If the weather folk are right, we should feel the start of Fall this weekend, with cool, sunny days, and the first hints of changing color in the trees. Sounds like perfect weather to get outdoors and enjoy our beautiful Ocean State, and there is lots to do for everybody.

Get a jump start on the weekend tonight, with a visit to Newport's wonderful Salvation Cafe, on 140 Broadway, to join up with the Newport Green Drinks crowd. Special guest state Sen. Theresa Paiva-Weed will address the group at 6:30. Be there anytime from 5:30 to 7:30 to enjoy a cash bar and complimentary appetizers. 

Here are some great events that we already wrote about -- click on each for more info. Tonight at URI in Kingston, you can learn about Arctic shorebirds and mingle with the RI Natural History Survey folks. Or learn about Buckeye Brook at a workshop tonight in Warwick. On Saturday, the Green Buildings Open House Tour offers a chance to check out alternative energy options. On Sunday, join the East Bay Bikes & Birds group for a leisurely ride along the bay.

And here are a couple of great events from our NNN Community Calendar, click on each one to get more details.  Friday, the RI Tree Council holds its annual conference, in Warwick. Saturday, take a kid mountain biking in North Kingstown. Or click here to browse the calendar for more options.

Also coming up over the weekend -- 

Flow, a documentary film about the future of our fresh water -- politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel -- examines the emerging environmental issue of the next century. At the Cable Car Cinema in Providence.

Saturday from 9 to noon, the Pawtuxet Farmers Market at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet hosts a Big Green Used Book Sale, stock up for winter reading! Saturday and Sunday, the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown hosts its annual Harvest Fair, an awesome event for the whole family. Click here for details.

And next Tuesday at URI, the amazing Global Change Colloquium continues, this time with journalist Charles C. Mann, author of  1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Starts at 7:30 on the Kingston campus, click here for all the details.

Here at NNN, we are longtime fans of Save The Bay and the good work done by their small staff of hardworking advocates and educators -- so we are doing all we can to help get the word out about their upcoming Bay Bash fundraising event, at the Foundry, in Providence. The Bash aims to celebrate the grand opening of the enormous Providence CSO tunnel, a major new infrastructure project that promises dramatic improvement for the water quality of the upper Bay -- and at the same time, the Bash will help raise the funds needed to keep all that good work going at STB.

Click here to learn more about the CSO project, and click here for all the details about Bay Bash. Tickets start at $75 -- not insubstantial, but this is a fundraiser! -- and go as high as $250 for dinner and all the VIP extras. This is not a stuffy black-tie event, the band English Beat will be there to get folks on their feet and festive. The CSO project represents a dramatic step forward for our Bay, so get out there and celebrate!

Dear NNN: Help! I saw something skitter away from my compost pile, and I think it was a rat. How can I get rid of it without using poison or traps? -- Patty

Dear Patty: Good question! We asked David Jones, one of the experts at Bio Tech Pest Control in Westerly, what to do, and here is his advice.

Patty, you are wise to want to keep your yard free of rats, especially at this time of year when they will soon be looking for warm winter quarters -- and you don't want them to consider your house as an option. Mice also may be considered cute little creatures when they're outside, but you don't want them to think about coming indoors. Their waste products are smelly and dirty, and if one gets into your food pantry, or dies in your basement or garage, you won't like it. Also rodents can chew through electrical cables, which can cause fires in your home or even in your cars.

We do have nontoxic, environmentally friendly options for dealing with them -- click on "More..." for the rest of the details.

This Thursday night in Kingston, the Rhode Island Natural History Survey invites the public to a free lecture entitled "Shorebirds of the Arctic: Impacts of Oil Development on Nesting Shorebirds," by ornithologist Stephen Brown. The lecture will start  at 8 p.m., in the auditorium in Swan Hall on the URI Kingston Campus.

The group will hold its annual meeting just before the lecture, at 6:30. Executive director David Gregg and president of the board Peter Paton will update RINHS members and the public on the role of the Survey in the course of environmental science and management in Rhode Island in the past year, and discuss plans for the future. The annual meeting is free and open to the public and includes a dessert reception.

For more info about the lecture, and more talks to come in this series, click on "More..."

It's a season of abundance here at our local farms, despite what's happening in our national economy. Here are a few places where you can enjoy the local harvest, and you'll find our own local cheesemaker, Narragansett Creamery, at each of these events.

