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Children, Outdoor Play, and Learning to See

If you'd like some perspective on children and outdoor play  ~ a big-deal topic these days with its own legislation ("No Child Left Inside," a co-sponsor of which is RI's Senator Reed, and which today gets about 41 million hits on Google), I highly recommend seeing "Fearful Symmetry," a full-length documentary that comes with the Legacy or Collector's Edition of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Fearful Symmetry" is an extraordinary work that gives insight into such a different life from what we live today. Interviews with people who actually grew up with Harper Lee open our eyes to this other world filled with Character. You probably know the story of "To Kill a Mockingbird," which has to do with racial prejudice and injustice in a Southern town in the 1930s. Critics write about the trial in Mockingbird, of "coming of age," learning about evil in the world. But you might not remember how much of the movie shows the children playing in a small-town setting, exploring the world, taking chances, wondering at mysteries, collecting small treasures. Indeed, the whole story is presented through the eyes of a child.

You have to love spunky, feisty, strong-willed Scout! Mary Badham, who plays the 6-year-old tomboy, Scout, was nominated for a supporting Oscar for her wholehearted performance. Philip Alford, who plays her older brother, Jem, is also completely genuine, natural. In "Fearful Symmetry" we find out how the director let them roam and play all over the set. Their freedom to roam and climb and run reminded me of my own long-past childhood, exploring the nearby woods, attempting to redirect the local brook, climbing trees, making up games, sledding through the orchard, flying down hills on a scooter, picking gooseberries. How to incorporate that sense of freedom for children into life today.... ? Certainly the world of Mockingbird was full of danger as it also is today. There's a mad dog and a dangerous, menacing drunk, who might (and does) harm these children. Even so, the children are not limited. Is the parenting in the film wise? Is it foolhardy? Is it possible to parent like Atticus today?

Apparently it's not easy to go back there. In the last few days, I've added all the Audubon Society of Rhode Island events to What Grows On in Rhode Island, as well as several upcoming Norman Bird Sanctuary activities in September and the next hike scheduled by Rhode Island Families in Nature. Really great activities are planned for families and children (See the Children's SubCalendar for details). However, seeing the movie over against these upcoming events made me think, If we just left the kids alone to explore the natural world, would they take to it like Scout? Maybe it's really the parents that are in the way? Or our whole way of life?  Seems that today we need a workshop for parents called "Reclaiming Nature Play." You might want to check that out, but if "No Child Left Inside" really concerns you, also contemplate Scout!

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962);  "Fearful Symmetry" (1998)

Ecological Restoration in the RI Constitution ~ Greg Gerritt ~ Prosperity for RI

See the post, Ecological Restoration in the RI Constitution, Greg Gerritt's blog, Prosperity for RI.

He quotes the RI Constitution, Section 17. Fishery rights -- Shore privileges -- Preservation of natural resources.

What better mission statement for our environment do we need?

Making INFORMATION about Rhode Island's Environment Accessible

I have loads of ideas for making Rhode Island's environmental information more accessible, and if I patiently keep learning and experimenting ~ and I live long enough ~ I'll build out a very useful information resource for everyone who cares about Rhode Island's environment, whatever their interest. But it would go so much faster if there were others who care about this and want to participate.

New Feature for What Grows On in RI ~ RI Environmental Feeds

Today I've published a quick and dirty demo site, Rhode Island Environmental Feeds. Even though it's incomplete, it may be useful to some of you, so I've made it go live. It's up to date today, although it might not update regularly each day hence without my pushing a button I may forget to push, but if you go to the actual blogs that interest you, you'll see the latest posts. I'm working on the glitch that's keeping the feeds from automatically updating on RI Environmental Feeds ~ for now this "is what it is."

There are so many news feeds that have to do with Rhode Island's environment that it's high time to make categorized feeds of these feeds. What is that, you say? Other people have explained this well, and Google and Wikipedia can help you find what others have written about RSS and "feeds" ~ but trust me, RSS is a GOOD THING! You'll usually see a little icon that means a website is RSS enabled.

Lots of groups, such as Blithewold, Projo, Audubon, and Save the Bay publish blogs, or blog-like websites. The URI Master Gardeners just started a blog called Digging Rhode Island, and I'm hearing about so many others ~ I can't keep up with the news myself! Having categorized feeds of the feeds is helpful to me, and I hope you find them useful. Send suggestions for making this service even more useful.

