The Providential Gardener

Time Banking Comes to Rhode Island

"A Time for Transformation: Banking on Families & Communities to be the Change" was the title of the 2011 TimeBanks USA conference held at Brown University this past weekend (August 4-7). More than 150 people attended from as far away as the UK and Spain for an information-packed program that featured the unveiling of their new mission statement* (see below, and it's also on the blackboard in the photo), a preview of the organization's new website, which is to go live in the next few days, and the brand-new, Drupal-built "Community Weaver 2.0" website that is a robust tool for handling unlimited numbers of new TimeBanks and streamlining the management of the more than 270 TimeBanks currently set up in the United States.

What is Time Banking? The short answer is: Time Bank members spend an hour or several hours doing something for another member, thereby earning "Time Dollars" that are recorded in their TimeBank on Community Weaver. they can in turn spend the hours they have banked when members do something for them. Members list what they would like to do for others, and search the services offered to spend their Time Dollars on what they need done. Everyone's time has equal value: one hour equals one hour. Time Dollars are an alternate currency, a complementary currency (but not a replacement) to money as we usually think of it, sorely needed as we watch the Dow and S&P plunge these days.

The basic idea is simple, but the practice of Time Banking would have profound and substantial benefits for Rhode Island if we could "get" this. It clearly can integrate into the existing programs of environmental and social service groups and reinvigorate our neighborhoods. It values EVERY Rhode Islander equally and has tremendous potential for positive societal change.

The TimeBanks website is the place to begin exploring. Check now, but also go back and check in a few days when the new website is sure to be live. They have immensely improved the training materials, resources, and support. In the more than 30 years since Edgar Cahn came up with the idea, they have worked out solutions to many of the problems that have sunk earlier time banking experiments and trials. Time Banking's time has come!

To get started, I highly recommend hearing an 8-minute interview with Edgar Cahn (pictured in the photo above) on NPR July 19, 2011, "Beyond Bartering: Banking On Community Connections." It will whet your appetite for reading his books, such as "No More Throw Away People." Talk about a recycling program!

There already is a Rhode Island TimeBanks Initiative currently under the auspices of the Parent Support Network of RI. Our local TimeBanks movement is poised to develop quickly as we catch on to this way of working together for the common good.  We are fortunate that the Executive Director of the RI TimeBanks, Lisa Conlan-Lewis, is also on the Board of Directors of TimeBanks USA and is developing member services. Rhode Island is already wired into the national movement and resources.

I will be writing about this in more detail on the Providential Gardener and sharing updates to ecoRI on Time Banking as I read up on this fascinating and practical approach to getting necessary work done. There is so much to say, and Rhode Island is the perfect place to make Time Banking take off big time.

*TimeBanks USA Mission Statement:

"To nurture and expand a movement that promotes equality and builds caring community economies through inclusive exchange of time and talent."

Tom Horton, Ecosystem Restoration, and the New Economy

Sigh.

We set goals, and then things happen. It always seems to take longer to achieve success than we can ever imagine.

That's what struck me as I reviewed my notes from the 7th Annual Land & Water Summit held on March 27, 2010, at URI. Tom Horton, the keynote speaker, has made the Chesapeake Bay's restoration his life's work. He described how the goal date for cleaning up the Chesapeake has slipped from 2010 to 2028. Voluntary compliance doesn't work well, he noted. Legislation with teeth, plus the money and will to enforce the law, are required for success. Adequate legislation and enforcement, in turn, rest on long-term monitoring and research. So restoring a large watershed like the Chesapeake (and our Rhode Island watersheds around the Narragansett Bay) takes a lot of time, money, and willpower.

Much of his talk reflected the substance of his book, Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay (first published in 1991 and updated in 2003). To get a sense of what you missed if you weren't there Saturday, you can skim some of the book's pages on Amazon and read a review of this book in the U. Richmond Law Review and a review of another of his books, Bay Country (review published in 1987 in The New York Times). You'll also find in an Amazon search a few other books on the Chesapeake that he has written or coauthored. 

For Horton, Chesapeake Bay, like Narragansett Bay, is a magnificent ecosystem coping with pollution and the overharvesting of its fish and crustacean resources, yet still resilient despite increasing human activity in and around it. He quoted Aldo Leopold ~ that "the oldest task in human history [is] to live on a piece of land without spoiling it." He stressed that grow-or-die economic models are simply unsustainable. It's all well and good for each of us individually to reduce our carbon footprint. But if the population around the Chesapeake is growing at the rate of 2 million per decade, how can enough people offset their carbon footprints enough to offset this population growth? Think about that for a moment.

