By Daryl Sager, energy justice program associate, Fresh Energy

Last Thursday, the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative and Redefining Progress released a report entitled “A Climate of Change: African Americans, Global Warming, and a Just Climate Policy for the U.S.” The report highlights the fact that African Americans are disproportionately affected by climate change and stand to lose more from bad policy and gain more from good policy. Read the rest of this entry »

It may be July, but the Star Tribune gave some of the biggest agribusiness firms around a nice Valentines on July 21. On the opinion page, the newspaper’s editorial board lauded firms like Cargill and CHS for using all the tools at their disposal to “feed the world.” At one point, the Star Tribune editorial made a plea to readers on behalf of the big boys when it opined that Cargill would just like the government to “let free markets work their magic.” That’s a real gag-inducer. Or, as William Pappas wrote in a July 25 letter-to-the-editor: “I was struck dumb by your July 21 lead editorial.” Here’s a hint at the kind of free-market magic Cargill has conjured: It and three other firms now control at least 83 percent, 66 percent and 55 percent, respectively, of the nation’s beef, pork and turkey slaughter, according to the University of Missouri’s most recent “Concentration of Agricultural Markets” report. Three firms control 55 percent of flour milling. Guess who’s No. 1 on that list? A partnership between Cargill and CHS. According to conventional economic wisdom, when four firms control more than 40 percent of a market, it’s no longer a competitive one. This isn’t about allowing the laws of supply and demand to rule, and it’s certainly not about feeding hungry people. It’s about the kind of market control that forces farmers to take whatever price is offered and consumers to pay whatever is demanded. When seeking that kind of control, Cargill and its ilk want one kind of magic — a disappearing act on the part of fair competition.

You can pass into law the greatest policy in the world, but in the end its success depends on good implementation. Exhibit A: When the “Livestock Investment Grants Program” was passed during the last legislative session, it showed that at least on paper Minnesota was serious about helping farmers of all types who need a little help tweaking their operations here and there in order to increase efficiency, profitability and environmental sustainability. LSP and other groups were even successful in making sure that farmers making improvements to grazing operations could obtain funds, and that low cost projects could qualify. But on July 1, when the Minnesota Department of Agriculture announced it was accepting applications, it became clear that this wasn’t your Legislature’s Livestock Investment Grants Program anymore. The MDA has developed qualification criteria that skew the program towards larger operators that may have existing environmental problems. As the criteria read now, a small- or medium-sized family farm using sustainable production systems to maintain current environmental excellence is less likely to qualify. This was not the intention of the original legislation. Read the rest of this entry »

By Rachel Wilf, MEP Civic Engagement Project Intern

On June 13th I traveled in a minivan for four and a half hours through the rolling hills of northern Minnesota. The destination? The White Earth Pow Wow in White Earth, MN. The goal of the MEP field team? Register 40 voters for the upcoming election. Read the rest of this entry »

By Elena Velkov, media relations coordinator, Fresh Energy

Metro area residents who use transit on a regular basis can see increased ridership with their own eyes. More people frequent the bus stops, bodies pack the buses during rush hour, and the crowds sometimes force people to stand. When I was one of a dozen people standing on the bus ride home last week, I asked my co-worker and fellow transit rider what happened. She put it well, saying, “Four dollar gas happened.” Read the rest of this entry »

When Ron Bowen planted his first prairie for a landowner over three decades ago, the client’s motivation was pretty clear. “The main question was, ‘Is it pretty?’ It was an ornamental prairie,” recalls Bowen, the founder and owner of Minnesota-based Prairie Restorations, Inc. But Bowen knew the benefits of prairie ecosystems were more than skin deep. They provide wildlife habitat, build soil, help keep contaminants out of water, fix nitrogen and, as it’s become clear in recent years, trap carbon. If people were willing to get a prairie system established on their land because it gussied up the landscape, so be it. All the hidden benefits would come along for the ride. But an ecosystem’s good looks can only take it so far in a world where competing interests for land are increasing sharply. To evolve beyond an odd planting here and there to a major part of the landscape, it has to earn its own way economically. That’s why Bowen and other prairie enthusiasts are pleased to see in recent years a keen interest in “functional restoration”— establishment of prairies to provide numerous services to society, including things like stabilization of lakeshores or hunting habitat for pheasants. And they are even more excited by the latest task prairies are being asked to perform: serve as a source of biomass energy. Read the rest of this entry »

By Diana Calla, communications intern, Fresh Energy

As a native and lifelong resident of New England, my summer with Fresh Energy marks my first foray into the Midwest. Thus, you can imagine the novelty of my experience, and to some extent, culture shock, as I write today in Bismarck, North Dakota. Read the rest of this entry »

Great news for Minnesota and the Great Lakes! The Great Lakes Compact has nearly passed its last hurdle. The eighth and final state legislature approved the Compact last Thursday. Signatures by Pennsylvania’s and Michigan’s Governors will complete the ratification process by all participating states and Canadian provinces. Now the next move is for Congress to enact the Compact into law. Read the rest of this entry »

With the news last week of the two final Great Lakes states passing the Compact (the governors of MI and PA are expected to sign it after lawmakers recently passed it in both states), it seems that the final showdown over the agreement has now moved to Congress.

But before we all turn our full attention to congressional ratification of the Great Lakes Compact, we should check in on the oil drilling debate. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »