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Content by Jen Long
Review: Bill Nye at URI’s Ryan Center
In the age of climate-change denial and “alternative facts,” science communicator Bill Nye has proven to be a vital source of information when it comes to the current state of our world and our environment. Most Millennials grew up with Nye from his popular ‘90s TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” while the older […]
Wind Power: It “Blowed Up Good”
Wind energy is all it’s blown up to be. States like Texas and Oklahoma know wind to be a viable and powerful source of renewable energy, and have been tapping into it on their plains and prairies for decades. Rhode Island, being a bit short on plains and prairies inventory, took the best route […]
Opinion: 38 Reasons Deepwater Wind Could Cause Deep Trouble
Simply reading the 77-page decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court provides a thorough and authoritative tutorial to the exercise in backroom politics that lies behind the approval of the Deepwater Wind “demonstration project” off Block Island. It’s all there: how the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) initially found that the agreement to sell wind power […]
Baden-Powell Service Association: Traditional Scouting for Everyone
Young people interested in traditional scouting that emphasizes outdoor activities and interaction with nature had few opportunities if they felt excluded by policy from more widely known scouting organizations. The Baden-Powell Service Association (BPSA) seeks to remedy that by opening its membership without discrimination on the basis of religious views, sexual orientation or gender, aiming […]
GMOs: Guide for the Perplexed
[See main article: motifri.com/gmofood] Surprisingly, the first and hardest problem of talking about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is defining them. Advanced biotechnology since the 1990s makes possible direct modification of cellular genetic material through genetic engineering, but the results are distinguishable only by their precision from traditional breeding techniques used for millennia with plants and […]
GMO Food: Complicated Questions but No Simple Answers
[See sidebar: motifri.com/gmoguide] Food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) made by genetic engineering (GE) has been in the news recently following the May release of results from a major study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS), a private non-profit corporation funded entirely by the federal government and originally chartered by […]
Happy Cows Come From … Rhode Island?
Remember that documentary Super Size Me, where Morgan Spurlock tells his tale of eating only McDonald’s food for 30 days and getting quite ill? I remember it well; I own the DVD. There was one line from that movie that changed my life: 1,000 cows in every patty. It comes in the extras, when Morgan […]
Back to the Garden
“We are stardust, we are golden… and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” Joni Mitchell As icy winds howl outside, I feel as if a part of my soul has died. Spring is a distant dream … but the annual Spring Flower and Garden Show at the RI Convention Center is coming, […]
Stellar Adventures
My journey through the cosmos – by way of the Frosty Drew Observatory – began this past summer. I had attempted to go one Friday night in June. Unfortunately I neglected to notice the thick fog reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Mist during my hour long, 42-mile drive to Charlestown (Yes, I am a Rhode […]