We need to convince people there are viable alternatives to the never-ending-growth model, that the options are multifaceted and not either/or ~ either overeat or starve to death. Our own Greg Gerritt, who writes extensively on this topic in Prosperity for Rhode Island, could be seen nodding his head in agreement every time Horton drove this point home.

As I continue to digest all the fascinating ideas from the Summit, I've found the link to the Chafee Memorial Lecture in Washington DC in January 2010 that Horton stressed repeatedly. This lecture, "A New American Environmentalism and the New Economy," was given by James Gustave Speth, dean emeritus, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The session was videotaped and posted on the web, so we can view it when we want. [FYI, It took a long time to download on my high-speed internet connection, and there's a bit of an introduction before he starts speaking, but hang in!] Horton urged the 325 Rhode Island conservationists present at the Summit to see environmental issues in a larger, systemic context, to ally with others working for political reform and for social justice projects,... and to CONTINUALLY QUESTION "GROW OR DIE" ASSUMPTIONS.

A quote of a quote from the Chafee lecture: "Anyone who thinks that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist." ~ Kenneth Boulding 

Here's a shorter interview with James Gustave Speth, The Environment and Economy in Conflict to whet your appetite for the Chafee lecture:


I began this post with a sigh, but I'll end with a story that illustrates our state's motto, Hope, which Horton describes as not being able "to see your way through the tall grass." He told of a short-legged dog that actually learned to jump up high enough to get his bearings when lost in the tall grass. Encountering Tom Horton's thought is to learn to leap up for a better view.

P.S.: In light of all this rain we've endured since the weekend, here's another idea from his talk we can implement: Let's pass impervious surface tax legislation in Rhode Island.

For other reports on the 2010 Land and Water Summit, see ecoRI and search for "Conservation Summit Focuses on Land and Water Issues"

Greening Rhode Island's Businesses & Economy & Jobs

Rhode Island's unemployment rate is 8.5% if I remember correctly what I read in the Projo last week, and the economy isn't doing well on most fronts, but a lot of folks in Rhode Island are determined to turn things around. They are gathering at New England Tech on Saturday morning, September 27, for two hours to begin coordinating efforts to Green Rhode Island's Economy.

Green Economy is a key element in future economic growth, if not THE key, and leaders such as Sheldon Whitehouse, who will keynote Saturday's event, and Mayor Cicilline of Providence see the exciting prospects for our state by developing businesses geared to providing green products and services. The market for these is growing and promises to be vast.

Please join your neighbors and see how you can make this happen. For more information and to register, see the website, www.GreeningRIEconomy.com.

Tree Trends, Tenders, & Trackers (Part 2)

Notes from the 15th Annual Rhode Island Tree Council Conference, October 12, 2007

See earlier post on Tree Trends ~ Climate Change in the last 21,000 years.

Tree Tenders

"Arborists & Tree Care in a Changing World" was addressed by arborist Melissa LaVangie, President of Trees New England. She aims to make ARBORIST and ARBORICULTURE household words as she consults on all aspects of tree care and educates the public about trees.

Tree care is one of the most dangerous occupations. Homeowners need to realize that professional arborists should be certified, insured, licensed (in New England, only RI, CT, and ME license arborists), observe regulations, and invest in their workers by, for instance, insisting on their wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). You don't want someone to get hurt on your property. The website, www.treesaregood.org, explains why it's important to hire a certified arborist.

Here are some useful links for tree care:

• PLANTING: Fall is an excellent time to plant trees and shrubs.
• PRUNING: Homeowners may be tempted to prune trees now, but do some research before you cut. Young trees and mature trees have different issues.
• MULCHING: Know the difference between good and bad mulching practices, and don't let your landscaping service harm your trees and shrubs. One of my first posts on this blog was "No, No, Volcano!" For some reason, this plague of mounding up mulch around the base of trees is still prevalent. This harms trees, and your trees are valuable. Take a page from nature and read this page from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) consumer website on mulching trees.

Melissa became an arborist a bit late because she had not heard about career paths in arboriculture until a few years after college. ISA has info on career choices for arborists. Jobs for arborists are in both commercial businesses and municipalities, and of course utility companies employ a lot of arborists.

Most fun of all, though, is ISA's Tree Climbing Championship Contest. Melissa successfully competes in the ISA-New England and New York Chapter's Women's Tree Climbing Championships. ISA has sponsored this event since the 1970's.

Tree Trackers

The third presentation of the conference was John Parry's (of the USDA Forest Service) Introduction to Storm Preparedness and Response ~ Planning, Response, Recovery, & Mitigation. Many communities never think specifically about what happens to trees and because of trees during storms until they're faced with thousands of households without electricity due to tree damage. But public officials can get help and be prepared by using the Tree Emergency Plan Worksheet.

The following links are from the USDA's Northeast Area Urban & Community Forestry Resources Webpage:

Storm Preparedness and Response:

• Storms Over the Urban Forest: Planning, Responding, and Regreening--A Community Guide to Natural Disaster Relief - Soft cover book
• Trees and Ice Storms: The Development of Ice-storm Resistant Urban Tree Populations 
                    2nd Edition (4.6MB pdf) - Booklet
• Tree Emergency Manual for Public Officials - Booklet
• Tree Emergency Planning Worksheet - Worksheet  
• Storms Media Kit - Press releases
• Storm Preparedness and Response - Website
• Storm Damage Assessment Protocol - tool and public domain software 

Does your community have a Tree Emergency Plan? Send your city/town council representative and/or your mayor this link.

Tree Trends, Tenders, & Trackers (Part 1)

Notes from the 15th Annual Rhode Island Tree Council Conference, October 12, 2007

As usual, Rhode Island Tree Council organized an informative and enjoyable conference in a great location ~ by the Bay this year, at the Aldrich Mansion in Warwick. The conference is a great networking opportunity, and it provides a comprehensive view of issues affecting Rhode Island's forests, urban forests, and tree species. Attendees include members of local planning boards, state forestry employees, professionals in landscaping and arboriculture, tree wardens, and some of the more than 550 people who have taken the semiannual Tree Stewards class. Following are a few notes from the presentations:

Tree Trends

How about putting climate change in a 2100-year perspective? That is the viewpoint of paleoecologist, Thompson Webb III, who gave the keynote address for this conference with the theme, “Impact of Climate Change on Our Tree Resources.”  His presentation was actually called “Climate Change and Vegetative Dynamics,” based on many years of research at Brown University. His studies of the distribution of pollen grains from cores of lake sediment using radiocarbon dating give perspective on vegetative changes in North America as the glacier, which at one time was 10,000 feet high, receded.

Click on the Pollen Viewer and you can see how vegetation changed, as well as how fat North America was (as the glacier receded, there was a 300-foot drop in sea level), at the website, Vegetation Animations at Brown University. It's like the land is going on a diet. Experiment with this ~ you can see that where spruce, beech, grasses, and several other trees and types of vegetation grew has varied significantly over thousand-year periods. Key reasons for the changes are temperature, of course, but also moisture. During the last ice age maximum, it was only 10 to 12 degrees colder than at present.

Another website that helps us compare temperature change is NOAA's National Climate Data Center. The U.S. Climate at a Glance website enables you to see temperature changes since 1900. For instance, the mean temperature for Rhode Island was 30.1 in January 1900, but in January 2007 it was 32.8. Remember that these two bits of data are random selections and cannot necessarily indicate a trend, but accurate temperature records have been kept throughout the United States for many years, and here is one place to see the data. Ponder away.

The U.S. Forestry Service Northern Research Station has data on future tree trends in the U.S., which you can view in their Tree Atlas.  Rhode Island's predicted winners and losers over the next several decades include Northern red oak, white oak, white pine (it will be drier here), and sweetgum (winners) and sugar maple, red maple, and spruce (losers).

Trees and, in fact, all vegetation, are not only affected by climate change, but also by pests and air pollution, so it is important to develop complex models that take all factors into account. Modern transportation is rapidly spreading many insects, animals, plants, and microorganisms, which throw off the natural balance of species wherever they land. And air pollution clearly alters the landscape as it weakens trees, decimating some species in our Eastern forests.

I have more notes on the other two conference speakers, and some news as well. Stay tuned for more posts on Rhode Island Tree Council's recent conference.

News from The Rhode Island Land Trust Council

The Rhode Island Land Trust Council has a newsletter you might be interested in receiving. To subscribe, send an email request to rfriday@tnc.org

I have just finished putting all the meeting announcements in What Grows On in Rhode Island and in The Providential Gardener Calendar, but there is much more in it I want to pass along to everybody.

Here are the meetings they listed. Some are useful nonprofit organizational workshops for environmental groups and some are specifically for land trusts or bay/waterfront groups:

• Multiply Yourself: Growing the Conservation Community ~ November 17, 2007
• Nonprofit Workout Conference: The Ways We Lead, Building Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations ~ November 9, 2007
• Communication & Negotiation Skills: Collaborating Better with Multiple Partners
• What your Land Trust Needs to Know About the IRS, RIDBR and other Regulators
• Sea Grant Symposium: Creating Vibrant Waterfronts in Rhode Island
• Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change ~ October 19-22, 2007
• Passing Municipal Bonds for Land Protection ~ October 24, 2007
• Trail Planning & Design Workshop ~ October 13, 2007
• Federal Conservation CostShare Program Workshops ~ October 9, 10, 11, 2007
• Volunteer Center of RI Workshop ~ Grant Writing II - Advanced ~ October 11, 2007

Publication:

Amending Conservation Easements: Evolving Principles and Practices New Land Trust Alliance (LTA) publication available free for LTA members

News:

Land Trust Accreditation Lottery Update from Land Trust Accreditation Commission

The lottery for 2008 applications closed with over 80 participants.  The Commission announced that it will be able to accommodate all organizations that participated in the lottery in one of three application rounds next year. Land trust interest in the program matches the Commission’s projections for the number of applications it will review 2008.

The Commission will still be evaluating its pilot program in 2008 so it will not yet be at full operations. We expect the number of applications that can be reviewed to grow after 2008. Next year, the Commission will also evaluate the lottery for 2008 applications and determine how it will accept applications in future years.

Funding/Grant Opportunities

Temper of the Times Foundation Grants ~ advertising for the environment

Ever wish you could find funding to support your advertising needs? Temper of the Times Foundation, is a private grant foundation that supports increased environmental awareness through media campaigns.

It was created by the board of directors of The Moneypaper, Inc., in 1997. Since public opinion is often influenced by marketing efforts, The Moneypaper, Inc. decided to create a foundation that would promote the use of standard marketing concepts to increase environmental awareness. Recognizing that organizations working to protect the environment in general have limited access to paid media, the Foundation provides funds to underwrite advertising designed to promote the conservation and restoration of native wildlife, plants, and ecosystems in the United States. Beginning in 2001, the Foundation has also supported earned income media campaigns. Grants are typically between $5,000 and $15,000 and should be used to fund the production of print, radio, or television ads, to pay for advertising space or airtime, or to produce or distribute pamphlets, books, videos, or press packets.

Information & grant applications: http://www.temperfund.org/index.html

Deadline October 15 via email

Environmental Education

Deadline: October 15

The Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund (ECRI Ed Fund) is opening the application process for the 2nd Annual Loraine Tisdale Environmental Education Fund awards.
ECRI offers 3 grants of $250 to teachers or environmental organizations for support of projects that:

• Have student participation
• Lead to measurable improvement in an environmental condition
• Involve the community beyond a school in some way

Awards will be made in January 2008 for projects to be undertaken in the Spring of 2008.

Information & Applications: 621-8048 ~ environmentcouncil@earthlink.net

Coastal & Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund

Deadline: October 17

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) is seeking pre-proposals for habitat restoration project funding

The fund was established to facilitate the design, planning, construction and monitoring of coastal and estuarine restoration projects as well as to increase opportunities for outreach and education related to coastal habitat restoration.

Municipalities, committees, boards or commissions chartered by a municipality,nonprofit organizations, civic groups, educational institutions and state agencies are eligible to apply.

To submit a pre-proposal, please download a pre-proposal form at http://www.crmc.ri.gov/projects/habitats.html

fill out the form and return it to:

Coastal Resources Management Council
Oliver H. Stedman Government Center
4808 Tower Hill Road;Wakefield,RI 02879-1900

Caitlin Chaffee: 783-7198

Information: http://www.crmc.ri.gov/news/2007_0901_habrest.html

Fund for Wild Nature Grants Program

Deadline: November 2

The Fund for Wild Nature provides "small grants to small groups who get things done." The fund provides money for campaigns to save and restore native species and wild ecosystems, including actions to defend wilderness and biological diversity.

The fund supports advocacy, litigation, public policy work, development of citizen science, and similar endeavors. The fund does not support basic scientific research, private land acquisition, individual action or study, or conferences. The fund will only support media projects that have a clear strategic value and a concrete plan for dissemination of the final product.

The fund gives special attention to ecological issues not currently receiving sufficient public attention and funding. The fund seeks proposals with visionary and yet realistic goals to create tangible change. All proposals must be highly cost effective.

The fund rarely supports proposals from organizations with annual budgets greater than $250,000. The fund makes grants for projects only in the United States,Canada, and Mexico.

