RI has the lowest energy consumption per capita-10.25.07

THIS ARTICLE WAS PICKED UP BY the U-Wire and Highbeam Research. It can be found on encyclopedia.com

Though it is the smallest state in the union, Rhode Island proved a big contender in Forbes.com's first America's Greenest States rankings, released last week.

The Ocean State ranked eighth overall, after being evaluated for six environmental factors: air and water quality, hazardous waste management, energy consumption, policy initiatives and carbon footprint, or the amount of carbon emissions per capita. Rhode Island also boasts the lowest energy consumption per capita and the third-lowest carbon footprint, following Idaho and Vermont, respectively.

"(Rhode Island) is starting from a great place," said Steven Hamburg, associate professor of environmental studies. "We have relatively energy-efficient infrastructure, but we need to build from that and not just sit back and say 'look at how good we are.' "

Hamburg, a strong advocate for climate-change issues, said the best way Rhode Island could improve its standing on next year's list is by expanding its public transportation system and by "walking the walk, not just talking the talk."

"Rhode Island doesn't really have substantive environmental policies," he said, referring to the policy initiatives factor in the rankings taken from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's energy efficiency scoreboard, released in June.

Forbes noted that Rhode Island is now mandating that utilities obtain 16 percent of their power from renewable fuel sources by 2020.

"There is a difference between things being done and things we are wanting to do," Hamburg said.

Green-friendly initiatives are being proposed throughout Rhode Island.

In 2004, Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 proposed a $70-million environmental bond for watershed protection, which voters later passed. For 2008, Carcieri has proposed an $85-million environmental bond - the largest of its kind - for cleaning up Narragansett Bay, according to the governor's Web site.

Visiting Lecturer for Environmental Studies Donald Pryor's work focuses on the effects of climate change on the ecology at Narragansett Bay. When asked what he thought of the Forbes rankings, Pryor said he was surprised that Rhode Island was among the top 10.

"I give (Forbes) a lot of credit for making quantitative estimates, but when I looked at some of them I was struck. There is a difference between spending money and achieving something with it," Pryor said. Forbes factored how much money states have allocated for policy initiatives into its rankings.

"The political machine here (in Rhode Island), they're not having the open discussion we need to have to move forward," he said. As for Carcieri's agenda, Pryor said "the governor resisted for a very long time."

Some student environmentalists think Rhode Island and the University could become more environmentally friendly. "Even if Rhode Island's per capita energy consumption is the lowest of all 50 states, American society is still undeniably consumptive in comparison to the world average. Whether your state comes in first place or last (in the Forbes rankings), we can always do better," Kirsten Howard '09 wrote in an e-mail. Howard is a member of emPOWER, a student group working to end Brown's contribution to global warming.

Last month, the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee submitted its final recommendations to the University. The recommendations were influenced by emPOWER and will be submitted in the budget proposal in the Corporation's next meeting, wrote Julia Beamesderfer '09 in an e-mail to The Herald. Beamesderfer is also a member of emPOWER.

According to Howard, emPOWER members are working to incorporate sustainable design into Brown's curriculum. Brown recently acquired $350,000 in grant money for local, student-initiated environmental initiatives - $150,000 from President Ruth Simmons' office and $200,000 from the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

"It is our hope that students can use this money to fund local offsetting projects with the objective of making Brown a climate-neutral institution," Beamesderfer said. Hamburg and Pryor said the University must evaluate future expansion plans and make sure they are environmentally conscious.

"(Brown) has a lower carbon output compared to our peers, but that doesn't mean we can't be more aggressive. We need to think about how to expand, but at the same time not create negative impacts," Hamburg said.

© Copyright 2007 Brown Daily Herald

Tree stall India Point Park bridge opening-10.18.07

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Providence, Rhode Island—The opening of the new pedestrian bridge connecting India Point Park to the Wickenden business district has been postponed until later this fall. The bridge was slated to open Sept. 12 - two years after the original bridge was demolished to make room for the relocation of I-195.

