A New Bliss

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Has anyone else noticed what’s happening over in the Bliss Four Corners area? Or better put, what will be happening there over the next few years?

Between the new library, the artists’ community, and the re-hab of the Bulgarmarsh recreation center, this forgotten corner of town looks as though it’s on its way to being quite the destination. I admit, I’m biased here as it is close to my neck of the woods, but this is turning into a nice little area. Hopefully, the increased foot and car traffic will benefit our local independent retailers and eateries as well. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the corner property recently vacated by the garden shop doesn't fall victim to a chain retailer of some sort, or even worse, a competing bank.)

The $64,000 question on my mind: What will become of the old Ranger School? As far as I know, it’s not slated to be used by the school department after this academic year and I have yet to hear anything on plans for its post-elementary school life. Does anyone know? That’s a wonderful historic building (heck, I went to school there) and it would be a shame to lose it to lack of vision. Any thoughts on what it could be in its next life?

Local Food Scores a Win

Many congrats go out to the Tiverton Land Trust, Manic Organic’s Nicole Vitello, the Recreation Commission, and all the countless others who have pulled together to create Tiverton’s first farmers market. This is just fantastic. More than anything, this has me really thinking about spring, summer, and all-things dealing with local food.

Why is the Sakonnet Growers Market such a big deal? It’s a win-win for anyone and everyone who participates:

• Local producers now have a new market to sell their products direct to the consumer. No middle-man to deal with means no mark-up and thus more money in the grower’s pocket.

• Visitors are spending their dollars locally, helping to boost our local economy. And with that, they get the freshest possible food. No trucking hundreds of miles to get from the farm to your table. That in itself is a huge step in lessening our environmental footprint.

• Our community binds together in new and refreshing ways. Farmers markets and the food they offer can thread together what would generally be different people from different parts of town. Not only are you meeting the farmer who grew your food, you’re meeting your neighbors.

I can’t wait for opening day on July 5 and hope to see you there!

But beyond the new farmers market, no discussion of local food would be complete without plugging our local CSA programs. Community Supported Agriculture is another cornerstone of a healthy local food economy. Here in the Sakonnet area, we have a bunch to choose from. Farm Fresh RI recently updated their listings of all CSAs in the state. Check it out, and get in early to ensure your piece of this year’s harvest.

And if you’re looking for something to read as the days are getting longer, be sure to pick up the Spring Issue of Edible Rhody. It’s always great to read about the vibrant food scene throughout the state.

Happy eating.

It's a Function of Consumption

Hi Everyone,

So it’s clearly been a while since we’ve had a post here at Sustainable Sakonnet. Time has been an extremely precious commodity for me these past weeks. As I mentioned before, I started my Executive MBA at Northeastern in January and I haven’t looked back since. Fantastic (but intense!) program if ever you were considering pursuing that.

One of the classes I’m taking this semester is macroeconomics. Now before you yawn and click off the site, just hold tight. It has given me a whole new perspective on how this thing called the American Economy works – its underpinnings, its interconnectedness (with just about everything), and most importantly, how totally out of balance we as Americans are with our consumption.

Anyone who has ever taken Macro 101 knows that consumption is one of the four components of GDP (gross domestic product), the measure by which we gauge how "healthy" our economy is. Consider some numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis:

• U.S. GDP at the end of 2007 was $14T (that’s trillion dollars)
• Overall Personal Income was up 6.1% in 2007; Disposable Personal Income (Personal income minus personal taxes) came in at $46.6B in January 2008
• BUT… Personal Savings (Disposable Personal Income minus Personal Outlays) was a negative $6.2B in January 2008.

So what does all this mean? What does it have to do with the sustainability? Everything.

We are spending more than what we make. This means we’re consuming more (TVs, cars, food, iPods, clothes, etc.) than what we should. I don’t demonstrate to know why (that’s a whole other discussion) or mean to say that people are bad for doing so, but it does beg the question of where all of this is going in the long run.

The more stuff we buy, use, throw away, buy again, and so on, means the more resources we’re using up in the process. Let’s remember that these are finite resources we’re talking about here. Then tack on the downstream environmental damage such as pollution, toxins in our soil and water, and mountains of trash, or social damages such as disconnected families, depression, a loss of community, and you begin to see the bigger picture here.



It all screams out the need for simplicity. A more simple, toned down, connected way of living. Now, I’m not saying we abandon everything and head out on some homesteading craze, but it is within our power to make simple, smaller changes. Changes whose cumulative affect can garner a positive impact.

There is a great website called The Story of Stuff. There you can watch a fantastic video that helps put it all into perspective. I encourage you to take and look and share it with others.

I'm going to make a renewed effort to post more often in the midst of school. There's so much to talk about and as always, I welcome your feedback and discussion!

Here’s to slowing down just a tad…

Event Notice: "Growing Green"

(Hi, everyone. Clearly, I've been away from the blog for a couple weeks. I started my Executive MBA program at Northeastern a few weeks back and that has taken every moment of free time since. Great program, but highly intense. Only about sixteen more months to go. I'm going to need to figure out how to keep the blog going. One idea is to have some guest bloggers. Do you have something green you want to talk about? Drop me a line and let's talk.)

