For 18 years Curt and Bertha Lou Tvedt walked a dangerous tightrope: working a farm with no health insurance coverage. “It’s scary,” Curt told me recently. “It kind of sits in the back of your mind knowing that one slip is going to cost you everything you worked for.” And then one morning that “one slip” occurred. (more…)

By Elena Velkov, media center coordinator, Fresh Energy

Messaging has always been at the core of the Media Center’s work. There is almost nothing more important than learning how to make our information resonate to a large, diverse audience. That’s why the Media Center traveled to focus groups around the region in the last year, in order to revamp its research. The strongest message that came out of the focus groups was the idea of transition and moving forward. People responded very favorably to the idea of moving into a modern energy system. However, I recently learned about another effective message that we didn’t test. (more…)

It’s not often we hear people standing up for stover—the stalks, shucks, etc., left in the field after corn is harvested. After all, it’s unapologetically called “trash” by  farm tillage experts and is considered a nuisance when putting in the following year’s crop. But on a western Minnesota farm last week it became clear these lowly field dregs need advocates more than ever. That’s because a new biomass initiative in the most recent Farm Bill could pose a real threat to these soil-friendly leftovers.

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John Tuma’s Capitol Update – The Summer Version

Lobbyist John Tuma tells the second half of the story of Benny Ambrose, a legendary Boundary Waters woodsman who learned the wilderness was more precious than gold.
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John Tuma’s Capitol Update – The Summer Version

Lobbyist John Tuma tells the story of Benny Ambrose, a lover and defender of the Boundary Waters who just wouldn’t be overpowered by government and forced to abandon his wilderness home.
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On Great Lakes Town Hall this week, Elanne Palcich is educating readers across the region about the people, the places and the effect of past and proposed mining in Minnesota.

The time to sweep our beaches is upon us once again. Join in the 13th Annual Minnesota Beach Sweep 2009, a community event that runs from September 1 through October 31.

Minnesota Beach Sweep started 13 years ago when Great Lakes Aquarium partnered with Ocean Conservancy for the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC). The ICC is the oldest running cleanup efforts of its kind and involves 123 countries around the globe. Focused on removing man-made debris from coastline of all kinds, ICC volunteers also collect data about the debris they gather. This data becomes part of the global database and is used to enhance efforts to protect and restore global waterways. This year, Great Lakes Aquarium has also partnered with Conservation Minnesota for the 13th Annual Minnesota Beach Sweep 2009. (more…)

The revamped Conservation Stewardship Program is officially off to the races. The USDA announced yesterday that it will now accept applications from farmers between Aug. 10 and Sept. 30 for the program’s first sign-up since it was resuscitated by the 2008 Farm Bill. This is exciting—there are indications that the seven-year-old program finally has the resources it requires to realize its full agroecological potential. (more…)