Construction was delayed because workers originally planned to cut down a large, old red-oak tree on a pathway leading to the bridge, but local park enthusiasts saved it from being removed.

"The opening was delayed 45 days because of the saving of the tree," said David Riley, co-chair for Friends of India Point Park, a citizen group dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the park.

Due to the setback, Friends of India Point Park will not hold their planned celebration for the opening of the bridge until next spring, when the entire project is completed.



"We've been told (by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation) that the ramp won't be done until then," Riley said, adding that once completed next year, the bridge will feature plants and trees. The walking ramp will be accessible later this fall, he said.

India Point Park, an 18-acre waterfront park between the Providence and Seekonk rivers, is ranked the third most-used park in the city following the downtown skating rink and Roger Williams Park, which is 24 times larger. India Point Park is home to the Mexican Soccer League, the Cape Verdean Independence Festival and the Fox Point Boys and Girls Club, among other groups. It has also been the location for past WBRU concerts and is next to Marston Boathouse, which is used by the University's rowing teams.

Before the construction city officials told the Friends of India Point Park that the number of people using the park will double after the highway project's completion, Riley said.

The entire Route 195 project - the construction of the pedestrian bridge, the relocation of I-195 and the replacement of a sewer pipe under Gano and India streets - will cost Rhode Island $26.1 million, according to the state's Department of Transportation Web site.

Lambri Zerva, design project manager for the state's Department of Transportation, told The Herald in March that the removal of the old bridge was necessary because its piers would have obstructed the new road links for I-195.

"The new bridge took up space where the old one was, so we couldn't keep the old one and build the new one at the same time. Unfortunately, (taking down the old bridge) was a necessary evil," he said.

"We're looking forward to the completion of the construction," women's crew members Vanessa Rathbone '08 and Molly Getz '08 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "For the past two years, people on our team have been walking down busy roads and a lot of construction, which is not very safe."



"I used the bridge freshman year to get down to the boathouse. It always seemed kind of rickety because it would shake slightly if a big semi-truck passed underneath it," said women's crew member Emma Olson '08.

Despite the old bridge's small size and instability, Olson preferred it to an alternative route, which is used to get to the park and boathouse now.

"(The bridge) seemed safer than the current way to get to India Point Park or the boathouse, which is straight down Gano Street and under the bridge," Olson said. Students must currently cross a freeway ramp to get to the boathouse. "The off ramp was recently rerouted and cars never seem to come to a full stop at the stop sign, which is dangerous for the number of rowers who walk and run by and any other pedestrians heading to the park," she added.

© Copyright 2007 Brown Daily Herald

Whelan found Merasi school in India's Rajasthan - 10.10.07

Rajasthan, India—When Caitlin Whelan ’07.5 was driving home to South Portland, Maine with her brother, she received a call on her cell phone from someone who claimed to be President Ruth Simmons.
Going along with what she thought to be a prank call from one of her friends, she realized that no one she knew would use phrases such as “where are you in route to?” and “are you going via car?”
The next sentence the caller said was something along the lines of “I hardly ever call students, but this is one of the things I enjoy most about my job, congratulations on being named a Truman Scholar.”
Whelan said she felt honored and surprised, mostly because it really was Simmons on the phone and what she had just uttered could not be false.
But, Whelan said that what really satisfies her is the reason behind why she received the scholarship — a community-based music school in India that she started in order to preserve the music of the Merasi, the lowest caste in that country often categorized as “untouchable.”


The story of The Merasi School begins with how Whelan stumbled upon the community and how she “relearned the world through the Merasi.”


Whelan took a year and a half off from college after having completed her freshmen year at Sarah Lawrence University in the outskirts of New York City. Floating from a documentary writing project to an urban arts education program in Maine, she eventually ended up working in an Italian farm for three months.


“I remember being in a sunflower field in Italy when I received a fax from Brown telling me my transfer had gone through,” she said, “but I was accepted for January 2005 and that left me with no real plans for the next few months.”


