What Grows On in Rhode Island News

Resilience: Adapting for Man-Made or Natural Disasters ~ December 1, 2011

                         Special Seminar on Disaster Planning and Response through Resilience

5:00 to 6:15 p.m.
Thursday, December 1
Weaver Auditorium, Coastal Institute (Kingston Campus)
6:20 to 7:00 p.m. - Reception at the University Club
University of Rhode Island

Resilience: How do we learn to live with water, or earth, or wind, or fire? What is the theory? How do we measure resiliency? We can (and must) adapt to the changing environment. Learn about tsunami or storm surge mitigation and evacuation systems, floating cities, artificial barrier islands, land use restrictions, floodable environments and buildings. Examples are gleaned from work done in Christchurch, New Zealand, New Orleans, Chile and San Francisco. The speaker has done fieldwork in these locations and is in the forefront of resilience planning.

Doug Ahlers, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, founded the Harvard Kennedy School Broadmoor Project, a collaborative redevelopment effort between the Katrina-devastated Broadmoor New Orleans neighborhood and the Kennedy School. Ahlers has been a Fellow at the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University¡¯s Center for International Security and Cooperation where he worked on a plan for San Francisco in preparing to recover faster after a disaster strikes. A Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, and a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard, Ahlers teaches courses on the management of disaster recovery which blend case teaching with field-research (Community Recovery: Rebuilding Disaster Damaged Communities in Chile; Disaster Recovery Management and Urban Development: Rebuilding Cities After a Disaster). Mr. Ahlers is the cofounder of Modem Media (now Publicis Modem) and is on the Smithsonian Institution¡¯s National Board and the board of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

Are You Ready for the Future?
Find out on Tuesday nights: http://www.uri.edu/hc

Barrington Conservation Workshop & Film Series

Presentations on Sustainable Turf Management; Natives, Invasives, Biodiversity; Gardening to Attract Birds; and Home Composting; plus the films King Corn, HOME, two in the National Geographic's Planet Earth Series, and two for kids and families ~ WALL-E and Microcosmos ~ will be held each week at the Barrington Library from June 29 through the end of August. The Barrington Conservation Commission, Barrington Land Conservation Trust, and the Barrington Public Library organized these events.

These events are also in What Grows On in Rhode Island. Find the films and presentations in keyword search: Barrington Conservation Series. The Calendar has lots to do ~ check it often!

Kudos to the Barrington Conservation Commission, Barrington Land Conservation Trust, and the Barrington Public Library for organizing these 7 p.m. events. Barrington is fortunate in having a particularly active municipal conservation commission, and the Providential Gardener hopes other conservation commissions will arrange similar series in the future for their communities. (You can go even if you don't live in Barrington, though!)

You can also download a pdf of the Summer Edutainment Series through this link: Download Summer Edutainment Series 2011

Backyard & Container Gardening Workshops ~ June 11 & 29, 2011

As part of its mission to enable Providence residents to grow more of their own food, Southside Community Land Trust invites the public to attend two free Plant Providence workshops this month. “Affordable Backyard Gardening” will be offered Saturday, June 11th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the backyard of a home at 563 Public St.; “Container Gardening” will take place Wednesday, June 29th from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at 9 Hammond St. on the city’s west side. Both workshops will be taught by experienced gardeners and/or Community Land Trust staff and will give people the confidence and basic information they need to get started gardening on a small scale.
 
“Affordable Backyard Gardening” is aimed at homeowners in Providence who have available space in front of or behind their houses that could be used as a garden. Growing your own food is already a big cost savings, but this workshop will show people how to do so even more efficiently and provide tips on where they can find inexpensive materials. For those who do not have yards, or those who rent, the “Container Gardening” workshop will illustrate the ways that it is still possible to grow herbs and even vegetables in pots, hanging baskets, and other containers placed on balconies or in windows.
 

Science Café: The Science of Waste ~ May 26, 2011

Please join us for the event, The Science of Waste on Thursday, May 26th, from 6-7 pm at  the Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House (209 Douglas Avenue, Providence, RI).  This will be a dynamic presentation and discussion about the consequences of trash in Rhode Island, and the possibilities for change.  The event will be led by Ellie Leonardsmith with the organization Clean Water Action, who will discuss the concept of "producer responsibility" and its political reality in Rhode Island.  All are welcome.