Visit the Fund for Wild Nature Web site for complete program guidelines and application procedures.

Information: www.fundwildnature.org

A Great Rhode Island Resource: RIGIS

June 1, 2007 ~ More than 150 people spent a beautiful day at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus learning the latest about RIGIS ~ Rhode Island Geographic Information System ~ at the RIGIS Conference, sponsored by URI, The Coastal Institute, Applied Science Associates and CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the USDA). Rhode Island has one of the most developed and substantial sets of georeferenced data in the United States, and Rhode Islanders are working to make RIGIS very user-friendly for the public.

What is GIS and what does it do for you and me? It is a combination of computer hardware, software, and databases of information that are connected to latitude and longitude, in short, "georeferenced" data. [Follow the links in the first sentence for more official explanations of GIS.] And so what do we do with this? Some of the presentations today hint at the range of possibilities:

• Sewer Systems - Integrating GIS with a computerized maintenance management system
• Water distribution mapping & scanning
• RIDEM uses GIS to inventory conservation lands
• RI Statewide Planning Program is revising a new land use/land cover set using GIS...
• Many natural resource applications, including mapping coastal areas, estuaries, and eelgrass habitats
• Visualizing assessors revaluation data
• Narragansett Bay Coyote Study

If you have seen Google Earth, you have seen GIS in action. Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Here are links to some interesting maps generated by GIS data for Rhode Island.

• The Rhode Island Resource Atlas
• The Providence Plan
• MapCoast
• Narragansett Bay (NarrBay)

In production is an updated Rhode Island Digital Atlas, RI Geodata Gateway, and Rhode Island's Changing Landscape. The last website will show how Rhode Island land cover has changed from 1972 through 1999.

How to Bring Sustainable Practices to Your Community

June 1st is the deadline to register for How to Bring Sustainable Practices to Your Community, Fri Jun 8 9am - Fri Jun 8 2pm, Johnson & Wales Inn, 213 Taunton Avenue (Rte. 44), Seekonk, MA [map]

This workshop is for local officials, planners, and citizens from RI and SE Masswith Swedish planner and economist Torbjörn Lahti and Sarah James, co-author of the APA's Planning for Sustainability policy guide

To register, see details below or click for a downloadable flier: http://www.theworldhouse.org/dsfflier.pdf
For more information, call (401) 724-7700, Ext. 6

Something Old, Something Green

Sustainability was a major theme at the 22nd Annual Rhode Island Statewide Historic Preservation Conference, held in Pawtucket on Saturday, April 14, 2007. The session on Sustainable Historic Landscapes especially interested the Providential Gardener. What a privilege it must be to work on Boston's Emerald Necklace, Westerly's Wilcox Park, and a village walkway in Guilford, CT.  Landscape architects with such assignments described recent plans and developments for these public spaces, which present many challenges that taxpayers and visitors don't usually consider.

Everyone stressed Maintenance. After all, that is the old-fashioned word that determines Sustainability. If a landscape has plants that will both thrive without much human intervention and also behave themselves, it is much easier and significantly less expensive and time consuming to keep things looking nice and neat. By working with the maintenance staff before and during a project, landscape designers learn what can realistically be expected, given the actual maintenance budget, from the people who have the ongoing care of their garden visions.

Issues include:

Not too Late for Professionals to Check out New England Grows!

Today the time flew by as I managed to see about one fifth of the exhibitors at New England Grows! [The exclamation point is part of the convention name, but I suppose it could also function as punctuation for the sentence.] This is a convention and expo for professionals in landscape gardening, nurseries, arborists, etc. ~ a trade show for the green industry, with training sessions for updating certifications, continuing education credits, and business development.

There's a lot of big, heavy, clean and shiny machinery in there for expediting all sorts of gardening and agricultural projects; any number of plant and seed wholesalers and nurseries; suppliers of pottery, mulch, nutrients, etc., we'll all see this spring in our local garden centers; and a number of associations and organizations I will write about in the next couple of days. If you have a professional interest in the green industry and can get to Boston Wednesday or Thursday, check out the New England Grows! exhibitors and the program, get on the train, and hightail it to South Station. A shuttle runs from South Station to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, but I walked it this morning ~ getting used to this bitter cold weather ~ it's 6 or 7 blocks, more or less. Note that if something interests you and you cannot get to Boston, you can buy recordings of programs, but as of tonight the 2007 sessions are not yet listed.

Check the Condensed Events listings regularly. I gathered a lot of information at the Expo about upcoming meetings, and I am adding to the events listings almost every day.