by Steve Stycos

The Pawtuxet River needs your help. Stop & Shop wants to build a store on the Warwick Nurseries property on Warwick Avenue in Cranston. The current zoning code would not allow a large grocery store on the site, so Councilman Richard Santamaria (Ward 5) is proposing to change the definition of the zone to help Stop & Shop.

This maneuver avoids a variance hearing that would require notification of neighbors and a careful examination of the construction plan. Our neighborhood group, Friends of the Pawtuxet, is opposed to the Stop & Shop proposal because: 1) Our experience with Shaw’s is that supermarkets should not be put next to rivers because plastic bags and newspaper flyers blow into the river, 2) We are developing a trail along the river that could be blocked by Stop & Shop, 3) We are concerned about runoff from a big parking lot into the river, 4) Santamaria’s proposal avoids the usual city zoning procedures. No specific plan for the site has been presented. 5) Nothing has been done to address the neighbors' concerns.

If you oppose Santamaria's move, please call members of the Cranston City Council and attend the Cranston City Council meeting Monday January 26 at 7 PM in Cranston City Hall.

There's a growing movement here in RI to get kids outside, and here's a chance to consider the impact of the issue. Next Wednesday, January 28, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, Providence Children’s Museum joins Lincoln School and Southside Community Landtrust to present a free public screening of Where Do the Children Play? This thought-provoking hour-long documentary examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians, mental-health experts, educators and environmentalists: more and more children are growing up today with little or no opportunity for unstructured play, especially outdoors. A discussion will follow the film. Catch it at Lincoln School’s Ebner, Elson, Hart Music Center at 301 Butler Avenue in Providence. For more info contact Megan Fischer at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (401) 273-5437 ext. 126.

If winter is feeling a bit confining this year, one great way to get out on a Saturday morning and get a nature fix is to sign up for an adults' drawing class at the Museum of Natural History at Roger Williams Park. Classes last just four weeks, from 10 till noon, and are kept small so instructor Dawn Valentim can give each student individual attention. You can choose your own media -- bring pencils or pens, pastels or inks -- and select whatever specimens or artifacts you'd like to study from the Museum's vast archives.

The class includes a tour of the archives, and free admission to the Museum for the duration, so you can come and practice drawing from the collections on exhibit anytime. No drawing experience is required, the emphasis of the class is on learning to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of nature. Cost is $60, or $50 for museum members.

For more info or to sign up, click here to vist the Museum Web site. For more pix from the current class, click here for a slideshow. 

Instructor Dawn Valentim and artist Kathy Hodge discuss technique.

We've found another online source of local jobs, thanks to a recent post from the folks over at RIFuture.org. The Rhode Island Community Jobs listserv is put together by the Swearer Center at Brown University. You can sign up for a weekly email or check the archives online. Not all of these are environmental jobs, but there are a few scattered in there among the listings for community organizers, educators, social workers, and more. Click here to visit the site and sign up for their weekly notices.

The latest listing, for example, includes a job at Southside Community Land Trust for an organizer to help develop a citywide Community Gardens Network. Click here for more details.

Save The Bay also has posted a few seasonal positions and one full-time educator job. Click here to go to the STB Web site for all those details.

So what's up with NNN? Newsletters and new posts have been scarce since the holiday break! Here's an update.

We're working to beef up our inside content, that is, all the stuff that lives here beyond the front-page news feed. We want to make it easier for site visitors to find information about our local environmental issues, and especially to find all you need to get involved and be a green citizen. We want to keep you updated on important local legislation and other initiatives, so you can speak out when it matters.

We're also working on a minor re-design of the front page, which will make it easier for you to find all of that great content. Coming soon!

And we're also working on new ways to better organize all of our information about local events and other community-bulletin-board type info. Sue Korte at the What Grows On in RI Web site is leading that effort in partnership with NNN.

And finally, we're working to create a stronger network with all of our contributors and other local Web sites to find the best ways to bring you all the news and info that you need about Rhode Island's environment -- how to get outside and enjoy our beautiful natural assets, how to get informed about our local issues (from clean energy to green jobs to protecting open space and lots more), and how to get involved in your community and speak out for what you care about.

We're also working to bring you more info about how to make greener consumer choices, how to green up your home and save energy, and how to find good local green options for the things you need.

Meanwhile, our awesome Community Calendar and Classified Ads (including Green Jobs) continue to be updated daily. And check out our new Speak Out! page, just click on it anytime in the top menu bar.

So stay tuned! Remember to bookmark NNN and visit often, and sign up for our weekly newsletter!

As the state legislature gets under way in Providence, Clean Water Action has released its agenda for issues to be addressed in this session. These goals include protecting our water supply, cleaning up our air, and preventing mercury pollution. Click on "More..." for all the details, direct from CWA.

The Environment Council of Rhode Island also publishes a legislative agenda, and they tell NNN it will be ready soon. High on the list of their concerns are air pollution, public transit, clean energy, protecting our water supply, and managing solid waste.

We all know that our kids need to spend more time outdoors, but Jeanine Silversmith has decided to do something about it. This month, she launched a Web site called RI Families in Nature. She's also organizing family hikes at scenic spots around the state, and you can even sign up for a monthly newsletter filled with info and inspiration.

The group is hiking at Trustom Pond this Sunday, January 18, at 11 a.m. 

Click here to check out their Web site, and you can find details there about the Trustom Pond hike, and sign up there for the monthly newsletter too.

On a cold January day a couple of weeks ago, pilot Noah Forden took NNN editor Mary Grady up for a flight along the south coast of our state in his small airplane, a Cessna 182. We flew low and slow along the shoreline, for spectacular views of the beaches, salt ponds, fields and homes.

We were looking for signs of how the landscape has developed over time, from the carvings of the ice-age glaciers, to the flooding of river valleys that formed our Bay, to the changes wrought by jetties, breachways, and development. These pictures show our state in a way that is hard to imagine from our usual ground-level view, and reveal the interactions of people with our natural world.

Click here for a slideshow. 

The Central Landfill in Johnston announced this week that it will waive the usual $5 fee for any analog televisions dropped off for recycling by any RI residents, starting February 1.

Many Rhode Islanders are expected to replace their analog TVs because of the changeover to digital signals, which is scheduled to take place February 17.

Recycling your old TV is the only option for disposing of it, said Mike O’Connell, executive director of RIRRC.  As of January 31st, it is against the law to dump TVs into the landfill. The TVs contain lead and other hazardous substances.  They cannot be put in curbside trash.

RIRRC holds special Saturday collections throughout the year at the Central Landfill and at other locations throughout the state for electronic waste.  The dates for the next six months are:  February 7, April 25, May 9, June 13 and June 20 in Johnston; March 28 in Smithfield; April 18 in Middletown; and May 16 in Narragansett.  Computers and cell phones may also be recycled at no cost at these collections.  Appointments are not necessary.   

Visit www.rirrc.org for more information about recycling electronics and the entire 2009 calendar.