The event sponsored by the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island, Clean Water Action, the Brown University Superfund Research Program, and the Brown University Children's Environmental Health Initiative, and is part of the monthly Science Café series. The event is free and coffee and snacks will be provided.  We hope that you can make it!  Please see the attached flyer for more information. If you have questions, please contact David Ciplet: [email protected].

Press Release

Oceans and the World's Climate: How They Are Interdependent ~ June 4, 2011

The scientific case for the impact of human behavior on the complex, delicate, worldwide ocean system, as it in turn influences climate change and other factors that directly affect our lives, will be the topic addressed by prominent oceanographer and inventor Dr. Kenneth Johnson.

Rhode Island is the Ocean State. We live our lives in close proximity to the ocean, and our state’s economy is inextricably linked to it. Yet how much do most of us know about the world’s oceans? Most importantly, do we understand the great impact that ever-rising levels of atmospheric CO2 are having on oceans, including our own?

The melting of the polar ice caps, reversed ocean currents, changing chemical compositions, effects on marine ecosystems and fisheries—it all sounds very scientific and esoteric. What could it possibly have to do with our daily lives? But climate change will certainly impact humanity—and it will hit us coastal dwellers especially close to home. Learning and understanding the facts, and taking a realistic look at the future, is in our own best interests. 

Dr. Johnson will review the results of his lifetime of work, touring and analyzing waters in Darwin-like journeys throughout the 70% of the earth’s surface comprising oceans. He has worked at the URI's Graduate School of Oceanography, the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, the Institute for Sea Research in Germany, and Sweden's University of Gothenburg, developing techniques used by oceanographers to measure the concentration and the change in the concentration of dissolved CO2 throughout the world's oceans.

Saturday June 4  Rochambeau Library  Hope St  Providence   3 PM

NEW Core Land Use Curriculum ~ May 26, June 16, & June 23, 2011

Announcing New and Improved Land Use Training
for Municipal Officials

The RI Land Use Training Collaborative will be offering the following workshops:
 
NEW! Smart Growth and Community Planning
 May 26th 2011
Warwick City Hall
6:30-8:30PM
 
NEW! Conducting Effective Land Use Reviews
 June 16th 2011
Johnston Senior Center
5:30-9:00 PM

or

June 23rd 2011
Middletown Police Department
Community Room
5:30-9:00 PM 
 
Writing Sound Decisions
Will be offered Fall 2011
 
Smart Growth and Community Planning:  Led by professional land-use planners, provides the foundation material that all municipal officials need to proactively fulfill their community planning responsibilities....  RECOMMENDED FOR ALL PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BOARD MEMBERS AND FOR TOWN COUNCILS AND INTERESTED CITIZENS.    

Conducting Effective Land Use Reviews: Led by experienced land use attorneys and planners, this workshop will guide you through your legal responsibilities as a public official in Rhode Island and discuss in detail the legally required procedures and best practices that should be followed in conducting land use reviews.  ... RECOMMENDED FOR ALL PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BOARD MEMBERS AND MUNICIPAL PLANNERS AND SOLICITORS.   
 
Writing Sound Decisions: Taught by a Rhode Island land-use attorney, this workshop is designed to help municipal planners, legal staff, boards and commissions write decisions whose content will hold up in court and whose clarity will make them readily understandable for both enforcement officers and property owners.  It is specifically intended to address the problem, noted repeatedly in recent Superior Court and Supreme Court decisions, that written decisions coming out of municipal planning boards and zoning boards do not explain how the evidence contained in the record led the board to reach its conclusions.  RECOMMENDED FOR ALL PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BOARD MEMBERS AND MUNICIPAL PLANNERS AND SOLICITORS.

Are you on a municipal board or commission? Scholarships may be available.  Please contact Lauren Pendergast at [email protected] or (401) 273-5711 x6 for more information.

Press Release from Grow Smart RI

Further information and Registration Forms

Narragansett Bay Watershed Counts ~ April 27, 2011

Environmental Report Card will Show Rhode Island Needs Improvement

New collaborative sends heads up to legislators

Press release from Narragansett Bay Estuary Program

Wednesday afternoon at the State House, a unique collaboration of 34 leading environmental agencies and organizations in Rhode Island will report the results of a year focusing on how to rate  the health of local natural resources. The report will take place on April 27 at 2:00 PM at the State Room in the State House. This presentation is part of the Environment Council of Rhode Island's Lobby Day activities.

