(1.27) Join the RI Sierra Club at the Swan Point Cemetery on the East Side of Providence for an unconventional outing. When the Blackstone river freezes over, seagulls huddle together in the unfrozen water surrounding a local waste water treatment plant that you can see from Swan Point cemetery. These seagulls act as easy prey for eagles which swoop down and catch them. Come see nature in action!

Park on Blackstone Boulevard in Providence near the entrance to Swan Point Cemetery. Meet near the pile of rocks at the entrance at 8:15am Sunday morning. Light hike on even trails. 8:30am to 10:00am.

(10.11) An invitation from Clean Water Action:

Join CWA at the Hot Club on Thursday, October 11th to get ready for the most important election in years.

Electoberfest is your chance to support Clean Water Action, meet other clean water activists, and get ready to make a difference for our environment and communities on November 6th. Plus there will be snacks and we’re debuting a special Clean Water beer.

The candidates we elect this year will decide issues ranging from investments in public transportation to the protection of our drinking water supply, and from successful recycling to the prevention of air pollution during the next Congress and state legislative session. We need strong pro-environment elected officials who are committed to improving our quality of life to make the best choices for all Rhode Islanders.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will attend. A donation of $25 is suggested. RSVP at Facebook.

5:30pm to 7:30pm, Thursday, October 11, Hot Club, 575 South Water Street

The ‘Trash Tutorial’ column in the ProJo — written by Sarah Kite, director of recycling services at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) — is archived at the the RIRRC website along with other relevant columns.

In yesterday’s column, Kite took up the subject of plastic bags . . . and other plasticky things. First, Rhode Islands’ ReStore law states that the larger retail establishments of goods and food “must provide plastic bag recycling to the public.” You can not recycle your plastic bags in your home recycling bin; you have to take them back to the store.

Recent additions to the plastic bag recycling program include: bubble wrap, pellet bags, cereal box liners, newspaper sleeves, dry cleaner film, bread and bagel bags, shrink wrap, pallet wrap, and airpacks (those air-filled bladders used in shipping — pop ‘em first).

And overdue kudos to the Barrington Town Council for passing an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags (ecoRI News). It includes a sunset provision and will thus expire in two years; but by then everyone will have adapted. Leaving a tote or two in your car is so easy and then you get to be that smug bastard in the check-out line. Everybody loves that guy. The Shaw’s in Barrington didn’t wait to be told; they just went ahead and pulled the plastic check-out bags from the store on their own initiative. Your turn Eastside Marketplace.

(9.22) From the Department of Public Works:

On Saturday, September 22, city residents may drop off old mattresses and e-waste at George J. West School located at 145 Beaufort Street between 8am and 11am.

Residents are invited to drop off mattresses, old TVs, computers, printers, microwaves, stereos, keyboards, phones and other electronic wastes.

8am to 11am, Saturday, September 22, West School, 145 Beaufort Street (directions)

Hard to believe that this is the same party now sneering at the rising sea levels (somebody tell Romney that the U.S. Navy is not laughing). Today the New York Times reported the death at age 92 of renowned conservationist and advocate Russell E. Train.

Mr. Train developed the idea of establishing the Council on Environmental Quality, a policy office within the White House. He also helped persuade the Nixon administration to create the Environmental Protection Agency, empowered to execute and regulate the nation’s new program of safeguarding natural resources and protecting public health.

“I felt strongly that environmental issues needed a sharp, cutting edge in government, one that had high visibility to the public,” Mr. Train recalled in his 2003 memoir, “Politics, Pollution, and Pandas.” And, he wrote, “this view finally prevailed.”

Train was also a founding member of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund’s United States affiliate. Talk about your endangered species — Republican environmentalists have got to top that list.

(Pictured here is Beavertail in Jamestown, Train’s birthplace! Well, not right on the rocks, but . . . you know.)