I am working on a new website, and I don''t have time to flesh all of this out right now, but if you know of feeds that should be added to this mashup, let me know and I'll get them in as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, if you have anything to do with any organization that covers Rhode Island's environment, look into enabling RSS on your own website so that others can subscribe and redistribute your info automatically and easily.

Grow Where You Are Planted ~ Using Online Resources to Find Your Place to Thrive

This post will grow as I re-edit it.This is the place I've put notes from a workshop I've developed called Grow Where You Are Planted ~ Using Online Resources to Find Your Place to Thrive.

It's written for Rhode Islanders, but you could extrapolate to your own neck of the woods if you live elsewhere.

If you're not at the workshop, you'll be missing discussion and a lot of useful information. Here's a basic script that I try to follow:

*************

I’ve assumed we’re all like plants for this presentation, maybe somewhere between seaweed and oak trees, (or maybe a potted plant that is often moved, or a transplant) and I’ve assumed we all live in or near Rhode Island. We sometimes talk about ourselves as though we’re plants, putting down roots, being uprooted, and so forth, so let's follow that idea along and think of what we need to grow.

We’ll consider:

1. Who we really are and what we need to grow, the kind of soil, so to speak in which we’ll reach our full potential
2. Where we are ~ Rhode Island's figurative “soil” for us plants
3. Who else cares about Rhode Island’s environment and what they’re doing about it – what figurative Gardeners are tending this place called Rhode Island.

Then we’ll:

1. Explore the informational forests of RI's environment ~ and probably discover we could really use some travel aids
2. Learn to use some online tools such as electronic calendars to continue our explorations and to keep growing

First of all, let’s consider ourselves.

Take a moment to consider the following in relation to our natural environment, because we are living beings. It's not US right here, and the ENVIRONMENT over there. We ARE the so-called Environment, we’re only alive as long as we breathe AIR, our bodies are mostly WATER, and the rest of our physical bodies is minerals – EARTH.

• What are your interests and skills?
• What do you want to learn?
• What do you want to do?
• What are your concerns/needs?

WHAT DO YOU LOVE? WHAT ATTRACTS YOU? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LIVE, TO GROW, TO THRIVE?
It may be a circular process, a gradual unfolding, if things don’t seem clear to you right now. Even more reason to get out and explore, taste, experience the endless variety of nature.

Next, let’s consider where we are currently rooted – in Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US. There are many ways of looking at the state – some maps I show are of state parks, of the main rivers and large bodies of water in the state, of the watersheds, and of the bedrock geologic.

Rhode Island’s size is the stuff of legends – well, at least it’s remarkable, and almost a standard of measurement, as a linear foot is. Its total area is 1545 square miles, which is about 3 times the size of either New York City (469 sq miles) or the City of Los Angeles (498 sq miles). It’s a bit more than one and a half times the size of Cook County, Illinois (945 sq miles). Its about 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, and about one-third salt water (Narragansett Bay). This means no resident of the state is more than a thirty-minute drive from the water’s edge. And it also means each of us mortals can attend a meeting anywhere in the state --- even an all-day conference or an evening meeting --- and still go home for the night. You can't do that if you live in Long Island and the meeting's in Albany ~ unless you have a private plane.

We do have a lot of towns and cities (39) for our size, but four of us could count them on our fingers. It would take more than 35 people to count Massachusetts’ cities and towns (351) on their fingers, and 48 people to count those of California. You can really get your hands around this place.

And although Rhode Island is the second most densely populated state (after New Jersey) with about one million people, we do have lots of beautiful nature preserves. Compare RI’s population to the crowd at President Obama’s inauguration (maybe about 1.8 million). We could all show up at the National Mall simultaneously and have lots of room to spare.

What this means is that it’s relatively easy for us to have a shared sense of place and to know each other. Twenty-one of the 39 cities and towns have harbor commissions and almost everyone else is connected to the Bay through the watersheds. We  have our own dictionary and even a dialect.

It’s a no-brainer to dream up a comprehensive environmental calendar for this place and to think of it as a whole, as more than the sum of its parts. The systemic nature of nature is manifest here.

With a sense of what we’d personally like to do and learn, and a sense of where we are in the natural world, let’s now consider who else does what about Rhode Island’s environment. Who tends this place and cares about it? In the actual workshop, we talk about our own environmental interests and concerns, and then about what interests us about Rhode Island – why we live here and not in some other natural environment, what attracts US to this PLACE. At this point, we go on an exploration of Rhode Island’s environmental information terrain. We make a list of the organizations and programs and events that the attendees care about. I display a Selected RI Environmental Organizations, an incomplete, alphabetized list, and we skim though it while talking about what we know about some of these groups and what they say about Rhode Island’s environment. We also explore a set of List of Online Environmental Resources.

By then, we’re probably overwhelmed with too much information. It’s time to figure out how to make sense of all this.

We ask and answers such questions as, What do we know about using online Calendars and RSS feeds?

Take a look at What Grows On in Rhode Island. There are at least four ways of sorting the information in that calendar so you can find what you most want to see easily. The SubCalendars are based on EVENT TYPE. You can also sort on CATEGORIES, and on AUDIENCE, as well as LOCATION (our 39 cities and towns).

We also discuss some of the things to do with the Calendar. Look at the Event Actions list, which includes adding events to your own online calendar (we demo this), subscribing to a calendar, and setting up an RSS Feed. People can ask questions and try using the Calendar themselves (we always hope there’s a good internet connection wherever this workshop is given!)

 Ideally the workshop is interactive and the examples are tailored to the interests and knowledge of the attendees.

To Sum it All Up in Some Three-Sums:

You / Me  ~  RI  ~  Others
We  =  Air  +  Water  +  Earth  =  RI
Sort Event Information:  Event Type  ~  Category  ~  Location
Online Info Actions:  Send Emails  ~  Subscribe  ~  RSS Feed

Pace yourself ~ “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Emerson

Have Fun Exploring Rhode Island!

Apeiron Sustainability Living Festival & Clean Energy Expo ~ June 6 & 7, 2009

We are fortunate to have The Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living in Rhode Island, and we are even more fortunate that they have a Sustainable Living Festival coming up in Coventry, RI, on June 6 & 7, 2009.  This is the 8th annual Festival and Clean Energy Expo, a great place to learn more about how to live in closer harmony with the earth.

You can take a tour of the Eco-House, and you can attend as many of the dozens of workshops as you like for the entry fee. Jim Merkel, author of  Radical Simplicity, gives the Keynote Address at 10am Saturday. Workshop choices include retrofitting with renewables, personal approaches to sustainabillity, creating community gardens, being a locavore, bicycle commuting, EarthSongWriting, building a solar cooker, green roofing, herbal healing, green transportation choices, and energy efficiency for your historic house. I am giving an overview both days of Rhode Island's environmental information landscape and how to use online tools to monitor environmental topics. I've left out a LOT of workshop topics so check the Apeiron workshop page!

Children will have plenty to do at The Enchanted Children's Forest, and several of the adult workshops are designated as youth friendly. Kids under age 12 are free. Buy tickets ahead at a lower cost. This festival is a fundraiser for Apeiron ~ helps sustain their programming during the year.

But that's not all! A long list of vendors and other activities promises food for the body, mind, and soul. Two music stages with several different groups each day, three tents for alternative energy, wellness, and yoga, a film room, food by Johnson & Wales University of health & mostly local food, plus artists' displays are among the other attractions.

Getting there ~ Take the 45-mile round-trip bike train to the festival and get free admission! Or carpool.... The whole experience from getting there to compostable forks is an exercise in living sustainably.

It's worth taking a little time to make a plan so you can get maximum use out of the Festival & Expo. See you there!

Diesel & Incinerators -- Cough, Cough

If you have been using the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar, you have certainly noticed that since January 2009 it has included the local and state public meetings and hearings that concern our environment. They're mixed in with the hikes and walks, cleanups, Farmers' Markets, and all kinds of classes, conferences, celebrations, plant sales, and everything else Rhode Islanders do with our land, water, and air. Most of the activities have to do with land and water, but this month two critically important issues are before the legislature that seriously affect air quality: diesel fumes and trash incineration.  

I went looking for a photo of air pollution, but I don't really have one. Who wants to take photos of our beautiful Narragansett Bay in smog? Who even wants to be outside trying to breathe when the air LOOKS dirty? But even when the air LOOKS clear, there are harmful particulates in the air that shorten our lives and make some of us very sick.  It can become worse, or we can keep improving on the Clean Air Act.

Some Rhode Islanders who are not dropping the ball on air pollution are active in Clean Water Action, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, People's Power & Light, Sierra Club RI Chapter, Toxics Action Center, Bluewater Wind, and Environment Council of Rhode Island. Join with these people and others to let your representatives know you care about what you breathe.

