Next week Ken Meter will be in western Minnesota and eastern South Dakota, telling the story of how feeding the raw commodity maw has drained our Main Streets of their lifeblood while decimating the rural landscape socially and environmentally. Meter’s story stars numbers, charts, graphs and trend-lines—not exactly the stuff of summer blockbusters. But believe me, once you sit through one of this researcher’s presentations, you’ll never view rural economic development the same way again. You can get a taste of his insights by listening to LSP’s latest Ear to the Ground podcast (episode 51) or checking out the website of the Crossroads Resource Center, the organization Meter heads up. Take it from a confirmed numbersphobe, his analysis of the data is quite accessible—and well worth your time. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kate Ellis, 1Sky Minnesota organizer, Fresh Energy

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes…and environmental groups too, it seems! My best, non-scientific estimation is that Minnesota has over 200 groups that are in some way doing their part to fight for the environment. Whether it is clean water issues, faith responsibility, energy, gardening, wildlife, or any of the other myriad groups involved in environmental protection, we in Minnesota have perfected the art of organizing for the environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Conservation Minnesota’s new website Check My Lake continues to shine a light on the state of Minnesota’s water quality. Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Noble, executive director, Fresh Energy

If the vice chairman of a major American corporation told reporters that global warming is “a total crock of shit,” you might write him off as a dangerous, anti-environmental lunatic. If he said that advocating for higher efficiency mileage standards is “like trying to address the obesity problem in this country by forcing clothing manufacturers to sell smaller, tighter sizes,” you would know he represented an auto company. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that the 2008 Farm Bill is officially law, it’s important to make sure all that work sustainable ag groups like LSP put into some of the legislation’s key components does not go to waste. Talk is cheap in Congress — implementation out here on real farms is what gets things done. The overall legislation is still less than Grade A work, but initiatives like the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) are truly precedent-setting and innovative — two words not usually associated with federal ag legislation. If BFRDP even begins to live up to its billing, this new Farm Bill will begin to make up for all its other shortcomings. To get an idea of what I’m talking about, check out our latest BFRDP fact sheet.

By Erin Stojan Ruccolo, program coordinator, Fresh Energy

Twenty years ago this week, NASA climate scientist James Hansen testified to Congress about the human causes of global warming. Grist, the environmental news blog (“a beacon in the smog”), is writing a three-part series to commemorate this milestone in global warming policy (the third part will be released tomorrow on Grist.org). Read the rest of this entry »

On a sunny (remember sun?) spring afternoon a few weeks ago, Karola and Rick Dalen were giving me a tour of their Northern Harvest Farm near the northeast Minnesota community of Wrenshall when they stopped in front of a large bunker-like structure with earth piled up on three sides. It turns out that this 80 x 30 foot behemoth served as a community root cellar decades ago, back when Wrenshall farmers grew a lot of cabbages and other vegetables for Duluth-Superior. The Dalens are doing their best to prove that those days when the Lake Superior region was more self-sufficient in food are not just agronomic history. Read the rest of this entry »

You know what they say about imitation and flattery.

In 2007, Minnesota led the effort to provide uniform protection for new or expanding water usage within the Great Lakes basin, by being the first state in the region to endorse the Great Lakes Compact.

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Conservation Minnesota has launched a new web page dedicated to reporting the condition of the state’s beaches just in time for summer beach going season.

State law does not require swimming beaches to be regularly tested – or posted when there is pollution – but some counties, districts, and cities choose to do so. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency also monitors Lake Superior beaches during the summer. The beach data page pulls data from these different sources and compiles it in one easy-to-use page. The report is available here.

This new tool follows the spring launch of Check My Lake, a site that allows people to easily look up whether their local lake is too polluted for swimming or fishing

By Rick Fuentes, senior media relations specialist, Fresh Energy

I’ve always liked roller coasters. Especially the ones with big drops or loop-d-loops. Read the rest of this entry »