The state needs to prioritize the siting of renewable energy in places that minimize environmental impacts, such as rooftops. (istock)
To address climate change, Rhode Island is facing an urgent challenge: how to quickly transition from fossil fuels and accelerate the pace of renewable-energy development while protecting the state’s natural resources.
Rhode Island’s Stressed Woodlands are Shared Gift and Shared Responsibility
The ability of woodlands to sustain the landscape and provide all those benefits is threatened. (Frank Carini/ecoRI News)
The rate at which the construction of roads, subdivisions and other human development continue to break up large, contiguous blocks of forest into an increasing number of smaller pieces is alarming. Fragmentation divides up the resource, and these islands of woodland provide limited benefits.
Conservation Plan for Agawam Hunt Club Scraps 68 Houses
RUMFORD, R.I. — More than 80 acres of open space at Agawam Hunt, a private country club with a historic 18-hole golf course, have been permanently protected through the purchase of a conservation easement by The Nature Conservancy.
R.I.’s Forestland Generates Plenty of Green for Local Economy
PROVIDENCE — While Narragansett Bay and the rest of the state’s coastal waters play a celebrated role in the local economy, so too do Rhode Island’s 400,000 acres of forestland, of which about 70 percent is privately owned.
Save The Bay has taken legal action challenging Gov. Gina Raimondo’s appointees to the board. (ecoRI News)
Forest-destroying southern pine beetles have been trapped as far north as Rhode Island and Massachusetts. (Matt Bertone /N.C. State University)
Two Rhode Island municipalities and the state university are developing solar energy on trashed properties. (EPA)
Food Scrap Being Wasted at Rhode Island Schools
PROVIDENCE — In February, a trash audit at the Pell Elementary School in Newport recovered 238 pounds of food scrap from a single day.
R.I. Farm Purchase Program Targets Young Farmers
PROVIDENCE — In the coming weeks, DEM's Division of Agriculture will publicize a program that brings together land owners and first-time farmers.
