Fall 2024 Honors Colloquium examining ‘Democracy in Peril’ to launch Sept. 17

‘Democracy in Peril’ is URI’s Fall 2024 Honors Colloquium topic

Kristen Curry 

With all eyes on the U.S. election this fall, the University of Rhode Island Honors Program presents its 61st annual Honors Colloquium, “Democracy in Peril,” to draw attention to the challenges facing democracy here and abroad and highlight the importance of democratic values and institutions.

This year’s Colloquium will provide an opportunity for scholars, experts, and the broader community to engage in a thoughtful and informed dialogue on the meaning and importance of, and risks to, democracy. Speakers will examine the causes and consequences of democratic backsliding and discuss ways to work towards building stronger and more resilient democracies in the 21st century.

Bad news for those who love to fish for trout

As Rivers and Streams Warm, Human and Aquatic Life Impacted

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Rhode Islanders don’t traditionally think of their home state as being a river-rich one.

With 420 miles of coastline, a centuries-long history of fishing, quahogging, and sailing, and a rich tradition of seafood, it’s not hard to see why the state has garnered its Ocean State moniker.

But that’s only part of the state’s environment. Inland, away from the famous coastal areas, Rhode Island is rich with freshwater rivers, streams, and wetlands that provide important habitat for plants, animals, insects, and fish — waterways that are just as vulnerable to climate change and development as Narragansett Bay.

“It’s really the same issues we face in Narragansett Bay,” said Kate McPherson, riverkeeper for Save The Bay. “It’s just on the other side.”

The Wood River in particular is a delicate habitat. A major tributary of the Pawcatuck River, its course hugs much of the state’s western border, starting from headwaters in Connecticut swamps and running through Exeter, Richmond, and Hopkinton before flowing into the Pawcatuck, and ultimately the ocean. Nearly three-quarters of land in the river’s watershed, about 73%, is forested, with less than 10% developed.

With its clear waters and heavily forested banks that seem rare in a small, highly developed state like Rhode Island, the Wood River is a destination for recreation, popular with anglers, kayakers, swimmers, when the water is deep enough, and hikers. Rhode Island’s popular North-South Trail runs parallel to the river for much of its path. The Wood is also an important drinking water aquifer for residents in Hopkinton and Richmond.

Biden EPA Rejects Plastics Industry’s Fuzzy Math That Misleads Customers About Recycled Content

Stopping industry lies

By Lisa Song for ProPublica

The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the first ever federal action against a system that misleads consumers about the recycled content in plastic products.

A ProPublica investigation in June showed how the plastics industry uses a controversial accounting method called mass balance to advertise plastic products as 20% or 30% recycled even if they physically contain less than 1% recycled content.

It involves a number shuffle, done only on paper, that inflates the advertised recycledness of one product by reducing the advertised recycledness of another, often less lucrative, product. Done purely for marketing, it has been criticized by environmentalists as a greenwashing tactic.

According to an EPA policy released this month, companies that want the federal government’s stamp of approval for their sustainable products can no longer use such convoluted math.

The EPA’s Safer Choice standard is a voluntary program that allows manufacturers to affix a “Safer Choice” label to their dish soap, laundry detergent and other products. The roughly 1,800 products that have earned that distinction include household cleaners sold in grocery stores and more niche products like industrial carpet stain removers. Until now, the program’s criteria have focused on encouraging brands to reduce their use of toxic chemicals. But the updated standard, released on Aug. 8, strengthens requirements for sustainable packaging as well; plastic packaging must contain at least 15% postconsumer recycled content.

A key requirement: The content must be determined “by weight,” effectively forbidding the mathematical sleight of hand.

Finally, Americans get it

Support for Unions Hits 70-Year High as US Workers See Power of Organized Labor

Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams

Despite corporate-backed efforts to erode union power in the United States for more than a century, U.S. public support for organized labor is higher than it's been in seven decades, according to a survey published ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday.

The annual Gallup Labor Day poll revealed that 70% of Americans approve of labor unions, while 23% disapprove. That's up from last year's 67% approval rate. Two years ago, 71% of survey respondents said they were pro-union, but 26% disapproved, meaning this year's 47-point approval margin was slightly wider than in 2022.

The upswing in support for organized labor—which paradoxically comes even as U.S. union membership remains near an all-time low—has been attributed to a wave of successful organizing in recent years including the unionization of more than 480 Starbucks stores across the country.

How Trump sees the Arlington Cemetary scandal

And let's also celebrate on Nov. 6

Postal Workers Union blasts plan to further slow down service

Cuts don't help to save the Postal Service - improved service will

Mark Dimondstein  

Here is a Statement from APWU President Mark Dimondstein on the Postal Service’s Proposal to Further Slow Mail Processing and Delivery:

The American Postal Workers Union is deeply concerned regarding the August 22nd announcement from postal management, with the support of the Postal Board of Governors, that they are once again planning to slow down much of the country’s mail.

