This Wednesday, Nov 12, from 4 to 7 pm, you are invited to the opening of a photo exhibit about our city's new CSO project, at the Gail Cahalan Gallery, 200 Allens Avenue, Providence. The show, by Peter Goldberg, is called "Providence Underground: Images of the Narragansett Bay Commission’s Combined Sewer Overflow Project." And while that might not sound too exciting, this was in fact an awesome project and very visually dramatic, so we are expecting an interesting show.

Goldberg starting shooting in the tunnel in 2004 and made four trips into its depths. "It was very dark and very wet," he recalls. "Every surface was slick. There was so much activity and noise in such a confined space that I had to be totally alert at all times and watch my every step. I was amazed by the people that worked in this environment every day."

Through his lens, the millions of tons of concrete and steel have moved beyond infrastructure to urban sculpture. Goldberg has captured each aspect of the project with precision and sensitivity, highlighting both the technological and human elements necessary to protect the water quality of our rivers and bay in his stunning black and white images.

The exhibit will be on display from November 10 - 24. Click here for info about the gallery. Click here for a google map. Click here to visit Goldberg's Web site.

The Green Drinks concept of getting folks together to network and brainstorm is a growing phenomenon here in RI -- it started in Prov, now there is a thriving group in Newport, and now some folks in South County are starting up a group of their own.

You can meet them this Wednesday, November 12, at 7 pm at the Alternative Food Co-op, 357 Main Street in Wakefield. Stop by if you get the notion, and plug in to all the cool stuff going on in the southern realm of our state.

The event is being organized by David Floyd, who is also the guy behind the cool PostCarbon Rhode Island blog. Click here to check it out.

All that rain over the last few days was just what we needed to see if our new CSO tunnel can do the job. The project was built to divert stormwaters out of our combined sewer systems in Providence, so we don't get raw sewage overflowing into the Bay every time it rains. And it worked! We're hopeful that the water quality improvements in the upper bay and the urban rivers will soon start to create healthier habitats for fish, shellfish, and other wildlife.

Click here to read about the CSO's first real-world test, in the Projo. Click here for a recent Prov Business News story about the project. And click here for info about Save The Bay's Bay Bash fundraiser, next Saturday, which will celebrate the completion of the project.

by Steve Stycos

Despite the great weather, sales at the Pawtuxet Village Farmers Market were slow last Saturday. Some people mistakenly think the market is closed for the season. We will be selling fresh fruit and vegetables for three more weeks. This Saturday, Micki Whelan will be selling our Pawtuxet Village Farmers Market reusable shopping bags. Chang Xiong will have her popular nime chow. Michelle Kosloski will have Long Island cheese squash, which make smooth creamy “pumpkin” pies. And lots more. The market is held outside Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, off Broad Street in Cranston.

Come talk about the election and buy some vegetables. And check the Farm Fresh Web site for other market schedules, many still are open around the state. 

In commemoration of Rhode Island Recycles Week, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation will host a special electronic waste recycling collection for local businesses on Friday, November 14, from 8:00 a.m. to noon at Arpin Van Lines, 99 James P. Murphy Highway, West Warwick. Companies that need to recycle more than 50 items may contact Arpin at 884-0321 to arrange for a free pick-up.

Items that are eligible for recycling are CPUs, servers, network equipment, routers, telephones, radios, scanners, keyboards, monitors, laptops, mouse devices, laser printers, fax machines, cables and wire, cell phone, window air conditioner units and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).

For more info, click on "More...".

These early November weekends are perfect times to get out and play -- the hectic summer is past, the tourists are scarce, the demanding holidays are not yet upon us, and if we are lucky, we can find free time to spend as we please!

Tonight, all are welcome to join the folks of Green Drinks Newport at 22 Bowen's, on Bowen's Wharf in Newport, from 5:30 to 8. Mix and mingle, meet your neighbors from across the street or across the state.

On Saturday, RI Resource Recovery Corp. will accept all of your plastic junk for recycling, even stuff that's not generally picked up. The hitch is that you have to bring it to the Landfill in Johnston. But while you're there, you can shred bunches of your personal documents, and pick up a compost bin at discount. Click here for the details.

Or you can check out the new Africa exhibit at Roger Williams Park Zoo, where the giraffes and elephants have more room to roam. Check out this Projo story for the news and a review, and go to the Zoo Web site for visitor info.

Monday night, you can check out the documentary film, Flow, followed by a discussion about Rhode Island's own water situation, with a panel of local experts, at Bryant College in Smithfield. Click here for more info. And a forum about water for South County and the state is coming up next Wednesday at the URI Bay Campus, click here for info.