DIESEL POLLUTION HAS A SOLUTION! The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act is before the legislature, and next Thursday, May 28, from 2pm to 3pm, join the bill's sponsors occupational health experts, and community leaders to show your support for this bill. Further info is on the RI Diesel Pollution Initiatve pages on Environment Rhode Island, Clean Water Action, and in this Status Report flyer.

TRASH INCINERATION keeps turning up in the legislature, even though it's been turned down before. A House Committee on Finance Hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 1pm in the Trainor Hearing Room (Room 35) at the State House on H6053, the name of which obscures its purpose: "An Act Related to Health and Safety -- Energy." It doesn't talk about incineration, but rather "waste to energy." Clever.

We average citizens would never know what it was really doing without the alert from the Environment Council of Rhode Island and other vigilant folks.

H6053 REMOVES this line from the current law:

 (7) The plan shall not include incineration of solid waste.

It also REMOVES this line from our current law:

 (8) Waste-to-energy combustion of any sort or manner shall in no instance be considered eligible except for fuels identified in section 39-26-2(6).

And replaces it with this text:

Waste-to-energy technology at a facility approved by the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation, subject to the permitting, regulatory, and monitoring authority of the department of health and the department of environmental management granted pursuant to section 23-19-12 and any other applicable section of the general laws and; provided, such facility may only be sited at the central landfill as defined in section 23-19-5 and subject to licensing as required in the Energy Facility Siting Act, and; provided further, that in no case shall any facility be permitted unless the operation of such facility shall meet all applicable standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to sections 111 and 129 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C sections 7411, 7429.

Earlier in this legislative session, environmental groups stated their strong opposition to this idea. (See Clean Water Action's press release about H6053 of March 31, 2009). But within the past week, a companion bill has been introduced in the Senate (S933). Take a couple of minutes to read the objections to trash burning in the May 15 press release from a wide range of environmental groups that watch out for our health. Then take a deep breath, think about that deep breath, and let your representatives know what you think!

The Great Outdoors

Just a quick note to say on this BIKE TO WORK DAY, check out What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar for all kinds of environment-related events ~ farmers' markets, recycling and hazardous/e-waste pickups, cleanups, art shows, workshops, plant sales ~ but also lots of outdoor activities. Saturday, May 16, the Appalachian Mountain Club Narragansett Chapter is having a Spring Fling in South County with all kinds of family-oriented fun, plus some hikes and paddles. Several other walks, hikes, bike rides, and paddles are listed as well.

And do look at the notice for the GREAT OUTDOORS PURSUIT, beginning later in May in our beautiful state parks.

Southside Community Land Trust Plant Sale ~ May 16 & 17, 2009

More plants than ever are on sale this weekend to raise money for all the great things Southside Community Land Trust does to encourage urban agriculture. Go to City Farm this weekend, or any time during the growing season, and see what grows on there. Be sure to pick up information about their programs and activities.

I don't think the old washing machine is for sale, just the plants!

Olneyville Shines and Shines! Cleanup #2 on May 16, 2009

 I may have to explain this photo a little.

You can see in the background some of the more than 620 folks who showed up on April 25, 2009 to clean up Merino Park, Riverside Park, and the Fred Lippitt Bike Path Woonasquatucket River Greenway in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence. They all got yellow shirts, worked hard for three or four hours, and were waiting for a bite to eat at the cookout that followed the cleanup when I took this photo.

And there in the middle of the photo is one of the Providence Parks Department trucks with yet another load of trash the volunteers gathered that day, headed for a large dumpster. Some neighborhood and Americorps volunteers worked this part of the cleanup.   

But the reason I like this photo so much is that on the bike path, walking toward the park and playground, are about 15 parents and children from the neighborhood who can now walk to a well-kept park.

There's more work to do, though. You can see the dilapidated Atlantic Mill building in the background, and there's another run-down building that may be a Boys' and Girls' Club some day.  So Olneyville has more volunteer projects to make this place more and more usable and enjoyable. Saturday, May 16, the focus will be on cleaning up the surrounding streets to the park, and a playground build day is scheduled for June 13.

I talked with a Providence resident who lives near the Dexter Training Ground in the Armory District about the West Broadway Neighborhood Association's cleanup of that park, also on April 25. WBNA has had cleanup days there for 25 years, and she said that each year there was less and less trash ... and hardly anything to pick up this year, so the neighbors mostly had fun at a cookout. When public spaces are cleaned up regularly, people actually mess up those places less. So I expect in a few years, Riverside Park will take less and less work to maintain. Then EVERYBODY can go to parks mostly to have fun and enjoy the outdoors!

