At the end of 2006, the LCCMR approved the retention of a consulting team to help them prepare a statewide conservation and preservation plan. (more…)

Representative Frank Hornstein (D-Minneapolis) wants to get more clean cars on our roads.

Hornstein has proposed a bill (HF 1002) to give a tax credit of $1,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price, whichever is greater, to buyers of alternative fuel vehicles. That would include cars powered by natural gas, hydrogen, coal-derived liquefied fuels, electricity, and ethanol. (more…)

The House and Senate are in full swing these days, but the status of recommended funding submitted by the LCCMR is in limbo. (more…)

According to the News Grid, Minnesota Public Radio’s 10 a.m. call in show is on “Green Fashion.”  Here’s the Grid’s blurb:

At 10 a.m., Midmorning looks at the environmental and social costs of disposable clothing, and how that’s leading some consumers to purchase more ecologically friendly threads. Marianne’s guests are: Julian Allwood, senior lecturer at the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University; Kyeann Sayer, freelance writer who covers the green fashion industry for the Web site treehugger.com. She’s also a green branding consultant; and Jen Rapp, director of public relations for Patagonia.

It is safe to say that no one has ever called me fashionable.  But I have to wonder, can one be fashionable, which I would assume involves regular shopping to follow trends, but also environmentally conscience and perhaps therefore consume less?  Then again, my knickers must be made out of something… 

This week’s report from the Capitol by MEP’s lobbyist John Tuma:
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The late March sun has had its way with our snow; now it’s going for the frost itself—slowing drawing it out of the ground like a tapeworm offered a cracker. Step off the sidewalk or take a hike in the backyard these days and you might even get some mud on your shoes. Such intimate, messy contact with soil reminds some Minnesotans that once that ground really warms up in a few months, it can produce some fresh, tasty vegetables. That’s why during the next several weeks Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the Upper Midwest will be getting frantic calls from people pining for fresh vegetables—and perhaps a fresh perspective on their role in the food chain. This year the buzz around this innovative food and farming model is even greater than usual, thanks to a recent Time cover story called, “Eating Better Than Organic.” Once that story hit the newstands, calls to the Land Stewardship Project looking for information on joining a CSA farm started rolling in. Fortunately, LSP has just the ticket to relieve that March menu madness: the 2007 Edition of the Twin Cities Region Community Supported Agriculture Farm Directory. This year’s directory lists 33 farms—the most since we began publishing the annual directory more than a decade ago. CSA farming has carved out a solid niche in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and that’s good news. At a time when conscientious eaters face so many confusing choices, CSA farming provides the kind of rock-solid assurances that no label or government regulation can. (more…)

Here are a few quick midweek updates on Protect Our Great Outdoors legislation:
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What’s in the record is that the Minnesota Department of Commerce agrees with environmental advocates that the Big Stone II coal plant–a 600-megawatt project slated for construction near Milbank, South Dakota–should be denied. Commerce argues that the proponents have not proven it’s needed, have not proven that efficiency and renewables cannot do the job, have not proven that it is a reasonable cost, and that proponents should ‘offset’ any increased emissions of carbon dioxide with reductions elsewhere. The Department expresses strong concern about whether the plant should be built considering inevitable laws that will soon govern global warming emissions, dramatically skewing already the unfavorable economics of Big Stone. (more…)

Vegetables, flowers, grains, legumes - it’s your choice.  If your looking for a way to grow some plants and better connect with your community, why not join a community garden?  If you want to know where your closest garden is, need some tips, or want to connect with other community gardeners, check out GardenWorks.  Look around the site and you can even find a picture of some carrots I grew last year in the Dunning Garden.

You may also want to check out the Community Garden Spring Resource Fair happening this Saturday at Augsburg college from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the student center.  Informative and fun; what more could you ask for?