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

It's still January right? So you have time to kick that New Year's resolution about increasing the "green" in your life into action. Here's some great motivation and know-how coming to us from just over the border.

The Westport River Watershed Alliance, along with other local environmental organizations, have put together a new educational series called "Shrinking Your Footprint". The first event, "Growing Green", is happening on Saturday, February 16, at 10:00AM at Buttonwood Park Zoo. Growing Green will introduce ways that people can maintain their yards and gardens in a way that uses little to no water, reduces pollution, and is cost-effective.

Future series events will focus on greening your life at home and through your transportation. More event info can be found at the WRWA website.

Event Notice: "Escape From Suburbia" Showing

Thanks to John over at hard deadlines and Kelly from Step It Up | Aquidneck Island for this notice.

Firehouse Theater in Newport is hosting a social and environmental issues documentary film series during the entire month of January. Of particular interest is the January 13 showing of "Escape From Suburbia". According to the teaser, this documentary "places the issue of Peak Oil and its consequences squarely on the world stage and connects the dots between the unsustainable suburban lifestyle and perilous issues of the 21st century, such as food production, population die-off and economic meltdown."

Peak Oil is the theory that the world's oil supplies have "peaked" or reached the maximum level of production given current known supplies. With that, we are in the proverbial sunset of our petroleum-based energy world. More information on peak oil can be found here.

Event Details:

"Escape From Suburbia"
Sunday, January 13, 7:00PM
Firehouse Theater, Newport (Google Map)

Event Notice: Wind Power Workshop in Tiverton

Great news on the local sustainable energy front! At the December 10th Town Council meeting it was decided to hold a second dedicated workshop on wind power in Tiverton. Helping to drive the decision was the announcement of the new Sustainable Energy Group we have formed in town. Given this new group, I was contacted and asked to attend. But I need your help.

This is a great opportunity to come out and show your support for sustainable energy. There is good potential for wind power in Tiverton. We just need the town to make the commitment to take the next step and begin gathering all the relevant facts and information. Hopefully this session puts that good foot forward.

Tiverton Town Council Wind Power Workshop
Tuesday, January 22, 7:00PM
Tiverton Town Hall, Highland Road

Hope to see you there! Feel free to pass this on to friends and family. The meeting is open to the public.

Help Support Local Land Conservation Funding Efforts

I continue to be pleased with State Representative John J. Loughlin’s environmental efforts. In another show, he recently sent Governor Carcieri an open letter requesting additional bond funding in his next state budget submission to help support three land conservation programs. Unfortunately, the letter hasn’t caught much attention from the local media. That’s where alternative media like blogs can fill the void.

I asked Representative Loughlin to comment on local projects that have benefited from other open space bonds. He graciously reminded me of projects such as Town Pond in Portsmouth, Pocasset Ridge in Tiverton, and the recent Treaty Rock farm acquisition in Little Compton. Many of these projects also benefit from other sources of federal and private matching funds, but unless there is local funding on the table, there’s nothing to match.

Here’s the letter. You can contact the Governor’s Office to voice your support by calling 401.222.2080 or by email.

December 17, 2008

The Honorable Donald L. Carcieri
Governor
State Of Rhode Island
State House, Room 222
Providence, Rhode Island 02903

On Open Letter To Governor Carcieri

Dear Governor Carcieri:

As you and your staff finalize a very difficult state budget, I would like to respectfully request you include in your budget submission, provisions for a $15 million in bond funding (over the next two years) to be put before the voters in November of 2008. The purpose of the bond issue would be for three land conservation programs:

$5 million for the Local Open Space Grants Program;

$5 million for the RI Farmland Protection Program; and

$5 million for the DEM Land Acquisition Program.

Please consider that without new bond funding, these important state land conservation programs will come to a halt in 2008. Moveover, Rhode Island will lose matching federal and private funding for land conservation - as much as $3 for every state $1 will be lost. Also, state bond money is a catalyst and provides seed funding for all three programs.

Rhode Islanders recognize the importance of saving our farms, forests and open spaces for future generations. In 2000, and in 2004 Open Space Bond Referendums have consistently passed with more than 70% of the vote. As recently as November of 2007, Portsmouth overwhelmingly passed a local open space bond.

In Little Compton, the Agricultural Conservancy Trust, together with other groups recently were able to preserve for future generations 120 acres of rolling farmland known as Treaty Rock Farm.

In Tiverton, we remain committed to protecting our precious rural character through the Tiverton Land Trust.

Our farms and open spaces will disappear if we do not act now to ensure they are available for our children and grandchildren to cherish and enjoy. In closing, you have shown great leadership in the past toward protecting and defending our environment. It is with that background that I urge you to help Rhode Islanders preserve our rural character and please include the 15 million dollar bond in your budget request. In return, I can assure you that I will work diligently to help ensure passage in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.