RI Earth Day and Arbor Day 2009

Earth Day has morphed into Earth Season in Rhode Island. Dozens of celebrations, cleanups, and tree plantings are scheduled in April and May this year all over the state. The most comprehensive listing of these events is The Providential Gardener's own What Grows On in Rhode Island Earth Day/Arbor Day Calendar, which has its own page on the website.

Take a look and see all there is to do to spiffy things up around here. Many of the cleanups include food for the workers, from pizza to barbecues, and some groups have T-shirts and other goodies. But the best gift of all is to see and enjoy pristine rivers and shores, and to walk in parks free of debris. See the Calendar for details of dozens of cleanups. If your local cleanup isn't listed yet and you want to get the word out to recruit more helpers, add your event to the Calendar.

Here are some of the Earth Day Festivals and Celebrations in Rhode Island this year: Roger Williams Park Zoo Party for the Planet, Hope St in Providence (Hope for the Earth Festival), Audubon in Bristol, JeoParty at Local 121 in Providence, Earth Day Breakfast of Champions in Pawtuxet Village, Newport Earth Day, Portsmouth Earth Day Celebration, West Greenwich Land Trust Earth Day, Jaycees Ecology Day in West Warwick, Environmental Education Fair in Smithfield, North Kingstown HS Earth Day Benefit Concert and Environmental Fair....  You have to see it to believe how much is growing on around the state for Earth Day. All of these and more are in the Calendar.

Events are still coming in for Earth Day, so check the Calendar often. Remember you can set up the Calendar to remind you of events or send automatic emails of updates or set RSS feeds. The Calendar is a great tool for those who want to be in the Know.

Note this also ~ When you get around to your own spring cleaning, you'll find all the Eco-Depots in the Calendar.

Last but not least: Let's not forget Arbor Day, April 25. The state ceremony is on Friday, April 24 at Lincoln Woods, and RI Tree Council will be planting more than 80 trees near the Broad Street entrance of Roger Williams Park on Saturday, April 25.

Trees of/and Life

 Bell Chapel had a large crowd for "Movie Night for Trees" sponsored by the Providence Tree Advisory Committee Friday evening. We saw The Man Who Planted Trees, an Academy Award winning animated film, though describing it as animated isn't just because it's a cartoon. It is not animated in the sense of dynamic or frenetic, being the story of a man who silently, every day for decades, plants acorns and other tree seeds, one by one. The animation, the life, the in-spire-ation, comes from the result of this ongoing seed planting: the transformation of a desolate place into a thriving community of people who can live off this land again. The reforestation makes the valley habitable, restores the running streams, wildlife, bees... in fact, LIFE in every sense. That's the true animation. The story's author, Jean Giono, said it was really a fictional tale, but the Wikipedia article gives names of "real-life counterparts" who have devoted themselves to planting trees. You might want to follow some of those links.

One of those other tree planters is Kenyan and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, the subject of the other film shown Friday, Taking Root. I wrote about this film when it was in the RI Film Festival last August. Read more about Taking Root, which describes the grassroots Green Belt Movement's achievements both in enabling people to feed themselves healthy food, but also, to educate the people in how to speak up for themselves so a truly democratic society could take root as well. 

Then take a moment to read a little more about Kenya. Since the film was made, terrible things have been happening in Kenya. The December 27, 2007, tumultuous presidential election led to tribal conflicts, murders of hundreds of people in unspeakable ways, and thousands fleeing their homes. A total breakdown into violence was avoided -- barely -- but early in March 2009, two human rights activists were murdered.  Government corruption and disorder continue. I wondered if the recent murder victims had been in the Taking Root film (not as far as I know), but one man who was in the film, Kang'ethe Mungai, wrote about these murders on March 13, 2009. [Link to the article in allAfrica.com seems to want to open a popup. If you're using the latest Firefox, don't worry about that. The Mungai Op Ed...]

The NY Times page on Kenya give background on the great strides for human rights taken through 2008 and the subsequent unrest, murders and misery following the fraudulent election. Especially note Starvation and Strife Menace Torn Kenya -- NY Times, March 1, 2009; and Why Annan is a Worried Man -- the East African publication, Sunday Nation, April 5, 2009. The Manchester Guardian has an interactive feature that includes a timeline, the main players, and flashpoints on Kenya's election chaos.

