President Marc Parlange spoke with the Blue Economy Podcast last week about the University’s programs to encourage sustainability. PHOTO CREDIT: blueeconomypodcast.com
University of Rhode Island President Marc Parlange recently spoke on a podcast to talk about the current direction of the University, the “Blue Economy” and the school’s participation in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge.
The “Blue Economy Podcast,” which is based out of Rhode Island, is a podcast that goes into the different subjects surrounding the ocean economy. Specifically, the “Blue Economy” focuses on an economic plan to help with the preservation and exploration of the ocean.
Parlange gave his pitch for expanding the Blue Economy and why it would be beneficial for the area and the state of Rhode Island if it was expanded.
“Nine percent of our population is employed in some way in the ocean sector, so that’s obviously very important,” Parlange said. “Then there’s growing areas, they’re smaller, but very important in terms of agriculture, but also offshore wind.”
According to him, the ocean economy is growing relatively fast compared to other areas in the world due to things such as tourism and ship building. He feels that the country has done a good job of managing fisheries.
He said that he believes URI should focus on innovating both offshore wind and agriculture innovations, making them more sustainable. Parlange also said that the environment should be part of the bigger plan of innovation at the University.
“There are related areas that have to do with the mix of solar and agriculture, so there’s opportunities there, in terms of looking at the generation of electricity, and there’s related research that maybe we don’t often think about as part of the blue economy, but have to do with agriculture,” Parlange said.
According to him, Rhode Island produces less than five percent of the food it eats.
Parlange mentioned that the coast is at risk of coastal flooding because of rising temperatures as a result of climate change, with changes in algae and other issues.
He also discussed the state’s participation in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a challenge run by the United States government that companies propose projects for their community that will bolster the economy through training workforces and building economic opportunities. Parlange mentioned that URI is one of the 60 universities still remaining in the challenge.
“I think we’re a really good team and very positive about our chances,” he said.
The next phase of the program will halve the amount of the candidates that are in consideration for the $1 billion grant, from 60 to 30.
Chris Bove, the speaker of the Student Senate, is a supporter of the Build Back Better plan and believes that it gives economic opportunities for families in a post pandemic world.
“I think that Build Back Better is essential to American competitiveness on the global stage,” Bove said. “This is a time for a once-in-a-generation investment in people’s ability to succeed.”
Parlange also discussed renovations that are going on at the Narragansett Bay Campus and some of the new projects that the Graduate School of Oceanography is working on.
Michael Manzi, a junior accounting major, said that he thinks the grant would be “huge” for the University. He said that a majority of the funding from the grant should go to the Bay Campus, but hopes that the University continues to focus on other areas to help the blue economy as well.
“I think we should still keep funding in business and engineering, but alumni fund a lot of those,” he said. “So I think if he can bring outside funding to fund his project he should do that.”
URI was given a $500,000 grant for making it to the second phase that will be used to build their Build Back Better Plan, which is due March 15.