You can find lots more events listed, from kids' activities to book groups to garden workshops to guided hikes, at NNN's Community Calendar.

Another great source of weekend ideas we've come to enjoy is the "10 Things to Do" newsletter from Providence Business News. You'll find art events and fundraisers, along with the occasional outdoor or greenish listing. It's free, and well worth it! Click here to go sign up.

And don't forget Save The Bay's Bay Bash, coming up Saturday November 15!

The Coalition for Water Security, a partnership of many of the state’s leading environmental and economic groups, is joining with the Washington County (aka South County) Regional Planning Council to host a special forum on water issues next Wednesday, Nov 12. The forum will be held on from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. in the Corliss Auditorium on the URI Narragansett Bay Campus.

The forum provides a look at the challenge of managing our state’s shared water supplies in a way that supports a vibrant economy and a healthy environment, with a focus on the issues facing Washington County. Interested members of the public and local elected and planning officials are invited to hear from major users, including Quonset Development Corporation, URI, and Tuckahoe Turf Farms, and to learn about the water challenges facing communities like North Kingstown, Westerly and Shannock Village. Representatives of the Water Resources Board and the Department of Environmental Management will present an overview of water issues from their vantage point.

“Rhode Island’s water belongs to all of us,” said Sheila Dormody, the Coalition’s coordinator. “Our healthy and clean rivers and streams not only provide our drinking water, but also support fisheries, recreation, tourism and economic development.  With relatively generous rainfall here in the Northeast, our water supply should be a competitive advantage for the state’s communities and businesses while still providing available and high quality water for residents.”

Tuesday night we saw something amazing happen in America -- we saw hope triumph over fear, we saw the past give way to the future, we felt a change in the air from fragmentation to unity. We know that there will still be trouble ahead, there will be disappointments and setbacks, but for the first time in a long time, at least we feel that we can move forward, that we can prevail over the injustices and mistakes and evils of the past. Apathy at last has given way to engagement and action.

My friends and I spent the night at the Liberty Elm Diner, where we watched the electoral numbers gather, with agonizing slowness; then we drove to the Biltmore downtown, where we saw Senator McCain's gracious concession speech -- it was in the car in between that a phone call told us that we now had a new president-elect -- then a final stop at a friend's house, appropriately on Hope Street, where we toasted President Obama's first speech with a bottle of French champagne.

During the night we saw our friend John journey from tense and morose to joyous and exuberant. "My grandfather grew up in Selma, Alabama," he announced to the crowd on the Biltmore elevator, "and I wish he had lived to see this day. A black man elected president!" He heard the echoes of Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln in Mr. Obama's words, and saw faces in the crowd smiling and weeping and filled with hope. "I haven't seen faces like that since 1968," he said, awed somewhat, and we all had to agree.

Mr. Obama's environmental policies may not be all we could hope they would be -- we'd like to see a stronger position against nukes, for starters -- but we feel confident that he will invite smart people to give him good advice, and in the messy business of democracy, we will find ourselves moving forward, step by step, into a newer, greener, more hopeful world.

Click here to go to the Obama-Biden Web site and read more about their energy and environment policies.

-- NNN editor Mary Grady

Time is running out.... soon our suspense will be over, and we'll have an idea what to expect for the next four years. With record turnout predicted for Election Day, voters need to be prepared.

Because this is our third election this year, you may be headed to your third new polling place since March. Go to the state's online Voter Information Center to confirm the location of your polling place ahead of time. You can also see a sample ballot for your neighborhood. Review your choices now so you are ready to vote when you get to the poll.

We added 42,000 new voters since February. It's a good idea to check the accuracy of your voter registration info now. That will give you time to resolve any discrepancy with your local board of canvassers now rather than at a busy polling place on Election Day.

Turnout will be heaviest from 7-9 a.m. and from 5-7 p.m.  Vote during off hours so you can get in and out of the polls quickly. Any eligible voter in line when the doors close at 9 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot.  And you are allowed to bring a marked sample ballot or other material to help you in the voting booth.

If your name is not on the voter registration list at your polling place, you are eligible to vote a provisional ballot. Your ballot will be counted if election officials determine that you are properly registered. And even if you are not registered, you still can vote for President. If you are at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and a resident of Rhode Island, you can register to vote and cast a ballot in the presidential race on the spot, and you will be officially registered for future elections. Go to RIFuture for the details about how to do that. Click here for more info about where and how to vote in RI, and what to do if you run into problems, from FairVote RI.

Click here for info from NNN about the open-space bond issue and local candidates who have been endorsed by environmental advocates.