Meanwhile, Wangari Maathai has a new book out on April 7, 2009, and she'll be speaking in Brattleboro, VT on April 11, 2009. Despite the dangers and difficulties of building a peaceful and prosperous society in Kenya, her book, The Challenge for Africa, has a positive outlook. Here's the blurb on Amazon (a link to the Amazon page for this book is at the end of this post):

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds.

The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy. She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement.

With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious “bottlenecks to development in Africa,” occurring at the international, national, and individual levels–cultural upheaval and enduring poverty among them–and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.

Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.

 

Trees of/and Life

 Bell Chapel had a large crowd for "Movie Night for Trees" sponsored by the Providence Tree Advisory Committee Friday evening. We saw The Man Who Planted Trees, an Academy Award winning animated film, though describing it as animated isn't just because it's a cartoon. It is not animated in the sense of dynamic or frenetic, being the story of a man who silently, every day for decades, plants acorns and other tree seeds, one by one. The animation, the life, the in-spire-ation, comes from the result of this ongoing seed planting: the transformation of a desolate place into a thriving community of people who can live off this land again. The reforestation makes the valley habitable, restores the running streams, wildlife, bees... in fact, LIFE in every sense. That's the true animation. The story's author, Jean Giono, said it was really a fictional tale, but the Wikipedia article gives names of "real-life counterparts" who have devoted themselves to planting trees. You might want to follow some of those links.

One of those other tree planters is Kenyan and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, the subject of the other film shown Friday, Taking Root. I wrote about this film when it was in the RI Film Festival last August. Read more about Taking Root, which describes the grassroots Green Belt Movement's achievements both in enabling people to feed themselves healthy food, but also, to educate the people in how to speak up for themselves so a truly democratic society could take root as well. 

Then take a moment to read a little more about Kenya. Since the film was made, terrible things have been happening in Kenya. The December 27, 2007, tumultuous presidential election led to tribal conflicts, murders of hundreds of people in unspeakable ways, and thousands fleeing their homes. A total breakdown into violence was avoided -- barely -- but early in March 2009, two human rights activists were murdered.  Government corruption and disorder continue. I wondered if the recent murder victims had been in the Taking Root film (not as far as I know), but one man who was in the film, Kang'ethe Mungai, wrote about these murders on March 13, 2009. [Link to the article in allAfrica.com seems to want to open a popup. If you're using the latest Firefox, don't worry about that. The Mungai Op Ed...]

The NY Times page on Kenya give background on the great strides for human rights taken through 2008 and the subsequent unrest, murders and misery following the fraudulent election. Especially note Starvation and Strife Menace Torn Kenya -- NY Times, March 1, 2009; and Why Annan is a Worried Man -- the East African publication, Sunday Nation, April 5, 2009. The Manchester Guardian has an interactive feature that includes a timeline, the main players, and flashpoints on Kenya's election chaos.

Meanwhile, Wangari Maathai has a new book out on April 7, 2009, and she'll be speaking in Brattleboro, VT on April 11, 2009. Despite the dangers and difficulties of building a peaceful and prosperous society in Kenya, her book, The Challenge for Africa, has a positive outlook. Here's the blurb on Amazon (a link to the Amazon page for this book is at the end of this post):

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds.

The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy. She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement.

With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious “bottlenecks to development in Africa,” occurring at the international, national, and individual levels–cultural upheaval and enduring poverty among them–and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.

Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.

 

Cleanups & Tree Plantings 2009

So much is happening in Rhode Island that it won't all fit on Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 25). You'll find dozens of opportunities to pitch in, clean up, and plant roots into May in What Grows On in Rhode Island!

As you drive around town and out into the country, as you take walks, jog, or ride the bus or train, look out the window and notice GARBAGE, LITTER, BOTTLES, CIGARETTE BUTTS everywhere ..... or maybe not, because the neighborhood residents pick up after themselves or don't throw all this stuff around in the first place. I'm afraid you'll see lots of places that could use some tidying, so join your neighbors and friends, get out there, and clean up a park or roadside or stream. There's plenty of work to do. Here are two photos of a Rhode Island river, taken in November 2008. The first is downstream, the second, upstream. Out in the country, you think? You'd be wrong. It's the Moshassuck, next to I-95 between exits 25 and 26, in back of the old Shaw's Plaza (for Rhode Islanders, in back of and a bit north of where Sears "used to be").

