On an overcast fall day, I got a tour of the Meat Center of Appleton (population: 2,871) in the heart of western Minnesota’s wild goose and domestic corn country. If an extensive local food system is to take root throughout the Midwest and beyond, its reach can’t be limited to hip urban neighborhoods and earnest college campuses. It also has to catch on in places like Appleton — and it starts with people like Alyce Fust. (more…)

by Daryl Sager, Energy Justice Program Coordinator

Are you ready for green jobs? If you are, or just want to learn more about it, come to the Green Jobs Now National Day of Action this Saturday, September 27^th at the Minneapolis Urban League. This event is one of over 600 in all 50 states to show policymakers that everyday people are ready to tackle the climate crisis by building a new green economy. (more…)

Earlier this week I received in the mail a nice, dense example of tax money put to good use: the 2008 edition of the Greenbook. It’s written for farmers, but anyone who believes innovative farming systems are a public good worth supporting with public funds would appreciate it. (more…)

by Elena Velkov, media relations coordinator, Fresh Energy

I’ve recently had the opportunity to work with a number of coalitions in the youth clean-energy movement—the Sierra Student Coalition, Global Exchange, and the Energy Action Coalition. While the youths have different projects and agendas, there is one common theme. Those who come in contact with the groups are taken aback and inspired by their passion and ambition.

This is most definitely the case with Minnesota Powershift 2008. A team of youth climate leaders—part of an organization called Grand Aspirations—have taken it upon themselves to organize the event, which up to 1,000 people are expected to attend. Though the event is organized by youths, people of all generations are encouraged to attend. (more…)

Statistic of the day: every third bite of food is the direct or indirect result of the work of pollinators like bees.

That’s why so many people are worked up over the loss of these pollen-packers, whether it be through colony collapse disorder, destruction of their habitat or outright chemical poisoning. While visiting Ames Farm, the honey operation of local beekeeper Brian Fredericksen, I got a peek at how pollination takes place, and why practices like “feedlot beekeeping” can trip-up this delicate dance between insect and plant. To listen to my recent conversation with Fredericksen, check out LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast (episode 54). (more…)

by Lynne Bly, Transportation Policy Director, Fresh Energy
Don’t you sometimes have the sense that if only the folks we policy wonk types are trying to persuade about the consequences of global warming could grasp the magnitude of change or really see its impacts, we’d be making faster progress toward solving the problem? We summarize data, prepare charts, and work hard to inform, but sometimes pictures make a visceral connection our words can’t.

Prix Pictet is a prestigious new international photography contest that poses this challenge:  effectively communicate visually about sustainability issues. The theme for this first year is water—from floods, to drought, to rising seas. (more…)