(8.31) From RIPTA,

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management is predicting that air quality will reach unhealthy levels in Rhode Island especially in central and southern sections in the afternoon on Friday, August 31. A very humid air mass with southwest winds will be present at that time, which will lead to unhealthy air conditions. The poor air quality will be due to elevated ground level ozone concentrations.  Ozone is a major component of smog and is formed by the photochemical reaction of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, industry and other sources in the presence of elevated temperatures and sunlight.

All RIPTA regular fixed-routes, excluding special services, will be free on “AIR QUALITY ALERT DAYS.” Just hop on and hop off.

How can you help? Limit driving, reduce idling, no mowing the lawn, and limit barbecue emissions. In other words, lay about the house all day long and don’t do a damn thing, and you get to say you’re helping the environment.

(7.17) All regular RIPTA buses and trolleys, but excluding special services, will be free on Tuesday, July 17. Hop on, hop off.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management is predicting that air quality will reach unhealthy levels in Rhode Island. . . A very hot and very humid air mass with west winds will be present at that time, which will lead to unhealthy air conditions. The poor air quality will be due to elevated ground level ozone concentrations. Ozone is a major component of smog and is formed by the photochemical reaction of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, industry and other sources in the presence of elevated temperatures and sunlight.

(7.7) The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has issued an ozone alert health advisory for Saturday, July 7. The DEM predicts,

. . .  that air quality will reach unhealthy levels in Rhode Island, but especially in southern sections again in the afternoon on Saturday. A very hot and very humid air mass with southwest winds will be present at that time, which will lead to unhealthy air conditions. The poor air quality will be due to elevated ground level ozone concentrations. Ozone is a major component of smog and is formed by the photochemical reaction of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, industry and other sources in the presence of elevated temperatures and sunlight.

All RIPTA routes, excluding special services, will be free on Saturday, July 7.

Here comes summer. The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has issued an ozone alert health advisory for Wednesday, June 20. The DEM predicts,

. . . that air quality will reach unhealthy levels in most of Rhode Island, but especially in southern sections in the afternoon on Wednesday. A very hot and very humid air mass with west to southwest winds will be present at that time, which will lead to unhealthy air conditions. The poor air quality will be due to elevated ground level ozone concentrations. Ozone is a major component of smog and is formed by the photochemical reaction of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, industry and other sources in the presence of elevated temperatures and sunlight.

All RIPTA routes, excluding special services, will be free on Wednesday, June 20 — and again Thursday, June 21.

The second best way to quench your thirst in Providence? Tap water. The 2011 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) from the Providence Water Supply Board (PWSB) has been arriving in mailboxes around town. Thousands of water samples are tested every year and the Scituate Reservoir is still cranking out the good stuff. (Elevated levels of lead triggered an earlier mailing, but this is more a problem of contact with old pipes and plumbing components. Lead pipe water service connections are being replaced all over to help with that, and there are things you can do in your own home.)

But here is the part of the brochure I find galling; the section “Tap vs. Bottled Water” starts,

Did you know that if you drank your recommended eight glasses of water a day from bottled water, it would cost up to $1400 for a year’s supply? That same amount of tap water would cost only about $0.50.

While I am thrilled to have people examining their bottled water purchases, can we once and for all put a stake through the heart of this “eight glasses of water a day” myth.  Who exactly has been “recommending” this?  Are there any scientific medical studies backing up this claim? No, it is the purveyors of bottled water who keep this going. (HuffPo 7.14.11)

The health recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water a day is “thoroughly debunked nonsense,” a doctor wrote this week in a commentary in the British Medical Journal.

more »

Rhode Islanders may adopt the new recycling guidelines as soon as they receive in the mail the Resource Recovery brochure (and useful refrigerator magnet) says state recycling coordinator Sarah Kite. (Mark Reynolds writes all about the new system and changes to the plant itself in the Thursday ProJo.) For complete information on what’s the same, and what’s changed go to RecycleTogetherRI.org.

The biggest change is that all approved recyclables — paper, plastics, metals, glass — can now go into the same bin, either bin, as long as they are separate from the trash. No more sorting.

