Lighthouse tours, including more than a dozen lights along the Rhode Island shore, begin again for the season on May 3. The Save the Bay tours are open to both members and nonmembers. This is the Rose Island lighthouse in Newport.

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Journal file photo

Save the Bay is once again sponsoring its daylong trips on Narragansett Bay to tour lighthouses.

Trips on the Alletta Morris leave at 9 a.m. and return to Save the Bay headquarters at 4 p.m. Lunch and binoculars are provided.

The tour sails down West Passage to Newport, and returns via East Passage as it visits more than a dozen lighthouses.

Cruises are scheduled for May 3 and 31, June 14 and 21, July 19, Aug. 9 and Sept. 20.

The fee is $85 for Save the Bay members and $100 for nonmembers. For reservations, call (401) 272-3540, ext. 133.

Nominees sought in tick-awareness

Nominations are being sought to recognize individuals or groups that have taken noteworthy action to raise the public’s consciousness about ticks and disease or have taken noteworthy action to prevent tick-borne diseases.

The deadline for nominations to the University of Rhode Island’s Tick Encounter Resource Center is April 30. The awards will be presented on Rhode Island’s Tick Control Awareness Day in June.

There will be several categories for awards, including: individuals, nonprofit and philanthropic groups and government. Nominations should highlight the nominee’s efforts to provide significant insight and application of resources to protecting Rhode Island’s citizens from such tick-borne diseases as Lyme disease, babesiosis and anaplasmosis.

“We want to recognize people at all levels for taking action to prevent tick bites and tick-borne diseases,” said URI entomology professor Thomas Mather, director of the center. “We know there are people in Rhode Island who are passionate about making a difference in the fight against ticks, and we believe they deserve recognition for their commitment to public health.”

Nominations may be e-mailed to terc@uri.edu or mailed to Dr. Thomas Mather, University of Rhode Island, 9 East Alumni Ave., Suite 7, Kingston, RI 02881. For more information, call Mather at (401) 874-2928 or go to www.tickencounter.org.

‘Poetry of the Wild’ set for Friday

The Green Café at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center will present readings and music called “Poetry of the Wild” on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the visitor center, off Route 1 in Charlestown.

Seven writers of prose, poetry and song from Rhode Island and Connecticut will make presentations.

Two writers recently released books. They are Jody Lisberger, who will read from her new story collection, Remember Love. Matthew Goldman will read from The Journals of Constant Waterman, a collection of memoirs concerning puddles, boats and mermaids.

Alice Provost, 12, and her mother, Kara Provost, who teaches at Curry College in Milton, Mass., will present poetry each has written.

Susan Hurley, of Westerly, will present a nonfiction piece.

And there will be presentations by two musicians, Jennifer Bartlett, who plays guitar and mountain dulcimer, and Leah Grear, who plays banjo to stay connected to her Appalachian heritage.

The evening also will mark the opening of a photo exhibit by Tom Tetzner, a naturalist and photographer from Charlestown. His work will be on display until May 21.

The Green Café is supported by the Rhode Island Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is managed by Ana Flores, artist in residence. For information, call (401) 364-9124.

Transportation and conservation

The final speaker of the University of Rhode Island’s Energy Lecture series will be Mark Therrien, assistant general manager of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.

Therrien will give a talk titled “Opportunities for Energy Conservation in Transportation” on Wednesday at 4 p.m., in Atrium 2 at the Memorial Union at URI’s Kingston campus.

Therrien will outline the challenges and opportunities Rhode Island faces in developing efficient transportation systems, including encouraging bigger investments in transit, cleaner cars and cleaner fuels.

For more information, contact Marion Gold at (401) 874-5705 or go to www.uri.edu/cels/ceoc/.

Colloquium on sustainability

The Brown is Green Initiative, a student-led coalition of campus-based environmental organizations, is sponsoring a colloquium Friday and Saturday on environmental sustainability. It is free and open to the public.

The conference will bring together leaders in the environmental field, including academics, activists, politicians and business people.

Speakers include Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative; U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse; Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club; and Stephen Schneider, professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. Also speaking will be Governor Carcieri, Providence Mayor David Cicilline and State Treasurer Frank Caprio.

For details go to www.brown.edu/big .

The decline of cheap oil

As the price of gasoline climbs steadily, state legislators have scheduled a pre-Earth Day lecture April 21 at 3 p.m. in Room 313 at the State House by Richard Heinberg, an expert on “peak oil” and what it means for America and the world.

The presentation, free and open to the public, is titled: “Cheap Oil — Going, Going, Gone!”

The term “peak oil’ refers to the point at which half of the oil on the planet has been extracted and the remaining half will become increasingly more difficult and more expensive to obtain. Many disagree on when that point will be reached.

Heinberg’s presentation is sponsored by the Progressive Legislators Group and the Environment Council of Rhode Island.

The Progressive Legislators Group includes state Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston; Rep. David Segal, D-Providence; and Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston. They have introduced legislation to improve air and water quality and to lower carbon emissions. Segal has introduced a bill to encourage state employees to reduce their commutes, and Miller is working to facilitate development of a solar panel farm in Coventry.

Heinberg is a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute in California and recognized as a leader and educator in awakening the public to the impending energy declines forecast in the post-carbon era.

He has written scores of articles for The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Z Magazine, Resurgence, Earth Island journal and the Alternative Press Review.

He has also written several books: The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies; Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World; The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars; Terrorism and Economic Collapse; and Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines.

Currently he is completing a book on coal.

For information on other Earth Day activities and cleanups, go to: www.projo.com/news/environment/.

Wildlife, warming to be explored

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse will speak about the impact of climate change on threatened wildlife species at an exhibit of wildlife photographers tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at the Peerless Building at 150 Union St. in Providence.

The exhibit, “Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World,” is sponsored by faith, science, art and justice groups working with Earthjustice, Noah Alliance, the International League of Conservation Photographers, and Conservation International’s Center for Applied Biodiversity Science.

Last year, Whitehouse introduced the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act, (S.2204), which calls for a coordinated national strategy to help wildlife populations and habitats adapt to stresses related to climate change.

The bill was incorporated into the Climate Security Act (S. 2191), which passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in December and now awaits consideration by the full Senate.

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 e-mail at plord@projo.com or by writing him, care of The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.