What Grows On in Rhode Island ~ News Blog

RI Climate Events ~ October 24, 2009

Programs set for RI Climate events on October 24

Rhode Islanders joining together in the effort to stop global warming announced the programs for the 4 events that will take place in Rhode Island on October 24 as part of the 350.org International Day of Action.

The morning will open at 9 AM with workshops at the First Unitarian Church at the Corner of Benefit and Benevolent Streets in Providence.  Workshops scheduled are:

• How to Write an OpEd Piece and Get It Published:  Robert Whitcomb, Providence Journal Editorial Page Editor
• Individual Food Choices and Climate Change:   Polly Walker, MD, Associate Director, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future
• Home Energy Conservation Strategies:   David Brown, Independent Energy Consultant
• *Must Have Standards in Energy Legislation:  David W. Oliver, PhD, Corporate Strategy Consultant & Environmental Policy Activist                             
• Using the New Media to Build Public Opinion:   Ben Schreckinger & Sydney Ember, Senior Staff Writers – Brown Daily Herald

There will also be letter writing all morning to President Obama encouraging a strong US position for the Copenhagen global climate talks that will take place in December.

At  noon a gathering for Aquidneck Island and Jamestown will take place  on Easton's Beach in Newport , with brief talks by Senator Theresa Paiva-Weed, Newport Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano, and representatives from National Grid, RI Interfaith Power and Light, and the Aquidneck Island Watershed Council. There will be music by the Recovery All Stars. The official launch of the four-town Neighborhood Energy Challenge will offer a positive action that participants can take to fight climate change. Exhibitors will offer ways to save energy. National Grid, a major sponsor of the Challenge, will highlight its programs, particularly “Energy Action: Aquidneck and Jamestown,” a pilot program for efficiency on the islands. Everyone is welcome.

Also at noon there will be a rally at Waterplace Park in Providence that will open with The Beneficent Congregational Church Choir chanting, drumming and singing.  Speakers on the program include Greg Gerritt of Prosperity For Rhode Island, Paul Beaudette, President of the Environment Council of Rhode Island and the Reverend Barbara Fast of the Westminster Unitarian Church in East Greenwich.  Currently there are a several Brown University Watson Environmental Scholars from Africa studying Climate Change and it is expected that one of them will present a global picture of the situation.  The rally will also include children’s activities and a photograph of the participants in a 350 configuration in solidarity with 350 pictures taken at rallies across the globe on that day. 

The Rhode Island events for the International Day for Climate Action will close with a 2 PM talk by Christine Muller on “Climate Change and Justice” at the Fellowship Hall of the Peacedale Congregational Church, 261 Columbia Street, Wakefield, RI followed by the ringing of church bells through southern Rhode Island. 

More information on local Climate Action Day events can be found at the 350.org <http://350.org/> website and by contacting the Environment Council of Rhode Island (www.environmentcouncilri.com <http://www.environmentcouncilri.com/> ) and RI Interfaith Power and Light (www.riipl.org <http://www.riipl.org/> ). 

Global Energy Perspective URI Lecture ~ October 8, 2009

From URI Department of Chemistry:

URI to host Cruickshank Symposium examining Global Energy Perspective, Oct. 8

Media Contact: Todd McLeish, 401-874-2116

Nathan Lewis, professor of chemistry at California Institute of Technology, will present the University of Rhode Island’s Cruickshank Symposium lecture on the “Global Energy Perspective” on Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The event will be held in Cherry auditorium in the Kirk engineering building, 94 Upper College Rd., Kingston. It is free and open to the public.

Lewis’ presentation evaluates the technical, political, and economic challenges limiting the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies. His presentation is an in-depth evaluation of everything from fossil fuels to greenhouse gas buildup limitations and the expected global energy demand for carbon-free power. Lewis will also highlight the long-term potential of various renewable energy resources.

Lewis has been on the faculty at CalTech since 1988, where he serves as the principal investigator of the Beckman Institute Molecular Materials Resource Center. Previously he taught at Stanford University. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lewis received the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry in 1991, the Orton Memorial Lecture award in 2003, the Princeton Environmental Award in 2003, and the Michael Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Electrochemistry in 2008. He is the editor-in-chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Energy & Environmental Science, and he has published over 300 research papers.

The lecture is sponsored by the URI Cruickshank Symposium endowment, the URI Department of Chemistry, the URI Energy Center, the URI Center of Excellence for Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response, and the Gordon Research Conferences.

For additional information about the lecture, contact Chemistry Professor William Euler at chair@chm.uri.edu or 874-5090.