The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day sees the highest volume of trash in local landfills. Last year, waste dumped at the Central Landfill in Johnston increased by 29 percent during this time period. So instead of giving the Central Landfill your wrapping paper, Styrofoam peanuts and poinsettias, Sarah Kite, director of recycling services at Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, has 12 suggestions for you.

For all of Sarah's recycling tips for how to cope with the Twelve Wastes of Christmas, from trees to peanuts to ribbons and food and more, click on "More..."

via Barry Schiller

Thanks to the generosity of the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen, the Greenways Alliance of Rhode Island has $5,000 to distribute in 2009 for projects to promote bicycling. This is the third year that the NBW has made such funds available.

Bicycling is perhaps the most energy-efficient way to travel, is good exercise, a way to see the greenways, and also a lot of fun, so there are many reasons the environmental community promotes bicycling.

Previous grants have gone to groups that printed bike maps and/or bike-safety handouts, held events on the bike paths, organized a "bike train" to events, helped promote bike-safety education, helped kids learn to repair bikes, put up bike-route signs, and more. Note that paying for staff time is not eligible, but printing and other materials and expenses can be covered.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or GARI Chair This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Click on "More..." for more details and info about this important event!

Shopping local has caught on this year big-time. If shop you must, you can support local jobs, local farms, local artists, and see a real return on your investment. This weekend, you can catch the Foundry Sale (the opening reception is tonight), visit the opening party for Craftland on Friday night, and shop at the launch of the Wintertime Farmers Market, in Pawtucket, on Saturday. For more shopping ideas, visit our online NNN Holiday Eco-Market. 

Also tonight, you can catch Green Drinks Newport at Farmaesthetics on Bellevue Ave. Friday night, kids & friends can make holiday wreaths and candles at Norman Bird Sanctuary, in Middletown. Saturday, you can buy a fresh, local Christmas tree and at the same time support all the great work of our RI Audubon folks. Visit their education centers in Smithfield or Bristol, get there early for the best selection. Go to our NNN Community Calendar for more details and more listings.

Next Wednesday, Dec. 10, you can meet up with South County Green Drinks, 7 pm at the Alternative Food Co-op, 357 Main Street, Wakefield. Come early to shop. Some topics on the agenda include talk about a truck-sharing network, CSAs, Time Banks, and a great idea for a unique and cutting-edge business.

Here at NNN, we are enthusiastically in favor of producing more energy from clean, local sources. But we also note that the first and best way to conserve energy is to cut down on waste and inefficiency. Just about any new power plant is going to have some kind of environmental impact, so the fewer of them we need, the better.

A flurry of news on the energy front this week.

A company from the state of Washington has surprised local officials by filing an application to construct a vast wave-energy project costing $400 million to $600 million in waters south of Block Island, projo reporter Peter Lord reported today. Click here for a link to Peter's story. A New Jersey company wants to produce power from landfill gas in Johnston, click here for the projo story. And action on the Cape Wind proposal is expected any day now, the Boston Globe reports.

Even in the best of times, green jobs that pay better than starvation wages are scarce here in RI. So it was exciting over the last few days to see a handful of new green, upper-level local jobs with real salaries attached float into our inbox.

At Apeiron Institute, some big shoes to fill are left by Bekah Greenwald, who is moving on from her position as director of education to become executive director of the RiverzEdge Arts Project in Woonsocket. And the Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program is hiring a new Coordinator for the state Geographic Information System (RIGIS), as well as a Supervising Planner and a Principal Planner.

All the details are listed in our NNN Green Jobs listings, just click on the link in the top right-hand sidebar.

via our friends at Narragansett Creamery:

Sustainable Gift Fair @ Brown University, Dec 3rd, Wed, 11-4, Petteruti Lounge. One of Louella's favorite places to shop for the season, this gift fair is focused on supporting small and sustainable producers. Find crafts from cooperatives around the world as well as from local artists and food producers.

Newport Vineyards Holiday Harvest Celebration, December 6th, Saturday, 11-5, Middletown, RI. Enjoy a warm winter winetasting while viewing one-of-a-kind holiday gift options. $10 ticket to participate in wine tasting.

Providence Winter Farmers' Market also kicks off December 6th @ Hope Artist's Village, Main Street, Pawtucket. 11-2. This winter market, which runs until the end of April, will offer everything from mussels to music, from chocolate to cheddar (that would be our Harbor Jack of course!).

You can also order gift boxes of delicious Rhode Island-made cheeses from Narragansett Creamery. Click here to get all the details and place your order online.

Ridgewood Renewable Power, an international owner and operator of renewable electric power and infrastructure projects, said today it will soon announce the development of a major electric power plant fueled by methane gas, which will be located at the central landfill in Johnston. Executives from the company will hold a press conference on Wednesday to release more details. The project will be the second-largest landfill gas-to-electric power plant in the United States, they said.

Creating electricity with landfill-generated methane gas is considered a fairly green option, since the gas would otherwise generally be burned off and wasted. It also adds a local source to the power grid, which is a good thing because it's easier for local environmental watchdogs to keep an eye on it. Click here to learn more about methane plants.

We'll have more details later in the week.