If you were there, you'd hear the highway, but downstream would sure look like the deep woods. Upstream, you'd know you were near messy folks, though. Click on the upstream photo to get a better look at the trash that gets stuck going through the culvert under the road over the Moshassuck. The trash is much worse today after the winter storms than this photo shows. So find a little time to pick some trash up, and enjoy the cleanery-greenery of spring.

Seeing the Woonasquatucket

Next time you're at Providence Place Mall think about RIVERS. The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council installed 5 posters describing this National Heritage River (Rhode Island has two of the five, one of the others being the Mississippi, by the way), and you probably drive over this river several times a month, maybe without realizing it.

The Woonasquatucket River runs right under the Providence Place Mall. Most people know the EAST-facing view looking out toward the city.

However,  next time you're there, check out the view to the WEST-facing view from the 3rd floor Food Court. The WoonASquatucket (second syllable stressed, if you want to be in the in-group), runs out to North Providence. There's a beautiful new bikepath along it -- 5 miles long. You begin to get the idea from this photo, but see the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council website for better photos and a lot more information!

Here is one of the five posters describing the Woonasquatucket, which are located along the windows facing Waterplace Park.

It's Flower Show Time Again!

 The theme of the 2009 RI Spring Flower & Garden Show is Gardens of the World, and designers have prepared a trip that doesn't require security checks in airports to see and at a much lower expense than a plane ride! There is an English garden and a South American garden, for instance, that I especially enjoyed, but for me, I'm with Dorothy ~ "There's no place like home" ~ I love the RI Wild Plant Society's amazing recreation of our own wild "garden," namely the woodlands of beautiful Rhode Island.

The day before the show, I went to the Convention Center to check it out. Here is the lowdown, so you will be oriented before you go:

Besides the gardens themselves in the Exhibition Hall, there are many other reasons to go to the RI Spring Flower & Garden Show, not least of which are the outstanding speakers and demos. FYI, these events are on the 5th Floor along with children's activities. I've made a special calendar for the Flower Show on What Grows On in RI, which may help you plan your trip.

CHILDREN''S ACTIVITIES are on opposite ends of the 5th Floor. The Magic and Story Times for kids are in the Rotunda, and the Wall Mural for kids is supposed to be on the opposite end of 5th floor near where 93.3 Coast FM will be.

BE SURE TO GO TO THE 5th FLOOR! Nonprofit tables with loads of gardening brochures and advice, are up there. You'll find RI DEM, URI Master Gardeners (who will answer your gardening questions), Toxics Information Project, RI Wild Plant Society, RI Rose Society, Biomes, and New England Carnivorous Plant Society in the middle of the 5th floor, near the fabulous gardening book store (run by the Other Tiger Bookstore of Westerly) and the Food Court. As you face the Food Court, the lectures will be in the hall to your LEFT, and the demos in the hall to your RIGHT.

P.S. In the lower left corner of the English Garden photo in this post, I tried to get some of the moss that the designers put between the paving stones. It looks like the moss has been there for ever! But it will be all gone by Monday morning, so make some time to THINK SPRING and see the show!

On Being Outdoors in Winter

Yesterday, January 20, 2009, more than two million people spent the day in 20-degree weather and lived to tell the tale ~ and what a tale! What a day! What a sight, to see about twice the population of the state of Rhode Island standing on or near the National Mall during the inauguration of President Obama. No one minded, or at least, folks put the cold out of mind and let their hearts and bodies be warmed by the day's events. Did anyone get frostbite? Aren't they glad they were there? Isn't the memory of that day and their presence in Washington, DC, worth standing for hours in the cold? Two million people would say yes.

So what are we doing inside TODAY? It may even be a bit warmer than yesterday in DC. Are you going for a walk? I'm reluctant to get out there when it's so icy on the city sidewalks, but the roads in the parks are clear and not too distant. Why don't I just go over to Roger Willliams Park and take a walk? There are 10 miles of roads there. North Burial Ground is a Providence Parks Department responsibility and it's closer to me. I can walk there, and it also has 10 miles of roads within it. Cemeteries often have cleared their roads of snow and are beautiful places to walk. I went over to Swan Point Cemetery today. Yes, indeedy, it was cold, and the whole time I was there the sun was behind clouds. But it was beautiful and quiet, just a few walkers including a man with a hawk on his arm. By the way, THANK YOU to all my wonderful neighbors who help me shovel the snow and who shovel their own walks! Way to Go!

