Starting Out

I am a horticulture professor at the University of Rhode Island. I have been here 18 years this July. I have a round about journey this far, which I will share as I progress in this blog. But for now I need to state my purpose in taking this first step - to proclaim my passion for believing in the meaning of sustainability. Sustainability is a word I will not look up for this blog, as I know the meaning in my experience and my heart. No need to explain now - in time. There are those around me that believe that it is a pointless word - overused. But I believe. I believe in using less, in producing what we need, and not more than we need, slowly and carefully. I believe in not killing the smallest and least "significant" of creatures - in the Buddhist sense - and not creating a mess (like the BP mess unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico now...). I have a checkered past in this regard, like many of us, but will come clean as this progresses. My goals? To share, to educate (myself as much as you), to progress. A journey that I will share - to build a cold frame, grow my own food, develop a new major in Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Rhode Island, and more personally - get back to my roots in honesty, compassion, love and simplicity - that I have experienced and long to return to as I try to shed the devils that have built on me like barnacles on a floating ship. Here we are...