The APWU understands that change is needed to address the profound and permanent changes that the internet and social media have caused in the way people communicate. 

Letters continue to significantly decline, and the Postal Service must gain more of the growing package market. 

While we remain open to change for the long run viability of the public postal service and our job security, we refuse to accept that a winning strategy includes further slowing first-class mail and providing overall worse service to the people of the country.

Management is already failing to meet the current first-class mail service standards even after lowering delivery targets in 2021. Rather than fix the service delays and problems, these new management proposals are to simply “move the goalposts.”

The proposed service standard changes announced on August 22nd will be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). As we saw in 2021, the PRC issues only an Advisory Opinion on the proposals and ultimately lacks the power to stop them outright. 

We urge the Commission to do a thorough analysis of the impacts of the proposed changes, and for the Postal Service to seriously consider the PRC’s views before it proceeds in further degrading service. 

But make no mistake: our union and postal workers across the country will join with the public, leaders in Congress, and others, in rejecting this proposal and instead favor plans to bring mail service back to the high standard the public deserves and is promised under the law.

We demand a solution from the Postmaster General and the Board of Governors that fixes service delays, rather than further slowing the service standards for delivery. Management has the tools to improve service while at the same time improve the Postal Service’s finances. 

In addition to the growing package market, they need to focus on new and expanded services. Management can improve staffing and retention by working with the postal unions to ensure every postal job is a good job – with fair pay, decent benefits, and career opportunities. 

Instead of slowing service standards and accepting bad performance, management needs to put every effort behind improving all forms of mail service and regaining the public’s confidence that the Postal Service is in fact “Delivering for America.”  The people of the country deserve nothing less.

Researchers Discover Why Fasting Doesn’t Always Equal Fat Loss

Rethinking Dieting

Scripps Research

Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered that in Caenorhabditis elegans, a molecule produced in the gut during fasting travels to the brain and blocks fat-burning signals. This finding, which sheds light on the communication between the gut and brain, suggests that fasting may have benefits beyond simple calorie restriction. The study highlights the potential for new treatments targeting metabolic diseases by mimicking gut hormone actions.

Scientists at Scripps Research have identified a molecule secreted by roundworm intestines that communicates with the brain to reduce the rate of fat loss during periods of food scarcity. 

In a scenario that many dieters can likely relate to, the less a Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) worm eats, the slower it sheds fat. Researchers at Scripps Research have now uncovered the reason: a small molecule produced in the worms’ intestines during fasting travels to the brain, where it blocks a signal responsible for burning fat during this period.

Although the exact molecule they identified in the worms has not yet been studied in humans, the new work helps scientists better understand the complex crosstalk between the gut and the brain. It also may shed light on why fasting—not eating for set periods of time—has benefits that are independent from the number of calories a person eats. The new study was published in Nature Communications on August 11, 2024.

“We’ve found for the first time that fasting is conveying information to the brain beyond just caloric withdrawal,” says Scripps Research Professor of Neuroscience Supriya Srinivasan, PhD, the senior author of the new study. “These findings make me wonder whether there are molecules made in the guts of other animals, including mammals, that explain some of the health outcomes associated with fasting.”

No Taxes on Tips? There Are Better Ways to Help Low-Wage Workers

Raising the federal minimum wage and ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers are good places to start.

Sylvia Allegretto for the The Progressive

With the race for the White House heating up, a curious policy idea appeared seemingly out of nowhere: ending federal taxes on tips. While this policy shift may have wide appeal—most people aren’t going to say no to a tax cut—it would not translate into real benefits for workers struggling to make ends meet. In fact, it could do harm, and it may even deliver a new tax perk to the rich.

“No taxes on tips” makes us think it would benefit certain workers: the restaurant server pulling a double shift to pay the rent or a member of the cleaning staff at a major hotel chain. Surely these workers deserve better—and what could be better than giving them a chance to save on their tax bill?

It’s not so simple. For starters, tip workers make up a small fraction of the U.S. workforce—about 2.5%—and more than one-third of them do not even earn enough to pay income taxes in the first place. Cutting the federal tax does nothing for this group, except reduce the amount that they contribute to Social Security. Some of these workers could also lose out on other vital programs, like the Earned Income Tax Credit.

While there are still almost no details about how a tax-free tips policy would work, there is the very real possibility that wealthy earners would take advantage of any new system to shield their earnings from federal income taxes.

There are better options than a poorly designed “no tax” gimmick that leaves behind the majority of tipped and other low-wage workers. To win better pay for workers, we could start with raising the 15-year-old $7.25 federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour. This would provide a more significant boost; about 1 in 8 workers earn less than $15, and most are in the states that have a $7.25 minimum wage.