Another change, more plastics are recyclable: jelly jars, butter tubs, yogurt containers, shampoo bottles, and more.

One thing has not changed — no plastic bags! Those go back to the supermarket or big box store. And just stop using them. Speaking of which — hooray for the city of Los Angeles now “taking the first step toward joining nearly four dozen other California municipalities in outlawing them.” (HuffPo.)

If you’re regretting that it’s almost Memorial Day and you still haven’t taken that awesome hike you’ve been meaning to, join RI Sierra Club on their annual Vernal Pools outing down in the Great Swamp this Saturday (May 26) afternoon led by Sierra Club’s own Abel Collins.

You can meet at the Great Swamp parking area off Great Neck road at 4pm, or caravan from the Sierra Club’s office at Anchor at 42 Rice Street, behind Firehouse 13.

Should be about an hour and a half of non-strenuous, checking-out-nature ambling.

If you have questions or need more info, check out the Rhode Island Sierra Club’s outings page, or send an email to outings@risierraclub.org.

“Rhode Islanders use about 525 million bags annually, or enough to circle the earth more than six and a half times.” This extraordinary statement — based on plastics industry figures — comes from a recent piece by Rowan Sharp over at ecoRI News.

Since 2007, plastic bags have been banned in San Francisco and several other California cities; Westport, Connecticut; Portland and Seattle; Austin, South Padre Island, Fort Stockton and Brownsville in Texas; and more than nine countries including South Africa, France and China.

Sharp reports on the efforts of environmental advocate Channing Jones of Environment Rhode Island.

This winter, Jones launched a campaign he calls “Ban the Bag,” to raise awareness about the environmental impact of plastic grocery bags and urge elected officials to pass town/citywide bans. While the goal is action at the state level, Jones believes it’s best to start small and build popular support.

Last year’s legislation in the general assembly to tax the bags into oblivion was defeated. Let your representatives know that you support an outright ban on these urban tumbleweeds — just like those notorious tree huggers in Texas.

The Steel Yard was recently the featured cover story at Landscape Architecture Magazine,

The Steel Yard’s brownfield remediation project has garnered a lot of exciting attention since its completion. Most recently, the project was prominently featured in the December 2011 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine. We’re proud to be featured on the cover, along with a substantial interior spread. Special thanks go out to Klopfer Martin Design Group for their incredible work as our landscape architects!

(Click here to download the pdf.)

I like the way this thing looms . . . silent . . . never blinking. Very “War of the Worlds.” I should probably adjust my meds.

The wind turbines going up (one so far) at the Fields Point Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) are very cool if just a wee bit creepy . . . what do they want from us? The NBC has a regularly updated, interactive webcam keeping track of the project (click here) where you can also find an amazing slideshow by photographer Michael Spring of the part where the man stands on top of the tower and guides the rotor blades into place. How did he not get squished? It is positively heart-stopping. Kudos to the person finessing that crane as well. Keep in mind, this is not taking place in the middle of a corn field where an accident might damage the crops — this could go horribly horribly wrong. Since conditions have to be perfect the timing is difficult to predict, but you can just drive over to Ernest Street and take a look. There’s a sizable parking lot at the NBC (directions).

We’ve discussed the evils of bottled water before. And now Frank Carini over at ecoRI News has renewed the call to end the use of bottled water, including over on Smith Street.

We challenge our elected officials to stop spending about $18,000 annually to provide bottled water at the Statehouse. Thirsty senators and representatives can bring a reusable mug to work and fill it with renowned Providence tap water.

In fact, we challenge all state agencies and institutions to stop the unnecessary purchase of water in plastic bottles, unless in an emergency or if there are special health circumstances.

And why not? According to Walter Splash here, Providence water is ranked second in the nation in water quality. So why are we shipping the stuff in and and dumping more plastic into the environment (remember, every piece of plastic ever made still exists). And this is where we always urge you to read “Polymers are Forever” by Alan Weisman and find out how tiny nurdles of plastic are becoming a pervasive feature of the ocean food chain.