With all this snow there's sledding! We have lots more snow today than when I took the top photo of sledders in Roger Williams Park last week, so it could be even more fun than these folks were having. Make your own memories and have a great time! There's cross-country skiing, there's ice skating if the ponds freeze hard enough. RI DEM provides ice safety information for Lincoln Woods, Goddard and Meshanticut State Parks on its 24-hour Ice Information telephone line, 222-2632. They advise us to contact local recreation departments for skating opportunities and conditions in individual communities since DEM does not monitor ice conditions in local communities.

If you do want an invitation to the outdoors, though, check the Outdoors Calendar on my unfinished redesign of What Grows On in Rhode Island. I have been working on a reorganization of the information in The Providential Gardener and What Grows On in Rhode Island to make them more useful, but there's still a lot to do. It's keeping me from writing posts for the Providential Gardener. Other Rhode Islanders are writing on other blogs, though. You can see their work in news feeds from various local and national environmental groups.... This aggregated set of feeds is incomplete, to say the least, but It's a taste of what's to come on What Grows On in Rhode Island.

Outdoors, Nature

Give the Great Outdoors This Season

Let's shake things up this year by thinking "Shape Up" BEFORE New Year's Day. Why wait to make a resolution to get into shape or to keep in shape? Take action now!

Shape Up Rhode Island begins early registration on December 15, 2008. It's an affordable gift ($20) you can put on your wish list if your have a job but your employer isn't offering to pay this year. [It's a very good investment for businesses, though ~ will build morale and make a healthier work force.] And exercise is one way to life your spirits in these somewhat depressing times.

Rhode Island's Winter Farmers' Market Begins! Buy LOCAL!

Farm Fresh Rhode Island , our four-year-old dynamo of a Buy-LOCAL organization, has established an indoor Farmers' Market for Rhode Islanders, with 34 vendors in a beautifully restored mill building just over the Providence-Pawtucket city line in the Hope Artiste Village,1005 Main St, Pawtucket, beginning Saturday, December 6, from 11 am to 2 pm. I went over there this morning for a press conference and saw the space, which looks vast today, but which Noah Fulmer, the director of Farm Fresh RI, says will be jam packed on Saturday.  

Tap Your Drinking Water, Providence!

The Providential Gardener was delighted to see in a recent Providence Journal article, "City, 5 eateries say no to bottled water," that several Providence restaurants are serving only water from the Providence Water Supply. The water flowing from our taps is about the best in the world, and it is also so less expensive than bottled water ~ it's really a no-brainer to drink tap water. Bottled water is in most cases entirely unnecessary.

It is wonderful to see that Mayor Cicilline has made a major issue of this seemingly minor problem, which really costs us all a great deal of money, both buying water that takes a lot of petroleum to make the plastic for the bottles and then move it here from other states or from overseas (you can't dehydrate water(!), so it's heavy and expensive to move), and also burying the bottles, most of which are not recycled, in the landfill. Eliminating bottled water in Providence is one of the mayor's 8 strategic initiatives. See the mayor's press release of October 28, 2008. I'll write about these initiatives in another post soon.

Because of their pulling the plug on bottled water, I join with the recommendation of Natural News Network's October 30 post, "Providence Bucks Bottled Water," in urging Rhode Islanders to patronize the 5 restaurants, which are  Local 121, Trinity Brewhouse, the Hot Club, Benders Caffe, and The Garden Grille.

Wherever you are out and about and thirsty, looking for water to drink, encourage the folks there to serve and drink tap water and discontinue bottled water. Many companies, and even our universities and colleges ~ organizations that want to be seen as green ~ are using bottled water for marketing purposes, putting their names on this unnecessary plastic waste. Speak up when you see these water bottles, and make an effort to help the ones who make decisions about such things see the disconnect between serving bottled water and being green.

The Projo article by Peter B. Lord was fairer to the bottled water industry than I'm being here, although it's true we do need to keep some bottled water around for an emergency, but I'd rather stress a link in that article for a website with a great name: www.ThinkOutsideTheBottle.org.

Minimizing bottled water became a Providential Gardener priority in the spring of 2008 during the discussions of bottle bills in the legislature (see the post, "Why, Why Why? My Pitcher Pitch and My Pitcher Pi'tures"). This won't be the last post on the subject, and I'll be publishing the names of more restaurants and businesses that cut out bottled water. HOPE the list will grow soon, and HOPE it will be a flood of names!