Saturday, October 4: Harvest Fest @ Clement's Marketplace, Portsmouth

Saturday, October 18th: Local Food Celebration, Lee's Market, Westport

Wednesday, October 29th: Last Newport Farmers' Market

Saturday, November 1st: Last (Full) Hope Street Farmers' Market, Providence

Saturday, November 22nd: Special Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Farmers' Market @ Sakonnet Vineyards, Middletown

Many of our local farmers markets continue through the end of October, and some will host special harvest events. Check with the Farm Fresh Web site for markets near you!

This Saturday, a bunch of local home owners will invite the public in to see how they've used alternative energy strategies to heat and power their homes. This is an awesome nationwide event, organized locally by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. This year's event promises to be the largest event of its kind in history, with as many as 150,000 people participating in 46 states across the nation.

Here in RI, local solar energy company SolarWrights will host tours of several homes, to demonstrate how photovoltaic or thermal solar systems can work in our climate.  "The tour is an opportunity for people to see how others, in their neighborhoods, their towns, their states, are using solar energy to combat rising energy costs and reduce carbon emissions," says SolarWrights CEO Bob Chew.

Other open homes and businesses offer close-up looks at a variety of green strategies, including wind, geothermal, passive solar, and more.

The Green Buildings Open House demystifies green buildings, proving that they are comfortable, affordable, and attractive. Informational materials will be available at all sites. The Tour is free and open to the public.  For locations of homes and more info go to the NESEA Web site. Or click here for the listing of RI sites, found in the East Bay, South County, Providence, and elsewhere. A nifty google map feature will show you the locations of all the sites (be sure to click on both go! buttons). Click here for an NNN slideshow about Ray Cayer's round house in Hopkinton, one of the homes on the tour.

by NNN Contributor Susan Genett

The new Newport Energy and Environment Commission showed at a meeting last week that they are serious about solidifying local environmental concerns into law. Congestion and traffic make air quality a concern in Newport's downtown, and the city recently passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for drivers to park with their engines idling for more than five minutes.

At last week's meeting, at the town library, commission members and other city officials discussed the details of how they will make visitors and residents alike aware of the law, and ensure that it's enforced. A public-info campaign is in the works, but officials made clear that while warnings may be issued at first, they intend to enforce the law. Violators may be fined up to $1,000 and will have to appear in court. 

So, next time you are visiting the City by the Sea, keep in mind that clean air benefits everyone, and do your part. The commission also plans to address school and business recycling, stormwater run-off and energy alternatives for Newport. They will meet again 16 October, the third Thursday of the month, and meetings are open to all.

Here's the latest on an offshore wind farm for Rhode Island, from the Providence Business News:

PROVIDENCE – The state has selected Deepwater Wind to build a 100-turbine wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that the developer says will not be visible from land, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri will announce today. Officials hope the project will eventually generate 15 percent of the state’s electricity. 

Click here to go straight to the full PBN story, which is very comprehensive with lots of illustrations and links.

Click here for the governor's news release.

by NNN contributor Eric Lopresti 

NOTE this event was orginally scheduled for last weekend, but was cancelled due to weather. Now it's on for this Sunday, October 5!

Get outdoors this Sunday!  The Brown Birdwatching Club will lead a biking trip down the East Bay Bikepath, birdwatching at many spots along the way. This beautiful 14-mile path starts in East Providence, off Riverside Drive, and ends in Bristol, near Colt State Park.  It offers a huge diversity of habitats, meaning a large diversity of birds. Last Friday, in about an hour, I casually observed over 30 species of birds just in the East Providence area!

Whether you have never birdwatched before or are obsessed with it, we would love to have you along.  We will meet in the morning, probably at 9:30, at the first parking lot on the path, then ride at a very leisurely pace with many stops, including stopping at Colt State Park for lunch before turning around.  Pack a lunch, water, and binoculars (if you have them).

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have any questions or plan on coming. I would like to get an idea of number of people, as well as be able to remain in contact with everyone in case of a weather cancellation or any changes in plans.

If you cannot make it this time, I plan on making this a somewhat regular event. I have several other routes in mind, both inland and coastal, so it won't get stale and repetitive. If you can think of a good route that is bike-able from Providence, please let me know, I would love to hear it!