For the casual voter, a national convention may be a quick look at the headline speakers between (click) innings of the ball game.

But for those in the game it is a vast bazaar of wares -- T-shirts, music, learned policy seminars, buttons, exotic food, unruly protests of all stripes -- that spills out into the streets of the host city.

So in that spirit the Rhode Island School of Design is in Denver represented by something called the Partly Sunny Design Showcase, an exhibit of "designed objects'' and other displays meant to illustrate what can be done about climate change.

RISD's Charlie Cannon said the Partly Sunny show at a downtown pavilion of shops is an all-RISD production. Example: One exhibit tells with pictures and words about the Providence Street Tree Ordinance, which encourages builders to plant trees. The eventual goal is "to put 25 percent of Providence under trees,'' Cannon said. The benefits will include reductions in storm runoff and carbon emissions.

There's more information here, at: partlysunny.risd.edu The group has its own Weblog at the Democratic National Convention, too.

Cannon, like a lot of conventioneers, is juggling more than one task this week. Besides his role in Partly Sunny, he was to speak in a panel discussion on environmental issues.

(By the way, wondering what the weather is like in Denver? Check out the conditions and forecast here.)