Whelan’s mother told her she would have to get out of the house soon and on that note contacted someone she believed would give Whelan something to do, Karen Lukas director of Folk Arts Rajasthan, a New York-based non-profit that promotes cultural, economic and educational empowerment of the Merasi community.


“She’s a one-woman show,” Whelan said, referring to how Lukas ran Folk Arts Rajasthan before she joined her.
When Whelan first began working with Lukas at FAR, she said she immediately was put in charge of a lot of projects.
“It wasn’t that I was really talented or anything…it was that there was so much to do,” Whelan said.
“I use to have very vivid dreams of being in theater, a Broadway darling. It was all about the betterment of Caty and how the world could see more of Caty, but I don’t think that was the best way for me to be most effective,” she said.


“I remember I had no interest in India whatsoever, not the music, not the food, not anything. South Portland only has two Indian restaurants and I didn’t really like going to either,” she recalls.


“But getting involved with (FAR and the Merasi) took my world and flipped it on its head,” she joked.


Whelan had her first taste of India the fall of 2004. She did not return in the summer of 2005, but opted to continue the work she had started from home.


“I interned with an anthropologist during the day and talked with Lukas on the phone at night. We were trying to see how we could bring eight Merasi musicians to tour the East Coast,” she said. “But, because they lived on the border with Pakistan and their last names were all Khan, no one wanted anything to do with them.”


“Thankfully, at the eleventh hour, we found a sympathetic ear,” she said. “I received a call from one of my senators’ offices saying that if we could have all the paperwork done they would provide them with visas.”


The following summer, Lukas entrusted Whelan with archiving the traditional Merasi music. She would go by the elder’s homes with her tape-recorder in hand, but aside from getting valuable recordings, Whelan found this to be an opportunity to discuss the biggest issues facing the community — “marginalized citizen status, crippling poverty, no access to political representation, sustained employment, or education.”


“Modernization is blazing away through India and traditional music is rapidly losing its popularity. But, their music is the only thing that others respect of the Merasi,” Whelan explained.


“Yet the younger generations are put to work and do not have the time to learn the old ways of the Merasi,” she said. The word ‘Merasi’ literally translates into ‘musician’ in the local dialect.


“In searching for a way of merging cultural preservation with social mobility, we came to the idea of creating a music school, which would also have a scholastic component,” she said.


“But it was important to make the school community-based,” she said. “The people of that community want to make their own decisions. They don’t want some white kid to come in and tell them what to do, then leave them with nothing as soon as they go home.”


With this in mind, Whelan found two members of the community to teach at the school, Anwar Khan for the scholastic portion and Lune Khan for the music portion. The students range from five to seven years for the “little group” and eight to 11 years for the “big group.” Class is two hours a day, six days a week.


“We realized quickly that we could not take the kids away from their families for much more than that, because of the economic conditions they live in,” Whelan explained.

The Merasi community in Rajasthan is composed of 15,000 people. The school currently reaches 18 boys and girls. In the future, Whelan said she hopes to contract another teacher (preferably a woman from the area), buy a taxi to transport the children safely and a building to house the school.


“There are few things less powerful than a physical presence,” Whelan said. “I want the kids to pass by the building and be able to say this is were I go to school.”


Classes are currently being taught in a building belonging to one of FAR’s partners, Lok Kala Sagar Sansthan. LKSS is an Indian NGO with the same mission as FAR. Its current director, Sarwar Khan, doubles as the on-site manager of The Merasi School.


In order to go through with her plans, Whelan needs $15,000 in funds, $10,000 more than the original amount needed to start the school. She said the first 100 people to donate $150 will be named part of the “visionary core” and their names will be featured in a plaque in the new school building.


“This is so that the children can see that there is someone out there that believes in their potential to grow through education,” she said.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t walk through the Brown campus and I am not aware of how privileged we are to have this, an education. All I want is to make that accessible to others.”


prior to editorial changes — © Copyright 2007 Brown Daily Herald
actual article here.