When Gompers said "more," more of what?

A Labor Day Question: What Makes a Decent Society?

Peter Dreier for Common Dreams

Someone once asked labor leader Samuel Gompers, "What does labor want?" His response is often misquoted, limited to one word: "More." 

By doing so, that one-word answer makes the labor movement seem narrow and selfish. What Gompers actually said in Louisville, KY, May 1890, reflects his vision that a very different kind of society was possible and that the labor movement could play an important role in shaping that vision into reality. What Gompers actually said was the following:

"What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures." 

Gompers' statement should inspire us to ask: What kind of society do WE want, today and in the future? What do we mean by a "decent" and "humane" society? Here's my answer.

A humane and decent society provides people with the opportunity to fulfill their potential and find happiness and meaning, including meaningful work. These cannot be guaranteed but they can be made more likely by two key ingredients: shared prosperity and robust democracy.

Shared prosperity means that everyone in society has the basics: a well-paying job, safe workplaces, access to health care (including health providers and medications, and mental health services), affordable housing, accessible parks and playgrounds, safe streets and neighborhoods, decent schools and libraries, access to transportation by car, bus, and/or train, safe communities, clean air, and leisure time.

Don't ever forget the kids in cages

Donald visits Arlington Cemetary

Here's a plastic product we can do without

As the world heats up, so does the debate around artificial turf

By Carmela Guaglianone

Artificial turf carpets athletic fields, playgrounds, and residential lawns across the US, offering a low-maintenance alternative to natural grass that always looks lush and doesn’t require heavy watering. But while this popular synthetic material is marketed as eco-friendly, it has also long attracted controversy – for decades, environmental and health advocates have expressed concern about the chemical byproducts of the turf’s plastic fibers.

Now, as climate change drives global temperatures to searing new records and cities scramble for ways to cool down, the old debate around artificial turf has taken on a new intensity. Along with concerns about toxic chemicals, some have begun to sound the alarm that artificial turf simply gets too hot in a world of ever-harsher heatwaves, exacerbating the health risks of the climate crisis.

Medical experts, like those at the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center, have begun to recommend against artificial turf  installations, often citing several health concerns — including  “a very real risk of burns, dehydration, heat stress, or heat stroke.”

And the safety risks of hot turf go beyond the immediate, said Genoa Warner, an environmental toxicologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who has researched artificial turf and other plastics.

“You might have heard like not to microwave your plastics, not to leave your plastic water bottle in the car to heat up and be exposed to the sun because it’s more likely to leach chemicals into it,” she said. “It’s basically the same principle as applying with artificial turf.”

In part due to concerns that artificial turf is only adding to Los Angeles’ heat struggles, city councilmembers this spring proposed that the city begin to transition away from artificial installations, joining a growing list of cities around the country that have taken steps to ban the material.

In late June, the council’s Energy and Environment Committee approved the motion, which seeks to gather information on the impacts of turf and could ultimately lead to a ban.

DEM Announces Over $270K in Grant Awards to Help RI Farmers Expand Market Access for Specialty Crops

Helping to grow more local food

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is announcing that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded over $270,000 through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) to help Rhode Island farmers expand market access for local fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery crops. 

The four projects will help enhance the competitiveness of Rhode Island specialty crops that are vital to Rhode Islanders’ health and well-being. 

Among the projects is the expansion of the RI Grown Brand – which aims to highlight, promote and market specialty crops grown in the Ocean State. DEM’s Division of Agriculture and Forest Environment will work to expand RI Grown program to the retail sector to drive the knowledge and consumption of locally grown specialty crops and value-added products made with local specialty crops. 

The project will focus on expansion and awareness in the retail space, specifically groceries and restaurants where the public is purchasing crops. Additionally, the project will support specialty crop producers throughout RI offering support with marketing, branding, program improvements and access for producers. 

This project will increase the footprint of the RI Grown brand and support the movement into retail markets while bolstering DEM marketing efforts in direct-to-consumer sales via farmers markets. DEM’s RI Grown webpage is chock-full of resources to help connect consumers with Rhode Island grown products. Additional funded projects include a focus on increasing awareness and availability of specialty crops in Farm to School programs and increasing competitiveness of RI Specialty Crop producers in the market.

Orsted to expand R.I. HQ, double local workforce

Green jobs are real

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Image credit: Ørsted

The Danish company developing Rhode Island’s first commercial, offshore wind project is expanding its footprint in the Ocean State.

Orsted U.S. announced plans to open a new engineering, procurement and construction hub in Rhode Island, centered in a new headquarters up the street from its existing, downtown Providence office. The company also plans to “more than double” its existing, 100-person state workforce “in the years ahead” – a date for which was not specified.