Sustainable Warwick Working Around Town
Progress on pollinator meadows, compost, a pump track, electric vehicles, a gardening confab and more made news at the Sustainable Warwick Juneteenth meeting.
A Sustainable Warwick meeting on Juneteenth began with considering the need for enhancing societal equity. Then Geoff Howard provided an update on the Transformation Trails, 10 unkempt acres that were part of the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, then acquired by the Town of Warwick over a decade ago. Howard said that 34 trees were recently planted and labeled, with more to come this fall, while a months-long occultation process was begun to prepare for a pollinator meadow, as well as STEAM education projects. A sculpture garden and maybe an amphitheater are part of the plan that Sustainable Warwick proposed for the property.
Meanwhile, the Pollinator Pathway Committee is now doing one work session each month at Mountain Lakes Park and one at Transformation Trails, planting pollinator appealing plants and combatting invasive species, lately particularly oriental bittersweet, among others. Volunteers are invited to help.
Pollinator Welcome signs are available at Corwins or from Sally “Hotcakes” Greco. pollinators@sustainablewarwick.org
“We make a little profit on the Pollinator Welcome signs, but the main thing is to spread the message, boost the popularity of going pesticide free and encourage replacement of lawns with pollinator-supporting plants,” said SW steering committee member Michael Helme.
Other Sustainable Warwick members are assembling a web page on electric vehicles and planning a test drive event.
“This will be a new web page on our website, and it will provide information and perspectives on EVs from enthusiastic owners,” said Helme.
Elsewhere, Memorial Park is being enhanced by the Village of Warwick, according to SW. The Village now has funding for a skate park and dog run. A heroes garden is in development, and a pump track is being organized. There may be a Take It or Leave It Shed that could operate as a year-round arm of Too Good To Toss, a program that assembles still functional items people want to give away.
A more cerebral venture, the Sustainable World Book Club, read a novel for June, Light Pirate, about a character who survived progressively greater climate challenges in Florida. The club’s next book, The Heat Will Kill You First, is available in Albert Wisner library.
Compost Committee members invite volunteers to help collect food scraps on Sundays at the Farmers Market. They find that people enjoy the experience and keep volunteering. Calculating the greenhouse gases avoided by composting—100 pounds of food waste creates 3.8 pounds of methane, the group learned—their composting efforts have avoided emissions equal to 16 tons of carbon dioxide, similar to the emissions caused by four average gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for a year. If you'd like to volunteer, reach out to Christy at garden@sustainablewarwick.org.
Community Garden and Zoom Garden Plot: Both of these groups continue their usual activities. ZGP will meet this Monday (June 24th) at 7:30 PM. Email garden@sustainablewarwick.org if you aren’t already getting the Zoom links.
Asked what ZGP does, Michael Helme said, ‘We meet on Zoom to discuss gardening questions. Each of the sessions is recorded and posted online.” Recordings can be found here.
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