Last week, the Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Council made tentative selections of over $56 million in fish, game and wildlife habitat restoration and conservation projects from Legacy Amendment funding. Darby Nelson, a member of the Council, reports on the process of sifting through applications and begins a series of reports, by region of the state, of what work would be funded if the recommendations are accepted by the Legislature next year.

Conservation Minnesota’s Liz Hunt provides tips and insight on reducing her (and your) environmental impact this holiday season. Among her thoughts:

* Replace regular Christmas tree lights with LEDs;
* Safely get rid of old light strings;
* Make your own gift boxes from used boxes.

There are a million ideas — what are yours?

The Conservation Minnesota Voter Center’s annual legislative scorecard is now available for the 2009 session. Seven legislators scored a perfect 100%. Issues included safe baby products, farm stewardship, clean and renewable energy and others. Click here.

Will Steger, Representative Paul Gardner, Mike Kilgore and Sheila Smith took home Conservation Leadership Awards from the Conservation Minnesota Voter Center Monday night. These four people have done much for our outdoors and environmental policy and funding.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency today issued a news release about its updated “What’s In My Neighborhood?” web application. It’s designed to make it easy for any Minnesotan to find out about nearby pollution permits, old dumps and other environmental information. It’s well-intended, but a check of my neighborhood revealed terminology that a layperson has a difficult time understanding (small to minimal hazardous waste QG). It’s a good try — but what do you think?

According to one of its creators, Dr. Tony Murphy, Minnesotans score off the charts compared to other places when it comes to understanding sources of runoff pollution. Other news is not as encouraging. Only 8% of the state’s adults have excellent knowledge about the environment. And 38% of the state’s adults have below-average knowledge about the environment (worse than a C grade). Read for yourself here.

Download Video

High school senior Lily Andrews wants to improve the environment and the economy, so she and her friends gathered to write letters to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to ask him to create green jobs. Want to learn more about green jobs? Check out this video and contact Joshua Low at 612.659.9124 x 311.

[video http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A1400017009913C2/ MTV Covers the Story] 

High school senior Lily Andrews wants to improve the environment and the economy, so she and her friends gathered to write letters to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to ask him to create green jobs. Want to learn more about green jobs? Check out this video and contact Joshua Low at 612.659.9124 x 311.

The rationale for the Governor’s veto is as interesting as the veto itself. Pawlenty declared in his veto letter that “the legislative mandate overreaches and goes beyond current scientific research.”

It’s a health protection and sustainable business opportunity lost. The science is clear that this compound is problematic for human health and the environment.