As the holiday season approaches, a growing array of groups are offering suggestions on how to make the holidays greener and more sustainable.

The Environmental Protection Agency is urging consumers to buy appliances that carry the Energy Star label. It says an average household fully equipped with Energy Star appliances could save $700 annually on energy costs.

For example, Energy Star televisions use 30-percent less energy, Energy Star computers use up to 50-percent less, and LED decorative lights use 75-percent less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs.

Next month’s issue of the Ladies Home Journal is filled with tips on how to save money and conserve energy during the holiday season, focusing on cutting costs in the kitchen, reducing heating and cleaning costs, and installing special energy-saving features at home.

The Toxins Information Project, based in Providence, announced that its Healthy Holidays Handbook, containing safe holiday and gift ideas, is in print and available in state libraries as well as on TIP’s Web site, www.toxicsinfo.org.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Kettle Pond Visitor Center will have a holiday open house Saturday that will include handmade birdhouses that children will be allowed to decorate. The houses were made by the late Victor Valentini, whose wife and daughter made them available for children. For details, call (401) 364-9124.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island is having its annual Christmas-tree sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at its headquarters, in Smithfield, and its Environmental Education Center, in Bristol. All trees are freshly cut and local. Proceeds support Audubon’s educational programs.

Finally, several new environmental books might make good presents. 100 Ways to Save the World, 192 pages, $16.95, by Johan Tell, offers simple, positive things people can do and they are presented with good graphics and clear writing that could be shared with children. Writer and activist Bill Mckibben writes the forward.

Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, 244 pages, $24.99, by Laure Stec with Eugene Cordero, offers a different approach on combating climate change. It describes how the world’s agrochemical food system might affect global warming and offers an alternative for individuals: food lore, culinary tips and recipes on how to cook low carbon, high flavor meals.

Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money — Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered, 200 pages, $21.95, by Woody Tasch, describes a new economy based on small, local food producers.

URI lecture focuses on carbon

Robert Socolow, co-director of the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University, will present the final lecture in the University of Rhode Island’s 2008 Honors Colloquium on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

His presentation, “Solutions to the Global Carbon and Climate Problem,” will be held in Edwards Auditorium on URI’s Kingston campus.

An internationally recognized expert on energy and global carbon management, Socolow’s research interests include carbon-dioxide capture from fossil fuels and storage in geological formations, nuclear power, energy efficiency in buildings, and the acceleration of deployment of advanced technologies in developing countries. He is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the former director of Princeton’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies.

The Carbon Mitigation Initiative, which Socolow co-directs, is a joint project of Princeton, British Petroleum and Ford Motor Co. to find solutions to the greenhouse-gas problem. It works to identify the most effective, safe and affordable methods of capturing and sequestering a large percentage of carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Time Magazine has described Socolow and co-director Stephen Pacala as strategists who “have come up with a remarkably straightforward way of approaching [global warming]. To stabilize the world’s carbon emissions, they propose not chasing a single magic bullet but harnessing seven different categories of reduction, using available technology. Their goal is to draw a road map for reducing CO2 emissions that is both realistic and effective. Each of the strategies they have identified could prevent a total of 25 billion tons of emissions by 2056.”

For details and information on parking, go to www.uri.edu/hc or contact the URI Honors Center at (401) 874-2381 or debg@uri.edu.

Dinner and movie set for Wednesday

The public is invited to celebrate local growers with dinner and a movie Wednesday in the speakeasy at Local 121, 121 Washington St., Providence. Buffet dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. and the film at 7. The screening is free to the public. Price for the buffet dinner before the screening is $12.

Tableland is a documentary that explores the culinary journeys from field to plate, the people, places and tastes of North American small-scale, sustainable food production. Director Craig Noble argues for the re-localization of North American food systems and a return to a fresher, more-healthful way of eating. From the orchards of British Columbia, to the inner-city gardens of Chicago to the Napa Highlands and everywhere in between, the documentary showcases the successful production of local and seasonal food. The event is sponsored by Farm Fresh Rhode Island and Local 121.

For information about Farm Fresh Rhode Island or the Wintertime Farmers Market, visit www.farmfreshri.org. For information about Local 121, call (401) 274-2121.

Day of Action eyes diesel pollution

Clean Water Action will present Diesel Pollution Revolution: A Day of Action, highlighting work by activists and municipal leaders Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brown Center for Environmental Studies Urban Environmental Lab, 135 Angell St.

More than 100,000 Rhode Islanders suffer from asthma. Providence County ranks among the worst 6 percent of all U.S. counties for health risks from diesel pollution.

Cities and towns, students, activists and parents are finding ways to transform diesels, the workhorse engines of the U.S. economy, into cleaner, safer vehicles. Participants are invited to find out what their city or town can do to take advantage of advanced pollution-control technology and learn how to organize a pollution patrol.

The schedule follows:

•11 a.m. — Speakers and topics include “Public Health and Environmental Justice;” “Clean School Bus Success Story,” by David LaPlante, Warwick schools administrator; “Newport’s Anti-Idling Campaign,” by Al Lowe, Newport Energy & Environment Commission; “Pollution Patrols,” by activists Ilyse Sakamoto and Alyson Jeanne.

•Noon — Free food and technology demonstration, school-bus retrofits: What are they?

•1 p.m. — What You Can Do, breakout sessions. Group 1: Students, activists and concerned citizens will take a local pollution walking tour; Group 2: Municipal leaders, school administrators and public works representatives will review grant resources, local enforcement and receive advice from the Department of Environmental Management.

To attend, RSVP to Clean Water Action campaign organizer Annie Costner at acostner@cleanwater.org or call (401) 331-6972. For information, visit www.cleanwateraction.org/ri/.

The Environmental Journal is a listing of brief news items about the actions of individuals, organizations and businesses that affect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the landscape that surrounds us. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact environment reporter Peter B. Lord at (401) 277-8036, or by email at plord@projo.com or by writing him, care of the Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, R.I. 02902.

plord@projo.com