeting, on July 17. Guest speaker is Barbara Batshalom, founder of the Green Roundtable in Massachusetts, which promotes sustainable design practices. Barbara will talk about the NEXUS green building resource center, which provides space to exhibit green products and host events, and is home to a library of resources and materials samples - a model the organizers of the RI group would like to replicate.

The group meets next Thursday, July 17, a week from today, in the student lounge at the New England Institute of Technology, 2480 Post Road, Warwick, 4:30 to 6 pm, with professional networking 6:00pm - 6:30pm. Registraton opens at 4. To RSVP, or for more info, contact Connie McGreavy, Conserve By Design LLC, 401-862-3158, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The group will meet monthly, on the third Thursday, and coincides with the Providence Green Drinks group. Check NNN next week for details about July Green Drinks!

Green Zone is a term we hear all too often in the Iraq war news.... an oasis, at least theoretically, amid a mass of chaos and destruction. But here in Providence, a few creative souls have co-opted the term and bent it around to describe a whole different thing -- an organic vegetable, herb, and flower garden planted in what they describe as "the detritus of wartime consumption: used tires, shopping bags, shoes, and other repurposed containers."

Six tires that were pulled out of the Woonasquatucket River during the Earth Day cleanup in April now overflow with herbs, kale, beet greens, lettuce, gourds, beans, radishes, turnips, and flowers. The work -- and the bounty -- is shared by a coalition of the willing at Firehouse 13.

Sarah Zurier created the Green Zone concept, you can visit all summer long at Firehouse 13, 41 Central Street, in Providence.  And check out Sarah's GreenZoneGarden blog, where you can learn more about the project and check out other related topics like Victory Gardens, tire gardens, edible landscapes, and more.

Wow! I was just at the Audubon Environmental Ed Center in Bristol a few weeks ago, and work had not yet started to restore the beautiful boardwalk that was burnt in a fire in April. So today, I was surprised to get an email saying the restoration is complete, and the boardwalk is open! This is great news for bikers who enjoy the East Bay Bike Path, which provides access to the walkway. The boardwalk meanders across the path, through woods and wetlands to a breezy view at the edge of the bay. And of course visitors to the Env Ed center also can now have access. 

Click on "More..." for more details from the Audubon Society of RI.