The report, entitled “Watershed Counts,” both tells a story of the success and achievements of investment in environmental protection and pollution infrastructure, and addresses the many serious challenges that remain for RI’s lands and waters.
 
“This is an extraordinary effort to bring together the most knowledgeable people to tell us how our environment is doing and why. We should be proud of the progress, but we have a huge amount of work to do still,” said Baykeeper John Torgan of Save The Bay.
 
Some of the report’s highlights include:

• Recognition of improved water quality for swimming and shellfishing in Narragansett Bay and the state’s licensed beaches since 2006, a result of improvements in wastewater treatment and stormwater infrastructure
• Major water quality challenges remain, related to polluted runoff, excessive nutrients, and an increase in water temperatures
• Other serious environmental problems statewide relate to climate change, invasive species, and freshwater conservation and usage

 
The Watershed Counts report is the product of a broad coalition of agencies and organizations. The process was facilitated the Narragansett Bay Estuary program and the URI Coastal Institute, and included five RI agencies, environmental groups including Save The Bay, Audubon Society of RI, Environment Council of RI, and many other environmental experts.
 
“I am pleased to see in operation that which we knew all along: Rhode Island's environmental expertise is massive” said Judith Swift of the Coastal Institute. “The members of the community, whether they serve as regulators or advocates, are all willing to work side by side to ensure the quality of life we treasure as Rhode Islanders.”

News Advisory
For Immediate Release  April 25, 2011
Contact: Meg Kerr, Narragansett Bay Estuary Program 874-6525;
cell 714-2313, [email protected]

Ask Not What Your Country Can Feed You.... Lecture ~ April 8, 2011

Curt Ellis, FoodCorps founder and documentary filmmaker, will deliver the 11th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown University on Friday, April 8, 2011. His talk, titled “Ask Not What Your Country Can Feed You ~ Ask What You Can Feed Your Country,” will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Stuart Theatre.

This event is free and open to the public.

The lectureship, sponsored by Brown University and the Goldway-Shearer family, was established in memory of Casey Shearer, a promising young writer and aspiring sportscaster who died in May 2000, days before he was to graduate from Brown. Previous speakers have included Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer A. Scott Berg, ESPN anchor Chris Berman, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, ABC analyst Cokie Roberts, Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund, film director Davis Guggenheim, and NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

Prior to the lecture, the winners of the annual Casey Shearer Memorial Award for Excellence in Creative Nonfiction will be announced.

Brown University, Stuart Theater, 77 Waterman St, Providence, RI 02906
Friday, April 8, 2011, 6:30 – 7:30pm

Practical Composting ~ April 23, 2011

Learn how to turn leaves and  yard debris into rich soil amendments through composting or processed into landscape mulch.

This workshop will emphasize large scale home composting (up to 5-10 cubic yds/yr), using oak leaves and yard debris as the principal components.  Various methods of composting with worms including the production and use of compost tea will also be discussed.
 
Health issues associated with gardening and composting will also be discussed.
 
Participants are encouraged to bring a empty gallon container so that they will be able to take home 1 gallon of freshly brewed actively aerated compost tea to use on their garden!

"Practical Composting"
by Reinhard Sidor
DATE: April 23, 2011
TIME: 9 am - 12:30 pm

LOCATION: Cowesett section of Warwick
Price: $25.00 (Coffee, tea, o.j. & cookies will be provided)

RAIN OR SHINE
Please dress appropriately for turning/making compost piles

REGISTER TODAY!

National Grid Deep Energy Retrofit Pilot: Project Update ~ April 5, 2011

NESEA RI MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT:

 The bad news - residential energy use accounts for 21% of US usage and 75% of those houses will still be standing in 2050.
 
The good news - National Grid is offering a limited pilot program to help RI homeowners and future generations live in healthier and sustainable homes - that save money.
 
Please join us at the next NESEA RI meeting for an update on RI's Deep Energy Retrofit Pilot Project by Dave Legg, principal analyst and residential building science specialist at National Grid.
 
When:  Tuesday, April 5 at 6pm
 
Where: BRAVO (Downtown PVD)
123 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
 
Get ready to discuss:
- National Grid’s Deep Energy Retrofit Program in other states and what is in store for Rhode Island.
- National Grid’s other energy efficiency programs available to Rhode Islanders.
- What's next for National Grid and energy efficiency in the residential sector.
 
This event is free and open to the public.  Food and drinks will be available for purchase.